The Only Way Out
Arriving at Seoul Station, we headed toward the kiosk on the platform where the gate was located.
Despite the absolute chaos we had caused back at Mia Intersection, the area around Seoul Station was as peaceful as another world.
"Fifteen minutes left until the gate opens. That was a close call, wasn't it? Fortunately, it seems the AI isn't pursuing us..."
"Are we finally getting out of here?"
My body temperature had dropped to forty degrees Celsius.
Kang Yeolchan suggested that the Maetan staff had likely taken some kind of countermeasure.
It was proof that the people of Maetan hadn't given up on Yeolchan and me just yet.
It happened right after we descended to the platform.
Yeolchan was the first to notice.
Thud! He pushed off my back, springing into the air before landing squarely in front of me.
To pull that off using only his core muscles... Is he a monster?
A man stood right where Yeolchan was staring.
"...A human?"
It was a familiar face.
The field agent who had been questioned by the transit police alongside me on the subway.
It was the bearded man whose head Yeolchan had crushed with his bare hands.
"I thought he was dead... Is he alive? No, more importantly, his head is perfectly fine..."
"It seems his homing instinct has kicked in. Or perhaps the copying process was already complete back then..."
"Homing instinct?"
"It's a symptom that manifests in personalities left behind in the network after being severed from their physical bodies. They try to return to their original body in the real world by any means necessary."
The bearded man had likely had his Neck-Hub extracted in reality when he was caught by the police, permanently severing his connection.
In other words, the bearded man standing before us was merely his digital persona, trapped on the Internet, entirely independent of the real world.
Spotting us, the bearded man rushed over.
"I-I've been waiting! No matter what I do, I can't get out...!"
He spoke with tears welling in his eyes.
"No matter how many times I open the kiosk door, it won't connect to Maetan! The owner inside just glares at me! Yeolchan, you have a way, right? Let's go back, quickly! I don't want to be here anymore!"
Yeolchan replied.
"...The gate is locked. It cannot be opened from this side."
"What? Why?"
The field agents who escaped first had likely reported the situation, prompting Maetan to temporarily close the gate.
It would only reconnect once the pattern Yeolchan mentioned was entered.
"That doesn't make sense! Why would the gate be closed? We haven't even left yet! Ah, but you can open it, right, Yeolchan? You're a Player! Whew, you scared me. I thought I was trapped here forever. Come on, open it quickly. It looks like it's hard for you to even move in that state. Let me help you..."
The moment the bearded man stepped forward to support Yeolchan—
Crash!
Yeolchan delivered a devastating headbutt.
The concrete platform shattered, sending debris flying in all directions.
But the bearded man was no longer there.
"Whoa, that startled me."
The bearded man, who had been right in front of Yeolchan a split second ago, had instantaneously moved to the opposite platform.
Yeolchan cried out in shock.
"Teleportation?!"
"Yeolchan? What is the meaning of this?"
"...You might not realize it, but your connection has already been severed. What stands here now is nothing but a residual fragment of your consciousness..."
"Don't lie to me!"
Whip!
In an instant, the bearded man's arm elongated like a whip, lashing across the platform.
The concrete floor gouged deeply where the whip struck.
It was the same technique the Raccoon had used.
"I'm standing right here! I can see, hear, think, and remember... I have a child in Maetan... and a wife... and you're telling me I'm not me? You expect me to believe that?!"
Whir.
As if on cue, the kiosk door slid open on its own.
Beyond the threshold lay the pitch-black void of the Monolith Gate.
"...Should we run?"
"We can't. If he follows us into the gate, he'll invade one of our Neck-Hubs. If that happens..."
"...It'll have to be extracted."
Yeolchan nodded.
The bearded man looked at the open kiosk door behind us and smiled.
"Look at that, it's open! Whew, what a relief. Come on, let's go inside."
Glittering particles gathered beneath his feet, and in the next instant, he crossed from the opposite platform to ours.
"Remember when I told you that if a human connection is reported to the AI, a special entity is dispatched?"
A Debugger, he had called it.
An entity that purges human 'errors' from the Internet.
"Are you saying the bearded man is a Debugger?"
"The AI turned him into one."
"Then that teleportation just now...?"
"Every Debugger possesses unique skills. It's their privilege to bypass the laws of this virtual world."
"...What's the plan?"
"We have two options. First, we stall for as long as possible, then dive into the gate right before it closes, leaving him behind. The problem is, we don't know exactly when the gate will shut."
"And the second?"
"Defeating him before we enter."
"...Can you do it?"
"No problem. So, you go first. Tell them to close the gate in five minutes."
Yeolchan straightened his posture and stood in front of me.
Though his limbs were severed and his lower body was entirely gone, he fully intended to face the Debugger.
No, to be precise, he was trying to buy time for me to escape.
Yeolchan had barely managed to defeat the Raccoon, who used similar techniques, at the cost of his left arm.
In his current state, this fight would be impossible.
"What are you two whispering about? Let's get moving. Or should I go first?"
The bearded man smiled, taking a step closer.
Keeping my eyes locked on the Debugger, I spoke to Yeolchan.
"You go first."
"Even with Dueoksini's Earring, a Goblin avatar can't handle this! He's not a normal human anymore—he's already half-AI...!"
"You're too slow. You'll only get in my way. And besides, didn't I tell you?"
I stepped forward, positioning myself right between the portal, Yeolchan, and the bearded man.
"I... We have never left anyone behind."
Yeolchan hesitated for a brief moment, then dragged his body toward the gate.
Before diving in, he called out:
"I won't let them close the gate. No matter what. So please, make sure you come back."
"Sending Yeolchan ahead while you hold the line? Ha, you ignored me when I begged for help, but you'll risk your life for an A-class? That really rubs me the wrong way."
There was no need to reply.
Actions would speak louder than words.
I drew the dagger from my waist.
Snap!
The bearded man's arms stretched out like long tentacles.
He lashed out, whipping his elongated limbs toward me.
"You think a mere Goblin can stop me?! Me, who has been granted new power in this world?!"
The Goblin was the lowest-spec humanoid avatar in Intra-Maetan, requiring the least computational power to render.
Consequently, its moveset was extremely limited, and it only had two facial expressions.
"You lack joints, you lack muscles! With such a pathetic avatar?!"
Yet, it possessed one unique advantage over other avatars.
Because it was originally designed as a basic mob and was currently used for combat training, a very specific mechanic had been programmed into it.
Roll.
Crack!
Roll.
Crack!
"W-What?! I clearly hit you!"
Flustered, the bearded man whipped his arms even faster.
Roll, roll, roll.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"What the hell is this?! Why aren't my hits landing?!"
It was a feature exclusive to the Goblin.
A 0.2-second window of absolute invincibility granted during a Roll.
This was the exact reason I had been able to fight a B-Class Player for over forty minutes and ultimately win.
The invincibility frame was originally meant to help beginners practice timing their dodges.
Whether it would function on the Internet had been a gamble, but since it was hardcoded into the avatar's assets, it worked flawlessly.
Roll.
Crack.
Roll, roll, r-r-r-roll.
Crack! Crack! C-C-Crack!
"Aaaargh!"
The bearded man shrieked in sheer frustration.
"Just one hit! I only need to land one hit! A trash mob avatar like that would break in a single blow if I could just—!"
"You'll never hit me with such predictable attacks."
His combat proficiency was abysmal.
His strikes were linear and repetitive.
Keeping his distance by turning his arms into whips was likely just a desperate attempt to minimize his own risk of getting hit.
Was it a lack of experience? He was noticeably inferior to the Raccoon, who had fought on equal footing with Yeolchan using the exact same technique.
"Now!"
Light began to pool beneath the bearded man's feet.
He was trying to corner me with a flurry of whip strikes, intending to bypass me entirely and teleport straight into the gate.
"Hup!"
I hurled the Goblin's rusty dagger.
The attack power of a rusty dagger was practically nonexistent. It wouldn't deal a fatal blow.
However, I wasn't aiming for the bearded man himself.
I aimed for the space between him and the gate—the linear trajectory of his teleportation.
"Cough!"
A flash of light erupted as he teleported.
In the next instant, the bearded man materialized exactly where the dagger was flying, coughing up blood as he collapsed to his knees.
The dagger was buried deep in his abdomen.
"...Cough... How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That my teleportation... couldn't pass through obstacles..."
Did he really think I wouldn't figure that out?
"I knew that from the very beginning."
His teleportation was essentially a high-speed dash along a straight line.
If he could phase through obstacles, he would have teleported straight to the door behind Yeolchan and me in the first place.
He had essentially charged forward at extreme speed and impaled himself on my dagger.
"I was aiming for your head, but this Goblin body threw off my aim."
I stood firmly between the bearded man and the gate.
I had fully analyzed his abilities.
Clatter.
The bearded man ripped the dagger out and flung it over the edge of the platform.
"Cough... But now you're empty-handed."
Blood poured from his wound.
Even after becoming a Debugger, does he still bleed like a human?
"Do you honestly think I'll lose just because I'm unarmed?"
I took a stance, raising my right hand forward and pulling my left hand back.
"Aaaargh!"
Whoosh!
The whip tore through the air toward me.
I didn't dodge. Instead, I threw a punch directly along the same trajectory.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the bearded man's whip shattered.
His eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
"What...! How can a Goblin have this much strength...?!"
Grade: A
Effect: Strong Arm (A)
Drastically increases the wearer's physical strength.
Empowered by the earring, my straight punch tore his whip to shreds.
"Tsk...!"
However, my own hand didn't escape unscathed.
The Goblin's pathetic durability couldn't even withstand the recoil of its own punches.
Even so.
That was no reason to stop.
Thud! Bam! Thud-thud-thud!
With every punch I threw, parts of the bearded man's body ruptured.
A straight punch backed by the power of Strong Arm (A) possessed enough destructive force to easily blow a human body apart.
"Aaargh...!"
My fist connected, and the bearded man's head exploded.
Yet, his headless torso continued to squirm, lashing out with various parts of his body like whips.
"He doesn't die even when his head is blown off. And here I thought he was human-like because he bled..."
I guess I have no choice but to reduce him to dust.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, my vision began to blur.
My field of vision narrowed, and objects began to overlap in double and triple images.
An uncontrollable wave of dizziness washed over me.
I quickly leaped backward to put some distance between us.
"Haa... haa... ha...? Ha...? Kahaha! I thee! I thee!"
In that brief interval, the bearded man's head regenerated, and he burst into slurred, distorted laughter.
"You bastahd, you've hit your limit tempah-ture!"
I checked my body temperature, which had been flashing frantic warnings for a while now.
43°C.
A human brain is in danger once it exceeds 41°C, and it literally begins to cook past 42°C.
It meant irreversible, fatal brain damage.
"Yeah! How much longer could you possibly hold out?! Your low Computation Grade is obvious just from you using a trash Goblin avatar! And you don't even have the support of the Maetan server here!"
Snap!
His arms had fully regenerated as well.
I barely managed to roll out of the way of his viciously lashing whips.
"I don't even need to defeat you. I'll just wait until you're on the verge of death, and once you collapse, I'll walk right in."
Is he an idiot?
If they deemed me unsalvageable, they would force-disconnect me from reality and shut down the gate.
He was in just as much of a rush as I was, but his brain didn't seem to function well enough to realize that.
Crack! Crack!
Roll, roll.
Do I have to brace myself?
According to Yeolchan, even if I died here, my real-world self would survive.
Though my Neck-Hub would be forcibly extracted...
I wouldn't die. No, I absolutely wouldn't.
I couldn't afford to die yet.
Not yet...
The moment my temperature ticked past 44°C—
> I'll take over the calculations!
> Delegating target's computational workload...
> Applied Targets: Avatar Rendering / Physics Engine / Anti-AI Decoy / Firewall
As the text scrolled past, my mind cleared.
My brain... is being emptied?
Ever since I connected to the Internet, I had felt a constant, exhausting strain on my mind.
But the moment those words appeared, the suffocating congestion in my head vanished without a trace.
I glanced at my body temperature.
42.0°C
41.7°C
41.5°C
The temperature was rapidly dropping.
Along with it, my body felt incredibly light.
Pink text floated in the air.
Is it Yeolchan?
I didn't know what method was being used, but it seemed someone was taking over the calculations that I was supposed to be processing.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and lunged forward.
"W-What! You suddenly got faster...!"
The bearded man whipped his arms, but they couldn't even graze me.
Without even using Roll, I casually evaded every single strike and blew his entire body backward.
Though he regenerated each time, his recovery speed was noticeably slowing down.
"Calculation core?"
"Where is that?"
"I already blew his head off."
A simplified anatomical diagram appeared in the corner of my vision.
The left pelvis of the diagram was flashing a bright red.
"Aaaaargh!"
The bearded man whipped his arms with even greater ferocity.
A torrential downpour of attacks rained down on me.
Pinpointing the exact moment he retracted his arms, I launched myself off the ground.
This is the end.
My left fist punched clean through his pelvis.
"Gasp...!"
Thud. Thud.
His severed tentacles hit the floor, and the bearded man collapsed in a heap.
Like stone weathering into dust, his body crumbled into glittering particles of light.
"Phew... Was that you, Yeolchan? Thanks to you, I made it."
No text returned to answer me.
I'll thank him properly once I'm out.
I dove into the gate.
The darkness flickered, and my vision quickly brightened.
"He's awake! Sever the connection! Hey, are you alright?!"
The first things that came into focus were the faces of the people surrounding me.
Security personnel, a few familiar field agents, and...
"Waaaaah! Hyeong-nim!"
A three-year-old child, clinging to me and sobbing his heart out.