HACKED 15

Right next to the panel in the Central Command Room, there was a long vertical cabinet. It was also electronically locked, similar to a digital door lock.

Do you want to unlock it?

[Yes / No]

As soon as I placed my hand on the panel and touched the ‘Yes’ button, the door opened easily.

San Gun, who would be watching from behind my back—the man who said he had been trapped here all this time because he couldn’t open that door… what would he be thinking as he watched this sight? Once again, the intangible gaze felt uncomfortable, as if it were poking me in the back.

Despite my expectations that there might be some special item inside since it was locked, there wasn’t much. It was just a collection of odds and ends that looked like office supplies.

Folders, printing paper, and, hmm. There was a pencil holder too. Inside the pencil holder, let’s see. Markers, pens, a ruler, a mechanical pencil, an eraser? It was absurd.

‘Everything else is in a near-future sci-fi style, so why these office supplies.’

Aside from that, something a bit unusual… there was a long piece of cloth folded neatly a few times.

“What’s that?”

A question suddenly flew in from behind.

“I don’t know either.”

I had to check what it was, at least. I took out the cloth and unfolded it.

[♡ Congratulations! No Lifer 1st Anniversary ♡]

It was a banner with a strangely shoddy design, the kind you might see hung up at a small business workshop.

“Ah, this.”

It was a housing item distributed to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the game’s launch. Even though it’s called housing, it’s not anything grand; it’s a feature to slightly change the interior of the Pantheon or add furniture and decorations.

In <No Lifer>, they gave away this banner and a few consumable items during the 1st anniversary. Of course, the design of the banner was so poor that the message boards were plastered with complaints from users saying it ruined the aesthetics rather than helping with Pan-Deco (Pantheon Decorating).

But for this type of commemorative item, isn’t the fact that we spent the 1st anniversary together more important than the design? So, I also attended diligently during the event period to receive it. Though I shoved it into my housing inventory and forgot about it the moment I got it.

Was that implemented in this world in the form of being inside a cabinet? I don’t know if I should call it strangely realistic or not.

“What is this.”

“It means we’re celebrating the 1st anniversary.”

“What 1st anniversary?”

If I said, ‘The 1st anniversary of the game launch,’ it would be a meta-comment. After desperately racking my brain, I gave an answer.

“It commemorates the fact that it’s been one year since this war started… or something like that.”

“What? It’s not like we’re holding a first birthday party for a child, but we’re commemorating one year of war? Just how much of a bunch of warmongers are they to make something like this? Aren’t they crazy bastards?”

The <No Lifer> developers suddenly became crazy warmongering bastards through San Gun’s single remark. I didn’t bother to refute him. Because those guys who didn’t restore my account are indeed crazy.

“Furthermore, why use words from across the sea when we have our own beautiful and upright language? The Exclusionist within me is howling.”

“Speaking of which, San Gun, could you please stop using that strange way of speaking?”

“* When Western barbarians invade, not to fight is to advocate peace, and to advocate peace is to betray the country.”

I was revolted. Even the teacher at a Cheonghak-dong village school wouldn’t be such an old fogey…

“…The Union gave it to me.”

Although a significant number of users skip it and don’t watch, the basic setting from the opening cutscene of <No Lifer> is as follows.

The setting is a near-future where science and magic coexist. A fictional Earth devastated by nuclear war, global warming, ozone depletion, desertification, fine dust, and various other things. One day, an evil force appeared. The name of this force is the Blank Codex Legion.

Why are they an evil force? It’s because their goal is to steal all narratives, histories, records, and cultures—in a word, ‘stories’—existing in this world to use as their source of power, and ultimately turn all of humanity into thought-castrated slaves to create a perfect dystopia.

The army commanded by this force is called the Exercitus Damnatio Memoriae. The name is grand, but simply put, they are just the in-game monsters.

All the land became polluted and occupied by the Exercitus Damnatio Memoriae, making it a place where people cannot live. The remaining people launched airships into the sky, battleships into the sea, and fled to floating islands, underwater cities, underground bunkers, or other sub-dimensions.

Those who are living (Lifer) have meaning just by the fact that they are ‘alive,’ even if they have no narrative and no one remembers them. Life is like that.

But the beings within stories, those who are not living (No-lifer), are different. Whether it’s myths, legends, novels, poems, or ghost stories… having their records obliterated and being forgotten is equivalent to complete and eternal death for them. So, they decided to fight for humanity in this war.

There are humans with the ability to manifest them with physical forms under the name of ‘Incarnations,’ and those humans are called ‘Compilers.’ In other words, they are the users of this game. The base where the users respectively raise their Incarnations is the ‘Pantheon.’

The superior organization that commands these users and gives operational instructions is the Epic Compilation Union, or the Union for short.

They give out main quests and missions, hold limited pick-up events, and deliver announcements… essentially the developers, but they are referred to as such within the game world. The mascot character, Chirpy, is also set as a helper fairy given one by one to Compilers who have just been appointed by this Union.

Now, that’s the end of the explanation about things nobody asked or was curious about. This is content that appears in the [2. Story] section of the <No Lifer> page on the wiki site. For your information, this wiki sums up the story section in those few lines while the [11. Controversies/Incidents] section has over 20 entries.

“I managed to get the 1st anniversary banner somehow… but I missed the 2nd anniversary one.”

It was natural. By the 2nd anniversary, my account had already been hacked and it was after I had quit the game.

“Do you regret it?”

“It’s not so much regret as it is bothersome. It’s something I can’t get now even if I want to.”

It is the fate of gamers to go crazy with irritation when they see empty spaces in the middle of a trophy list or holes in an item encyclopedia.

“What. Does it just need to say 2nd anniversary?”

“Pardon?”

Before I could even understand the meaning of that question, San Gun suddenly reached out his arm and took the banner. He managed to unfold the banner with even one arm, then pulled a marker pen out of the pencil holder.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeeeak. Squeak.

I watched blankly. The sight of the ‘1’ on the 1st anniversary banner being crossed out with a black marker, and a crooked ‘2’ being written over it.

“Heh. Done? Do you like it a bit more now?”

He showed a confident smile. With his head tilted slightly toward me like a pet looking for praise.

Grind.

If you’re wondering what that sound is… it’s the sound of my teeth grinding.

“Ahem, they are one of the five blessings. Treasure them.”

But to me, who was engulfed in anger, his words didn’t even reach the back of my ears.

“You, you…!”

“Yes, I’m talking about your teeth. If you’re such a baby, how can you already be wearing dentures?”

“You…!”

You… you simple and cruel commoner bastard…

˙✧˖°🎮 ⋆｡˚

I searched the Central Command Room thoroughly, including the cabinets. There were no plausible gains. It was mostly just a few decorative items with no particular function lying around.

Ah, it wasn’t a total waste of time.

“Aren’t you going to take the terminal, Myeong?”

Those were the words San Gun said to me as I was about to turn and leave, having judged that I’d seen enough here.

At that time, I was moving my feet cautiously with my head tucked down toward the floor. I was trying to step on the parts where blood hadn’t splattered in this horrific murder scene. Although it wouldn’t mean much since bloody footprints were already stamped here and there… still, I didn’t want to get my shoes any dirtier.

“Pardon?”

Upon hearing that, I took on a stupid expression. What terminal is he talking about? Chirpy didn’t mention anything like that either?

“Over there, it’s plugged in to the right of the place with all the monitors and buttons. That rectangular machine. Compilers usually live with that thing on them.”

‘Compilers usually’… I felt a subtle sense of incongruity from his words. But I couldn’t point out exactly which part it was.

“Do you want to run up all the way to the 10th floor every time you want to check a piece of information? That terminal is all you need.”

“……”

“Well, it would be good exercise. I don’t know why young punks these days hate moving their bodies so much. I can’t even say that you’ll turn into a cow if you lie down right after eating. Do you know how diligent an animal a cow is?”

I feel like I’ve heard more nagging from that guy in one hour than a year’s worth of nagging I’d hear if I went to my eldest uncle’s house during the holidays. My ears might bleed at this rate.

I mostly ignored his words and scanned the area next to the command panel with my eyes. There really was something like a terminal. It must have been because the entire body was fitted perfectly into a slot, like inserting an SD memory card into an electronic device, that I failed to notice it earlier.

“Is this the terminal?”

The terminal was a bit larger than a typical smartphone and smaller than a tablet. Since there were no separate power or home buttons, I tapped the screen and the display turned on.

The bluish light characteristic of the panels in this Pantheon, which I’ve become familiar with after seeing them a few times. And a loading screen.

A battery bar appeared in the upper right corner. The remaining battery was 8%. It was a familiar number.

Please select a management menu.

▷ Command and Control

▷ Incarnations

…

When I pressed the main menu, the familiar entries were visible. Hmm, I see. If I carry this around, I’ll be able to manage the Pantheon easily from anywhere. By the way…

“Was the activation of the power system something that even charged things like this?”

A massive island that would put any corporate headquarters to shame. It has over 10 floors above ground plus a basement, and facilities are packed onto every floor. Even opening and closing a single door is controlled by the system.

Just how much power is needed to maintain this structure? You’re sucking all that energy out of just one person like me? No wonder I felt dizzy enough to vomit earlier even while charging only 5%.

It was because of the sniper’s attack, but anyway, it was a relief that the charging was interrupted even if it was against my will. If I had tried to fill up to 100% on the spot, I probably would have turned into something like a mummy and died while standing there.

“Don’t forget and pack everything you need now. …So that you never have to come back here again.”

Leaving behind those brief words, he went out toward the open door. Without even looking back at me. Just as I thought his tattered black clothes fluttered with a swish, his presence vanished before I knew it.

It must be a liberation for him after a very long time. To a degree that I cannot even fathom.