A Mother's Heart
Choi Minseol knelt in front of Seok Hayeon and reached her hand toward her stomach.
Kim Hun instinctively tried to block her, but—
"Honey, it's okay."
At Seok Hayeon's words, Kim Hun pulled his hand back.
It wasn't that she was actually fine; rather, she seemed to be trying to protect Kim Hun. Her voice was trembling.
Choi Minseol was completely dominating the space right now.
She had neutralized five players without taking any significant damage.
Even the fate of the vanished Sarim remained entirely unknown.
Choi Minseol's hand touched Seok Hayeon's stomach. And then... as if sinking into mud, her hand was swallowed into Hayeon's belly.
Kim Hun cried out in panic.
"Honey!"
"Ah... ah...! I-I'm okay. It doesn't... hurt."
"Hmm, the baby is healthy."
Choi Minseol spoke with her hand still submerged inside Seok Hayeon's stomach.
"You there, Father?"
"I'm Kim Hun."
"Yes, Mr. Kim Hun. And Mother is..."
"Seok Hayeon."
Upon hearing their names, Choi Minseol's voice brightened.
"Great. Mr. Kim Hun, Mrs. Seok Hayeon. What would you two do if... the baby in your womb turned out to be F?"
Seok Hayeon and Kim Hun's faces instantly stiffened.
They had been worrying about this. What if the child in her womb was actually a part of F?
I had suspected as much myself.
When Seok Hayeon was in danger, hadn't the baby summoned the residents of the Internet and torn open the sky to call upon F?
If the newborn baby was F, or even a fraction of it...
Could it truly be called Seok Hayeon and Kim Hun's child?
"Mr. Kim Hun?"
"..."
Choi Minseol looked up at Kim Hun, but he couldn't find the words to answer. She turned her head back to the woman in front of her.
"What about you, Mrs. Seok Hayeon?"
"Even so... it is my child."
"Right?!"
Choi Minseol pulled her hand out of Seok Hayeon's stomach and beamed.
"Exactly! It's the child I carried and suffered to bring into this world! That's a wonderful answer! ...On the other hand, Mr. Kim Hun, you need to work on your family love a bit more."
Choi Minseol shot a playful glare at Kim Hun.
But she quickly reverted to her bright expression.
"First of all, one thing is certain: this child is not F itself."
Relief washed over Seok Hayeon and Kim Hun's faces.
They've already fallen for it completely.
They were taking the words of a madwoman they had just met as absolute gospel.
Choi Minseol continued.
"But the baby is indeed a resident of the Internet. As players, you know this, right? If the residents of the Internet repeatedly witness anomalous phenomena like skills or items, F gets summoned... What happened earlier was because this child perceived too many anomalies in the surroundings. Fascinating, isn't it? The baby can't see or hear yet, so how did it know?"
Choi Minseol looked at Seok Hayeon.
"The female player who got teleported away said it, right? That the mother's anxiety was transmitted. Exactly. Even if a child can't see or hear, they can feel many things through their mother's emotions and physical state. So, what should we do?"
"W-what do you mean... what should we do?"
"You must look at good things, eat good things, and hear good things! This is a crucial time! You must never underestimate prenatal education!"
"Y-yes?"
"Many scholars claim prenatal education is completely useless, but I beg to differ. At the very least, vibrations are transmitted, and the frequency of classical music induces a state of comfort..."
Choi Minseol lectured passionately about prenatal care.
Kim Hun and Seok Hayeon stared at her, utterly dumbfounded.
She hasn't changed a bit.
Whenever she gets into a topic she's interested in, she fires up, completely ignoring the gravity of the situation or who she's talking to.
"Ah... hmph, that's not what's important right now. But Mother, your physical body in reality is in critical condition."
"It's cancer. It's dangerous if she doesn't get surgery immediately."
Kim Hun answered.
Seok Hayeon continued with a heavy tone.
"To be honest, even with surgery... there's no telling how long I'll last. I might die while still carrying this child. That's why, to save this baby, we were planning to extract my Neck-Hub..."
"If you extract your Neck-Hub now, Mother, you will never be able to see your child again."
The moment the Neck-Hub is pulled out, access to the Internet is permanently denied.
"Of course, the 'Mother' remaining on the Internet will continue to live with this child here. But the 'Mother' who wakes up in reality will be separated from them forever. Are you okay with that?"
"I was exposed to radiation, leaving me with a body that can never bear children."
Seok Hayeon closed her eyes.
She looked as though she had already made her peace with the decision.
"But just knowing that this child is alive somewhere in this world... that alone is enough for me."
"Yes, yes."
Choi Minseol nodded, her eyes welling with tears.
"But that's not the only problem."
Choi Minseol said, looking around at the world created by F.
"A persona separated from its physical host gradually becomes corrupted by F, and eventually, the ego is completely consumed. That's because there is no physical brain to anchor it. Even at this very moment, we are inhaling trace amounts of F elements through our breathing. Once it accumulates and piles up, you become a resident of the Internet."
Choi Minseol pointed to a resident of the Internet passing by the end of the alley.
"Once that happens, your current personality vanishes, and you become just another part of the Internet. A human brain is immune to this infection, so as long as the brain is connected, it's fine. But extracting the Neck-Hub means..."
"It means we can no longer prevent the infection."
"Exactly. You will eventually become a resident of the Internet."
Seok Hayeon lowered her head and stared down at her stomach.
Then, she squeezed out her words.
"Even so... if only I can give birth..."
"Bravo!"
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Choi Minseol clapped her hands, cheering.
She bent her knees, meeting Seok Hayeon's gaze.
"Right! That is a mother's heart! Exactly... Don't worry. I will make sure you can watch your child grow up for the rest of your life."
Seok Hayeon seemed taken aback by the sudden shift in tension, but Choi Minseol kept talking.
"From now on, I will connect you to a personal storage!"
"A personal... storage...?"
"It's another storage space connected to the Internet. It's similar to the intranet you came from. However, the scale is a bit smaller, and data cannot be overwritten. It's a read-only storage device... Ah, does that not make sense? Just think of it as something that can prevent the infection!"
"...If I connect to this personal storage, can I avoid losing my personality?"
"Yes!"
"And I'll be able to watch my child grow up...?"
"Of course! You can think of it as creating another brain, separate from your physical one in reality, and connecting to that!"
Tears streamed down Seok Hayeon's face.
The mother, who had not shed a single tear until now to protect her child, finally let her emotional dam burst.
"Please... do the same for me..."
Kim Hun knelt down as he spoke.
Seok Hayeon and Choi Minseol turned their eyes toward him.
"Honey...?"
"You too, Mr. Kim Hun?"
"Once I extract my wife's Neck-Hub, I will prepare to extract mine as well. Please, let me live here with my wife."
"Even if you don't do that, couldn't you just log in frequently to see Mother and the baby? You don't necessarily have to extract yours..."
"My wife is also in reality."
"Honey..."
"My wife in reality will never get to see our baby. I cannot live my life traveling back and forth to the Internet, watching our child grow up all by myself."
"But someone needs to relay how the child is growing up..."
"We can ask other players to do that."
Kim Hun bowed his head.
"I beg of you. Let me remain here with my wife."
"You said Mother is a cancer patient. That she will die soon if she doesn't get surgery immediately."
"..."
"If that happens, you will be left all alone in reality, Mr. Kim Hun. Will you be okay with that? Even if you can't log into the Internet to meet your child and wife?"
"A man cannot have everything."
Kim Hun raised his head.
A firm resolve was written in his eyes.
"I will leave the happiness of raising our child with my wife to the version of me that remains on the Internet. As for me... I want to share my wife's pain in reality."
"Honey..."
"Sigh... seriously..."
Choi Minseol scratched her head vigorously with both hands.
Her long hair became a messy, tangled nest.
"This is... truly magnificent..."
When Choi Minseol raised her head, tears were pouring down her face like a waterfall.
"Right... children are important, but sharing pain with your wife... I understand! I will make sure you two can be together!"
"Honey!"
"...We're together forever now. In happiness and in pain."
"Here, take these."
Choi Minseol placed two blue pills into Seok Hayeon's hand.
"These pills act as the trigger to connect to the external storage. Once you take them, your current persona will be backed up to the storage. Ah, don't take them right now... Take them after your Neck-Hub is extracted. Father, once you've finished everything, you can take the remaining one from Mother."
"Thank you."
"Thank you..."
Kim Hun and Seok Hayeon bowed deeply.
"Build a happy family. And..."
Choi Minseol wiped away her tears and spoke.
"CP, you're there, right?"
Seok Hayeon looked flustered.
"Come out. I know you're there."
Light gathered in front of Seok Hayeon. Her virtual limbs vanished, and CP, the girl with short red hair, materialized.
CP spoke in a frightened voice.
"Who are you, ma'am...?"
"I came to find you. Come, let's go together."
Choi Minseol reached out her hand toward CP.
CP stared at the hand with anxious eyes and took a step back.
"I... I want to stay with Aunt Hayeon."
CP shifted her gaze to Seok Hayeon's missing limbs.
Without withdrawing her outstretched hand, Choi Minseol spoke in a gentle voice.
"From now on, these two... no, these three, including the baby in the womb, are going to build a happy family. Right?"
CP slowly nodded her head.
"Do you also know that there is no place for you there?"
"Wait...!"
Seok Hayeon tried to say something, but Choi Minseol silenced her with a sharp look.
"You aren't their family, are you? Right now, it's fine because the baby is still in the womb. But once the baby is born, do you think it will be the same? Do you really want to watch everyone's attention shift entirely to the baby, and feel the growing divide between you and them?"
"I would never do that! No, I would absolutely never do such a thing!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Seok Hayeon shouted.
But Choi Minseol continued in a calm, flat voice.
"Everyone says that. But in the end, the moment of conflict and choice always comes. If they were drowning, who would they worry about first? If they made delicious food, who would they think of first? Who would they carry on their back, and who would they hold in their arms?"
Bombarded by the words, Seok Hayeon couldn't even find an opportunity to counter.
"Mother, I cannot leave even the smallest seed of discord in your family. You've barely managed to secure this family, haven't you? This is your chance to become a complete, loving family of three. But if CP is there... there will inevitably be a moment, even a brief one, where things fall out of alignment. If that happens... Mother, you will be hurt by guilt, and CP will be wounded by isolation."
Choi Minseol slightly retracted her outstretched hand toward CP.
It was to make CP approach her on her own.
"CP, there is no place for you here."
CP's tearful eyes turned toward Seok Hayeon.
Seok Hayeon shook her head, but CP's feet were already moving toward Choi Minseol.
Choi Minseol whispered in a sweet voice.
"Don't worry. It might be sad right now... but I will help you meet your real family soon."
And then, just as CP's hand was about to touch the tips of Choi Minseol's outstretched fingers—
"Don't take her hand!!"
Choi Minseol and CP's eyes snapped toward me.
Over their startled faces, CC's message window popped up.
> [Analysis Complete.]
> anomaly_detected[local_temp > decouple(binding="skin.nerve", strategy="bitwise_unwrap")
> status: body_temperature = nominal
Endless lines of incomprehensible text scrolled by.
After a moment, all the message windows vanished, leaving only a single sentence.
[Wake up, Mister.]