The forest at night is incredibly dark.

Of course, that’s no surprise. In a place without the conveniences of civilization, there’s hardly any light to rely on.
At best, there’s the moonlight, fireflies, and the glowing eyes of monsters and wild beasts.

Obviously, if you see a monster’s glowing eyes, you need to run, so scratch that.
Fireflies mostly appear in the summer, so they’re out too.

The only light left to rely on is the moonlight, but tonight just happened to be the night of the new moon.
Most of the moon was hidden, so there was barely any light.

On top of that, this forest is a strange place where the leaves don’t fall even in the dead of winter.
In short, it was pitch-black.

There’s something about the darkness that triggers a primal fear in people. Since ancient times, humans have been vulnerable at night, so if they wanted to survive, they had no choice but to seek shelter indoors.

The ancestors who feared the night lived on, while those who didn’t ended up returning to the earth.
That fear of darkness is written into our genes.

Even I was terrified of the forest at night when I first came here.
Now, after more than 10 years, it doesn’t bother me at all.

Still, as someone who has experienced this place firsthand, I can understand her fear.

“Sniff... w-wahhh...! I can’t see anything, and the sounds...! The monster howls are so loud...!”

[Chaerin, you’re embarrassing yourself...]
[Isn’t a brave person supposed to stand tall? What’s with all the groveling?]
[But seriously, it was so scary! Why do those animal howls sound so real?]
[The howling was actually terrifying, like... for real...]
[Honestly, I’d rather face a scary guy than a monster at this point...]
[Still, going back to the guy who told you to get lost... not a great move. He’s probably going to say no.]

“...Fine, come inside.”

So, I allowed her to enter.

[Wait, what?]
[It worked, lol.]
[She got a night in the cave just by kneeling. Chaerin, you’re the real winner here.]
[This guy’s playing the long game, huh?]

It wasn’t just because I felt sorry for her.
I was also curious about her—or rather, about otherworlders like her.

Since I’d already been found out, it made sense to at least gather some information.

“What are you waiting for? Come in.”

“Oh, yes! Yes! I’m coming in!”

And so, an awkward night of sharing a cave began.

As she entered the cave, Chaerin let her imagination run wild for a moment.
After all, no matter the situation, she was still a woman.

Sure, the atmosphere was a bit scary, but she was about to spend the night in the same space as a handsome man. With that kind of setup, her thoughts couldn’t help but drift in a certain direction.

After all, thoughts aren’t something you can control.

She wasn’t expecting a magical night or anything.
But maybe, just maybe, they’d have to share a blanket because there wasn’t another one, and in doing so, their bodies might... touch.

Even though she tried to stop those thoughts, they just kept coming back.

“Sleep over there.”

Of course, those daydreams quickly ended when the man assigned her a place to sleep.
A blanket? There wasn’t even one in sight. All she had in front of her was the cold, hard stone floor.

“Sorry, I don’t have any guest bedding.”

He said, while calmly spreading out his own blanket. His expression, despite his apology, practically screamed, So what?.

“...Okay.”

She had hoped for at least a thin sheet or something...
Disappointed, she sat down. She couldn’t complain, though. She was, after all, the one who had forced her way into his home.

Still, she’d thought they’d at least sleep in the same area, but it seemed not.
The man headed deeper into the cave.

Even though the fire was burning, the darkness swallowed him up after just a few steps.

A sudden wave of fear washed over her, sitting there by the fire, all alone.
Was he really going to leave her here by herself?

“Uh, excuse me...? Could you at least stay nearby?”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be around.”

His voice came from beyond the darkness.
It seemed like he wasn’t too far away, given how little the sound echoed.

From the moment she met him, it was clear he was a man with strong walls around him.
Still, Chaerin breathed a small sigh of relief.

‘Whew...’

It wasn’t exactly the scenario she had hoped for, but at least she wouldn’t be completely alone in the dark. His voice was still there.

Of course, technically speaking, she wasn’t alone. There were thousands of people with her.

[What the hell, show us his face!]
[All those daydreams for nothing, huh, Chaerin? Thumbs up, lol.]
[Thumbs up, lol.]

She couldn’t exactly count the people in the chat as real companions.
Sure, talking to them kept things from getting boring, but they didn’t really help in calming her fear.

Besides, she was about to end the stream soon anyway.

“Well, everyone, it’s been fun.”

[Wait, hold up. What’s going on?]
[Don’t you dare end it now.]
[You’re really going to stop streaming out of nowhere?]

“It’s time for bed.”

[You’re going to sleep in the game? You idiot.]
[Why does she even sleep in the game?]
[She used up all her gear and didn’t bring fatigue potions, so now she has to sleep in-game, lol.]
[What an absolute idiot, lol.]
[Why not just leave the stream running while you sleep?]

“No way. That’s too embarrassing.”

[Sigh.]
[She’s got a talent for driving people crazy.]
[Ugh, I wanna smack her.]
[You f-]

Before the chat could explode into a flurry of curses, Chaerin turned off the stream.
Her viewer count at the end? A whopping 3,000 people.
A massive success.

Sure, her viewers would probably be tearing their hair out over her sudden departure, but... she wasn’t going to worry about that.
She had a knack for setting the internet on fire and then vanishing at just the right moment.

“You sure do talk to yourself a lot.”

As she was savoring the afterglow of her stream, a voice came from the darkness.
It was the man’s voice.

Yor thought to himself:

‘Thank goodness...’

He had been wondering how to strike up a conversation, and she had handed him the perfect opportunity.

“You seemed like you were talking to someone earlier. What was that about?”

Honestly, he wanted to just ask, Is that chat window next to you?, but that would sound too suspicious.

He didn’t know if she could see it like he could, and there was no reason to reveal that he was different while her stream was still running.

When she ended her broadcast, he was secretly relieved.
Now he could talk freely without worrying about anyone watching him.

“Oh, you mean just now?”

Chaerin began to explain.

“That was my stream. People log in and watch what I’m doing... How do I explain this?”

You don’t just gather information from what people say.
You can pick up hidden details from their behavior, their tone, and even their mood.

In that sense, Yor was in an excellent position.
He could observe her, while she couldn’t see him. Having lived here for so long, his night vision was far better than most.

Listening to her explanation, Yor nodded to himself.

‘I thought it was something secret.’

She had explained without any hesitation.
Apparently, even in this world, people were familiar with the concept of streaming.
After all, she wouldn’t be able to hide it if she walked around talking to herself all the time.

Yor followed up with his next question.

“You said you’re an otherworlder. Where exactly are you from? Is it a world different from ours?”

The question sounded casual, but to him, it was incredibly important.
Her answer could affect how he would move forward.
If the world she came from matched what he was thinking, maybe... just maybe, there was a chance he could find a way home.

“Oh, you mean where we’re from? It’s a completely different place. It’s called Earth...”

Her casual response shocked Yor.

‘...!’

Internally, he was elated.
A connection he thought had been severed decades ago had suddenly appeared before him again.
It might not be the exact same Earth he had lived on, but it was still a world similar to his.

That alone was enough to make Yor feel like he had found a crucial link.

Yor asked her many questions after that—how she ended up here, what her world was like, and what had surprised her about this place.

Although Chaerin had been ready to sleep, she was flustered but answered his questions sincerely.
She carefully avoided talking about things like games, which people in this world wouldn’t understand.

At some point, she even thought to herself, I should’ve just kept the stream running if I knew he’d be this talkative.

She wasn’t just answering questions either—she gathered the courage to ask him a few things in return.

“Uh, could you tell me your name?”

“...Yor.”

And that’s how she learned his name.
As soon as he told her, the name above his status window changed from [Unnamed NPC] to [Yor].
Excited by her success, she kept asking questions, though one question led to a slightly awkward situation.

“By the way, Yor, why are you living in this forest?”

“...Hey.”

“Yes?”

“I’m letting you stay here tonight, in this dangerous forest. I think that’s enough of a favor, don’t you?”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right.”

“Then don’t push it. Just stay put and don’t ask any more questions.”

His tone was sharper than ever, as if to warn her not to cross a line.
It was a heavy voice, making it clear that some things were off-limits.
Frightened, she nodded quietly.

So... things aren’t as comfortable as I thought.

After that, Chaerin held back from asking more questions.
The conversation mostly consisted of Yor asking questions and her answering them.
It felt more like an interview than a conversation, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

Chaerin, who had barely ever talked to men, found herself both nervous and a little excited to be having such an extended conversation with one.

She continued chatting with Yor for a while, and at some point, she drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, Chaerin was woken by a sensation of someone nudging her.

"Hey, get up."

"...Ugh, huh?"

She felt a light touch, and when she opened her bleary eyes, she saw Yor standing over her, prodding her shoulder with the tip of his boot.

"It's morning. Time to go."

Blinking away the sleep, Chaerin glanced around. The once pitch-black cave had brightened with the morning light streaming in. What followed happened quickly—she got up, ate some venison Yor gave her, and was promptly shown the door, almost as if being chased out.

Kicked out right after waking up... But then again, at least he gave her breakfast. That was something.

"Thanks for letting me stay last night. I’m glad I survived."

"Get lost. Don’t come back."

Yor’s tone remained cold, even as she left.
For him, there was no other choice. The conversation last night had been interesting enough, but one time was more than enough.

Getting any closer to her would only cause more problems. After all, as a bearer of the Demon’s Blood, he was someone always rejected by the world, no matter where he went.

He watched her disappear deeper into the mid-levels of the forest, his expression tinged with a hint of regret. Then, letting out a deep sigh, he glanced up at the sky, recalling the previous night.

"Haa..."

It had been a waning crescent moon.
A fading, dark moon.

Which meant that soon... the new moon would rise.