HACKED 9

I suspect that title might cause a lot of misunderstanding… but my <Nine-Tailed Maegu of Cheonggu> is a male character. He is, without a doubt, a male fox.

The typical Gumiho in legends and folktales is usually depicted as a woman, but the reason he is male is… because of <No Lifer>’s AI system.

In this lucky hit of a game, even if you pull the same character, the appearance is different every time. Female, male, child, elderly, flora and fauna, machine, fairy, ghost, and so on.

By that logic, even if they are Avatars with the same fox attribute, their appearances vary each time they are pulled. There are appearances of beautiful boys and girls with fox ears and tails, and there are appearances like cute, deformed baby fox dolls.

There was even an appearance where a fox head was synthesized onto a human body. I remember seeing that and thinking, “Hmm, that design seems like it would stimulate the demand of a suspiciously specific group.”

Anyway, that is why, although he is a male, he uses a way of speaking befitting a Gumiho, leading to the current situation…

“This fox has waited far too long.”

For the day you eat my liver?

“I thought of my husband the whole time…”

Thoughts of killing me?

“Because no matter how long I waited, you did not come…”

The hem of the jang-ot was softly lifted, and an arm reached out from within. A hand so white it made me doubt if it was even alive, with things—I couldn’t tell if they were tendons or bones—protruding bumpily. At the tips, fingernails about half a span long were sharply grown.

“If I do this, you will never leave again, will you.”

It whispered lowly and scratched my neck with its fingernail tip as if cutting it. Even though my vital point was being clawed, I did not resist. To be precise, I couldn’t. My entire body was frozen in excessive terror.

The flesh was deeply gouged. The sensation of blood flowing down my neck and soaking into my collar was vivid. If the wound had been just a little deeper, an artery might have been torn.

The fingernail that had gouged down my neck stopped above my chest. It was exactly above where my heart and other major organs are located. It held the fingernail vertically and pressed down on my chest.

It felt like a slender blade was piercing in from above. I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Ugh…”

Inevitably, the fingernail tore through my clothes and touched my skin. I felt a stinging, sharp sensation. As I inhaled, it dug in a little more. And then a little more.

Just as the pain was about to become even more severe…

“Mister Kim, let’s have a wrestling match!”

A surprisingly loud shout rang out thunderously.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It was the sound that had occurred earlier, when I first dropped into this place. The difference was that back then, it sounded dull from above the ceiling, but now it was heard right in front of my nose.

“I said, let’s have a wrestling match!”

A pair of strangely colored flames flashed in the darkness. Subsequently, a massive figure revealed itself.

It was a man of a stature that could only be described as giant. For someone wearing a hanbok, his appearance was Western. With white skin, light-pigmented hair and eyes, and features so distinct they were almost glaring.

The man shouted again with that same terrifying vocal volume as before.

“What, a fox? Get lost! Mister Kim is going to play with me. Hand him over!”

Thump!

He stomped his feet while huffing. It felt as if the whole world was shaking.

“…….”

Wow, this time it’s my well-raised 4-star tanker. <The Bloodless Dokkaebi>…

The sight of my digital children, crafted with my blood-like money, bickering over who gets to kill me. How heartwarming. It’s so touching I could cry.

<The Bloodless Dokkaebi> approached with surprisingly fast, large strides. And then…

Thud!

“I told you to get lost!”

He flat-out kicked the Gumiho.

“…….”

Nine blue fires wavered, casting dizzying shadows on the cave walls. The Gumiho soon braced the floor and raised his body. A sound like a beast scratching its throat flowed from between his teeth.

I stared blankly at the sight before suddenly snapping to my senses. Now was not the time for this.

“Ah.”

I staggered to my feet. Only now did my thoughts turn to the Chirpy in my arms. Fortunately, I hadn’t let go of him even in the midst of this.

“Myeong, bl, blood…”

The fellow, stuck tight to my chest, was trembling uncontrollably. Now that I thought about it, blood was continuously flowing from my neck where the Gumiho’s fingernails had clawed me.

It stained the short-sleeved T-shirt I wore underneath completely, and the bloodstains even spread to the hoodie on the outside. Since it was dark purple clothing, for the bloodstains to look this large and vivid… The amount of bleeding must be significant.

Because I’m currently pushed into an extreme situation, adrenaline is pumping out, so the pain and bleeding don’t feel very real. However, it felt like my physical condition would turn into a rag in just a little while.

Fortunately, the two enemies were busy clashing with each other and were not paying attention to me. The only time to move was now.

While holding Chirpy with one arm, I braced my other arm against the cold, bumpy wall and raised my body. Then, I turned my back on them and ran into the darkness where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

˙✧˖°🎮 ⋆｡˚

“It’s over there!”

How long had I run? Chirpy shouted urgently.

Stairs appeared ahead. The stairs, which hadn’t shown so much as a glimpse even as I wandered around earlier, appeared far too nonchalantly, as if saying, “I was here from the beginning.”

Perhaps some kind of magical thing the Gumiho had placed on this space… To be precise, the <Fox, Oh Fox> skill must have worn off. To think I did all that nonsense for so long just to find the stairs right in front of my nose. I was about to pour out curses… but they went back in due to the sharp pain spreading through my neck.

The moment I gripped the handrail and placed one foot on the stairs, a groan escaped involuntarily.

“Argh!”

I just remembered, besides my neck, my chest was also stabbed a bit. As I bent my upper body to climb the stairs, a throbbing sensation surged up. I suppressed the pain and moved my legs. However, my head was dizzy from the continuous pain.

Because I felt like I would truly lose consciousness if I didn’t at least talk, I asked Chirpy while gasping for breath.

“How many floors are left?”

“Pardon?”

“The… the Central… where you said I can see all that information…”

“The Central Command Room?”

“Yeah… that.”

“That is on the top floor, and since we are currently on the lowest floor, you must go up at least 10 more floors from here.”

“This shitty game. Why is the structure like this?”

“It’s because when you first started, Myeong, you chose a diamond-shaped island that is long vertically. If it had been a terrain like a wide meadow or a beach, all facilities would have been at the same height.”

“The shitty one was me, then.”

As I climbed the spiral staircase, a space where light entered appeared for the first time. There was no lighting turned on in the hallway at all, but there was no problem securing my vision because of the sunlight seeping through the windows.

Overall, it was like a space battleship or a station from a sci-fi work, but with a strange fantasy color embedded in various places. A place where patterns similar to magic circles were blended without dissonance between complex control panels and electronic parts.

The Pantheon I created and cultivated. It was the place I had seen countless times as the background screen from the moment I first started <No Lifer>.

“Right, what about the elevator? We can just go up by elevator without having to suffer like this.”

I was impressed by my own idea. Right, there’s no way a building this high-tech—or rather, seemingly ahead of its time—wouldn’t have an elevator.

“There is one, but…”

“But?”

“It hasn’t been operational for a long time.”

“What do you mean?”

“All facilities in the Pantheon run on the energy of the Compiler, who is the master of this place. Since you are the one who created this place, Myeong, it wouldn’t be strange to say that every single element making up this space is an alter ego of yours. However, as the Compiler, you have been absent for a long time…”

“…….”

“Electricity and communication have been cut off for a very long time, and by now, there will be no food or water either. Since the Avatars are not human and do not need to eat, drink, or sleep, they won’t die, but…”

“Their mental state must be a mess.”

“That’s it.”

Suppose I became someone whose body had no health problems even if I didn’t sleep. For a day or two, I wouldn’t feel any different from usual even if I stayed up all night. I might even be happy that the time I can be active has increased.

But what if I endured for a week, a month, a year, ten years without a wink of sleep? My physical health might be fine, but would my mind be sane?

The act of eating and drinking is the same. Eating has a meaning beyond simply filling a meal and getting the calories needed for survival.

Coming home after going out on a cold day and warming your body while drinking hot soup. Having a moment of leisure with a cup of coffee after working with your head stuck in a monitor. Putting a sweet snack in your mouth when you’re dizzy from using your brain too much.

All these trivial things allow a person to live like a person. They loosen nerves pulled taut by extreme stress and maintain biological rhythms. There’s a reason why they tell you to match your sleep time to the local time when you go abroad and can’t adjust to the time difference.

And right now, none of that is happening for my Avatars. Hmm. It’s the worst.

Then what do I do now. Do I have to toil and climb all ten floors of stairs? Doing something that would drain me even when in full condition, with an injured body?

“For now, lead the way. To the elevator.”