Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

It had been over a month since the incident involving the demon, which had brought certain information to light.

Thanks to that, a large-scale event known as the Andromalius Subjugation was organized, and the video footage from that event was nothing short of shocking.

The identity of the little child featured in that footage had been mostly uncovered.

Never underestimate the determination of the players.
There were plenty of survivors from the incident back then, and information could also be gathered from the knights.

And the information collected piled up, eventually being organized on TreeWiki. As expected of TreeWiki, the Akashic Records that contain all the records of the universe—even the details about a mere NPC were documented there.

Of course, most of the information was heavily distorted, making it unreliable. But at least in the game, it provided some credible information.

With only the keyword "tattoo" in hand, Im Ha-neul had been drifting through the sea of information.

It was a rather curious experience when the seemingly unrelated keyword “Devil’s Blood” appeared as a related search term.

“?”

Tilting her head in confusion, Im Ha-neul immediately clicked on the related keyword, eventually leading her to the records of the demon incident.

Ha-neul quickly navigated through the various entries, heading straight for the information on the demon.@@novelbin@@

The demon responsible for the incident at that time was said to be a 14-year-old boy.

He was a local child from that village, and the Devil’s Blood had manifested in him when he was ten years old. However, due to the village's remote location, this fact had been hidden.

It was said that the boy’s parents cherished him deeply and worked hard to keep him hidden.

As a result, even the villagers were unaware that the child possessed the Devil’s Blood. Things could have remained that way, but unfortunately, tragedy struck when he turned 14.

Unable to bear the Devil’s Blood any longer, the boy lost his sanity. The situation escalated, and it eventually spread across the entire world.

What intrigued Im Ha-neul was this:

She understood that the Devil’s Blood was extremely dangerous. After all, a mere child had almost destroyed an entire village and even summoned a demon.

The fact that the country had issued recruitment notices to subdue the demon showed just how much NPCs feared those with the Devil’s Blood.

But how could they detect when the Devil’s Blood had manifested?

Fortunately, the method was surprisingly simple. Those with the Devil’s Blood would, without exception, have a demonic mark appear somewhere on their bodies. The shape and location of the mark varied, but its appearance was a certainty.

In fact, when they examined the boy’s corpse after the incident, they found a tattoo—a sinister mark resembling the claws of a demon.

“No way…”

Her thoughts naturally connected.

The horn-shaped tattoo on Yor’s collarbone and the way he desperately tried to hide it. Yor was a possessor of the Devil’s Blood.

This realization left Ha-neul in a state of shock.

Wanting to know more, she eagerly searched for further information on the Devil’s Blood.

However, perhaps because the information had only recently been made available to players, no matter how hard she searched, there wasn’t much information to be found.

The only thing she could confirm was that those who possessed the Devil’s Blood were considered extremely dangerous. As a result, the people in that world executed anyone whose blood had manifested.

At this point, Ha-neul couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy. From her perspective, those born with such blood were still human. They were simply born with that blood. The world just refused to accept them.

“So, that person too…?”

Ha-neul thought.

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

He was a possessor of the Devil’s Blood, and by the world’s logic, he was at risk of being executed. But somehow, he had escaped that fate and had survived in the forest until adulthood.

The promiscuous past she had once assumed he had didn’t exist in the slightest. He was simply living each day fiercely in the forest. Realizing this made her feel slightly guilty.

“…”

Now, she had two options.

She could either report him to the authorities, like the people of that world would. Or she could simply stay quiet and let things be.

“…”

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

It had already been two days since that woman who fell from the sky disappeared.

In the meantime, I had made all the preparations I could.

First, I packed everything I might need so I could leave the cave at a moment’s notice.

Even though I was living a simple life in the wilderness, I had quite a bit of stuff. The storage room was filled with all the items I had gathered over time. By the time I grabbed those along with some survival gear, the load was quite heavy.

I also tied some thin ropes with bells near the trees. This was to alert me if anyone came into the forest. Sure, sometimes wild animals would set off the bells and put me on edge, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

Besides that, I had secretly set fire to the goblin camp.

I felt a little bad for them, but this way, they'd stay on high alert. If anyone came looking for me, the goblins would raise a ruckus and let me know. Their cries were pretty distinct, after all.

Anyway, with that, I had done everything I could. All that was left was to wait in the cave. Depending on whether the next visitor was just a random traveler or a full-fledged hunting party armed with swords and bows, my response would be different.

If it was the latter, I’d have to run deeper into the forest without delay. No matter how determined they were, they wouldn’t be able to bring an entire army that deep into the woods.

The waiting itself was stressful. I had no way of knowing if what was coming for me would be a gesture of goodwill or a pointed spear. I had no choice but to stay on high alert, even at night. Naturally, I hadn’t been sleeping well. It was an agonizing wait.

Then, on the morning of the third day, something happened.

Half-asleep, I stumbled out of the cave, only to find someone was looking for me.

It was the same female mage I had seen three days ago. There hadn’t been any noise to alert me, so she must have flown in from the sky again like before.

“Ah, finally found you.”

Her eyes widened as she spotted me.

I immediately raised my guard.

But she continued to approach slowly, as if unfazed by my wariness.

People love a good twist.

It’s because our genes evolved that way. In the distant past, humanity knew very little, and to find answers, we had no choice but to be curious.

That’s why, when we uncover secrets or experience unexpected turns of events, our nervous systems light up and release dopamine.

In simpler terms, people are attracted to the unexpected. It’s what we commonly call "gap moe."

Like finding out that someone you dismissed is actually an extraordinary person. Or hearing about the misfortunes of someone you thought was living a happy life.

Or perhaps...

“...What is this?”

Someone who seemed like they lived a wild life but turned out to be a lonely person with a tragic past. That was why Im Ha-neul had come back to the forest.

She had been wandering around all morning just to meet this NPC again. At one point, she thought she might not find him.

Yor had spotted her and immediately raised his guard. He looked as sharp and wary as a hedgehog with its spines raised.

What should I say? Im Ha-neul pondered for a moment. Unfortunately, social skills weren’t her strong suit, so she couldn’t think of a smooth conversation starter. After some hesitation, she decided to get straight to the point.

“I haven’t told anyone else, so don’t worry.”

Yor flinched slightly from across the way. His expression showed that he clearly didn’t believe her. Understandably so—no one would trust just words. And to be honest, she couldn’t offer any solid proof. As an NPC, he couldn’t see her world after all.

But she could show him through her actions. Gathering her courage, she pointed at his right collarbone.

He was still wearing a short-sleeved shirt, probably to cover up the mark.

“Let me see that for a moment.”

Well, asking someone to show you their body right after meeting them again—if this were reality, she’d be dragged to the police station. But Yor didn’t seem to care much about such things, so she let it slide.

At first, Yor was suspicious. Asking to see his collarbone right after they met again was far from a normal request.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take any pictures or anything.”

“...”

Despite her somewhat strange request, Yor hesitated for a moment before showing her the mark.

After all, she was someone who had already seen it once. And even if she tried to take a screenshot, he could react immediately with the "player's eye." Not that it mattered—he could always flee into the depths without hesitation.

As he pulled down his shirt slightly, she took a step closer to him. Then, she began to gather magic into her hands.

“Do you have any idea how many points I spent to learn this spell?”

Slowly, Yor’s mark began to fade from view. To be precise, it wasn’t disappearing—it was just being concealed from sight.

She was using an illusion magic she had recently learned. It wasn’t particularly useful in battle or everyday life, but there was no better spell to show goodwill.

Im Ha-neul wasn’t finished talking yet.

“I’m Yu Chae-rin, an editor.”

People like him tend to prefer practical benefits over mere words. They need to see what’s in it for them to feel at ease. It might seem a bit cold, but she figured this was the best way to calm him down.

“And you’re the reason our YouTube views have skyrocketed. There’s no reason for me to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Got it?”

Yor stared at her blankly for a moment. Im Ha-neul couldn’t quite figure out what he was thinking. Did he believe her, or was he still suspicious? For all she knew, he might not even understand what YouTube was.

“So, what I’m saying is…”

Im Ha-neul struggled to find the right words. But for someone like her, who wasn’t good at talking, putting her thoughts into words wasn’t easy. Just coming this far and speaking up had taken a lot of courage.

After fumbling for a while, she let out a sigh and repeated herself.

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

The sun was high. Even in this grim forest, the light breeze and the fresh spring air brought a pleasant atmosphere. Yor stood there in a daze, quietly watching as her illusion magic took effect.

In the quiet forest, the only sound was the faint beating of her nervous heart.