My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 34
‘There can be no paradise at the end of a desperate flight.’
It was a famous line from some manga, but at least some of the party members couldn’t relate to it at all right now.
―Crash!
[One down.]
After all, there was no way to escape!
Every time Dalikssor swung his spear, every time he hurled it, another player vanished.
He was death incarnate.
The first party was nothing special. Ten minutes was enough to wipe out six scattered players.
Even that was only because I was going easy on them so they wouldn’t break too quickly.
But then.
“Get it! It’s a raid boss!”
“It’s a new zone boss! Take it down no matter what! This is YouTube gold!”
Strangely enough, as time passed, some of these toys actually approached me of their own volition.
Of course, I wasn’t particularly pleased with how impudently they stood against me.
‘Still, since they’re kindly coming to me, I suppose I can indulge them a little.’
Magic, arrows, and blades flew at him, but his formidable body didn’t even flinch.
[Next.]
―Splurch!
The mage’s chest was pierced by the spear.
His heart burst, and the flame of life extinguished in an instant.
[Next.]
―Thud!
The warrior’s neck was severed clean off.
His head flew through the air, creating a horrific spectacle.
[Next.]
―Slash!
The archer’s body was cleanly bisected by the spear blade.
From the corpse split in two, blood fountained forth.
Those who hadn’t enabled the 19+ content filter had to witness every gruesome detail.
And then.
“No… please…”
Finally, those who had come to hunt the new zone’s boss began to crumble under the weight of their helplessness.
“Damn it, what is this! The balance is completely off compared to the field mobs!”
“Is this really a mob we’re supposed to be able to take down at this stage?”
While it would make for good YouTube content, dying this pathetically fast wouldn’t produce decent footage.
It would generate some buzz, but with new zone content pouring out constantly, they needed more substantial information.
―Splurch!
Dalikssor pierced another player with his spear.
The poor soul, his heart run through, collapsed without even managing a scream.
―Thump. Thump. Thump.
Then he began advancing toward an archer.
“You… you bastard. If I die now, my durability is completely destroyed!”
The archer, gripped by the terror of imminent death, pleaded desperately, but Dalikssor’s expression remained unmoved.
―Squelch!
In the next instant, the spear blade pierced through the archer’s chest.
Thanks to having the pain setting cranked to maximum, sharp agony accompanied a torrent of blood spilling from his mouth.
Crimson blood stained the world in vivid profusion.
“Cough… hack…”
Vomiting blood from his throat, the archer’s pupils dimmed. It was the moment his life’s final flame was extinguished.
[Video playback has ended.]
Thus the video uploaded to YouTube came to a close. The reason why the archer Pale’s video among all the uploaded footage recorded the highest view count was simple.
He survived the longest.
In other words, among all the players who rushed at Dalikssor in the Beast Forest, not a single one inflicted any meaningful damage.
[My Face Is Handsome: Is this the first raid boss of the Demon Realm?]
[D Mong Gappi: Damn, he looks strong.]
[Someone’s Ex-Girlfriend: I heard SSS-Rank Guilds already formed search parties? Link attached below.]
However, the reactions of those commenting on YouTube were far from despair.
Most of those who ventured into the Beast Forest were players from mid-tier guilds. They couldn’t be called weak, but the skill gap between them and true major guild players was substantial.
“Hmm. The reaction is certainly intense, as expected.”
Jae-beom sipped his coffee while observing the various opinions flowing through the comment section.
[dd: Who the hell woke this bastard up?]
[Mystery Genius Paladin: I’m serious—I’ll find them and kill them.]
[Knight Goes to Knight’s Restaurant: Really grateful to the player who helped us! Waiting for your contact!]
Among them were those determined to uncover who had awakened the demon.
They seemed to be players who had died early and couldn’t capture the YouTube footage.
“Well, I didn’t wake it up.”
For some reason, the egg had dropped right in front of them and hatched.
Judging by the aura I felt, it seemed strangely familiar with the Overlord’s presence.
But wasn’t there text stating “Ye-jin and Ye-jin awakened it”?
Moreover, how many people were in the Beast Forest?
The first party might feel wronged, perhaps, but their Party Leader clearly said “Fall back!” Jae-beom and Ye-jin simply followed those orders more faithfully than anyone else.
With such a perfect conclusion reached, Jae-beom downvoted the comments claiming to find the culprit who awakened the demon. It seemed best to prevent them from getting any replies.
“Phew…”
After reviewing the other comments, he closed the YouTube site.
‘Ye-jin.’
Then the message window that Ye-jin had sent appeared.
The two had silently agreed midway and parted ways—she, having fled from the demon, logged out in a quiet place where no one else was around.
‘Good thing she escaped safely.’
Jae-beom had done the same.
He too had quietly logged out of the game the moment combat judgment ended, taking advantage of the chaotic scene where people were dying.
[Ye-jin: It seems we have quite a lot to discuss when we meet. Please contact me at the number written below.]
“An unexpected offline meeting…”
But right after logging out of the game, a message arrived from Ye-jin.
“Hmm…”
Truth be told, it was rather abrupt. There were certainly many things to discuss, but there was no particular reason they had to meet offline specifically.
Besides, just a day ago I’d met with Jimin and even had a meal together. Though back then the game was under maintenance, so there was no “Evern Online loss” to worry about…
‘There must be a reason she specifically wanted to meet.’
But then again, the same logic applied to Ye-jin. Even if not to the same degree as me, she clearly seemed genuinely invested in Evern Online.
If that was the case, a second question remained.
‘Is she trustworthy?’
The time I’d spent with Ye-jin so far was short. We’d only met two or three times, but there was plenty of basis for judgment.
Of course, I didn’t know Ye-jin very well. I didn’t even know if she was actually female in reality. In virtual reality games, changing one’s gender was a simple matter after all.
‘If I’m going to keep using her, I need to get a clearer picture of her personal information.’
But, quite rarely, my conscience pricked me.
[dd: So who’s the archer in that Knight’s Tavern villain video?]
[Knight’s Tavern Regular: I’m always waiting. My Evern Online ID is….]
Ye-jin had become the “Knight’s Tavern Villain’s girlfriend” frequently mentioned in YouTube comments.
If Ye-jin had done significant customization on her original face, or if she were a different gender altogether, it would be fine…
‘But what if that was her real face?’
There was a chance things could get awkward if someone recognized her. After all, she was being treated as “the person who awakened and threw the hidden boss.”
I understood why she’d insisted on meeting in person. Unfortunately, in Evern Online, the credibility of “that’s just how I actually look” approached zero.
“…Fine.”
I made a firm decision.
“What’s the worst that could happen from meeting?”
Meeting someone two days in a row—this was the first time since graduating school.
* * *
Ye-jin was sitting in the corner of a cafe.
Hidden behind a large pillar of what seemed to be poorly designed architecture, seated on a spacious sofa that concealed her almost entirely, yet her presence was unmistakably striking.
Even with absurdly large sunglasses covering her face.
A brown blazer draped over a white short-sleeved shirt—a casual outfit, yet somehow it kept drawing people’s gazes toward her.
“…Is she a celebrity?”
“Definitely.”
“Who is she?”
“Not sure, but she’s gotta be an actress or idol. There’s no way she’s a regular person, debut or not.”
Those near Ye-jin whispered quietly, while those at a distance gossiped openly.
Some of them even subtly turned on their smartphone cameras.
―Whoosh.
“!”
Each time, those who found themselves meeting Ye-jin’s gaze directly from behind her sunglasses had no choice but to hurriedly lower their phones.
“Will it be okay?”
Yet Ye-jin’s true feelings were far more complicated. She was consumed with worry about the internet friend she would soon meet in person.
“Will they actually be a normal person…?”
Jae-beom had agonized over meeting Ye-jin beforehand, but not nearly as much as she was now. Ye-jin disliked bringing online relationships into reality even more than he did.
Whether they harassed her constantly online, showed obvious affection, displayed subtle interest, or ignored her entirely…
Over 95% of men turned out to be the type who became irrationally forward the moment they met her in person. When she’d mentioned this to friends, she’d even heard this response.
“That’s never happened with anyone I know.”
After that, Ye-jin had simply given up seeking advice. Instead, she could only hope that “Stagnant Water” was among the rare few percent who might actually be female.
Though judging by that body control, it seemed unlikely.
―Creak.
The cafe door opened.
Several patrons’ gazes shifted toward it. What caught their eyes was a man in slovenly attire.
A loose hoodie and black cotton pants.
The kind of style anyone might have worn at least once.
And yet.
‘Ah, that’s him.’
Ye-jin recognized Jae-beom instantly. He’d customized his appearance somewhat in Warlord Online, but in Evern Online he’d barely touched his face at all…
‘Height, build, muscle structure—100% match. So he didn’t customize his body after all.’
Most importantly, the fact that his body remained unmodified was the biggest tell.
Like Jae-beom, most players avoided customizing their bodies to maintain synchronization rates, but someone with Ye-jin’s sharp eye could spot it instantly.
Jae-beom quickly ordered an espresso, then glanced around the cafe. The moment he spotted the sunglasses, he seemed to recognize Ye-jin as well, approaching her directly with purpose.
Noticing that Ye-jin had also drawn attention, Jae-beom leaned in close and whispered as quietly as possible.
“…Ye-jin?”
“Can we skip the ‘Petit’ part…? Actually, let’s just drop it entirely, okay?”
Ye-jin gritted her teeth as she answered. Jae-beom seemed to fall into that rare 5% category of “crazy people” rather than the 95% who showed romantic interest.
* * *
“Why did you want to meet?”
It was a question Jae-beom posed before their coffees even arrived. Ye-jin found herself actually relieved at his directness.
At least he didn’t seem to be part of that “95%.”
“First, I wanted to ask about your identity.”
“My identity?”
“Yes. What you do, and what your concrete plans are going forward…”
“That’s still a secret.”
“What?”
“Didn’t we make a promise? That I’d tell you once you completed your first class advancement successfully.”
Jae-beom brought up the promise as if he’d been waiting for this moment. But Ye-jin had been waiting just as long.
“The situation’s different now.”
With that, Ye-jin lowered her sunglasses slightly.
“…?”
But Jae-beom merely responded with a look of confusion.
“…You haven’t watched the YouTube video?”
“Oh, the Dalikssor video? I’ve seen it. It was trending.”
“You didn’t know that he was looking for me in it?”
“Oh, was he?”
Jae-beom’s expression was perfectly crafted—as if hearing this for the first time. Every subtle shift in his voice, every glance, every hesitation was meticulously controlled. And yet.
“You’re quite the actor.”
“Pardon?”
“Someone who checks information that thoroughly wouldn’t have missed digging up details about me. If you’d simply logged back in and hunted, I’d understand, but you already said you watched the YouTube video.”
Ye-jin had already decided on the answer before hearing his response. She took a sip of her coffee and spoke casually.
“Besides, involuntary muscles can’t be controlled.”
“….”
‘What is she, some kind of interrogation expert….’
Jae-beom fell silent. This was going to be far more difficult than he’d anticipated.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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