HACKED 63

The 1-star Incarnation who survived with 80% luck and 20% vigilance, <Sickly Model Student>, is currently undergoing a crisis of life. It is an even greater crisis than when he was hidden inside a mirror and suddenly thrown out of it, or when he met the Dokkaebi Mister.

<Sickly Model Student> shivers while cramming his body into a corner of the hallway. A single gun shot was fired, aiming for him.

Bang!

“Aaaah!”

<Sickly Model Student> does not have good physical abilities. If it were another Incarnation with high rarity, they would have showcased unrealistic feats such as flicking the bullet away with a blade or firing back to hit a bullet with a bullet… but for this one, rolling on the floor was the best he could do.

Even then, he could not completely avoid the gunfire. The bullet grazed his flank deeply. His school uniform vest was stained bright red. He groaned while clutching his flank where blood was surging out.

“Uuuuh….”

As an Incarnation who has never once gone out to battle, he has naturally never suffered a serious injury. A physical body with substance is this painful even when it bleeds just a little. Even though only the flank was injured, strength does not enter the arms or legs. When one is too scared, the body freezes in place…. He learned all of this for the first time.

Bang!

The gun was fired once more. This time it was a shot aimed at the head. One could feel the opponent’s will to finish it with a single shot without wasting bullets.

He is still slumped down. It is too late to run away. Therefore, <Sickly Model Student> used the skill he possessed.

Active Skill ‘Kong Kong Kong’

: There was a kid who always had to be second in the whole school, pushed aside by the one who was first. That kid, blinded by jealousy, eventually called the top student out to the school rooftop one midnight and pushed them off.

Causes oneself to appear upside down for a certain period of time. Since this appearance is a type of ‘mirror image’, it is not affected by physical laws such as gravity and inertia. (Maximum duration: 3 seconds)

It is a fairly insignificant skill where one’s appearance merely looks vertically inverted for 3 seconds. However, this skill saved his life once again.

Thud!

There was no problem with the trajectory of the bullet. The precise shot aimed for the middle of <Sickly Model Student>’s forehead. However, the bullet actually hit his thigh obliquely instead of his forehead. It was thanks to the skill that made his head go down and his legs go up at the last moment.

“Ugh…!”

A sharp pain clawed at his leg. The hem of his clothes was stained red starting from the spot grazed by the bullet.

“I thought the cleaning was all finished a long time ago.”

A man dressed in a black suit muttered as he lightly kicked a shell casing rolling under his feet with his shoe. Hiccup. <Sickly Model Student> let out a hiccup without realizing it.

“Why is… garbage like this still alive?”

The man’s gaze turned toward him. Surprisingly, his eyes contained neither anger nor hatred. He was exactly like an office worker who had become annoyed because minor tasks he thought he had already cleared remained.

“I sifted through them once, so why is there still a rat remaining?”

“Gasp….”

“Did you not hear the command to obediently undergo disposal if you are useless?”

At those words, something came to mind.

<Sickly Model Student> has never seen even a hair of the existence called ‘Master’, but he had once received a command in this Pantheon for the first and last time. Although that was a command to kill off every single Incarnation 3-star or lower because they were nothing but trash.

There is no way he wouldn’t be scared when he was in danger of dying as soon as he arrived. <Sickly Model Student> immediately got scared and hid inside a mirror. He has endured until now in that severed world while holding onto nothing but a manual.

He has survived by luck with mediocre stats and skills. However, it seemed that was now coming to an end. He had barely avoided instant death, but the bleeding was severe, and the opponent still had many bullets left.

“Student? I’d like it if you would cooperate a bit.”

The man talking to him casually did not have a very likable face, but he wasn’t particularly unsightly either. Furthermore, he was dressed in a neat suit that was neither too cheap nor too luxurious. If one just hung a necklace-type civil servant ID on him, he would be a textbook civil servant.

The man smiled broadly. It was not a forced smile where only the mouth laughs. Not only the corners of his mouth but even his eyes were curved pleasantly. However, his expression looked more fake than any forced smile. It would look more truthful if he were to wear a Hahoe mask instead.

To <Sickly Model Student>, this was scarier.

“Pardon? Cooperate. What do you mean by that? Mister, I don’t know anything. Please save me.”

“Garbage cleaning must be done quickly before that person finds out. He seems to be the type with a lot of unnecessary lingering affection, so if he finds out about your existence, he’ll tell me not to kill you.”

“That person? Who is that?”

“I wonder if you’d know if I said VIP.”

“…Could it be the President?”

“No way. It’s not like this is the Blue House.”

He tried guessing because he thought he had heard that slang somewhere, but he was wrong. The man laughed a bit more deeply as if it were amusing.

“I was glad to meet an Incarnation originating from the same era for once, but I have to do what I have to do.”

Click. Along with the eerie sound, the muzzle aimed at the dead center of his forehead. <Sickly Model Student> squeezed his eyes shut in a state of desperation. The ‘Kong Kong Kong’ skill he used earlier has not finished its cooldown, and he cannot use ‘World Inside the Mirror’ because there are no mirrors nearby. This time, it really was the end.

“Garbage, die now.”

The moment the man’s hand was about to pull the pistol trigger.

The sound of footsteps was heard from far down the hallway. The man froze as if someone had pressed a pause button.

Despite sensing the strangeness, <Sickly Model Student> could not open his closed eyes. He was scared that a bullet would be lodged in his head the moment he opened his eyes.

“Tsk.”

The man clicked his tongue lightly. What on earth happened? What is that sound of footsteps? While questions spread one after another, the man’s presence vanished at some point.

<Sickly Model Student> remained crouched with his eyes closed even after that. Until he felt certain that the man had completely left.

And finally, he slightly opened one eye. Someone’s silhouette was dimly visible. That person was, at a glance, at a point quite far from him. And on the wall a little ahead of that, he saw a mirror he hadn’t discovered earlier.

‘Now!’

There was nothing more to consider. He pulled up his body, which had not yet stopped bleeding, gathered his remaining strength, and leapt into the mirror.

Active Skill ‘World Inside the Mirror’

: There is a large mirror on the wall of the landing of the central staircase at our school. They say if you stand in front of it and touch it when the grandfather clock rings at 12:00 midnight, you can enter inside the mirror.

If one contacts a mirror in a dark place during a time when the sun is not up, one can move between ‘inside the mirror’ and ‘outside the mirror’. The only one capable of entry and exit is the caster himself; he cannot take anyone with him or take items.

‘Haaah, I’m saved….’

Only inside the narrow darkness did <Sickly Model Student> heave a sigh of relief. Because the location of the mirror was different, the reflected scenery was also different, but regardless, he felt like he had finally returned to his own comfortable hideout.

Once safety was secured, curiosity arose.

‘But…. Who is it? I don’t think it’s that Dokkaebi Mister I met before. That Mister walked while thumping so hard the whole floor vibrated.’

He craned his neck and looked outside intently. Soon after, he saw an unidentified stranger passing by. It was neither the blond-haired, blue-eyed Dokkaebi, nor the man wearing the black suit… it was a strange figure he had never seen before.

It was a young man who looked a few years older than <Sickly Model Student> himself. Of course, he is not an actual human and not a high school student, so this is strictly speaking about the outward appearance.

The fact that he had black hair and black eyes was the same as the man in the suit from earlier, but his attire was contrasting. This one was wearing a loose-fitting lavender sweatshirt. The atmosphere was also polar opposite. This man had an impression as if he had never even gone near a civil service exam academy, let alone being a civil servant.

He walked slowly while looking around at the white walls and floor. There wouldn’t be anything particular to see since the scenery of this Pantheon is similar everywhere, but he looked like someone who had just arrived here.

The man, who was wandering as if looking for something, stopped at one spot. As for where that was….

“… .”

It was right in front of the mirror <Sickly Model Student> had entered.

“… .”

Their eyes met through the glass. <World Inside the Mirror> moves the caster’s body, but it cannot hide the appearance visible to the opponent. Therefore, the opponent would have naturally discovered him as well.

‘Could it be… right now… am I screwed?’

Beads of sweat trickled down <Sickly Model Student>’s forehead.