“Are you not even nervous?”
It was a question from a middle-aged professor who boarded the airship with me. We were flying directly toward Jinksythe, the four-armed horror, and the man seemed quite tense.
I didn’t respond.
“......”
Not for any grand reason.
I’m just not good with words. When a person spends too many years in grad school, a time comes when you no longer know what to say. That was my state.
Normally, when I don’t answer, people lose interest and shut up.
But this middle-aged professor had been acting a little strange from the start.
Almost disturbingly reverent, as if exalting me in his thoughts.
【Black Abyss Professor Ludenbach: ‘Incredible... truly astonishing focus...’】
【Black Abyss Professor Ludenbach: ‘Surely, no one would stake their life just for a sense of duty... Then, could it be that this man truly believes he can defeat that colossal monster alone...? At such a young age?’】
【Black Abyss Professor Ludenbach: ‘Youth is a weakness. But if Professor Dante really manages to bring down that monster by himself... then perhaps, we in the Department of Assassination might be able to stake the future of Hiaka’s assassination industry on this young professor... (truncated)...’】
...Why go that far?
Still, it piqued my curiosity.
I was full of questions about this so-called “hotfix.”
So, what happens to [Error Space] now?
What is Eve’s [Massive Error Space]?
And emergency patches like this—aren’t they something that only exists in online games?
Starting from these common-sense questions—
‘Bugs, huh.’
Suddenly, all the strange things I’d experienced during my time in Hiaka came flooding back.
‘Haven’t I been benefiting from an unusual number of bugs?’
Thinking about it... yeah.
I’d taken advantage of quite a few bugs.
What were they again?
1. Seeing things I shouldn’t have been able to see due to lack of detection ability—like [Stigmas] or [Curses].
*Stigma: I saw the Stigma even when Liberator was unidentified.
*Curse: I saw three curses embedded in Rebecca’s veil.
2. Detecting hidden individuals on the [minimap] who should have been completely invisible.
*Like tracking Elize during that very first assassination.
3. 【Script】’s minimap detection range exceeded 3,000 meters.
*I caught on to Balmung’s sniping attempt.
I’d been reaping the rewards all this time—what if they take them away? But if that were the case, it would’ve been stated clearly in the hotfix notes.
< Hotfix in 00 minutes 32 seconds... >
Anyway. While I was mulling over all that, the moment drew closer.
From all the questions I held...
To the rewards promised by the System⧉.
There would be answers to everything.
< Logging out. >
A soothing sensation spread through my entire body, like an anesthetic being administered.
This was the process of my consciousness exiting one world.
The world grew blurry.
Maybe it was just my optic nerves shutting down.
As everything began to fade like a dream dissolving into mist—
A status window floated up.
< ⧉『Game System』is temporarily shutting down. >
< ♠『Curse of Forgetting』is now active. Direct memories and records of those encountered will be erased or distorted. >
Wait, what?
...That was the last thing I thought before I lost consciousness.
***
The world faded away.
My mind drifted as if rising upward.
The land I’d been standing on quickly receded into the distance.
At a point where the continent that blanketed the earth shrank to °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° a mere speck, I was a comet, streaking through some corner of the cosmos.
If that vast land vanished in an instant—
Then maybe I was moving at the speed of light... or faster.
And yet, even at that incomprehensible velocity, the breadth of the universe I was crossing felt infinite. Astronomical, in the literal sense.
What flashed through my mind was the Jamsil Olympic Stadium I once visited. The vast, packed venue echoing with the voice of Bruno Mars.
If an atom were the size of that stadium, then the nucleus would be no bigger than a soccer ball, and the electron would be an ant circling the stadium’s edge.
Meaning the atom is mostly empty space. And since the world is made of atoms, the universe itself is virtually empty.
Right now, I was feeling that truth in my very skin, starting somewhere on the back of that tiny ant.
The entire world was empty.
And amid that darkness, one thing stood out—
For some reason, there was a window up in the sky of that empty universe.
Technically, there’s no such thing as direction in space.
So maybe this universe was a basement of sorts.
And after that strange transition—
I emerged from that basement.
When I came to, I was standing alone in a blindingly white world.
“......”
I raised my hand.
I had a body.
Still Dante’s body.
I turned my head to look around.
Calling it a blinding white world was accurate.
Perhaps this was what a polar day in the far north looked like.
Everything from the ground to the sky and beyond was white.
But even so, it wasn’t purely abstract—the floor was laid with what looked like a grid of white paving stones(?), arranged in neat lines.
Like a desert.
Only instead of sand, it was made of white paving tiles.
< ⧉ Entering area: [Offline] >
───
Name: Dante Hiakapo
Difficulty: [Hell Mode]
Seed: 3340 1414 5592 **** ****
Main Story Progress: Stage 1
Total Combat Power: 157,440
───
So this is... [Offline].
I’d hoped I might wake up in reality—
But no. That wasn’t it.
< Time until patch completion for Ver.2.3.1a... [50 minutes] >
The status window helpfully displayed the time remaining.
About an hour, huh. Looks like I’d be here until then.
So... what now?
A completely unfamiliar space.
A completely unfamiliar situation.
A background that doesn’t seem like it’ll change no matter where I go.
No sun above me. Just a glowing white sky.
Not a single cloud in sight—no sense of distance.
Maybe I’ll walk a bit.
So I started walking, aimlessly.
But even after a long while, nothing changed.
Usually in places like this—
You’d expect to see a tree, an oasis in the distance,
A suspicious temple over there...
It just feels like there should be something.
But here, there was absolutely nothing.
The feeling of being completely alone.
It was... strange.
Since the moment I got dragged into this game world, I’ve almost never been alone.
Maybe just while sleeping.
And even then, my schedule as a professor was packed without end.
On top of that, I was constantly being pulled into one incident after another.
If I keep walking but the scenery never changes... is there any point in walking at all?
So I sat down.
And while I was at it, I laid down.
‘At least it’s only a 50-minute patch. That’s a relief.’
If this had gone on for three days to a week, it might’ve been a bit miserable.
That was when it happened.
“Awawa...”
A voice—sounded like a child—came from somewhere nearby.
I sat up and turned my head, and something strange came into view.
A kid.
Wearing a gray dinosaur costume.
Only the face poked out from the dinosaur’s neck area, making for an oddly adorable sight.
“And you are?”
I asked.
The kid cautiously raised a hand and waved.
“Ah, hello...!”
“Hello.”
“The weather. Is. Very. Good. Good. Good...”
A jerky, choppy way of speaking.
Then, the little thing pulled a piece of paper from their waistband and glanced at it.
“The weather is, very good...!”
“......”
What is this kid?
“Who are you?”
Judging by height and face, maybe five or seven years old. A proper child. The one who’d been mumbling “Awawa...” finally spoke.
“I am, I am. I am...”
You are...?
“...who am I?”
...Philosophical.
“Ah, right. I’m Dino!”
“Dino.”
“Yeah...!”
Then the kid peeked at the paper again before stepping closer.
“A-anyway. Welcome to this place...! What’s your name, mister!?”
“Dante Hiakapo.”
“I see...! Cool name...! Uh, now, during your time here in [Offline], I will ex-ex-explain the pa-pa-patch notes...! And also....”
Another side glance at the paper.
“...compensation regarding the emergency pa-patch and the impact of bu-bugs and adju-adjustments that will be i-implemented accor-accord...”
Mumbling.
And then, with a burst of confidence, the kid hid the paper and declared:
“...I’ll explain it all...!”
You... what are you even doing?
Ah.
This kid was probably an apostle of the System⧉.
Out of the 33 stars, “System⧉” was the one representing the game system—a helper figure for the player.
“Alright. Let’s hear it.”
“O-okay... so... the compen-compe... compensation for the e-emergency patch... includes...”
“Stop.”
“Uh, huh...?”
“It seems you’re not particularly familiar with your script. Why not just read from the paper?”
The kid’s face scrunched like he was about to cry.
“Uuu... I practiced a lot...”
I reached out, thinking it’d be better if I just read it myself—but Dino quickly yanked the paper away.
“Give it here. I’ll read it myself.”
“Nooo...!”
“Why not?”
“I-if I give you this... then I’ll be completely useless...!”
“......”
Well, fine then.
Soon enough, Dino glanced at the paper and started reading aloud rapidly.
The contents went something like this:
• Hotfix Patch & Adjustment Details
1. Adjustment of incorrect summoning timing for Jinksythe.
2. Correction of an error where three of Jinksythe’s arms were afflicted with curses from the 90-series.
I nearly choked.
Three curses from the 90-series?
If that was true, then Zone 0 had barely avoided being obliterated.
• Compensation
1. Star Fragments × 50
2. Additional helper support for [Error Space]
3. Resurrection Coupons ×3 for deceased users (valid for 1 day)
The compensation was surprisingly sweet. Fifty Star Fragments—that was insane.
“You have to use the Resurrection Coupons now...!”
Dino shouted, holding out three blue coupons.
A lot of people had died in the recent incident.
Just three people, huh...?
Fortunately, no one close to me had died.
So I listed off three random names.
< [Resurrection Coupon] has been used. >
“But what does compensation item #2 mean?”
“Um...! That means... up until now, players couldn’t see what errors occurred in [Error Space]... but now, the System⧉ will send someone nearby who can share what they’ve learned...!”
That’s good.
Last time, I went into the Jinksythe fight completely blind.
It could’ve been disastrous.
“...T-that concludes the patch note explanation!”
“Good work.”
“Thanks...! D-do you have any questions, maybe?”
“Questions?”
Interesting. Being invited to ask questions.
“Will you answer anything?”
“Uuhm... not everything... but if it’s something I can explain, then, uh, to some degree...”
Dino’s eyes rolled nervously.
“...B-but I can’t reveal too much...”
“How much can you reveal?”
“Awawa...”
Dino shook his head.
Seemed like he couldn’t even answer that.
I had a mountain of questions—things I’d buried for lack of answers.
Might as well open that box now.
“...What happened to the real me?”