Otherworld TRPG Game Master - Chapter 279



Chapter 279 – Epilogue: My Secret Friend, Oh Dae-soo

This is the second time my social life nearly got wrecked while trying to take down the evil deity.

How sorrowful I felt in front of Tear Point Guy and Scarred Face Senior! I merely punished the wicked in the name of justice, yet the world fails to understand the circumstances, leaving me feeling wronged.

Today is no different.

“……..”

“……..”

That suspicious gaze pierces my heart painfully.

I have explained myself.

From the outside, it may seem a bit extreme or odd to be tearing clothes like this, but that’s a misunderstanding.

How should I put it? It’s more like a kind of game we engage in by mutual consent. If it were serious, I would have pulled out my Paladin’s sword, and she would have brought out her Dragon’s Lance, right?

Somehow, the atmosphere became one of understanding.

Roderus, who had experienced my strength firsthand, knew me best, and it seemed he had also figured out that Aisha was a bit of a handful. Did he do some research on the way here?

Well, considering how we fought with such enthusiasm, surely there were more than a few witnesses to Aisha flipping over the pavement with her Dragon’s Lance.

Then, suddenly, Kimlulu’s expression turned quite strange, and she said:

“……So, you two, like, in a relationship, SM…?”

“No, that’s not quite it.”

“Yeah, that’s a bit much.”

As Aisha and I simultaneously shot her a serious look, the atmosphere turned chilly.

“Uh, uh? Uh… S-sorry.”

Kim Lulu was taken aback by the sudden arrival of midwinter and apologized. It seemed our mutual dislike was quite evident.

Moreover, Aisha had firmly nailed that point down.

“How should I put it… this guy is like… a ‘father.’ It’s different.”

“Is that really a reason to dress him up like that?”

“My dad is weird about the walls and has a terrible personality—”

“Enough.”

I physically silenced Aisha, who was measuring the social kill angle.

However, I couldn’t block the piercing gazes of the magical girls, who looked at me with even more disdain.

By the way, why did they suddenly show up? What do the magical girls want?

As I urged them to slowly reveal their purpose while sitting on the sofa, Roderus asked me with a serious expression, as if he were about to assassinate someone.

“…Is it you?”

“Is it me, you say?”

“You sent me, us… to South Korea.”

“…”

Did I get caught?

With my high-performance brain, now fully operational, I deduced the situation.

If I were the fake Mima, then Kim Lulu would feel burdened =＞ I need to think excluding these people =＞ I have a means. Let’s trap them in the session using the backdoor I had previously set up.

But then I ended up taking him down, and the session magic was released, freeing Roderus and Kim Lulu, who coincidentally discovered that the timing of their awakening coincided with the timing of the fake Mima’s death.

Right, they must be about 80% suspicious.

I quickly racked my brain. How can I cover this up to keep the secret? Should I try the dimensional wizard thing again? I don’t think I’m certain about that right now. Or maybe I could come up with something appropriate…

…No, is there even a reason for me to cover it up?

It’s a reversal of thought. I had just become too accustomed to misunderstandings. Wouldn’t it be okay to just be honest about everything?

For now, this guy poses no threat. Unlike Irid, saying “It’s all an illusion” wouldn’t send chills down my spine.

The mental anguish of “Is my friend a fabricated character?” isn’t something I need to worry about, considering Roderus was originally an assassin trying to kill me.

Above all.

“Yeah, what you experienced was virtual reality. I simulated this world using a bio-magic engineering computer. All the characters were independent AIs.”

“Virtual reality, huh!”

“…So it’s virtual reality. Like The Matrix…”

They’re familiar with this kind of thing since the session stage is modern South Korea.

The mad wizard revealed his secrets with astonishing ease.

The world they had experienced was a magically constructed virtual reality, and the truth that even Oh Hye-in and Mungae were merely AI, and the threats posed by the Four Heavenly Kings were nothing but staged performances.

He seemed to be filled with excitement and joy, yet curiously, there was a hint of solemnity in his demeanor that made it hard to perceive him as mocking. Even in this moment of face-to-face conversation, I couldn’t read his true intentions. A peculiar man indeed.

Between his disheveled black hair, his red eyes blinked. His gaze seemed to urge Rodellus for some kind of answer.

Is virtual reality, and the beings created within it, truly real?

Now that you know this truth, does it change the meaning of all the journeys you’ve experienced?

No.

“…I won’t give you the answer you’re hoping for, mad wizard.”

“What do you think I’m hoping for?”

“You’d want me to fall into confusion. You’d want me to suffer. After all, I’ve been after your life… I feel sorry about that. But my thoughts remain unshaken and unchanged.”

“Oh ho.”

If he had encountered such a concept for the first time, he might have been bewildered. But he was prepared. Perhaps he had been for a very long time.

Life, at times, is swept away by someone’s intentions.

Rodellus Redburn grew up as an assassin of the duke, swayed by the power that manipulates fate. From his birth to his growth, nothing was left uncontrolled. Yet, does that mean that his past life was all a lie?

No.

Oh Dae-soo is a new form gained through his mutated fairy abilities. However, that form is filled with vibrant falsehoods. Does that mean that the justice he enacted while traversing Crown Hall as a magical girl was all fake?

No.

Can Oh Hye-in, created not by a god but by a human, not become Rodellus’s friend?

Absolutely not.

Rodellus clenched the transformation device tightly and spoke in a steady voice.

“Everything is real. The time I spent in South Korea, the friends I made, all of it.”

“──That’s right, that’s right! If you didn’t think Dae-soo was real, I might have been a little sad. I’m a created being too!”

At this, the mad wizard chuckled heartily.

“Hahaha! Yes, that’s the answer, magical girl!”

His laughter was so ominous that I felt a slight fear that he might follow up with something like, “But you didn’t know your friend has been suffering for 300 million years,” or something similar.

A bit, how should I put it? If I were to describe it, perhaps a naive yet carefree expression.

The mad wizard, whose attitude and atmosphere had significantly relaxed, spoke leisurely while waving his hand with a smile.

I understood what he was worried about, so he could rest easy.

“I only told you because you asked. I had no particular thoughts about what I would do or how I would act. Though our connection began as a bad fate… in the end, I became your fan.”

“……….”

“Even Oh Hye-in is happily living in the simulation. She gets along well with her family, and these days, she’s learning how to knit a scarf from an old man named Abraham.”

“…Is that so?”

Roderus and Lulu felt a deep sense of relief.

Though it was a brief exchange, Roderus was able to understand a little more about the so-called mad wizard. He was… a good person.

He could feel his goodwill.

A being with the terrifying ability to create virtual realities, capable of abducting a person’s mind and trapping it inside. If he had wanted to, Roderus could have faced something far more horrific. A fresh wave of fear washed over him.

The button for a hundred billion years, tortures that inflict pain without taking life, countless trials that strip away human dignity, and so on.

Yet the mad wizard did not do that. He had shown Roderus, who had been raised as an assassin and lived much of his life in deprivation, the precious and radiant values of existence.

Though there had been considerable mischief in the process, he had properly introduced him to happiness and joy…

Wait a minute.

So, all that stuff with the tentacles was this b*stard’s doing…?

A smirk crept onto the mad wizard’s lips.

“Roderus. This is Aisha, and she’s a girl who needs your advice. In that sense, I have a question to ask.”

“?”

“As a senior who has embraced the inner female and succumbed to frills and exposure, O Daesu, I would like to hear your thoughts.”

“…!!”

He should have realized it from the tentacle play and other things. This guy… definitely has a hobby of tormenting people!

It was a long conversation. The mad wizard had, in fact, been starved for someone to share such stories with. Like a fish in water, he bombarded Roderus with teasing remarks.

“I heard you’ve started picking out clothes for girls lately…”

“Shut up!”

“Are you planning to spend your first night with Kim Lulu as O Daesu, or as Roderus?”

“Shut uuup──!!”

This crazy, malicious b*stard!

Should I kill him to shut that mouth? No. This guy is the benefactor who helped me make a girlfriend, find friends, and discover the joys of life.

If I had any sense of shame, I shouldn’t be brandishing a knife, and I would probably lose if I fought back. The damage being drilled into my brain far exceeds Roderus’s total sense of shame.

Even the girl named Aisha, who had been sitting quietly beside them, suddenly wore a creepy grin.

“Hey, Roderus. I’m really curious, but which do you prefer, a woman’s body or a man’s body…”

“I’m escaping! ‘Transform’! ‘Magic Rope’!”

Fwoosh-!

With sharp judgment, Roderus decided to retreat. He hurriedly pulled Kim Lulu to his side and fled the scene.

Evil laughter echoed from behind, a wicked sorcerer and a girl cackling in unison.

But his trials were far from over.

Since the resolution of her short life, Kim Lulu found herself spending more time imagining the future. Naturally, she had already thought about the wedding dozens of times. She even decided that she would ask her grandfather to officiate.

However, it was only after hearing the mad sorcerer’s question that she realized there were still unresolved aspects.

With a face like a bride-to-be nestled in Oh Dae-soo’s arms, Kim Lulu shyly covered her flushed cheeks and asked, “Um, Dae-soo, Dae-soo… if we really get married… um, which way…?”

“…I don’t know, just be quiet!”

Oh Dae-soo shouted back.

—

Finally, I had someone with whom I could express my inner intimacy!

Irid, Elaine, and other players too. To be precise, I wasn’t that close to ‘them’ at all. At least Bennett was a bit friendlier.

But now that Roderus has become my ‘secret friend,’ I’ve escaped the sad state of pretending to be close all by myself. I can say it proudly!

I’m currently visiting a friend’s house!

“Hey Roderus! I came to hang out. Look, the cute Aisha is here too.”

“Both of you, get lost!”

“I brought some healthy snacks for the sister-in-law.”

“…Just leave it and go away.”

For the record, this is our third meeting. We’ve met twice at a café, and this is the first time I’ve come to his home.

Oh Dae-soo grumbled like he was annoyed to death in his magical girl form. I had seen this sharp attitude from the omniscient observer’s perspective many times, but seeing it with my own eyes felt different.

Carrying a bundle of gifts, I stepped into the love house of Oh Dae-soo and Kim Lulu. Among the items was a health drink for Kim Lulu, but the most important gift was the ‘Dream Phone.’

It was a direct line leading into the simulation, set up so that Oh Hye-in would answer when called. She would surely be happy to receive it, right?

Dopamine was already surging. That guy must have been itching to ask me if he could meet Oh Hye-in one more time. So, I made the first move.

Plus, if I added the broken pieces of the fake Mima that I had managed to assemble back together…

Peek.

Kim Lulu poked her head out from the second floor.

“Hey, crazy sorcerer, you came to play again today? If you don’t fix what you broke soon, the royal family will be mad at you!”

“Oh, Lulu, don’t worry. The restoration work is going very smoothly right now.”

“Oh, right. I have someone to introduce. Her name is Hayan. Come on, Hayan, say hello.”

Huh?

A girl with hair as white as if it had been bleached peeked out from behind Kim Lulu. She bowed her head with a seemingly blank expression.

That thing. That damn thing.

“Hello, Aisha.”

“You should say ‘hello’ properly!”

“Hello~.”

That’s the puppet master from Redburn, isn’t it?

She looked significantly younger at first glance, but no matter how I squinted or double-checked, it was definitely that puppet master. The crow inside me was cawing loudly in agitation.

Was she hiding out in Rodellus, waiting for an opportunity, even after suffering a fatal wound…?

If that’s the case, now that I’ve seen through her disguise, she’ll soon reveal her true colors. I hurriedly gathered my magical energy, preparing to subdue her.

“…Aisha, battle stance! And be careful, Je-su! That one is a minion of Redburn! A powerful illusionist!”

“Uh, huh?! The white cat?!”

“Wait, wait, Mima. Something’s off. There’s really no intelligence in those eyes.”

Aisha tried to intervene, but I didn’t let my guard down.

“She must have hidden it! If she can manipulate her body at will, there’s a good chance she’s been messing with her brain too, despite the risks!”

“Unless you’re a world-class genius like us, how could a mere human precisely manipulate their own brain? Most likely, they’d go insane!”

“That’s not entirely wrong… but.”

“Mow.”

The puppet master from Redburn muttered blankly. Has she really lost her mind…?

From noble mtl dot com

I unexpectedly encountered a crucial enemy force that had become a fool.