Maybe it was because I'd just killed those Pillagers.
At a single word from me, everyone froze.
"W-Who the hell are you?!"
The man who had been brandishing the dagger and shouting to hide his fear was no exception.
Dragging the metal pipe along, I walked toward him and growled quietly.
"I'll say this one last time. Fuck off."
"Eek!"
WHOOSH—.
I gave the metal pipe a light swing, and the terrified man fled.
Gulp—.
I heard someone swallow dryly.
I swept my gaze over them and grabbed the sacks containing what I needed.
Then.
"Do whatever you want with the rest."
Leaving those words behind, I immediately turned away.
I couldn't carry any more anyway, and more importantly, I'd already accomplished my goal.
'This should be enough to save the girl.'
Leaving the flood of thanks behind me, I ran over to the old man.
The old man who had first grabbed my hand was stroking the girl's hair with trembling hands.
"I'm sorry this old man was too powerless to help you, child......."
I clicked my tongue briefly.
"Sir, let's go."
After saying that, I cut off the heads of the Pillagers I'd killed and stuffed them into a sack.
The old man stared blankly at me.
"We have to save the girl, don't we?"
"R-Right. Let's go."
After grabbing two more sacks, I dragged them along toward Paradise.
I hoped all of this was nothing more than a nightmare.
That someday I'd wake up back in reality.
That was what I kept telling myself.
***
The entrance was close by, so we arrived safely.
The girl's breathing was still ragged.
'Wow, it really is exactly like the game.'
A thick, gigantic iron door identical to the entrance of Paradise in the game greeted me.
Was it because I'd played the game practically every day?
Even though this was my first time here, it looked familiar.
Still, seeing it in first person felt completely different from seeing it in third person inside the game.
"We're Miners! We have an injured person!"
I pounded on Paradise's iron door.
The camera mounted above briefly focused on us.
GRRRR—!
Then the door opened with a harsh grinding sound.
Beyond it stretched a long, dark corridor leading into Paradise.
"Let's hurry."
"All right."
I didn't know how long we'd walked down that long, sloping corridor.
"Huh......."
Paradise unfolded before my eyes.
Cars packed the main road.
Glittering streetlights.
Countless noisy people.
Even the distinctive acrid air.
If you ignored the fact that this place was underground, it looked almost like South Korea in the year 2077.
'It's seriously identical to the game.'
I stared around with my mouth hanging open before quickly coming to my senses.
"Sir, how's the girl?"
"Still not good......."
I slung the sack over my shoulder.
"Then let's hurry to the Market."
"A-All right."
A question might come to mind here.
If someone was on the verge of death, why were we going to a market instead of a hospital?
Because the hospitals in Paradise weren't places a mere 'Miner' could use.
"We're here. Where are we going now?"
[You have arrived at the 'Market,' a refuge for vagrants.]
A place beyond the protection and bright lights of Paradise.
The comparison used in the game had been accurate.
"First, we need to go to a workshop."
I headed for the workshop in Paradise I'd used more than any other in the game.
The 'Reaper' Workshop, known for having the best skills.
'What the hell? Where did the workshop that used to be here go?'
But another workshop had already taken its place.
I'd used it every single time I played, and this had never happened before.
It couldn't have suddenly moved away.
'For now, let's just go in here.'
There was no more time to waste.
The girl was already squeezing out the very last of her strength just to hold on.
BANG, BANG—.
I knocked on the door of the workshop, which bore the emblem of a crow.
A moment later, the door opened and an employee poked her head out.
"Hm, a customer? Come in."
We stepped inside, and the strong smell of chemicals filled my nose.
The interior was clean.
"What brings you here?"
The employee glanced at the girl, then asked me, since I was in front.
THUD—!
I dropped all the sacks and answered.
"I'd like Compression."
What I was about to do was Compression.
I intended to inject the girl with the liquid extracted by compressing the Pillagers' brains.
It was the only way to save her.
***
There were several ways to become stronger in this game.
They were fairly similar to those in other games.
The first, of course, was items.
This was the best low-risk, high-return way to become stronger.
The second was Body Modification, attaching mechanical parts or monster parts to your body.
Most people installed things like enhanced tendons or specialized eyes.
And the last was Compression.
It was a method of injecting liquid made by concentrating a monster's special body part directly into the body.
The concentrate rapidly healed the body and granted various abilities.
However, excessive Compression could turn you into a monster or destroy your mind.
There was a reason people still underwent Compression despite those risks.
Because even rolling around in a field of dog shit was better than being dead.
In other words, it was the desperate struggle of humans at the bottom of the food chain to survive.
GLANCE—.
The employee looked back and forth between the sack and the girl.
"The materials and the subject are...... well, yes."
Quick on the uptake, the employee stood and went into the room farther inside.
The old man quietly whispered to me.
"Do you understand what you're about to do?"
"I'm trying to save the girl."
"Is that truly...... the only way?"
"Then are you going to just let her die?"
"......."
When I placed a finger against the girl's tiny hand, I felt her weakly grip it.
"Sigh......."
I let out a short breath.
It wasn't as if I wanted to experiment on a child.
This was simply the best option available.
Just then, the employee returned to us.
"After Compression, her Humanity will be damaged by approximately 3%. Do you consent?"
"Yes."
I answered quickly in the old man's place.
The old man hesitated, unable to answer, before muttering quietly.
"......It's inhumane."
Compression.
Ironically, the struggle to survive as a human was a path toward giving up one's humanity.
You had to spend the rest of your life hearing the voices of monsters while sacrificing Humanity, a special stat.
"She has to survive first."
But you could only worry about things like that while you were alive.
"It's better than just praying and hoping she gets better, isn't it?"
"......."
Maybe my words had struck too close to the truth, because the old man lowered his head without another word.
"Come inside."
We followed the employee deeper in, where a gigantic machine stood beside a seated figure.
The person wore a crow mask like a plague doctor and spoke curtly.
"Materials."
"Here."
I handed the masked person the sack containing five Pillager heads.
"Money."
"Boss, twenty kilograms of scrap metal."
"Hm."
Was it slightly short?
The masked person seemed to think for a moment.
"Debt."
"Put it on my tab. I'll pay it off soon anyway."
"Hm."
At my confident answer, the masked person took the girl from the old man.
"Out."
The old man and I went outside.
"To think there's nothing I can do as an adult......."
The old man's leg trembled anxiously.
I watched him for a moment, leaned back against the chair, and closed my eyes.
'Let's rest for a bit.'
If I opened my eyes again and was still in this world.
No, if there really was no way out of this insane world.
Then I'd survive by any means necessary.
That was the vow I made as I drifted off.
***
"Done. Pay debt."
The crow-masked figure briefly poked their head out.
With those few words, they pushed the girl outside and sent her on her way.
If I'd been playing the game, a window probably would have appeared.
[Compression has been completed.]
[Pillager energy has been injected.]
[All wounds are completely healed.]
[Stats 'Material Greed' and 'Obsession' have been created.]
[Overall stats increase by +5.]
[25 Pillagers remain until 'Pillager' transformation.]
[Humanity has decreased by 3%.]
[Remaining Humanity : 97%]
But no such window appeared.
"Um...... thank you......."
Maybe the crow-masked person's skills weren't bad.
The girl stood firmly on both feet, perfectly healthy, and bowed her head in thanks.
"I'm sorry. This was the only way to save you."
If I'd been a little more certain.
No, if I'd been even a little stronger.
I could've prevented the accident before it happened.
"It's okay, Mister!"
As if trying to ease my worries, the girl gave me a bright smile.
"......Yeah."
TAP—.
I answered briefly and lightly patted her head.
The old man walked over to the girl, spoke with her about something, and then left the workshop with her.
I watched them for a moment before dropping back into my seat.
'What do I do now?'
I felt lost.
Only now was everything truly starting to sink in.
Even after sleeping for a while, I hadn't woken up back in reality.
Which meant my being here wasn't a dream.
Something straight out of a comic had actually happened to me.
I'd been dropped into the world of a game.
I'd never heard of or seen anything like this before.
'What am I supposed to do?'
I wanted to go back.
Back to the ordinary world I'd originally lived in.
Why would I want to leave when I loved this game so much?
Because a game was a game, and reality was reality.
And besides.
'No one's ever cleared this game!'
What good was being a veteran?
I'd never even managed to properly finish this one garbage game.
'Ah, shit.......'
I was worried about how I was supposed to survive from here on out.
Paradise getting destroyed or running into some powerful monster and dying had practically been routine.
And now that had become my actual reality.
My head started throbbing.
'......And it's a little different from the game I knew. I need to figure out what's going on.'
Where had the hulking workshop owner who'd been doing perfectly good business here gone?
And why had some crow-masked person suddenly taken over the workshop?
It was time to gather information.
"Excuse me."
I called to the employee at the counter.
"Yes?"
"Wasn't there a different workshop here before?"
The employee tilted her head and answered.
"I think there might have been, but when we came here, the building was already empty."
"Then did you know the previous workshop owner?"
"No. I only remember there being a workshop here from when I was a kid."
"When you were a kid, when exactly?"
As I continued bombarding her with questions, the employee began looking at me suspiciously.
"I'm not really sure."
"Ah, then could I ask you just one last thing?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I forgot, but what year is it now?"
If this were the same time period as the original game, it should have been Paradise Calendar Year 79.
"It's Paradise Calendar Year 99. Have you been drinking?"
"......."
A twenty-year difference.
Something was wrong.
"Thank you. I'll pay off the tab soon."
CREAK.......
Leaving the employee's suspicious stare behind, I opened the workshop door and stepped outside.
The girl and the old man were chatting happily.
"What are you going to do now?"
"......I'm not really sure."
"Then would you like to get something to eat?"
"Sure, but I don't have any money......."
JINGLE—.
At that, the girl smiled and shook the small pouch hanging from her waist.
***
"You two are going to live together?"
"Isn't living alone rather lonely?"
"Well, I guess that's true."
I chewed on a mysterious dark-brown protein block.
[You have consumed a 'Protein Block.']
[Satiety increases by 15%.]
And that was it.
Still, the more I ate, the nuttier it tasted, and it wasn't bad.
'This isn't made out of bugs, is it?'
I stared closely at the protein block before tossing the rest into my mouth.
As long as it had nutrients, that was enough to keep me alive.
Bugs, monsters—did it really matter?
"I've decided."
"Decided what?"
"I'm going to become an Expedition Member."
An Expedition Member was someone who monitored monster movements on the surface and fought them directly.
Because they faced danger head-on, the job was far more dangerous than being a Miner.
My final character had also been an Expedition Member.
The old man looked at me with concern.
"Are you truly going to be all right?"
"If I want to survive here, I don't really have a choice."
"......That was a foolish thing for a Miner like me to ask."
"Hey, it's fine."
For all sorts of reasons, it was better to keep thoughts and choices simple.
It was partly self-hypnosis, but it also made setting goals easier.
The more complicated things became, the more your mental strength and willpower would be steadily worn away.
'I will survive.'
So I made a simple choice.
I'd survive until the very end, longer than anyone else, protect Paradise, and reclaim the surface.
Clean and simple.
To do that, there was one thing I needed to do first.
And that was.
"Would you like to travel with me?"
It was basically asking him out for a second date.
One reason was to survive.
And the other was.
'To get that.'
I put on the biggest smile I could, trying my best not to look like I had an ulterior motive.