Chapter 1

 

“Phuaaah!”

 

Startled by the sudden splash of water on my face, I snapped my eyes open.

 

The sensation of water droplets trickling down my neck was so unpleasant that I winced involuntarily.

 

In my drowsiness, a fleeting memory of my college roommate crossed my mind, but then I remembered it had been years since I graduated from college.

 

So who would be rude enough to pour water on a sleeping person like this?

 

Feeling disoriented, I looked around and realized I was in a brick-walled room with iron bars in front of me.

 

I could barely see the gravel-strewn corridor beyond the bars, enveloped in darkness.

 

“Eh?”

 

Sure, I wasn’t great at housekeeping, but my place was never this gloomy.

 

Wait a minute, this clearly looked like a prison.

 

Why, why?

 

I’d never committed a crime; I was so reclusive that my mom told me to go out and get involved in some scandalous events.

 

First things first, calm down.

 

I tried to recall what I had been doing previously.

 

I had cooked and eaten a difficult dish, sundubu ramen, and then left a harsh comment in response to a recommended post on a community forum.

 

Suddenly, there was an unexpected recommendation for a mod.

 

That mod’s name? Super Coward Mode.

 

“Yeah, I definitely installed the Super Coward Mode to make ‘Snow Castle’ more entertaining.

 

Then, I started the game to test the mod.

 

From the fact that I had no memory after that, it was clear something had happened.

 

I had to figure out where I was first to think things through more deeply, so I looked around the prison, and suddenly felt a familiar sensation, causing me to flinch.

 

Why did it feel like I had been to this prison before?

 

I tried to get a better look by standing up, but my body was not free to move.

 

When I moved my gaze to my wrists, I saw wooden handcuffs locked around them.

 

“What the…?”

 

In this day and age, wooden cuffs instead of metal rings?

 

The absurdity of the situation left me speechless, and I accidentally raised my voice.

 

Surprised by the sound of my own voice, louder than expected, I covered my mouth.

 

You idiot, what do you plan to do if you provoke someone outside by shouting like that?

 

Luckily, no footsteps sounded from outside, and I felt relief as I stared at the wooden cuffs. Suddenly, I sensed a strange presence behind me.

 

Had I missed noticing someone because it was too dark?

 

Fearing they might pose a threat, I turned my head slowly in that direction to be cautious—well, more accurately, I was freaking out. I made out the faint shape of a person.

 

And, I noticed this individual was twitching.

 

At first, I assumed they were angry and tensed up, ready for a confrontation, but strangely, I didn’t sense any hostility.

 

Looking closely, I heard the faint sound of breathing.

 

They appeared to be giggling about something.

 

“Pffft, finally looking this way?”

 

“Girl…?”

 

“Yes, I’m a girl. Do you like it?”

 

When I couldn’t respond to the sudden nonsensical statement, she started chuckling again, as if something was amusing.

 

After my eyes fully adjusted to the darkness, I could see that it was a woman in black clothes with her hair tied back.

 

She seemed to be laughing at the way I had reacted loudly and then got scared by myself.

 

Why hadn’t I noticed someone was there?

 

If she had been laughing hard enough to shake her body, I should have sensed someone’s presence.

 

I tried to start a conversation, but seeing the woman couldn’t stop laughing made me feel slightly embarrassed.

 

I mean, anyone can be surprised, but laughing this much was too much.

 

While I observed the woman quietly, I noticed she was holding something.

 

Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a water bottle… its cap was open, and droplets of water were clinging to the spout.

 

Oh no, could it be?

 

Looking at the water bottle and the woman alternately with a look of irritation, she waved her head and her tied-up hands simultaneously.

 

“Pft. Oh, no, I didn’t mean to mock you! Absolutely not! Haha…”

 

This woman?

 

Though I didn’t know who she was, sprinkling water on a stranger was too much.

 

As I pondered and tried to muster some anger, I felt a strange sense of deja vu watching her laugh continuously.

 

Wait, what has been going on since a while ago?

 

Deja vu again.

 

It felt more like I had actually seen it before rather than calling it déjà vu.

 

I tried to recall the source of this sense of déjà vu, but nothing came to mind.

 

“Shut up, thief.”

 

“What’s this, another one…?”

 

“Hehe, sorry. It’s been a while since someone interesting came in.”

 

This time, it seemed less that I didn’t notice, and more that they had been hiding their presence without giving any hint.

 

But, this voice too seemed familiar from somewhere….

 

Ah,

 

Suddenly, a thought surged in my mind, sending shivers of unease down my spine from my nape.

 

As if urging me to stop denying reality, a flood of memories swept over me, forced by my awakening frontal lobe.

 

The creaky movement of my head delivered the final blow as I noticed the presence of a person leaning against the side wall.

 

The Foreign Media Massacre.

 

The Foreign Media Bully.

 

The Foreign Media Killer, a human known by such names.

 

The main character of Snow Castle, the Hunter.

 

That Hunter was slowly moving his head, as if evaluating us, his increased breath evident because of his cloak.

 

It seemed he was deciding whether to take us along in the escape process or to abandon us.

 

#

 

The thief, unaware of the situation he was in, spoke to me, his new comrade.

 

“Why do you look so glum all of a sudden? Well, I suppose it would be stranger to see someone smiling in prison. Hehe.”

 

Next to me, the thief who had been speaking so frivolously introduced herself as Agartha.

 

When I realized this world was that of Snow Castle, I could recall who this woman was.

 

In the prologue, there was a thief talking to the hunter; that must have been Agartha.

 

Being an extra who died instantly while trying to escape prison, it took me a while to recognize her.

 

“By the way, what crime did you commit to end up here?”

 

After talking about herself at length, she finally seemed curious about me.

 

However, I couldn’t answer her.

 

No, rather, I wanted to ask.

 

I wasn’t even possessed by the protagonist, so why exactly am I in prison?

 

Since I didn’t respond, Agartha seemed to take my silence as reluctance to answer and sidled up closer to me.

 

“Are you ignoring me? I’m curious about you.”

 

As she drew nearer, I could clearly see her appearance, and it became evident that she was indeed a woman.

 

Hmm.

 

It felt overwhelming.

 

Moreover, even if I wanted to answer, I couldn’t without knowing anything.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“What? Who doesn’t know who they are?”

 

Surprisingly, there is someone like that right here.

 

At the very least, it would have been nice if I knew whose body I had possessed.

 

It made sense because, originally, the prologue started with the protagonist and Agartha chatting away.

 

This meant there were no other characters around.

 

“Oh, no way?”

 

I wondered what nonsensical thing they would say next, but then, unexpectedly, they made an incredibly embarrassing hand gesture.

 

“You look so innocent, but maybe you’re a bit shady from hitting on people here and there?”

 

I wanted to object to that ridiculous statement, but then I thought it could actually be true, so I kept my mouth shut.

 

Usually, in this kind of situation, a status window pops up to provide my information.

 

Oh, maybe I really have to shout ‘status window’ for it to appear.

 

“Status window.”

 

I murmured it quietly, almost like a breath, but nothing appeared.

 

Damn it, what a crappy game.

 

“What did you just say? Status window?”

 

No way, they heard that?

 

I really said it so softly that it couldn’t be distinguished from my breath.

 

Definitely a thief, huh?

 

“I didn’t say anything.”

 

“But you did. You can’t fool my ears.”

 

They spoke seriously, but their face showed a mischievous grin as if they had found something new to tease me about.

 

I didn’t realize it when I died in the first chapter, but damn, I really want to flick their forehead.

 

He suppressed his boiling anger and calmed himself down when Agartha suddenly pointed a finger at him with wide eyes.

 

When he tilted his head in confusion, the thief spoke up.

 

“Hey, there’s a piece of paper in your pocket!”

 

Could it be a paper with contents related to his true identity?

 

To verify, he reached into his pocket but found nothing.

 

“What? There’s nothing….”

 

It wasn’t that there was nothing.

 

It had been snatched away so quickly that he hadn’t noticed.

 

Agartha started to open the paper with a cat-like expression, as if he had stolen some crucial treasure.

 

As Agartha squinted and scanned the paper, his expression began to grow serious.

 

What could it be? What was written on it?

 

Could it be something like, “I’ve possessed a dangerously homicidal maniac who threatens the very fabric of this game’s world”?

 

Sweat trickled down between his wrist and the handcuffs binding him.

 

A moment of unnecessary tension passed silently, and soon Agartha, having finished reading the paper, put it down and began to shake.

 

His lips quivered as if he were barely holding something back.

 

He swallowed hard in silence.

 

The shaking grew more and more extreme, and then…

 

Laughter, loud enough to burst eardrums, rang out and assaulted his ears.

 

“Puhahaha! Haha! Oh, no wonder you wanted to keep this secret.”

 

Agartha clutched her stomach, giggling uncontrollably.

 

They laughed so hard that they lay back, kicking her feet in the air.

 

What on earth was written on that paper that made them laugh so hard they almost wanted to smack someone?

 

I snatched the piece of paper that Agartha had laid down.

 

Let’s see. What was so funny?

 

I quietly read the paper, then crumpled it up with both hands and threw it into the corner.

 

「I’m sorry, I have a mental illness that makes me see strange things. Please understand if I suddenly get startled.

 

– Raydan Tanton」

 

Shit.

 

Of all the things, why a mentally ill person?

 

Agartha wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes and placed a hand on my shoulder.

 

“If it’s about mental illness, I guess it warrants being caught. What, did you run around naked in the city? Mr. Raydan Tanton?”

 

Though I wanted to deny this cruel reality, I gently pushed Agartha away with a vacant expression. However, Agartha’s laughter did not cease.

 

No, it couldn’t be.

 

Sure, this paper just happened to be with me, but that doesn’t mean I’m this Raydan Tanton person, right?

 

Right, maybe I killed this Raydan person and then put the paper in my pocket.

 

Why do my excuses seem to get uglier the more I make them?

 

Agartha looked at me, sneering as if genuinely seeing a madman.

 

“I am not mentally ill!”

 

Did my desperate argument get through to them? Agartha nodded their head, their face indicating that they understood.

 

“People like that usually say things like that.”

 

“Why don’t you consider the possibility that this paper might be lying?”

 

“Then what was that status window you just shouted about?”

 

“That… Oh, whatever, it’s not!”

 

“Oh, really? Mr. Tanton, I’m actually someone who got dragged to this prison without any guilt too.”

 

Was he saying that what I had said was that ridiculous?

 

Just as I was about to retort, the hunter who had been watching us from his seat frowned and shifted his gaze from the thief.

 

“Even if it’s a joke, can’t you come up with something more convincing? That’s not something you should be saying while openly carrying around the stench of a rotting corpse.”

 

“Eek, that’s too harsh.”

 

Agartha suddenly leaned against me as if deeply hurt by the hunter’s words, her face contorting in a near-cry.

 

I was terrified that I might actually smell like a rotting corpse as the hunter described, but to my surprise, there was no foul odor at all.

 

In fact, the scent closer to her was a soft fragrance.

 

With a tearful expression, Agartha mumbled,

 

“Mr. Tanton, do you think so too?”

 

Usually, I preferred being honest, but I decided to lie out of spite for her earlier mockery.

 

“Not a lot, but just enough to be a little bothersome….”

 

Her pupils shrunk dramatically, probably shocked by my words, which I found quite amusing.

 

“It’s that bad?”

 

“It’s the kind of smell that doesn’t go away even when you try to cover it up with perfume.”

 

When the hunter softly lowered his head and recited, Agartha, seemingly quite upset, spoke in a slightly irritated voice.

 

“So, what about you? Being here means you committed a crime, right?”

 

“I don’t like being treated the same”, the hunter replied.

 

“Then why are you here?”

 

“I don’t think I have any obligation to tell you.”

 

I knew why the hunter was imprisoned in this place.

 

There was a foreign entity buried in this underground prison.

 

He had deliberately gotten himself caught to capture that entity.

 

“Ha! Then we’re all just a bunch of innocent, wronged people here!”

 

Agartha pointed to himself, the hunter, and me.

 

Clap!

 

Agartha clapped his shackled hands loudly, drawing everyone’s attention and refreshing the atmosphere.

 

So, this was how he naturally built up the conversation, huh?

 

“Then we shouldn’t stay here any longer. If our heads get chopped off unjustly, how could we become enlightened spirits?”

 

Talk of losing our heads was quite chilling, but it was a very common occurrence here.

 

After all, the Snow Castle was fundamentally a dark fantasy setting.

 

As the hunter and I fell into deeper thought, Agartha smiled between us.

 

“So, why don’t we break out of here?”

 

It was an extremely reckless statement, but his characteristic smile somehow made it an enticing proposition.

 

And so it began.

 

The story of the hunter, the thief, and the madman.