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＜ 20. In the name of the father (6) ＞
Biting cold. Andrea closed her cape and headed for the exit .
Bingryong’s bloodstains were already buried in the snow, and only white and blue light filled the whole area. Except for the sound of howling wind, there is only lonely silence. The ice nest, which had lost its owner, had become a barren land where no signs of life could be found .
Finding the exit wasn’t too difficult. It was just a short walk along the path through the cliff. It took less than five minutes to arrive .
Andrea took out the key that Anna had given her from her subspace pocket. Strangely, afterimages shimmer and textures shake. It was a shape I was not used to seeing again .
Andrea holding it and carefully heading to the back of the portal .
However, after checking the place, Andrea’s face was contorted with a feeling of embarrassment that she could not hide .
The door to the hidden room had become a keyless state. In other words, it was horribly shattered .
‘… What is it? Who the hell did it and how ?’
It was a door that could never be broken no matter what. A door that was small in size, but did not get a single scratch no matter how hard you hit it with any ultimate skill. I couldn’t understand how it could break so cruelly .
Upon closer inspection, it was not even the usual way of physically destroying it. The texture was smeared along the broken rim as if it were a key .
‘ Did you use a glitch or something systematically to pierce it ?’ It was a method that even Jeong-hyeon, who played for
5,000 hours, could not find, so it was not a method that ordinary challengers could use .
If Arpan was still alive, of course they would have thought it was his fault. However, Arpan must have faced immortality .
Then the suspect was obvious. Unless a completely unpredictable third existence appeared, there is only one existence higher than Arfan in the dungeon .
‘ My God .’
Further speculation is pointless. The first step was to go inside and check what had happened .
After passing through the broken door, a dim hallway appeared. Thanks to the power of the shadow god, Andrea was able to fully inspect the scenery. The hallways were also not normal, with broken tiles and collapsed walls .
Strangely, it was not the tiles and walls made of bricks that are common in dungeons. Modern-looking walls and tiles that don’t fit the game’s background at all. Andrea felt a strong sense of incongruity .
The feeling of incongruity peaked when I entered the room at the end of the hallway .
“ Huh …?”
Andrea spits out a questionable voice without even realizing it .
A chair with wheels and a broken desk, spilled mugs, shredded or burned A4 papers, drawers full of clutter and a collapsed temporary wall, a monitor with a screen broken in half and a keyboard cut in half, a computer body with all its contents pulled out. .
It was a space that seemed to have been copied and pasted from a room somewhere in reality .
If I had entered this space while playing the game, I would have thought it was a pretty meta Easter egg and passed it over. However, for Andrea, who is looking for a way to return to reality, it was a meaningful space that could not be overlooked .
I had to get clues to what kind of place this was and what happened .
Just in case, Andrea went to the front of the computer and pressed the power button. But it didn’t work either. Of course, it was not in repairable condition, and there was no equipment to fix it .
I rummaged through the drawers, but found miscellaneous writing instruments and cables whose purpose was hard to guess. There were no clues around the desk. Andrea hurriedly approached the stack of A4 papers .
However, this side was also completely crushed or burned, so there was almost no meaningful type written on it. Andrea continued to rummage through the ashes without giving up .
In the meantime, I finally found a piece of paper .
‘[Dungeon of Infinity] Ver 0.31 Patch Notes’
Most of the content below was cut out, but that was enough. A patch note full of fixes for ‘Dungeon of Infinity’. The only trace of the ‘developer’ whose identity was not known at all .
Andrea finally realized who was waiting for her in this room .
At that moment, suddenly, a familiar voice came into my head .
[ The thing I was worried about happened …]
‘… Mr. Callices ?’
[ Yes, dear. Jim .]
‘ How could you talk to me …?’
[ Because this is one of the few places in the dungeon where administrators can’t reach. I think that’s a thing of the past now, too .]
Through the voice that blooms in your head, Khalisis
I could clearly feel the complicated feelings. Andrea cautiously asked a question .
‘ The person who was waiting for me here… is the developer who created this game ?’
[ Yes, he is the one who told Bagratu about you. I was careful to even mention him to keep the admins out of reach, but in the end this space was also destroyed. Fortunately, he seems to have escaped …
Hearing that, it reminded me of the second time I met Callisis, when Andrea asked her to erase the world’s records. ‘There shouldn’t be even a chance that a little harm will go to him’, he said .
‘… but as a developer, shouldn’t you be able to exert an almighty influence on this world rather than an administrator? Why are developers running away from the admin’s hands ?’
[···.]
Khalicis was silent for a long time. Her conflict, struggling with how to speak out, was conveyed intact .
Callices finally answered after well over a minute had passed .
[… Even Jim doesn’t know all the details. So, this is the limit I can tell you .]
“…”
[ The creator of something doesn’t always have all the control. The developer succeeded in creating the manager, but failed to control the manager .]
No matter how you think about it, it was difficult to understand. At best, it would be nothing more than a being in the game, so how could the ‘manager’ get out of the control of the ‘developer’? And, as things stand now, does that mean that the developer, like himself, fell into the world of the game ?
What did the manager do ?
When my thoughts reached that point, the question Arpan left right before he was destroyed came to mind .
‘ Andrea-sama, have you ever recalled ‘specifically’ about yourself in the outside world while going through the dungeon ?’
Andrea’s ego was still claiming that he was ‘Park Jung-hyun’. However, it was also true that there was very little that came to mind about himself, as Arpan asked .
Then a word that brushes my head like a sudden .
‘ Someday you’ll realize… You are still… the same as me …’
The words that the doppelganger left him twice before disappearing .
In the past, I just let it go because my thoughts were interrupted before I even considered it deeply. However, when this situation came to pass, Andrea had no choice but to set up a most shocking hypothesis .
I tried to deny it, but when I thought about it based on the hypothesis, various circumstances fell into place .
The absurd situation of falling into the game world, the reason why he recalls so little about himself, the reason why his doppelganger said that, the reason why Khalisis couldn’t answer the question of whether he could return to the original world if he killed the administrator, The reason the developer is in this world and has no control over the admin …
It was embarrassing to have noticed now. Andrea kept her head down with her fists clenched, then asked a question in a low voice .
‘ Callisis-sama, am I… a clone made based on a human being in the real world ?’
[···.]
Khalisis, who keeps silent again .
However, Andrea knew. The mental wave of Khalisis was not taken aback by the sudden sound, but had a solemn atmosphere as if something had come .
Andrea urged Khalisis to answer in a stern tone .
‘ Answer me .’
[ You are right .]
Callisis answered more clearly than expected. I was prepared, but after confirming it, I couldn’t help but feel the pulse all over my body loosen up .
I closed my eyes and looked into the deep darkness. As if someone was squeezing my heart, my heart felt indescribably stuffy. Eventually, his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. All of my senses feel so vivid, and all of this is fake .
Andrea smiled sadly .
You can’t miss it I guess I’ve been struggling for nothing. Whether I kill the manager or destroy the dungeon, I can never return to the world I was in .’
[···.]
‘ No, actually, it’s not even the original world… But I was just misunderstanding myself. All of those memories are fake, and this game, this damn dungeon… is the real world I came from .’
There was no answer from Khalisis for a long time. Andrea barely calmed down her boiling emotions and waited for her answer .
Unexpectedly, however, what came back from Calisis was a question, not an answer .
[ What is real, what is fake ?]
‘···.’
[ What makes the difference between the two? Jim, who is talking with you now, and the colleagues who are with you. All of them don’t exist in the reality you thought, so are they just fakes with no value ?
However, Jim also had a time when he mistook himself for a real god. After confronting the Administrator and realizing the truth, Jim’s world completely crumbled. So even though I’m not perfect, I can understand your pain and anguish to some extent .]
Andrea was dizzy. Khalicis was understating his anguish. He thought of himself as an almighty god, but he couldn’t even imagine how he would feel when he realized that he was nothing more than a pile of data .
Callices encourages Andrea by sending a mental wave saying that it is alright .
[ Even if you are a fake, you will be able to help countless fakes. Those who are entangled in the dungeon and suffer endlessly, the gods who cannot escape from the grip of the manager, and above all… your colleagues who want to see the end of the dungeon and fulfill their wishes .]
‘…’
[ Rise, my second apostle. Even if the fate given to you is harsh, do not give up. Even if some say you are a ‘fake’, or even if you think so yourself, you are undoubtedly the ‘real’ hope to me .]
‘…’
[ Don’t you know how to get through this world better than anyone else ?]
Even if you don’t have to try to think of it, it lingers in your mouth by itself .
‘ Not blaming the fate given to oneself, but choosing the best option available and moving forward .’
Andrea barely got up. He still couldn’t get out of his troubled mood, but he couldn’t disappoint the gods who chose him and gave him infinite support .
‘ When this space is destroyed by the administrator, is there a place for developers to go, Mr. Callices ?’
[··· That’s hard for even Jim to guess. However, given his personality, he must have left some clues …]
At that moment, a light suddenly flickered on the monitor that I thought was completely broken. It seemed like it would go out any moment, so Andrea hurriedly approached him .
A sentence written in white letters on a blue background .
‘ To the place where the unquenchable flame has faded. Not too late .’
Pushuk –
As soon as I checked, smoke rose and the monitor turned off. Callisis raised a question mark in her head .
[ Do you know what that means, dear ?]
On the other hand, Andrea realized what this sentence meant as soon as he saw it .
‘ Yes, sure .’
Where the unquenchable flame has died out. Among them, there was only one place to hide. Seeing that it was not too late, perhaps the developer was hiding there temporarily, avoiding the eyes of the manager .
After saying hello to Khalysis, Andrea left the room without regret. You don’t know when the manager’s touch will reach there, so you had to hurry up .
*
On the way back to the reminiscence room, Andrea realized that there was no point in rushing her. After all, if the party doesn’t come back, we can’t leave for the next floor .
Unlike Andrea, who had just returned, Emilia’s would have taken quite a while. at least one day? It might take longer than that if something else happened besides meeting the children and having a good time .
The surest way to know how long it would take was to go and find out for yourself, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible. The crystal ball that moves floors can only be used once per person, so .
‘ I’m going to have to wait in my room alone for quite some time .’
It was an embarrassing situation, but there was nothing I could do about it. Andrea placed her hand on the crystal ball created in the ice nest and returned to the reminiscence room .
However, there was a completely unexpected guest .
trembling eyebrows. Andrea doubted both eyes. ‘That’ was never meant to be here. Unless something great happened, never .
Unlike Andrea, who was taken aback by the unexpected encounter, the passenger seemed to have been waiting for him to come. They even waved lightly as if they were happy .
“ It’s been a while, henchmen of the shadows. How was your journey so far ?”
It was not wrong. Since we met in Adsel, we met again on the 60th floor. Andrea asked a question, barely suppressing the trembling in her voice .
“ What are you here for ?”
In contrast, the most laid-back attitude. He adjusted the collar of his red tailcoat and briefly nodded his head left and right. The clothes, the two horns rising from the temples, and the geometric shapes instead of the facial features were the same .
Andrea swallowed her saliva and barely called the name of the being in front of her .
“… Mr. Ose .”
The shape of a huge torn mouth appeared on the face of Ose, the demon of madness and domination .
＜ 20. In the name of the father (6) ＞ end