HACKED 19

Hwarang was quick to judge. He gave up on trying to untangle my hand, which was entwined in his hair. Instead, he swiftly readjusted the sword he had been pointing at my neck.

‘I’m really going to get stabbed this time.’

Because of the restriction of [Life and Death Choice], he wouldn’t be able to kill me, but it literally meant he just couldn’t kill me. It meant it was possible to beat me to a pulp right up until the point of death.

Hwarang swung his sword almost at the same time San Gun charged in. I squeezed my eyes shut reflexively.

My body was pushed backward in the darkness. However, the expected pain did not come.

Clang!

I opened my eyes at the sound of a blade hitting the floor. The first thing I saw in my restored vision was…

‘Hair?’

It was a handful of black hair fluttering in front of my eyes. Beyond that, I saw Hwarang, who was widening the distance from me by half-rolling while holding his sword. The long hair, messily hacked off, remained in my hand.

‘…He cut his own hair and fled. Is he a lizard?’

In the very brief moment before San Gun lunged. During that time, even if he attacked me—the hostage—he couldn’t kill me. Conversely, the possibility of him being killed by San Gun was very high. So, instead of wasting an attack, was he pulling his body away to aim for the next opportunity? For a split second, he used his wits remarkably well. He used them well, but…

Thud.

You can’t ignore the difference in physical stats.

San Gun pounced on him from behind and pinned him down. It seemed he originally intended to bite through the nape of the neck in one go, but because Hwarang acted unexpectedly, the attack missed and ended with just a suppression.

“That thing you got earlier, feed it to this guy!”

While pinning Hwarang’s back down with one arm, San Gun barked at me.

“The Crystal of Recovery?”

“Does it look like that?”

A growl was mixed into his shout. Threateningly sharp fangs were revealed. I quickly shifted my stance.

“I was just asking. More importantly, is this something you eat? It is a gem.”

“Then what, should I shove it into his eyeball?”

It was very visible to the naked eye that San Gun’s patience had reached its limit. Beneath his elbow, the Incarnation squirmed as if he would break free at any moment. Blue veins popped out on the back of the hand holding the sword.

I couldn’t waste this opportunity just by staring. I pulled out one of the items I had received from Ja-myeong-go earlier.

Crystal of Purification (Special Grade) — Upon use, 1 Incarnation’s Corruption is fully purified.

“Kuh… ugh, huff!”

Hwarang’s eyes widened as much as they could when he saw the gem I pulled out. Even so, there wasn’t a big change because they were still “frozen fish eyes” with dead light and a prominent white area below the iris.

It was a waste to use the only ‘Crystal of Purification (Special Grade)’ on a guy like this whose eyes had turned from wanting to kill me… but rationally speaking, this was the right decision.

Among the Incarnations I had encountered, the one with the strongest murderous intent who attacked most actively was this <Hwarang of Half-Human Half-Ghost>. The Gumiho seemed just as dangerous… but for now, I had shaken her off.

Yes. If I can only remove the corruption of exactly one person, this guy is the top priority.

“My precious item.”

Lamenting, I knelt on one knee, sat on the floor, and grabbed Hwarang’s chin with one hand. His pupils shook aimlessly.

“Eat up. You fucking ‘Golden Child’.”

Ignoring him, I shoved the gem, which was about the size of one or two knuckles, between his parted lips. Then, fearing he might spit it out, I pressed his jaw shut firmly.

Hwarang, still pinned to the floor by San Gun, wore an expression as if he had swallowed a fireball. His Adam’s apple moved slightly up and down.

Beep!

The terminal rang. Since I’ve heard this sound so much, I feel like I’m starting to get fond of it.

Corruption of <Hwarang of Half-Human Half-Ghost> has decreased by 100. The status ailment ‘Unquenchable Hatred’ has been removed.

Hwarang did not move for a while after swallowing the gem. Since his corruption had decreased by 100 all at once, I expected a visible effect or at least a line of dialogue, but there was nothing. The only signal was the terminal notification.

But a little later, a change occurred.

The hand of Hwarang, which had been gripping the sword tightly as if he would never let go no matter what, slowly loosened. Strength also slowly drained from his bloodshot eyes that had been glaring at me.

‘Ah, it worked.’

At that moment, my strength failed. The string of tension I had been maintaining since falling into this strange dimension loosened for the first time.

‘It worked…’

Now I’ll give San Gun the recovery item, treat Chirpy, and do something about my own wounds. After that, let’s find a way to log out. This time, I’m really going back.

Log out… I have to…

“……”

No strength entered my body. My vision flickered and darkened. The floor was approaching fast—wait, am I… falling over?

“Myeong? Myeong. …Master!”

An arm supporting my tilting body. It was the last sensation I felt within my fading consciousness.

I regained consciousness.

First of all, my head hurt as if it were splitting open. Did I hit my head on the floor when I collapsed?

It wasn’t just my head. My whole body ached as if I had been beaten. It was hard to even wiggle a finger. Well, of course. A normal modern citizen who lived a life with no great connection to exercise had been running, rolling, and doing all sorts of things.

‘Painkillers… I’d have no further wishes if I could just have one pill of painkiller.’

I opened my eyes blearily. A dark figure appeared in my blurry vision. It was San Gun, with both arms intact and not a single bloodstain on his clothes, looking clean and tidy for the first time in my eyes.

‘Is it a dream?’

I closed my eyes again. Unless it was a dream, there’s no way a guy who was broken from head to toe could have become perfectly fine.

“Oh, Myeong. You’re awake.”

As if mocking my thoughts, San Gun lightly touched my cheek with the tip of his finger. Then he turned his head and shouted toward somewhere.

“Hey! You brat. The head of the household, who collapsed while working hard to feed and house you, is awake, huh? And you won’t even look over!”

‘It’s not a dream.’

It was a 100% pure, sugar-free, organic “old fogey” remark that chased away even the remaining drowsiness. His vocalization was so good that it made my head ring.

‘But… the head of the household? Me?’

I snapped my eyes open, which had been half-closed. What I saw was a strange ceiling… no, it was a familiar ceiling. It seemed to be somewhere inside the Pantheon.

It was a spacious area. Pure white sunlight poured in from the floor-to-ceiling windows that took up one side of the wall. Furniture like large sofas and tables were placed sparsely throughout the room.

“Where are we?”

I directed the question to San Gun, but the answer flew in from an unexpected place.

“The lounge. 7th floor.”

Hwarang was a short distance away from San Gun and me. He was sitting sideways on a single-seater sofa with his legs stretched out in a cocky posture.

Hwarang was also in a state without a single wound, just like San Gun. Only his hair, hacked off near the nape of his neck, was a trace left from the earlier battle. His hair, at an awkward length that was short for long hair but long for a man, was half-tied back messily.

His attire was also very free-spirited. An overfit blouson and training pants? He looked more like an MZ generation Incarnation than a Hwarang Incarnation.

And to top it off, what he held in his hand was.

“Wait a minute, that’s my terminal.”

“……”

The brat did not answer immediately. At that, San Gun’s eyes immediately glared.

“Answer! Where did you sell your answer?”

Of course, for me, it was an assist I didn’t want at all.

“…Ah, yes.”

Hwarang finally spoke with a face like he’d swallowed something bitter after being prodded. I blankly repeated his words.

“Ah, yes?”

“I used it a bit because I was bored. ‘M sorry.”

“‘M sorry?”

He was speaking informally so easily earlier, but now he’s using honorifics? No, more than that. What’s with that unenthusiastic, slacking-junior-like tone?

I raised my body and looked at the screen of the terminal he was holding. Something… a pixelated mass like a character was jumping around on an 8-bit screen?

“This terminal… had a mini-game function too?”

The brat slunk away, avoiding my eyes. Then, with a fluid hand movement, he pressed the home button and turned off the game.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t touch anything else. Only the Boss can see the main functions anyway.”

“Following the head of the household, now it’s Boss? What, why am I your Boss?”

“You’re the person who feeds me, houses me, and makes me work… but you’re not a King. So, Boss. If you were His Majesty the King—no, if you were just a Gukseon—I would have given you a deep bow long ago.”

“Look at your tone. Your manners are destroyed. Are you really a Hwarang?”

“The reason I use honorifics… is because the Boss is a superior, after all.”

“Treating me like a superior now? You were so anxious to kill me earlier.”

Hwarang scratched his half-tied back hair half-heartedly.

“Ah, you know. I wasn’t in my right mind earlier. I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like I woke up after suffering from a terrible hangover. Like I drank a mix of… about 10 types of alcohol. But honestly, that’s not my fault, is it?”

Looking at the guy with a young face—barely twenty—shamelessly talking about hangovers made me speechless…

“Is that any way to speak to the head of the household? Show some respect.”

In the midst of that, San Gun barked out another scolding.

“Yeah, well… ‘d work.”

That brat just now, he was mumbling “You’ve worked hard,” right? At this point, I wasn’t even angry.

“‘Working hard’ isn’t a phrase you use for a superior.”

“……”

When I talked to him, Hwarang was unenthusiastic but answered every time; however, he completely ignored San Gun’s words.

“Are you ignoring me? Hey, are you ignoring me? This brat has gone soft. Kiddo, give him a padding.”

A legendary battle between a crazy old fogey and a crazy MZ. I was the only one who felt like I was losing my mind in the middle of this.

“No, just stop it, both of you… How did you both heal from your injuries?”

“You had two Crystals of Recovery. We used one each.”

“…What?”

I hurriedly fumbled through my pants pockets. No wonder they felt empty!

“Ah, while searching around here, some medical supplies turned up, so I performed first aid on your injuries. Also on that scrap of a book you put in your hood.”

I’m grateful for that, but more importantly, Crystals of Recovery? You took those precious things without my permission and used them all up? Top-tier recovery items that can’t be bought with money—not just one, but both? No, of course I intended to use them on those guys. And considering this and that, it was the right judgment!

“I did well, didn’t I?”

San Gun grinned at me. I hadn’t noticed before because he was such a mess, but looking at him like this, he’s frighteningly handsome. It’s just that the sense of incongruity—that he isn’t human—is so strong in his gaze and behavior.

He looked at me with his bright yellow eyes sparkling, like a pet beast wanting praise. I was at a loss for words. Behind him, I saw Hwarang holding up my terminal and taking a selfie.

“……”

I closed my eyes and flopped back down. I didn’t want to think about anything anymore.

‘I ended up losing consciousness.’

It was a total mess.