Chapter 60

“Sorry.”

“???”

Reina’s friend, who suddenly came in while we were talking about cosplay, approached me and bowed at a 90-degree angle to apologize.

Why all of a sudden?

“Emma? What’s going on?”

“I jumped to conclusions and assumed you were a bad person who looked down on others.”

“…?”

She came in out of nowhere, started apologizing like crazy, and I have no idea what’s going on.

At first, she looked at me with a frown, but now she’s making a guilty face and giving a sincere apology.

Reina seems just as confused by her friend’s behavior, so something must have happened in the real world while I was talking to Reina in the virtual world.

Ah, is that it?

After I got the WFK, I went into the gallery a few times and saw some scattered posts criticizing the Mea’d raid party.

It happens in Korea too, but I’m sure it’s worse overseas. There’s probably way more hate comments than in Korea.

Maybe that’s why she’s acting weird, and seeing someone as perfect as me probably made her jealous.

“Honestly, I am pretty, cute, and good at Leore. It’s natural to be jealous of me.”

“…?”

Emma looked at me like, “What are you talking about?”

What, that’s not it?

==

Emma explained why she was apologizing.

As soon as I heard it, I understood.

There’s definitely a big difference between how I look in the virtual world and how I look in the real world.

The lingering emotions from Arang make me look like a living corpse.

Eyes that show no life.

Limbs that were cut off due to illness.

Medication forced on me after refusing to eat for a long time.

No matter how high-performance the medication is, Arang’s refusal to accept it left me emaciated.

No one would think I’m a living person.

Of course, it’s much better now. At least, I think so.

My eyes, which barely opened before, now open enough to not be uncomfortable. My body, which refused prosthetics, is slowly starting to move.

During Leore, I’ve been gaining weight thanks to high-performance medication providing perfect nutrition and luxurious meals with Anna and the doctor. I’m even hoping my chest might grow.

Reina’s friend, who was acting all over the place earlier, initially gave me a bad impression by glaring at me, but her serious expression and sincere apology improved my opinion of her.

“I’ll accept your apology. Even though I didn’t know about it, you went out of your way to apologize.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but I forgot that important lesson.”

“Ah, let’s end it here. I don’t like heavy atmospheres. As a condition for accepting your apology…”

I swallowed as I looked at Emma bowing at a 90-degree angle.

Her red hair slightly covered her face, but her chest was still making a statement.

The sheer size of her chest was so overwhelming that even as a girl, I couldn’t help but focus on it.

“As a condition…?”

“Hug me.”

“W-what…!?”

I spread my arms toward Emma. She looked flustered but quickly composed herself and came over to hug me.

This size. This softness.

Approved.

While feeling the embrace of Emma’s chest, I noticed Reina in my peripheral vision. Come to think of it, Reina hasn’t said a word since Emma came in.

‘Her expression doesn’t look good. Is it because Emma and I are hugging?’

“Hey, Arang, how long are you going to keep this up?”

Hmm… I pulled away from Emma’s embrace, sat her down on a nearby chair, and then sat on her lap.

“Keep going.”

“Huh?”

“It’s punishment.”

“Oh, okay.”

Most of my time in the real world is spent in Anna’s or the doctor’s arms.

I can’t help it since I don’t have limbs. I can’t eat or shower by myself.

Maybe that’s why being in someone’s arms feels so comforting. Especially the overwhelming softness pressing against the back of my head really boosts that sense of security.

I glanced at Reina, who looked like her soul had left her body.

Her hands were trembling, her shoulders were shaking, and she was sweating.

“Reina unnie.”

No response from Reina.

I called her again.

“Reina unnie.”

“…Huh? Oh, uh, yeah! Ah, Arang!”

Hmm…

Even after I called her, her eyes were still darting around.

She probably heard Emma talking about me and is reacting to that.

She’s been talking to me just fine until now, but maybe the prosthetic limbs thing got to her.

“Unnie, should we try cosplay?”

“Huh? Ah, no! That, um… It might be hard for Arang…”

Her cheerful voice from earlier is gone, replaced by a voice on the verge of tears. I decided to lighten the mood with a joke.

“Why would it be hard for me?”

“Huh? Ah… Well, your body, it’s… uncomfortable…”

“What’s uncomfortable? My arms? Legs? Or my expression?”

“Uh… Ah… Um…”

Reina looked like a drenched retriever.

I teased her a bit, and now she’s completely deflated.

Is this not it…?

Pinkubelly, Sunchoo, and Baedeokgae bounced back quickly, but Reina still can’t snap out of it.

Is her mentality weak? No way. Someone who’s a raid leader can’t be like that.

A raid leader needs everything—mentality, leadership, analytical skills, judgment, physical ability—nothing can be lacking. It’s a heavy, difficult, and exhausting role that requires more recognition than anyone else.

Reina is the raid leader who led Mea’d to three WFKs. How can someone like that be weak in the mentality department?

“Arang.”

Emma leaned in and whispered to me.

“Reina is super weak to small, cute things. She still loves stuff like Pretty Cure. That’s probably why she’s so shocked. I think she was really affected when I mentioned the prosthetic limbs. And—”

Emma told me how much Reina had been looking forward to meeting me.

I see.

So that’s why.

No wonder she was so friendly toward me, even though I took the WFK from her, and why she suggested meeting first.

Well, in Leore, I’m known as a magical girl from Pretty Cure-level cuteness.

And, though it’s embarrassing to say, even I’d fall for myself watching my 1v1 Makkora videos in Leore.

Reina, who loves Pretty Cure and such, must have been shocked to find out I don’t have limbs.

She probably thought I was a gloomy, lifeless girl in real life who transformed into a bright, lively girl in Leore, but the truth is, I’m just a limbless girl rolling around in real life.

I’m fine with it, though.

First, how do I get Reina to snap out of it? If this offline meeting ends like this, her memory of meeting me will end on a bad note.

That would be a shame. Not every offline meeting ends well.

Even if we have fun in the game, sometimes there’s lingering resentment that surfaces when we meet, or relationships between guys and girls can get messy.

But Reina, Emma, and I aren’t in that kind of relationship. We met as raid leaders who run outstanding raids, to share stories and information, and do great things together.

Ending it on such a depressing note isn’t right.

Even though it’s our first meeting, we met through Leore, and games are supposed to be fun. Ending like this is absolutely not okay.

The only thing that can lift Reina’s spirits is cosplay.

Since she loves cute things, showing her something cute should do the trick.

“Let’s go back to reality!!!”

I said loudly so Reina could hear me clearly. Reina logged out with a gloomy expression.

Emma and I confirmed that Reina had logged out and then logged out ourselves.

And that… turned out to be a mistake.

After being in the virtual world for so long, Anna unnie had laid me down on the bed to make me comfortable and detached my prosthetic limbs.

Reina got up from her chair, noticed I wasn’t there, and looked around.

“Are you all done?”

At Anna unnie’s voice, she turned her head and, of course, since Anna was by my side guarding me, she saw me lying on the bed without limbs.

“Ah…”

I looked at Emma and glanced at the carrier next to Reina.

I already knew from Emma that there were clothes in that carrier for me.

Emma picked up Reina’s carrier and came over to me.

She pulled out what was clearly the most important outfit, carefully packaged.

Sure enough, it was a cute dress-like outfit reminiscent of a magical girl from Pretty Cure.

Oh… this is a bit tricky.

If I were still a guy, I’d have freaked out and thrown it, but now it suits me perfectly.

With Emma and Anna unnie’s help, I quickly changed.

The cosplay outfit was high-quality, so it wasn’t uncomfortable, and the fabric felt nice.

I whispered something to Anna unnie, who was smiling brightly at me.

Anna unnie pouted her lips, reattached my prosthetic limbs, and then picked me up.

She handed me over to Reina, who was still struggling with her mentality.

Ah, “handed over” sounds a bit weird.

“Uh… uh… uh…? Cu… cute…”

Reina, holding me, looked at me, and her face gradually brightened before she started smiling like an idiot.

This is the raid leader who led Mea’d to three WFKs? How is she this easy to break?