Breathing Life into Real Dolls

Being promised a cool video shoot, I honestly declined such grandiose titles as superhero or hero.

After all, as Han Miin said, I couldn’t save everyone on my own.

Wasn’t it the role of a hero to be criticized if they failed to save people?

However, if it was only to create a hopeful atmosphere in the community…

Wouldn’t that be possible?

Assuming I agree with Han Miin, we should consider the practical problem.

First of all, most of my strength came from Serena and Ciel, who were originally Real Dolls but became human.

Without them, my own strength really wasn’t anything special.

I was just like other ability users but with a slightly higher overall ability and no special ability.

Han Miin might think of Serena and Ciel as independent people, not part of my ability, so how did she plan to portray me as a hero?

When I subtly asked about this…

“Ah~ Captain, isn’t your ability not overwhelming enough to slaughter mutant zombies?”

Han Miin answered with a smile.

“I know that, of course. How many zombies have we caught together? But I think that’s actually a good thing?”

“Good?”

“Yes! If you, Captain, overpower everything with overwhelming strength, wouldn’t other ability users feel desperation rather than hope? They’d think, ‘Ah, I thought I was strong, but it turns out I was nothing special.’”

“…Certainly, that could happen.”

“But Captain, your ability is subtle. I still don’t know exactly what it is, but you must fight with your body, right? That will surely look intense, and it will impress people. ‘He’s definitely strong, but even the No.1 ranked fighter struggles hard.’ In addition, it might make the more powerful ability users think, ‘Ranking 1 is not that big of a deal? Maybe I can…’”

“Nothing special, you say…?”

As I muttered dejectedly, Han Miin hastily tried to smooth things over.

“I mean to say that’s how it seems. So… Captain, you’re not the type of hero who flaunts overwhelming strength like the Hulk or Iron Man but gives the impression of fighting while rolling around like Captain America. That’s how you really are.”

“……”

Certainly, after hearing her explanation, it seemed a plausible approach.

In the movies, Captain America was a hero who fought well but didn’t give an overwhelming impression of might.

Compared to the real strong heroes, his strength was subtle enough to make the audience think, ‘Isn’t he just an ordinary human?’

To that extent, couldn’t I also follow suit without Serena and Ciel?

But again, if there was a problem…

“My fighting style won’t be as cool as Captain America, right? I’m neither as good-looking as him nor muscular.”

“Hey, who said you have to become a real movie actor? It’s just an example.”

Seeing my lack of confidence, Han Miin lifted the corners of her mouth and patted my shoulders.

Then, she spread her thumbs and forefingers at right angles to form a rectangle, looking at me through the opening as if framing a shot with a camera.

“Don’t worry, I’ll film you well myself. Besides… with your mask, you would suit the role of a Hollywood Asian hero, don’t you think?”

Strike while the iron is hot, they said, and I immediately set out to find a nearby rift while riding Ciel.

“Master! I sense an ominous energy…!”

“Already?”

Amazingly, there was a rift just about 20 minutes walk away. It was inside a vacant officetel room.

An E-rank Asimone rift. Fortunately, it was only E-rank.

I felt like I could deal with it on my own.

If need be, I could ask Serena and Ciel for help, so there was no danger.

We immediately set out to conquer the rift.

Serena, Ciel, Han Miin, and myself as well.

Although we entered as a team of four, I was the only one to actually take on the rift.

Serena and Ciel were just on standby, watching from behind in case anything went wrong.

Han Miin took on the role of a cameraman, following me with a camcorder recording the action.

Since she possessed physical enhancement abilities, she had no trouble keeping up with me and handling the dynamic movements required for her cameraman role.

Even if she were attacked, she wouldn’t die from a single blow, and as long as she wasn’t bitten and infected, Ciel could heal her.

“Shall we… go in?”

“I’ll start recording now.”

Although I was fighting on my own, I had received the divine blessing from Ciel in advance.

Since swinging a sword without any abilities would likely struggle to pierce mutant zombies’ tough, black skin, I felt I needed this level of assistance.

Finally, the inside of the rift was next on the list.

Unlike the first D-rank we had sealed, about 30 regular zombies attacked first, and among them, 5 mutant zombies hid and attacked.

Contrary to my worries, no urgent situation arose. I successfully dealt with the rift alone, having only received the divine blessing.

After sealing the rift and reviewing the footage…

“Captain, you were better than Captain America, right? The divine blessing brings the visual aesthetics to life inside the rift.”

At Han Miin’s fussiness, I replied with a laugh.

“That’s not quite it. You certainly did film it well, Miin.”

She did have the filming skills to match her boasting.

Even as I was entangled in a messy fight with the zombies, she never lost track of my movements and managed to capture them smoothly.

As a result, a video that fully served the purpose of showcasing the rift conquest was completed.

Above all, what pleased me the most was that now I didn’t have to expose Serena and Ciel’s full capabilities.

When I first made the plan to shoot the rift raid video, the biggest anxiety factor was that my full capabilities would be exposed to the public.

If, by any chance, I were to encounter a hostile ability user like Choi Cheolnam in the future, he could analyze my raid posts and devise countermeasures against me.

But now that it had come to this, I didn’t have to worry about such things.

Among the three of us, Serena, Ciel, and myself, I was the weakest.

“Can we just upload it as is?”

“Yes. Going with a long take without editing stays true to the meaning of the raid video, and it also seems better for maintaining the content’s tension.”

“Alright. I’ll upload it.”

It hadn’t even been 20 hours since I had posted the information last night. The community was still ablaze because of what I had uploaded.

I then threw in the video of the rift raid.

[Rank 1, the real Kim Doha here. As promised, I'm uploading the rift raid video.]

A post was uploaded to the community.

A rift raid video shot by none other than the top-ranked player!

People flocked in an instant, and the view count soared.

When you clicked on the post, what appeared was a lone video with no accompanying content.

Below it, comments poured in within seconds.

-1

-Are you here?

-Kyah.

-Comment first, then enjoy.

And people, without exception, played the video.

Inside an officetel that seemed long neglected and exuded an eerie atmosphere, there was a crimson rift swirling in mid-air, looking as if the space itself had been shattered.

Standing in front of the rift was Kim Doha, ranked 1st in the overall rankings.

He was dressed in a white shirt and wide-legged black trousers, and a sword emanating an air of sublime elegance hung at his waist.

Kim Doha, in the video, waved lightly to the camera.

“Hello, this is Kim Doha. What you see before you is an E-grade Asimone’s rift. I didn’t manage to record it when I first discovered it, so I’m planning to film a raid video this time. …This is my first time doing this, so it’s a bit awkward.”

With an embarrassed smile, he reached out towards the rift.

“Let’s go for it.”

A delicate female hand, presumably belonging to the cameraperson, could be seen reaching toward the rift as well, and the world turned entirely red as a crimson wind swirled.

Inside the rift, everything that appeared in the video was red, as if a filter had been applied.

Yet within that, something maintained its original color, shining bright white.

It was none other than the star of the video, Kim Doha.

“I’m the only one whose color is normal, right? The details are a secret, but you can consider it my ability.”

His appearance, emitting a sacred-looking white light, was akin to a saint from mythology.

He spoke with a nonchalant attitude as if it were nothing special.

“It doesn’t seem like there are any particular clues here. Let’s go outside the room.”

Kim Doha led the way, and the cameraperson followed.

The officetel had a long corridor with entrance doors to each residence lined on both sides.

Among them, the room they were in was at the very end of the corridor.

Upon opening the door and stepping outside, they were met with a long hallway filled with zombies, all of their gazes turning towards them.

“This location is quite advantageous. The zombies can only attack from the front.”

Kim Doha said this while drawing his pure white sword from his waist.

Shing-

Rotten zombies in a crimson world, contrasting with Kim Doha, surrounded by a bright white aura, wielding an elegant sword.

After a moment’s standoff, they charged at each other.

“Uwaaaaaah—”

Kim Doha swung his sword without a word.

The officetel corridor was wide enough for three people to walk side by side. It was sufficiently spacious for swinging the sword freely.

With each swing, two or three regular zombies fell.

The battle seemed like it would quickly end in the face of overwhelming power, but then a mutant with black skin appeared among the regular zombies.

It was a sudden surprise attack.

“Kyaaaaaah—!”

“Hmph…!”

Kim Doha lightly jumped back to evade the attack and counter-swung his sword.

With that strike, the tough skin of the mutant zombie was smoothly cut like a spongecake, and an arm fell off.

“Kyaeeuuugh…!?”

The mutant zombie appeared bewildered.

Chi-

The severed arm of the mutant zombie on the floor sizzled as though the cut surface was being seared.

The next sword strike took off the creature’s head.

As the neck’s cross-section was also seared, it was a clean hit without any blood splatter.

“Uwaaaaaah—”

All that remained were the regular zombies, who fell like cut straw, unable to even attack.

Just when it seemed like it would end so blandly…

Clang-!

“Kyaaaaaaaaak—!”

“Kyaaaaaah—!”

The entrance doors of the officetels on both sides of the corridor where Kim Doha was standing flew open, and mutant zombies rushed at him.

Two from the left two from the right. The angle was skewed towards the back, so there was no escape.

It was a critical moment.

Kim Doha rolled forward, slashing a regular zombie in front of him and tumbling into a crowd of dozens of regular zombies.

The mutant zombies that had been roughly dealt with immediately pursued him, but the regular zombies got in the way, preventing them from attacking in concert.

From then on, Kim Doha was surrounded by a horde of zombies as he took down the mutant zombies one by one.

He was employing a battle technique that used the non-threatening regular zombies as a shield.

When a mutant zombie attacked, he hid behind a regular zombie and then stabbed his sword, severing the necks of both zombies at once.

The attacks from the regular zombies that came from all sides could be avoided by simply dodging their biting. Then, the pattern repeated.

When all the mutant zombies had fallen, all that remained were the regular zombies, who were only significant in number.

The battle was soon over.

Though the content of the battle itself wasn’t very threatening, the visual scene seemed highly thrilling and filled with desperation.

It was because Kim Doha continued close-quarters combat while entangled with the zombies.

“Huuu…”

Despite having slain countless zombies, the sword blade remained unstained and shone brightly.

Srrrng-

Having sheathed his sword, Kim Doha returned to the cameraman and spoke.

“Since it’s an E-grade rift, it’s definitely easier than D-grade. Only five mutant zombies appeared.”

Behind him stretched the long corridor of the officetel.

There, piled up like a mountain, were the filthy corpses of the zombies.

In the red world, Kim Doha shone alone, bright and white.

Although the battle itself was not overwhelming, he looked undeniably heroic.

The strategy video still had more to come, but people who couldn’t hold back started leaving comments.

-Wow, fuck....

It started with a straightforward expression of admiration.