By Zephyria 
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WELCOME TO LA VIDA 🙂
~Year 16, Day 30~
[Quest]
Main Quest
Tutorial (Completed)
CHAPTER 1 (Completed)
CHAPTER 2 (Completed)
CHAPTER 3
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☞ Do you believe in the Way? (In Progress)
Suspicious Approach √
Cast the Bait! √
300,000 Deal in the name of Jin Mu-hae √
How to Distinguish a Spy √
First Person, Second Person, Third Person, and Seo Ju-gyeong?
Sllrrp, something huge and black moved with a sliding gait.
It was so quiet that not only were there no sounds of stepping on grass or breaking twigs, but even its presence was undetectable.
Despite this, the insects that had been fiercely searching for mates suddenly stopped their singing. Every living thing held its breath, maintaining a silence that bordered on playing dead.
Within that manufactured stillness, the Aberrant let out a small, guttural growl.
[~Year 16, Day 30~]
Staring blankly at the letters floating in the air, the Aberrant curled its body into a ball.
Khung, king, whimpering groans leaked from its maw. The Aberrant’s red eyes narrowed and twitched.
’16 years…’
While it had lost consciousness for a moment, the years had clicked upward. Feeling an irrational resentment toward the blue-glowing Hologram Window, the Aberrant swung a sharp claw through the air.
As if performing a magic trick, miscellaneous items popped out of the Inventory. A cereal box with deep scratches, a cheap figure with one side broken off, a dirty hot dog wrapper that still smelled strongly of sauce…
“Khung.”
The Link Watch it always wore on its wrist had disappeared long ago, but it could tell the time simply by the sensation of the night air.
The Aberrant knew it was almost time for the thing it welcomed to come find it. This had been part of its routine since immediately after it fled into the forest.
Strangely, even when it lost its reason, it never failed to chase that nostalgic scent. It didn’t know what it did there, but seeing as a faint sense of satisfaction remained whenever it regained consciousness, it seemed it had seen the face it longed for.
“Khiing.”
The Aberrant’s survival instinct was astonishingly superior. When the fragile human mind could not endure and collapsed, only instinct remained, making it eat, sleep, and breathe.
Thanks to that, once it acquired a massive black body, the Aberrant let go of its thoughts, swept away by the surging instincts whether it wanted to or not.
Very occasionally, when its reason awakened, it would simply turn on the system to check the elapsed time and the situation.
“Kirrrr…”
It wanted a hot dog. Candy too. Snacks. Jellies.
Meat skewers, sandwiches with fried meat, Fruit Tornadoes, and giant ribs steaming with heat.
And more than that, it wanted to smell a scent that was equally cool yet strong. The Aberrant rubbed its head frantically against its large hand and curled its body even tighter.
‘Jin Mu-hae…’
Jin Mu-hae. As soon as those three syllables came to mind, blood rushed through its veins, its heart sank, then floated up again, and all sorts of emotions poured in like a tide.
It missed Jin Mu-hae. The whispering voice was not human. Even in the deepest depths of the ego that had become a monster, it desired the same thing.
Jin Mu-hae. Jin Mu-hae. The name it must have repeated tens, hundreds, thousands of millions of times since falling into this strange world moved the melancholy Aberrant’s limbs.
Swish, its tail shot upward. The Aberrant once again moved its steps silently.
‘Aren’t you going to find your memories?’
Jin Mu-hae’s voice echoing in its head was sharp and indifferent, yet strangely cozy.
The Aberrant flicked its tongue and licked its lips clean. As if savoring every single syllable of the remembered voice.
‘Even if I have my memories, I won’t live alone.’
‘Who told you to crawl out? There’s plenty of work to do.’
Whenever words that made its heart tingle came to mind, a “kirrr” sound leaked out on its own.
Tears didn’t fall, but its mouth twisted, and it felt gloomy.
Simultaneously, hunger arrived. An inner void that felt as though it would never be filled, even if it swallowed a giant Beast or drank enough water to dry up a pond.
“King, khung.”
Instinct stubbornly grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and pulled it forward, even though it wanted to curl up and lie down again.
It had been a long time since it had seen Jin Mu-hae while even half-sane, so it would be a waste to give up here.
Kirrrr-!
Trees and grass shook at the scream that tore through the silence of the night. This was the last time it would make a sound.
Once it reached the flat ground where bikes could travel, it had to become a presence without a trace again.
Vroooom— Kwaaa!
Pricking up its pointed ears, it heard an engine sound so faint it wondered if it was an illusion. The Aberrant leaped on all fours as if flying and hid behind a large rock.
Before long, the sound of tires kicking up dirt approached. The thudding sound of boots followed, and the rustling noise of a paper bag being crumpled could be heard.
A sweet and tangy sauce smell. It was a hot dog. And… the smell of meatballs rolled in salty sauce.
But more distracting than those smells was the human scent carrying the smell of the wind.
Jin Mu-hae… it murmured unconsciously, but its massive maw only opened and closed slightly.
“Don’t eat the paper. I told you I only eat the meat.”
Foolishly, the human was speaking while looking in a completely different direction from the rock where the Aberrant was hiding.
After standing by the food and talking to himself for a while, he checked the time and returned to the bike.
Vroooom— The engine sound faded away. The Aberrant flicked its tongue and stealthily approached the food.
Rustle, rip!
It had tried to pick it up carefully in its own way, but the paper bag tore again, unable to withstand the sharp fingertips and strength.
The Aberrant lifted the contents, licked them, and then swallowed them in one gulp. Cheap sausages mixed with all sorts of meat scraps, strong spices, and the inside of the bread that was already cold but still held a faint warmth…
“Khiing.”
It was a strange thing. It felt like it could swallow a house-sized rock, yet its parched insides were calmed by just a few hot dogs of this size.
The Aberrant licked its sauce-covered hands clean and rubbed its nose frantically against the paper bag.
Amidst the vibrating smell of hot dogs, a very faint warmth was felt. The scent of the skin of the person who brought this. The body scent it could smell when rubbing its cheek against a warm hand.
Kirrrr!
The Aberrant stared blankly into the air. The ‘mode’ list was the same as before.
Nothing was broken, and no installed modes had been deleted, but strangely, the monster’s body showed no sign of turning white and small.
Therefore, it had to return quickly before the human possibly came back. Even if it lost its mind again, there was no risk of harming the longed-for Jin Mu-hae, but…
He would be scared. It hated the idea of Jin Mu-hae being scared.
Eyes filled with terror. A silhouette that insisted on standing straight despite severe injuries. A hidden item rolling away.
The deep blue blade dripping with rainwater had definitely been pointed at it. Humans fear Aberrants.
So the monster rubbed its eyes frantically and fled. It didn’t remember well after that.
Would you like to register the log?
> Yes
* * *
[Day 5870]
…
…
…
* * *
It opened the log out of habit, but it couldn’t enter any meaningful content.
The Aberrant sat down blankly, emitting wavering black smoke.
Human… Jin Mu-hae. I hate Jin Mu-hae. But I like Jin Mu-hae. I want to be with Jin Mu-hae.
Jin Mu-hae doesn’t like the Aberrant. Joo-oh… Joo-oh is an Aberrant. He failed to become an Experiment.
All sorts of thoughts surfaced incoherently, and eventually, only stupid words were written all over the log.
* * *
[Day 5870]
Jin Mu-hae
I like Jin Mu-hae
Jin Mu-hae is mean
I like Jin Mu-hae
I miss Jin Mu-hae
I won’t see Jin Mu-hae
* * *
The log has been saved.
“Khung.”
Its mouth twisted. However, its eyes didn’t get moist, nor did any sobbing sounds occur.
Since becoming an Aberrant, the monster had never cried. It seemed Aberrants were creatures that could not cry.
CHAPTER 4 would start soon. The end of the story was approaching.
The fact that it could not be by his side made its briefly satisfied stomach feel hungry again.
Khiung, snif, making strange noises, the Aberrant sat down behind the rock.
Jin Mu-hae will proceed with the Quest, leaving me behind. Just thinking about that made its consciousness flicker as if it were about to turn off.
It felt exactly like the first time it fell into 「La Vida Blue」.
♪♩♬♪-.
Aberrants do not dream. An Aberrant simply eats, sleeps, attacks, and survives following instinct.
But for some reason, the Aberrant, having regained its thoughts, swam distantly toward the lost past while its eyes were closed.
Event!
0▒▒▒8 Earth▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒.
▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒ received benefits▒▒▒.
In the dream, the Aberrant was a small, fragile human. Soft flesh that would become a handful of blood if grabbed and crushed.
In the bunker isolated from the outside, six months’ worth of food for 10 people was stored. It seemed no one thought anyone would be stuck living in such a place for longer than that.
Perhaps people who entered later brought additional food. What was certain was that in the end, only one person remained there, and whether by misfortune or luck, the long-term preserved stores bought seven years of time.
Pale skin from not seeing light. A withered physique from limited meals.
Five more days had passed since the human, who was not yet a monster, had put the last of the powder-form food mixed with spoiled water into its mouth, lying like a corpse in front of the monitor.
Event!
Unknown letters split and merged, appearing before its eyes.
‘Something’ that was blurred as if processed, making it impossible to read properly…
The human stared blankly at the monitor. The music of 「La Vida Blue」 flowed softly in the room, and in the center of the screen, a familiar man was performing a standing motion.
The city of the surviving humanity. The dear protagonist who bore the great journey in the center of it.
The human quietly closed its eyes. There was only one thing it wanted.
186 – Became an Anomaly in a Dead Game