Chapter 101 - EPISODE 101 – KARAVAL (1) (1/2)
Terms used in this chapter:
Jon-mot – Korean slang that is used when insulting someone as ‘very ugly.’ It’s actually an abbreviation of ‘존나 못생겼다’ which means ‘f*cking ugly’ or ‘you look so ugly.’ However, it could also mean as ‘you’re not good enough.’
Pavlov and classical conditioning – a behavior theory by Ivan Pavlov which proposed that a condition stimulus makes an organism react to something because it is associated with something else. A popular example is Pavlov’s experiment of a dog salivating when it hears the sound of a bell because it was ‘conditioned’ to be fed while a bell is ringing at the same time.
Outboxer009 met Yellow Storm again after Kang Jin-ho began actively playing Legend of Heroes 2 in earnest a month after that ‘incident.’
‘I finally found her.’
T/N: Outboxer009 actually has no idea of Yellow Storm’s real sex, and the Korean words do not use a he or she pronoun when referring to Yellow Storm. However, since Yellow Storm’s character is Cordelia who is a female, I will be using female pronouns for reading convenience.
In fact, he had been tracking her since the incident a month ago, so it was more like he finally faced her rather than found her.
Yellow Storm had not logged into Legend of Heroes 2 for nearly a week.
‘Is she a student? No, she must be a student.’
Moreover, she must be an elementary school student.
Perhaps she wasn’t able to log in because of the exam week.
Regardless, what was important was that Yellow Storm had logged in again and the fact that Outboxer009 was now stronger than Yellow Storm.
‘One month.’
Over the past month, Outboxer009 had invested all of his abilities into Legend of Heroes 2.
He crammed the game settings in his head, he bought the game’s virtual currency using real-life money, and except for his sleeping time, he immersed himself in Legend of Heroes 2 for 24 hours a day.
He himself honestly found it stupid and a huge waste of human resources, but he still did it.
He really wanted to do it.
‘How strange.’
When he thought about it with his hand on his chest, he was certainly a good person, but that didn’t mean he had a good personality.
He was the type to hold a grudge.
But it was little different this time.
He had never been so absorbed in something like this just because of one insult he heard that was said in passing.
‘Amazing.’
Yellow Storm.
You should be proud of it.
There had been only three people in the last decade who had made me so immersed just for a particular day.
Outboxer thought in his mind that his former colleagues would have frowned and clicked their tongues if they heard what he was doing, but he pushed that aside and looked ahead of him again.
He smiled at the situation he expected.
“Aaah!”
Yellow Storm fell from the onslaught of the unique monster which Outboxer009 had lured.
[Help! Help!]
Outboxer009 smiled as he saw the Help message pop up before he moved forward.
Using scrolls and poisoned daggers that he prepared in advance, he defeated the boss monster that Yellow Storm had fought halfway before he turned around in a cool manner.
And he met eyes with Yellow Storm.
In the game, Yellow Storm had died and became a corpse, but it was clear that she was looking at him judging from the fact that a help window popped out.
‘She doesn’t recognize me.’
It was a bit disappointing but that didn’t matter. Outboxer009 took out the Resurrection Feather as if to resurrect her.
He then said to Yellow Storm as he put back the feathers in his inventory to make her feel frustrated.
“You’re bad at games.”
Tuk-
It was the sound of something breaking.
Of course, he didn’t actually hear it. But Outboxer009 could tell.
The various messages that immediately popped up from Yellow Storm’s corpse proved it.
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
“See you next time, jon-mot.”
Why does it feel so good doing this?
Outboxer009 laughed out loud and turned around. Several messages popped up from behind Outboxer’s back.
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
[The use of abusive language is subject to sanctions.]
[Hey, you eeevil baastard!]
“Yes, sure. You’re f*cking bad at games.”
Outboxer009 waved his hand and left without looking back, and Yellow Storm struggled as she continued to yell over and over again.
She was absolutely not beautiful, and truly had a nasty mouth.
But it was the first meeting of the two that Yellow Storm remembered.
***
And at the present.
As he breathed in the fresh morning air, Jude looked down at the asleep Cordelia.
The morning sun had risen and almost everyone around them had woken up and was preparing to leave. Despite all of that, she alone was still traveling in the world of dreams.
As Cordelia talked in her sleep and babbled like a baby, Jude quietly watched Cordelia before he faintly smiled and drew his face closer.
He slightly shook her shoulder and gently said.
“My princess, you should get up soon.”
Cordelia responded to his gentle voice.
It had already been more than two months since she traveled with Jude.
She had heard Jude’s voice every morning to the point that it was like Pavlov and the dog drooling at the sound of the bell, so when she heard the sound of him calling her ‘my princess,’ she naturally called him ‘Daddy.’
“Mmnnn… Daddy… I don’t want to… I’m going to sleep more… Cordelia want to sleep more…”
Cordelia was usually bad in waking up early so she didn’t open her eyes and just murmured.
Jude shook Cordelia’s shoulder again and said.
“Don’t say that, my princess should get up now, okay? It’s morning, morning.”
“Unnnnn…”
Cordelia grunted again and instead of covering herself with a blanket, she feebly moved her arms forward and continued to talk while still half-asleep in dreamland.
“Unnnn… Daddy, please… Carry me on your back so I could sleep more… Cordelia will become a kangaroo…”
That was it.
If it was the usual, Jude would have pampered and let Cordelia continue sleeping on his back so she could have more time to sleep, but it was different this time.
She instantly became sober and opened her eyes.
‘A gaze?!’
A sharp and stabbing gaze that came flying from behind her.
Cordelia’s instincts crazily rang like a bell, and due to that, Cordelia finally came to her senses and saw.
“My… Prin-cess? Da~ddy? Kangaroo?”
There was a blonde beauty whose arms were on her hips as she coldly stared at Cordelia.
Cordelia herself loved that person dearly, but at the same time, that person was her older sister.
Not as her mother but as her older sister.
“Eets nott!”
With an odd scream, Cordelia jumped up from her spot and Adelia’s eyebrows twitched as she returned what Cordelia had done to her yesterday.
“Hehehe, hehehe.”
So that’s what you normally call each other.
You completely call him daddy.
You are very used to being called a princess.
You seem to be carried often enough on his back that you even ask him that while sleeping, huh?
“Hehehe, hehehe.”
Cordelia struggled at Adelia’s lukewarm gaze and eventually covered her face with both hands.
“N-no. I mean… That…”
The sight of a beautiful girl, who was red down to her neck and crouching on the bed as she was at a loss on what to do, caught everyone’s attention as they stopped what they were doing and looked at Cordelia.
And Cordelia’s unrivalled cuteness naturally intensified.
“Hmm.”
And one more person.
Like everyone around him, Gaël was getting ready to leave but he looked towards the two sisters and warmly said without hiding his feelings.
“Cute.”
“Adorable.”
Jude agreed with a happy smile, and the brothers simultaneously opened their mouths again.
“Lady Adelia.”
“Cordelia.”
The brothers looked at each other.
Jude spoke first.
“No, brother. In that scene right now…that, Lady Adelia’s cute point is…”
He was so embarrassed that he unconsciously spoke in detail.
And Gaël calmly replied as if proving that he was ten years older than the other.
“Don’t you think she’s cute when she teases her younger sister? I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but Lady Adelia really resembles Count Chase.”
“You’re right.”
Jude had no choice but to agree without saying anything this time.
“Anyway, isn’t it about time for you to help her?”
“You’re right.”
Jude grinned and quickly approached Cordelia who was struggling and searching a solution by herself instead of actively sending a help message.
And half an hour later.
Standing in the middle of the ranks of the Great Storm tribe as they moved towards Gentle Snow Breeze’s basin, Jude glanced at his side.
To avoid standing out in the gathering of the various tribes, Cordelia wore the traditional clothes of the Great Storm tribe as she walked while sulking.
‘How mysterious.’
Her rabbit ears were drooping as if to reflect her emotions. Of course, her rabbit tail too.
“Hey, Cordelia.”
“Why.”
At her curt reply, Jude drew his face closer and whispered.
“Do your legs hurt? Should I carry on my back?”
Cordelia would normally have said okay at his piggyback offer, but it was different this time. She frowned and said as she slapped Jude’s upper arm.
“Go away, you demon.”
Wouldn’t everyone look at her if she got carried on his back?
Especially Adelia.
“Hey, aren’t you doing this on purpose?”
“Huh? What?”
“Stop pretending to be ignorant. You deliberately called me princess when you woke me up earlier, right?”
Because Jude was the only one in the world who knew best on how she would react.
Wasn’t he intentionally making her feel troubled?
“Heeey, what kind of person do you see me as?”