Bam-!
[Joon, I don’t have money. Buy a chicken for me.]
The fake Sunah ran towards me with all its might, kicking the front door which was barely hanging from the hinges.
“Aahh!”
Without hesitation, I swung my axe at it. But the fake Sunah dodged it by slightly changing direction and suddenly jumped at me.
[I want money, Aaaah!]
“Eeek!”
At that moment, the real Sunah, who was beside me, swung the wooden stick in hand with all her might.
Swish!
The wooden stick flew past my hair with a cracking sound. At the narrow distance between us, the stick hit the fake Sunah squarely in the face.
Smack-
Thud.
“Haa, haa, Sunah, thank you!”
“Here they come! Here they come again!”
Soon, another Dukhun, perceivably a fake, rushed from outside, wading through the mud.
[Where is Watashi’s happiness in that!]
[T/N: ‘Watashi’ is a Japanese word which means ‘My’, ‘My own’ etc.]
Tukang-!
But before it could pass the threshold, it was hit in the head by an arrow fired by Hayoon. Its huge body fell back in the back as its head got buried in the mud, splattering them around.
Thump.
[You guys! You guys are terrible at studying so why bother fighting!]
“When did I ever say that!”
A fake Gyeongwon tried to climb up through the window, exclaiming loudly. However, it was hit by the iron rod held in Gyeongwon’s hands, almost knocking it out.
Thwack, thwack.
Another fake Hayoon rushed through the front door while I was momentarily distracted. I could vaguely see a figure running up to the second floor from behind, which was the reason for my distraction.
Kang!
The fake Hayoon slightly twisted its head to dodge the arrow fired by the real Hayoon. Turning her head around, she started laughing wildly.
Whish.
While Hayoon was busy reloading another bunch of arrows, the fake Hayoon rushed inside, its back hair flashing past us. Then, it jumped into the center of the living room before we could stop it.
“Kuso kyaro!”
[T/N: Kuso yarō (クソ野郎) is Japanese which means ‘You piece of shit’, ‘Bastard’ etc. The ‘k’ pronounced before ‘yaro’ was most probably done in a panic.]
Swish.
Just like before, the fake Hayoon stepped aside and swiftly dodge the poker swung by Dukhun. Amidst our surprised eyes, it rushed towards Gyeongwon, who was still wrestling with his replica at the window.
Clamp- thump!
“Ahhh! What the hell is this!”
Gyeongwon let out a surprised scream at the sudden weight that appeared behind his back. He yelped in shock when someone grabbed him from behind while he was wrestling with his fake self.
“Take it off! Take it off!”
At his scream, Sunah rushed to him with the wooden stick and began hitting the fake Hayoon who was hanging from Gyeongwon’s back.
The two of them, Gyeongwon and fake Hayoon, were tangled together. Gyeongwon was still struggling to stop the fake Gyeongwon from entering through the window while the fake Hayoon was hanging from his back like a koala. I wanted to help him but if I swung the axe rashly, Gyeongwon might get hurt. Instead, I grabbed the fake Hayoon’s by its hair and tried to pull it off of Gyeongwon’s back.
“Get off!”
“Ahhhhh! Aahhhh!”
However, its grip on Gyeongwon’s waist was strong as if it was stuck to him with glue. Wrapping its arms and legs strongly on his neck and waist, it suddenly bit Gyeongwon behind the neck.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Aaaaahh! Aaahhh-”
“Move!”
As we hastily stepped back at the sound of Hayoon’s shout, an arrow flew with a cheerful metallic sound and struck squarely on the fake’s side of the head.
Puk-
Plop.
Finally, the fake Hayoon lost the strength on its limbs and slowly fell down. While we were momentarily distracted by the sudden death, although a fake, the fake Gyeongwon took the opportunity to attempt to climb through the window again.
[Those who are worse in study than me should stand behind.]
“You punk, get the hell out of here!!”
Enraged, I swung the axe in my hand and struck the arm of the fake who was halfway inside through the window. Just at one hit, it fell down backwards in the mud, without being able to scream.
[The Ghost Story Club is nothing but a fucking shit!]
This time, it was my own replica that rushed inside. The moment I turned around, it jumped on me. I fell back at the sudden and unexpected weight and we both rolled around on the floor.
“This stinky bastard!”
[This bastard!]
Roll, roll.
We both rolled around for a few feet before stopping. Fortunately, I quickly gained the upper hand over the fake and immediately began hitting the fake Lee Joon in the face.
“Go away! Go far away!”
Smack. Smack.
[Wait! Please wait!]
Not being able to handle the constant onslaught of my fists falling on him, the fake Lee Joon shouted, begging me to stop hitting it.
[Gyeongwon! Help me!]
“I’m coming, Prez!”
“Don’t be fooled! It’s the fake one, I’m the real Joon!”
Not knowing if he got my message, Gyeongwon strode to where I and the fake Joon were wrestling, holding an iron rod in hand.
“I know! I know which Prez is real!”
Although that was what he said, he raised his hands and swung the iron rod at me.
“You’re a fake too!”
Smack!
I quickly raised my arm, trying to shield myself from the incoming rod. My head was covered by my arms, but the moment the rod fell on my arms, a bolt of tremendous pain shot through my body.
“Yeaaaa!”
Fortunately, Sunah was quick to notice the commotion here and immediately approached us. She swung the wooden stick in her hands mercilessly at the back of the fake Gyeongwon.
The fake Gyeongwon was instantly blown away with blood dripping down its nose.
I looked towards the window and realized that our Gyeongwon was still struggling to stop the fakes of ours from climbing through the window. He was swinging the iron rod in his hands in a threatening manner, attempting to somehow scare the fakes away. He didn’t seem to have given any attention to this side.
“Huff, huff…. Joon. Are you okay….?”
[Yeah, I’m okay.]
“Yeah, I’m okay…. this bastard!!”
Before I could answer Sunah’s question, the fake Joon who was lying beneath me answered instead of me as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Looking at Sunah’s face which was turning paler by second, for not being able to distinguish who was real and who was fake, I could comprehend that a fierce psychological battle to determine what should be done was occurring inside her head. So I quickly picked up the axe that had fallen beside me in our struggle and unhesitatingly swung it, aiming at the fake’s neck.
“Die you dirty punk!”
Puk-
[Keuk-]
In the instant, the fake Joon collapsed with blood gushing from his neck.
“Joo, Joon….?”
“I’m the real one, you asshole. Don’t you dare to take my place.”
My eyes glared at the fake me lying down in a pool of blood as I wiped the sweats on my forehead, panting lightly.
None of our bodies were suitable for such strenuous activities, so a little struggle exhausted me easily.
Sunah nodded to herself, as if relieved that the one who died was truly the fake Joon, and the real one was still alive. Then, she quickly turned around and went to help others.
[Oi-oi. I am the President-]
Another monster, this one had my face plastered on Dukhun’s large body, staggered in. Without hesitation, both Gyeongwon and Sunah swung the blunt weapons in their hands and instantly knocked him out.
[Joon, take me with you.]
Crawl-
[I won’t cause any trouble, so please take me with you.]
A fake Sunah, with six legs, came crawling to me like a humanoid spider. Hayoon shot an arrow at it which landed squarely on its head.
“Huff, huff, In Hayoon, that’s a 100% hit…”
“Gyeongwon, is your nape okay?”
“It’s okay, Prez… I just accidentally scratched it with my fingernails because it itches.”
Gyeongwon showed us where he was bit earlier by a fake Hayoon. The skin of his bare nape had extreme redness as if blood was going to pour out any moment. It looked particularly hideous and painful against his pale skin.
Although the wound didn’t seem deep, I could tell It must be hurting immensely.
“Here comes another bunch! Again!”
“Joon, get behind me!”
As another wave of fakes surged in, the members hurriedly took their stance. Sunah immediately stood before me and blocked my path while urging me to stay behind.
Understanding that the current situation was against our favor, I quickly gave urgent instructions.
“Second floor! Let’s go to the second floor! There are two entrances for them here, so we’re ambushed easily! Once we get to the second floor, we only have to block one door!”
“Yeah! But the second floor must have already been taken over!”
We all saw, or rather heard, something running up to the second floor earlier, before the chaos of other fakes ensued.
Who knew why, but we hadn’t heard a single sound from that person who went to the second floor even after a long time. Although the ground floor was a mess with us running and shouting, the second floor was too quiet.
“Damn it, we have no other choice! It’s late, but we have to secure the second floor to suppress them!”
“Understood!”
As soon as the instruction was over, the members rushed out the front door, with me in the front.
Creak, creak.
“Kyaaaaak!”
As I was about to climb the stairs through the mud, I heard Sunah screaming behind. My eyes immediately snapped to her direction. Looking down, the fake Dukhun with my face plastered on, was holding her ankle, who was climbing behind me.
[Gaaaaaahhh.]
“Aaaahhh!”
I swung my axe at the fake Dukhun that was holding Sunah’s ankle. Only then did it lose its strength and loosened its hold on Sunah.
“Huff, huff, what, what the hell…. I thought I already killed it.”
“It’s a zombie, President! After they die, they become zombies and will trouble us again!”
“What the fuck.”
As long as the night stretches, monsters, who were none other than but our own replica, would come into existence in an infinite loop.
According to the original game rules, corpses will turn into zombies. Which meant we had to kill one monster twice.
In such a hopeless predicament, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible for us to survive.
“Climb up! We gotta climb up first!”
“Huff, huff.”
The rain was still pouring down hard, as if it had no intention of stopping.
We climbed the stairs in a line, our footsteps frenzied.
[Rich, we’re gonna be so rich.]
Another fake was seen rushing towards us from below, splashing the mud around.
“Kyaaaa!”
Kang-!
Hayoon’s arrow slipped through the air once again, hitting the fake Gyeongwon that was trying to climb the stairs behind us.
Puk-
However, it was pitch dark all around, not to mention, it was also pouring heavily. The rain and the darkness limited her visibility, so this time the arrow landed on the fake’s shoulder.
[Ahhhh… Call the police, the police.]
“Shut up!”
Annoyed, Ahn Gyeongwon swung the iron rod in his hands at his own replica, pushing it down the stairs.
[Ahhhh… I’m going to sue you…….]
The fake Gyeongwon rolled down the stairs, not before throwing a harmless threat at us. In the end, his neck snapped at one of the steps and he fell face down in the mud.
“Hurry, hurry!”
“Gasp, gasp.”
Pitter, patter.
Boom, boom.
Lightning flashed, wind blew heavily, rain poured down.
We climbed the stairs in one breath and opened the wooden door on the second floor.
Creak- bang!
“Get in! Get in!”
“Huff, huff.”
Since there was no fireplace or any source of lights inside, it was completely dark.
Hastily, we got inside the room on the second floor and closed the door.
“Huff, huff.”
“Huff, huff.”
We tried to catch our breath, the sprint had took a lot of our energy.
[Oi! Where did you all go! I told you I bought some bread!]
[Joon… Don’t leave me… Joon…]
The voices of the fakes, desperately searching for us from below, were heard.
“Huff, huff… But, why is it so quiet here? Didn’t a few of them climb to the second floor earlier?”
“I, I don’t know… It’s so dark that I can’t see anything…”
Boom, boom.
Lightning struck outside at that time, brightening the dark plain, as well as the room.
Boom, boom.
At the momentary light that flashed by, a strange creature, sitting at the centre of the room, was revealed. The creature, with the body and faces of the five of us, stared at us with 10 eyes, not even seeming to breathe.
Flash-
We stared at the monster, silently, without being able to form any coherent words.
Slosh. Slosh.
The monster, with many pieces of flesh mixed together, crawled towards us, dragging its heavy body.
Boom, boom.
The thunder flashed again with another flash of lightning, brightening the room once again and revealing the creature.
Among the five heads it had haphazardly strewn around the body, I could see the mouth of the face that looked like mine opening wide.
[Hello, guys.]
[Do you know what this space refers to?]
Slosh. Slosh.
My eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness.
Now I could see the silhouette of the horrible monster without needing the help of the flash of lightning.
[Ah, can I explain that? It’s my duty after all.]
Among the lumps of flesh, Gyeongwon’s glasses sparkled as it opened the mouth.
[Okay, Gyeongwon. Please explain.]
[This space, Prez, without any doubt, is different from the rest of the game world. Needless to say, it’s a space beyond the edge of the world, the ‘Far Away Land’.]
[Oi oi, I know that much.]
Under our horrified eyes, the five heads mushed together began chatting amongst themselves.
[A space where only random variables created by procedural level generation, beyond the developer’s control, run wild. Doesn’t it sound like the description of true hell that replicates everything?]
[Hehe. That’s not all, listen carefully.]
Gyeongwon’s head smirked as he lifted the glasses.
[This game wasn’t created simply to entertain people and sell it. Behind the guise of the game lies the conspiracy of Clover Corporation’s scientific experiment.]
[Really? You aren’t joking, right?]
[Hehe, Prez… Joke about a huge conspiracy woven by a multinational corporation that transcends nations? That’s already a well-known fact. You may be surprised to hear that the story is pretty old.]
[Oh, I see……]
My head, nodding among the mush of flesh as if in agreement with Gyeongwon’s words, was seen through the dark.
[You all know that a few years ago, a famous Korean Go player lost to Clover Corporation’s AI, right?]
[Of course. It was a very famous fact. It was even covered in the news.]
[What do you think it means for a large corporation that has to hide its source all the way down to the very bottom to disclose its technology so openly, Prez? Anyone could steal such advanced technology. Truth to be told, the mass usage of AI started happening after that.]
[Hmm, really? I’ve never thought about the mindset of a large corporation….]
[Actually, that kind of technology was already completed 10 years ago.]
[10 years ago…?]
My face, amidst the amalgamation of flesh, showed a surprised look.
[Yes. 10 years ago.]
Gyeongwon’s head amidst the flesh smirked, pushing up the glasses.
[Clover Corporation, which was far ahead from any company. There were rumors that they were developing technology by torturing aliens. Most certainly, the new products they were releasing to the world were technologies that had already been completed a long time ago.]
[But if that technology was completed long ago, they could just sell them quickly and make money! Why would they hide that?]
[They weren’t in a hurry to earn profit. They were a company unrivaled by any other technological company. There wasn’t any company second to them in the field of technology. The world is developing too suddenly, so as to not surprise people and make them suspicious of them, they slowly release their technology.]
[Oh, oh my goodness.]
My face, in the midst of the mixture of others, showed a surprised expression again, but Sunah showed a look of bewilderment.
[Joon… I don’t understand…….]
[Gyeongwon, I think Sunah doesn’t understand. Can you explain it a little more easily?]
[Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t need to feel bothered if you didn’t understand what I explained. The important part starts now.]
Gyeongwon’s glasses shone in the darkness as he pushed them up.
[This game is a simulation world that recreates a virtual universe using advanced artificial intelligence. But modern computer specifications can’t operate it, so they compromised the specifications by setting the graphics to hexahedron cubes as the minimum unit.]
[A virtual universe.]
[Hundreds of millions of players around the world are playing this simulation game on behalf of Clover Corporation and providing research data.]
[Oh, but how can such an advanced technology run on a regular computer?]
[It’s possible because highly advanced AI processes the calculations on your behalf. The graphics are rotten, too, just for that reason.]
[…Well, we can’t judge it by the graphics of 2019.]
[However, a problem soon arose. This virtual universe had a gravitational pull by its very creation, and it was pulling the consciousness of the players into the game.]
The squishy creatures was seated in the center of the room and continued to chat amongst the mashed up heads.
[10 years ago, the first researcher, whose consciousness was pulled into the game world during the development phase, was none other than Herobrine.]
[I see… The first person whose consciousness was pulled into the game world….]
[The developers quickly started researching the reason behind the problem, and soon discovered that the force that was pulling people’s consciousness came from beyond the edge of the game world. Just as matter generates gravity simply by existing, this world also generates a force simply by existing.]
[….This is where we are now.]
[The programmers rewrote the code to define a safe space that could be controlled within the game as the map of the world. They installed a transparent wall, ensuring that no one could ever cross it and go beyond it. After that, the problem of people’s consciousness being sucked into the game world disappeared, and became a mere rumor circulating on the internet and around the world.]
The head of Dukhun, among the mass of flesh, grimaced and complained after hearing its words.
[Oi, oi, the problem didn’t go away! Aren’t we trapped in the game like this now!]
[That’s exactly what I mentioned when explaining those rumors before coming here. The rumor about hackers breaking into the game’s security and unlocking something that ‘should not be unlocked’ was actually true.]
Gyeongwon among the mash of flesh continued its explanation while leisurely raising its glasses.
[The transparent wall which was created to stop the people from venturing into the world beyond the border was done with advanced technology and experienced first-class programmers. But the third-rate hackers tried to break the security by breaking the code and ended up unlocking the parts that they shouldn’t have unlocked.]
[The illegal version we’re playing….]
[That’s right. The hackers realized late that they had unlocked something dangerous and attempted to quickly recode the transparent wall back, to block the entrance to the edge of the world. However, they were just third-rate hackers without an ounce of experience or advanced technology. The force flowing out from beyond the edge of the world wasn’t blocked by their transparent wall at all.]
[And they released the files on the internet in that state….]
[That’s right.]
[They’re total scumbags.]
Gyeongwon’s head in the lump of flesh let out a smile of satisfaction when it saw the members were understanding its explanation well.
[Then here’s the problem. Herobrine, the first person whose consciousness was trapped in the game in the very beginning. What happened to him?]
[Hmm, I wonder?]
All the members’ on the mass of flesh showed worried looks.
[Maybe he couldn’t escape and is still trapped here?]
[Correct answer.]
Hands of the creature twitched as if wanting to clap.
[We are well aware that only when we logout from the original game world will the consciousness return to its original owner. There are no particular side effects. The problem is the place where you exit from the game and the extent of time you stay in the game.]
[Place and time.]
[As I’ve mentioned earlier, Herobrine, he was a researcher in the middle of the development stage. When he was helping with the research, the wall at the edge of the world hadn’t been built yet at that time. He wandered around the world for a long time and ended up in the wrong place.]
[So you’re saying he got stuck in a strange place like us. How long did he stay there?]
Hayoon’s face among the other faces on the creature, which had been silent in response to my face’s question, answered instead.
[Isn’t the time flow of the game world different from reality?]
[Yes, that’s right. A day in the game is 20 minutes in reality. After Herobrine was sucked in, all the scientists of Clover Corporation were mobilized to try and solve the problem. But unfortunately, it took several months.]
[Several months equal to….]
[About 20 years in this place.]
[Oh, my god….]
The faces of the members attached to the body of the creature all showed a horrified expression.
[He had already been killed by monsters in the game a long time ago. But his consciousness and personality were constantly being replicated and divided within the program, to the point where even the smallest piece of his consciousness was split and absorbed here.]
[It’s horrible….]
[This is the end result of someone who gets sucked here.]
The creature, which had been curled up on the ground, slowly stood up.
Its body was twice the size of ours, and Gyeongwon’s face plastered onto the creature almost touched the ceiling.
Five mouths of the creature moved together.
[Reason never existed in this world. After splitting, duplicating, and then reuniting, and repeating that endlessly, all that remains is a jumbled personality, a monster with incomprehensible consciousness.]
[After repeating endlessly, all that remains is a jumbled personality, a monster with incomprehensible consciousness.]
[Repeating endlessly, remains a jumbled personality.]
[A jumbled personality.]
[Jumbled jumbled jumbled jumbled jumbled.]
[Joon….]
The faces that had been moving their lips in a sync as if in a trance, slowly shifted their attention to us.
[Joon… Come here, let’s become one……]
Sunah’s face whispered quietly while looking at me.
[So that no one can separate us…]
And the monster slowly crawled toward us.
* * *
Dud, dud, dud.
‘F*ck, why isn’t he answering my phone?’
Jinhee’s old motorcycle, which she bought secondhand from someone she knew, parked in front of the building of the internet cafe with a harsh sound.
Lifting the windshield of her tinted motorcycle helmet, she tried to call Lee Joon. However, her expression soon turned into annoyance at his unresponsive behavior.
‘I should just smoke a cigarette and get in.’
With a rough gesture, she parked the motorcycle near the entrance, took out a lighter from the front pocket of her rider jacket, and lit up a cigarette.
“Phew.”
Evening was approaching above the peaceful neighborhood of the internet cafe.
The smoke from Jinhee’s cigarette coiled up above to the neon sign, mixing and dispersing, creating a haze.
T/N: In case the readers are confused, some countries in Asia consider the first floor as the second floor. It’s like the ground floor is first floor and first floor is considered second floor.
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