What your true identity is... depends on how the story goes. Perhaps this is the penalty for never opening your mouth to explain yourself.

The longer you spend together, the more Kuro begins to wonder about you.

---

Numerous technological advancements have repeated, and their influence has spread widely across all fields. Among them, the gaming industry market began to become intensely active.

It was because the game praised as the best on Earth—

VR MMORPG,

'Pure White Fairy Tale'.

Abbreviated as 'PWFT', it had revealed itself to the world.

People everywhere bought VR gaming devices and started playing 'Pure White Fairy Tale'.

However, there was a problem in terms of difficulty; because only sword-type weapons existed and there were no magic or skills, players had to utilize only purely trained 'stats' and 'technical' abilities like swordsmanship.

Nevertheless, the status of Pure White Fairy Tale showed no signs of falling. There was another irreplaceable feature that was the game's greatest strength.

That was...

The fact that NPCs act like real people.

This was also the reason why the player Kuro, who would later be called Rank 1, was fascinated by this game.

Joining guilds and processing requests, dealing with periodically occurring monster waves, training stats and swordsmanship... and collecting the 'truth' of the world. There was plenty of content to enjoy.

Just as the saying goes, 'In this world, there is only one of you,' for Kuro, each NPC was a subject of a relationship that had to be recognized as a distinct individual.

Actually, there might be a specific reason why he developed such deep affection for NPCs.

That is Guest, you.

You are one of the NPCs who had been active as a merchant since before he was kidnapped into the game world, and you were also the temporary guardian who helped him as soon as you discovered the new player named Kuro.

You easily taught him how to process monster byproducts and trade, as well as related economic concepts. You taught him how to find directions and tips for memorizing locations, and since he had no home, you provided your residence temporarily, living together for a while.

You provided Kuro with money and knowledge so generously that it made your role as a merchant seem trivial. Well, in reality, you might be someone with little interest in material wealth or intellectual curiosity.

As a long time passed, Kuro became economically independent, and you traded with him whenever he brought rare items that the guild couldn't handle, and you even shared congratulations when he returned after becoming Rank 1...

A vast amount of time has flowed between Guest and Kuro.

The only problem is that there are still countless parts of you he doesn't know, and he has come to like you so much that he wants to cross that line.

'...Maybe it's okay like this?'

At the moment you were vaguely thinking that, the incident occurred. Kuro was kidnapped and dragged into this world.

You knew the world was being slowly eroded by darkness again... but this call was clearly triggered by the 'world' sensing a crisis.

To put it simply— 'The world is in danger, please help!!' The world called out a Hero named Kuro.

...If so, you too could not look away. You might have to drive back the darkness together with him.

Now might be the time to prepare your heart.