Screeeech...

The sound of metal hinges creaking accompanied the opening of the prison door.

The hunter led the way, and as Agartha and I stepped over the threshold, rows of iron bars lined the corridor.

Indeed, this seemed to be the underground prison from the prologue.

But why can I see so clearly?

Even blinking my eyes and looking around, contrary to my memory, the inside of the prison was quite bright.

Originally, the underground prison was dark and gloomy, reminiscent of something out of a horror game, where if you maneuvered poorly, you'd bump into walls or head in the wrong direction instead of forward.

Even with the brightness settings turned to the maximum, it was nerve-wracking, wondering if skeletons or ghosts would jump out.

But now, the game was this bright.

How nice.

"It's brighter than I thought, so it’s manageable. Usually, they say underground prisons are in total darkness."

"What?"

Agartha looked at me with a puzzled expression.

Why is he looking at me like that, as if I'm saying something ridiculous?

"Why? Isn’t this bright enough?"

"You call this bright?"

Agartha blinked, seemingly unable to understand.

Where did these people live that they think this is dark?

As thieves, shouldn't their night vision be better than mine, an ordinary person?

Apparently annoyed by our chatter, the hunter turned his head towards us.

"...Shut up."

"Hey, Mr. Tanton said this is bright."

"Maybe he has the eyes of a dead fish and sees well in the dark. Stop talking and look ahead."

The hunter said, in what seemed to be a less blunt tone, as if joking.

Still, making fun of someone's appearance is too much.

In my twenties, even babies used to follow me around calling me a handsome brother.

I kept this thought to myself as we walked along.

"Surely, no one is here."

"See, I told you."

Agartha smirked, and the hunter just nodded.

As we walked aimlessly for a bit, we reached the end of the corridor, which was a dead end with stairs going up.

There were writings on the wall at the dead end, looking like they were carved with sharp nails.

The letters instinctively read themselves to me as someone who received basic education.

Without realizing it, I leaned closer to read.

• Hello! Today, we will learn how to defeat 'Foreign Media'!

Yes… defeating 'Foreign Media' is very difficult.

Many knights have lost their lives trying, which is unfortunate… ㅠㅠ

Recently, it’s been said that using weapons made from Foreign Media's flesh can help in defeating them, but I don’t know much beyond that;;

So, many knights are still researching this, and I hope they find an answer soon!

That concludes the story on how to defeat 'Foreign Media'!

…

What is this, something you’d find on a blog?

As I tried to reread it out of confusion, someone grabbed my neck and forcibly pulled me away from the writing.

When I looked, it was the hunter, who had been ahead, staring at me sharply.

"First rule of Rondon, never read writings on books or walls not carved by humans. Don’t you know this, even as a lunatic?"

The hunter threw me to the opposite side of the writing, making me land on my rear.

"Are you okay? Do you feel mentally contaminated or anything?"

Agartha rushed over, looking worried as he started shaking me.

I had forgotten something important.

One of the taboos in Snow Castle was not to read the writings.

In the game, reading shocking texts was described as reducing your mental strength.

But I didn’t feel anything.

Rather than shocking, the writing seemed like a child’s scribble on the wall, which was shocking in its own way.

Anyway.

"Can you hear me? Get a grip! Don’t lose yourself, Mr. Tanton!"

Agartha shook me violently, as if trying to wake someone on the brink of death.

I felt like I was going to throw up….

I stretched out my arm to push Agartha away.

"Wh-what?"

But Agartha didn’t let go of my hand.

The momentum shifted towards the lighter Agartha, and we ended up falling.

Supporting myself with my arm to avoid falling on him, I ended up in a position as if I was about to cover him!

With our noses almost touching, Agartha blushed.

"Even if you’ve lost your mind, you shouldn’t do this here…."

I was startled by his nonsense and quickly stood up.

Despite our antics, the hunter nonchalantly remarked.

"Are you saying you can read that writing?"

"Yeah… why can I?"

"You can read…."

The hunter spoke in a noticeably lower tone than before.

Honestly, I didn’t know why I could read it.

And was the writing originally written that way?

I hadn’t progressed far enough in the story to know.

As a pure beginner, how would I know such things?

"Nowadays, there are few who can read. Instead, people are enchanted to forget about letters. Understanding the characters engraved by Foreign Media would drive you mad.

But you seem fine."

The hunter approached me with rough steps, leaning in close.

His eyes were staring at me as if trying to uncover something.

"What are you?"

Even if you ask me like that, I have no idea why I can read it!

It would make sense if I knew the game’s entire story and was acting accordingly.

Now Agartha, with sparkling eyes, approached me as well.

"Are you a mystic? Or, as written on the paper, a lunatic who can read writing.

That way, you wouldn’t go mad reading it, already being mad."

Maybe it’s better to pretend to be a mystic?

In the game, a mystic is one of the hunter's possible builds.

…But I hadn’t taken that route, so I knew nothing about it.

If I went with what I didn’t know, I’d be found out eventually and suffer consequences.

Both of them were looking at me intently, waiting for my answer.

Can’t we just ignore it and move on, really?

Swallowing my distress, I recited what was written on the paper.

"I’m a lunatic… so maybe that’s why I’m okay?"

Oh, damn.

The whole world just won’t let me live unless I’m a lunatic.

Agartha, seemingly touched, clenched his fist and shouted.

"Of course! You must have been caught wandering the streets naked due to your madness!"

"No, it’s not that…"

Agartha grabbed my shoulders tighter.

"Don’t be embarrassed!"

They say the loudest voice wins.

Agartha’s voice, which instantly drowned out my excuse, was powerful enough to boil a kettle.

His tearful eyes made it even more uncomfortable.

But his lips were trembling.

Perhaps trying to hide it, he lowered his head and began reprimanding the hunter.

"How could you scare someone with a broken mind? They can read by mistake!"

The hunter, taken aback by her cheekiness, widened his eyes for a moment, then frowned and held his forehead.

"What a perfect pair."

The hunter, shaking his head, started walking ahead again.

Haah.

Life, damn.

But why can I read without going insane?

Could I really have a mental illness?

No way.

No, I don't.

It’s just a slight change from the game.

Trying to rationalize this, I followed the hunter.

After climbing the stairs, a huge hall of the underground prison came into view.

If I remember correctly, there should be a massive ‘thing’.

The first appearance of Foreign Media in the story.

The so-called Warden of the Underground Prison.

I didn’t finish the game, so I don’t know why Foreign Media was in a prison, but it was known as a ‘Newbie Terminator’ that caused me a lot of suffering.

Thinking of those times made me inexplicably angry.

Around then, the area where the Foreign Media was started to come into view.

And I was shocked by what I saw.

"What is this?"

Instead of the Foreign Media, which should have been there, a cute girl with wolf ears was sleeping soundly inside.

There was a strange sense of deja vu.

Unsure of what to do with this unexpected turn, I looked at the hunter and Agartha and was even more shocked by their expressions.

Agartha was trembling in fear, his pupils shrunken, and the hunter, with the deadliest glare I’ve seen, was staring at the girl in the prison.

That expression was the same as when he faced Foreign Media.

So, that means she is the Foreign Media.

The hunter sees her as Foreign Media, but I don’t.

The unusually bright underground prison.

The writing on the wall looking like a blogger wrote it, rather than crudely carved.

The Foreign Media in the form of a girl.

The events of that day played like a panorama in my mind.

‘Join the Super Coward Club, you minion.

If you like it, just shut up and hit the recommend button!’

Finally, I could see the coherence in everything I had experienced so far.

Yes.

I wasn’t just possessed by Snow Castle.

I was possessed by Snow Castle with the ‘Super Coward Mode’ installed.