In Search of the Hacker
I went looking for the hacker. ‘So it’s the Maker Gallery…’
The gallery had been created only yesterday. For something thrown together in a single day, a surprising number of people were already hanging around inside it.
‘Is the Association seriously not going to shut this down?’
If it were just one person, maybe. But when a group went so far as to create an actual dedicated space, there was a one-hundred-percent chance of sanctions. Normally these things vanished after a single day, yet…
Someone seemed to share my exact thoughts and had posted the question. The replies that followed were immediate.
“A hacker, huh…”
(OP) Damn. So this is what you have to do if you want to be a real Maker fan…
Exactly.
Who on earth was it? No matter how you looked at it, anyone skilled enough that even the Association couldn’t touch them should have appeared in the original story in some shape or form.
This wasn’t the first time, either. Back when I had been going around killing villains, there had been that anonymous person spreading the videos of me doing it.
‘I thought the organization had taken care of it… but maybe not?’
For now, if it was someone from the original work, only about three names came to mind.
“Hmm…”
One was on the hero side, so there was no chance they would show me any goodwill. Another had never even seen me. That left just one person.
‘All right. I can’t just sit around worrying forever. Time to go meet them.’
“Oppa…?”
“Ah, Gayeon. You’re awake?”
“Mmm…”
The moment I stood up to go meet her, Lee Gayeon had woken from her sleep and was staring at me.
“Still sleepy?”
“Mmm…”
She must not have shaken the drowsiness yet; she sat on the bed rubbing her eyes.
“Where are you going…?”
“I was thinking of stopping by to see Yeri for a bit.”
“Chicken coop sis…?”
…Since when had An Yeri been promoted to “chicken coop sis”?
I decided to let it slide for now and kept talking.
“Want to come with me?”
Nod.
Lee Gayeon gave a small nod, slipped off the bed, and scurried over to my side.
“Hee, heuhih… heehee…”
Whirrrr— Pop.
“Heehee… ehehe…”
“Hi, chicken coop sis.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!”
The instant Lee Gayeon and I warped into An Yeri’s room, the girl—who had been giggling to herself while staring at something—let out a blood-curdling scream.
“Why is your face all red, sis?”
“B-because you suddenly t-teleported in here…!!”
“Really? What were you watching, though?”
“!!..”
Her face flushed scarlet as if struck right where it hurt. An Yeri frantically began hiding whatever she had been looking at.
“Huh? Why are you hiding it?”
“N-no…!”
“It’s fine. Chicken coop sis will understand, so show me.”
“I-I said no…!! And I-I’m not a chicken coop…!!!”
Lee Gayeon, driven by curiosity, tried to see what An Yeri had been watching while An Yeri desperately blocked her.
“Hng… I said no…!!”
After a little while, An Yeri started sniffling, on the verge of tears.
…Guess I should step in soon.
It didn’t look like the situation would calm down on its own no matter how long I waited.
“That’s enough, Gayeon.”
Tap.
I lightly tapped the top of Lee Gayeon’s head with the edge of my hand.
“Why?”
“You can’t bully your sister like that.”
She turned around with a questioning look. I pointed at one spot with my finger.
“Hng… khh… M-Maker… hic. Maker, sir…”
“Ah.”
“Now you understand.”
I let out a small sigh and caught An Yeri as she came flying toward me. I was already used to this.
“Heuuung…!! Gayeon…! Gayeon…!!”
“There, there. Gayeon was really mean, wasn’t she? I’ll scold her properly later.”
“Uwaaaaaaaaang!!!”
…Is that really the Training Officer?
I agree, Gayeon. But maybe don’t say it right in front of her.
“Khh… huu… heuuuuuuuuuuung!!!!”
See? She’s crying even harder now…
“Shhh… It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“Gayeon… heuuung!!!”
Yeri, could you please stop rubbing your face all over me…
“Gayeon. No matter what, you can’t talk like that. Understood?”
“Yeah.”
“See? Even Gayeon is reflecting on what she did.”
“Hng… krr…”
“Besides, you’re an adult, aren’t you, Yeri? You’re all grown up. How can you cry like this? You’ll ruin that pretty face.”
An Yeri was twenty-three. She couldn’t even be compared to the fourteen-year-old Gayeon, and she was even older than me at twenty-one.
Pat pat.
“Hng… hueh…”
Yeri, please… just stop crying already…
I knew this would happen… Maybe I should have just walked here alone. It would’ve taken thirty minutes at most…
This exact pattern had repeated throughout the past month, so I thought I’d grown used to it, but it still drained me.
“It hurts my heart to see such a pretty face crying. So please stop, all right?”
“Hng… y-yes…”
After I kept patting her for a while, An Yeri finally stopped crying.
Phew…
I suppose I really had grown used to it; I managed to calm her down relatively quickly.
…Wait, is it weird that I feel proud about that? Something feels off.
“Here, drink some water.”
“Yes…”
I handed her the glass and she took small, careful sips.
“U-um… M-Maker, sir… what brings you… here…?”
Only then did she seem to wonder why I had come, and she asked me.
“Then I’ll ask directly.”
I showed her the Maker Gallery site.
“Did you happen to be the anonymous hacker who created my gallery here and has been spreading videos of me killing villains across communities for the past month, Yeri?”
One of the three outstanding hackers who appeared in the original story. To be honest, her hacker side wasn’t highlighted as much as the other two.
Her skills are clearly lower than theirs, too. Those two have abilities specialized in hacking from the start.
Still, the fact that she had held off a hero-side hacker by herself in the latter half of the original story, plus the way she had casually raided the lab last time, made it clear she was a skilled hacker.
Above all, if it wasn’t An Yeri, who else would have helped me like this?
The chance that it was someone else seemed low.
“It wasn’t me…?”
And she shot that theory down beautifully. So it really was someone else.
“Sorry?”
“I-it wasn’t me…?”
“Huh?”
Then who the hell was it?
A short while later, I explained the current situation to her.
“S-so that’s what happened…?”
“Yes. When it comes to people around me who might know about hacking, you’re the only one I could think of, Yeri.”
“J-just me…?”
An Yeri let out an awkward “ehehe…” laugh at my words.
“T-then… is there anything I can help with…?”
Like… destroying that gallery, for example?
Hmm.
I thought for a moment.
“No. There’s no need to go that far. Either way, it’s benefiting me.”
“I-is that so…”
In a way, this was practically the first time a villain had established a civilian fan club since the related laws were created. As long as I continued committing acts of terror and they kept the club running, my influence would naturally grow.
The only downside is that I can’t control it…
But since I was planning to meet the person responsible soon, that wouldn’t matter.
It’s not Yeri, and it obviously can’t be the one on the hero side, so only one possibility remains.
I had no idea why someone I’d never even met would suddenly do this, but there was only one weirdo eccentric enough to pull off something this insane without batting an eye.
“Then we’ll be going now, Yeri.”
“Eh…? A-already…?”
An Yeri looked at me with clear disappointment. It was still morning since we had come early, but we had already been here for two hours. It was about time to head back.
‘I’ve roughly figured out the direction. I should go find them quickly.’
“Sorry for dropping by without notice so early in the morning.”
“N-no, it’s fine…! I-I’m okay…!”
“Then…”
I gave a small nod in farewell.
“I’ll come play later.”
“O-okay…”
Lee Gayeon waved at An Yeri as she said goodbye. After An Yeri returned the gesture with an awkward smile, we left.
Whirrrr—
Lee Gayeon and I teleported straight back to my room.
“Ta-da. We’re here.”
Thanks to Lee Gayeon’s teleportation, we returned to my room in the blink of an eye.
“Thank you, Gayeon.”
Grumble… grumble…
When I stroked her head, she let out a pleased purr like a cat. I chuckled softly, removed my hand from her hair, walked over to the closet, and pulled out a gray coat.
“Gayeon, sorry to ask, but could you keep me company a little longer?”
“Date?”
“…Something like that.”
“Okay.”
Well, taking her along while searching for someone could count as a date, right?
“Have you ever been to an arcade before?”
“Arcade?”
Lee Gayeon tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Haa… This should stabilize things for now…”
In a dark room with the lights still off, the girl staring at the brightly glowing monitor tapped the enter key and stretched.
“Stupid bastards. What the hell did I even do for them to come after me from every direction…?”
All she had wanted was to experience fangirling for the first time in her life. She had simply created the site because she wanted to share that feeling with others!
“They attack so pettily just because it slightly breaks the law!”
That was exactly why these old-fart heroes were the worst.
Grumbling to herself, the girl crunched down hard on a piece of candy.
“I’ve rebuilt the defense programs, gallery traffic is stable… but the Masterpiece side traffic is still a bit precarious.”
Ever since his last terrorist attack, traffic to the Masterpiece site had suddenly skyrocketed.
‘Looks like a ton of people flowed over after the Red Heroes side completely collapsed…’
Still, that could be fixed by simply increasing the amount of traffic the server could handle at once.
Whirrrr— Crackle. Crackle.
Tap… tap tap… tap.
“Ugh… Well, now that I’ve handled all the big stuff, shall I go blow off some steam?”
After dealing with the major issues, the girl jumped up from her chair and grabbed her coat.
“All right, let’s go~!”
Completely unaware of what was about to happen today, she stepped out the door.