As I ascended toward the truth, I could feel the entire world turning the sky against , trying to crush my climb.
‘Professor, the Director—’
‘It’s fine. That thing won’t die from sothing like that.’
Director⧉ Hedwig—System⧉’s proxy and the link between gar and system—had gone into full ltdown.
– Cease all actions. Warning. Cease imdiately.
‘Systemless drones. What should we do?’
‘Run them over.’
They had co without a report filed. Information-analysis combat dolls from the Disciplinary Bureau. System-based Unnad⧉.
‘Professor Dante! Professor Dante! Stop the car! This is wrong!’
‘What the hell are those things?!’
‘That would be Professor Villemon from the System Council⧉.’
Professor Villemon and his group, ambushing us out of nowhere.
‘But, uh, Professor?’
‘What?’
‘I’m sleepy.’
‘...What?’
‘...zzZ.’
Ran⧉, at the wheel, suddenly slumped into a deep sleep.
‘Ugh, Professor...!’
‘Get her! Pull!’
‘Guhh...! Why the hell is she so heavy?!’
I barely managed to lift her—she was almost as heavy as Dominic—and haul her into the back seat. Then I grabbed the wheel.
‘Professor, the rear tire—!’
But System⧉, like countless rulers throughout history, repeated the sa mistake.
‘W-Was that an explosion just now?!’
‘We’re fine.’
The more pressure is applied to suppress sothing, the harder humans struggle to break free.
‘See? Perfectly fine.’
‘How is this fine?! If you’d been in the passenger seat, you’d be dead right now!!’
If you can’t completely block it off—if even the smallest crack remains—that pressure will eventually break.
‘Professor... wait, no, right?’
‘What?’
‘You’re not thinking of using that thing ahead like a ramp, are you? W-wait... no, no, wait—’
Adele scread.
The mana-powered vehicle launched into the sky.
And finally, the 40 minutes ca to an end.
⋮
That marked the second [Hotfix].
As the world blurred, my consciousness left my body and shot upward into the sky.
At so point, the continent below looked like a speck. I had beco a cot, cutting across the edge of the cosmos.
There, in the upper void of this empty universe, a window appeared once again—trickling faint light downward like from a basent.
At that mont, I wondered: maybe I wouldn’t be able to access [Offline] this ti.
Sure, the ga system⧉ had shut down, but I was still within System⧉’s domain.
But unexpectedly, the connection completed.
< ⧉ Entering location: [Offline] >
───
Na: Dante Hiakapo
Difficulty: [Hell Mode]
Seed: 3340 1414 5592 **** ****
Progress: Main Story 2
Total Combat Power: 206,182
───
Then—pure white.
I stood in a world of white pavent blocks, white space, white sky.
‘...It worked.’
But it occurred to : perhaps the Director’s temporary death had disrupted the logout process.
I’d successfully entered [Offline], yes, but it felt like I’d arrived too soon. Or perhaps the logout notice wasn’t transmitted at all.
Because—
“Umm... ha-pix... patch... patch adjustnts and notes... no, patch notes and ad... ad-jus... adjust-nts...”
In the white desert—
Sitting all alone—
Was Dino, blankly mumbling lines.
“Patch notes and ad... adjustnt info... I’ll deliver them... mm! Perfect.”
...Perfect, my ass.
His cheeks puffed out with a satisfied grin.
I’d planned to get revenge on this little shit for dunking into the water last ti, but now wasn’t the ti.
“Dino.”
“Awawawa...! B-big bro...??”
Startled, Dino turned to face .
“...Huh? Huhhh? When did you get here...? I didn’t hear anything...”
As expected, the Director’s death must’ve glitched the logout process. Which ant the system hadn’t notified Dino.
“Dino. I’m busy. And I’m in danger.”
“U-uh?”
“There’s no ti. Can you answer a few questions?”
His eyes widened. Then he rembered his purpose—he was here to help . He nodded.
“First, let check sothing.”
“Ah, no—!”
I snatched the patch notes from him and read.
───
[Hotfix] Patch and Adjustnt Notes
Fixed bug where 【Script】 would not appear during [Erosion].
Adjusted ‘Self-Control’ personality code of [Hero], suspected error corrected and reinforced.
───
That was reasonable.
When the 【Script】 was gone, it felt like losing my eyes and ears. I still rembered how disoriented I was when I first arrived in the Count’s Domain.
The Hero’s sudden blow-up had been insane too, so I was glad that got fixed.
But... sothing was off.
‘Suspected error’?
So they still haven’t pinpointed it?
And then, this:
───
Rewards
Star Shard ×50
───
Fine. That’s the basics.
Now onto the real question.
“Dino. The world is shifting from version 2.3.1 to 2.3.2, right? That ans this world’s been changing over ti, correct?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Then tell —what was this ga like in earlier versions? Like 1.1.1 or 2.1.1?”
Dino scratched his cheek.
“Hmm... I dunno the details, but...”
“Whatever you know. Fast.”
“O-okay. I do know that Ver. 1.0.0 was the version you played in the real world.”
1.0.0... The one I played back then.
Ah.
Right.
< Hiaka Academy: Departnt of Assassination Ver. 1.0.0 >
That was the original ga.
Also, that pop-up I once saw—Hero-Type Professor—had been labeled as 1.0.0, too.
< Hero-Type Professor: [Hell Mode] Ver. 1.0.0 >
Just like that.
“But now we’re at 2.x.x.”
“Yeah.”
Version 2.
That’s when players—including —started getting pulled into the ga.
From that point on, it had beco a “VR sandbox solo ga.”
‘And now we’re at 2.3.x...’
2.0 ➝ 2.1 ➝ 2.2 ➝ 2.3
This world—
It had gone through three major mutations in core design.
“Dino. Do you know what happened in 2.1.5?”
“Hmm?”
Dino blinked.
“...Why?”
“Because from what I’ve pieced together—bugs that originated in that version are still affecting things up to 2.3.1. So why is there no notice about that?”
“......”
Dino stood blankly for a mont... then shook his head.
“...I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“Um... that’s not sothing I can know. Old versions... don’t exist anymore. They’re gone.”
“But there were bugs. You an you really don’t know? Even though System⧉ is supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent?”
“S-System⧉ is an amazing Star, yes... but even Stars have limits. Just look at all the bugs that keep happening...”
Dino kept dodging. And when I pressed him further, he even avoided my gaze.
But throughout that back-and-forth, I realized sothing: his stance had shifted from ‘I don’t know’ to ‘It can’t be known’.
I was just about to dig into that detail when—
“Mm... mm...”
Dino visibly squird, face scrunching up in discomfort.
“Dino. You do know sothing.”
“...I-I don’t.”
“Tell . This is extrely important. If you don’t, no one else will.”
“...Nn.”
“What happened in 2.1.5?”
“......”
The cornered child’s expression began to crumble.
Then, as if it was all too much, he finally spoke.
“...Don’t tell anyone I said this.”
“Fine.”
He looked uneasy.
I gently pulled him closer.
“Um, well... the thing is... at the end of version 2.1.5, this world... fully... um... wait a sec...”
Then Dino turned his head and hunched over.
Was this so kind of failsafe System⧉ had embedded?
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just gim a minute...”
At the end of version 2.1.5, this world fully—
Fully what?
Why does System⧉ block access to past versions?
What ugly, shaful truth are they trying to bury?
‘The bug that occurred there continues to affect every world.’
⋮
< ⧉ So users are curious about what the 2.1.5 bug in [Hell Mode] looked like, and how it was resolved! >
< ⧉ Warnings flood in: “Beware the one closest to you.” >
⋮
Players from other dinsions already knew. That sothing huge—a [massive threat]—had occurred.
And many of them had likely died because of it.
...Is this any different from selling a murder room behind a fake real estate listing?
I had to know the truth.
“Bro.”
Dino, dazed, suddenly spoke again.
“T-there was nothing in version 2.1.5.”
“...What?”
“Nothing happened. Just a small bug caused by sloppy operations. That’s all.”
“...That’s it?”
“Yeah. And it was mostly fixed. Just one lingering bug here and there. But System⧉ is working really hard to fix it! So everything’s gonna be fine. No need to worry.”
“......”
I stared straight into his eyes.
You know what?
Sotis developers understand their own ga less than the players do.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Dino doesn’t talk like that.”
“......”
He paused—and then «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» smiled.
A sly, smug smile.
“Oh? You noticed?”
That’s right. This bastard wasn’t Dino.
Sothing had briefly hijacked Dino’s mind.
Or maybe it was System⧉ itself.
“Didn’t expect that.”
He leaned back, placing his hands behind him in a casual pose.
“So why did you try to lie to ?”
“I didn’t. I just told you what happened.”
“You an, that nothing happened in 2.1.5?”
“Exactly.”
“You ca all the way here expecting to buy that? How stupid do you think I am?”
“That’s not it.”
He raised his hands.
“I just don’t get why you keep fighting the narrative.”
“Because you’re hiding sothing.”
“We’re not hiding it. We just... don’t have a reason to show it. It’s not that important.”
“You’re seriously saying Curse of Instant Death isn’t important?”
“I don’t know... wouldn’t it be better if we just did our own things? System⧉ will keep doing its best, and you keep doing yours. No need to get involved with each other.”
He smirked.
“If you don’t like it, fine. Not like you can do anything anyway, right?”
“Oh yeah? You really think you know what I’m capable of?”
“You ca to [Offline] just to talk to Dino, didn’t you? And now that he’s silent... what can you even do?”
He raised his arms, exaggeratedly relaxed.
Total confidence.
“What can I do, huh...”
I didn’t answer.
I just stood up.
“...Huh? What are you doing? Trying to attack ?”
“......”
“Really? You’re gonna hit this kid? Kick.”
He laughed—mocking .
“What’s so funny?”
“Should I really have to explain this to you?”
“Explain what?”
“You’re trying to do sothing to right now, right? That’s pointless. You see Dino’s face? He’s a minor. A child. And in this space, minors are invincible. You can’t hurt them, can’t kill them, can’t strip—”
This bastard...
He didn’t understand how Dino interacted with players at all.
Probably a junior developer of so sort.
“So don’t try stu—huh?!”
I jumped on his small back—then I shrank too, fusing to him like glue.
And the bastard panicked.
“Wh-what the hell?! What is this?! Get off !”
“Pathetic worm. You don’t even know how anything here actually works.”
“What?!”
“And I actually tried to talk to you. I must’ve lost my damn mind.”
“Get... get off!! Damn it! I didn’t authorize this!”
“You don’t need to. It’s an automatically configured interaction. Now—stand.”
“......!?”
“Ghhhk!” He growled in frustration, but his body moved against his will—standing up like a puppet.
But that was just the beginning.
The ones who gave the real hints... were in [EndOcean].
I was going to et them now.
But there was one more thing I needed to do first.
[ START ]
I pressed the button above his head—and the fake Dino started to run, wobbling like a drunkard.
“Damn it! My body’s moving on its own...!”
And the button changed from [START] to sothing else:
[ JUMP ]
Now you’re fucked.
⋮
“AGH! AGH! AGH!”
< Current Score: 10,000 >
After nearly putting a hole through his skull, I finally reached [EndOcean].
From the beginning, System⧉ understood how a gar’s brain worked. That if you gave them sothing to overco, they would overco it.
So they made sure to never provide one.
They subtly manipulated everything—just enough to make Adele look like the problem. So I’d get rid of her.
But once I recognized the real threat—System⧉ glitched.
It did everything in its power to stop .
And all of that only carved a clearer path forward.
Because when you tell a gar, “Don’t go there”—
They’re going to go there.
And so, here I am.
Standing before a vast, endless sea—its surface stretching beyond the horizon.
Sowhere in this ocean...
I know the truth is waiting.
“Don’t go! I said don’t go in there!!”
The fake Dino scread behind .
But I didn’t stop.
I hurled myself into the brilliant, blue ocean.
Splash—!
< ⧉ Entering [EndOcean]... >
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