Chapter Text
Conexion joined the game.
sharpness sat up and stretched.
The muscles that had grown a bit sluggish while he slept were now waking up.
He lightly rotated his wrists and picked up the sword he had left beside him.
After checking his inventory, he began walking into the forest.
For some reason, the ambient sounds felt louder than usual.
However, he dismissed it, thinking it was just his imagination.
A bird perched on a nearby tree chirped.
He raised his head slightly, watching the bird fly away into the distance.
Unlike usual, the server seemed peaceful.
He checked who was currently online on the server as he walked toward the river.
He intended to cross it.
After walking a bit further, he finally arrived at the riverbank.
The river wasn’t deep.
To cross it quickly, he pulled a block out of his inventory and held it in his hand.
But just as he looked down to place the block, he saw something in the water.
The clear river water reflected the light, showing his face.
And only then did he notice.
There were cat ears on top of his head.
Frozen in place, sharpness stopped mid-action before he could place the block.
He slowly lowered the block, his eyes glued to the reflection.
He sank to his knees, staring intently at the river. He blinked in sheer bewilderment.
Slowly, he raised his hand and touched the cat ears on his head.
They were soft and warm.
"What the... FUCK?!!"
Realizing then that it wasn't a hallucination but reality, sharpness screamed at the top of his lungs.
He heard the distant fluttering of a bird startled by his scream.
This had to be a nightmare.
In utter shock, sharpness stared at the river for a long time.
The cat ears were now firmly attached to his head.
He pulled out his communicator and frantically began messaging Tai.
conexion whispers to _Tai: tai
conexion whispers to _Tai: hey
conexion whispers to _Tai: HEY
_Tai whispers to conexion: what
conexion whispers to _Tai: UR SERVER IS
conexion whispers to _Tai: FUCKING TERRIBLE
_Tai whispers to conexion: What r u talking about?
conexion whispers to _Tai: come to where I am.
He angrily flipped his communicator shut.
It buzzed once, but he ignored it.
He pulled out a cloak he had used once in the past and wrapped it around himself.
He could feel a cat tail hanging below his waist, twitching irritably.
Doing his best to ignore it, he sat down next to a tree.
A moment later, he heard the sound of someone landing on the ground.
Thinking it must be Tai, he stood up.
He peeked out from behind the tree.
As expected, a voidling was looking around the area.
sharpness stepped out from behind the tree and approached him.
"Hey, sharp," the voidling said upon spotting him.
He looked at sharpness, visibly puzzled by the cloak.
"What's wrong?"
sharpness let out a heavy sigh.
"I don't even know! But—look at this!!"
sharpness threw off his cloak in despair. Watching his display, a whirlwind of emotions crossed the voidling's face: shock, bewilderment, and finally, curiosity.
"Are those real cat ears?"
Seeing Tai ask so casually, sharpness almost screamed again.
"Yes! So hurry up and fix this already!"
Tai crossed his arms, inspecting sharpness from head to toe as if analyzing him.
"Well... I've never seen this kind of error before. How does it feel?"
"Fucking terrible."
"Hmm, when did you start looking like this?"
"I don't know, probably since the moment I opened my damn eyes."
Tai stared at him intently, scratching his chin thoughtfully.
Soon, he reached his hand out into the air, and an opaque screen popped up in front of him.
Sharpness thought that he finally looked professional.
"Right... So—give it about a week."
...
"A WEEK?!"
So... the nightmare was only just beginning.