HACKED 124

The main gate of the Kowloon Walled City District. The Valkyrie sat leaning against that gate like a gatekeeper.

The intermittently flickering streetlight illuminated the top of the Valkyrie’s head. Monotonous shadows draped over his armor. Hidden tightly within his wide-spread wings was surely the corpse of his former master.

A building in the style of an end-of-the-century Hong Kong noir film, and a warrior from Norse mythology sitting and guarding its front. It was an ironic combination. Yet, perhaps because of the decadent yet dreamlike atmosphere of this place, it suited him strangely well.

I approached him. Since I didn’t bother to hide my presence, my footsteps rang out with heavy thuds.

“…”

Still sitting, the Valkyrie only lifted his head to stare at me. Because of the helmet covering his entire face, I couldn’t see his expression, but I read a strong wariness in his silence.

I cannot dare to fathom the Valkyrie’s feelings. The heart of an Incarnation who chose to survive alone, despite all his comrades vanishing and having killed his master with his own hands while accepting a fatal penalty.

Hesitating because I didn’t know how to start the conversation, I offered an apology first.

“I’m sorry for making you wait. My condition was quite poor. From your perspective, it might sound like an excuse, though.”

The Valkyrie still said nothing.

“As Mr. Malchi—your master—said… I need to renew the authority of this place quickly, right? As soon as possible.”

“…”

“Even at this very moment, the power charged here is likely being consumed little by little. If the power discharges completely, you are the one who will be in danger.”

The place that used to be the Pantheon of <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>, the Library District, was at 100% full power even though I visited quite a while after the merger ended. So why was the power of <DriedAnchovyLowerEnds>’s Pantheon decreasing by the minute?

It’s simple. Because power is being consumed here constantly.

Think of a Pantheon as an electronic device like a phone or laptop, the Compiler as the charger, and the Incarnations as apps. It’s a bit of a severely flat metaphor, but still.

In the case of <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>, all the Incarnations belonging to him died, and he died as well. In short, the Library District wasn’t connected to a charger, but not a single app was running either.

Usage and charging were both zero; plus-minus zero. That was why the activation progress of the power system had stayed at 100%.

But this case, <DriedAnchovyLowerEnds>, is different. The Compiler is dead, but one Incarnation named Valkyrie remains. And a 5-star Incarnation at that, the kind that eats the most power among all Incarnations.

In other words, you can view this Kowloon Walled City District as an electronic device without a charger connected, while a heavy app is running twenty-four hours a day. Even if the Valkyrie does nothing and just breathes quietly, a certain amount of power is consumed.

So, what needs to be done? The answer is simple. A new charger named ‘me’ must be plugged into this device.

“For now, please stand up…”

Awkward because of the other party’s total lack of response, I prattled on and tentatively reached out my hand. In an instant, a sharp glint flashed from the eye area of the Valkyrie’s helmet.

Slap!

My clumsily extended hand was immediately brushed away. I felt a stinging pain on the back of my hand from being struck out of nowhere.

‘I guess I should be thankful he didn’t use a weapon or a skill.’

To be hit raw by a 5-star Incarnation and only have the skin hurt a bit. At this rate, it’s safe to say the Valkyrie went easy on me about five hundred million times. If he had genuinely intended to harm me, my life would have ended long ago.

However, my Incarnations didn’t seem to think so. Before I could even react, San Gun whipped out his sword.

“Shall I pierce your heart, you half-and-half chicken bastard?”

At those words, I momentarily forgot the seriousness of the situation and was struck with absurdity.

‘He wrecked my heart with his claws last time, and now he’s doing that to another Incarnation. Does he have a fetish for making tanghulu out of people’s hearts?’

That wasn’t all. There was something else to point out.

‘And what the hell is a half-and-half chicken…’

Was he saying that because the Valkyrie’s wings were black and white? It was a truly terrible naming sense. I must never become an old fogey like that.

But realizations are realizations, and the situation is the situation.

“No!”

My newly acquired precious 5-star was about to die before even being incorporated as an ally. I hurriedly tried to stop San Gun.

“You know this. Even for a 5-star Incarnation, if the heart is destroyed, they die. Everyone only has one heart.”

“Then since there are 206 bones, it’s fine if I destroy some, right?”

What kind of logic is this? Since there’s only one heart, he’ll wreck the bones because there are many? As expected, Mister San Gun’s steps are on a different level.

“Ah, please.”

I was barely calming San Gun down, who looked ready to pounce on the Valkyrie at any second, when someone else nearby flew off the handle.

“You repay grace with enmity. Where are you putting those filthy hands that assassinated your own master? The price for harming my husband—even cutting off all your limbs wouldn’t be enough to pay it.”

It was Gumiho. I told her over and over to just stay in self-quarantine, that there are plenty of others to guard me besides her, and that she didn’t need to come out at the risk of triggering her status abnormality, yet she insisted on following me and ended up causing a scene.

“‘Filthy hands that assassinated your own master’?”

San Gun, stung by those words, glared at her. Gumiho didn’t lose heart at all and sneered back.

“Why? Did I say something wrong?”

It was a battle of the strongest, a true toe-to-toe. Just watching them drained my energy.

‘It’s bad enough we aren’t getting along as a team… fine, great. Go ahead and fight among yourselves. Fight until you die, and let the loser become a dog.’

It didn’t end there. There was another one flying off the handle besides San Gun and Gumiho.

“Boss, there’s no need to treat that bastard well. Anyway, that bastard is currently floating in limbo, in a neither-here-nor-there situation. If Boss doesn’t save him, he’ll die.”

Hwarang pulled the headset he was wearing down to his neck and ruffled his hair irritably. He stood with his weight on one leg ostentatiously and pointed at the Valkyrie.

“We shouldn’t have approached him with a low profile from the start. What are we lacking that we have to crawl? Just tell him to go ahead and croak while he’s at it. …Fuck, what are you looking at? You want your helmet split open?”

‘Hmm. My kids are the same as always.’

I didn’t know well when I only saw them through the game, but my Incarnations I faced in reality… every single one of them had a foul personality. They were second to none when it came to being spiteful.

As it is, the situation boasts such a thin depth that I can barely form a single squad even if I gather all the Incarnations. But to think that the small pool of players is entirely made up of people with rotten personalities. I cannot stop lamenting.

‘This… is my Pantheon?’

Ja-myeong-go looked at me as I stood there in desolation.

“Master, is your hand okay? You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Everyone, please calm down for a moment. He surely didn’t have any ill intent. It’s just that his grief from losing his master was so great that he became momentarily rough.”

This is why I always use formal honorifics with Ja-myeong-go. The only person of character in our Pantheon. Pure light.

“Sigh…”

I let out a deep sigh from the bottom of my soul. Then I set about settling the situation.

“I was asked by Mr. Malchi, but I have no intention of forcing you to join our side. If you really hate it, you can just return to the narrative.”

“…”

“But shouldn’t we do something about Mr. Malchi’s body? Whether you come under me or return to the narrative, we can’t just leave Mr. Malchi like this.”

The Valkyrie, who had remained silent amidst the pouring verbal abuse and threats, suddenly lifted his head.

“So, make a choice.”

“…”

“Burial. I don’t recommend this. There is no soil-covered land in our district or here. For the same reason, I don’t recommend a woodland burial. Fortunately, I think I can help with cremation. Is there any other method you want? Making a mummy… that’s a bit creepy. Anyway, it’s your choice, so I will respect whatever it is.”

“…I want to turn him into fine ash and send him to… to the sky.”

Only then could I hear the Valkyrie’s voice for the first time. It was a powerful voice, low-toned for a woman, fitting for a god of war.

He raised one hand and pointed to the air.

“So that he can fly freely on the wind and go to the family he missed so much. Since it’s a different dimension, he won’t truly be able to reach them, but at least in spirit…”

I nodded.

The Valkyrie held the former master’s body with one arm and struck his own left chest with a fist from his other hand. I could understand it intuitively. That it was the maximum gratitude he was sending to me.

Once the situation was settled, everyone became quiet. It was like a lie that just a moment ago they were ready to devour the Valkyrie with murderous momentum.

In the midst of that, only San Gun clicked his tongue with a dissatisfied face.

“I got angry on his behalf for his hand getting hit. I’m seeing quite the unfilial brat here.”