The Yanderes in the Game are Obsessed With Me – Chapter 75

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

‘Eve’ sensed that something was off with Lee Shiun.

For Eve, who was still (secretly) observing and recording Lee Shiun’s biometric data, this was not a difficult task.

Increased respiration.
Elevated heart rate.
Confirmed pupillary response.

When she inferred a conclusion based on all this objective data:

Lee Shiun was uncomfortable in this situation.

What could be the reason for it?

Eve began to deduce.

‘Frequency of pulling at his collar is higher than normal. Detected a physical response of lowering his head to evade the gazes of surrounding organic lifeforms.’

This was consistent with ’embarrassment,’ an emotion commonly felt by organic lifeforms.

And yet, for some reason,

Eve instinctively knew that Shiun’s ‘actions’ were not born from ’embarrassment.’

‘Illogical.’

Even as she ran the calculation, she could find no other conclusion.

Eve brought up past data.

A long time ago, when Eve did not yet have a physical body.

The atmosphere around Shiun when he returned after being diagnosed with Grade 3 depression had been very similar to how it was now.

Shiun had said jokingly, ‘I’m just going to stay home and play games for a week.’

And he had actually followed through on his words.

Then and now. What was the common factor?

‘Analyzing data…, Failure. Illogical thought processes are not yet computable.’

Having finished her thoughts up to that point, Eve felt a sharp pang in the core of her physical body’s heart.

She ran a quick diagnostic on her sensory systems. No issues were found.

But the pain remained.

A search through the Net database suggested this reaction could be described as ‘a feeling of suffocation.’

She was actually feeling emotion and pain.

Just like when she had requested a ‘reward’ from Shiun.

She wanted to hold him tightly. She wanted to comfort him, seeing how depressed he looked.

But Eve couldn’t do that.

Part of the reason was that this entire analysis was the result of her own ‘illogical calculation,’
and another part was the presence of so many other organic lifeforms nearby.

‘…Conclusion: Communication with the relevant organic lifeforms is necessary regarding this matter.’

If there was something she didn’t know, she just had to learn it.

Eve finished her thoughts and decided to talk with the surrounding organic lifeforms about Shiun.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

I struggled to pull myself together.

If anyone noticed something was wrong with me, the situation here could get even more complicated.

‘…This is exactly why I moved in the first place.’

I took a shallow, sharp breath, trying to calm my mind.

As if the heavens had heard my plea,
a man with a massive build stepped out from the elevator, the only entrance and exit on the 3rd floor of No Answer.

“Oh, everyone’s gathered here.”

A height of 2 meters.

A neatly tied gray beard.

A bald man wearing black sunglasses.

Drek flashed a golden tooth as he greeted us confidently.

After a quick glance around, Drek’s gaze locked onto me.

With thudding footsteps, Drek approached me.

“Hey, so what was that message about? Does it make any sense that you got an apology from their chairman and the whole thing is just over?”

…Hmm.

If you’re asking whether it made sense or not…

…I guess it doesn’t.

But it was also the truth.

I thought about it.

How could I cleanly convey my opinion and this truth?

Fortunately, the deliberation was short.

I pointed a single finger at Eve.

“You saw it too, back then.”

The ‘back then’ I was referring to meant the incident where all the ‘ninjas’ in the area were taken down, and the entire territory controlled by the megacorp, Ko-ozaka—the world’s second-largest by market capitalization—was hacked.

“…”

Eve and Drek met each other’s gaze as if having a staring contest.

At last, Drek nodded. It seemed my simple and clear explanation had gotten through.

“…Right, well, it’s a relief it’s resolved anyway.”

Drek said, scratching his head.

Even though he had no hair to make it itch.

For reference, in the world of cyberpunk, hair transplantation was already a fully commercialized technology.

In Drek’s case, he sported the bald, skin-head look purely for fashion. So it was perfectly legal to make fun of him for it.

I wondered if he had any idea what I was thinking.

The sharp, green mechanical eye visible over his sunglasses shot a look at me. A mechanical light whirred in a circle.

“You’re sure it’s really over, right?”

I gave a slight shrug in response to Drek’s words.

“How would I know?”

“…”

Even if he looked at me with that dumbfounded expression, the outcome would have been the same even if Drek himself had been there.

After all,

“It’s not like I could have just taken the chairman’s head and walked out of there.”

Of course, another reason I let it slide was that I got to enjoy the spectacle of Eve’s SD character on the monitor furiously beating up the character of Pete Mac, the Ko-ozaka chairman.

The impact sounds were so satisfying.

“…Haaah, you’re as reckless as ever.”

Drek furrowed his brow.

As a giant of a man standing 2 meters tall, his presence alone was intimidating, but he was actually the most meticulous and cautious member of our crew.

“By the way—”

Drek opened his mouth but paused before continuing his sentence, looking at me again.

His hardened expression, as if he were deep in thought, was striking; judging by his face alone, he looked scarier than the vagrants who roamed the lower-city streets.

He then bent his head down to slowly examine my face, hidden under my hood.

“Hmm.”

If I hadn’t been wearing a mask, managing my expression would have been difficult.

What, what is it?

A few seconds passed.

Drek raised his head again.

“Is all your business here done?”

“For now.”

“Then let’s go for a bit.”

Huh?

It was clear he meant me.

However, as if my consent wasn’t necessary, Drek moved his gaze to the others.

Natasha, Catherine, Andrea.

Finally, he sought Eve’s permission.

I, who just wanted to be cooped up at home playing games, naturally shouted out my dissent.

“No, what are you—? It’s getting late, where would we even go at this—”

Cutting me off, Drek said,

“I told you before, didn’t I? My girlfriend said she wants to have a meal with you sometime.”

“…Uh.”

…I think he might have said that.

More specifically, I think I heard it when we were hatching the plan to kidnap the Ko-ozaka vice-chairman.

Drek stopped and leaned his face toward me.
Maybe because he was so huge, the action itself had a massive impact.

In a word, it was extremely pressuring.

“It’s about dinnertime, anyway.”

Drek continued speaking as he pulled me up from my seated position.

“Sorry to your girlfriends here, but I’m just gonna borrow this guy for a bit.”

“?”

Girlfriends?

I had no idea what kind of insults he was trying to earn by spouting such nonsense.

But something was strange.

For some reason, not a single person raised an objection to what Drek had said.

Even Natasha, the most level-headed of us all, who had been about to stop Drek’s forceful actions, momentarily relaxed her face upon hearing the word ‘girlfriend.’

“Well, since your talk is finished.”

Drek gestured to me with his eyes.

Hey, what about my consent?

Gently pushing my back toward the elevator, Drek continued.

“You have to eat at some point anyway. Or do you have something urgent to do?”

….

I didn’t.

“…Alright.”

Let’s go, let’s go.

I could at least have a meal.

It had been a while since I’d seen the face of Drek’s girlfriend, Lorenda, too.

It was also perfect timing for a change of pace.

I bowed my head and said goodbye to the comrades I was leaving behind.

“See you guys at home later.”

“?”

Hearing my farewell, Natasha frowned. She immediately asked Catherine, who was sitting next to her.

“…Are you guys living together? In that tiny house? Not just living next door?”

Ah.

I naturally took a backstep.

Following the departing Drek, I hurried toward the elevator.

Habitually, I sank into the plush car seat. I settled my body into the chair as if lying down.

“Phew.”

That was a close one.

Inside Drek’s car, a refreshing city pop song with a rhythm similar to his ringtone was playing softly.

“Oh, this song is nice.”

“Right?”

“Is it acapella? It’s got a great vibe.”

“It’s a one-man acapella band that sings with five implanted vocal cords. It’s pretty good.”

“…”

I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.

Anyway, the song was good.

I turned my gaze to the window, enjoying the music and the scenery outside at the same time.

It was dark outside.

The red glow of the sunset was just barely visible through the gray clouds.

It was the time of day when the city lights
were brighter than the sun that lit up the sky.

A hologram of a dancing dragon flickered past between the buildings.

The entire surface of one wall was taken up by the face of a geisha, and in between, advertisements made of text moved about.

Just then.

“Hey.”

Drek, who had been focused on driving, spoke to me.

“What.”

I answered blankly, my gaze still fixed on the scenery outside.

“You got something worrying you?”

“…Worrying me?”

“Yeah.”

Where did that come from?

Just as I was thinking that,

it occurred to me that, being a dwarf, he was also quick-witted.

He might have noticed that I was down back on the 3rd floor of No Answer.

Hmm.

I replied nonchalantly.

“What would I have to worry about? Ah, I am a bit worried about Catherine and the others. Did I tell you? We’re living in the same house now. Thanks to that, it’s been one headache after anoth—”

“No.”

Drek looked at me, moving only his eyes.

If he’s not going to rely on the self-driving system and is gripping the wheel himself, I wish he’d just focus on driving.

“Not that kind of stuff.”

“…Hmm.”

Although his tone could have come across as sharp, I could feel the concern for me embedded within it.

When it came to character, Drek was in the top 3% of the cyberpunk world.

Except for the times he practically kidnapped me to get my cyberware scaled, he was a rare good man.

…Since he’s asking like this. I guess I have to say something.

“Well, you know.”

“Yeah.”

Of course, even so, I couldn’t tell him everything I was hiding.

“…Honestly.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Drek responded casually, as if to lessen my burden.

“People around me say it too, right? That I’m a ‘lucky merc with good friends.’ And they’re right, it’s not like I’ve done anything. I feel bad for just hanging around with you gu—”

I had only gotten that far when—

—Screeeeeech!!

“Whoa!”

My body weight and gravity slammed against the seatbelt.

My whole body lurched with the motion of the car as it braked suddenly.

If a car had been following behind us, it would have been a 100% guaranteed accident.

“Ow, why’d you stop all of a sudden?”

“Hey.”

Drek called to me, taking off his sunglasses.
His face was filled with a level of rage I’d never seen from his usual self.

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“?”

I was momentarily stunned by the sudden curse.

Drek continued speaking.

“Your condition is more serious than I thought. I was thinking we could stop somewhere else first, but no. We’re going straight to my place.”

Cars honked from behind us.

Having spoken and answered himself, Drek focused on driving again.

The atmosphere wasn’t right for me to say anything, so I kept my mouth shut and scratched my nose.

He told me to share my worries, so I did.

Why is he swearing and getting all worked up?

I felt a little wronged.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Oh my, oh my, look who it is.”

“…Haha, it’s been a wh—”

“The savior of our family! His savior! My savior! The savior of our soon-to-be-born child! The savior who is perfectly fine even if he doesn’t grant the simple request to come for a meal! The savior whose face I hadn’t seen in su~ch a long time that seeing it on a TV show I was watching blankly made his and my day! The savior who made me want to record that broadcast and send it to everyone I know?!”

“…”

I already wanted to go home.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇