[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 117 – Non-Player V
Now, the appearance of void beca poignant.
Once, the graphic of flowing rivers was beautifully rendered in “virtual reality gas,” elevated to “AAA gas,” then downgraded to ordinary “3D gas,” and further regressed to “90s console gas.”
Ultimately, it degraded to the level of “dot gas.”
Here in this void, no seas, no rivers flowed. Shades of blue, sky blue, and white dots remained fixed.
Hillsides were adorned with modest shades of green and deep green. Trees were hues of dark brown and amber. Rocks were grey. Clouds were white.
Players, now, had transford into re dots of flesh color with slight decorations.
“…”
Every 1 year, 3 years, 9 years, 20 years, 50 years when Sim Aryeon logged in, her ‘graphics’ had deteriorated.
From a character that seed painstakingly crafted by a graphic designer in AAA gas, to one that could appear in any typical 3D ga, and finally resembling designs from low-resolution gas of the 90s.
By the last encounter, if one didn’t know her as Sim Aryeon, she would have appeared as nothing more than a polygonal figure with ‘green hair,’ ‘long hair,’ and ‘a large wooden peg leg (easel).’
SGnet also t its end.
-KoreanVillage: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpeg
-KoreanVillage: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.png
-KoreanVillage: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpg
-KoreanVillage: Today, the guild leader NPC enjoyed a mocha.jpeg
On the first page of the bulletin board, there was only one post left.
Even that was an old post from quite so ti ago.
In the past 100 years, Sim Aryeon had not logged in. Perhaps she too had thought she couldn’t endure this “dying ga” any longer.
Seo Gyu had beco a player hundreds of years ago, yet SGNet still persisted. This suggested that those “logged out” awakeners hadn’t simply died; they might have been drawn into the realm of the isolated god.
[Service Closure Notice]
Finally.
[Hello, players. This is the Administrator of “taphysical Play.”]
[Unfortunately, we have decided to end the service for “Reality Online.”]
[We sincerely thank all players who have enjoyed and loved “Reality Online” up until now.]
[The server for “Reality Online” will shut down in 72 hours.]
Three days.
Until now, it had been an eerie being, concealing its true form for centuries, but now it would erge from its sanctuary at the mont of global destruction.
I had waited. For over two hundred years, I had clung to the undamaged Dao sword, crossing the river.
And exactly 72 hours later,
[Hello, everyone. This is the Administrator of “taphysical Play.”]
Suddenly, in the mosaic sky made of dots, a vivid blue butterfly appeared.
The butterfly had a distinctly different “resolution” compared to its surroundings.
I tried to strike at the being as soon as it ca into view, but unfortunately, it didn’t reach the sky. Perhaps that mosaic sky didn’t occupy space at all.
Without concern for my attack, ssages continued to appear before .
[We are considering embarking on a new journey.]
[It may take a very long ti to reach a new destination, but we hope to et you again sowhere at the twisted end of the Möbius strip.]
[Thank you.]
[I really hope to see you again.]
Then.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah!”
From behind, a chanical sound was heard. It was strangely unfamiliar yet sohow familiar.
With a chill of resentnt, I gazed up at the alien-grade being and couldn’t help but turn around in surprise.
There.
“Guild Leader!”
Green dots for hair.
A flesh-colored dot for a face. Eyes and mouth made of black dots.
A dot mass much smaller than myself stood there.
“I’ve co!”
Dot by dot, with exaggerated movents of its arms back and forth, it walked towards . Step by step. Step by step. Each ti its shoes touched the ground, a faint sound effect of footsteps echoed.
The mass of dots embraced my waist tightly. But it was just a sound effect. I felt no sensation on my waist.
I hesitated for a mont before speaking. It had been so long since I conversed with a person that my tongue moved awkwardly.
“…Aryeon?”
“Yes!”
Dot smiled. Perhaps broadly.
Each ti it spoke, there followed a digital, buzzing sound effect. The chanical tones, barely mimicking human voices, rose and fell.
“How did you, no. Why are you here…?”
“Why not! The server’s closing notice ca out! I hurriedly logged in! And, well, I wanted to see Guild Leader one last ti with you!”
“…”
“Sorry for being late, Guild Leader. Hehe.”
I…
[Notification.]
[The server will automatically shut down in 30 seconds.]
I hugged Aryeon tightly.
There was no sensation as if embracing empty space. I stroked the perpetually unruly hair that stuck out unevenly. Still, there was no sensation.
“Guild Leader?”
“No. There’s nothing to apologize for. You have nothing to apologize for. Aryeon. If anything, I’m sorry as the Guild Leader. I… for what’s next. Trying to gather information sohow. So, I didn’t expect you to end up like this.”
“Guild Leader.”
Aryeon reached out a hand.
[The server will shut down in 20 seconds.]
“Don’t be sad, Guild Leader.”
[The server will shut down in 10 seconds.]
“I… Guild Leader, I really like the caral macchiato from that café.”
[The server will shut down in 3 seconds.]
[The server will shut down in 2 seconds.]
[The server will shut down in 1 second.]
“So, next ti…”
As the countdown ended, Dot’s world abruptly faded into 16-bit colors.
And without a mont’s wait, it transitioned to 8-bit, then 4-bit, a landscape composed solely of black and white.
Our world’s nutrients, reality, essence, were all being swallowed rudely by that empty butterfly above.
Aryeon’s lips trembled, but “Ah, ah, ah,” only the electronic sounds that were increasingly difficult to interpret as human voices echoed.
At that mont, I felt that the outcast was exerting all its power to “bless” . I also intuited that if I were enchanted by it, even the opportunity to end my own life would vanish.
I raised the last aura. Holding Aryeon a little tighter.
“········”
Now, Aryeon’s voice, descending beyond even 1-bit, was completely incomprehensible, but I was certain it was the sound of a smile.
Blackout.
My reality faced “server shutdown.”
9
There’s an afterword.
Quite a lot of it.
I’d like to swiftly reach the happy ending where I, Doctor Jang, begin my counterattack and crush the Outsider who dared to ddle with our world—unfortunately, attempting that is sothing for much later.
As the “Manager of Infinite Amusents” or the “Logout Ga” surpassed the 555th turn, strategies began to erge.
So, in this episode, instead of skipping straight to the 555th, let’s unravel so minor afterstories.
First, the first afterstory.
“What, where am I?”
“Huh? Busan Station? I was just at the park a mont ago…”
“Guild Leader? Guild Leader, where are you?”
Rustling.
Imdiately after being killed by the Outsider, I woke up to familiar murmurs.
Busan Station’s main hall.
It couldn’t be called my hotown, but it could be called the holand of the regressors. People trapped by void were bewildered.
“Ah.”
I felt a temporary disconnection.
No matter how much of a genius I was at ntal managent, returning right after such a bad ending wasn’t easy.
At tis like this, I relied on my own return routine. Quickly getting up, walking to the vending machine to get a Shirley Temple, suppressing the tutorial fairy to save Seo Gyu’s life, and then picking up a silver droplet from the souvenir shop. Habit. Suggestion. Consciousness.
Isn’t it interesting?
In a world where everything endlessly repeats in a circle, it was about drawing a slightly smaller circle than the world. Thus, the world beca the clock of hours and minutes, and Naite danced the rhythm of ti, becoming an eternal cycle.
I raised my upper body. Once again, I pushed my weight to turn over the leaf of life. And then.
Plop—
“….?”
Sothing entered my life.
A very light laptop lay on my thigh.
[Proofreader – Gun]
“A laptop?”
It was an unfamiliar object. Here, “unfamiliar” ans that I had never witnessed such a sight in all the turns.
My eyes widened.
I imdiately turned on the laptop.
Bzzt, ziiing…
The boot-up ti was slow.
My heart pounded. People murmured around , but I ignored them all.
The important thing now was that this unidentified object had suddenly intruded into my return, into the eternal cycle.
Soon, the desktop unfolded. A background as white as a blank canvas. There were no miscellaneous icons.
Just one untitled Notepad file lay at the top right of the screen.
“….”
Click.
I clicked on the file, and a Notepad appeared on the laptop screen.
[ What is this world? ]
One sentence.
At that mont, I sensed it. This laptop and the Notepad file were nothing other than a supernatural entity left behind by the Outsider, the “Manager of Infinite Amusents,” to .
Was it a reward for the winner who survived to the end in the ga he hosted? Or was this enigmatic Q&A itself another ga?
As the 135th version of , I couldn’t judge.
It was clear, however, that another item was being allocated to my return, following the staff and the staff sword Doha.
“Hmm.”
I typed a response in the Outsider’s Notepad without hesitation.
[ F U C K Y O U ]
….
There was no response from the laptop.
What was the problem?
After a mont’s thought, I realized it was my mistake. The question was in Korean, and I answered in English.
Clearly my fault. I quickly deleted the response and banged the keyboard again.
[좆 이 나 까 잡 수 세 요 개 씨 발 새 끼 야]
[PR/N: ‘F U C K Y O U’ is what the text says, not tho, im a good person 🙂 ]
Tick—
The laptop went black. It had turned off on its own.
After that, the laptop remained inactive until it moved on to the next turn, where it turned on again.
It seed that I only had two chances per turn to answer questions.
10
Here’s the second afterstory.
As I ntioned earlier, even though I obtained the item known as the laptop, I hadn’t succeeded in subduing the Outsider.
Therefore, a temporary solution was necessary.
I gathered Noh Doha and the Saintess and issued a solemn directive.
“If the status window appears, under no circumstances should you ever open it. We must now proceed with the groundwork to ensure this.”
“Hmm…”
“We must be decisive in our ans and thods. Under the authority of the Highway Control Bureau and the whispers of the Constellations, continually indoctrinate how harmful the ‘status window’ is.”
“Alright, understood…”
“If the Saintess detects any awakened individuals obsessed with the status window, notify us imdiately. The Highway Control Bureau will step in to arrest and imprison these awakened individuals.”
“Yes, Doctor Jang.”
“Those arrested should be sentenced to lifelong imprisonnt at hard labor. If necessary, they can even be treated as capital offenders. Creating rumors that they spread like a virus due to ntal anomaly should minimize backlash.”
Seventy-two death-row inmates mobilized to eradicate the Inunaki Tunnel. Many of them were awakened individuals imprisoned for the cri of ‘status window viewing.’
My strategy didn’t end there.
“The power of the Logout Ga ultimately stems from the fulfillnt of rising desires. Inflicting damage visible in numbers, gaining experience points, and leveling up.”
Simply suppressing awakened individuals wasn’t enough to prevent the spread of the ‘status window.’ Where there’s demand, supply inevitably follows.
An alternative was needed to sowhat satisfy people’s desires.
That was the ‘Cafe Hideout.’
-KoreanVillage: (1000m) This gentleman likes quiet cafes but doesn’t dislike bustling ones either. However, the lack of custors at the cafe left him reluctantly renting the place. Co down quickly since you’re bored.
└Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) 😣;;
└KoreanVillage: Idiotㅋㅋ Whether it’s 1000 ters or 1200 ters, there’s not much differenceㅋㅋㅋ
└Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) The fish is pretty 😣;;
└KoreanVillage: Fish? What fish?
└Baekhwa High School 9th grade: (1200m) ㅋ 😣;;
└KoreanVillage: ???
Depth system.
I quantified each awakened individual’s grade.
The difference between Level 10 and Level 11 was difficult to discern. However, I clearly designed the depths of 100 ters and 200 ters in the Cafe Hideout, again 300 ters and 400 ters, so everyone could easily see ‘how luxurious the interior and service were.’
That was my strategy.
Establishing a hideout in the Undersea Tunnel to prevent ntal aberrations from invading.
Designing the depth system and cafe to fulfill the rising desires of awakened individuals.
Continually spreading awareness about the ‘status window’ through the Highway Control Bureau’s laws and the Constellations’ warnings.
This rigorous defense succeeded, and after completing all precautions by Turn 197, we never faced annihilation by the Logout Ga again.
Now, as a regressor, my task is to wait until the exact strategy is developed.
There were no significant problems. As proven in this turn, I was very accustod to waiting.
Therefore.
“Aryeon-ah.”
“Yes, heh? What’s the matter…?”
“I found a sli on my walk, so I brought it. It’s yours now.”
“Wha-at? I was just feeling like looking for a sli, how did you know…?”
“And this is a donut from your favorite Haeundae bakery. Here.”
“Ho-at? Huh? Is today my birthday? Guild Leader, you’re so kind! A miracle that might last one day out of 700 days…”
Today’s afterstory concludes with us watching over our troublemaker happily eating a donut after playfully bopping a sli with a bat.
“Hehe… Thank you, Guild Leader!”
[Proofreader – Gun]
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