Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game – Chapter 26

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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She discovered the information thanks to the Mine incident that happened over a month ago.

It led to the grand event of the Andromalius subjugation, and the video itself was quite shocking.

The identity of the young boy who was the main subject of the video had been thoroughly investigated.

Never underestimate the tenacity of internet users.

There were many survivors of the incident, and they could even obtain information from the knights.

And that information, accumulated and compiled, was now neatly organized on Tree Wiki.

Tree Wiki, as expected. Living up to its reputation as the Akashic Records of the internet, it even contained information about a single NPC.

Of course, most of the information was distorted and unreliable…

But at least when it came to games, it provided trustworthy information.

Im Ha-neul wandered the sea of information, armed with only the keyword “tattoo.”

It was a strange experience to see the seemingly unrelated keyword “Demon’s Blood” pop up as a related search term.

“?”

Intrigued, Im Ha-neul clicked on the related search term and reached the record of the Mine incident.

She quickly navigated to the section about the Mine.

The Mine that caused the incident was said to be a 14-year-old boy.

He was a local boy who had manifested Demon’s Blood at the age of 10, but it had been kept hidden due to the remote location of the village.

The boy’s parents, who loved their child, had worked hard to conceal it.

Even the villagers were unaware that the boy possessed Demon’s Blood. If only time had continued to flow peacefully… but unfortunately, tragedy struck when he turned 14.

Unable to control his Demon’s Blood, he lost his sanity. The incident escalated and eventually became known throughout the world.

This was what Im Ha-neul was curious about.

She understood that Demon’s Blood was dangerous. A single boy nearly destroyed an entire village and even caused a Demon to descend.

The nation even had to step in and issue a recruitment notice to deal with that Demon, so she understood how hostile the NPCs were towards Demon’s Blood carriers.

But how did they know that someone manifested Demon’s Blood?

Thankfully, the method was surprisingly simple. Without a single exception, Demon’s Blood carriers had demon-related marks appear on their bodies.

The shape and location of the marks varied, but they always appeared.

When they examined the body of the boy who had become a Mine, they found a tattoo. An ominous mark resembling a demon’s claw.

“Don’t tell me…”

Her thoughts naturally flowed from there.

The horn-shaped tattoo on Yor’s collarbone, his desperate attempts to hide it…

He was a Demon’s Blood carrier.

Ha-neul was shocked.

Wanting to learn more, she searched for information about “Demon’s Blood.”

But since it was only recently revealed to players, she couldn’t find much information, no matter how hard she searched.

The only thing she could find was that Demon’s Blood carriers were extremely harmful.

And that the people in this world executed all Demon’s Blood carriers.

Ha-neul felt a pang of sympathy. To her, those born with that blood were still human beings.

They were just born with that blood. It wasn’t their fault that the world wouldn’t accept them.

“Then does that mean he…”

Ha-neul thought.

She was starting to understand why Yor lived in such a dangerous forest.

He was a Demon’s Blood carrier. And according to this world’s logic, he should have been executed.

But he somehow escaped and survived in this forest until adulthood.

There was no promiscuous past, contrary to her prejudice.

He was just living his life, fighting to survive every day. She felt a twinge of guilt.

“…”

She had two choices.

Report him to the authorities, like the people here did, or turn a blind eye.

“…”

She pondered for a moment.

It didn’t take long for her to make a decision.

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Two days had passed since the woman who fell from the sky disappeared.

I had made all the preparations I could.

I had packed everything I could carry so I could leave the cave at a moment’s notice.

Even though I was living a hermit’s life, I had quite a bit of luggage. My storage room was filled with things I had collected over the years.

After packing those and a few survival essentials, it was quite a load.

I also tied thin ropes and bells to the trees around my cave. To alert me if anyone entered the forest.

Wild animals often triggered the bells, putting me on edge, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

I also set fire to the Goblin settlement.

I felt a bit bad for them, but it would put them on high alert.

If anyone approached, they would make a fuss and alert me. Goblins had a rather distinctive cry.

Anyway, I had done everything I could.

All that remained was to wait in the cave.

My response would depend on whether my next visitor was just a guest, or a subjugation squad armed with swords and bows.

If it was the latter, I would run to the deep layer without hesitation.

Even they wouldn’t be able to deploy an army into the deep layer.

The waiting was stressful.

I had no way of knowing whether my next encounter would be friendly or hostile. I couldn’t let my guard down, even at night. I barely slept.

It was an agonizing wait.

Something happened on the morning of the third day.

As I stepped out of the cave, still half asleep, I saw someone looking for me.

It was the Mage woman from three days ago. I hadn’t heard any noise, so she must have flown here, like last time.

“Ah, I finally found you.”

She said as she spotted me, her eyes widening.

I was immediately on guard.

But she just walked towards me slowly.

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Humans loved plot twists.

It was how our genes evolved.

In the distant past, humanity knew nothing, and to gain knowledge, we had to be curious.

So, we evolved to release dopamine and stimulate our nervous system when we encountered secrets or unexpected turns of events.

In other words, humans were attracted to the unexpected.

It’s what people called “gap moe.”

Discovering that someone you looked down on was actually an amazing person.

Learning about the misfortunes of someone you thought was always happy.

Or…

“…What?”

Discovering that someone who seemed like a player, a party animal, was actually a lonely person with a sad past.

That was why Im Ha-neul returned to the forest.

She had spent the entire morning searching for this NPC.

She almost thought she wouldn’t find him.

Yor, who had spotted Im Ha-neul, was on high alert.

He was as sharp and prickly as a hedgehog raising its spines.

What should I say?

Im Ha-neul wondered.

Unfortunately, as someone lacking in social skills, she couldn’t come up with anything good.

After a moment of contemplation, she decided to get straight to the point.

“I didn’t tell anyone, so don’t worry.”

Yor flinched.

He didn’t seem to believe her. Well, he wouldn’t believe her just based on her words.

And honestly, she couldn’t provide any concrete evidence. He was an NPC, he couldn’t see her world.

But she could show him through her actions.

She suppressed her embarrassment and pointed to his right collarbone.

He was still wearing a T-shirt, probably to hide the mark.

“Show me that for a second.”

Asking to see his body right off the bat… She would have been arrested if she said that in real life.

But he didn’t seem to mind, so she let it slide.

Of course, Yor was suspicious at first. Asking to see his collarbone again, right after they met…

It wasn’t a normal request.

“Ah, I won’t take any pictures, so don’t worry.”

“…”

But he decided to show her, intrigued by her seemingly significant request.

He had already shown her once. And if she tried to take a screenshot, he could immediately react with ‘Player’s Eye.’

He didn’t care if she tried to take a picture. He could escape to the deep layer without hesitation.

As he lowered his neckline slightly, she took a step closer.

And began channeling mana through her hand.

“Do you know how many skill points I spent to learn this?”

Yor’s mark began to fade from view.

To be precise, it wasn’t disappearing, it was just hidden from view.

It was Illusion, a spell she had learned recently.

It wasn’t very useful in combat or daily life…

But it was perfect for showing him goodwill.

Im Ha-neul continued,

“I’m Yoo Chae-rin’s editor.”

People like him usually valued practical efficiency over words.

He would only be reassured if he knew there was something in it for him.

It might seem cold-hearted, but she thought this was the best way to calm him down.

“And you’re the star of our YouTube channel. We don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. You understand?”

Yor stared at her blankly. Im Ha-neul couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Did he believe her? Was he still suspicious? Did he even understand the concept of YouTube?

“So, what I’m saying is…”

Im Ha-neul struggled to find the right words.

But it was difficult for someone with poor communication skills like her to rephrase her thoughts. Even approaching him like this took a lot of courage.

After a moment of flustered silence, she sighed and repeated herself.

“Anyway, I didn’t tell anyone, so don’t worry…”

The sun was high in the sky.

The refreshing spring air created a pleasant atmosphere, even in this brutal forest.

Yor stood there, dazed, as she cast the Illusion spell.

Only the faint sound of her heartbeat echoed through the silent forest.

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