[NPC 'Olli's Database]
Here we go again—more jargon ordinary people wouldn't understand.
"What's a database?"
[It is a repository where code and all kinds of related information are stored.]
[Currently, this is the repository containing all of NPC 'Olli's' information and code. If we were to compare it to a living being, it's as if you've entered its brain.]
At those words, the status window kindly explained.
"So that means I've entered Ollie's mind?"
[Correct]
"Yeah, even if you explain it like a mess, I'm supposed to understand it perfectly, aren't I?"
This was something I hadn't expected.
Sure enough, the status window had mentioned earlier that the bug was too big and some process was needed; this seemed to be part of that process.
"But it's cleaner than I expected. I thought it would be messy because of the bug."
As he began to walk slowly, something seemed to vibrate in resonance with every step Newbie took.
It felt as if something was cramming information into Newbie's head.
At that moment, the status window popped up.
[Viewing or editing NPC information requires special permissions]
At that moment, Newbie's body glowed.
A white light flickered from his chest.
"Is this the power Wonhyo mentioned was inside me?"
[Special permissions confirmed. Revealing the NPC's information and memories]
Along with the message window, a description window for Olli appeared.
[NPC Ollie]
[Type: Seasonal Event Quest]
[Role: A shunned beastman in the human city who, with the player's help, was designated the city's hero]
Along with that description, a video of Ollie from before this game world changed began to play.
Back when Seeker World was still just a game, players and NPCs roamed about, enjoying their own adventures.
Among them was a female fox shapeshifter NPC.
"They said shapeshifter characters were really rare in this world. The lore was that they gathered in the Secret Forest to escape persecution."
Just as the newbie mentioned, shapeshifter NPCs were extremely rare in Seeker World.
And rare beings are bound to be treated at opposite extremes.
Either treated with great reverence...
"Hey, look! A monster's coming through!"
"Why don't they put a leash on that thing?"
Or, on the complete opposite end, becoming the target of all manner of hatred and loathing.
Olli's case was even worse.
Above those openly despising Olli, someone else could be seen.
[Admin Player]
In VR games like this, it was common for admins to move around directly to set the scene.
It seemed the admins had deliberately made Olli an outcast to advance the event quest storyline.
"Exactly."
"Honestly, he's more dangerous than a monster."
Even the NPCs, who had initially thought it was too much, gradually fell for the admin players' incitement.
In the end, for no reason at all, just to advance the event quest storyline, Oli had to become a figure hated by everyone in the city.
In that situation, the world suddenly changed.
The admins who had made Oli that way disappeared.
But the environment remained the same.
"Hey, a monster's passing by over there!"
"Why is that thing one of us? I can't accept it!"
If anything, it got worse.
The NPCs became even more vicious than before.
Above all, what was hardest to bear was that he had no reason to live.
While the other NPCs had their original professions, so it made sense, event quest NPCs like Olli existed solely for that quest in the first place.
As he wandered the city, adrift in a life that was neither one thing nor the other, devoid of purpose, he encountered yet another being that rejected him.
However, this one was an object of fear, not loathing.
"Grrrr…"
A metallic skeleton golem spewing blue flames right before his eyes
"Wonhyo?"
Ironically, if the original event quest had proceeded as planned, this would have been the city's final boss.
[Taming City Boss Raid Event 'Terror of the Blue Flames']
[Boss: Horror Crypt Lord]
[Story Progression NPC: Ollie]
[Description: Ollie, the city's official outcast. However, after meeting the heroic players, he finds his calling and defeats Horror Crypt Lord, the entity that plunged the city into terror]
[System: If the raid boss Horror Crypt Lord is defeated, Ollie and Horror Crypt Lord's data will be deleted]
"So, if things had gone according to the original event story, Olly was supposed to team up with the player and Wonhyo to take down the boss in a raid, right?"
Of course, since the game world had collapsed, those settings and stories were now obsolete.
But there was one thing that still existed between them.
Namely, the fact that Wonhyo and Olly's data were linked.
'Grr...'
'Are you alone too? Want to come with me?'
Oli extended his hairy hand toward Wonhyo...
Wonhyo cautiously and slowly extended his own massive hand.
After that, all sorts of videos unfolded.
A video of Olli and Wonhyo traveling together, facing people's fear but smiling at each other.
A video of Wonhyo successfully transforming into a small body after immense effort.
A video of the two becoming champions in the Colosseum and rising to the Four Heavenly Kings alongside three other troublemakers.
From a made-up outcast to the champion of the Colosseum.
It was a heartwarming success story by anyone's standards.
In between, Olli stroked Wonhyo with his soft hands, covered in fur and jelly.
Olli wondered what good it could possibly do for a skeleton to be stroked, but Wonhyo quietly enjoyed those soft, fluffy strokes every time.
However, behind the two of them, the host and the mayor's sinister gazes could be seen.
From then on, all the footage turned dark and gloomy.
Trapped in the place where they injected the bug—just as Wonhyo had said—he began to suffer all sorts of abuse at the hands of the black-clad handlers.
The black-clad handlers, armed with clubs and all manner of weapons, were astonished.
"This guy really is invincible, isn't he? No matter what we do, he just won't die."
"Just as the Mayor said, he's perfect for bug testing. He's the ideal host for implanting bugs created with this code."
"With this, we'll surely be recognized by the Apostles and become Agents. Heh heh heh."
"Just Agents? Maybe even the kingdom's leadership..."
He didn't need to hear any more.
Newbie pressed the fast-forward button he'd stumbled upon.
After that, there was nothing but darkness.
Nothing but all sorts of glitches and static you'd expect to see in a bug.
When Newbie stepped into that space, the fox shapeshifter was there.
With her face covered, she was simply crying.
When he was wearing the mask, consumed by the bug, he had seemed so tall, but his true form was small and adorable, like a little kid.
Before he knew it, Newbie was standing right in front of him.
He wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.
He didn't even feel like offering the usual clichés, like "It's okay" or "It's not your fault."
He just...
Thud!
Sitting down beside him, he just patted his shoulder gently.
The sound of her crying slowly faded away, and then Ollie spoke to him for the first time.
"Thank you. For finding me. Now, end it."
With those words, a message appeared in the status window.
[Deleting the NPC consumed by a bug]
For a moment, the newbie's eyes widened.
After showing him the entirety of Ollie's life, they were going to get rid of him?
"Isn't there another way?"
[Do you want to cancel the NPC's deletion?]
"Yeah. Can't we just fix the bug without deleting him?"
At those words, the status window stuttered for a moment before bringing up the message window again.
[Would you like to extract the current NPC's data?]
"Data? What does that mean?"
[The current NPC is severely damaged and cannot be repaired, but we can extract information—including the NPC's memories—and save it as data.]
[This data will be used for future NPC restoration.]
"So you can't bring him back to life right now?"
[No.]
[However, if backup data is available, the NPC can be restored later.]
To put it in human terms, it's like turning a person with an incurable disease into a cryogenically frozen human.
The newbie nodded.
Sssssss...
Then, Ollie's body gradually turned into light and vanished.
For the first time, he smiled with that fox-like face.
"Thanks. Can I ask you for just one favor?"
"What is it?"
"My skeleton... please take good care of it."
"...Sure."
Then, the entire black space began to collapse.
[NPC 'Olli's' data has been extracted]
[Everything except the extracted data will be deleted]
Crackle!
At that moment, Newbie's view changed completely.
Like a bubble bursting, the space vanished, and the original scenery returned to its place.
"Am I back in reality?"
Honestly, it felt a bit strange to call the game world "reality," but in any case, he was definitely back.
"Newbie! Newbieeeeeee! Waaah!"
Excel immediately clung to him and wept as if wailing.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?"
"Everything suddenly started glowing, and then you and that guy in the mask collapsed—I was so scared. Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle! Are you really okay?"
"I told you I'm fine! Ah! But what about that guy in the mask?"
"Sniff, sniff... Over there..."
Where Excel pointed, Wonhyo—who had grown larger again—and Ollie, lying in Wonhyo's arms, could be seen.
Instead of that hideous mask, he gazed at Wonhyo with the soft, cute face of a fox shapeshifter.
For the first time, water—not fire—streamed from the eye sockets of the colossal Wonhyo.
Those salty droplets fell one by one, sizzling and turning into smoke whenever they touched the armor or the flames.
Excel struggled to remove his gauntlet and stroked Wonhyo's armor with his furry hand.
"I'm sorry... It's been so long since I last stroked you..."
"It's okay. I can wait. If it's your touch, I can wait anytime..."
"Thanks... But I'm so sleepy."
"Of course you are. We've been training together for way too long."
"That's right, really... I'm kind of sleepy."
"Time to sleep. Great champions go to bed early and wake up early."
"Yeah... I guess so. I'm going to sleep."
"Okay..."
Oli's eyes slowly closed.
Ssss...
Oli slowly turned into light and faded away.
Those specks of light flew toward the sky.
The fireworks had all died down, the stars had lost their light behind the clouds, and the moonlight was faint.
Amidst that dark night, those specks of light became a Milky Way, embroidering the night sky before disappearing.
Wonhyo said nothing.
He stood up and spoke slowly, yet with a weighty tone.
"Let's go. The others are already on their way."
Just as Wonhyo had said, the pets and monsters that had escaped the bug were making their way out of the city according to the prearranged plan.
The Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, which had simply marched down a single path, had truly transformed into a Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts targeting the entire city.
The trainers, security guards, and patrols capable of stopping them had all been wiped out when the bug went haywire.
Just as the Newbie had said before, a massive Exodus was unfolding.
Naturally, it was the Newbie's turn to go as well.
If he stayed here any longer, there was a high chance he'd be arrested as the mastermind behind this incident.
Just as he was about to leave.
"Yeah. You're always with the bugs, aren't you?"
"What's going on? Is the party over? Everyone's heading out of the city? Too bad, such a shame!"
A familiar yet aged voice.
"Wow, Captain really has a good nose. Maybe you should switch to being a dog pet?"
A new voice was heard as well.
Under the faint moonlight, three Devotees revealed themselves.
They were the same people I'd seen during the carriage hijacking incident.
Captain Lucen, the blue-haired Devotee, and Mira, the orange-haired Devotee.
And a new Devotee with an unfamiliar voice.
A robe that looked sacred to anyone who saw it, and a crown of thorns made of light.
And long, pure-white hair with purple stains that looked like something had been smeared on it.
"Hello? You look completely different from what I imagined. Everyone kept saying Captain Lucen was hideous, but your face actually looks pretty decent?"
With that backhanded compliment, she stepped forward first.
She swung her whip.
Suddenly, the whip snapped open and split into several strands, attempting to strike Newbie, Excel, and Wonhyo all at once.
At that moment.
Crack!
Her whip was deflected.
The three of the Four Heavenly Kings, who had been blocking the monster consumed by the bug earlier, appeared.
Aeven, along with his wyvern, blocked Lucen's shots from the sky, while Salo and his Fire Beast charged straight ahead, knocking back the Mira that was rushing toward them.
Finally, it was Ione and her Iron Lion who blocked her whip.
Before she knew it, Even had dismounted his wyvern and stood before Newbie.
Just as Newbie was about to say something.
"No need to say anything. This isn't the first time you've abandoned a friend."
When Newbie didn't speak as he'd suggested, Even continued.
"We thought all this time that Ollie had abandoned us and left. But it turns out that wasn't the case."
"I'm sorry, but I..."
"It doesn't matter if you're an outsider or one of us. I know what kind of person you are. I just hope we meet again someday."
At those words, Newbie nodded.
Excel also nodded repeatedly, firmly resolved to return.
"Go."
"Oh my? Are you stopping the execution of our Devotee right now? Do you know that's a massive capital offense?"
"I'm sorry, Devotee. Are you trying to arrest one of our city's Champions without a warrant or any evidence?"
"Heh heh, don't you know that whoever we execute is the criminal?"
"I'm sorry, but Taming City is an autonomous city. And Tamers hold special positions. We have the right not to comply with such abuses of power."
"Hahaha, how amusing? Then shall we settle this by skill, without regard for rank?"
"Very well."
With that, Even mounted her Wyvern once more and charged at her.
No further farewells were needed.
The three joined the procession of pets and monsters already making their way out of the city and began their own escape.
*
Only after reaching the outskirts of the city—the area where wild monsters primarily lived—were the three able to catch their breath.
There, various flowers glowed in the moonlight.
"Phew... phew... Is this as far as we need to go?"
"Yeah. Technically, this is outside the city."
Wonhyo, who had shrunk back to his original size, replied to Excel's question.
"From here on, it's not under the city's jurisdiction, so the Kingdom's army handles security. "
"So we're completely out of it then."
Just as Newbie was about to sit down, petals scattered and a mysterious voice rang in everyone's ears.
"You can't escape our Apostle, no matter where you go."
Unfortunately, the three knew who the voice belonged to.
Why was that unfortunate?
Because the owner of that voice was the Apostle.
As if finding it cumbersome, she shed her black cloak.
The black cloak fluttered into the sky, momentarily blocking the moonlight, and through the shadows, she revealed her true form.
That was Newbie's first encounter with the Apostle.