HACKED 78

“You’re saying there’s a spy among the Compilers?”

“‘A pawn who pretends to be a Compiler, but in reality, actively collaborates with the White Paper Legion. Such a person is mixed in among the Compilers, carrying out Dimensional Merging’… This is merely my hypothesis. But doesn’t it sound plausible?”

Hearing his words, I felt as if I had been hit over the head. For a moment, I couldn’t maintain my poker face.

“You seem to understand. I always appreciate how well our conversations flow.”

“Then… can the Narrative Compilation Union—can we not win?”

I threw out the question once more. It was a question that skipped many intermediate steps.

The current situation was far too urgent to lay out the basis of my thoughts one by one. I wasn’t in the mood for it, either. However, <Nameless Star> nodded as if he understood.

“I think I know why you reached that conclusion. Let’s assume that in a situation where three dimensions—Compiler A, Compiler B, and the Record Obliteration Army C—are merging, Compiler B is the spy. On the surface, this looks like a 1 versus 1 versus 1, but in reality, it is a 2 versus 1 fight. From the perspective of the White Paper Legion, whether the final winner is B or C, it counts as a ‘victory.’ Let’s say B wins here.”

“…”

“If B, having grown stronger by absorbing A and C, faces Compiler D—who is experiencing merging for the first time—in the next turn? B will most likely win. What if this happens at every merging? Even if this B is unlucky and loses to an overwhelmingly strong Compiler E… what if B isn’t the only spy? If this independent trial is repeated countless times across all dimensions, won’t the Narrative Compilation Union eventually be annihilated?”

“…”

“That is what you wanted to say, isn’t it?”

I hate to admit it, but my communication with this guy is far too smooth. To the point where I wonder if I’m talking to another player rather than a game character.

“How did you come to this conclusion?”

“Because I have the ‘Spy’ trait. In any situation, I habitually assume, ‘What if this person is a fake?’ It’s a bit of an occupational hazard. Ah, that doesn’t mean I am a spy for the enemy. You know that. I am the Incarnation that you yourself summoned.”

I remember it too. The moment I pulled <Nameless Star>.

In this game that jumps between military, sci-fi, martial arts, fantasy, and historical drama, a character in a somewhat ordinary suit suddenly appeared, which surprised me a bit. After checking his traits and skills, I was excited and put him to good use.

“I have no reason to cooperate with the enemy, nor can I do so. My life depends entirely on you. I am in a position where, if you order a ‘Narrative Reduction,’ I must immediately turn into fragments of narrative and vanish.”

“Of course, that’s true…”

Hearing my answer, <Nameless Star> let out a faint smile.

‘What are you smirking at, you punk. I’m not finished yet.’

“…But, you could kill the Compiler before they execute the ‘Narrative Reduction,’ couldn’t you?”

This is why they say you have to listen to Korean until the very end.

<Nameless Star>’s face froze cold in an instant. From the impression of a pleasant office worker who caters to his boss’s whims, he became a ruthless agent in a heartbeat.

“Are you doubting me right now? That I am trying to kill you?”

“Who knows.”

“Regicide of a Compiler is the most heinous of all crimes. The moment it is committed, one’s spirituality and divinity as an Incarnation will be irreversibly defiled! Unless one were mad, there would be no reason to…”

“Just give me the bottom line. Is it a Yes or a No.”

“I have never done such a thing, I am not doing it, and I have no plans to do it in the future. I swear it upon my godhood.”

If he’s swearing upon his godhood, it surely can’t be a lie. However, I didn’t actually suspect <Nameless Star> in that specific way to begin with.

“Who told you such a thing? Did they mislead you with words that only sound good? Did they plant groundless delusions in you? Is that why you haven’t trusted me all this time, and left me abandoned without even looking for me until now?”

He gritted his teeth and took half a step closer. The cigarette in his hand, with less than half remaining, was burning away second by second.

“There are only three things I’m curious about.”

“What are they?”

“Did a new Compiler come while I was gone? Was that person a ‘fake’? And… did <Mountain Hero> kill him?”

I didn’t need to hear an answer to know. All three questions were direct hits.

“Ah, I’ll add just one more.”

“…”

“Are you involved in that incident in any way?”

A short cigarette butt dropped from his hand with a thud. For the first time, I finally smiled.

“I don’t think I need to hear the answer. I don’t think you’d tell me anyway.”

It wasn’t that I asked because I was truly curious. Based on my suspicions and deductions alone, the answer was already about 90% there. I just needed the 10% of confirmation.

“You said it last time, right? Give you a chance to serve me.”

The scales of the conversation tipped this way. I had been waiting for this moment since the time I decided to go find him. The moment when <Nameless Star>, who was so relaxed as if he were standing on top of my head, was caught off guard and lost his composure.

“An enemy unit has invaded. Cooperate. If you don’t, I really will grind you up through ‘Narrative Reduction’ just like you said. Mr. San Gun would be quite pleased if I fed him some fresh, piping-hot fragments of narrative, wouldn’t he?”

Even to my own ears, I sounded a bit mean and base. But to provoke <Nameless Star>, who wouldn’t budge for most things, bringing up San Gun was the most effective method.

The talk about grinding him up was actually a bluff. I needed every bit of combat power I could get, and honestly, I didn’t even know how to perform a ‘Narrative Reduction.’

It seems that ‘Narrative Reduction,’ like ‘Recovery,’ doesn’t just happen with a tap on the terminal but requires using a facility somewhere in this building… In a situation where I want to bring in Incarnations I don’t even have, where would I find the leisure to look for a way to grind up the ones I do have?

‘Looking at that expression, it seems the bluff worked somehow. Then that’s that.’

I lightly flicked ash over the butt he had discarded. While I was at it, I dropped the cigarette I was holding on top of it and crushed the two butts with my foot. The embers died out beneath the sole of my shoe.

“…”

The man, who was about half a head taller than me with his black hair neatly slicked back, was looking down with a furrowed brow. His neat lips were twisted.

“What would you like me to do?”

This was the bare face of <Nameless Star>, who had been acting like a servile, loyal subordinate in front of me. His impression was even more overbearing and irritable than I had thought.

“First…”

I gave the pile of ash at my feet a light kick.

“Clean this up before you leave.”

Given the crap I had to deal with last time, I can surely afford this much revenge, can’t I? If not, whatever.

˙✧˖°🎮 ⋆｡˚

Yeo Myeong has defeated a wild <Nameless Star>. Obtained 10 Experience Points!

So, is that the end? No. Another headache remains.

Right behind the hallway where I had smoked with <Nameless Star>, there is a room. Left alone, I opened the door to that room and went inside.

In the pitch-black darkness where the lights were not turned on, a man with long white hair wearing white clothes was blended in without a sound. He was laughing quietly, covering his mouth with a wide sleeve.

I glared at the white-haired man, the Gumiho.

“Is it funny?”

The Gumiho didn’t care and continued to laugh. As if he couldn’t feel the gruesome injuries carved all over his body. His shoulders shook intermittently.

“I’m glad you, at least, find it funny. Laugh all you want. It’s good to live with a laugh.”

My meeting with <Nameless Star> was a secret. I hadn’t told Chirpy or the other Incarnations, let alone San Gun. It was obvious that if I said I was going to make a deal with <Nameless Star>, everyone would risk their lives to stop me, and more than anything, I felt like San Gun’s status ailment switch would go click.

However, since I couldn’t get Dokkaebi’s cooperation, the only way to win this merging while minimizing damage was… this, no matter how much I thought about it.

Of course, I didn’t do it recklessly without something to rely on. I know the value of my own life. So, I set up an insurance policy. It’s just that it’s a bit of a crazed variable insurance policy that doesn’t even guarantee the principal.

The Gumiho is a guy who is dying to kill me. Even if I can’t trust anything else about the Gumiho, I could trust his murderous intent toward me.

‘Trust built on murderous intent. It brings a tear to my eye.’

Anyway… I believed that if <Nameless Star> tried anything funny with me, the Gumiho would react immediately. At the very least, he would say something like, “Back off, you punk. I’m killing him first. Take a number and wait.” That’s why I intentionally chose this place for the meeting with <Nameless Star>.

Where is this place? It’s the Gumiho’s new solitary cell on the 5th floor.

The Gumiho is no different from a time bomb that could go off at any moment. He has to be locked up and monitored, but keeping him in the very next room was a bit dangerous after all. So, taking the opportunity of the expansion construction called Dimensional Merging, I moved him to the 5th floor.

That was why a secret and relatively safe meeting with <Nameless Star> was possible.

‘Looking at him smirking like that, I don’t know if it was a good decision or not, but… I didn’t die, so it’s fine.’

“It was refreshing, My Husband.”

“What was?”

“You gave that man a piece of your mind. It was disgusting how he always put on airs as if he were somebody.”

It was the first moment where the Gumiho’s thoughts and mine coincided.