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#2 Episode: I Found the Culprit (2)

And once again, a week later.

I was painfully aware of the abnormal atmosphere in this household.

What about the relationship between our Mrs. Kang and Stepfather? Quite good. Watching from the side, it’s so sweet it makes you wanna vomit.

My relationship with Mrs. Kang has always been good, and while there’s a slight boundary with Stepfather, considering our genders and respective positions, I suppose it can be called reasonably amicable.

But there’s one person.

My new brother, Ryu Inseo. That guy just doesn’t fit in here and is awkwardly out of place.

First off, just look at where he lives.

True to Mrs. Kang’s assessment as a capable person, Stepfather’s house is quite large, with multiple rooms spread across several zones.

The two of them share the second floor where Stepfather’s workshop is located, while I get a huge room on the first floor.

But Ryu Inseo? He lives in a separate annex that he can only access by going through the courtyard.

And it’s not like we were pushed into that space; he’s been living alone there since before we arrived.

He doesn’t eat with the three of us; instead, he orders takeout later, and when I asked why, he said it’s because his day and night are flipped, and he often doesn’t come when summoned. So, there’s no need to worry.

Mrs. Kang seemed uneasy about Ryu Inseo’s gloomy atmosphere as well. At the beginning of cohabitation, she would kindly invite him to meals, but these days, she’s completely ignoring him.

Can this even be called a family? Ryu Inseo is roughly an adult now, but if he had lived this way since childhood, wouldn’t it be considered child abuse?

When I tried to phrase this as gently as possible, the reply that came back was:

“Yerin, I can see you’re worried about your new brother, but don’t. That guy was always like this. Even when I suggest working out or going out, he locks himself in his room, absorbed in his computer day and night. He takes care of himself when it comes to eating and sleeping, so there’s no need for you to worry about him.”

“R-right, Yerin. Forcing him when he doesn’t want to socialize wouldn’t be good either.”

I replied “I understand” to both of them, but deep down, I was very concerned about Ryu Inseo.

Am I worried just because I’ve only known him for a short time? Of course not.

I just want to check on him.

Knock, knock.

“Brother, are you in there?”

As a prerequisite, I hadn’t properly read the book my friend gave me.

So I don’t know how the plot unfolds, what characters are involved, or what items and events are in the death game, I have no clue.

—But I did check the ‘cover’ and saw the character reflected on it.

And I look in the mirror every day for my appearance.

Of course, I can’t directly correlate the character illustration to my real-life self.

Especially since the picture I saw on the cover depicted a fantasy-like outfit with outrageous hair colors.

However, as I grow older and taller, there’s a strange resonance in my head between my reflection in the mirror and the heroine drawn on the cover.

To top it off, in this world where there are VR games similar to the modern era but large-scale multiplayer games are impossible, this situation is quite similar to what I heard from my friend about the “environment before the mastermind causes trouble.”

“Just a moment, I’ll come in.”

Each trivial detail could easily be dismissed as just my imagination or an overreaction.

But with all these various conditions lining up, I can’t be naïve enough to pretend everything will be alright.

As I opened the door and walked into my brother’s room, I was greeted by an overwhelming number of cables of all sorts that seemed to connect endlessly.

These weren’t just simple wires between the computer and the monitor. Dozens of main units and a multitude of devices whose identities are hard to discern tangled together to form a colossal single device.

There were not just one or two monitors but so many types that it felt akin to a CCTV room, and I was forced to stop and stare at one of the screens.

Beyond Elysion

At first glance, it seemed like just another common game title.

However, that name was special to me.

Because it was the title of the book I received but hadn’t read.

“…Huh? Why are you here?”

At that moment, a perplexed voice came from behind me.

Seeing Ryu Inseo with his trademark dark circles, I was convinced.

—This guy is the future culprit.

*

Let’s talk about a hypothetical scenario.

Here’s a guy who reincarnated from modern times to the past, specifically Germany before the world war broke out.

This man knew the future, aware that a human butcher named Hitler would commit a horrific mass murder if things continued as they were.

To prevent the future massacre and terrible tragedy, he shot and killed a pre-college Hitler, and as a result, instead of being praised as a hero, his life became tainted with shame as a murderer.

When you think about it coldly, it’s only natural.

Only one guy knows that Hitler would become the killer, and to everyone else at the time, he’s just a murderer ranting about knowing the future.

How could he prove his justification?

There’s no way.

After all, Hitler is already dead, and how can you prove he would have become a mass murderer?

He might have saved countless people from the future but instead of gratitude, they’d hurl insults at him. Most wouldn’t even know he exists and would just live their lives.

Of course, there might be some who would willingly dedicate themselves to the public good, regardless of their benefit or loss, but I, at least, cannot live that way.

Thus, burying Ryu Inseo through murder or illegal means goes straight in the trash.

To be completely honest, it’s already illogical to think of getting rid of someone based solely on original knowledge that I don’t fully believe in (I haven’t even read it).

Before getting involved as siblings, that is, before Mrs. Kang and Stepfather got together, I had to scrap my original plan on the first attempt.

“If living with Inseo is uncomfortable for you, we could get him to live independently. He’s old enough now to take responsibility for his own life.”

“Yeah, I heard from Yiihan that Inseo actually prefers being alone.”

They didn’t directly say, “It seems your new brother and you don’t quite get along,” but instead, the next day, they came to me with that implication.

Seriously, is this even reasonable?

Just because my new daughter complained, they immediately thought, “Then let’s just drive the cause away!” Is that really how it works?

Not wanting to incur a grudge from the future mastermind, I explained repeatedly that I didn’t mean it in that sense before they finally backed off, leaving me alone in the room, deep in thought.

If the original Kang Yerin were here, how would she respond to this question?

Growing up with immense stress due to her living environment and family relationships, making her personality sharp and sensitive—wouldn’t she stay away from her new brother?

No, even before that, she might have fought with Mrs. Kang every day.

Without a doubt, the family atmosphere would have been a mess, and Ryu Inseo would have been locked in his room, creating games, with his relationships all decimated.

Isn’t this family situation too obvious? Although I don’t know how Ryu Inseo’s crimes get resolved since I haven’t read the book, I can easily imagine the narratives that would emerge post-incident where they announce, “The culprit had a very unfortunate childhood, which greatly influenced his values and personality to commit such acts.”

Lying in bed and staring at the ceiling for a while, I came to a conclusion.

“—It’d be way more convenient to subtly shift the direction rather than being enemies for a lifetime. There’s way less risk, too.”

Had Hitler just gone to art school, he wouldn’t have gone crazy with dictatorship and massacres but would’ve lived well as a painter A.

Same for Ryu Inseo.

If I give him positive feedback while he’s making games, I might be able to stop him from creating death games or something ridiculous.

If that doesn’t work, it’d be nice to stab him in the back when he tries to cause trouble later.

Above all, the biggest perk of this plan is that I can nudge in my preferences while he develops the game.

Bold and flashy costumes that can defiantly raise a middle finger at strict censorship!

Details and Easter eggs that won’t pay off but are charming for users!

Various NPCs that allow for unique and realistic interactions, although they may be difficult to implement, and delightful mounts for those riding!

Various sub-contents that wouldn’t merely focus on mindless fighting!

Of course, it’d be difficult to demand such desire-filled sets from a real game company. Game companies exist to make money, so they can’t help but prioritize frequent updates on cost-effective, profitable content.

But this Ryu Inseo is an unreasonable genius who somehow completed a perfect virtual reality game that others continued to fail at, a level that’s only possible in fiction. This means that if I can just entice him, I could create the game I want while disregarding practical elements like cost efficiency and manpower.

How can I stand that?

Alright then.

Let’s kick off Operation “Gentle Gal for the Otaku.”