HACKED 26

<UserMyeong808> : hey

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Yes?

<UserMyeong808> : My UID is 96708312

<UserMyeong808> : can u report for me?

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : ?????

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Report what?

<UserMyeong808> : to customer service

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Customer service??

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : And what’s a UID?

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Numbers? Is it like a code?

<UserMyeong808> : tell the administrator to report me as an abnormal access account right now

<UserMyeong808> : Dont u know the report function? Its in the menu. Tell them to write a bug report

<UserMyeong808> : A person’s life is on the line

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Administrator…? Account? Bug?

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Mr. Myeong… ^^;; I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean at all

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Where would there be a customer service center in the Narrative Compilation Union lol we aren’t even customers lolol;;

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : By administrator, do you mean the person in charge on the Union side?? I don’t understand what you’re saying, Mr. Myeong

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Have you really not been appointed that long so you don’t know anything?

‘What is this.’

How can someone who plays mobile games—a user with enough experience to smugly teach a newbie—not even know what a UID or customer service is? On top of that, he’s acting like he’s hearing the words “administrator” and “account” for the first time?

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : ;;;;;

I am just as flustered as <IsItPresbyopiaCrap> is bewildered. I likewise cannot understand what he is saying. Even though we are using the same language, I’m starting to wonder if he’s a person from a different world.

‘A different world…?’

An unpleasant premonition tickles a corner of my mind. I tried my best to erase the nonsensical hypothesis that kept trying to surface.

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : I don’t know what it is, but it seems you have some urgent business

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : But for us right now… the merging is more urgent

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Merging… in a way, it can be more dangerous than going out to the battlefield

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Especially since Mr. Myeong is still a newbie, your combat power will be lacking

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : If we can’t block this properly, it could even lead to total annihilation??

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Let’s finish the merging first and then talk in detail

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : I’ll help as much as I can as long as I can be of help T_T

I understood it with my head. <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>’s words were not wrong.

Earlier, the terminal system message had warned me outright. It said, ‘Please survive the merging.’ By this point, unless one is a fool, anyone would know. Even if I don’t know what merging is, it’s an event where one could die if things go wrong.

And now that I have been possessed into this world… ‘death’ is not a simple game over. It means my actual life could fly away.

Therefore, <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>’s suggestion to prioritize blocking the merging is valid. If I were to die while bickering over customer service or reports in a chat, there would be no more meaningless death than that.

But why… why do I feel so dirty. Was it because I thought another possibility of returning to reality was opening up, only for the other person to talk nonsense?

<UserMyeong808> : k

I gave a short answer and put down the terminal. But the lingering feeling of unease still wouldn’t go away.

“But Myeong.”

After the commotion over the clothes had passed, Mountain Hero, whom I thought had finally become quiet, spoke to me again. Perhaps because I was interrupted just as I was trying to concentrate, a somewhat sharp reply came out.

“I told you I’m busy.”

“Aren’t you going to ask? Why the Incarnations became like this while you were away. Why they… resent you.”

“I’m sure there were circumstances. But I’m not curious.”

“…”

“I have my own circumstances too. But you didn’t ask me.”

“…”

“Let’s not ask or tell each other. I’m not interested in those emotional, human, and pitiful backstories. I don’t want to be understood, and I don’t want to understand.”

I’m not going to be here long anyway.

I swallowed the following words and shut my mouth. With that, it became quiet.

“…”

“…”

That peculiar, awkward silence when a conversation is artificially cut off. Neither Mountain Hero nor Chirpy said anything. I wasn’t shameless enough to visually check their reactions in this situation. I buried my face even deeper into the terminal for no reason.

They’re probably calling me a guy who lacks social skills, who is heartless, and who only knows himself. Well, of course they are. It’s not exactly wrong, either.

For them, it is enough for me to be a conceptual and symbolic figure—the status of ‘Master’. Likewise, it is enough for them to be game characters for me that can be easily handled with taps and drags.

Player and character. App user and app data. We must be exactly that to each other. There should not be any interaction between us as persona to persona.

Why? If you ask why, it’s because it’s obviously not allowed. That’s….

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Anyway Mr. Myeong

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : is this your first merging???

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Your very first try? A first-timer?

Even while I was lost in useless thoughts, the notifications kept ringing.

<UserMyeong808> : y

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : whew;;;

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : You almost got into big trouble

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Mr. Myeong, I’m lucky to have met you too, but

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : You’re also lucky to have met me ^^

But, this brat. He talks way too much. Just get to the point. The point.

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : So, what dimensional merging is

After that, <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>’s explanation continued for a long time. I don’t know how his typing could be so fast, but I had to glare at his chat, which popped up three lines per second, to make sure I didn’t miss a single one.

To summarize, it was like this.

Dimensional merging seems to be a new feature updated after I quit the game. He didn’t use words like “the game <No Lifer>” or “update,” but that was how I understood it.

To explain it in easy-to-understand terms: Dimensional collision is random matching, dimensional boundary is the map, and dimensional merging is defense.

A hunting ground map swarming with monsters merges with the Pantheon to become one mass. From the perspective of a user—that is, a Compiler—it means monsters suddenly pour out of the empty air into my home base endlessly. Therefore, the Compiler must block them by placing fixtures or Incarnations within the Pantheon in appropriate locations.

If you block the army of monsters rushing in like the tide—the “waves”—until the end, it’s a victory for the user side. End of story.

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : There’s no separate time limit

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : The final winner takes all the remaining resources and space

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : You can think of resources as sweeping up the items the enemies dropped

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Space means the Pantheon gets wider by the amount that was merged

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : Since resources worth an entire map come in all at once

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : It’s much more efficient than running combat rotations a few times lolol

“…”

I silently read through <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>’s chat that was scrolling up like a machine gun.

‘Is this… that?’

From the moment the first chat flew in from <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>, no… actually, from the moment I felt the shock from the dimensional collision, I had a vague premonition.

Maybe that premonition is true. If it is….

“It’s great that resource farming is possible!”

Chirpy, who was looking at the messages with me from the side, clapped his paper-shaped wings patter-patter.

“Don’t we have an absolute shortage of resources in our Pantheon right now, Mr. Myeong! Even if I wanted to ask the Incarnations for resource exploration, the number of people in good enough condition to go out is absolutely low… and among them, the number of those I’m certain will follow Mr. Myeong’s instructions is even lower…”

I stopped the thoughts I was having alone and gave a half-hearted response to Chirpy’s words.

“I can count them on one hand.”

Even if I count the Incarnations who can definitely be called allies right now….

First, <Mountain Hero>. That thousand-year-old tiger loafing over there and watching me. That is, if I can count an attempted murderer as being on my side.

<Hwarang of Half-Human Half-Ghost>. A brazen brat who takes selfies with my terminal. He also has a record of trying to kill me, but since I confirmed with my own eyes that his contamination level dropped from 100 to 0, he’s a bit more trustworthy.

<The Twin Greatswords of National Salvation>. Hmm… well. To be honest, they’re a bit ambiguous, but since they’ve acted favorably toward me and haven’t done anything harmful yet, should I classify them as allies for now?

If I had to add more, it would be around <The Drum that Sounds on its Own>. However, this person is a critically ill patient who is barely holding onto life. Far from giving her work, she can’t even sit up in bed.

And etcetera. Incarnations I’ve met but haven’t attached a classification tag to yet.

Attachment 1. <The Nine-Tailed Maegu of Cheonggu>. Red light. Her eyes are rolled back with the thought of killing me. Must run away upon sight.

Attachment 2. <The Bloodless Dokkaebi>. Question mark. I really don’t know what this jerk is. Space bar twice. End.

“Available personnel… if I give up on my own protection and everything else and include even the critically ill, it’s five. If I take a more relaxed count, it’s two or three.”

To think I can’t even fill half of a single unit even after scraping everyone together. It’s beyond disastrous; it’s bleak.

“But the enemies will be pouring out in swarms, how do you plan to handle it? You’re at such a numerical disadvantage.”

“Interestingly, coolly, sexily.”

“What on earth does that mean!”

“I think telling you every little detail isn’t sexy.”

“Noooooo…!”

Chirpy agonized, crumpling his own wings and tearing at his hair. In the meantime, I tapped out a message.

<UserMyeong808> : but

<UserMyeong808> : what if

<UserMyeong808> : i die to mobs?

<UserMyeong808> : Im a newbie Myeong with small hands and feet

“Wow, Mr. Myeong. That way of talking with that face is a bit…”

What, what, what. Is this the first time you’ve seen a grown, dark-haired man doing this “newbie with small hands and feet” bullshit?

“Quiet. Penicillin.”

“No, when did my name become Penicillin again…”

“Do I have to tell you to shut up for you to understand?”

“I will shut up.”

<IsItPresbyopiaCrap> : …

Three dots appeared in the message window, indicating that <IsItPresbyopiaCrap> was typing. The three dots appeared, disappeared for a moment, and appeared again repeatedly.

‘…Ah.’

Right then, something suddenly flashed through my mind.