HACKED 77

The essence of <No Lifer> is, in any case, a product. The provider, <Boundary Laboratory>, offers satisfactory content to the users, who are the consumers, and receives in-app purchase payments in return.

<No Lifer> is a typical F2P P2W (Free to Play, Pay to Win) game. This means that while anyone can play for free just by installing the app, paid purchases are necessary to conquer hard content, climb the rankings, or become stronger.

Therefore, all content in <No Lifer> merely wears a plausible wrapper of world-building and settings; essentially, the core is “How can we make people spend more money?”

First, as is the case with most gacha games, <No Lifer> also limits the total amount of currency one can obtain for free per day. One “Dimensional Crystal” is required for a single battle, and these Dimensional Crystals are generated one every 2 hours, with a maximum holding capacity of 10/10. If you want to perform battles faster or more frequently than that, you must purchase them with money.

‘The experience of setting an alarm for dawn and waking up to play the game with eyes barely open just to spend that capped energy… wouldn’t every gamer have had that experience at least once?’

And then there is the core feature of <No Lifer>, the character gacha: “Incarnation Descent.”

One can pull the gacha using free currency provided through events or obtained via attendance checks. Since the concept of duplicates does not exist in the gacha of <No Lifer>, if you want to form a single squad consisting of 6 people, you only need to pull exactly 6 times.

However, users pay massive amounts of money to continuously pull and pull the gacha. They aren’t even satisfied if a 5-star Incarnation appears. They have to obtain an Incarnation that possesses the concept, appearance, personality, traits, stats, and skills that they desire.

Does this long and tedious gacha relay end once an Incarnation that perfectly satisfies one’s standards appears? That is not the case either. In order to grow and reinforce that Incarnation, “Fragments of Narrative” are required, and these Fragments of Narrative are items that only appear when you grind down other Incarnations.

Shall we look at the “Combat Training” feature, which allows one to perform combat simulations in a virtual space with the Incarnations of other users?

This “Combat Training” system automatically matches me with an opponent who is similar to or slightly stronger than me. The purpose is to induce payment for growth by letting me compare my combat power with other users and making me feel an impatience that my side is lacking.

“Housing” goes without saying. A decorating feature to satisfy self-satisfaction, aesthetics, and the desire to collect, which is not significantly related to actual performance. I heard that this housing content, though not as much as the main content, brings in quite a bit of revenue.

In this way, most features in <No Lifer> can be explained through the market logic of capitalism. But what about this world I have fallen into… let’s call it “<No Lifer>—a” for convenience. What about <No Lifer>—a?

To those living inside <No Lifer>—a, this world is reality. Therefore, in order to understand this world, one must synchronize their brain with this world-building and think as a true over-immersed otaku.

‘I am no mere game player. I am a true Compiler belonging to the Narrative Compilation Union. I have been appointed to protect the narratives against the White Paper Legion and the Record Obliteration Army…’

When I arm my mindset fully by repeating such “what-the-hell-is-that” lines, things that were previously incomprehensible begin to make sense. The things <IsItPresbyopiaCrap> said, and the purpose of this thing called Dimensional Merging.

‘Dimensional Merging is a new strategy devised by the White Paper Legion to deal a greater blow to the Narrative Compilation Union.’

If I think that way, it all adds up.

Until now, combat in <No Lifer>—a was carried out by Compilers deploying their Incarnation squads to the battlefield through Hyper-Dimensional Gates. It is a structure where the White Paper Legion cannot strike first.

So, the White Paper Legion created a method to raid the Pantheons themselves first. Through a somewhat simple and ignorant method of randomly merging their own dimension—that is, the “Monster Dimension”—with the “Pantheon Dimension” where the Compiler resides.

According to what I have experienced, a principle operates in <No Lifer>—a that “there must be only one power source in one dimension.” One can understand this by comparing it to an idiom like “there cannot be two suns in one sky,” or realistically, “there cannot be two governments in one country.”

Therefore, Compilers caught in a Dimensional Merging must participate in this battle royale by biting the bullet. Until only the final winner remains, even allies must kill and die among themselves.

For the White Paper Legion, it is fine whether they win or lose the merging. It goes without saying that it is best if the “Monster Dimension” becomes the final winner. Because they can expand their territory and their outpost for invasion. Even if they lose, they can deal a blow to the Compilers, and they can completely destroy a certain Compiler’s home base.

But… everything is not explained by this explanation. There is one remaining question.

‘Then what is the benefit the White Paper Legion gains in a Compiler vs. Compiler situation?’

A merging between a “Pantheon Dimension” and a “Pantheon Dimension” where the “Monster Dimension” is absent. This is the same case as me being pitted one-on-one against <DriedPollackKimchiStew> this time.

Since we are hitting and fighting each other, it is a good thing for the enemies when viewed in the long term. If this “Dimensional Merging” is happening in a tournament style across all Pantheons, the total number of Pantheons will plummet in the form of an exponential function with a base between 0 and 1 every time a merging is passed. The number of Incarnations will also decrease rapidly by that much.

But is this all? Isn’t there a possibility that a Compiler who becomes the winner will monopolize resources and territory, hone their strategy, and become even more powerful? Whether I win or <DriedPollackKimchiStew> wins, the White Paper Legion does not obtain territory from either side, so what is the point of this?

“You have had the same thought as me. As expected, your thoughts are deep.”

The man’s face was, as always, as if he were wearing a smiling mask. I cannot distinguish at all whether he is being sincere or telling a smooth-tongued lie. Looking at that slick face, I thought:

‘I’m craving a cigarette so damn much.’

I reflexively rummaged through my pants pocket to find my cigarette pack. These cigarettes are ones I farmed from the Library Area last time. Since there is only exactly one pack, I am cherishing them to smoke sparingly only when I feel like I might die without nicotine.

It was the mistake of a lifetime when I was so startled by seeing the <Sickly Model Student> last time that I dropped an entire unsmoked cigarette. It still hurts my heart when I think of that long cigarette.

‘Coming to find him first after I refused so proudly… Yeo Myeong’s dignity is completely dead. Not that I had any dignity to begin with.’

The man showed no agitation even when he saw me put a cigarette in my mouth right in front of him. Rather, as if he had been waiting, he took a lighter out of his suit jacket’s inner pocket and politely held it out toward me.

“Here.”

Without much thought, I took a drag from the cigarette. The end of the cigarette caught fire.

Belatedly, I realized the fact that I had received his service too naturally. I had come with a firm determination never to show a gap to this guy and never to fall for whatever sweet talk he might give. I felt a sense of self-reproach.

Since I’ve even borrowed a light, what would be the point of acting distant now? With a feeling of half-giving up, I held out the cigarette pack.

“Do you want to smoke one?”

“If you would allow me.”

He received the cigarette politely with both hands. His movements were skilled as he turned his head slightly away from me and lit it while covering the end of the cigarette with one hand. The sense of self-reproach grew even stronger.

‘In my life, I’m even smoking together with a game character…’

“What did you mean by what you said earlier? That you had the same thought as me.”

“I mean that I have also harbored the exact same question as you regarding the essence of the system called Dimensional Merging.”

“So, what is the conclusion you reached? It doesn’t have to be a certain conclusion. A guess, a hypothesis, anything.”

“This is what you want to know, isn’t it? ‘What on earth is the explicit benefit the White Paper Legion gains when only Compilers face each other in a merging?’ It is simple. All questions are resolved if you add just one condition to the prerequisites that you and I already know.”

Having said that much, the man, <Nameless Star>, exhaled smoke slowly as if intentionally pausing. The black eyes that had been looking into the air turned exactly toward me.

“There is a ‘spy’ among the Compilers.”