"It's nothing."
Jiang You changed the subject. It seemed this call was a direct line to the game character. The idea sounded magical, but the principle was simple—it was basically just like having a game window open on his phone.
"What did you need? Is it something important?"
Usually, you only got these calls for player recall events or major version updates. But a test version shouldn't need this, right?
"Can't I call you even if there's nothing wrong?"
Chloe's voice sounded slightly aggrieved. "Actually, I did have something to ask you this time. I wanted to know... which world are you in right now? You haven't shown up in a long time."
It hasn't been that long, Jiang You thought. At most, just a single day. He'd been grinding the game intensely for months, never missing a day online. But real life had its demands, too. Although his contract required him to stay online and submit feedback reports, he had planned to log in tonight no matter what.
"What do you mean, 'a long time'? It's only been a day. I have things to do, you know?"
He found himself slipping into a normal conversation, an uncanny feeling that he was talking to a real person.
"That's still a long time."
Chloe had been waiting for Jiang You to arrange her lodging, but instead, he'd just dumped her on the librarian and washed his hands of the matter.
"You're my guardian now," she said. "You could at least tell me what you're doing. Maybe I can help?"
Jiang You finally remembered that he had promised to take Chloe in. Yet, no sooner had he made the promise than he vanished for nearly 24 hours. While Chloe's personality was slightly different from Prisma Illya's, her mentality was still that of a ten-year-old girl. It was only natural for her to feel wronged.
Jiang You felt a headache coming on. Now she was chasing him into the real world. Could he still treat this as just a simple game? While he was going through his workdays, these characters were advancing their world in real-time. But how could he explain that he was just a player, and no matter how close their relationship seemed, it was all virtual? Even for a part-time job, letting game characters bleed into his real life felt... a bit much.
"Is it something you can't talk about?"
Chloe's tone turned worried. If even Jiang You couldn't speak openly about it, the situation must be serious.
"Are you sure you don't need help?"
Jiang You scratched his head. Isn't this a bit too realistic? And bringing it into the real world... isn't that going too far?
He was tempted to just tell her the truth. But given the current intelligence level of the characters, he feared it would trigger a chain reaction and cause even more trouble. Frustrated, Jiang You slapped his forehead. This phone number belonged to that damn Customer Service rep. Knowing that guy's twisted sense of humor, he was probably using this to watch Jiang You squirm for his own amusement.
"Yog-Sothoth! I know you're there! Get the hell out here!"
Since the other party was playing games, Jiang You decided he wouldn't hold back either.
"Miss Librarian, he's looking for you."
Chloe flinched at Jiang You's tone. He usually wore a constant smile, and she'd never seen him truly angry before. Of course, she hadn't known him for long, but it was still a clear sign of how serious the situation was. She quickly handed the phone to Bubble.
"Hello? Mr. Jiang You, what can I do for you?"
This outcome was exactly what she'd expected. She'd told Chloe to call him mostly for fun, and it was only natural that Jiang You would be upset about it interfering with his "normal" life.
Jiang You had expected a simple switch in communication channels, not this. It felt as if they had genuinely passed the phone from one person to another. This is getting way too realistic, he thought. At this rate, I'm really going to lose track of what's game and what's reality!
"So you were there! How dare you ask me that? Are you expecting me to tell her you're just a game character? Don't you know how intelligent you characters are?!"
This was exactly what gave Jiang You a headache. In a normal game, saying something like that would likely be blocked or ignored. But this game didn't even shy away from R-18 content—it just forcibly logged the player out. So Jiang You was certain that if he uttered those words, it would have a massive impact on the characters. They would try to verify it, and who knew what kind of chaos would ensue?
"Can you please not bring the game into reality? I'll keep providing game test feedback, and I promise I'll log in tonight. You don't need to remind me like this!"
"Mr. Jiang You, I must remind you. I am not Yog-Sothoth. I am Bubble, your Librarian."
Bubble spoke slowly.
"Is there a difference?"
Isn't it just a real name versus a nickname? Jiang You wondered. Why emphasize that? But he quickly understood what Bubble meant. Yog-Sothoth had once said this was His avatar—she was Her, but not Him. Bubble was a game character; Yog-Sothoth was not.
"You mean... you're the game character from the Library?!"
"Yes, you've guessed correctly. I'm in the Library right now."
Bubble chuckled. This was exactly the reaction she'd wanted.
"Wait a second..." Jiang You's mind was reeling. "Are you saying you, a game character, actively called me from inside the game?"
"That's right. Calling reality from a game... with today's technology, that's not so outrageous, is it?"
In truth, it was a cross-dimensional call, something that should have been impossible. Bubble had simply leveraged concepts related to "The Gate" to connect the signals between their two worlds. But from this point on, she wouldn't need to intervene. Jiang You's subconscious had already permitted what was to follow. Her words weren't meant to mislead; the "reality" Jiang You currently inhabited was indeed capable of such technology. And she hadn't specified that her side was the game.
"That has nothing to do with it."
There's nothing wrong with the feature itself, Jiang You thought, but a character actively using it is a huge problem! What were the programmers thinking? Won't this disrupt players' real lives? No matter how realistic a character is, they're not actually real.
"This kind of behavior is really disruptive for players," Jiang You argued. "Games and reality should be kept separate!"
"Is that really true?" Bubble's smile remained. "When characters act indistinguishable from real people, can you truly treat them as mere game NPCs? You know it yourself. As a player, no matter how immersed you are in role-playing, you wouldn't bother explaining things to an NPC. To players, we're just bundles of data. Our life and death are entirely at your whim."
She had a point. Jiang You couldn't bring himself to see these characters as ordinary NPCs. They had their own daily routines, reacted to every action he took, and possessed memories of their respective worlds—completely different from characters with fixed lines and movements. Even the NPCs in the Yu-Gi-Oh! game itself weren't this realistic... though they were highly advanced, it was still impossible for them to react to every single one of the player's actions and experiences.
"You're not trying to tell me we don't have souls, are you?"
Bubble pressed on.
"A Digital Soul? What, like a Cyber Ghost?"
Jiang You had wanted to make a joke—after all, if game characters actually had something like that, it would be truly spooky. But Bubble didn't seem to be in the mood for his humor, so he dropped the playful tone.
"So, what was your goal in having Kuro call me on her own?"
"At first, it was just a whim," Bubble admitted bluntly. "But now, there's something I really need to tell you. No matter what you think, to everyone here, you are real. That little girl really needs you. She's been waiting for you all day."
Konami is probably planning to use this method to hook players, Jiang You thought, making them addicted to the virtual world and willing to spend insane amounts of money. Although the Test Server didn't have a payment system yet, he couldn't even imagine how many microtransactions would be added once the game officially launched. Soul Crystals and Blank Cards surely wouldn't be easy to obtain. The built-in shop management and the territory-building feature he hadn't even touched were likely major spending sinks.
But damn it, this kind of thing really works on me.
Still, this served as a reminder. A promise to Kuro was a promise, and breaking it meant he had to make it up to her.
"Why didn't you just say so earlier? I would've logged back in sooner."
Isn't this just a player retention call? Jiang You mused. Just a more creative version.
"Perfect timing. I was getting tired of this anyway. Tell Kuro I'll be right back."
Jiang You hung up. He decided to end his date with Christina. Her behavior was too similar to Miss Tong's—both were aggressively pursuing him. It was strange for two such women to appear back-to-back, especially since they were both stunningly beautiful, like characters straight out of an anime. Although Christina felt more natural than Miss Tong, as if she'd known him for a long time, Jiang You was certain he'd never met a foreigner in his twenty-plus years of life. Yesterday had been their first meeting. This wasn't a New Game+ where he started with bonus Affection points.
It wasn't that he disliked Christina; he just didn't believe in free lunches. Thinking back, her actions last night seemed a bit too deliberate. What kind of high school girl would sleep over at a man's house after their first meeting? If she wasn't scared, then he should be. Jiang You decided to slow her advance and observe for a while. If she continued to throw herself at him with no self-preservation, he'd need to be even more cautious. Of course, if she didn't... well, Jiang You wouldn't mind pushing things forward himself.
Bubble's words also left Jiang You with a nagging sense of unease. A game character actively contacting someone in the real world... Isn't this just some customer service rep calling themselves Yog pulling a prank? Jiang You preferred to believe it was just that guy messing around. If a game character truly acted on their own initiative like this, where would the line between game and reality be drawn? Aside from being unable to physically enter the real world, a character with independent thought would be no different from a real person. This was one of the main reasons he decided to return to Kuro first.
"Sorry, something urgent came up at work, so I have to leave," Jiang You said, trying to be polite in his own way, unsure of German customs. "We can continue the tour later. As an apology, I've ordered a small dessert for you at the pastry shop up ahead. Here's the payment code; just show it to the staff. It's their signature item, and I highly recommend it—the taste is guaranteed."
As an adult, he couldn't possibly let a high school student pay.
"It's no problem at all. I'm the one who's been troubling you," Christina replied with an understanding smile, gesturing for him to go whenever he needed.
"I'll visit you later with a gift. Thank you for your hard work."
"Not at all. It's only right for me to fulfill my duties as the host."
Jiang You waved back and departed.
After he left, Christina—or rather, Illya—dropped her disguise, her expression turning cold.
Today isn't even Jiang You's workday. The Counter Force specifically adjusted his company's workflow to ensure he wouldn't have to work overtime... Why would he suddenly receive a work assignment now?
Illya took out her phone and dialed one of the only two numbers stored in it. Besides Jiang You's number (provided by the Counter Force), the only other contact was that worthless AI.
At that moment, B.B. was in the middle of her livestream. Although she was now technically a company employee, she had no intention of actually working. The position was merely a means to get closer to Jiang You. She found his existence utterly fascinating; among all the characters in this world, even the Magi who had lost their way, none were a ten-thousandth as precious as him. Only a being of his caliber, as a plaything, could truly excite B.B.
"Sorry, everyone, your host has a little personal business. Please bear with me for a moment~"
The sudden ringing of her phone snapped B.B. out of her thoughts. Very few people knew this number, and only a handful would ever call her directly. So, she immediately paused her game and picked up the phone.
"Hey, Little Illya! What's with the sudden call? Did you finally win over your crush?"
B.B. knew Illya was out looking for someone, but she didn't ask who. Though she could guess, revealing the answer too early would ruin her chance to play dumb.
"Hello, Miss B.B. I need you to look into something for me. As for payment..."
Illya trailed off, realizing she had little to offer. Just as she was pondering, B.B. interrupted with feigned understanding.
"Payment? Between us? Just leave it to me!"
B.B. cherished the rare "normal human" whose mind hadn't been corrupted yet.
"Thank you in advance. I need you to use your authority to look someone up for me. I want to see his call history for today."
"No problem! This kind of thing is child's play for me, B.B.~"
Accessing the world's data was trivially easy for B.B. After Illya told her the name, a wicked smile spread across B.B.'s face.
So it really is him...
Stealing someone else's crush was a terrible thing to do! But B.B. was a villain, so it didn't matter.