Chapter 116 – Non-Player IV

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 116 – Non-Player IV

7

Let’s talk about something else for a moment.

The phenomenon where humans become influenced by the presence of anomalies is often described as “gaining faith,” but there’s a much better term for it.

To be enchanted.

To be fascinated. To be captivated.

If you look at the Chinese character for enchantment, it contains the character for ghost.

Spirit. An irresistible attraction. Impulse. The ancients detected ghosts—i.e., anomalies—within that irresistible pull.

They also issued countless warnings.

Every anomaly is different. Naturally, the words to describe the attraction of anomalies are numerous.

Each of these characters means enchantment.

The reason why the ancients did not stick to one term and instead used various terms like 魅, is because even characters can be haunted by anomalies, and haunted characters turn into spells.

[PR/N: ‘魅’ has different meanings according to the context, charm, enchant, allure, bewitch, fascinate, depending on context, which is what the author is trying to say here, they didn’t use a ‘single’ word but many. Next few lines will explain it better I guess.]

It’s the same reason I use countless aliases when referring to anomalies.

If an anomaly were to occupy a single character or name entirely, it would be akin to providing the anomaly with a home. Thus, calling an anomaly by its name is essentially:

“Hey, ghost. Anomaly. This is your home. Come here.”

To reiterate, an anomaly’s name should never be fixed. If you must call it, use a different name each time, and if you lack the knowledge or experience to do so, it’s better not to call it at all.

As the founder of the ‘Library Society,’ I deliberately created multiple methods to call anomalies.

For instance, even for the Ten Clans.

‘The Crawling Chaos Cthulhu,’ ‘The Shadow Lord,’ ‘The Thorn Hell,’ ‘The Lurker.’

I used various aliases. Considering that the Ten Clans is not a mental-type anomaly but merely a physical one, the precautions might seem excessive.

Imagine then, how much more cautious one must be with the isolated god Endless.

‘The Celestial Transform,’ ‘School Ghost Story,’ ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,’ ‘The Hundred Stories,’ ‘The Four-Letter Taboo,’ ‘The Hundred Tales,’ ‘The White Tales,’ and going further, though not often mentioned in stories, ‘Heraclitus’ Fire Ring,’ ‘The Backrooms,’ and so on...

I provided humans with more than enough options for calling them.

Only by doing so can anomalies be prevented from nesting, pushed away by the barrage of characters.

Today’s episode is no different.

At the start of the story, I named the anomaly ‘Online Game.’ But by now, you’ve probably guessed a more fitting name.

‘Logout Game.’

The fate of those captivated by this anomaly was an exit from reality.

-Anonymous: Crap game, no content.

-Anonymous: These days, I rarely log into the game. Even daily quests are a hassle...

-Anonymous: When does this game end?

-Anonymous: Looking for a Level 40 party!! No NPC porters, unfortunately.

-Anonymous: All the die-hard fans are gone, not many people left here.

-Anonymous: Wow, why is this dead game’s board still alive?

The periods during which players logged out grew longer, and the number of users logging into SG Net dwindled.

The community became increasingly desolate.

Throughout it all, there was one well-known member who persistently posted nonsense from start to finish.

-KoreanVillage: Today’s cafe mocha made by the Guild Leader NPC.png

└Anonymous: You still haven’t quit? What level are you?

└KoreanVillage: This great one has been max level for a while, now this one is just decorating the guild house instead of running dungeons.

└Anonymous: Max level, damn.

└Anonymous: But how does an NPC act as a Guild Leader? Is it a bug?

└KoreanVillage: The game company hasn’t patched it, so it’s probably not a bug?

Sim Aryeon.

Even as others quit the ‘game’ one by one, she continued.

What she did after logging into the game wasn’t much.

“Ah, what a crap game... It’s been two years without an update, no wonder players keep leaving, sigh...”

Complaining about the game.

“Guild Leader! Look at this! [Coffee Beans]! Hehe. Guild Leader, your affinity goes up if you get this item, right? Haha. It’s a rare drop from the Necromancer Lich, and I gathered them all for you! Come on, increase! Affinity, hurry up and increase...!”

Obsessing over an affinity system I couldn’t comprehend, bombarding me with gifts.

“Hehehe, hihi. Hihihi...”

Catching slimes at the Han River and beating them in every conceivable way.

Her gameplay pattern was so monotonous that even I couldn’t help but think, “Doesn’t she ever get bored?”

Perhaps she did get tired, as her daily logins gradually stretched to 1 day, 3 days, and 7 days.

Even that was more consistent compared to other players.

In fact, not only players, but NPCs were also dwindling.

The light was shimmering along the riverbank.

I calmed myself, made two cups of coffee, and went back down to the basement, only to find Noh Doha’s motionless body.

[Proofreader – Gun]

“...”

I took one coffee back upstairs and never returned to the basement.

The next day, a message appeared before me.

[Urgent Patch Notice.]

[The Administrator of the Great Play of All Things announces the following: A severe bug was discovered in the game around 3 PM yesterday, leading to an emergency patch.]

[We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our players. Thank you.]

8

Sometimes, as a regressor, I wonder.

Perhaps others take life more lightly than I do, endlessly turning the wheel of reincarnation.

My mind holds the countless endings faced by the Saintess and the numerous deaths of Noh Doha.

My companions often overlooked how their deaths were etched into my memory.

‘I can’t die. Not yet.’

In a world left behind, a space that had become virtual to everyone but was still reality to me alone, I waited.

For the moment the Exiled God would reveal himself.

‘Now, the world is almost entirely in your grasp. You must be eager to declare your ultimate victory. But there’s still someone left to prove that [this is not a game].’

That someone was me.

‘I must be a thorn in your side, monster.’

To complete its emptiness, it must eliminate every impurity.

When the Exiled God could no longer endure, when he discarded the game’s facade and revealed his true form, when the [Administrator of the Great Play of All Things] showed their true colors, I intended to witness it and then die.

I wouldn’t die before then. Underestimating a regressor would be a mistake. Unlike the old man Scho, who would always end his life like a weakling, I had persistence.

“Guild Leader, how have you been? Ugh, real life has been so busy that it’s getting harder to log in... But I’ll always make sure to visit whenever I think of it! Hehe.”

The intervals between Sim Aryeon’s logins rapidly increased.

Logging in once a year, or even once every three years, wasn’t unusual anymore.

Talking to her, it seemed she wasn’t aware it had been three years. She thought it had only been about three weeks.

‘Time flows differently here.’

In the void, time’s distortion was expected. Even in Baekhwa High, Cheon Yohwa didn’t believe she had spent four years there.

I didn’t just sit and let the years pass by.

I entered dungeons known to be the most valuable among Korean players and hunted all the monsters.

Even when the monsters respawned after a while, I killed them all again.

For 11 years.

I, just an NPC, ruined what should have been experience points for the players.

[Emergency Patch Notice.]

[The Administrator of the Great Play of All Things announces the following: A severe bug was discovered, necessitating an emergency patch.]

[We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our players. Thank you.]

Soon, the dungeons disappeared.

“Hah.”

Was there no longer a need to pretend to maintain the game’s structure?

I went on to destroy every dungeon across the Korean peninsula. Each time, an ‘emergency patch’ occurred, and the meticulously crafted ‘game’ rapidly deteriorated.

The cities and towns where players once interacted met the same fate. Beautiful natural landscapes, streets, and hideous monsters—all objects were destroyed.

Only the stone-still figures of logged-out players remained scattered.

My rampage continued for 37 years.

[Emergency Patch Notice.]

[Emergency Patch Notice.]

[Emergency Patch Notice.]

At some point, the ‘game’ stopped even altering day and night.

It was evidence that the sun and earth had already fallen under the sway of an Exiled God-level monster.

The waters of the Han River halted. The cicadas’ summer songs ceased. Even when monsters respawned, they just wandered in place.

A bizarre world.

A broken game.

A virtual Eldorado where nothing was born, and nothing died.

Yet, my eternal memory, the blood coursing through my veins, and my constantly circulating aura affirmed that I was still alive.

Now, reality’s time was as long as my memories, and reality’s space was as large as my body.

[Emergency Patch Notice.]

212 years had passed.

[Proofreader – Gun]