Chapter 5 - Questions and Conclusions

Ren looked at Nozomi, Inei, and Ryouka one by one.

"Yes… I’m the one who created this game."

Nozomi’s eyes widened in shock at his words.

Touji’s gaze sharpened as he looked at Ren.

"What exactly did you mean earlier?"

Ren turned to Touji.

"Earlier?"

"Oh… you mean about the sweat?"

He took a deep breath.

"That’s the fourth anomaly I’ve seen so far."

Ryouka frowned, clearly struggling to follow the conversation.

"Anomaly? What do you mean, Touji?"

Touji glanced at Ryouka, explaining in a calm yet serious tone.

"He’s here because someone teleported him. During the celebration in the capital, a horde of impossible-tier monsters appeared,summoned by someone."

He turned back to Ren.

"Am I right, Ren?"

Ryouka, Inei, and Nozomi exchanged confused looks.

Nozomi fixed her gaze on Ren.

"Teleported?"

"Chaos?"

Then she turned to Touji.

"What is going on here, Touji?"

Touji glanced at Nozomi for a moment before turning his gaze back to Ren.

Nozomi’s face was clouded with confusion, her eyes shifting between Ren and Touji.

Ren took a slow breath before speaking.

"Perhaps… this world is no longer just a game."

His gaze dropped, his voice heavy.

"I saw players who were killed by monsters… their bodies didn’t vanish like they used to. They remained… as if they truly died."

His eyes sharpened.

"And the wounds on their bodies… they weren’t visual effects. They were real."

"When I was trying to make sense of it all, a magic circle appeared beneath my feet… and transported me here. High above the sky… I nearly died from the fall."

Nozomi tried to absorb every word he said.

Inei, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"So… you’re saying this game world has become real?"

Ren turned to Inei and nodded.

Ryouka, still baffled, tried to clarify.

"Then… the fourth anomaly you mentioned, about the sweat on our foreheads—"

Ren cut in, looking straight at him.

"That’s what solidified my theory… that this is no longer a game."

He let out a quiet breath.

"I never programmed sweat into this game."

Touji looked at Inei, Nozomi, and Ryouka.

"That… is only part of the bad news."

He exhaled, his voice turning grim.

"The worst part,Ren has lost all his authority in this game."

"His account was rejected by the system, for reasons unknown."

Nozomi, Inei, and Ryouka exchanged puzzled looks at Touji’s statement.

Inei was the first to speak, his voice edged with curiosity.

"What do you mean he’s lost his authority?"

Touji turned toward him.

"A developer should have full control over their own game. But Ren no longer has that control."

Ren’s tone hardened as he cut in.

"It seems someone has erased my name from the developer list inside the game’s system."

Nozomi tilted her head, curiosity in her voice.

"Is that… really bad?"

Ren met her gaze, his expression shadowed with worry.

"It will be… if the one who erased my name from the system list is the same person behind this chaos."

Ryouka followed up with another question.

"Isn’t there any way for you to take control of this world again?"

Ren fell silent, offering no immediate reply.

Inei smirked, finding Ryouka’s question almost amusing.

"Hey, Ryouka… you think he can do anything when he’s just a regular player now,no longer the one running this game?"

Touji let out a small chuckle at Inei’s words.

"Maybe you’re right, Inei," he said, glancing at Ren.

"Ren is nothing more than an ordinary player now."

Ren’s expression darkened at the remark, though he tried to suppress the anger welling up inside.

He took a deep breath, his voice low yet firm.

"You’re right, Touji. The me right now is nothing but a regular player."

Nozomi’s eyes shifted to the dragon’s corpse lying behind Touji and Ren.

"That dragon’s body… it didn’t vanish like it usually does," she muttered.

Inei, Touji, Ryouka, and Ren turned to look at the massive carcass.

Touji went silent for a moment before speaking his thoughts aloud.

"What if we tried cooking it?"

"If Ren’s statement is true, it should be possible."

Nozomi’s expression instantly showed her disapproval.

"HAH? You think dragon meat would even taste good?"

Inei approached the carcass, pulling a small dagger from beneath her cloak.

She tried to cut through the dragon’s scales, but failed.

"The scales are too hard. How could we possibly eat its meat?"

Touji stepped closer.

"Let me try."

Inei handed him the dagger. Touji took it and pressed the blade against the scales. With a single precise motion, the tough layer gave way.

"Maybe there’s a requirement to cut through dragon scales,"

Touji observed, inspecting the fragment.

"Could be based on class… or maybe player stats."

Nozomi looked at Touji and Inei, her face twisted in disgust.

"You’re seriously thinking about cooking that dragon meat?"

Ryouka only shook her head slowly, baffled by her leader’s antics.

Ren glanced at Touji, a faint smile on his lips.

"You haven’t changed at all,still as strange as ever."

"You really intend to cook this dragon?"

Touji kept slicing into the dragon’s body, lifting a medium-sized cut of meat.

"I’m just curious about the taste,especially now that this game feels like the real world."

Ren sighed, shaking his head.

"If you’re serious about cooking it."

"Do you even have cooking utensils?"

Touji looked briefly at Ren, then turned to Nozomi.

"My cook usually carries those."

Nozomi immediately covered her nose with her hand, glaring at him in disgust.

"I’m not cooking that dragon meat."

Touji shook the piece of dragon meat in his hand.

"Don’t you wonder how this tastes, Nozomi?"

Nozomi glared at him, clearly annoyed.

"I only cook meat for the buff effects."

"And besides, it was never like real life before,just press a button and it’s done."

Inei smirked, her tone dripping with mockery.

"So… you can’t cook in the real world?"

"What a pitiful woman."

Nozomi’s face flushed with anger.

"I CAN COOK IN THE REAL WORLD! WATCH YOUR MOUTH, INEI!"