HACKED 21

<Twin Longswords of National Salvation>. A pair of swords that form a single set of Incarnations.

I learned this after coming here, but there is a strange sense of uncanny valley felt from Incarnations with non-human traits. It is the disparity that comes from something non-human wearing a human form. Examples include the Gumiho, who is a yogywi, or the Mountain Hero, who is a wild beast. Hwarang is a half-human, half-ghost, but perhaps because one half is human, he isn’t particularly uncomfortable to be around.

On the other hand, Incarnations that are neither human, animal, nor yogywi—but entirely inanimate objects—carry an even stronger sense of displacement. In the case of Incarnations with the passive skill “Physicality,” most representatively Ja-myeong-go… I even feel the uncanny valley.

These <Twin Longswords of National Salvation> are not much different. They have the Physicality skill, too.

Passive Skill: Physicality (物性)

They have obtained human bodies, but is the reason they ultimately fail to understand humans because they were originally created as objects?

• All mental-type buff and debuff effects are reduced by half.
• They do not easily fall into the fear of death, but they also find it difficult to feel the joy of life.

When I played the game, I thought it was a skill that was neither particularly good nor bad. It was a shame that buff effects were cut in half, but they endured well even in wicked and cruel environments.

Maps of villages where the corpses of residents slaughtered by the Record Erasure Army were strewn everywhere. School maps where children, grotesquely mutated by the influence of contamination, appeared as monsters. There are maps where just reading the explanation deals a blow to one’s mental state. For sending to such maps, there were no better candidates than those possessing the “Physicality” skill.

But seeing them in person…

“You’re not going anywhere, right?”

“You mustn’t go, Master.”

“Don’t go.”

“Play with us.”

“Let’s play.”

In these children’s eyes, there is no distinction between iris and pupil. The entire eyeball is the color of steel with a cold luster. It’s as if metal beads were embedded in the center of the whites. Since there are no pupils at all, I can’t even tell where they are looking.

The small bodies clinging to me without hesitation are the same. They certainly have body heat and the softness characteristic of children, but they feel strangely cold and hard.

It is likely for the same reason that I cannot guess the gender of these children, who look identical as if facing a mirror. To an “object,” things like gender aren’t important. Both could be girls, both could be boys, one could be a girl and one a boy, or perhaps neither of the three options applies.

“Can you get down for a bit?”

“No.”

“No.”

“My arms are starting to fall asleep. Aren’t you two hungry?”

“Hungry?”

“Are you?”

The two opened their eyes wide, looked at each other for a moment, and then answered.

“It’s been a long time since we ate something.”

“A really long time.”

“We don’t eat.”

“We don’t have to eat.”

“I see. But I’m hungry and thirsty. Unlike you, I’m just an ordinary human.”

“You’re not going somewhere, are you?”

“You’re not going?”

“Uh, yeah. Right.”

A corner of my conscience pricked me, but I ignored it and gave a half-hearted answer. Anyway, are these kids okay? There’s a high probability that their contamination levels have hit the ceiling.

<Twin Longswords of National Salvation>

• Rarity: ★★★★☆
• Level: 99
• Contamination: 100/100
• Health: 75/100
• Traits: Humanoid, Weapon, History, Existence, Cultural Asset, Korean Origin, See more… [Tab]
• Detailed Explanation: [Tab]

I was momentarily intimidated by the value of 100 contamination, but I felt relieved after clicking the detailed explanation. Luckily, it seems the Physicality skill offset the 100 contamination by a low probability, so there were no major issues. It seems Ja-myeong-go’s body was wrecked for similar reasons, but his mind remained intact.

“Yeah, don’t go.”

“We wouldn’t let you go anyway.”

“Not like you could go, either.”

Leaving behind those somehow chilling words, the children hopped down. Then, chattering to each other, they ran off somewhere.

Is it really… no problem?

Once the children left, Hwarang, who had been lying flat on his back wearing a wireless headset, raised his head. Pulling the headset halfway down, he spoke.

“Boss. Why do you only dote on them?”

Where on earth did he get that headset? What is it connected to? Even though you’re a Silla-era Incarnation, you listen to music via Bluetooth?

“When did I ever dote on them?”

“You let them up on the bed and hugged them. Those unlucky lumps of iron.”

“What’s your grievance? They’re just kids. If anything, they’ve protected me; they’ve never treated me badly. Unlike someone.”

He snorted.

“They only look like that; their contents are hundreds of years old, so what do you mean ‘kids’? It’s really nauseating to see them acting cute when they’re not just old but practically rotten. Boss, don’t judge based on appearances. Don’t you know better after being through all that? Every guy here has a thousand serpents in his belly.”

“Including you?”

“Of course.”

“…”

When he came out like that, I was momentarily speechless.

“I’ve been on active duty since the days when the names Seorabeol and Dalgubeol were used.”

“Ah, so a person of such venerable seniority took my terminal without permission and took a ton of selfies?”

“You saw them? They turned out well, didn’t they? Should I take a few more?”

“No. I’m begging you, please stop. The battery I charged with my blood, sweat, and tears is going to run out from you taking selfies.”

Incarnations all have such strong personalities that it’s truly difficult to cater to them. One side even gets sulky just because I treated the other side a bit well. What is this, characters from a dating sim? Was <No Lifer> always this kind of game?

I was a player clearly tilted toward performance rather than affection. Among <No Lifer> users, there was a significantly large demographic who engaged in so-called “character stanning,” but that wasn’t me.

I wasn’t particularly interested in the charm or character traits of each Incarnation. I only watched the main story up to the opening and skipped everything after that.

Dialogue and story… Well, there was that. The interaction and favorability systems, and the recollection functions that you’d expect in a character gacha game, were well-implemented.

However, I just took the rewards and skipped through those too. Later, I turned off the voices in the settings altogether. I was too lazy to listen to the long voice lines of the narrative stories. And the combat voices…

“Haat!”

“Keugh.”

“Take this!”

“Aaaaaah!”

“Ugh.”

“Hmpf…”

Since only these kinds of lines came out repeatedly, it was a bit much to listen to for hours. What if I turned on the game in a public place and the voices suddenly played at a roaring volume?

Ding!

Power System Activation Progress… 100% Power charging is complete.

Okay. With this, my role as a human power bank is over.

“You know how to use this terminal well, right? Let me ask you something.”

Even though I belong to the relatively younger generation in the real world, to think I’d be saying lines like a boss who can’t handle a smartphone and asks a subordinate…

“What.”

Hwarang answered bluntly, yet he readily took off the headset and approached.

“Where is the logout menu?”

“…Pardon?”

“The function to get out of here. Chirpy… I mean, that, what was it. The book-shaped fairy. Febreze? Patrasche? It was a name like that.”

“Ah, that paper winged-insect.”

Following Mountain Hero’s “scrap of paper,” now it’s Hwarang’s “paper winged-insect”… It seems he isn’t being called by his proper name anywhere. Poor Chirpy. Of course, I’m not one to talk.

“Anyway, he said it. If I go to the top-floor command room, I can log out. Since this terminal has all the command room functions, I can do it with this too, right?”

“Why?”

The reaction I got back was a bit unexpected. I thought he would give an affirmative answer without hesitation like Chirpy.

“Why are you asking that?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I have to go to where I was, too. I can’t stay like this forever.”

“You can’t stay like this… Ha, that’s damn funny. Then what about us, who have been like this the whole time?”

Hwarang stared at me intently. Black pupils where, as usual, no eye-light could be found. However, perhaps it was just my imagination, but his gaze seemed to sink even darker than usual.

His was a face where the expression could not be read. It wasn’t that there was no emotion. Rather, it was as if too many emotions had mixed together, taking on a murky hue like an overturned palette…

“…”

He tried to say something, then cast a glance behind me and shut his mouth. A chill ran down my spine. I had an ominous premonition.

“Myeong.”

Thud.

An arm wrapped in a black sleeve reached out from behind. Naturally, a large hand was placed on the spot slightly biased to the left from the very center of my chest—exactly over my heart.

“Were you playing with that?”

Mountain Hero asked casually. I didn’t answer. I felt like I shouldn’t answer his question truthfully right now.

“You know. I heard something earlier. That you’re trying to leave this place.”

Strength is gradually applied to his hand pressing over my heart. By natural logic, my body tilted backward. My back came into contact with his chest.

“I hope I heard wrong, don’t you think?”

A sensation both foreign and familiar invaded my nerves. Similar to when Mountain Hero activated the “Tiger Disaster” skill in the hallway… an irresistible fear. A ghastliness engraved into instinct.

Setting aside the fact that he isn’t respecting personal space at all… it feels as if my most important vital point, the heart, is held fast in his grasp. I can at least hold my breath for a moment, but I can’t even hide my pulse.

“…But it seems that’s not the case.”

“…”

“I’m disappointed, Myeong.”

My heart began to beat faster and faster. I didn’t even have the leeway to pay attention to the movements of Hwarang in front of me. My gaze, having lost its destination, turned downward.

The terminal held in my hand came into view. Right, the terminal.

There was something about it I hadn’t checked yet. Because I felt relieved just by seeing the entry for 0 contamination, I hadn’t looked at other things in detail.

To be precise, I didn’t look. Because I thought it was more important to spend that time paying attention to other Incarnations. Foolishly.

That’s not all. Have I ever deeply thought about the strange abnormal symptoms Mountain Hero had been showing until now? Had I not just let them slip by for the reason that survival right in front of my eyes was desperate?

<Mountain Hero (山中豪傑)>

• Rarity: ★★★★★
• Level: 99
• Contamination: 0/100
• Health: 100/100
• Traits: Humanoid, Wild Beast, Legend, Guardian Deity, Predator, Korean Origin, See more… [Tab]
• Detailed Explanation(!): [Tab]

Remaining nailed to the spot, I struggled to move only my thumb to touch the “Detailed Explanation(!)” part. My whole hand was shaking like an aspen tree, so even doing that simple motion, I fumbled several times.

Detailed Explanation(!) : Status Abnormality * “Love-Death” (情死)

The most ruinous and blind destination of love.

Ah, this was it. The thing I missed.

Squelch.

A terrible pain spread from my chest.

Mountain Hero’s hand. With bluish veins bulging on the back of the hand and long, sharp claws sprouted, that hand—which looked more like a wild beast’s forepaw than a human hand…

Was piercing deep above my heart. As if it would pierce through his own heart overlapped behind my back. As if it would never be pulled out again.