Chapter 9: The Red Devil Who Embraced Stars (2)

༺ The Red Devil Who Embraced Stars (2) ༻

The Lucky Box.

The girl could not hide her trembling gaze as she looked at the box in front of her. After all, the meaning behind the Lucky Box was not so simple for her.

‘….’

For her, who was unable to escape these narrow bars, the Integrated Dimensional Community had most definitely become a new world.

However…

‘To think no one else can see it but me.’

‘Could it be that I’m seeing things that aren’t there?’

‘Have I actually gone mad, just as they say….’

It was inevitable that such doubts arose.

Wasn’t it just her own delusion?

Her life consisted of being trapped in narrow bars while traveling across the Empire to be hit with stones and whipped.

There was no way her mind could be sound. Even if she was precocious for her age, she was still only human, after all.

Perhaps her mind was already broken.

After all, no one else knew about or could see the [Integrated Dimensional Community]. She couldn’t even confirm if what she learned through the community was real.

No matter how much she tried to control her mind, it was futile to stop the doubts that sprouted in a corner of her heart. And it was all the more so as the violence around her intensified.

So, when a tangible proof of its existence blatantly appeared before her, it was understandable that she stood there dumbfounded and utterly motionless for a while.

“T-This is…”

She, too, was well aware of the recent turmoil in the community caused by the Administrator. As such, she realized that the box in front of her was the ‘Lucky Box’.

She hugged the box tightly. Tears streamed down from her eyes.

“What a relief. Really. Truly.”

She was so thankful.

“That this world is not one I alone remember. That this is not just my own delusion.”

Just that fact alone felt like salvation to her.

Inside the Lucky Box was a bottle of medicine and a comically designed doll of a clown.

“Haha.”

Virdel couldn’t help but laugh when she imagined the Administrator, ever so arrogant in the community, packing a palm-sized doll along with hair loss medicine in a box to send.

She lifted her hand with great difficulty and poked the clown doll.

“What a nice gift.”

Though it was just an addition of a doll within these bleak bars…

Somehow it seemed to ease her loneliness. Though the hair loss medicine next to it… had yet to prove useful to her.

“I really do not understand why everyone is making such a fuss.”

She had no way of knowing the feelings of the Baldmen Order. If she was part of the Order, she would have paid any price for this fantastical secret medicine, yet she wasn’t; so, she merely inspected the clown doll while leaving the holy cure in a corner.

“Should I name you?”

White face. Red nose. Long, torn red lips.

Though it might look somewhat scary for a young child, Virdel oddly felt like the doll suited her.

“That’s right. Because I’m a clown just like you….”

A clown meant to entertain a billion imperial citizens.

She fondly stroked the doll with her finger. Its texture felt somewhat harder than a typical doll.

Suddenly, the clown doll twitched.

“?”

Eh? Did I see that wrong?

I’m pretty sure it moved a little, didn’t it?

However, Virdel brushed it off nonchalantly, assuming her poor eyesight was to blame.

And right then…

Clink- Squeaaaak-

The middle-aged man entered with a lump of hard bread and a plate of water.

The girl moved to hide the doll with her body. However, there was a limit to what her small body could hide.

“Eh? What’s that behind you?”

Flinch-

The middle-aged man carelessly put down the bread and water plate before striding forward. The girl tried her best to act as if there was nothing, but…

“Is this bitch crazy?!”

Slap-

Because she had no strength in her limbs, she couldn’t help but tumble on the cold iron floor.

“Ho…. What’s this?”

She tried to hoist her trembling body up. However, she rolled again due to the man’s kick.

Thwack-

“Did someone come and go in that short of a time? That can’t be, though….”

When she barely managed to turn her head and opened her eyes, she found the man looking at the box and the bottle of medicine with a serious gaze.

And in those eyes were greed as well as suspicion.

Could that be why? The man stopped whipping her.

“The glass bottle’s level of craftsmanship makes me curious as to what’s inside. Moreover, the box itself is not any ordina….”

The middle-aged man suddenly stopped in the middle of his monologue and searched the floor inside the cell thoroughly.

“Did anyone come to see you? Was there anything else?”

Despite him whipping her in interrogation, she didn’t show any indication that she would talk. The exhausted middle-aged man took the box and medicine bottle with him.

“I’ll ask again when I come back. It’ll be best for you to tell the truth then.”

The man spoke threateningly to her before hurrying out with glee.

“Cough.”

The girl smiled faintly with bloodied lips.

It was because she saw the doll moving on its own and turning transparent right before the middle-aged man spotted it.

Virdel smiled in relief. After all, unlike her, it seems to have escaped safely from this dreadful place.

***

-Title: Event Review

Thanks for sending a friend.

ㄴ?

ㄴ?? wait what why is this guy speaking like this suddenly? its giving me goosebumps fr

ㄴa friend was sent through the event? what the…

ㄴhow much can u pay for a rent-a-friend1like rent-a-girlfriend. basically, they’re saying she has no friends LOL?

ㄴthis mfer wwwww2A japanese meme reference! In japanese streams they say “Koitsu www” as a way to say “this mfer lmao” so the www references “lmao”, “lol”, etc. it is weeb language. has no friends wwww

ㄴBaldmen. Why is no one speaking about the hair loss medicine?

ㄴis the event fr? is it possible to send items between dimensions?

ㄴthe admin is a god! he can even create friends!

ㄴWeren’t friends something that only exist in fantasies?

ㄴfucking hell that’s crazy

ㄴpraise the admin lollollol

ㄴstill unconfirmed. why hasnt there been a single bastard who posted a proper proof photo?

ㄴHELLO!! PLEASE!! SOMEONE POST A REVIEW OF THE HAIR LOSS MEDICINE! I FEEL LIKE IM GONNA DIE FROM THE ANTICIPATION

ㄴu wont get shit anyway yeye

ㄴ*%?!#%#@

Karlstein scratched his head.

“Was there something among the items that could be called a friend?”

-We sent everything for testing, including food, daily necessities, beauty products, luxury goods, weapons, and battles. However, no life forms were added.

“What about the transfer results?”

-Of the 10,212 dimensions we managed to detect signals from, less than 0.1% have been successful.

“Hmm. The results seem a bit too poor….”

-It is still in the testing phase. By installing repeaters and amplifiers around the dimensions where Material Transfer succeeded, we should be able to resolve it easily.

According to Aria, dimensions were intertwined like a spider web.

To connect pathways across all dimensions, it was necessary to install amplifiers to boost signals and repeaters to extend connections at Dimensional Points that could serve as bridges.

“Then the punks we’ve hidden would have to do their jobs well.”

-By now, they are probably hiding and assessing the situation, thus getting ready to send signals.

Strong Artificial Intelligence Reconnaissance Devices, practically Aria’s clones, were scattered across various dimensions and mixed with some event items, each taking on different forms.

“Waiting for reviews in frustration is not my style, you know.”

-Once everything is in place, we can not only establish signal connections and broadcast images, but also monitor everything the other side sees, hears, and feels.

“Just like that… lich guy, you mean?”

-Yes.

The nanomachines hidden in the hair wax product received by the Lich King allowed Karlstein to temporarily establish a one-way connection.

He didn’t seem to have noticed, though.

-Kuhuhu, Cosmic Emperor, you fool. I will steal all your technology! Just you wait! I shall soon invade your dimension! KeuhahAHAHAHAH! EUHEHEHEHE!”

Karlstein shook his head in disdain, as if finding him pathetic.

In the video, an old lich was grinding away, analyzing the hair wax and hair loss medicine in a lab filled with all sorts of magic circles.

“If he manages to pierce a pathway first, then I’m all for it, but… I wonder when he’ll succeed if he continues at that pace.”

The video transmission was quickly cut off due to the power issues of the nanomachines, leaving no further information available.

Anyway, how the [Integrated Dimensional Community] utilized and applied the camera function was something even Karlstein didn’t fully understand the principles of.

He simply kept pushing his subordinates, like Minister Makia and Vice Minister Calen, harder and harder.

“Right. I should just wait patiently,”

What he needed to know was to whom and what items were sent. However, he was in a bit of a bind because no one informed the forum properly.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have included the free gifts.”

Of course, a couple of verification posts came up after ‘DevilKingVirdel’ sent hers.

But the problem was, both posts were filled with nothing but praise for the hair loss medicine.

-Title: Baldmen. I have received the grace of God.

I was able to receive this grace because I have never lost faith. Not even for a single moment.

(Roughly a Before, After Hair Photo.jpg)

Do you see this?

Everyone shout. Baldmen.

ㄴBaldmen

ㄴBaldmen

ㄴOh oh oh my goodness

ㄴO God!!!!

ㄴI WANT TO BELIEVE IT!! BUT I CANT BELIEVE IT!!

ㄴwhy tf is this actually real?

ㄴCOMPONENT ANALYSIS! START WITH ANALYZING THE COMPONENTS!!

ㄴThe Baldmen Order shall never doubt.

ㄴBaldmenn/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

ㄴBaldmen

ㄴBelieve. Then salvation will come.

ㄴthis is actually real?

ㄴAh… I have finally found the goal of my life.

ㄴhow great is the Cosmic Emperor to have created hair loss medicine….

ㄴwasn’t it not the Cosmic Emperor who made it tho?

ㄴSilence, you wicked and irreverent thing!

ㄴBaldmen

-Title: Thanks to Mr. Admin, I was reunited with my estranged family.

A prodigal son who squandered the family fortune and was disowned, thus expelled from the household registry.

A single bottle of hair loss medicine given to my father forgave twenty years of wrongdoing. A filial son. Facts?

ㄴIndeed, you are a true filial son.

ㄴBaldmen

ㄴtf did u do in the past?

ㄴHuh? I lost the family land through gambling… got kicked out of a job my parents set up for me because I caused some trouble… got involved in a conspiracy… Well, I could list them forever.

ㄴisnt this guy one crazy mfer? LMAOOO

ㄴthe fact that they havent killed you yet already makes them a family of buddhas

ㄴEven Buddha needs… Mhm.

ㄴBaldmen

Afterwards, the community was abuzz solely with talk about the hair loss medicine. Especially the ‘Baldmen Order’, who started flooding the community with hair loss pictures that were so disgusting they were bannable.

(Roughly a picture of a pitiful bald patch.jpg)

how bad is it?

ㄴAGHHHH, just seeing a bald head makes me nauseous now!!

ㄴSTOP!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!

ㄴwere there this many baldies in the community?

It was as if speaking to a crowd consumed by madness; nothing anyone said registered to them. Even Karlstein shook his head disapprovingly and momentarily stepped back from managing the… quality of the discourse; after all, the Baldmen Order’s frenzy updated every 0.1 seconds. It was too much for even him.

“Anyway, the next one up is that ‘DevilKingVirdel’ guy, right?”

-Yes, the signal is becoming steadily more stable. We should be able to assess the situation soon.

“Let’s take it easy. There’s no rush, after all.”

However, contrary to Karlstein’s thoughts, Virdel’s situation was quickly escalating.

1

like rent-a-girlfriend. basically, they’re saying she has no friends LOL

2

A japanese meme reference! In japanese streams they say “Koitsu www” as a way to say “this mfer lmao” so the www references “lmao”, “lol”, etc. it is weeb language.

/genesisforsaken