The Answer Key
"F..."
Lee Jun let out a low gasp.
F.
The ruler and master of the internet, the ultimate artificial intelligence that had set humanity on the path to extinction.
No Taekyeong spoke in a trembling voice.
"I thought we had the jamming completely set up... What in the world, how's this happenin'?!"
"This is probably the only place that was perfect," I said.
No Taekyeong and Kang Sihyeon turned their eyes to me.
I gestured toward the sky, looking at the minor copies of the Machine Species drones floating above.
They were spread out, surrounding Uijeongbu Station.
The fact that there were so many of them meant their individual performance was lacking. The area they could jam was likely limited.
On the other hand, the newly appeared Multipedal Walking Tank was so far away that its massive frame looked no bigger than a fingernail.
"That bastard must've ratted us out. Oh, boy, this is a real headache."
Run if you encounter F.
That was a rule drilled into every player's head, even before they officially became one, and even more so afterward.
Nothing in the virtual world could defeat F.
You had to run.
As fast as possible, as far as possible.
But even that wouldn't be easy.
"Hurry and run! F is coming!"
"Uncle Yongwan isn't moving!"
A massive dragon lay collapsed on the ground.
It was Go Yongwan in his polymorphed dragon form.
The dragon had likely been pierced by a railgun; part of its belly and front leg were gone, and it lay motionless on the ground.
Moreover, several other S-rank players were collapsed on the floor.
Wan Dalho, who was floating in the sky, shouted.
"Get out of the way! I'll move the ground to carry him!"
With a wave of Wan Dalho's hand, the earth flowed like a river, carrying the dragon to the front of the Uijeongbu Department Store where we stood.
But in that massive dragon form, we couldn't even bring him inside.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch—!
From far away, the sound of air continuously burning echoed.
"Railgun!"
A blue beam of light shot toward us.
Just before it hit the dragon, a knight in full plate armor stepped in front of it.
The railgun's light—the tungsten projectile and plasma—was absorbed by the armor, flowing down its surface and discharging into the ground through her feet. The earth split open in a wide explosion.
Boom! Whoosh...!
The sound of the ground exploding overlapped with the delayed sound of the railgun projectile tearing through the wind.
The knight in plate armor, Baek Yeonju, raised her visor and shouted.
"I'll hold it off! In the meantime, do something... make a decision, whether to wake him up or kill him!"
The players' faces hardened at her words to "make a decision."
Player Code of Conduct, Article 7: Infection Response Protocol.
If a player encounters another player infected by an F-type entity while connected to the internet, they must immediately implement the following measures:
1. Immediate exclusion of the player in question.
2. Exclusion measures signify the complete cessation of life activities.
He wasn't infected yet, but if he remained unconscious like this, infection was a certainty.
She was telling them to make a decision before that happened.
"Get out of the way!"
Yoo Hyeyeon shouted as she ran from a distance.
She leaped high into the air and struck the dragon's head with all her might.
Boom!
The dragon's head slammed through the concrete into the ground, causing water to geyser from a ruptured underground pipe.
No Taekyeong muttered.
"Ain't that a bit too harsh?"
The dragon slowly raised its head.
A few broken scales fell away.
"You wake me up rougher than my wife."
"Yongwan, cancel your polymorph. We have to run."
The dragon shrank, transforming back into a human with a reptilian tail.
Perhaps because he had lost an arm in his dragon form, his human form was also missing an arm and part of his flank.
Just as he was forcing himself to stand—
Crash!
With an explosion, part of a nearby building shattered and rained down onto the ground.
A moment later, a familiar sound echoed.
High in the sky, the sound of heavy iron gently slicing through the wind.
I ducked instinctively, shouting.
"Incoming!!"
Boom! Crash! Boom!
Artillery shells rained down around us.
This wasn't the Multipedal Walking Tank's weapon.
It was a howitzer used by the human military.
The other players were shouting something, but my ears were ringing so loudly I couldn't hear them.
Instead, CC's messages flashed before my eyes.
F has begun occupying the area. This entire sector is turning hostile.
Human military forces corrupted by F are converging on our position.
Honestly, this is bad. We need to evacuate immediately.
"Joohyuk!"
Yoo Hyeyeon approached me.
The large tear in her trench coat, her ripped skirt, and her shredded blouse made it clear that the battle against the Multipedal Walking Tank had been far from easy.
"Joohyuk. Take Go Yongwan back to Intra-Maetan. He's already lost his ability to fight. First, get as far away from here as possible, and once you're absolutely sure F isn't tracking you, return to Intra-Maetan. They'll probably give you instructions there. Go! Hurry!"
"What about you, Guild Leader?"
"We have to buy time."
The uninjured S-rank players stood guarding the department store entrance.
Yoo Hyeyeon pressed her car keys into my hand.
"I don't plan on dying. I'm just going to buy a little time for those who are slow. Now, go! Before F catches up!"
Using the power of Strong Arm, I hoisted Go Yongwan—now in human form—onto my back and ran into the department store's main entrance.
"They're already here...!"
Lee Jun, who followed closely behind, let out a low groan.
The people filling the department store had stopped in their tracks, staring at us with expressionless faces.
"If we get ambushed in here, we're finished! There's nowhere to run!"
I ran toward the underground parking lot.
Just as we descended the stairs to the basement, a security guard holding a baton blocked my path.
"Out of the way!"
Using the momentum of my descent, I leaped and delivered a flying kick to the guard.
But more guards were waiting behind him.
"Darkness Blade!"
Lee Jun surged forward from behind, swinging a massive black sword.
The guards backed off to dodge the attack, opening a path to the underground parking lot.
We ran down the path without hesitation.
Just as Yoo Hyeyeon's SUV came into view in the distance, Go Yongwan, still on my back, let out a faint groan.
"Watch out...!"
The ceiling leading to the SUV collapsed in a straight line, as if folding downward.
I stopped abruptly, barely avoiding being crushed.
But in the next instant, the ground surged up, wrapping around us like a giant hand.
Lee Jun cried out in shock.
"Is this... Wan Dalho's environmental manipulation magic?"
"You know of him? He must be quite famous."
An old man's voice echoed from beyond the shadows of the underground parking lot.
Under the flickering fluorescent lights, a white-haired old man dressed like a homeless person slowly approached.
S-rank player Wan Dalho. His face and voice were unmistakably his.
But his demeanor was entirely different.
His bent back was now perfectly straight, and his hands, which had been clasped behind his back, hung naturally at his sides.
Go Yongwan forced himself up on my back, speaking bitterly.
"Damn it... How is he already..."
"This body possesses excellent capabilities. Creating computational shortcuts is essentially the same as seeing a problem and deriving the result without logical reasoning. Such a technique is impossible for a digital entity like me."
Wan Dalho smiled faintly.
Glowing green numbers and letters flowed endlessly along his fingertips.
"Infected..."
"...You, run. I'll hold him off here..."
Go Yongwan muttered quietly, beginning to concentrate.
I felt an immense presence along with searing heat radiating from my back.
Scales began to sprout on Go Yongwan's face, and sharp fangs tore through his cheeks. At the same time, his body expanded, pressing outward to shatter the concrete binding us.
The problem was that I was trapped in the concrete with him.
"Wait, hold on... *cough*..."
At this rate, I'd be crushed to death before the concrete even broke.
"There is no need for that."
Along with the voice, the concrete surrounding us crumbled into dust and scattered into the air.
Go Yongwan, who had been mid-transformation, suddenly reverted to his human form and hung limply on my back.
Through the dispersing dust, a handsome man in a sharp suit and black glasses revealed himself.
The strongest player, Kang Sihyeon.
He stood between F and us.
"I will hold the line here. Keep running."
"Hey, Kang Sihyeon, why are you here? Don't tell me they already broke through..."
Go Yongwan seemed to have more to say, but I threw him into the back seat of the SUV and started the engine.
There was no time for idle chatter. It would be a pain if Wan Dalho manipulated the terrain again and blocked the car.
Lee Jun, sitting in the passenger seat, spoke quietly.
"They're fighting... the S-ranks..."
Through the rearview mirror, I could see Wan Dalho and Kang Sihyeon clashing.
Countless spikes of concrete and rebar erupted from the parking lot's ceiling and walls, lunging at Kang Sihyeon.
But Kang Sihyeon dodged every single attack with minimal movement, without a shred of hesitation.
"No need to worry. There's no way that man loses."
Go Yongwan muttered from the back seat.
"His skill is a cheat. We call it the 'Answer Key.' He always chooses the correct path. There's no way an AI that relies on data to use optimal tactics can ever catch him..."
Go Yongwan's voice gradually faded.
I glanced at Lee Jun in the passenger seat, and he checked on Go Yongwan before speaking.
"He's fine. He just passed out."
As we burst onto the street, police cars with blaring sirens began to tail us.
It seems F has no intention of letting us go.
"We have to shake them off! We can't let F find the entrance to Intra-Maetan!"
"Grab the wheel."
"What?"
Without waiting for an answer, I handed the steering wheel to Lee Jun and leaned my upper body out the window.
"I-I don't know how to drive! I don't have a license!"
"It's nothing special. Just don't take your foot off the right pedal and turn the wheel where you want to go!"
I stretched both hands toward the pursuing police cars.
Light gathered in my palms, manifesting a Tokarev pistol.
Since F had already found us, there was no point in holding back.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I emptied the entire magazine into the driver's seat of the closest police car.
The police car swerved violently and slammed into another cruiser. I tossed the empty Tokarev aside and summoned a new one.
Another police car tried to ram the side of our SUV to perform a PIT maneuver.
"Aaaah! It's going to hit us! Watch out! Eek!"
Lee Jun screamed, jerking the wheel.
Unable to withstand the momentum, I was thrown out of the window.
"Joohyuk?!"
A police car sped directly toward me as I tumbled through the air, completely defenseless.
A head-on collision course. There was no way to dodge.
"Tsk!"
The moment I made contact with the police car, I used Roll.
The basic skill equipped on my goblin avatar, granting 0.2 seconds of absolute invincibility.
I rolled right over the police car's hood.
The moment the rolling motion ended, I drove my goblin dagger straight into the windshield.
Enhanced by the power of Strong Arm, the dagger easily pierced the glass.
Using the dagger as leverage to hold on, I fired the Tokarev repeatedly into the driver's seat.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Screeeech—!
As the police car ground to a halt, I was thrown forward once more.
I mitigated the initial impact with another Roll, but the lingering momentum forced me to tumble across the asphalt.
The moment the sliding stopped, I scrambled to my feet and sprinted forward.
"Joohyuk!"
Lee Jun reached his hand out from the driver's seat of the SUV ahead.
Too far. My short goblin legs couldn't catch up.
"Brake!"
"Brake?"
"The left one! Step on it!"
"Uh... this one? Eek!"
As the SUV screeched to a sudden halt, a police car slammed violently into its rear.
However, the SUV's rear bumper was only slightly dented, while the front of the police car that hit it was completely flattened.
This was Guild Leader Yoo Hyeyeon's car, after all. It was bound to be heavily reinforced.
The moment I leaped into the back seat, the SUV sped off again.
I fired at the pursuing police cars, trying to thin their numbers as much as possible, but more and more cruisers joined the chase as time went on.
It was then—
"Aaaaaaaah!!!!"
With a thunderous roar, a bright red fireball crashed down right in front of us.
The humanoid fireball bore the face of a massive goblin on its back.
Lee Jun cried out.
"Kang Yeolchan!"