Chapter 53

The boss of the hidden dungeon known as the Concealed Mirror Maze—Eungeomi for short—became a hot topic for a while. Users had already shown no small amount of interest in the concept of a boss whose name, skill names, and even damage numbers couldn’t be seen, but once the notice went up saying Eungeomi could no longer be entered, it became kindling that set the entire community ablaze.

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa officer IGuessThat’sTrue.

[System] You have gained 1,750 Fame.

The theories about null were broadly divided into two camps. One claimed it was an AI that had gained self-awareness and was disposed of by the developers, while the other claimed it was simply part of the marketing.

Most people supported the theory that they had created a disposable boss to draw users’ attention, then posted a notice saying they would delete it because a bug had occurred. It was the most realistic, after all. In fact, it had been extremely effective, and they said that after Jaesugang’s video spread overseas, foreign gaming communities were still on fire over it. With results like that, using a boss of null’s quality as a one-time thing was certainly worth trying.

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa captain UntilTheCustomerGetsKO’d.

[System] You have gained 1,770 Fame.

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa captain NunuSmile.

[System] You have gained 1,790 Fame.

Jaesugang seemed unsure. As for me, I snorted at the ridiculous idea of “an AI with self-awareness being deleted by the developers,” but he had a subtly odd side to him and often took an interest in things like the occult, so he even said that you never knew.

Of course, he only said that to me. At first, he seemed to coolly brush it off on stream by saying it was probably marketing, but then one day, maybe because he was soaked in dawn-hour sentiment, he suddenly summoned me on KakaoTalk at two in the morning and rambled on and on about what he thought.

“Could they really make an AI that delicate? I did feel kind of creeped out while fighting null, too… Maybe it really was an AI that developed self-awareness? That’s what null said in the hidden story video you sent me, Bread-nim, wasn’t it?” he said.

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa commander VeryGood.

[System] You have gained 1,815 Fame.

[System] Using a Base Transfer Scroll to move to Base 54.

It felt just like a little kid asking with sparkling eyes, “Santa Claus really does come to our house on Christmas Eve and leave presents, right?” If it had been Mun Seonhwa or any of my other friends, I would have ignored them immediately, but that was hard to do with Jaesugang. Maybe I felt even more sorry for him because I wondered if I was the only person he had to talk to about this. (Honestly, how many people would indulge a friend who went on and on at two in the morning about game bait and his own thoughts?)

That didn’t mean we had some warm and friendly conversation. Because of my personality, which couldn’t just nod along to everything, about ninety percent of what I did was rebut him by asking if that even made sense.

Could they really make an AI that delicate?

Are you looking down on Zero Soft’s technology right now?

I did feel kind of creeped out while fighting null, too.

Well, it was made to look that way.

Maybe it really was an AI that developed self-awareness? That’s what null said in the hidden story video you sent me, Bread-nim, wasn’t it?

If an AI developed self-awareness, wouldn’t that still be limited to the values programmed into it?

Then I suddenly thought, oops. Had I only been nitpicking and arguing too much? When I belatedly tried to read the room, Jaesugang had clearly grown quieter. I hurriedly added, “Still, if what you’re saying is true, then you experienced something pretty interesting,” and he immediately brightened up with, “Right? Haha,” then started chattering warmly to me again. Until past four in the morning.

What was I supposed to do with that simple-minded bastard? Even while letting out a deep sigh, I had kept Dusk running and continued KakaoTalking with Jaesugang until daybreak… and that had already been a few weeks ago.

Now, people didn’t talk about null the way they had before. A wildfire that ignited all at once and burned fiercely was bound to die down quickly, so aside from a few users occasionally voicing new opinions, no one brought up null anymore.

Dusk also returned to its usual state. When Jaesugang started streaming, other users would occasionally post about us in real time on the free board, and posts comparing Jaesugang’s skills with mine would always reappear just when you’d forgotten about them.

When I went out into the field to look for him, Jaesugang was the same as ever, happily beating me up no matter when I appeared, and it was still the same that when one of us killed the other, we would quickly say what we wanted to say and then dart away like an arrow.

[General] Deadline : qyv;;;;

[General] Deadline : 7979;;;

[General] Deadline : 7997797897

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa staff officer Deadline.

[System] You have gained 1,815 Fame.

If anything had changed… it was Jaesugang. Lately, Jaesugang had gotten busy with work, so he often posted notices saying there would be no stream that day or started his stream late.

I could accept that much, but because he was so busy and his game time had decreased, the time he spent KakaoTalking with me was, conversely, increasing. Especially in the early hours between Thursday and Friday, he contacted me without fail.

Maybe he thought that since we could no longer go to Eungeomi, he had lost the chance to chat with me as much as he wanted. Around that time, he would always talk for tens of minutes about trivial things we couldn’t discuss on stream. Last week, he even whined that chatting was frustrating and asked to call.

Two grown men whispering into their phones for nearly an hour in the middle of the night was far too embarrassing, so I refused, but in any case, Jaesugang seemed to be trying hard to exchange even one more word with me.

[System] You have defeated the Jeopa commander HealPls.

[System] You have gained 1,830 Fame.

Does he think I’m a woman? At one point, that thought crossed my mind, and I even tried to subtly reveal my gender over KakaoTalk.

However, after carefully observing the way Jaesugang treated me, I concluded that probably wasn’t it. If he thought of me as the opposite sex, I should have sensed some subtle attempt at seduction, but there was nothing of the sort.

In other words, rather than trying to show himself off or appeal as a kind and gentle person, or as someone suitable for dating… it felt much more like he genuinely saw me as a conversation partner and treated me comfortably.

So that night, after long deliberation, I was able to erase the sentence I had written with the backspace key. I had agonized even more and made that decision because I figured he would probably be flustered if I sent, “Now that I think about it, I had a wet dream today,” so I was relieved.

If it wasn’t one thing or the other, maybe he was doing it to relieve stress because work was so busy his streaming time had decreased. Thinking that made me feel quite sorry for him. Just how busy was he…? I told him he should quit his job.

[Combat] You have died from Malatang’s attack.

[System] You have died in a contested area.

[System] You were killed by a user and lost 4,790 Fame.

[Race] Jeopa commander-in-chief Malatang has defeated Bia commander-in-chief Honey Bread.

While letting my mind wander elsewhere as I roamed the field, I ran into a six-person party and died.

Jaesugang wasn’t around today, either. Maybe because of the day, everyone had gone to bed early, since there weren’t many users in the field to begin with. Even if I kept wandering around, I’d only end up seal-clubbing, and that wouldn’t be fun, so was there any need to keep playing? Bored, I yawned widely, pressed revive-at-return-point, and turned the game off just like that.

When I looked at the clock, it was a little past two-thirty in the morning. Yesterday, Jaesugang had said he would be working until dawn, so around now, he was probably wrapping up work or heading home. Could he even wake up this morning after working this late? I was worried in my own way.

I weakly turned off the computer, grabbed my phone, and lay down on the bed. I plugged the charging cable lying crooked beside my pillow into my phone, picked up the small remote on the bed shelf, and pressed the button. With a small sound, the room light turned off.

I pulled the blanket snugly over myself and blinked. Except for the city lights seeping in through the curtains I had drawn beforehand, the room was very dark.

It was the perfect environment for sleeping, but my mind was wide awake. My body, accustomed to a routine where I played around counter-sniping Jaesugang in the field until three in the morning, then watched Jaesugang’s stream to the end before falling asleep, refused to go to sleep early.

I can’t oversleep today, though.

Once worry came first, sleep drifted further and further away. Sleep drifted away, so worry arose, and worry arose, so sleep drifted even further away. Just as irritation was slowly starting to build, my phone turned on and the room lit up.

Perfect timing. I quickly stretched out my arm and brought my phone over. I lowered the screen brightness as much as possible so it wouldn’t hurt my eyes, then checked the notification window and saw that a KakaoTalk message had arrived.