***
After enduring the brilliant, multicolored flashes piercing through my eyelids for a moment, I was suddenly engulfed in white light.
It was the light of the Otherworld's sun.
There were roughly thirty people making the crossing this time. Why did they gather everyone together and send them through at once instead of letting people enter individually? I'd followed their instructions, but I couldn't help wondering about it.
And now I understood why.
The guide, his face deathly pale, began checking the passengers.
"E-everyone's arrived, right? Please check on your companions and make sure you're feeling all right··· Urgh···!"
The guide couldn't finish speaking before he rushed off. Several others abandoned their luggage and hurried after him.
"Good grief···."
I had a pretty good idea why.
Even if someone was immune to the Otherworld's miasma, their body couldn't necessarily withstand the shock of being exposed to it so suddenly.
Until their bodies adjusted, they'd suffer from headaches severe enough to make their eyes roll back, along with intense nausea.
And since accidents could happen in that condition, they apparently gathered everyone together before departure to keep things under control.
'The testing procedures are rather sloppy, and their measures for dealing with the side effects are just as crude.'
Cha So-hee had told me that dimensional gates were managed by private companies rather than the government.
Did that mean the government simply didn't want to get too involved?
Or··· had someone been paid off?
··Something about the whole arrangement smelled fishy, but it wasn't anything I needed to concern myself with right now. I decided to leave that particular amusement for another day.
More importantly, why were these people so determined to enter the Otherworld despite having to endure all that suffering?
All sorts of questions sprang to mind, but for now, my attention was entirely occupied by the scenery of the base camp on the Otherworld's side.
While I was leisurely taking in the surroundings, a middle-aged man was the first to emerge from one of the facilities.
··They'd actually built a facility for vomiting right beside the dimensional gate.
"Ugh, I really hate this."
The man staggered out, spotted me, and approached with a surprised "Huh?"
"Are you feeling all right?"
"Me? Ah, yes."
"Wow···. Are you a Pathfinder, by any chance?"
"A Pathfinder? You mean one of those Otherworld guides? No."
"I heard even Pathfinders don't come through completely unaffected···. Are you some kind of secret government agent?"
"No. Nothing like that."
An exploration jacket, exploration pants, and a small bag.
Did that look like the sort of outfit a government agent would wear?
"I'm just··· here to look around."
Was that an appropriate answer?
Judging by the way the man nodded and said, "I see," it apparently hadn't sounded strange.
I hadn't been born immune to miasma in the first place.
I'd only gained immunity to the Otherworld's miasma after gritting my teeth and surviving through unimaginable pain.
Perhaps the fact that I no longer felt any discomfort was my reward for enduring all that suffering.
The man shook his head at the dreadful noises coming from the 'aftermath' facility.
"They'll be at it for ages. Must all be beginners."
"By the way, what is this place?"
I finally gave in to my curiosity and asked.
"Oh, here? Strange, isn't it? Looks almost like the Middle Ages."
The entire surrounding area had been arranged to resemble a village.
Back when I'd been living out my survival diary, I'd encountered villages in the Otherworld.
This place looked exactly like one of them.
It was the very image of a frontier village commonly depicted in medieval fantasy films and comics.
The problem was that everyone living here was a modern Earthling, not a native of the Otherworld.
"Is it supposed to be some kind of theme park?"
"They built it this way to fool the people of the Otherworld. They sell supplies, food, and all sorts of things here. There's even a motel, though it's designed to look like a medieval inn."
"To hide the dimensional gate from the locals?"
"It's a disguise. Things could get troublesome if the people of the Otherworld discovered the gate."
They'd done a remarkably good job of making the place resemble a frontier village of the Otherworld.
I couldn't imagine how they'd deal with a visit from an entire kingdom, but I figured they must have some arrangements in place.
"Ruthless···. Truly."
That was the only thought that came to mind.
They'd gone to all this trouble simply to keep the intelligent inhabitants of the Otherworld from learning about our existence.
There really was no other word for it.
"Well, I'll be heading off first."
"Where are you going, sir?"
"Me? The Mimyeong River. About half a day's journey that way. Know the place?"
"What are you going there for?"
"Fishing, of course. I hear the fish in the Otherworld put up one hell of a fight."
I hadn't imagined that at all.
"Ha ha ha! If you enjoy fishing, you should give it some thought. I'll be off now. Take care of yourself."
The man walked away laughing, a long, sturdy-looking fishing bag strapped to his back.
"······."
It had given me another opportunity to understand how modern people regarded the Otherworld.
"If he's going downstream, he'll need to watch out for the red moss."
He didn't look like someone who'd only been there once or twice, so I figured he knew what he was doing.
What concerned me now was something else.
"Two more samples I need to collect from the outskirts of the Bermuda Forest."
And then there was—
"Hello, everyone! This is Eunsuri TV! Today, I was originally planning to make a video experiencing the unpredictability of the Bermuda Forest! But before that, I thought I'd film the preparations leading up to our journey there!"
That YouTuber.
I'd known since my first day back that there were YouTubers whose content revolved around the Otherworld.
There was nothing particularly unusual about that.
But the fruit that bastard was carrying was definitely a problem.
At first, I'd thought I might have seen it wrong.
But my nose told me otherwise.
A sour, spicy, acrid smell was seeping from it.
The scent was so faint that I was probably the only person around who could detect it.
That only made matters worse.
If I were managing this place, I'd have prohibited anyone from bringing that fruit inside, without exception.
After all, that thing released hormones that attracted the animals of the Otherworld and drove them into a frenzy.
"You see, I've actually visited the forest twice already! You could call me a veteran··· right? Hehe. It was all preliminary research for filming, you know!"
Right. That part probably wasn't a lie.
After all, the forest used that fruit to lure prey.
He must have obtained it from the forest one way or another.
But why had he gone out of his way to smuggle it inside?
What kind of YouTube content was he planning to make with a fruit he'd brought in secretly?
"······."
There had been people like that even before the dimensional gates appeared.
A tiny minority who wouldn't hesitate to commit crimes or fabricate events if it meant getting more views.
I hoped the scenario forming in my head was nothing more than my imagination.
But I decided to act on the assumption that it wasn't.
***
Hong Eun-su.
His channel name and the name he used as a YouTuber was Eunsuri.
Recently, he'd been growing increasingly dissatisfied as he watched his competitors.
"It's all fucking staged."
Even without a shred of evidence, he looked at popular YouTubers with envy and resentment.
He convinced himself that their videos were fabricated, that they were staging situations just to attract attention.
That was his worldview.
He judged and belittled other people's work based solely on what he himself knew.
And so, he'd decided to do the same thing.
'Everyone else does it, so why shouldn't I? As long as I don't get caught, what's the problem?'
It was an effective means of rationalizing his behavior.
During a recent visit to the Bermuda Forest, he'd discovered the heart of the forest, a black crystal.
Nearby, he'd also found an abundance of red fruit growing on the trees.
He'd paid a heavy price before discovering that the fruit attracted animals and made them ferocious.
And now he wanted to be rewarded for that suffering.
Views. Public attention.
The very things that would allow him to live comfortably and make a living as a YouTuber.
A massive attention-grabbing spectacle that would revive his channel, which had failed to attract attention no matter what he'd tried.
"This is going to do it···."
He was certain of it.
— The base camp has guards anyway, doesn't it?
— It takes more than half a day to get from the forest to the base camp. Even if monsters come, how many could possibly make it here?
— I'll just happen to get caught up in the incident, and I'll happen to capture it on camera.
His rationalizations quickly led him to a conclusion.
"This is going to be huge."
He hurried toward the outskirts of the village.
Somewhere people wouldn't be able to see him.
And somewhere they wouldn't be able to smell the fruit.
He passed between low buildings constructed from logs and mud, then crossed a dirt road.
Everyone was busy with their own affairs, and nobody spared him so much as a glance.
The scenery belonged to the Otherworld, but the atmosphere wasn't particularly different from modern society.
After all, everyone here was a modern Earthling.
He reached the edge of the village without any trouble.
A desolate plain stretched out before him.
In the distance, he could faintly make out the Bermuda Forest stretching across the horizon.
He pulled the blood-red fruit from inside his clothes.
Without realizing it, he took a couple of deep breaths.
Then he drove his thumb into the fruit and pried it apart as though squeezing an onion for stock.
"Urgh···. Cough! Cough!"
The acrid smell assaulted his nostrils.
It was followed by a sweetness so overpowering that it was almost sickening.
An opaque red liquid, so dark it could easily have been mistaken for blood, trickled down the back of his hand and dripped onto the ground.
And then—
HISSS—
Like liquid nitrogen exposed to room temperature, it evaporated almost instantly.
For a moment, he stood transfixed by the wonders of the Otherworld.
This world truly was full of fascinating things.
'And fascinating things make money.'
The moment that thought occurred to him, a smile spread across his face.
He couldn't leave any evidence behind.
He'd simply slip the crushed fruit into his inner pocket and hurry back into the village as though nothing had happened.
Just as he checked once more to make sure his camera was working properly—
RUMBLE—
He felt an ominous vibration in the ground.
It wasn't merely a sensation traveling up through his feet.
He could clearly hear it with his ears as well.
When he raised his head again, what entered his vision was a cloud of dust.
A pack of more than a dozen Scaven Wolves was charging toward him with enough force to kick up clouds of dust.
"···?"
There was something he didn't know.
The predators of this world didn't live exclusively in the forests.
And there was something else.
The fruit's effects were powerful enough to reach the forest almost instantaneously.
"W-what the···."
He felt the blood drain from his face.
The shock froze him in place, preventing him from escaping in time.
The pack of Scaven Wolves closed the distance in an instant.
Dozens of sharp fangs.
Purple saliva streamed between them.
The eyes of these naturally ferocious predators had gone completely mad.
At that moment, only one thought raced through his mind.
"I-I have to run······."
Just then—
— Ludina
A flash of light erupted between him and the Scaven Wolves, which had already closed to within striking distance.
BANG—!
"Aaagh!"
It wasn't a particularly powerful flash, but its sudden appearance was more than enough to startle him.
And Hong Eun-su wasn't the only one frightened out of his wits.
"YELP!"
The charging beasts stopped dead in their tracks, while some were unable to overcome their own momentum and tumbled across the ground.
Immediately afterward, something rushed forward like the wind from behind Hong Eun-su and charged straight into the pack of Scaven Wolves.
A transparent blue axe was gripped in the hand of the man who had suddenly appeared.
He lunged toward one of the wolves, a massive beast with coarse fur and a body as large as a bear.
CRACK—!
He swung the axe with all his strength.
Blood sprayed, and the sound of breaking bones rang out.
CRACK—! CRACK—!
The man didn't miss the opening created when the unexpected flash startled the beasts and robbed them of their judgment.
He struck the creature's head repeatedly, giving it no chance to recover.
The surrounding wolves weren't about to stand idle, however.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT—!
A succession of firecrackers that appeared to have been prepared beforehand exploded.
The wolves charging toward him yelped and recoiled in surprise once again.
And then—
CRACK—!
With one final blow, he completely extinguished the life of the Scaven Wolf leader.
WEEEEEEEE—
Only then did the guards' evacuation warning siren begin to sound.
"What's going on here?!"
The guards approached Hong Eun-su.
"Open the weapons locker! Tell the second team to bring firearms when they join us!"
"Understood!"
"Are you all right, sir?"
Hong Eun-su allowed the guards to help him to his feet.
But he found himself tormented by an inexplicable feeling of anxiety.
***
It didn't take long for the five-minute standby team to realize that the situation had already been resolved.
When they'd first witnessed the pack of snarling Scaven Wolves before them, they'd been preparing to flee as well.
They knew perfectly well how difficult it was to fight the Otherworld's predators without firearms.
But then they noticed something strange.
"Whiiine—."
The Scaven Wolves couldn't bring themselves to attack.
Even though they were facing only a single man wielding a crude axe, they were slowly retreating, their eyes filled with fear.
Why was that?
There was one possible explanation.
"···Get lost."
At the growling man's feet lay the blood-soaked corpse of the Scaven Wolf leader.
Scaven Wolves had a particular trait.
Once they lost their leader, their unity collapsed, and they began thinking only of their own survival.
The man seemed to know that.
And in the end—
"BARK!"
"BARK! BARK! BARK!"
After barking a few times, the Scaven Wolves turned tail and fled as fast as they could.
The leader of the guard squad had no idea how to make sense of what he'd just witnessed.
"···Even if he knew that······."
Knowing something and actually putting it into practice were two entirely different matters.
After all, the leader of a Scaven Wolf pack was effectively a predator on the same level as a bear.
Besides, animal behavior wasn't absolute.
Even if the leader died, there was no guarantee that the remaining Scaven Wolves would flee.
That was precisely why the sight of a lone human standing over the corpse was so utterly surreal.
"Um··· excuse me, sir?"
The leader of the five-minute standby team cautiously approached him.
"Could you explain what's going on here?"
Without saying a word, the man turned around, walked straight past the squad leader, and headed directly toward the YouTuber.
And when the squad leader caught a glimpse of the man's eyes as he passed—
"Gasp······."
He involuntarily sucked in a breath.
The man's expression was utterly blank, seemingly devoid of emotion.
And those eyes looked less like the eyes of a human being than those of a wild beast.