Once upon a time, there was a girl named Hibris, who used to be Mary.
Borrowing her creator’s words, she held the best grades among the Erosions with 13 kills, 2 deaths, and 86 injuries.
Of course, it’s a given that lower numbers are better for all three stats.
“What are you doing, Kim Hibi?”
Before she knew it, Hibris began living with Bae Yeon-ji, who was born into an ordinary middle-class home in the Republic of Korea.
Cluck cluck cluck
Brrrrr
But right now, it’s lunchtime!
Her new hobby was watching nature documentaries.
“Heh. I was bored, so I was watching V-tube.”
“Wow, the world has truly improved. I saw a zebra hunting a crocodile from my corner.”
“Why did you call me, unni?”
“I’m looking for someone to keep me company, Hibris. I’m having dinner, and eating alone feels lonely.”
“Why don’t you find a good man and get married, unni?”
“Wha—what? Suddenly? I’m still in my mid-twenties! I have a long way to go if I want to!”
Hibris tilted her head.
In her village, people usually prepared for marriage between the ages of 12 and 16.
Unlike Na-me, who had basic knowledge about modern life, Hibris found 2053 a bit overwhelming.
Bae Yeon-ji turned on the hologram projector and synced with Hibris’s coordinates.
The space in the private room where Hibris was also replicated to be identical to the kitchen.
Hibris awkwardly observed Bae Yeon-ji, who was sitting across from her, eating stir-fried pork and seaweed soup.
At first, Bae Yeon-ji felt uneasy and nauseous, but she eventually got used to it.
[The Janjeol Clan’s NoName Wizard announced that Dreaming Mode, which achieved 50 million users in the past 30 days, has now surpassed 100 million subscribers. Just a month after the service launch—]
“Wow, NoName must be making a lot of money. If they just collect 10,000원 from each person, that’s 1 trillion won a month.”
Bae Yeon-ji turned to Hibris while watching the news.
“I saw it again.”
“Hmm? What?”
“The NoName I know was a psycho killer who ate human guts.”
“Hibi, that’s just a game! That’s the character setting; NoName is just a little kid!”
“Oh, right. I was mistaken.”
“Honestly, it’s admirable. I usually need to sleep for 8 hours to feel refreshed, but ever since I used the Dream Capsule, I only need 6 hours and I feel completely recharged! That’s why I’ve been going out for morning workouts lately.”
Currently, NoName’s status was soaring high into the sky.
Having conquered the minor ailments that were bothering humans in daily life, NoName had people who once skeptically thought, “Using a Dream Capsule won’t change my life significantly,” now completely silenced after experiencing things like adrenal fatigue, seasonal allergies, and asthma.
“With how busy you are, Kaizen World is completely out of the question… I had such fun, but it can’t be helped. Speaking of which, Hibris, don’t you know anything? I thought you learned some setting or background knowledge from Na-me.”
Setting, background knowledge.
Unlike Na-me, who dismissed her past life as a game, Hibris had been clearly warned.
“Because she told me not to spoil it, heh heh.”
“Come on, just one! There are only two of us here, so no one will know. I’ll buy you tickets to the VR San Diego Zoo. Okay?”
The innocent country girl perked up at the enticing offer.
Though she was 200% satisfied with life in virtual reality, the one thing she felt regret about was not being able to visit the zoo.
However, a 99.9% accurately replicated San Diego Zoo in virtual reality would be different.
Tiger, red panda, desert fox!
Hibris was defeated in front of the fluffy furball.
“You knew that a total of 7 Erosions, including me, bring calamity to the world, right?”
“Are the other Erosions as cute and adorable as you?”
“Um, no! I know they are all dignified and noble beings compared to me…! Especially Erichiton-nim is a—”
In that fleeting moment, Hibris experienced something strange.
All the points in the world transformed into infinite lines, colors expelled by everything swirled and mixed, glowing in white.
It was an experience where her vision was completely filled with white.
As she slowly opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but take an awkward breath.
“Ugh?”
The entity Hibris feared the most was right in front of her, hovering close.
“You’ve held on quite a long time, Hibris.”
[Private Room of ‘NoName’]
[▶Custom 1]
Hibris’s green hair flowed smoothly through the pale lady’s fingers.
“But it seems my words make no sense. What promise did you—”
“AAAHHHHHHH!”
An ear-piercing scream echoed, far exceeding the volume limit.
*
Countless hints gathered to restore Erichiton’s memories and personality.
In recent days, I had been solely focused on developing the ASI Cube to find clues about Seol-ah.
“From the start, I should have called Erichiton, not you, Hibris.”
“That kind of talk makes me… sad, Witch-nim…!”
“I’m more upset with you. Did you forget our promise? We agreed not to bring up our past lives.”
“…”
“See? You have nothing to say, right? It’s your fault.”
I scolded Hibris in a soothing manner.
She shrank in the corner like a wilted weed.
“Um, I wonder when… Yeon-ji unni must be worried.”
“It’s fine. I’ll leave her a message right now.”
“Waaah…!”
“Hey, come here for a moment. Hold this line tight.”
The good thing about Erosions is their high mana conductivity.
Hibris turned out to be a surprisingly useful assistant when drafting the complete dissociation formula.
Not knowing what to say for several minutes, I decided to initiate a small talk from my side.
“How have you been lately?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t be too tense. I’m just asking because I want to get closer to you.”
“Um, I—I… I just help Yeon-ji unni with her livestreaming… rolling around while watching animal videos….”
“Hah, you’re totally a bum? If you were born in the medieval era, you would’ve starved to death.”
“Why! I’m quite good at harvesting potatoes and milking goats, you know?”
What on Earth was she talking about?
I looked at Hibris with a pitiful expression.
“But what about you, Witch-nim?”
“I told you I’m not a witch.”
“Na-me nim seems like a fascinating person.”
“Me? Why do you think that?”
“Because in my past life, you were infamous, but here, all I hear are praises for you, Na-me nim. It’s so fascinating how a person can have such a drastic change in evaluation….”
“I was infamous in my past life? I didn’t do anything that bad.”
Then Hibris squinted her eyes.
“Oh, right. I’m sure you didn’t. The Lady of the Empire, you killed the noble Prince, dined on the Duke’s liver, and didn’t stop at killing the Pope, but also split Praha into 13 nations, and still, you’re not infamous at all…!”
With each word she spoke, it felt like a giant arrow pierced through my body.
“That’s why I don’t mix with the southern continent’s people. They start to crawl up when I let them go just a bit.”
“Eek!”
It wasn’t regional discrimination, but southerners generally had a trend of being rude.
If you said such things randomly in the north, you’d be risking your life with a gold axe or silver axe!
“Don’t you need a body like Adella?”
“Adella? Oh, Seol-ah? No, I find virtual reality much more comfortable…”
“Well, I can’t provide you with one anyway. Thank goodness.”
Erosions, in general, possessed an exceptional obsession with life.
Since it was unknown what they might do upon acquiring actual bodies, isolating them in virtual reality might not be a bad option.
They probably preferred that much.
“You have quite a talent for handling magic circles. I’ve noticed again.”
“Really? Thank you…!”
“I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Come again at this time tomorrow. I’ll pay you well.”
“Waaah…!”
I took Hibris as my conversational partner and assistant and diligently worked on the second ASI Black Cube.
I reverse-engineered the cube given by Wearsoft, analyzing what materials were used and how the stacks and trenches were applied to reduce each circuit’s resistance.
“Isn’t it illegal?”
“Well, if you don’t get caught, it’s not illegal.”
“Ohh!”
“What’s so enlightening about that? It’s illegal, so just keep your mouth shut.”
“Yes, ma’am…!”
I developed the cube to solve various linguistic and cultural issues Hibris faced upon gaining independence.
This was somewhat different from what happened to Adella and the Erosions.
She had the modern people as her entire base, so she faced no difficulties in adapting to modern culture.
It was the same principle as someone who had skied before quickly adjusting after a long break.
And mainly, I discussed the past life stories with Hibris.
“Do you know the Britannia Republic? You know I named that country, right?”
“Wow, really? How did you do that?”
“When a country is established, the Alpenheim Kingdom usually grants the name directly. I was there among the diplomatic envoys at the time. All we had to do was create public opinion that both sides wanted Britannia, and we smoothly tricked everyone! Those who resisted fiercely were whispered dreams about Britannia.”
“Why go through such trouble?”
“Because… it’s fun?”
Of course, there was also a desire to reveal my identity as a modern person without anyone knowing.
I secretly wished someone in a similar situation would come forth, but that never happened.
Perhaps due to having real-life experience from the past world, I connected rather well with Hibris.
There turned out to be more nostalgic topics than expected when I looked for them.
But the more we talked, the more dissonance arose; it was clear that she had a wealth of knowledge beyond just an ordinary commoner.
“How do you know so precisely about the succession line of Duke Zakario?”
“J-just…”
“It can’t just be ‘just.’ You claim to know about something thousands of kilometers away through hearsay?”
“I didn’t hear it through a rumor. I swear on the heavens.”
“Then?”
“I don’t really know. I just know, um… it feels like the memories of other Erosions flowed into me.”
“Is that possible? Ah… I guess it is.”
In the end, I had forcibly gathered all these entities into one place.
Since I had recklessly spent their knowledge, there was a good chance that the barriers between them had slightly broken down.
“So, will you direct that play-like thing again?”
“Play?”
“Oh, not a play, but a game?”
“Ah, are you asking if I’ll do the same for Erichiton as I did for you?”
“Yes.”
I hesitated for a moment before answering.
“I will create it, but I won’t be the one making it.”
[Wearsoft Faces Bankruptcy Crisis, ‘Can There Be a Fantasy-like Salvation?’]
