HACKED 119

“Do you feel like obeying your Master now?”

The New Master sneered. A hint of joy could even be felt in his voice.

Mountain Hero panted and looked down. Because he had hurriedly covered his mouth the moment he vomited blood, his sleeves were entirely stained black. Had he been an ordinary human, he would never have been able to remain standing after vomiting so much blood at once.

“Master?”

Mountain Hero lifted his head. Despite dropping to one knee and barely holding on because he lacked the strength to stand straight, his gaze alone was intense. Anger, murderous intent, and madness dwelled in his yellowish pupils.

“…Stop talking out of your ass about being a Master.”

He spat out the bloody water remaining in his mouth. If this was how much was visible on the outside, his internal organs must be significantly damaged. But right now, there is no Master to heal him… no ‘True Master’.

The Compiler, who used to summon Mountain Hero just to poke him repeatedly. Even that person had immediately become discouraged and stopped as soon as he was told to quit. Giving strange signs like [I’m sorry (;´ ਊ `;)] as a half-hearted apology.

Mountain Hero’s Master was only that Compiler, UserMyeong808. There could be no other Master besides him, nor should there be.

Exactly where did he go, why is he not coming, and what is he doing right now? Being so dim-witted, I wonder if he is making a crying face like [… （ ¯꒳¯̥̥ ）] again….

UserMyeong808. UserMyeong. Myeong….

‘Fuck, Myeong.’

Mountain Hero chuckled. Even though it wasn’t a situation for laughing, laughter came out. Looking at him grinning while smeared with black blood—his own blood at that—he was already a magnificent madman.

‘Because you aren’t coming, this hyung-nim is working his ass off, yeah.’

He lifted his head high and squeezed out every bit of strength to stand straight. Then, instead of the opponent’s face, he stared directly into the black, hollow hole. Whether it was cognitive pollution or whatever, his consciousness grew slightly hazy the longer he gazed, but he did not care.

“If you truly want to become my Master… kill me and take my corpse.”

Mountain Hero bit back a murderous laugh. Desperate Resolve. It was truly the look of one who had staked his life.

“Since… as soon as I die, the corpse will vanish and nothing will remain anyway.”

It was the beginning of the struggle, and the beginning of self-harm that would whittle away his soul.

˙✧˖°🎮 ⋆｡˚

After that day, Mountain Hero was confined in the Central Command Room.

He had lunged at the New Master tenaciously, only to end up in a near-death state. On the terminal for the Compiler, his health status would likely be displayed as ‘Deadly’.

There were no visible external injuries, but the internal damage was severe. Mountain Hero lost consciousness and collapsed, covered in the black blood he had vomited. Therefore, he could be easily imprisoned merely by locking the door to the Central Command Room from the outside.

After the only Incarnation who doubted and denied the New Master’s existence was exiled… a scene of hell unfolded in the Pantheon.

‘Massacre the Incarnations with low rarity.’

‘Go out to battle constantly and bring back rewards. That is your only use.’

‘Rest and treatment are luxuries for you.’

‘Do not communicate privately in secret. If discovered, it will be considered treason.’

Every single command issued by the New Master was heartless. It was 180 degrees different from the previous Master, who seemed businesslike yet possessed a subtly soft side.

No matter how easy a battle is, one is bound to sustain a few minor injuries. If those minor injuries are not treated and pile up dozens, hundreds, or thousands of times, they become fatal wounds.

Even if one does not sustain injuries, there is another problem. Every Incarnation accumulates contamination levels every time they go to the battlefield. It did not take long for the contamination levels of those who repeated battles without being allowed even a short rest to hit the limit.

The Pantheon quickly became a pandemonium. Everyone was either injured or insane—one of the two. Or both. Those who showed signs of resisting this treatment were placed in even harsher environments as retaliation.

The even more tragic point was that quite a lot of Incarnations did not even know the fact that the Master had changed. They knew something was strange, but they did not know exactly what it was. Since the Master was originally a being without a physical form, they did not feel a big difference.

Some people knew the fact that the Master had changed but didn’t think much of it.

Aside from a bit of basic knowledge, they had descended here in a blank-slate state like newborns, and therefore had no sample of what was ‘normal’. They assumed it was natural for the Master to be a being who could neither be seen nor heard, and thought it could just happen that the Master suddenly changed.

Still others resented the previous Master.

Their reason for resentment was why he suddenly disappeared without a word and made them experience this hell. Deflected hatred. It was difficult to hate the object of fear who exploited and abused them, but it was easy to turn all arrows toward the one who was no longer there.

However, several Incarnations who had stayed in the Pantheon for a long time or had high rarity were different.

First of all, Mountain Hero. He was of the sort who felt the Master’s absence most sensitively.

Since his descent, he had been stationed permanently in the Central Command Room while receiving favoritism that wasn’t quite favoritism. To put it from a user’s perspective, he was the ‘character placed on the main screen’. In a situation where everyone had equally never seen so much as a hair on the Master, he was the one closest to the Master and the one who knew the most information.

Such a man claimed the New Master was a fake. He asked the others if that thing really looked like the Master to them, and said that instead of wasting time like this, they should hurry and recover the ‘True Master’.

But he was now locked in the Central Command Room, unable to show even the tip of his nose. He had become an Incarnation who ‘exists yet does not exist’. Since the reason for his confinement in the command room was not known, from the perspective of other Incarnations, it was as if he had suddenly vanished.

Some laughed at him, saying he had finally been punished for defying the Master. Some thought Mountain Hero’s words made sense but played it safe for fear that they too would be punished. Some were indifferent to what became of him.

And The Nine-Tailed Maegu of Cheonggu. He was also a 5-star Incarnation like Mountain Hero, and was a case who captured the sense of incongruity with animalistic intuition.

However, he did not agree with Mountain Hero’s claim. This was because he hated to admit that Mountain Hero’s judgment was right, and that that tiger cub, out of all the Incarnations, was the first to notice the Master’s abnormality.

They were the same 5-star rank anyway, both had Korean origins, and their stats were similar. The only thing that bastard was better at was the fact that he descended a bit earlier. Conversely, he could not abandon the thought that if he had come earlier, he would have been the one monopolizing the Master’s attention.

Thus, he intentionally ignored the suspicion raised by Mountain Hero. Even while knowing he was being petty and jealous. Even while knowing that at this rate, he would only become a cowardly bystander who was neither one thing nor the other.

Guilt and satisfaction, suffering and anger, disturbed his mind in turns. Ultimately, while possessed by madness, he went down to the lowest basement floor of the Pantheon and concealed himself.

The Bloodless Dokkaebi did not become mentally unstable like many other Incarnations, but he became rapidly discouraged and lost his energy. A Pantheon with neither a wrestling partner nor a playmate was no longer a fun playground for him. He also vanished into the darkness of the basement floors.

Nameless Star was, as he called himself, a ‘phantom in the name of national interest’. For the benefit of the Pantheon, and further, for the benefit in this war, he did not care who the Master was. He found the most efficient route and offered his loyalty to the New Master.

The Drum that Sounds on its Own did not have a high rarity, but was an Incarnation who had been there since the early days of this Pantheon. In terms of seniority alone, she was of the most senior rank.

Immediately after the Anomaly occurred, she wisely took her younger sister, The Trumpet that Sounds on its Own, and evacuated. To a place where the eyes of the New Master and the henchmen following him could not reach.

She and her sister were both 3-stars. Since they were included in the New Master’s ‘targets for extermination’, they had to run away no matter what. As she was the most senior, she was well-versed in the geography of the Pantheon, so finding a hiding place was not difficult.

However, The Trumpet that Sounds on its Own could not tolerate injustice. She should have just followed her unnie, kept her head down, and stayed hidden, but her ‘Unyielding Spirit’ eventually made her step forward.

She wrote a document called ‘Pantheon Survival Rules for Newbies’ for the sake of Incarnations who might descend to the Pantheon late, or those who did not yet know the situation here well. Of course, it was a matter where her life would be forfeit if she were caught. And she eventually met her death while shielding her unnie.

Twin Longswords that Saved the Nation were Incarnations originating from objects. They were consistently loyal to anyone, as long as that person used them. The blind innocence unique to children also played a part.

Their way of thinking was simple. One must obey the Master’s words. Anyone who harms the Master is an enemy. Their ‘Unbreakable Resolve’ pointed its blade at allies just as it had toward the Record-Erasing Army.

Hwarang of Half-Human Half-Ghost resented the Master. At the same time, he resented himself. Resentment aimed at both self and others became hatred. While gnawing at himself, he constantly burned with ‘Unquenchable Hatred’.

And coming back to the beginning, Mountain Hero, who had been imprisoned….