HACKED 50

I knew exactly what he was talking about.

‘…You know… hyung.’

That time when the monster from another dimension was making its final desperate struggle.

‘I like you.’

But I thought that was just—simply—my own hallucination. A hallucination caused by the dimensional crack. I thought no one else saw it and no one would know.

That voice that had drifted in sporadically through the ear-splitting noise. Just recalling that voice made a chill run down my spine.

“That…”

“…”

“What do you plan to do with that information?”

As soon as I finished speaking, a precarious silence settled over us. Not just San Gun, but even Hwarang remained silent as if they had made a pact. Two pairs of differently colored eyes stared at me with a terrifyingly persistent intensity.

The trembling in my body gradually worsened. By now, my agitation must have been fully transmitted to San Gun, who was pressed against me. Even knowing it was already too late, I raised my hand and pushed against his shoulder.

“…Ah.”

Breaking the silence, San Gun curled the corner of his mouth into a crooked smirk.

“So you don’t like being the only one whose cards are laid bare?”

“…”

“Then I’ll tell you one, too. There should be some give and take. One for you, one for me—keep it fair.”

Instead of answering, I applied force to the arm pushing him away. However, he too easily caught my wrist and pulled it away from his body. My wrist, caught in his large grasp, hurt as if it might break, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.

“How about… a way to heal injured Incarnations even without a recovery room.”

“…”

“You need a sword you can use right now. We don’t know when the enemy might invade again. We managed to get through this time somehow, but can you block the next one in this state? Or the one after that?”

Throughout those words, San Gun’s face was unreadable. It was as if he were reciting a memorized sentence.

My wrist, held by him, had turned pathetically pale. Once that hand let go, a mark in the shape of his grip might remain. I moved my fingers, which were slowly losing sensation, and clenched my fist tightly.

“I don’t need it. I won’t listen.”

“You don’t need it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it like we’re buying and selling information. And it’s not like I don’t have a hunch at all.”

“And what is your hunch?”

“I don’t know for sure, but it’s probably a similar principle to activating the power system. If I’m the battery and the recovery facility is the adapter or cable, it should be possible to charge by connecting directly to the power source without an adapter.”

After staring into my eyes for several seconds after I finished speaking, San Gun burst into a cheerful laugh at an unexpected moment. The pressure constricting my wrist vanished all at once.

“You’re quick on the uptake.”

‘So… does that mean this is the right answer?’

After a moment of silence, I asked back.

“…Is it true? Is what I said really correct?”

“Would it be a lie then?”

“You want me to call you over one by one, place my palm on you, and breathe energy into you to heal you? What am I, some cult leader blessing his followers? Besides, to heal all the Incarnations here, I’d have to be doing that for days on end.”

Then, Hwarang, who had been listening to my story while sitting crookedly with one leg up, chimed in.

“Palms are inefficient. You don’t necessarily have to do it that way.”

“Then how?”

“It’s simple. The larger the contact area, and the closer it is to the center of the body, the higher the recovery efficiency. The inner flesh is better than the outer skin, and mucous membranes are better than the inner flesh. Though you’ll consume a lot of energy at once. Of course, if you want to spend days on end holding hands with me, you’re welcome to do so… but there are other quick and easy methods.”

“…”

It took some time for me to understand his words. To be precise, my head understood, but my heart refused to accept it.

“Why did you suddenly go quiet?”

“I’m debating whether I misheard you.”

So, to heal the Incarnations without a recovery room… it means I, as a biological battery, have to be stuck fast to these guys. And the higher the intensity of the physical contact, the better the recovery?

‘This is insane. Is this some kind of mana supply?’

“Why is there a setting that has thrown probability and verisimilitude to the dogs? Was <No Lifer> originally this kind of game? Hasn’t the genre changed a bit? If it was this kind of game, I wouldn’t have played it in the first place, fuck!”

As I muttered while rubbing my dry face vigorously, San Gun and Hwarang stared at me with strange eyes. It seemed like a mix of half-pathetic and half-bewildered. But now was not the time to care about their gazes.

“No, listen. There are plenty of other cool settings. Why on earth do you have to heal via physical contact? I feel a sense of coercion in a very unpleasant direction. Isn’t this a setting that would only appear in an erotica where common sense is modified and there’s no proper plot?”

“Erotica? What’s that?”

“Myeong… It seems you’re the one whose common sense has been modified.”

“Aaargh! You cruel normie bastards.”

I wailed, clutching my damp hair. If my current state could be seen as a status, my sanity level would probably be crawling on the floor.

Simply having a conversation had left me physically and mentally exhausted. My energy was so drained that it was hard even to sit up. I just wanted to lie down right here. The ones who need charging are me, not them.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what just happened. Let’s just wait for the recovery room repairs to finish. We’ll manage somehow until we die. I want to be alone, so everyone please leave.”

“Wait for now? What a shiftless thing to say, Myeong. If you made me like this, you should take responsibility.”

He pointed at his empty pant leg below the knee with a mock-sullen expression. Even so, he didn’t look pitiful at all. I saw him perfectly holding his ground on one leg and sword-fighting like a maniac.

“The one who made Mister San Gun like that wasn’t me, it was that liquid monster mass.”

And a large-capacity crunch slime with human body parts stuck in it as toppings, at that.

“Who do you think I fought that mass for?”

“…”

He pulled a checkmate move. I have nothing to say. Seizing the moment, Hwarang quickly held up his own arm wrapped tightly in bandages.

“Me too. I ended up like this while trying to protect the Mister Boss. Not just the skin, but the muscles underneath melted, so I can’t put much strength into it.”

The two of them were cornering me as if they had been waiting for this. I felt that something was wrong. I hurriedly waved my hands.

“No. No, wait a minute. Everyone. Calm down and let’s resolve this through conversation. Are you the only ones hurting? I hurt too. Don’t you remember earlier? I coughed up blood. You know my physical strength is at the level of a sheet of paper. What will happen if I do anything more here? Won’t I become a piece of wet paper?”

“Oh. A statement that is the epitome of a loser.”

“Mister Boss… just don’t open your mouth. The more you talk, the more it just pisses me off. Please just keep it shut.”

San Gun looked at me with extreme pity, and Hwarang spat out each word while clenching his teeth. What? Keep it shut? Even in my dazed state, I felt angry.

“Hey, I’m your master. Watch your language.”

“To be honest, it looks pathetic when you only bring up being the master at times like this.”

“This brat. Where did your manners go?”

While bickering and glaring at Hwarang, my wrist was caught again. This time, it wasn’t caught through the bathrobe. A hand that delved beneath the soft material of the sleeve wrapped around my bare skin. The heat transferred from the large, firm palm felt scaldingly hot to me.

“I’m in a hurry.”

“For what?”

At my question, San Gun rolled his eyes dismissively.

“I told you. We don’t know when the enemy might invade again. I’m in a damn hurry.”

‘If you’re going to make an excuse, at least put some effort into it…’

My thoughts could no longer continue. This was because he pulled my arm toward him with a jerk. My upper body, losing its balance, collapsed helplessly.

Yellow eyes, mixed with green and orange at the edges, filled my vision. For a split second, I was bewitched by those eyes. I even forgot that I should resist.

Taking advantage of that gap, on my upper lip… the lips of another person, with a body temperature slightly higher than mine, touched.