Chapter 14 : Hacker
Chapter 14: Hacker
“Ah…”
Kang Soyul, who had been refused, let out a sigh.
However, it wasn’t a reaction of not having expected it.
Since she had already seen Baek Woohyun’s appearance of not caring about broadcasting at all, she had been thinking the probability of refusal was high.
That’s why she tried to continue persuading rather than giving up in disappointment.
Until she made eye contact with Baek Woohyun again.
‘Ah.’
Pupils like those of a dead person, where no color of emotion could be felt.
Looking at them, one could naturally realize that no matter what one said, there wasn’t even a bit of possibility of persuasion.
From what Kang Soyul had felt while meeting various people, those with such eyes absolutely never bent their decisions through someone’s intervention.
Thus she refreshingly gave up on persuading Baek Woohyun.
“I understand. Then if you change your mind, please contact me anytime.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Ahaha. I kept you too long, didn’t I? It was very fun playing the game together. Have a pleasant ‘Reverse Planet.'”
Kang Soyul, who bowed in greeting, slowly faded and soon disappeared from that spot.
She had ended the game.
“……”
When Kang Soyul completely disappeared, Baek Woohyun raised his head to look up at the sky.
A night sky embroidered full of stars entered his view.
A sky that felt even cleaner with not a single cloud visible.
A scene he had seen to the point of boredom in that other world.
However, it was also a scene he could now only see within this place.
“……”
Baek Woohyun, who had been standing there for quite a long time, lowered his gaze back down.
At some point, countless specters had surrounded him without gaps. They gazed at him with eyes shedding bloody tears as always.
To someone, it might feel like a scene from a horror movie, but Baek Woohyun didn’t avoid their gaze and met it.
In any case, for him it was merely a brief reunion with dear friends.
That’s why he didn’t get angry about losing himself and being swayed when meeting Kang Soyul.
Considering the ties built up with them, that much was nothing more than a trivial prank.
He asked them with a faint smile.
“Do you feel a bit better?”
-……
-……
“Looking at your expressions, seems it was reasonably okay.”
Though they were still gaunt and withered faces, Baek Woohyun found faint satisfaction among them.
Even though it was revenge in a virtual reality game—a false world, it seemed to have given them a fairly pleasant feeling.
Like a kind of memorial service for the dead.
Then he thought continuing this game wouldn’t be too bad either…
‘…No, I have no choice but to continue.’
Baek Woohyun’s eyes shone coldly.
Hadn’t he more firmly realized the connection point with ‘over there’ by playing ‘Reverse Planet’ today?
‘Over there’ and ‘Reverse Planet,’ which could be called perfectly the same world.
Even to unravel the mystery existing between them, he had no choice but to continue playing ‘Reverse Planet.’
‘Should I head out too.’
Having ended ‘Reverse Planet,’ Baek Woohyun came out to the place he had made as a waiting space in the past.
Looking around the well-decorated room only briefly.
His body, standing alone, slowly faded.
***
“……”
The next morning.
Waking from sleep, Baek Woohyun felt refreshed for the first time in a very long while. It was a clear awakening that could be said to be the first since returning to reality.
Feeling puzzled at the rare occurrence only briefly, he frowned as he checked his smartphone out of habit. Because he saw missed calls and Kokoatalk messages piled up.
Kokoatalk messages naturally go to 300+ when people chatter enthusiastically in group chat rooms—in fact, most of the piled up Kokoatalk messages were from group chat rooms—but what about missed calls?
‘Jeong Nayeon?’
Why would she suddenly contact him?
And going so far as to call, not satisfied with just Kokoatalk messages.
Baek Woohyun, who had been tilting his head in puzzlement, opened the Kokoatalk chat room with Jeong Nayeon.
He could see that right around when he had been sleeping, she had sent about ten messages like ‘?’ or ‘What’s this,’ and the very last message was this:
-Jeong Nayeon: What the hell have you been doing?
‘What have I been doing. Suddenly?’
-Baek Woohyun: ?
Was she awake? Jeong Nayeon’s answer to the brief message Baek Woohyun sent came back quickly.
-Jeong Nayeon: You played RePla yesterday, right?
-Baek Woohyun: ㅇㅇ
-Jeong Nayeon: I knew it was you, Woohyun
-Jeong Nayeon: The name was the same so I thought so
-Jeong Nayeon: Right now because of you the entire RePla community is burning up lol
‘What is this about.’
Baek Woohyun tilted his head again.
The entire community burning because of him. What was that sudden talk supposed to mean?
All he did yesterday was at most finish the tutorial mission, and after that he ended the connection right away.
-Baek Woohyun: ?
-Jeong Nayeon: Just look
-Jeong Nayeon: [Link – Reasons why the no-assist no-gun video is hacking.txt]
-Jeong Nayeon: They’re calling you a hacker lol
-Jeong Nayeon: (Emoticon of rabbit bursting into laughter)
‘Hack?’
-Jeong Nayeon: Of course I know it’s bullshit ㅇㅇ
-Jeong Nayeon: What ability would you have to get a hack
-Baek Woohyun: Wait. Let me check it first
-Jeong Nayeon: ㅇㅋㅇㅋ
When Baek Woohyun pressed the link posted on Kokoatalk, Hypernet naturally launched and the problematic post unfolded before his eyes.
[General] Reasons why the no-assist no-gun video is hacking.txt
Comments: 999+ | Views: 115877 | Recommendations: 9471
“Hmm.”
View count heading toward one hundred twenty thousand, recommendations close to ten thousand, and comments numbering at least over a thousand.
Even Baek Woohyun, who hadn’t been very active in communities, could recognize these as tremendous numbers at a glance.
Thinking that all sorts of things become topics, he skimmed the content for now.
[General] Reasons why the no-assist no-gun video is hacking.txt
Comments: 999+ | Views: 115877 | Recommendations: 9471
Baek Woohyun <- Explaining why he’s a hacker
The hacker I saw before was exactly like that
That guy also dodged right before being aimed at
Auto-combat hack types are mostly the same
<Video – I met an auto-combat hacker. Really amazing>
This is an actual broadcaster video that met a hacker, and you can see dodging before shooting here too, right?
Unless you’re a dev, you’d know, but dodging with timing right before shooting isn’t something a person can do
Doing it consecutively makes even less sense
This alone already confirms it’s a hack ㅇㅇ;
People who checked the broadcast replay will know
The hacker tried to attack as soon as he saw the broadcaster
Seems like he turned off the friend-or-foe identification function in the hack, so even though they were party members, it judged them as enemies and attempted attack
Probably didn’t think he’d be partied with someone else since it was no-assist lol
Running immediately after the tutorial mission ended? lol
If there’s nothing to feel guilty about, why bother? lol
Three-line summary
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─This is ㄹㅇlol I also saw a hack video before and it was exactly like this video
└<Author> You saw the Astra video too?
└ㅇㅇ The hacker reeducation video was honey fun
└<Author> Added it together in the main text and edited lol
└I watched the main text video but it was a bit different…
─Thinking about it, it’s hilarious lol He deliberately did no-assist to secretly use hacks but a broadcaster happens to come with a no-assist mission at exactly that time? lol
└From the hacker’s perspective, ㄹㅇ a lightning bolt lololol
└That’s why he ran immediately lololololol
└Taking the friend request in the midst of that is super shameless heh
─Planet Earth, these bastards, why aren’t they catching hackers
└They do catch them but they keep appearing; Look at the official site, they’re consistently cracking down on hackers
└Most hacks get blocked in a day or two
└Since the usage appeared on broadcast, they’ll probably ban him soon lol
─Ah what, it was a hack? I thought an amateur hidden master popped up for once
─87th attempt at breaking through guards
─I’m staying neutral until an official sanction appears
└Me too ㅇㅇ This is too much of a witch hunt
└Bullshit If this is a witch hunt, 80 percent of hackers are innocent
“Hmm…”
Baek Woohyun, who read through everything from the main content to the comments, scratched his cheek. His expression showed a somewhat absurd air.
In fact, it was something that couldn’t help but upset him. His skills obtained through deadly suffering in that other world were being disparaged as hacking.
Even if he hadn’t wanted to obtain them.
Moreover, even the reasons the main post put forth for him being a hacker were pathetically weak.
That the fighting style resembled the hacker seen before—though the only resemblance was dodging—, that dodging right before shooting was too difficult for a person to do, that he ran away after finishing.
Without any proper physical evidence, just asserting he was a hacker based only on circumstantial evidence.
The fact that many comments were agreeing with such an inflammatory post was rather amazing!
‘What process did it go through to become like this?’
Baek Woohyun, suddenly curious, looked through the hot posts on the relevant community, ‘Reverse Time.’
As you could tell from the reaction to the hacker rumor post, the current biggest topic in Reverse Time was his hacking controversy, so examining the process wasn’t very difficult.
Just by going back a few pages, he could know the starting point.
The story first came up roughly ten hours ago—
That is, when Kang Soyul’s broadcast was still on.
More precisely, a few posts uploaded when Kang Soyul was tracking Baek Woohyun and discovered the remains of four Etinels were the starting point.
Back then, several viewers had chatted about going to write posts in the community, and there were those who actually put it into action.
However, the posts uploaded by impatient viewers didn’t get much reaction at that time.
Not only were those who went to write posts during the broadcast a minority, but those who went to find the broadcast after seeing the posts didn’t return because of Baek Woohyun’s appearance.
For that reason, this topic seemed to be quietly buried, but what will happen eventually happens.
After the broadcast ended and viewers poured out all at once, Reverse Time became noisy, and Baek Woohyun drew the attention of many.
‘Is this the first post to make it to hot posts?’
[General] Broadcaster) No Assist / No Gun / Tutorial Mission Clear Video
Comments: 999+ | Views: 175877 | Recommendations: 18471
<Video – Kang Soyul noticing the absence of bullet marks>
<Video – Baek Woohyun still taking down guards without using guns>
<Video – Baek Woohyun casually conversing and smashing two Etinels in seconds>
<Video – Baek Woohyun handling the Security Captain alone>
It’s a person named Kang Soyul’s broadcast
A no-assist tutorial clear mission was set and while playing the game, she met this person through party expansion matching
People who know RePla’s matching system will know, but naturally this person is also no-assist
But the fighting was so amazing I brought it
I don’t usually write broadcaster-related posts, but I really think everyone needs to see this, setting aside the broadcast
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─<Photo – “One crazy person appears every week”>
└This isn’t at the level of one person every week;;
└If people like this appeared every week, Korea would have monopolized monthly champion wins
└ㄹㅇlol
└Cannot refute ㅇㅈ
─How to defeat opponents with guns.avi
└Just dodge right before they shoot ㅇㅇ
└What, that’s nothing
└It’s so difficult it rather looks simple
─What exactly is a Colosseum ranker;
└Both player Battler and this person, what kind of place was Colosseum really
└Battler is amazing too but this person is more impressive ㄹㅇ
└I don’t think even pros could do this
─The no-assist I did wasn’t like this
─Even if it’s an early version, Etinels get smashed that easily? ㄷㄷ
─When catching the Security Captain, it’s scary as hell lololol
└ㄹㅇ The aura is insane;
└Looking used to beating people like that… HOXY…? That industry…?
└Ahem
If it was before being known, it would be different.
After being known, the reaction couldn’t help but be hot.
No assist, not using guns, defeating all enemies including the tutorial boss alone?
Even in a live broadcast that’s recorded on video?
In Reverse Time, a community where only those passionate about ‘Reverse Planet’ gathered, it would be stranger if it didn’t become a topic.
While the majority were admiring, several users famous for outstanding skills left posts saying they’d try too and disappeared.
And they returned in as short as dozens of minutes, as long as several hours, and left reviews, all containing the opinion ‘The person in the video is a real monster!’
[General] No Assist No Gun Tutorial Challenge Attempt Review
Comments: 751 | Views: 95877 | Recommendations: 7471
After seeing the post uploaded this time—Broadcaster) No Assist / No Gun / Tutorial Mission Clear Video—I also went to try it
To tell you the result first, I failed
I thought the first Etinels were reasonably manageable, but everything after that was the problem;
The Etinels are one thing, but the real obstacle is the guards
Dodging before the guards pull the trigger like in the video is really hard;;
If you dodge even slightly early, the aim follows, and conversely if you dodge late, you just get shot and game over immediately
You have to see it as definitely dying unless it’s the exact timing
To succeed at this consecutively
I’m curious to the point of wondering why the person appearing in the video still hasn’t debuted as a pro;
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─I also tried but rage quit at the first Etinel lol
└[Author] I was fairly confident in 1v1 so I somehow got past that part, but I didn’t know the rest would be hell;;
└Even dodging shooting once is a miracle ㄹㅇ
└[Author] I agree
─Just a tutorial and you talk about pro lol. Do you even know how many monsters are gathered among pros??
└The author is someone who received pro offers
└As far as I know, there are four pro teams that made recruitment offers to MyGunShines-nim
└Please shut up if you don’t know well;;
─Guns are one thing but no-assist is ㄹㅇ crazy
└Agree. With no-assist even using supernatural abilities is hard
The amazing thing was that through this process, a kind of challenge began trending in Reverse Time.