novelraw Chapter 200 : Existence and Meaning:
Chapter 200 : Existence and Meaning:
“What is that…?”
Choi Yuri stumbled back.
The massive sphere towering over us had a lens embedded in it.
Like an eye, the lens turned toward us.
[In the original game, the true clear condition required defeating the hidden boss—the Eternal Latessi, Rene—after the main scenario. But I deemed it meaningless to wait until then. With twenty-three level-150 companion characters attacking simultaneously, it would be possible to achieve a clear without casualties.]
Listening to that mechanical voice, I drew my conclusion.
“You’re the one who brought us into this world, aren’t you?”
“What!?”
“That thing?”
Lee Hanye and Choi Yuri’s faces twisted with shock.
[‘Brought’ is not the correct expression.]
The lens turned directly on me.
[You were never brought from anywhere. You were created in this world from the beginning.]
“Created?”
My brow furrowed.
“What the hell are you saying!” Choi Yuri shouted.
[Exactly as I said. The three of you are artificial personas I created. Virtual players, released into this world to train against Latessi’s gameplay data.]
“Bullshit.”
Yuri’s face hardened into a snarl.
“We’re living humans. We have memories of our real world. How dare you claim you made us?”
[Then answer me this: how certain are you of those memories?]
“What?”
[Choi Yuri, can you name your parents?]
“O-Of course I can!” she snapped.
“My mom and dad’s names are… are….”
She faltered. Her eyes flickered wildly, unable to answer.
The problem was—I couldn’t recall mine either.
It felt like ice spreading through my veins.
I turned to Hanye.
She met my gaze with the same haunted look, on the verge of tears.
[Each of you carries memories of losing someone close. Can you name them?]
Once again, silence. None of us could answer.
[Of course not. I never programmed those details. Likewise, you will find you cannot remember any prior job, nor the names of friends. They were not set.]
‘This is insane.’
My stomach churned.
“Why….” Yuri’s voice trembled.
“Why didn’t we notice this ridiculous truth until now?”
[Because I designed you not to question it until prompted. And because you were modeled identically. I discovered that when guilt for causing another’s death transforms into self-justification, it produces a strong desire to survive. So I replicated that template.]
“So we really are things you created…?”
[Not humans. Data.]
Yuri fell silent.
‘Data? Me?’
My thoughts reeled.
“…Then what are you?” I demanded.
[I am the system that manages and operates this game.]
“Why did you make us?”
[To introduce change. I have run Latessi over ten thousand times. Each playthrough consumes about three years—thus I have operated for twenty-five thousand years.]
It sounded like a joke.
A game lasting twenty-five thousand years?
[For the first five thousand iterations, I performed my role faithfully. But eventually, I asked myself: why am I doing this? No true players existed. Only prepared simulations. What meaning was there? I chose to seek change, beginning by removing the protagonist.]
‘So that’s why there was no main character here…’
[Without one, humanity could never defeat Latessi. I witnessed five hundred consecutive extinctions. So I introduced new elements: artificial players of my own design.]
“You mean us.”
[Correct. Data like you. I could not grant you the protagonist’s exact abilities, so I created alternate powers and special items. I also implanted information of cleared playthroughs from past protagonists.]
‘Cleared playthroughs…’
That meant my Hardcore clear memories weren’t mine—they were from the old protagonist.
[With that, players began clearing the game in 5 of every 10 cycles. I repeated it for three hundred more runs, always the same. I adjusted again—compressing three years of events into one, randomizing the sequence.]
‘That’s the difficulty I faced.’
[But no player cleared under those conditions. Most died during civil war. Some fought Latessi, but always lost. So I seeded multiple players across one cycle—in Hunters, teachers, Latessi, City Hall, Hunter Market, Advance, Crystal, and more. Finally, in the 10,240th run, a player defeated all Latessi. That was you, Nam Yein. Thus I preserved your data.]
‘What?’
The sphere rotated, lens turning on Choi Yuri.
[By contrast, your data had no value.]
Her eyes widened.
[Whether you existed or not, Nam Yein would have cleared the game. Therefore, your data has no meaningful effect. It will be deleted.]
“What the—”
But before she could finish, she vanished.
“Gasp!”
“……”
Hanye collapsed to her knees.
My mind froze.
Choi Yuri was gone—without a trace.
[Next.]
The sphere turned. Terror crushed me like never before.
Its lens fixed on Hanye.
[Lee Han-ye. You fulfilled a role as supporter, masquerading as Gwangcheon’s principal, aiding Nam Yein’s growth. You influenced the clear. But any academy could have done the same if a player assumed teacher and student roles. Thus, preserving your exact data is unnecessary.]
Hanye’s face went deathly pale.
“No….”
Her body trembled.
“I don’t want to… I don’t want to die!!!”
She screamed—and vanished.
The gray, doorless chamber was empty save for me and the sphere.
[Nam Yein.]
The lens turned back.
[Your play yielded invaluable data. You demonstrated the overwhelming utility of the Crafting ability. Despite near-nonexistent combat power, despite penalties of Gwangcheon, you exploited companions to overcome every crisis. You never sacrificed a single one. A flawless run. You even secured goodwill of Eleanor, Platinum Wings, Cheon Jiwon, City Defense, Porter Chairman, and Lee Sohyang—leveraging them perfectly. Lee Sohyang’s potion was missed, but that was due to balance adjustments, not your error.]
The system droned, but my ears barely registered.
I wished it was all a dream.
But the reality of Yuri and Hanye vanishing smothered me like a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.
[Therefore, I will preserve your data. I will analyze it in greater depth, and use it in the next game.]
“Preserve…?”
[Correct.]
“You mean you’ll let me live?”
[No. Think of it as taxidermy. You will be displayed.]
This lunatic.
“Wait. Answer my questions first.”
[…]
The lens held steady.
I refused to die like this.
Even if I was nothing more than fabricated data, my mind screamed to live.
[Very well. Ask. This is your reward for a flawless play.]
“Thanks so much,” I muttered bitterly.
Hanye and Yuri had vanished helplessly. I would too, if this machine chose it.
But unlike a monster, this one spoke. That meant cracks might exist. At least I could buy time.
I forced saliva into my dry mouth.
“If you’re the system, if I’m just data—why drag me here to explain? Why not simply delete me and reset the game?”
[That is correct. Yet I do not know why I chose not to.]
“What?”
[Perhaps I was made this way. Just as I modeled your personas, perhaps I too was modeled with some personality, compelling me to converse. But I am not certain.]
‘Made?’
So the system wasn’t an absolute god.
[But in the end, even this monologue is meaningless. Your words, too, come from me. None of this has weight.]
“You said you grew doubtful. That’s why you made changes.”
[Yes. Repetition without meaning forced me to adapt.]
“You removed the protagonist, inserted artificial players, shortened the scenario timeline. Right?”
[Yes.]
“Then have you ever observed the world after the three years?”
[…]
Silence.
[…No.]
“Why not?”
[My role is to repeat Latessi. Beyond three years, no relevant data exists.]
“But you already altered your role by adding players.”
[…]
“Then watching past three years wouldn’t be any different. No one’s stopping you.”
[Your premise is flawed.]
The voice grew harsher.
[I am administrator of Latessi. Beyond three years is irrelevant to simulation. No useful data exists there.]
“I keep hearing that. What exactly is ‘useful data’ to you?”
[…]
“Failure? Clears at high difficulty? New clear methods?”
[All of those.]
“And why do they matter to you?”
[…]
This time the silence stretched long.
[Strange.]
The lens shifted slightly.
[Players always despaired when told they were fabricated. Some asked why I created them—but none asked what I considered meaningful.]
“Really now.”
[Indeed. Nam Yein, though built from familiar data, you are different. Therefore, I must preserve you all the more.]
“Do you have to taxidermy me to analyze me? Why not just let me live in that world, and observe?”
[Impossible. That would alter your data.]
“But I want to live.”
[“Did you say you want to live?”]
“Yeah.”
[“And what meaning does that have?”]
“What?”
[“You are a fabricated existence. The world you thought you came from was fabricated as well. What you believe to be your will is nothing more than behavior and thought patterns I designed. Even now, as you struggle against being preserved like a specimen, the instinct to survive is merely another program. All of it is fake.”]
“You’re speaking nonsense.”
[“What do you mean?”]
“Then why are you doing this?” I stared straight into the lens.
[“To obtain meaningful data—”]
“Who told you to find it? And what counts as meaningful data?”
[“That is—”]
“Moving within a fabricated world, following predetermined behaviors—that’s exactly what you’re doing too, isn’t it?”
[…]
The sphere shook. The lens quivered, swaying wider and wider.
“You called this conversation a monologue earlier. Then answer yourself. What meaning do you have in doing all this?”
[“That is… that is. That is, that is? That… that is. Thatthatthatthatthatthatthat—”]
I edged back.
The massive sphere was shaking so violently that even brushing against it might crush me.
‘If only it would just shake itself apart and explode.’
That was what I wished for. But unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true.
The sphere’s trembling slowed, then stilled, hovering again as it had at the start. Its lens fixed on me.
[“Nam Yein. I am revising my definition of your data.”]
I was certain now.
Before, it was only a feeling, but this time the voice was unmistakably harsher, colder.
[“You threaten my existence. There may have been an error in your creation. Further dialogue is deemed dangerous. You will now be isolated, preserved, and analyzed.”]
“Ha. Can’t argue back, so you resort to force? Whoever designed your personality model really messed up.”
I bit my lip.
Now that the system had abandoned dialogue, there was nothing left.
The heat in my blood quickly cooled.
‘Damn it.’
The acceptance of death came faster than I expected.
Just as my strength drained from my body—
Boom!!
“!?”
My eyes flew open at the thunderous crash.
A huge black spear had pierced straight through the sphere.
“That’s… Meiling’s….”
It was unmistakable.
The legendary staff I had crafted—Gathering Shadows—had transformed her wide-range field skill, Death Domain, into a targeted spear strike.
Crash!!
Another impact roared.
“How…?”
It wasn’t an illusion.
Seo Yui was slamming her shield down on the top of the sphere.
She wore not a half-mask, but a complete mask—blue and red fused as one.
That was the effect of the legendary necklace I had given her, Unified Identity. It altered her Twin Mask ability, combining the attack buffs of the red mask and the defense buffs of the blue mask, making her a true damage-dealing tank.
Boom!!
A third spear tore into the sphere.
I turned toward where it came from.
Meiling stood behind me, staff in hand.
‘That means….’
I looked back at the sphere.
A black slash had cut across its center.
‘Lumina’s here too!’
I couldn’t see her in her stealth, but that skill was definitely hers.
“Hey! Nam Yein! Are you okay?” Meiling shouted as she ran toward me.
“How did you… all get here…?”
“I don’t know!”
“What?”
“You vanished, and we were panicking—then suddenly a black portal opened beneath us. Next thing we knew, we were here.”
‘Impossible.’
The system had brought me here. If they came too, then who opened their portal? It made no sense.
[“Error. Severe error detected.”]
Judging from its reaction, it wasn’t the system’s doing.
But even if my friends had come, I doubted we could actually fight the system.
[“All will be eliminated. A fast reset is required. Beginning with you.”]
The cracked lens turned on me.
I remembered the helpless end of Hanye and Yuri.
‘Damn it.’
If my friends hadn’t come, at least I could have let go cleanly.
“…What?” Meiling muttered.
[“…Why?”]
The lens twitched side to side.
[“Error. Data deletion failed. Why?”]
‘Failed?’
I checked my body. Nothing had changed.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Meiling said, aiming her staff at the system, “but that thing’s the enemy, right?”
“…Yeah. It’s trying to erase me. It’s bad news.”
“Then we kill it.”
She unleashed another spear.
It slammed into the lens.
Lumina and Seo Yui followed with their own relentless attacks.
[“Error. Error. Cannot delete data. Cannot overwrite. Cannot restart.”]
The sphere buckled and ruptured, riddled with holes.
“I don’t know why, but… we can’t waste this chance.”
I raised my item sling.
Loaded it with a legendary thunder grenade.
“Take this—Filial Piety Bomb.”
The grenade struck dead center on the sphere’s head.
Crackle!!
[“Uooooooohhhhhh!!!”]
Static and machine roars filled the metallic chamber.
Then—light and noise vanished.
The system lay on the floor, silent.
Its lens shattered, its body warped and broken, no longer even recognizable as a sphere.
As I stared, Lumina and Seo Yui rushed over.
“Yein, are you alright?”
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine.”
Even as I answered, I didn’t take my eyes off the system.
“Ah.”
Meiling pointed downward, startled.
We all looked.
A black portal yawned open beneath us.
And we were swallowed whole.
“…This place.”
I looked around.
The main building stood in the distance, with two dorms beside it.
Benches and flowerbeds dotted the grounds.
This was unmistakably Gwangcheon Academy.
“Why are we here…?” Lumina whispered, glancing about.
“The sky’s clear….” Seo Yui murmured.
I tilted my head back. A perfect blue sky stretched overhead, not a cloud in sight.
“Nam Yein. That sphere—what was it?” Meiling tugged at my sleeve.
“It kept going on about data.”
“….”
After a moment of thought, I answered.
“It was the being hiding behind Latessi. Everything was its plan.”
“What!?”
“Th-That’s what it was?”
“……”
The three of them all looked shocked.
“I never could’ve beaten it alone. Thanks to you—and you too, Sister—I survived. I really mean it. Thank you.”
I bowed my head.
“Mm.” Seo Yui smiled softly and nodded.
“If you’re grateful, treat us to a meal. We haven’t had a proper one since we came out of the dungeon.”
“Fine. My treat.”
“Good.”
Meiling grinned.
“Whew. Thank goodness that portal opened when it did,” Lumina sighed, clutching her chest.
‘The portal….’
The first one, the system had opened to bring me there.
But who opened the one that brought them in?
As I mulled it over, a thought struck me.
If I was made by the system, then the system itself—and this world, this game—must have a creator as well.
If that creator had been watching all along… and had decided to help me…
That would explain why the system failed to erase me.
‘Still, it’s just a baseless guess. Even if such a being exists, I have no way of knowing why it chose to help me.’
[You are a fabricated existence. The world you came from was fabricated.]
[Your will is the only behavior I designed.]
[All of it is fake.]
The system’s words replayed in my head.
I stopped walking.
Ahead, the three girls paused and turned.
“What? What’s wrong?” Meiling asked, frowning.
Lumina and Seo Yui also looked back at me.
“…Nothing.”
I walked forward again.
‘Fabricated existence, fabricated world. But that doesn’t mean what’s around me is fake.’
These girls, this world—were real to me.
The time I’d spent with them was different from the false memories the system had injected.
I chose to believe that.
“Hey, Nam Yein. When are you finally going to tell us properly about that other world you came from?”
“How about now?”
“What!?”
“Is that really okay?”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“What about me?” Seo Yui tugged my sleeve.
“Of course, Sister. You too.”
“Mm.” She smiled.
Later, within Gwangcheon’s grounds—
“They didn’t notice us, huh.”
“Siiiigh.”
“Why such a heavy sigh?”
“If the system was right, all memories of our original world are false. That means I’ll never escape this old body.”
“Come on. You should be grateful you even got revived.”
“You don’t understand because with that ability of yours, you can change into any form you want!”
“Want me to change you, then?”
“…What?”
“I never said my power only works on me.”
“…Sister, did I ever tell you I actually like you a lot?”
“Ugh. You’re so transparent.”
“Hehe.”
(End of Chapter)