< A >

Chapter 10: True or False

Lathy had a wild night out the next day.
Just before leaving, she tried attaching a miniature camera to her hair as a selfie stick, but Kim Bingkwon stopped her bizarre antics.
She showed him her tentacle-like hair, only to elicit a scream from the terrified young man.
Visibly dissatisfied, Lathy took off with Kim Bingkwon’s “wild night out” drone.
He muttered about its overload of useless parts, but the jargon was incomprehensible to him.

“Hello, BlackHound!”
“Uh, blackdogzoa?”
“Yes, I’m blackdogzoa.”

Surprisingly, the winner was a cute college student in her early twenties, with straight-cut bangs and thin, round glasses.
Her jacket, embroidered with a university logo, hinted at her status.
Despite changes in required majors, education remained a vital human need.

“Should I call you by your name or nickname?”
“Whatever you like, BlackHound.”
“Really? Then I’ll call you Joa, from the end of your nickname.”
“Yes, of course.”

An ordinary person.
Lathy tested her.

“Look, I can move my hair at will.”
“BlackHound can do it.”
“Not strange, right?”
“Very ordinary.”

Lathy let her flowing hair drop, smiled brightly, and placed a hand on Joa’s shoulder.

“I’ll start the broadcast.”

She didn’t bring a remote for the drone, but it didn’t matter.
Lathy’s hair squirmed, crawling into the drone’s joints, touching the circuit, and connecting to Dreamland’s BlackHound channel.

[BlackHound-Live / 116 viewers]
— Let’s go~
— Wolf, huh?
— What? A female guest?
— So the guy who made that joke wasn’t you…?

Waving at the drone’s camera, Lathy asked Joa a favor.

“Joa, greet the viewers with a popping dance.”
“Popping dance? I can… do it!”
“Okay, show me.”

— Popping?
— Popping? Haha
— She’s really talented

Joa could pop.
Or rather, she’d just learned how.
Mimicking a dance video from memory, she performed a clumsy popping dance.
If a pro dancer scored 100, Joa’s was about 30—wobbling, shaky, and odd.

— What the heck
— What’s this sloppy dance…
— It’s cute

Joa freestyled for a minute, then stood straight and bowed to the screen.

“Hello, viewers!”

Supporters poured in, impressed by her unexpected skill.

[Sponsored by Poppin’ Girl! (10 D)]
— A true guest of this era

“Thank you, Poppin’ Girl. I’ll use this to buy Joa something delicious.”
“Muyahoo~”

— Muyahoo
— She’ll definitely eat it
— Haha …

Joa’s activities continued.

“Actually, I was really nervous.”
“Really? You didn’t seem nervous at all, Joa.”
“No, I wasn’t nervous.”
“You just said you were really nervous.”
“No, I wasn’t… No, I was nervous.”

— This and that and this and that and this and that
— This broadcast is dizzying
— What a mess…
— Seems like she’s following what Wolf says

Joa’s words shifted with Lathy’s.
Initially confused, viewers realized something through the conversation.

— Did Wolf hypnotize her?

“Oh, who said hypnosis?”

Lathy grinned excitedly.

“You, who mentioned hypnosis, go post your contact info on the board. You’re the next guest.”

— Oh my I’m passing out!
— Giving prizes without a quiz?
— This broadcast… is weird!
— This is BlackHound, study up.
— Study up!
— So, is it really hypnosis?

To the question of whether it was truly hypnosis, Lathy gave a cryptic reply.

“You guys need to study. I told you, embrace this vibe.”

Viewers cried out in disbelief, but Lathy ignored them, turning to Joa.

“Now we’re eating Death Katsu.”
“Ugh… I can’t handle spicy food.”
“If you want, I’ll make sure you finish it.”
“Won’t that upset my stomach tomorrow…?”

Whichever Joa chose, Lathy didn’t care.
She was about to start a bet with the viewers.

“I’m betting. I say Joa can finish the Death Katsu.”
“Ugh… Then you’ll lose, BlackHound…”

Joa’s worried tone made Lathy flash a chilling smile.

“I never lose a bet. Watch.”
“Okay… I’ll try my best!”

The betting began.
Option 1: The small college girl finishes the Death Katsu.
Option 2: She doesn’t.

Naturally, most bet on 2, but rumors of Lathy’s hypnosis drew some to 1.
Results: 96D on 1, 207D on 2.

“Hey, you guys are suspicious. Where’d all this money come from?”

With 150 viewers, maybe a fifth participating, that’s at least 10,000 won per person.
Thanks to VE Bang, inflation hadn’t spiked much in a century.
For a weekday afternoon, this was big money for idle slackers or skipping students.

— Donating in tough times makes you first-class.
— The drunks are trying hard.
— It’s fine, just drink tap water.

“Crazy bastards.”

— Heung!
— Give more! Give more!! All of it!!

“Lunatic shits.”

No refunds for tap-water-drinking bettors.
Lathy decided all betting donations would go to the guest.

“Let’s start. By the way, I’m eating too.”

— Why’s Wolf eating?
— Insane?
— First-class, enjoying the pain

Lathy Teparon couldn’t taste food properly.
She craved something explosive to shatter her mental haze.
To her, the capsaicin-reeking Death Katsu was like calming chamomile tea to a normal human.

“Joa, let’s devour this mouthwatering Death Katsu. Finish it, and the 207D is yours.”
“207D? But it’s so spicy… I’ll try—”

Joa, nervously holding a fork and knife, suddenly changed.

“No, I can’t let this delicious food go cold!”

Like a dog drooling over a treat, Joa’s demeanor shifted.
Startled viewers spammed question marks.

As Joa sliced the katsu, Lathy chewed a piece, delivering an incomprehensible review.

“Hm… Not great for calming the mind.”

She’d expected chamomile tea but got sugar-free soda.

“So delicious!”

Joa, satisfied, finished the Death Katsu and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The chat kept flooding with question marks.

“See? Joa handles spicy food well.”
“That’s weird… I usually… handle spicy food well. Right!”

To viewers, Joa’s thoughts shifted with Lathy’s words, seamlessly manipulated.

— Freaking wild.
— How’d she do it?

— Eating Death Katsu like it’s nothing and getting guest fees? This is… BlackHound?
— Isn’t it actually not spicy? Not really Death Katsu?
— If you can’t fake it, don’t stream— mmpf

Lathy, silent as if no fakery existed, withdrew the 207D from a nearby exchange and handed it to Joa for her efforts.

“Here, for your hard work.”
“Whoa, you don’t have to!”
“No, you guested on my shitty stream and ate Death Katsu for me. But it was tasty, right, Joa?”

Joa’s mouth was red and tingling, but she spoke only truth.

“It was really delicious. I didn’t know Death Katsu was this good.”

Good enough if she enjoyed it.
Lathy didn’t find it tasty, but the guest’s satisfaction mattered.

“Eat this when you get home.”
“What’s this?”
“This medicine will keep your stomach calm today and tomorrow.”
“Uh… so…”

Joa, pensive, soon smiled brightly.

“It’ll make me feel great! I’ll take it!”
“That’s right.”

Just ordinary stomach medicine, but the viewers didn’t know.

— What’s that?
— Giving weird drugs!
— Run!

“Hey, who said weird drugs?”

— ada291 <-
— ada291 ada291 ada291 ada291 ada291
— It’s ada291!

Thanks to the quick ID hunt, another guest was lined up.

“Ada, you and the hypnosis guy are next.”

— ?
— Why’s this a reward?
— What the—

“Don’t think every guest gets a reward.”

— Haha!
— Fine, I accept.
— Ada Bomber, deploy!

As Lathy sent Joa home and wrapped up the stream, someone appeared before her.
Viewers, shocked by the celebrity’s arrival, spammed the chat.

Lathy knew him.
Trapezo’s memories clearly recalled her sworn enemy.
The warrior who killed Ruel, the story’s finisher.

Shin Ha-jun.

Meeting her nemesis by chance, Lathy didn’t plan immediate revenge.
A man blessed by an ancient god couldn’t be killed easily.

To protect Ruel, she needed to use this man until the time was right.
His most dangerous ability, hypnosis, didn’t work on her, giving Lathy the upper hand.

Feeling her boiling anger subdued by her thoughts, she calmly met his gaze.
The white-haired man stared at her with ashen eyes.

As seen on-screen, BlackHound was beautiful.
Her edgy, almost chuunibyou fashion was perfectly pulled off.

“BlackHound.”
“What.”

Her untamed wildness shone through her blunt demeanor, despite being a stranger.
Recalling how every woman fell for him, Shin Ha-jun’s heart raced.

“Do you know who I am?”

Lathy rolled her red eyes and answered.

“Of course. Epsilon-rank hero, Shin Ha-jun, right?”

As he fixed his gaze on her captivating eyes, she asked,

“Shin Ha-jun, wanna do a joint stream?”

Her husky voice carried firm intent in a short sentence.

No woman had been like this.
Everyone leaned on him, dumping decisions on him—Ha-jun knows best, it’s Ha-jun, because it’s Ha-jun…
They dodged responsibility with flimsy excuses.

But BlackHound stated her desires clearly from the start.
Far better than those who flirted subtly or had their secrets exposed by Deep in Eye.

“First, I need to see your true intentions.”

Shin Ha-jun stepped closer.
Now within arm’s reach, he closed his eyes, then opened them, peering into Lathy’s thoughts through her pupils.

— …foolishRuelreturnlongingchaoswantstodieLathytimeTeparonboredShinmindHa-junrestlesssavehimgivemefree…

Reading her thoughts, a dizzying sensation hit him.
A jumble of incomprehensible words, endlessly repeating.

Thinking he misread, he looked again.
Lathy still stared at him piercingly.

— …greattooldarkworldfoolishruinscatterscreamspleasureknowingShinendHa-junstoryabilityspeaksmanipulate…

The same chaotic fragments filled her eyes.
Shin Ha-jun instantly understood why his hypnosis didn’t work on her.

After some thought, he reached a conclusion.

“Mental illness… is it?”

Reports said VE exposure could mentally debilitate people, altering their thinking.
Some repeated a single word until death; others spouted incoherent sentences.
Some seemed normal but had minds like BlackHound’s—scattered chaos.

BlackHound, the strange woman trapped in Incheon Airport’s fortress.
Not addicted to VE, but clearly driven mad by exposure.

In Deep in Eye mode, Shin Ha-jun asked,

“Lathy Teparon, are you friendly toward humans Stuart?

If she were a villain hostile to humans, her thoughts would betray her.

“I like humans.” — (Truth)

Deep in Eye confirmed her innocence.
Suspicious, but not a villain.

For the first time in five years, excitement stirred in Shin Ha-jun’s dull heart.
She was the first heroine candidate to meet his standards.

Before exiting Deep in Eye, he asked one more question.

“Why do you want to merge with me?”

BlackHound met his gaze clearly and answered.

“I need you, Shin Ha-jun.” — (Truth)

Shin Ha-jun was stunned.
His heart, silent for five years, began to pound, announcing its presence.