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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Faction (1), Camp Roberts
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I figured it was about time. While the boy pondered which path to take next, a quest marker closed the distance on its own. It was a person. He was small and wiry, wearing glasses, and he looked pretty anxious as he glanced around.
"Hello. Um, er, uh... Is it okay if I call you Winter?"
Even though he was clearly much older, he couldn't bring himself to drop the formal speech. That was proof enough that the boy commanded real respect—or fear. Minors usually got brushed off in social interactions due to the downward adjustment, but there wasn't a hint of that here. It was probably partly due to the scary rumors about the boy, and partly thanks to Winter's presence amplified by his skill corrections.
He could've told the man to speak casually, but why bother making him comfortable? Casual words lead to casual thoughts, and casual thoughts lead to underestimating him. The boy just nodded.
"What is it?"
"I'm Jang Yeoncheol. It's hard to explain here, but there are some people who'd really like to meet you, Winter. They absolutely won't cause you any harm. They're just folks who need help. If it's not too much trouble, could you spare a moment?"
The boy accepted without hesitation. The augmented reality interface—the hologram visible only to players—updated his mission log. The control AI evaluated player-environment interactions in real time, registering those with clear cause-and-effect as missions (quests). It was one of the mechanisms designed to break away from scripted events.
When your abilities were lacking, missions with unknown details showed only ????. The boy could glimpse the rough objective now thanks to his skills 「Insight」 and 「Discernment」. Last time, he'd invested some experience from the supply run into the leadership tree. This let him glean more precise hints about upcoming events. A perk for connectors.
'An organization... a faction.'
He'd been waiting for this. The boy decided to follow for now.
On the way to the destination, the man called Yeoncheol kept vigilantly checking his surroundings. He was hyper-aware of the gaze from various groups. But it seemed pointless. This was the refugee zone. No rank insignia or anything, but Winter's U.S. Army combat uniform stood out too much. They already had tails on them. Several. Probably muscle from the major organizations. Dirty looks. Not the naturally tough kind—the faces of men whose rotten hearts made their eyes rot too.
"Wait here a sec."
"Huh?"
The boy called out to Yeoncheol, stopping him, then turned and pointed at their tails. It was sudden. Plenty hadn't hidden in time, and even those who had weren't well concealed. With help from 「Survival Instinct」, 「Combat Sense」, and 「Crisis Detection」, the boy didn't miss their subtle hostility.
"You guys, come out."
Pretending not to notice wouldn't work. He'd pointed them out one by one with his finger. There were a lot of them. How did a bunch of down-on-their-luck folks form so many groups?
But this was a world built from data mining. Mining: extracting human history and behavior from the vast ore veins of online data accumulated over ages, like pulling resources from a quarry. So the virtual refugees' lives were reconstructed based on real-world refugee camps.
In the end, enforcers from eleven different organizations gathered in one spot. They growled at each other while sizing up the boy too. The atmosphere turned ugly. Especially clear was their effort to push back against the boy's presence—the threat amplified by skill corrections. Yeoncheol's face went pale.
"Who the hell are you to order us around?"
The moment someone spat that out, mouths opened all at once, unwilling to lose.
"You little shit gonna die... Who finger-points at adults like that?"
"Ha, fuck. Unbelievable. Fine, you called us. Now what?"
The rest spewed more filth in a noisy cacophony. But just the boy staring them down was enough to quiet them. They were tense. They tried to hide it, but the boy's 「Insight」 「Discerned」 it. The control AI's help popups cluttered his view: dialogue keywords, recommended actions, combat assessments, advice, and so on.
He knew rumors were circulating around the camp. What had gone down during the last supply mission, what the boy had done there. And rumors only grew wilder with each retelling. Some called him a hopeless psychopath, a human butcher, a murderer. That was the fear flickering in the men's eyes.
"Stop following me. It's creepy."
A short, sharp demand that scraped at their marrow. VR was great—no need to hold back anger.
"Who the hell are you to..."
"I've heard that already."
He cut in before they could finish.
"Or should I return the favor and tail you all equally? I have a good memory. I won't forget any of your faces here, even later."
Unread messages piled up fast. This scene must've hooked other viewers. He didn't care. Not now. The boy focused on the moment. Immersed. He knew exactly what act to put on.
"...You threatening us, punk?"
"If you're doing something worth getting threatened over, maybe."
"Ha, look at this... Fame's gone to your head, huh? Kid, you think that combat gear makes you hot shit..."
"This uniform means nothing."
Even with the man's words repeatedly interrupted, he didn't explode—probably because his fear outweighed his irritation. If the boy had shown even a hint of flinching or overreaction, things would've played out very differently. But Winter had been calm and steady from start to finish.
Winter repeated himself for emphasis.
"This uniform means nothing."
"..."
"Don't judge me by my clothes. I don't want you to. Judge me by what I've done, what I can do, and what I will do."
This line came straight from the boy—no system help. Sincerity born of experience. A long-pent-up knot boiled up from near his heart, bypassing his brain, surging straight to his throat.
'Sick of one-sided judgments and demands from others. I'm nothing but the way I live... Even if this world has nothing else.'
The boy gripped the greatsword slung on his waistband. He didn't draw it. He took one step forward.
"You won't tail me needlessly, so you must know what I've done so far. So now... want to see for yourselves what I can do and what I will do?"
"Fuck. This kid's already lost it..."
The boy and the men were like same-pole magnets. One step forward from him, one step back from them. But pride kept them from tucking tail in front of so many eyes. Some tried to hold their ground. They were all bigger than the boy, but gutless ones had trembling hands. Their words shook naturally too.
"You messing with me 'cause you know I'm with the Korean Patriots Association?"
"You ignore my uniform but your affiliation matters, huh?"
"Urk..."
"If I took you all out right here, would your organizations really retaliate? For real? What would the U.S. military think of adults ganging up on one kid? I'm curious. If you are too, why not find out for real? It'd be good for both of us."
It was pure madman talk. Even he was shocked at how easily it poured out. Did I have this in me? The boy felt oddly amused.
That must've shown. He realized he was smiling. Not on purpose, but the sudden grin terrified them more. Unfeigned madness. With different affiliations, they couldn't muster group strength. The men couldn't speak anymore. They backed away, then turned and bolted once at a safe distance.
Just talk, but he could see the control AI evaluating the NPC/environment interaction in real time, converting results to experience. In the viewer message log, a highlighted summary blinked only when someone sent a 「Star」 gift. Winter paused time flow, opened the log to calm himself.
「ChiliBeanHater: LMAOOOO acting on point kekekeke wtf how's he so smooth without a single system assist keyword or line? Straight improv? Couldn't pull that off on NPCs myself lololol」
[ChiliBeanHater sent 20 Stars.]
「NickLordDont : Feeling like streaming ain't for just anyone. This streamer's first broadcast for real? Not some famous BJ name-changing and face-modding to dodge attention? Looks high TOM rank to me?」
「ActiveXFuck : Famous BJ or noob, who cares? Fun's what matters. Love the edge.」
「HardGay : Yeah, guy or girl, whatever. If it tastes good, that's it.」
「Cashmere : BJ's wrong term. Say streamer.」
「BillyHerrington : Fuck↗You↘」
[Cashmere sent 5 Stars.]
[SnowFox sent 20 Stars.]
「RyeoGwonNaraU : Way different from those star-grubbing old fogeys hamming it up for pocket change! Not reading from a textbook, fuck yeah.」
[GalaxySS505 sent 1 Star.]
After a moment's thought, the boy replied curtly, though he didn't really want to.
「Han Gyeowol: Thanks to everyone who sent Stars.」
Felt like he should say more, but this wasn't a broadcast he wanted to do, or knew how to handle. So different from the words that had boiled over moments ago. He wanted to quit streaming but couldn't. Needed the Stars.
「HardGay: Check out our streamer staying cool. Star-grubbers name-drop every donor to fish for more.」
He closed the log after that one. Star-grubbers... He wasn't fundamentally different from them. His heated heart cooled in the worst way. Unpleasant tempering. Time flow resumed.
The man called Yeoncheol stood frozen like a statue. Overwhelmed. Related status updates varied, but the standout was the reverence favorability boost. Among favorability types—affection, reverence, romance—reverence was key for leader recognition in a group. Especially eye-catching was the +3 permanent correction. Normally hard to even get +1.
Winter asked.
"You gonna keep standing there?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Let's go."
Mistake or intent, his formality bumped up a notch. Half fear, half admiration. Probably subconscious. The control AI's advice confirmed it.
「Psych Eval (Insight Lv.6/Discernment Lv.6): Yeoncheol is impressed by your unflappability after that showdown. (35% chance of error / Higher Insight/Discernment skills and ability corrections needed to reduce error probability.)」
The place he led them to was a large tent built for 24 people. Suspecting a trap, the boy peeked through the window first. Lighting was just one incandescent bulb hanging in the center. In the dimness, uneasy eyes flickered. They met his gaze. Wary.