Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Translator Penny
Chapter 116
Chapter title:Non-player IV
Chapter 7
Shall we talk about something else for a moment?
The phenomenon of humans becoming tainted by the existence of an Anomaly is often expressed as "having faith," but in truth, there is a much better term for it.
Bewitched. Fascinated. Captivated.
If you look at the Chinese character for 'Fascination', the character for 'Ghost' is contained within it. Ghostly energy. An attraction difficult to resist. Impulse. In that, the people of old sensed ghosts—that is, Anomalies.
They also issued countless warnings. Since Anomalies vary wildly from one to another, the words describing their attraction must naturally be countless as well.
All these letters signify fascination. The reason the ancients did not settle on a single word but referred to 'Fascination' in roundabout ways was that Anomalies dwell even within letters. A letter inhabited by an Anomaly soon becomes a curse.
It is exactly the same as why I constantly use 'aliases' when referring to a certain Anomaly. If an Anomaly completely occupies a single letter or a single name, it is no different from building a 'house' for that Anomaly. Therefore, the act of calling an Anomaly’s name is akin to calling out:
—Hey kid. Hey ghost. Hey Anomaly. —This is your home. Come over here.
I emphasize this again: an Anomaly’s name must not be fixed as one. If you must call it, it is right to use a different name each time, and if you lack the knowledge and experience to do so, it is right not to call it at all from the start.
As the founder of the 'Library Society,' I deliberately created multiple methods for calling Anomalies. Take the Ten Tribes for example.
'Crawling Baby Cthulhu', 'Shadow Monarch', 'Thorn Hell', 'Lurker'.
I called them by various aliases such as these. Of course, considering the Ten Tribes are a class that exercises mere physical force rather than being mental-type Anomalies, it was a countermeasure that might seem excessive. How much more so for the Alienated God, Mugan?
'Cheon Yo-hwa', 'School Ghost Story', 'Night Parade of One Hundred Demons', 'One Hundred Tales', 'Four-Character Taboo', 'One Hundred Stories', 'Whitening'. Going further, although I didn't mention them often in the stories, 'Heraclitus's Ring of Fire', 'The Backrooms', and so on...
I prepared a selection of titles for humans that was more than sufficient, overflowing even. Only then could the Anomaly be unable to build its nest, pushed around by the harassment of letters, wandering the nine heavens. Today’s episode is the same. When I started the story, I named the Anomaly 'Online Game'. But by now, you all likely suspect there is a more suitable name for it.
'Logout Game'.
The conclusion given to those bewitched by this Anomaly was an exit from reality.
Anonymous: Broken game, no content shit. Anonymous: For real, I don't really log into the game these days. Doing daily quests is annoying too... Anonymous: When does this game end? Anonymous: Looking for lvl 40 party!! No NPC porters allowed ㅠㅠ Anonymous: Since all the god-game simps died, there aren't many people left here either lol Anonymous: Wow, why is this trash game board still alive?
The periods during which players logged out grew longer and longer, and the number of people accessing SG Net dwindled further. The community gradually became desolate. In that place, there was one 'named' member who consistently posted nonsense from beginning to end.
Goryeo Jang: Café Mocha made by the NPC Guild Leader today.png └ Anonymous: You still haven't quit? What level are you? └ Goryeo Jang: This big sister hit max level ages ago, so now I don't run dungeons and just decorate the guild house. └ Anonymous: Max level... shivers └ Anonymous: But how does an NPC perform the role of Guild Leader? Is it a bug? └ Goryeo Jang: Seeing as the game company isn't patching it, looks like it's not a bug?
Sim A-ryeon. While other people were quitting the 'game' one by one, Sim A-ryeon continued. However, what she actually did after logging into the game wasn't much.
“Ah. Dead game... Users keep fleeing because there haven't been any updates for two years already, sigh...”
Lamenting that it was a trash game.
“Guild Leader! Look at this! [Coffee Bean]! Hehe. Your affinity goes up if you receive this item, right? Eu-heh. It's a drop item that comes out with a super low probability if you catch a Necromancer Lich, but I gathered them all and brought them! Eit-eit. Go up! Affinity, hurry up and rise...!”
Obsessing over an affinity system that was incomprehensible to me and launching a barrage of gifts.
“Eu-hehe, eu-hee. Eu-hee-hee-hee...”
Catching slimes from the Han River and beating them up in all sorts of ways. Watching her quietly, her play pattern was so monotonous that even I inadvertently thought, ‘Doesn't she get bored?’ Sim A-ryeon herself must have eventually gotten bored, as her login cycle—which was daily during her peak—extended to once every day, then three days, then seven days as time passed. Even that, however, was a consistent connection rate compared to other players. In fact, not only players but NPCs were now scarce. At most, just No Do-ha and the Saintess? If we looked, Go Yo-ri would probably still remain, but there was likely no reason for her to volunteer for danger.
Eventually, the three of us—Me, No Do-ha, and the Saintess—members of the Regression Alliance, decided to gather at the Han River and live together. There was no longer any meaning in maintaining the National Highway Management Corps headquarters, nor could we continue to survive by staying only in the aquarium mansion in Yongsan. Above all, the warmth of life had become excessively scarce in this world. It was inevitable for the last NPCs—no, the survivors—to band together.
“Hmm. It is quiet...”
No Do-ha let out a breath of white mist while drinking coffee.
“The Anomalies are stuck in the dungeons without causing any particular trouble. The Awakeners are all unmoving as if they've become stone statues. My my, when I heard that the Undertaker Awakener had experienced countless regressions, I wondered what it would feel like to witness the end of the world firsthand... Is this the scenery?”
“Cases where it is this quiet are rare.”
We watched the river water drinking in the sunlight for a while.
“I will go out for the experiment,” the Saintess said.
“Pardon?”
“Where the people who logged out disappeared to. Whether they truly fell into a state like death, or if they were dragged into the 'Divine Realm' of the Alienated God as Mr. Undertaker surmised. I will log into the game and find out.”
“...It will be dangerous. Other Awakeners felt nothing more than the sensation of returning to reality, so there were no particular effects. But if you jump in while consciously aware that it is an Alienated God, it is unknown what reaction will pop out from the other side.”
“However, we need information. Mr. Undertaker is thinking about the next regression anyway. Then it is correct to shoulder the risk and gain even a little more information.”
“...”
“As you pointed out, rashly throwing oneself into the Alienated God's Divine Realm is unwise. Mr. Undertaker's ability might be discovered too. So, I will handle the reconnaissance.”
That was not a wrong argument. Under normal circumstances, there was no way we would consume the card known as the Saintess for a mere scout mission. The Saintess's role on the chessboard was the King. She was an agent who must absolutely never be captured or discovered by the enemy. But now, the Awakeners the Saintess needed to monitor were gone, and the necessity to act as the Constellations had vanished. We cast a gamble. In the basement of the Guild. The Saintess muttered quietly.
“Status Window.”
“...”
“...”
No Do-ha and I looked at the Saintess.
“How is it?”
“...I see my abilities. Level too. However, the terms referring to the awakening abilities are quite different.”
The Saintess was looking not at us, but at the empty air in front of her eyes, as if letters were written there.
“Do you not see a logout button?”
“Logout button... Ah. Yes, here. When I open the menu, it says 'Logout' at the very bottom.”
“Hm.”
“I will press it now.”
At that moment. The Saintess stopped. Literally, her movements became rigid. The vibration of the heart that had been beating in her chest just a moment ago, the gaze of her sky-blue eyes, and her water-colored hair that had been fluttering in the river breeze. Everything. All of it stopped completely.
“...”
“Hrmm.”
No Do-ha reached out his hand. However, No Do-ha's hand simply stirred the empty air.
“I have experienced this a few times already, but it is an unpleasant experience. Haa. To see but not be able to touch; it is no different from a mirage or an illusion...”
“...”
“You decided to call it the Logout Game, correct? This Anomaly. It seems quite determined to make our world into a fiction...”
I turned the timer. 10 seconds. That was the time agreed upon with the Saintess. To maintain the first logout state for exactly 10 seconds and then escape immediately. 10 seconds passed. The Saintess did not move.
“...”
“...”
Since we predicted that such a situation could occur, the second timing was set for 3 minutes. 2 minutes and 50 seconds passed. Still, the Saintess did not move. Since we had also predicted beforehand that such a situation could occur, the third timing was—
“Awakener Undertaker.”
“Yes.”
“She is dead. That person.”
“...”
“Watching the figure of a dead person for too long is not respectful to the deceased. Just in case she might return, I will keep watch here. So, Awakener Undertaker, please go upstairs...”
I accepted No Do-ha's words. Light was spilling down by the riverside. After calming my mind, I brewed two cups of coffee and went down to the basement, only to find Workshop Master No Do-ha's body had stopped.
“...”
I returned to the surface holding only one cup of coffee. And I never visited the basement again. The next day, a message floated before my eyes.
[Emergency Patch Notice.] [‘Operator of the Play of All Things’ announces. A serious bug was discovered in the game around 3 PM yesterday, and a patch has been implemented.] [We sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience to our users. Thank you.]
Chapter 8
Occasionally, as a Regressor, I have this thought. That perhaps other people treat life more lightly than I do, I who endlessly turn the wheel. My mind, which remembers everything, held intact the hundreds of endings met by the Saintess and the hundreds of scenes where No Do-ha reached death. My comrades would sometimes overlook how their deaths would be remembered by me.
‘Not yet. I cannot die just yet.’
In a world left all alone, a space that had been degraded to virtuality for everyone else but remained reality only for me, I waited. For the moment the Alienated God would reveal its form.
‘By now, the world has fallen into your grasp almost entirely. You must be eager to declare final victory. But within your void, there remains an existence that proves [This is not a game].’
That was me.
‘I must be bothersome to you. You Anomaly bastard.’
An impurity that must be destroyed to complete its void. If that Alienated God fellow could no longer endure it and threw off the mask of a game to reveal its true body, if the [Operator of the Play of All Things] showed its true colors, I intended to die willingly only after seeing that form. I couldn't die before then. It would be troublesome to look down on a Regressor. Unlike Old Man Show, who committed suicide like an ocean sunfish at every turn, I had grit.
“Guild Leader! Have you been well? Haa-eu. Real life is so busy these days that it's getting harder to log in... Still, I'll visit every time I think of it! Hehe.”
The cycle of Sim A-ryeon's connections stretched out rapidly. Now, it wasn't strange for her to log in once a year, or once every three years. Conversing with her, it seemed Sim A-ryeon herself had no awareness that she had visited after three years. She seemed to think she had come in after about three weeks at most.
‘The flow of time is different.’
Indeed, it was natural for time to become strange in the void. Even at Baekhwa Girls' High School, didn't Cheon Yo-hwa herself not perceive that she had spent four years there? I didn't just sit around letting time pass. I entered the dungeons known to have the highest value among Korean users and hunted every single monster. If I waited a moment, the monsters respawned, but I killed even those completely. For 11 years. I, a mere NPC, had ruined the chunks of experience points that were originally meant to fall to the players.
[Emergency Patch Notice.] [‘Operator of the Play of All Things’ announces. A serious bug was discovered, so an emergency patch has been implemented.] [We sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience to our users. Thank you.]
Then, not long after, the dungeon disappeared.
“Ha.”
Did this mean it didn't even need to pretend to maintain the game's structure anymore? I smashed the dungeons across the entire Korean peninsula one by one. Each time, an ‘Emergency Patch’ took place, and the ‘Game’ that had been intricately constructed rapidly broke down. The cities and villages where players used to interact met the same fate. Beautiful natural scenery, streets, loathsome monsters, and all objects were destroyed. Only the stone statues of players still logging out were scattered here and there. My rampage of destruction continued for 37 years.
[Emergency Patch Notice.] [Emergency Patch Notice.] [Emergency Patch Notice.]
From a certain moment, the ‘Game’ stopped even switching between day and night. It was proof that even the sun and the earth had already been ‘bewitched’ by the Alienated God-class Anomaly. The water of the Han River stopped. The sound of cicadas heard in summer ceased. Monsters hovered in place even after respawning. A bizarre world. A broken game. A virtual El Dorado where nothing is born and nothing dies. However, my memory continuing eternally, and my body continuing to circulate blood and Aura, imprinted the fact that I was still alive. Now, the time of reality was only as large as the memories in my brain, and the space of reality was only as large as the volume of my body.
[Emergency Patch Notice.]
212 years passed.