Bjorn Yandel the Barbarian

Team Leader Kang gave me time to talk to my mother, and she spent a long time asking for my forgiveness.

Why did you leave me that day?

Talked about my own weaknesses.

Also, you shouldn’t have left that day.

He expressed his regret with a truly regretful look and voice.

And I just listened to all that talk with one ear and let it go.

No, to be exact····

‘It’s starting to get a little awkward.’

You can run a simulation in your head and supplement the shortcomings or even completely change the plan.

I continued to observe my surroundings and thought of an escape route.

How much time has passed since then?

Knock knock

Someone carefully knocks and enters the interrogation room where he and his mother were alone.

“Hello, Mr. Lee Han-soo.”

Who is this guy?

No matter how I look at it, he doesn’t seem like a detective.

“I’m sorry, but could you please step aside for a moment?”

“Oh, yes····”

Soon, the mother leaves the investigation room and a new face sits down in the seat across from her.

He was holding some pretty thick documents in his hands.

“I’ve heard the whole story, from the investigation you just conducted to the riot that happened earlier. There were a lot of interesting parts. Can we talk a little bit about them?”

A bespectacled man who speaks to me with a soft expression and voice without revealing his identity.

Only then did I realize who this guy was.

‘Mental Emotions·’

This guy came to check my mental state.

And according to the results···

‘I’ll be sent to a mental hospital without any luck.’

I quickly imagined the next situation:

Is going to the psychiatric ward really part of the ‘tutorial’?

‘···That can’t be·’

In my gaming experience, that has never been the case.

If we compare the current situation to a game, the moment you are transferred to a mental ward, it is likely to be ‘game over’.

Should we call this a kind of bad ending?

You might end up locked up in a hospital for the rest of your life, forced to take medication, and become a truly mentally ill person.

thus····

“Yes, you can ask me anything.”

Turn off Barbarian mode and turn on Gentleman Lee Han-soo mode.

“Thank you. You are very kind, contrary to what I heard.”

“I am originally like that.”

As soon as the environment for such conversation was established, the glasses-wearing man started to ask me questions in earnest.

“You said you were dragged into the game. Is that true?”

“No, that was a lie.”

“So where were you during the time you were missing?”

“I don’t remember where it was, but it was a very dark place. I was locked up there and then the guys who took me suddenly took me home. That’s why there was that chaos. I thought the guys who took me back were back.”

“Hmm… Do you know why they kidnapped Mr. Lee Han-soo?”

“I don’t know. I was just kidnapped and held captive. You know that movie? The one where they just give you dumplings. Yeah, like that movie. They just locked you up and didn’t do anything.”

“But why didn’t you speak honestly when you were questioned earlier?”

“The kidnappers threatened me, saying that if I spoke about them, they would definitely come and retaliate against me… I was so scared.”

It was a story made up in a flash, but it was still a plausible story.

But the problem is····

“But can you tell me something like that? You said you were threatened.”

“But… you seem trustworthy and kind, teacher… so I decided to try to muster up my courage.”

As I spoke, pretending to be a young man, the bespectacled man stared at me intently and slowly nodded.

“You seemed like a trustworthy and kind ‘teacher’… Okay, I understand. Let’s end our conversation here for today.”

Ah, uh, um····

‘···Is this something that needs to be done?’

The saying that sad premonitions never go wrong was not wrong this time either.

The glasses guy who came to do the psychiatric evaluation left, and my mother, who had finished the visit, waited outside. I was locked up in the detention center and had to spend the night…

“Mr. Lee Han-soo, please come out.”

It was not until the afternoon of the next day that I was taken out of the detention center and transferred outside.

“Team Leader Kang, where am I going?”

“···You will know when you go there·”

Nimiral·

‘I failed.’

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have talked about games when I was being investigated.

When I kept my lips tightly shut and looked at the ground, Team Leader Kang also seemed to think that hiding it was meaningless and offered words of comfort.

“But if you stay there, it will be much more advantageous for the trial. Attempted murder with special assault… Normally, even if it was your first offense, you wouldn’t be able to avoid prison. So… I think I can rest my weary mind…”

What the heck

What can I do to ease my weary mind?

“I also go there often, and my mother especially helps Hansu a lot····”

Team Leader Kang’s voice, which had no reason to listen carefully, became increasingly blurred.

Turbuck

A special transport vehicle is seen parked in front of the West.

There are people in uniform standing in front of the car.

“This is a five-star high-risk patient. Never provoke him and be especially careful when transporting him.”

The bespectacled man added a very strong warning to those uniformed men.

‘What’s with the five stars… Is this the Explorer’s Guild?’

I sighed and glanced around.

The men in uniform, who had heard the warning from the bespectacled man, were preparing something like a restraint suit in the car.

‘Once they’re ready, they’ll probably take the handcuffs off and move over there.’

But that’s why I needed to move a step faster this time too.

They say the handcuffs will be removed naturally soon, but aren’t these guys idiots?

We will proceed much more thoroughly, knowing that this is the most dangerous moment.

Yeah, so····

‘now·’

Turn around and look at Team Leader Kang.

“Mr. Hansoo? Do you have something to say···?”

“Thank you for being so kind to me…”

“No, it’s my job. It’s not something I should be thankful for.”

“It’s my job······”

That makes me feel a little better.

Just as Team Leader Kang did Team Leader Kang’s ‘job’, I am just doing my job.

Kwajik-!

Hitting the center of the face with the ‘back kick’ that was often used during the beginner Barbarian days.

“Ahh!”

“Gyaaaah!”

He pushed Team Leader Kang, who was sitting, down to the floor, then reached out and looked at his waist, which he had noticed before…

“Why not?”

What is this?

This situation wasn’t in my plan?

“uh····”

It was a time when I was truly embarrassed and looking around.

“Ah····”

“Team Leader Ga Kang!”

“이 개새끼가 또!!”

Team Leader Kang holds his nose after getting hit by a kick and tries to stop his colleagues.

“Okay! Don’t do that!”

“But that’s true···!”

“If I tell you not to do it, then don’t do it!”

Team Leader Kang slowly got up from the floor and looked at me.

“···I thought that Hansu might do something like this, so I left the key with another colleague.

Ah… I see…

“I don’t blame Hansu. He’s just sick. If he listens to the teachers there and takes his ‘medicine’ well, he’ll get better soon. Hansu too.”

This is ruined.

***

White and white·

The strong smell of chemicals fills the air everywhere.

“Ahhhhh! Aahhhhh! Aahhhhh!”

I look out the window made of special glass, listening to the sound of the seizure of the patient in the next room, who has started to tantrum again as usual.

“Hehehe····”

An afternoon so tiring that it can never be expressed in the word drowsy.

A muscular, well-built man wearing a nurse’s uniform stands in front of me holding a chart.

Accompanied by a seemingly new and sullen nurse.

“This patient here is the patient I was talking about, Lee Han-soo. What did you say we should be careful about when treating this patient?”

“Never have personal conversations!”

“You’ve been to other hospitals too, but you need to be especially careful with this patient. As Professor Park said, he’s a patient who is as good at deceiving, tricking, and acting as breathing.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! Right now, he’s drugged and quiet, but he’s a patient who tries to escape whenever he gets a chance. He thinks reality is a game. If he had a knife, he’d stab us to death and laugh. Did he kill one?”

“···Yes, I understand!”

“Don’t take it lightly! When I listened, I heard that he knocked down three police officers during the arrest and strangled one of them to death.”

“Ah… I heard that story. Even when you came out of the police station, you caused a ruckus. Even when you came to the hospital, there were several instances where the nurses got seriously hurt….”

“But it’s better now. Thanks to that, I was able to use strong medication. Now, you’re so well-behaved.”

“Yes, you didn’t even look at me once while we were talking like this.”

Well, if you look at me, I won’t say anything.

In a way, even conversations like this are all information…

“Haaaaaam····”

I’m so tired I could die.

That’s enough for today, I should go to sleep.

‘But… how many days have already passed…?’

I don’t know for sure, but rest is also part of the battle.

I closed my eyes and accepted the coming flood as I thought,

‘Come to your senses’

No matter what anyone says, this is a dream world.

I am still in the midst of trials and as always, I will find a way to overcome them.

but····

“Patient Lee Han-soo, it’s time to take your medication. Open your mouth!”

“ah····”

Gulp!

“···Ah, you’re just pretending to swallow it again. Kim Gan! Bring that! I’ll have to force it in again today. Tie your hands and feet for an hour so you don’t vomit!”

Could it be because of the antipsychotic medication I take every day?

When I’m sleepy, I sleep, and when I wake up, I feel hazy, and at some point, I don’t even have time to go for a walk, so I’m tied to bed all day long.

In the midst of it all, I couldn’t help but feel doubtful.

‘Really… is this really a dream…?’

My mother came crying whenever I could visit her.

All the memories and experiences I gained in Lapdonia·

Everyone is telling me that this situation is a dream, but one crucial contradiction is confusing me.

‘Why on earth···’

Nobody’s trying to kill me, right?

***

If you make a mistake, you die.

Even if you’re unlucky, you die.

If you don’t know even a little bit, you’ll die.

That fucking world full of all kinds of death flags.

[Dungeon and Stone]·

My body still belongs to that world and if I’m really just dreaming, it doesn’t make sense.

Why am I still alive?

One day, two days, three days, four days···

Why is it that no matter how much time passes, no one tries to kill me?

The detective who hit me in the head and Team Leader Kang who almost got strangled to death.

Why is everyone so non-violent?

‘like····’

As if we had come to a real modern world.

No, to be exact····

‘I really… like I’m crazy or something…’

No matter how hard I try to hold on to my resolve, I start to have thoughts of what might happen without realizing it.

It could just be the drugs that are making me think this way, but

Just like the doctor, nurse, detective, and mother said.

“Is there really something wrong with my mind?”

Actually, if you think about it, it’s not that far-fetched.

Should we rather say that it is probable?

A childhood so unfortunate and terrible that even words like stress and trauma cannot describe it.

Games that I was obsessed with for escapism.

Among them, [Dungeon and Stone] is the one I played the most diligently, almost to the point of obsession.

The breakup with Hyunbyeol during the play

It wouldn’t be strange if all those things overlapped and made you go crazy.

No, even if you are not a psychiatrist, it is close to a story that everyone can understand and say, ‘That makes sense.’

“Then… the things that happened there… were all because I was crazy?”

“Everyone, cover your ears! It looks like patient Lee Han-soo is going to do something again!”

“Yes! He’s probably trying to make us let our guard down by pretending to be fine!”

Anyway, the reactions of the hospital staff nearby

‘No, that can’t be true’

I shake my head and hold back my feelings of weakness.

I didn’t come back

This place is still a dream·

The moment I accept this as reality, the ordeal is over. From that moment on, it is clear that it is game over.

Yeah, so····

‘I need proof·’

To make up one’s mind, evidence is needed.

Above all, it is necessary to build a strong support structure to prevent it from collapsing.

“Letter… Please deliver the letter.”

“A letter? To your mother?”

“No… I’m overseas. I don’t mind opening it and looking at the contents, so please just send it via international mail.”

“The address is… Canada? Is this a letter to that ‘Canadian friend’ you mentioned before?”

“Yes, I have a favor to ask.”

“···Okay, I understand. I will definitely pass it on to you.·”

Did you think that reading the letter would help you in your treatment?

My doctor readily agreed to my request, and about a week later I received a reply.

[I don’t know where to start. Hi Hansu.]

[I was so surprised to see your letter. At first, I thought my friends were joking… But if the doctor sent you a letter with your story, I felt I had to respond, so I decided to write to you.]

[But your doctor might not like that. To be honest, I thought for a moment that what you said might be true.]

[That doesn’t make sense. I also played [Dungeons and Stones] and was in the related community, so you could probably find my name or address by searching the Internet.]

[But the fact that my first kiss was when I was 17, the person I kissed was my girlfriend’s best friend, and the fact that I dreamed of becoming a veterinarian after my puppy died]

[I’ve never said anything like that, not even on the internet or to my close friends.]

My Canadian friend’s reply was the definitive proof that I was trapped in a ‘dream’.

That’s true too, right?

If all my experiences were ‘illusions’, how could I know about the experiences of my ‘Canadian friends’ across the ocean?

“after····”

Okay I’m not crazy

So now let’s just wake up and find a way to escape.

With that thought in mind, I finished reading the letter.

[But while what you said sounds plausible, I hope it’s not true.]

[If what you say is true, then I’m already dead in that world and the current me is a fake that was created… Isn’t that too sad? I have a loving family and a lover.]

[I don’t know about you, but I think this is true.]

[Of course, it’s your choice what you believe to be true.]

[Oh, and if you need someone to talk to, feel free to send me a letter anytime. Even though I don’t know your face yet, you’re across the ocean, but I have a feeling we could be good friends.]

[PS I also heard about your childhood. You seem like a very strong person. So I believe you will overcome it and I will cheer you on from afar.]

After reading the entire letter, I sighed deeply.

“ha····”

This was also a bit confusing in its own way.