Strengthening his ability to perceive emotions, Dazai took a few steps and stood opposite to Nakahara’s bed.

    Nakahara, feeling disappointed and anxious, kept poking at the orange-haired youth’s cheek.

    “Where are my organs?”

    Nakahara lying on the bed: “…”

    “Didn’t I defeat the demon? Why can’t it vomit out the organs it swallowed?”

    Swelling up, Nakahara: “…”

    “The system said I succeeded in defeating it.”

    Swollen-faced Nakahara: “…”

    “Give them to me. They’re no use to you anyway. Once I have the organs, I won’t bother you again!”

    Even in his sleep, Nakahara could feel the pain in his face: “…” Help.

How could there be a monster who likes poking people’s faces!

Dazai couldn’t laugh at Nakahara’s plight anymore. With his keen insight, he noticed that Nakahara’s emotions were deteriorating. Even in the past, Nakahara, who couldn’t sense touch, wouldn’t exert such force.

Unable to touch Nakahara, who had fallen into a strange state, Dazai began to ponder.

What should I do…

Mori intervened, stopping Nakahara’s actions. “Nakahara, calm down. You’ve swollen Nakahara’s face from poking him too hard.”

For the first time, Nakahara didn’t vehemently resist this person, staring at him listlessly.

[Dororo’s father…]

Mori spoke gently, “Having lost everything, are you still afraid of losing something? You’ve endured the worst experiences; you should learn to approach what’s happening now rationally.”

The middle-aged man in the white coat grabbed Nakahara’s hand and placed it in Dazai’s hand across the bed.

“Dazai, what he needs isn’t looks or voice.”

“…”

In an instant, it felt like dealing with the devil.

But it was precisely this lost connection that provided some support to Nakahara’s crumbling inner self.

He didn’t understand why, despite defeating the demon and even the system acknowledging it, he still hadn’t regained his missing organs. Fourteen years of anticipation suddenly turned into disappointment, leaving him more lost and panicked than when he first regained his tongue.

[Dororo, what has the plot turned into?]

[Do I have to kill this person to get my organs back? But how can I indiscriminately kill innocent people? If I resort to violence, will I still be the protagonist who saves the world as my duty?]

[Is my mission real or fake? Was the process of defeating the demon just an illusion?]

From questioning the world to questioning himself, Nakahara had no answers. The only tangible presence he had was the person he was holding onto—Dororo would be there for him.

Dazai, outmaneuvered by Mori, twitched at the corner of his mouth but ultimately returned Nakahara’s grasp.

“What are you daydreaming about?”

With him around, even Arahabaki couldn’t escape death.

[“Dororo…”]

Dazai responded with intertwined fingers, “Hmm.”

That fool could only understand such a shameful and simplistic response, making him susceptible to Mori’s mockery.

But let him laugh.

Nakahara’s defenses were suddenly shattered.

He choked back a sob, his breathing quickened, and his skinless face trembled slightly. Dazai quietly observed this vulnerability. After losing his tongue, Nakahara couldn’t even utter a simple “Dororo.” They were like the most primitive of humans, conveying their emotions through clumsy means.

It was almost miraculous.

After being haphazardly poked countless times in his mental world by Nakahara, rendering it dysfunctional, the seemingly fake auxiliary system finally popped up a window.

In the otherwise empty inbox, there was an additional email from the system, an automatically sent reward.

The email read:

[System Reward: Plot Correction Package.]

If an important plot point is accidentally missed in the storyline world and it’s not the fault of the player, the auxiliary system will provide a compensatory reward after advancing the main quest.

In other words, it offers the intern the chance to rectify mistakes.