Chapter 11. It’s All Karma
One of the many facilities in the dormitory was a large room that was probably meant for yoga.
It had a wide, somewhat nature-friendly atmosphere that looked like something I had seen in an American TV drama at least once.
Usually, if you watched videos of this place, you would see calm-looking women slowly and leisurely doing yoga.
But right now, I was alone in that very space with a muscular trainer.
I had thought that someone with a body like his could never do yoga, but he confidently showed me his certificate and even demonstrated the actual yoga poses.
It made me marvel at the possibilities of the human body.
“Member, I’m asking this because I’m genuinely curious.”
“Nyaaaak!”
The trainer adjusted my stiff body, which absolutely refused to perform the movements he had taught me no matter what I tried.
He used what was probably his gentlest strength, but to me, it was horribly painful.
While doing so, he casually started a conversation as if nothing unusual was happening.
Even when my legs were trembling and I could barely walk, this guy would say that I still had one set left while talking about random things happening in the world.
So this really was just a habit of his.
“Why did you suddenly decide to learn yoga?”
“…Peace of mind…”
It was only natural for him to be curious.
After all, I had suddenly told him that I wanted to learn yoga and asked where I should go.
There was something I had heard from Pie recently.
Pie, despite being an NPC, had shown an incredible level of AI.
“Madness?! W-Wait, that’s impossible! Why did it have to be that of all things… No, forget that. What’s important is that you’re right on the verge of awakening your mental power.”
I didn't really understand what this so-called mental power was.
But, to summarize what I had learned, the power called madness that had appeared in my character was a power of demons.
If I simply left it alone, I would eventually become a demon or a monster.
And apparently, mental power had a tremendous influence on both the human body and mind.
In other words, all the things I had done until now had come back to me as karma.
“I should've known from the moment you started talking to that fire…”
“Don’t insult Modak! He’s my friend!”
“Ah, sure.”
His contemptuous gaze made me feel as though my heart had been torn apart.
For a delicate child like me, that gaze was far too stimulating.
More importantly, it was especially dangerous for a blank-slate child like Modak, who had just been born and could easily be influenced by his surroundings.
I wished he would refrain from doing that as much as possible.
“Anyway, if you continue like this, you’re really going to go crazy. You’re an outsider, so you might be a little different, but from now on, you need to control yourself instead of losing your mind and fighting like you did today.”
“Even if I want to, I don’t have a proper weapon, and I don’t even know how to fight.”
If I told Pie that I was actually a gentle person who had never properly thrown a punch at anyone in real life, wouldn't she be shocked?
She would probably wonder how someone like that could fight the way I did.
I had never imagined living a life where I beat or killed people.
So even I was quite shocked by the indirect experience I was having right now.
Pie would probably feel something similar.
“I’ll make weapons for you. So from now on, don’t say crazy things while fighting or anything like that. Got it?!”
“Eeeing…”
“‘Eeeing’? You can still make that kind of sound right now? You’re going to become a demon! You’ll be treated as a monster and killed!”
And then, a quest appeared.
Of the three quests I had received so far, two of them were related to Pie.
It seemed like she was going to be someone I would know for quite a long time.
Anyway, the quest was about suppressing my madness.
The problem was that even Pie didn't know how to do it, so I had to figure it out myself.
Personally, it wasn't necessarily a bad opportunity.
There had definitely been times when I became abnormally excited while inside the game.
Still, I also felt that it would be a shame to simply erase that power.
Being a hero was nice, but this was an RPG after all.
It was a role-playing game.
So playing the villain wasn't necessarily a bad idea either.
However, if I did that, Pie might become completely disgusted with me because of what happened during the recent fight and immediately run away.
And if that happened, I would have to return to living alone on that lonely island.
I had secretly been enjoying having someone to talk to.
If I became alone again now, I might genuinely develop depression.
“Huh, if this weren't about a game, this would totally be a love story.”
“Gaaaah! My legs are going to break!!”
“People don't break that easily. And who do you think I am?! A professional! I'm a professional!”
