Chapter 277: Hacking

‘And if someone realized that intention, leading us to this world, then the power to realize that intention must also exist.’

There certainly was a prime suspect: the being named Aldin. Aldin had summoned all the players and engaged them in this game.

'Who is Aldin? And what is Aldin's purpose? Why are the evil gods participating, why does the fourth continent exist, and why did the rules of the game change?'

Once these questions took roots, Sung-Woon could no longer focus solely on winning the game. He had to look beyond that. In the past, Sung-Woon would have been satisfied with just winning. Sung-Woon was a winning machine, and that was enough. But not anymore. Winning alone was no longer sufficient.

As the three beings sat in symmetry, a world of mental imagery opened up within their consciousness.

'Magic.'

Sung-Woon gazed at this world of mental imagery.

This mental input-output function wasn’t the power of the Sanctuary. It was Mazdari’s magic, revealing hidden secrets in visual images—more than revealing them, intervention was also possible. And that also meant it could be interfered with, making it an extremely dangerous magic. If used on someone's nightmare, they would get swept into the nightmare, and if used on someone's desire, that desire would engulf the caster.

Fortunately, the world of mental imagery they entered was a stable world. It had been stabilized so long ago that it could almost be considered dead. This world was a wasteland made of crumbling black sand, and on this wasteland, a fort made of the same black sand was built. On the wall of this fort was a white door, which was the land where Sung-Woon, Mazdari, and Kyle were to enter. Shadows flickered above the white door.

'Watchers.'

As Mazdari had explained, these Watchers had long, narrow heads with hundreds of eyes. The long heads had massive mouths that split open top to bottom, with dense rows of teeth, and the mouths drooled constantly, indicating immense hunger. They peered endlessly beyond the fort's wall, ensuring nothing entered.

Kyle said.

-Night Sky, security protocols have already been fully deactivated.

Mazdari added.

-Night Sky, for a long time, I've been feeding the Watchers honey water with poison.

Sung-Woon nodded.

In the mental imagery world, Sung-Woon opened his eyes. Standing alone on the black sand and fort, he slowly walked toward the white door.

Sensing presence, the Watchers sniffed and turned their heads frantically, yet they failed to notice Sung-Woon right before them.

Sung-Woon slowly reached out toward the white door.

-It's been a long time.

On Sung-Woon's right shoulder, a small black Lizard appeared. It was Kyle in the world of mental imagery.

Kyle responded.

-Their methods are too outdated. They have become obsolete.

On Sung-Woon's left shoulder, a white Bird perched. It was the form Mazdari took in this world.

Mazdari replied.

-But they are sturdy. Reliable enough to last so long.

Sung-Woon knew that both of them were correct in their observations. However, he already had the key.

‘It didn’t take that long... We created it faster than I thought.’

Sung-Woon took out a golden key from his pocket. Mazdari called it the Key of Truth, while Kyle referred to it as a Decoder. Sung-Woon didn’t care about the name. The role of the tool as a tool was what mattered.

The key unlocked the door. As the key was inserted, the ancient door, which seemed unlikely to function as a door, began to silently open. The blind Watchers failed to perceive the door they had been guarding opening.

Sung-Woon stepped through the crack of the opened door.

-Is this place...

Inside, Sung-Woon perceived an explosive visual stimulus from a certain world.

He called out the name of the world he was in.

-The Demon World?

Despite the overwhelming sensation, it wasn’t beyond his capability to comprehend. His Divinity level was not incapable of such cognition.

Kyle said.

-It's disorganized. I'll systematize it somewhat. Mazdari, in the meantime...

Mazdari responded.

-I'll find a way to hide from them. They still seem lost in their delusions, so it shouldn't be too difficult...

Sung-Woon gestured with his hand. He was not lost among the myriad of images but was finding his way.

-No, I've already arrived.

Sung-Woon had reached the center of the Demon World, and the scene before him was surprisingly familiar.

Kyle was puzzled.

-That’s...?

-A laptop. And that's a personal computer.

On a white granite surface covered in moss, about thirty differently shaped desks were randomly placed. On these desks, computers were set with no particular order. Chairs, as if someone had just been sitting in them, were placed beside the desks. Sung-Woon counted them; there were exactly thirty-two.

Kyle said.

-There's no need to be surprised. The imagery in a mental world can incorporate the caster's own imagination.

-I know.

Sung-Woon leaned over to look at a computer monitor. A program was running.

[Lost World]

Sung-Woon nodded and controlled the mouse to scan the landscape of the current frozen game. The world was unified under a single nation called the Empire, ruled by a player alliance known as the Pantheon. The leading player of the alliance was Nebula, Sung-Woon himself.

Sung-Woon spoke.

-Our hypothesis fits.

-That's not surprising.

-An expected result indeed.

Sung-Woon leaned back in the chair, feeling a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long time. His question was as so.

‘Is the world a game? If so, where is this game running?’

If it was software, there must be hardware. There must be somewhere it was stored and from where it can be displayed again. It must be capable of interacting with the external world.

‘It must exist somewhere.’

Sung-Woon's answer was simple. If it wasn’t visible anywhere in Arbartin, then it must exist outside. He knew that it would be in a space not yet reached by the Pantheon's power.

Sung-Woon then investigated the Rasdasil Ruins, known as the gateway to the Demon World. He hadn’t guarded Rasdasil out of the fear of getting defeated by Hegemonia, but to protect the only gate from Arbartin to the Demon World. And now, at the heart of the Demon World, Sung-Woon confirmed that the world, the system of Arbartin, was set up here.

He concluded,

‘The only singularity that separates Earth and Arbartin is magic.’

Then he reached the true conclusion.

‘The system and divinity are just highly advanced rule-based systems created by magic.’

The reason gods were powerful in their divinity was that it was a rule made by magic. Within this system, gods were nearly invincible. Therefore, originally, there were no gods in Arbartin. Gods were a constructed entity. Someone merely created the system.

-Interesting.

Sung-Woon remarked nonchalantly, moving his hand over the keyboard.

-Let's start the moon-facing plan.

Kyle and Mazdari nodded.

Sung-Woon first shut down the game and entered the system controls. He began coding several programs while directly connecting to the network of the game Lost World. He intended to personally intervene in the system of Lost World—an act that was known as hacking.

Kyle and Mazdari booted up the conceptual operators and conceptualized the sinister imagery of the Demon World into a logic understandable to Sung-Woon. Seconds later, the task was complete.

Sung-Woon declared.

-The plan is done.

Kyle asked.

-Are you referring to the moon-facing plan? Are we going to watch the moon now? Or...

Mazdari suggested.

-Perhaps we should stay a bit longer here since the ancient gods are still stirring in their slumber below...

Sung-Woon stood up.

-No, someone is trying to peek in. I'll leave.

Sung-Woon vanished instantly.

The door of the Demon World closed cautiously, and the watchers of the door remained unaware of anyone entering or leaving.

A shadow hurriedly approached where Sung-Woon had disappeared. It looked around, checked the computers, sensing something had changed but not understanding precisely what. It could only feel that something had occurred. The shadow lingered before slowly moving away.

Then one of the computer's coolers spun rapidly as if sighing before returning to its normal speed.

***

"It's an honor that our Wizards could be of help to the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency," Talay the Ent, the current master of Vaseniol Magic Tower, said to the screen, and all the space agency personnel cheered.

Even colleagues unfamiliar with each other embraced or shook hands, forgetting their usual distance.

Lide Oboren, the Fairy-Yeti and rocket engineer, said in a tense voice, "So, you can move the Sky Island according to our schedule?"

"Certainly. It's possible.”

It was commonly known that the Sky Castle, though operable, was unstable and was used as a tool for Wizards' experiments, not partaking in any plans. More importantly, the Wizards maintained a closed society, prioritizing the preservation of their secrets over everything. They believed losing their secrets meant losing their power.

Scientists, who believed in spreading knowledge by any means, had a worldview that greatly clashed with that of the Wizards, making it difficult for the two groups to get along. However, Vaseniol Magic Tower had promised active cooperation with the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency.

The Sky Castle, a floating island in the sky, could significantly reduce many of the constraints associated with rocket launches. Launching a single rocket to the maximum height of the Sky Castle would consume a tremendous amount of resources, but building a rocket launch pad on the Sky Castle would save those resources.

Ion Iolkaf, with a bitter smile, acknowledged the good news but couldn't rejoice without reservation.

‘Dang it, that means recalculating the orbit from scratch. All the data accumulated so far will be gone.’

Yet Ion knew that accepting the help of the Sky Castle would yield better results. The astronomy team had already mentally prepared themselves, and so had Ion.

Someone in the control team shouted, "There's an urgent call from the Itimo Group, where should I connect it?"

Saijin, the director of the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency, replied, "Put it on the central screen."

Then a female Xolotl with pink skin appeared on the central screen.

"Saijin!"

"Oh, damn, it's Simo."

"Yes! It's me, Simo."

Simo, known as the Queen of Electricity and not just a simple inventor, appeared on the screen. Despite the long years, her appearance hadn't changed much due to the traits of the Xolotl species, but people didn't carelessly judge a Xolotl by their appearance, especially not this famous inventor.

Having realized her worth as an inventor, Simo steadily and firmly raised her status through the Itimo Group, becoming a Kraken-like existence that dipped into whatever she wanted with practically unlimited research support. Her competence made it all the more agonizing for others. Many researchers, who started working with the famous inventor, lost their health to her relentless pursuit of results.

Simo shouted, "How dare you take away my Sky Castle?"

"

Your

Sky Castle?"

"I need the Sky Castle for our plans too! What did you feed that old Ent?"

Talay, on a side screen, shook his head.

Saijin brought her hand to her forehead.

Simo, looking over the control room, furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh, darn. Were you in contact with old man Talay? No, better this way. Listen well, old man. Our Itimo Group will not stand idly on this matter."

Talay responded, "Please tell her that with that attitude, she won't even get to step on the Sky Castle."

"You were listening?!"

Saijin waved her hands, attempting to mediate between the two.

As the control room increasingly resembled a marketplace, the staff of the Space Agency began to slip away. Ion, needing to stay and assess the situation, massaged his temples to alleviate a throbbing headache.

'Does anything ever go smoothly?'

Just then, Ramin entered the control room. Ion caught Ramin reaching for the snack basket on the control table and then trying to sneak away.

"...What are you doing here?" Ion asked.

"Oh, uh...even Vampires eat candy, you know?"

"What?"

"The snack basket in the control room is the best."

Ion sighed.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Ramin, feeling a delayed sense of responsibility, whispered so as not to disturb the ongoing argument in the control room.

"Is something going on?"

"Well, it's..."

After hearing the full explanation, Ramin glanced at the screen and took out her cellphone.

Speaking into the phone, Ramin said, "Ah, Teacher."