HACKED 38

Here is a tiger. And now a fox has been added.

Is this that? The Mountain Hero tiger’s whatever? Should I call a rabbit now? Get a rabbit to dance while the fox plays the violin?

‘It’s a mess…’

Honestly, no words come out other than that it is a mess. Is this a Pantheon or a petting zoo?

It would actually be better if it were a real petting zoo. Little, bright tufts of fur playing “woof-woof” and “meow-meow” would at least be cute. These things in front of my eyes right now are just lunatics.

“Who made you like this? Husband.”

A low, cracked voice whispered right next to my ear. His snow-white hair flowed down and tickled the nape of my neck. Chirpy, standing in front of me, remained frozen in panic even while watching this whole scene.

“Mye-mye-mye-Myeong….”

He’s doing that again. I told him my name isn’t ‘Mye-mye-mye-Myeong.’

“Indeed, I wonder who did it? Do you want to take a guess?”

I sighed and placed my hand on his arm. For the record, the blood splattered all over my body… about 90% of it got on me while I was trying to support Hwarang, and 10% is what I vomited earlier.

Attempting to escape is something you can only do when there’s at least some chance of winning. This 5-star Incarnation, <The Nine-Tailed Maegu of Cheonggu>, was off the charts. He wasn’t an opponent I could escape from just by struggling a bit. If he were to even graze my throat with the tip of his fingernail, my artery would be severed instantly, so what meaning would resistance have?

“If I guess correctly, what will you give me as a reward?”

“I’ll give you a yeot.”

“A yeot?”

The Gumiho leaned his upper body forward, still holding me from behind. As his long hair tumbled down, I caught a glimpse of his profile in my vision.

Disheveled white hair and white clothes. A pale face with black cracks drawn across it. Protruding fangs. While everything was generally achromatic, only his bright red pupils were vivid.

“……”

He tilted his head slightly. It was an innocent gesture that didn’t suit his appearance. He was like a large dog that sniffs whatever its owner holds out without even knowing what it is.

‘A fox is a canine after all. …Not that it’s any of my business.’

“This. Eat your fill.”

Even while held by the waist, I managed to raise one hand and show him my middle finger.

I have no mercy to spare for a target of attempted murder who tried to knock me down and pierce my solar plexus the moment we first met. San Gun did something similar, but that bastard is currently working his ass off in a 1-on-1 fight with a monster over there, so I’ll let it slide for now.

“You are teasing this fox. I have always been sincere toward you, husband, so why do you tease me? My heart aches.”

Strength entered his arm wrapped around my waist. Because of my physical condition, that alone was painful enough. I barely held back the taste of blood that threatened to surge past my throat.

But he didn’t stop there. He reached out with his other hand and abruptly placed it on my chest, pulling me toward him. My breath caught in my throat.

“My body, caught by you, hurts more. Let go… even if I say that, you won’t listen, right? I know. I know. You madman.”

“Even though you ran away from me as if you’d seen something you shouldn’t the moment we met, you are personally embracing this filthy thing. If you had shown me even half as much as you do for this, I wouldn’t be this sorrowful.”

Is ‘this filthy thing’ referring to Hwarang? No matter how you look at it, they are comrades living under the same roof and breathing the same air, yet he is terribly merciless. Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve heard something similar before.

‘In the first place, you, hey. Why are you only acting prickly toward me? That insolent Hwarang brat too, you forgave everyone who lunged at you trying to kill you from the start, so why won’t you cut me some slack?’

Ah, right. Witness number two for attempted murder over there said that.

“San Gun too, and you too, why are you so obsessed with trying to eat Hwarang? A feline and a canine Incarnation acting out in pairs. Did you guys have a feud with humanoids or something?”

“San Gun? Ah…. That tiger.”

His voice was a bit cracked, but his way of speaking was consistently gentle. He was like a pet fox fawning over its owner, or a wife acting affectionately toward her husband.

However, in this moment, his voice dropped significantly. The softness vanished, and in its place, murderous intent surged. His reaction toward San Gun was much more intense than his reaction toward Hwarang, whom I was personally supporting.

“Can you still call that thing an Incarnation?”

The Gumiho’s words were spat out like a curse. Various negative emotions were embedded there. Loathing, contempt, awe, fear, jealousy…. Things I couldn’t understand in the slightest.

“…What?”

I asked back stupidly. But naturally, a kind explanation was not going to come back.

“You must never go near that thing. He is one who doesn’t even deserve to be called an Incarnation.”

“San Gun? What are you talking about?”

“If you are going to keep that thing by your side, I would rather you keep this bloodied child…. No, I hate that too. If it isn’t this fox, if it isn’t me, I hate it. Husband, rather than leaving me for other things, please just die. That would be better.”

“‘Please just die’? How can you say such a crazy thing so naturally.”

I lamented. As expected, these bastards were best when seen through a phone screen. I was an idiot for doting on this kind of lunatic just because he’s a 5-star and pouring money into him for full enhancement.

“Do not worry about what comes after and die peacefully. I will end it in one go so it doesn’t hurt.”

“You’ve really properly lost it, you bastard.”

“I will never let you go this time. I won’t let anyone take you away.”

There was no time to ponder the strange sense of incompatibility mixed in his words. The Gumiho raised a hand. His wide sleeve slid down, revealing a pale arm. Long, sharp claws like blades had grown on his five fingers before I knew it.

‘I’m screwed.’

I know very well how sharp those claws are. I also know how painful it is to be pierced by those claws.

I opened my mouth to call San Gun. He’s in the middle of a fierce battle, causing cracks in the walls and gouges in the floor, so I don’t know if my cry will reach him… but I might as well try something rather than just die.

Ding!

A touch-and-go situation. Tearing through the razor-thin tension, a clear terminal notification sound rang out.

“……”

The Gumiho flinched very slightly. I wouldn’t have known if I were looking from afar, but because my back was pressed against his chest, I could feel the minute movement well.

‘Why the terminal all of a sudden?’

From my experience so far, there are roughly four conditions for the terminal to ring.

First. When the system has an important announcement, like when the dimensional merge just started.

Second. When an item has been acquired, used, or destroyed.

Third. When a skill has been cast targeting me, or when I enter the range of a certain skill.

Fourth. When a message arrives from another user.

Other than these, small notifications like experience gain, changes in Incarnations’ pollution levels, health changes, or various facility statuses come in, but they don’t make a sound. They just pile up in the notification window, so I have to check them separately later.

The terminal is currently in my pocket. And I am in a state of being caught by the Gumiho while trying to support Hwarang. It means I’m in a situation where I can’t check which of the four cases the notification that just rang belongs to.

It probably isn’t the second one. I don’t have any items right now, and there’s no way I acquired anything in this situation.

It’s not the fourth one either. I turned off the notifications long ago because <IsItPresbyopiaCrap>’s message bombs were annoying.

The first one… would be something like a notification that the dimensional merge is over, but I haven’t become the ‘Final Winner’ yet. So that’s rejected as well.

The most likely one is the third. Since the Gumiho is trying to kill me, he might have activated a skill like <Fox Fire>, <Fox, Fox, What Are You Doing>, or <Dance of the Heavenly Shaman>.

However, this hypothesis doesn’t quite fit either. <Fox Fire> makes blue flames burst out, and for <Fox, Fox, What Are You Doing>, he has to sing a song. It’s the kind of thing that has to show some sign the moment it’s used. <Dance of the Heavenly Shaman> is a passive skill that affects the entire battlefield, so it’s not the kind you can just turn on and off at will.

But the Gumiho only unsheathed his claws and didn’t take any notable action. Moreover, he was startled himself the moment the terminal notification sound was heard.

Did I get caught in the range of San Gun’s wide-area skill over there again? But we’re so far away? If not that, then what?

Ding!

the unidentified notification sound rang again.

This time, the Gumiho reacted swiftly and accurately. However, the form of that reaction was unexpected. He did not stab me with his long-grown claws, nor did he stab Hwarang, who was slumped against me.

He simply pulled his arm wrapped around my waist sharply and moved my body to the side. As if he were trying to evacuate me from an invisible attack.

Thump.

With that impact, the terminal that was halfway in my pants pocket fell out. Fortunately, the screen didn’t break. The screen of the terminal spinning on the floor glowed dimly. The letters that appeared on that screen flashed through my vision, though only for a moment.

Active Skill ‘Black Operation (黑色作戰)’

: We work in the shadows and aim for the light.

If the target is attacking, forcibly changes the target of that attack. The changed target can be an ally, an enemy, a third party, or even a corpse, an inanimate object, or a terrain feature. The target and the subject do not realize that they have become the target of this skill. This skill can only be used once per target in the same battle.

‘This is appearing here?’

Just as I thought that, the monster in the form of a giant mass rushed in while letting out a monstrous shriek. Toward the spot that had become empty because the Gumiho moved me away… Toward Hwarang, who was lying alone.