The Mother Box
The stark white room contrasted sharply with the jet-black box floating in midair.
Was that the treasure hidden beneath the church?
Drawn in by the surreal sight, I approached the black box in a daze. As if reacting to my presence, it began to vibrate.
“Oh.”
Does it sense living beings nearby?
The moment that thought crossed my mind—
Mother Box System Online. Initiating conversion.
A voice that sounded nothing but ominous echoed through the space.
Conversion? Of what?
Startled, I stepped back, but something had already begun progressing in orderly stages.
L.E.G System: No response.
H.A.N.D System: Responding.
E.Y.E System: No response.
Critical error detected during conversion. Calling system administrator for resolution.
Is it really okay to just leave this thing running?
It looked like the conversion—or whatever it was—had already failed midway.
Before I could even fully grasp the situation, everything came to an end.
System administrator: No response. Per non-response protocol, the nearest living organism will be appointed as system administrator.
“Huh?”
The nearest living organism…
That would be me?
The instant I realized it, the black cube vanished.
Panicking at its sudden disappearance, I looked around frantically—only to notice something now attached to my right hand.
“W-what the hell?!”
A gauntlet made of pure white metal.
It sat perfectly fitted on my hand, as if it had always been there.
H.A.N.D System activating.
“T-take it off!”
In my panic, I tried to yank the gauntlet off. The moment I did, it rapidly transformed back into the black cube.
Administrator’s command confirmed. Switching to Mother Box mode.
Watching the black cube float lazily beside me once again, I finally understood what had happened.
It seemed I had been acknowledged as the owner of this mysterious machine.
“…Hand mode.”
Switching to H.A.N.D mode.
“Mother Box.”
Switching to Mother Box mode.
It seemed the commands weren’t strictly fixed phrases. The device read my intent and responded accordingly.
Still, what the hell was this thing?
Judging by how it attached to my hand, it looked like some kind of weapon. I scanned the white room, but there wasn’t a single trace left behind.
In that case, there was only one option left.
I had to search the Community.
The only keyword I had right now was Mother Box.
Since only one result would come up, I needed to be careful with my search terms. Adding extra keywords would probably yield more useful information than just searching “Mother Box” by itself.
The most straightforward approach would be to search “Mother Box identity.” But that was something only amateurs would do. Searching something that vague would likely pull up a bunch of useless junk.
Things like “What even is the Mother Box?”—posts that wouldn’t help me at all.
So what keyword should I add?
From years of lurking in the Community, the best word for situations like this was obviously…
Mother Box Analysis.
Analysis. That was the one.
Posts that used slightly pretentious-sounding keywords like that were usually written with genuine care and effort.
I typed it in.
Just looking at the title, I could tell it was packed with dense information. Grinning, I opened the post.
1. Mother Box
You all read Chapter 3 of the main story, right? I wrote this post because I wanted to analyze the Mother Box that appears there.
In the story, it’s described as a machine that simply copies the former student council president’s abilities, but that’s not all it does. You can tell from Yambre’s dialogue and the boss fight animation where it absorbs a magic stone.
Remember how the boss’s color code changed after it absorbed the stone? The Mother Box doesn’t just copy—it converts souls into data, and data into mental images.
Everyone already knows this part, right?
2. The Larger System
During the boss fight, they mentioned the Hand System and Leg System. Literal giant hands and legs appeared too.
But doesn’t that seem strange?
What about that insane eyeball sequence in Phase 3? What the hell was that? Just for show?
This is pure speculation, but I think the Mother Box is only a part of a much larger system. The Hand handles conversion, the Leg handles transportation, and the Mother Box itself manages all those subsystems.
Then the answer becomes obvious. That eyeball is the Eye System. Probably for surveillance, coordinate designation, or something like that. Since they haven’t secured that system yet, only an empty eyeball appeared.
In other words, the Mother Box is merely a component of an even bigger system.
3. What Comes Next
Since Yambre ran off with the Mother Box, this definitely isn’t the end. The story going forward is pretty obvious. Yambre will try to collect the scattered system parts, and the protagonist will try to stop her.
Hand, Leg, Eye Systems… There might even be parts we don’t know about yet.
I believe the Mother Box’s true identity will only be revealed once all these parts are combined.
Of course, after writing all this, I might get completely proven wrong in the next update lol.
But the boss fight direction was so blatant that I couldn’t help but think this way. There’s still so much unresolved foreshadowing. I’m so happy.
2. part of
3. a much larger system.
A conversion device?
Hmm. So this thing called the Mother Box converts things like souls into different states? Soul to data, data to mental image?
No matter how I look at it, this seems like an incredibly dangerous device. Just the fact that a villain used it in the main story tells me a lot of people are probably looking for it.
“……”
For a brief moment, regret washed over me, but I quickly shook my head.
No. This was actually perfect.
Since it was something the main story’s villains would seek out, simply possessing it meant my entanglement in the main plot was now inevitable.
When the original work began, if I didn’t get involved in the main story, it would be hard to get many votes in the popularity poll. Even if I acquired powerful abilities, I still needed to keep showing my face consistently to earn the players’ favor.
Prepare yourselves.
Aiming for first place in the popularity poll meant getting involved in every single incident that occurred in this city. I had to let the players know about my charm and my presence here. Even if that meant drawing danger toward me, I needed to be ready to crush every last threat.
Only then could I get my sister back.
“Anyway, to use this in combat…”
Having steeled my resolve, I began thinking about how to apply the Mother Box in battle. If I went outside right now, I’d have to face four 3-Star ability users. How should I handle that?
That was when the scene of feeding it a magic stone caught my eye.
Could I feed the Mother Box a magic stone?
I picked up one of the stones glowing bright red from absorbing Asha’s mental image and inserted it into the Mother Box.
Immediately—
Conversion initiated. Please state the desired process.
“Desired process?”
An inorganic voice flowed from the Mother Box.
It wanted me to choose a process, but how was I supposed to know what processes were available?
“…Turn it into a powerful weapon.”
Impossible process. Please state the desired process.
So turning a magic stone into a weapon doesn’t work?
Thinking back to the post, creating something with a physical form might be impossible. Then what I could do with this was…
“Change the color of the magic stone.”
Confirmed. What color do you desire?
Yeah, I figured that would work.
They said the color changed during the boss fight, so I thought it might be possible.
“Code Clear, please.”
Confirmed. Executing conversion.
The color change happened almost instantly.
The Mother Box switched to Hand mode and attached to my hand. From its palm, it spat out a transparent magic stone. The purity was incredible. If I sold this alone, I could easily make a hundred million won.
“…Huh?”
After extracting the color, I noticed the gauntlet’s hue had changed. The bright red from the stone had transferred directly onto it. As I stared blankly at the red gauntlet, red smoke rose from it and it returned to its original color.
So the color extracted from the stone was stored inside the gauntlet?
If that was the case, while the gauntlet held a certain color, could it attack mental images of the same color?
“This should work.”
If I used this function well, I could land a solid blow on those 3-Star ability users. No—maybe more than that. If I utilized the Mother Box’s ability to convert mental images properly, I might even be able to nullify the ability users’ powers entirely.
All that remained now was to leave the church and rescue Hwa-ryeong before it was too late.
“…Can it convert again?”
I tried changing the now-transparent stone into another color, but perhaps because all the color had been drained, the Mother Box only displayed a message saying conversion was impossible. In that case, I might as well use this one on myself. It was best to use every available buff right before a fight.
I loaded the transparent magic stone into a syringe and injected it into myself. Maybe because it matched the color of my own mental image? Or because it was transparent? Unlike when I absorbed stones from the fusion entity, I felt no pain.
And along with it—
Community updated!
Search function has been updated. You may perform up to four searches per day. Three posts related to the entered keyword will be randomly displayed.
“Nice.”
My ability had leveled up. It seemed absorbing magic stones matching my color caused my power to grow.
Anyway, the search function update was very welcome news. I was about to move on when—
Beginning space allocation for System Helper installation. Deleting unnecessary files to secure space.
A very ominous message appeared before my eyes.
Installing a system helper? More importantly, deleting unnecessary files?
Alarmed by the string of disturbing messages, I scanned the screen in front of me.
Sufficient installation space detected. Space allocation complete.
Nothing happened. A message saying space allocation was finished appeared.
What? That’s it?
Re-evaluating. Sufficient space detected. Terminating space allocation process.
As if the message itself hadn’t expected it to end so easily, it ran the process again, but once more, nothing happened. I stared blankly at the messages, wondering what was going on.
Installing System Helper (1%)
I cautiously tapped the message to check the details.
Transmitted from Mother Box
— System Management Helper (1%)
As expected. The culprit was the Mother Box.
Is this really okay? It’s not installing something weird, right?
It looked way too eager to delete unnecessary files. Anxiety crept in, but since I had no way to remove the Mother Box now, there was nothing I could do.
After finishing my final preparations, I began climbing the stairs leading out of the church.
When I emerged from the underground stairs and re-entered the church, I saw a drone lying on the floor, apparently broken. I picked it up and examined it. The flight function was damaged, but the transmission function still seemed to be working fine.
Perfect.
Since things had come to this, I might as well use it to imprint my presence on the viewers. I’d stir up some aggro and rake in as much sponsorship money as possible.
“Ahem. Can you hear me? I’m not sure if the audio is coming through properly.”
I lifted the drone, turned the camera toward myself, and greeted the viewers beyond the lens with a friendly wave.
“How’s the situation outside right now? I remember the four major guilds swarming in to catch me. Are they still out there?”
Arrogant and insolent.
“Ah. I know what you’re thinking. You probably believe I ran away from them. It does look that way. Logically speaking, how could a rookie human hunter who just arrived from outside beat the four major guilds?”
I emphasized my presence here.
“But here’s the thing—I’m not like that. The four major guilds? I can beat all of them. I came to the tryouts with the intention of becoming the final survivor from the very beginning. So…”
I made it clear that I wasn’t just some extra.
“Why don’t you place some generous bets on the final survivor mission?”
This should be enough.
There was no need to explain too much in detail. If I showed them through my actions, the viewers would take care of the rest.
Theoretically, it was perfect. I could definitely beat them. It would be nice if Hwa-ryeong was still holding on.
With that thought in mind, I boldly threw open the doors of the church.
“Oh. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Yeah.”
Covered head to toe in flames, Hwa-ryeong greeted me while protecting a person lying on the ground. She even managed to save one of them. She held out better than I expected.
“I thought it was going to be a tearful sacrifice, but I guess not?”
“Why would I run? I told you I’m going to be the final survivor.”
“So you were actually serious about that nonsense.”
At my retort, Drake snorted as if he found it ridiculous. Then, apparently having no intention of talking further, he covered his entire body in purple ice.
That looks tough to break through.
The moment I had that thought—
“…Ugh?!”
A disaster fell from the sky.
An overwhelming light and heat that made the world seem to vanish for an instant engulfed Hwa-ryeong and Drake’s group. The shockwave alone sent me flying back into the church.
A beat later, a tremendous roar shook the world.
No, I misspoke.
A monstrous bird had descended upon the world.
“……”
“Haha…”
On top of the charred corpses of Hwa-ryeong and Drake, who had been burned to ash without being able to resist, Asha stared directly at me with her eyes wide open.
This was an unexpected development.
