When the newbie first saw the Apostle, this was what he thought.
"You're really an Apostle?"
He was dressed in a blue shoulder cape, a white shirt, and a thick belt.
He looked like a typical novice knight straight out of a fantasy story.
There was just one thing that stood out, though.
'But why doesn't he have a weapon? Is he a melee type? Or can he use an inventory like a player?'
Unlike players, NPCs didn't have inventories.
So they carried bags or pouches, and couldn't hide large weapons or items.
'Looking at the sword I threw to that guinea pig back then, I thought her main weapon would be a sword, but maybe not?'
As all sorts of thoughts swirled through the newbie's head, she spoke with a calm expression.
"If you have any questions, ask. But save me the stupid ones, like whether I'm really an Apostle."
"Are you guys the ones blocking the boundary between this game world and reality?"
"Yes."
The answer was so blunt that the newbie was left speechless.
"Why?"
"Because that's the only way we can protect the world."
"You're keeping hundreds of thousands of people locked up just to protect this fake world?"
"Fake?"
The corners of her eyes crinkled slightly.
For a moment, the newbie felt as if the entire space had frozen solid.
"If you look at it that way, aren't you fake too?"
"What nonsense! Players like us have a world to live in!"
Despite the newbie's protest, she showed not a hint of emotion.
She looked just like a living doll.
"There's no place left for you in that world. You know that, right? It's already been a hundred years."
"But..."
"Do you really think their bodies would still be intact after over a hundred years?"
"That makes even less sense!"
"What doesn't make sense?"
"Doesn't the very reason this fake world exists depend on people in the real world watching it? If we just go ahead and destroy this virtual world, the people trapped in it will be in trouble!"
She tapped her chin with her finger.
It was a habit of Rune, both an Apostle and a Seed.
It was also the only one of the countless things her master had told her to correct that she had never managed to fix.
She lowered her finger and asked in a cold voice.
"Are they really that valuable?"
"What?"
"Are they really that valuable?"
"Of course they are!"
To begin with, the figure of "hundreds of thousands" was limited to Korea.
If you counted all the servers worldwide, it could be estimated that as many as hundreds of millions were trapped in this world.
Wouldn't hundreds of millions of hostages be enough?
But she thought differently.
"Humans are creatures whose value declines endlessly as time passes."
"What...? What do you mean by that?"
"I'm not being sarcastic or anything. Humans do possess immense value when they're first taken hostage. But the longer that time drags on, the more that void is bound to be filled."
Newbie wanted to retort to those cold, calculating words, but couldn't.
She hated to admit it, but she was right.
"And after a hundred years, that's more than enough time for the families of the trapped players to pass away. You know that. If the people back in the real world truly cared about them, they would've sent a rescue team here by now."
"That's..."
"Talking about this any further is a waste of time. You know that, right?"
"Ugh..."
She delivered her verdict as if pronouncing a sentence,
"Players. They aren't worth it."
For a moment, they were both speechless.
Then, Excel, having lost his patience, spoke up.
"So! Why on earth did you come to us, then?!"
Her gaze instantly focused on Axel.
"A tutorial fairy? I thought tutorial fairies were supposed to be with the guild or the Queen. That's surprising."
"Hmph! I don't know anything about that!"
"Anyway, getting to the point..."
She reached out into the air as if caressing someone.
A familiar-looking sword appeared.
A simple sword made of pure light.
It was the very sword that had sliced through and deleted the bugs.
"That thing."
"You handle it better than I expected. I'm glad I entrusted it to you."
"Did you do that?"
"Yeah."
With those words, Rune raised the sword of light.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
Then, out of the blue, she asked a question.
"So why did you crawl out of the guild? What are you planning to do?"
A question asked while aiming the sword.
It was obvious to anyone watching that she already knew the answer.
"Well..."
For a moment, a three-second standoff ensued.
It felt as if time had stopped; everything slowed down.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Rune, who had been standing far away, closed the distance to Newbie.
"New, Newbie!"
"Newbie!"
There was no time for Axel and Wonhyo to intervene.
Newbie felt a sharp, stinging pain.
It felt as if her whole body were creaking like a wooden puppet.
She slowly lowered her gaze to where the pain was coming from.
Her chest was glowing.
More precisely, it was the light sword embedded in her chest.
By the time Axel and Wonhyo reached Newbie, she had already returned to her original spot.
As if she had been there all along.
She lightly brushed off her arm and spoke again.
"Do you really think you can defeat the Apostles with skills like that?"
"..."
Newbie couldn't say a word as Wonhyo helped her up.
Excel tried desperately to grab the sword, but.
"Damn it! Why won't it let me grab it?! Please, just let me grab it! It makes sense that it can pierce me but won't let me grab it?!"
Excel's toothpick-like fingers could only flail pitifully.
Then, the sword of light began to melt away little by little, gradually flowing into Newbie's body.
As Newbie's eyes gradually closed, a message window popped up.
[New features have been added to Auto and Manual Debugging modes]
[Delete Mode has been added]
[Delete Mode: You can now use a tool that automatically deletes bugs you come into contact with]
It felt like he'd received some amazing gift, but Newbie had no time to reflect on it.
He collapsed as if falling asleep right then and there.
*
"Ugh... What the hell. Did I die again?"
"You looked fine just a moment ago?"
Beside him, a shrunken Wonhyo was keeping watch.
A blanket of unknown origin was draped over Newbie's body.
Excel was sleeping on Newbie's chest.
It looked like he'd fallen asleep while trying to press down on the wound from the sword strike to heal it somehow.
When Newbie stood up after putting Excel in one of his pockets, Wonhyo returned to his giant form and approached him.
"That was weird. According to the data we shared, your heart was pierced by that sword, yet your health didn't drop at all."
"This is different from the power in the game. It's related to that 'debugging' power—the ability to eliminate bugs."
"You mean that terrifying power I told you about, the one inside you."
"Yeah. But it's useless. When I'm actually facing the Apostle, I can't do a thing."
Newbie ran a hand through his hair.
"Ugh. I didn't expect it to work on the first try... but I just have no idea what to do."
"Is your real goal to actually defeat the Apostles?"
Wonhyo asked, sounding utterly baffled.
"Yeah."
"You're crazy... so you're one of those types, too."
"Those types? Were there really that many others besides me?"
"As far as I know, the Apostles' lives have been targeted dozens of times. In fact, there was exactly one instance where someone succeeded in killing one. But no one has ever managed to completely eliminate an Apostle."
Well, that made sense.
But I didn't know there had actually been a successful case.
"But you mean it actually worked?"
"It was a case where an Apostle was killed purely by skill. But you know, in this world, dying doesn't mean you're dead forever. So all sorts of attempts were made. Like exploiting bugs, for instance..."
Wonhyo raised both hands and sighed.
"Of course, they all failed. Thanks to that, the rumor that Apostles are invincible just spread, I guess."
"But why did that Apostle try to do something to me?"
At Newbie's muttered question, Wonhyo's eyes widened as if something had just occurred to him.
"Ah! Come to think of it, the Apostle gave you this."
With those words, he handed over a map.
"Another map? It's like the number of places I have to go just keeps increasing."
Newbie took the map, wondering if this was another one of those maps showing the Apostles' locations like before.
Two regions were marked on it.
[Crystal Dragon Lair] (Find the Sage)
[Blank Zone] (Find the Failures)
He had absolutely no idea what kind of places these were.
He didn't even know what the people he was supposed to find were all about.
Just then, Wonhyo stroked his jaw and offered his opinion.
"I don't know about the Sage. But those 'Failures'… I think it's those guys."
"You know who they are?"
"I've only heard rumors… but they're the ones who tried to kill the Apostles I told you about. I heard they banded together to survive and are hiding out somewhere."
"Weren't they captured?"
"Of course, some were. But if they're the kind of guys who'd try to assassinate an Apostle, they've all got something going for them, right? Guys like that aren't going to be caught easily. Of course, since the Kingdom was trying to catch them by any means necessary, I heard they banded together and formed a group."
"So you're saying those guys are the 'Failures'?"
"Yeah. I heard they even call themselves that—they don't have a specific name for themselves."
It felt like things were starting to come together.
"Even if they did fail, they've faced the Apostles, so they must know how to deal with them."
"Maybe they'll get excited after seeing your power and offer to help?"
Wonhyo agreed.
At those words, Newbie tilted his head in confusion.
"Come to think of it, we've got some settling to do."
"Yeah, yeah. I've been waiting for you to say that."
As if he'd been waiting for it, Wonhyo grew larger again and brought over a huge bundle from nearby.
It contained most of the level-up potions from the city.
"I grabbed as much as I could. I don't know how many levels we'll be able to level up, though."
"That's plenty. You managed to get it all even in the middle of that chaos."
"I'm good at keeping my promises."
"So where are the pets and monsters that escaped the city going?"
"Most of them will head to the Nest. I told them to go there."
"The Nest?"
"It's a country built by monsters. I heard it's a place where monsters who were oppressed by players and NPCs fled to and established… From what I've heard, only monsters and pets are allowed to enter."
"So you're going there too, then."
"Huh? Aren't you coming with me?"
"Wait, what?"
At the newbie's question, Wonhyo tapped the temple of his skull.
"Did you forget? That was the second deal, wasn't it? To introduce me to a new mount friend."
"Well, it's not exactly a situation where that's possible now, is it? I'm not saying I can't understand that."
"I was planning to follow you from the start."
Wonhyo looked down at his fingers, making them rattle briefly.
It was the hand that had touched Olli's furry paw.
"Olli has wanted to go on an adventure for a long time... and so have I. I thought you'd be the perfect fit for that adventure."
At that moment, Newbie pulled something out from his chest.
It was a glass bottle with glowing letters moving ceaselessly.
"Come to think of it, this..."
"This... feels somehow familiar..."
"Olli's data... or rather, you can just think of it as his soul."
"Soul... So..."
"Yeah. Maybe we can bring him back."
At those words, Wonhyo stared silently at the glass bottle for a while.
Then he handed the bottle back.
"Aren't you going to take it?"
"If we can bring him back, you'll definitely be needed. So you should keep it."
"..."
"Anyway, that gives me one more reason to follow you. You're not going to refuse, are you?"
"Ah, okay, okay."
That was enough to wrap up everything that had happened in this city.
Then, suddenly, an unresolved question popped into his mind.
Newbie found himself muttering to himself again without realizing it.
"Come to think of it, I wanted to ask why he did that to Ollie."
"I actually asked him about that. Why he stabbed Ollie with that light-sword."
"You knew?"
"I saw it from a distance, too."
"Did he answer?"
"Yeah. He said..."
'I just couldn't stand seeing the guys who fought the players claiming they wanted freedom doing the exact same thing to monsters and pets.'
".. . That's what he said."
"Seriously... What is that supposed to mean?"
As if to say it was all settled, Newbie waved his hand dismissively.
You just can't figure out these Apostles.
A problem far more urgent than that had just popped up right in front of him.
"But how are you supposed to ride around on that thing?"
Riding it like this would be uncomfortable, to say the least, and it would be a miracle if the pursuit party didn't catch up.
To begin with, Wonhyo was the most famous person in Taming City, and even considering they were outside the city, riding a steel giant over three meters tall that spewed blue flames... wouldn't it be strange if they didn't stand out?
Wonhyo patted his chest as if he'd already anticipated all of this.
"Of course there's a way."
With those words, his body began to change.
But it was completely different from when he shrunk down.
When he shrunk, he'd transform like a fairy, turning into light as if by magic.
This time, his metallic body began reassembling itself in all directions, like some kind of transforming robot.
Clank! Clank-clank! Clank!
After a few metallic clangs echoed, he had somehow taken on a form familiar to Newbie.
A form that was familiar, yet felt strange when actually encountered.
Vroom... Vroooom!
"What do you think? Is this good enough?"
It was a bike so cool that even a traffic cop would compliment it.
It had a massive exhaust pipe, dark blue accents, and where the headlights should have been, a skull with glowing eyes and a moving mouth.
"No need to say more. Just checking, but you don't need a license here, do you?"
"What's a license?"
"Never mind, that's fine then."
He never imagined he'd be riding a bike he'd never even ridden in real life, let alone in a fantasy world.
With the thought that the world was truly unpredictable, Newbie gripped the bone handlebars and climbed aboard.
"But how do I drive this thing?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Wonhyo began spinning the heavy metal tires.
Vroom! Vrooooooom!
"Ugh, aaaaaah!"
Blue flames spewed from the exhaust as the massive bike raced forward.
Overwhelmed by a sense of freedom he'd never felt before, the newbie decided to just let himself be carried away by the changing scenery for a moment.
It wasn't until much later that he realized the pocket where he'd stashed the accelerator was damp and reeking of a foul odor.