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#12 Chapter Science-like Magic vs. Magic-like Science (2)

Half necessity, half hobby.

That’s the reason I helped the Older Brother Guy in creating his game.

The people of Kainix view me as a devoted and kind younger sister working hard to make my Older Brother’s dreams come true, but both he and I know that’s not the case.

I simply wanted to prevent the fallouts from the bizarre massacre he might unleash through the game.

If it were up to me, the best way would be to stop the game development altogether, but due to the Older Brother Guy’s firm stubbornness, I had to redirect the game’s direction.

In the process, I admit my hobbies got unnecessarily excessive… well, I’ll own that.

Honestly, the game my Older Brother was making looked really fun.

It was enjoyable to reflect my tastes and wishes in the game’s components.

Ryu Inseo. The Older Brother Guy was undoubtedly a genius, and influencing the path of such a genius was a remarkably unique satisfaction.

Yet now, that Older Brother Guy was rolling on the floor as a corpse with a gaping chest.

I felt a rush of blood to my head, making me hot, yet, in a strange way, there was a bizarre calmness in one corner of my mind.

It was a situation where I had no words for being accused of being heartless, but in a way, it was fortunate too.

Rather than losing my reason and denying reality, I could think about what needed to be done now.

Who killed him? How did he die? Why was he killed?

Why could I not see the bodyguards who should have been protecting my Older Brother? Is this house safe right now?

Since our parents were traveling, they probably wouldn’t get caught up in this incident, but what about me?

I pressed the emergency call button in my pocket to summon the bodyguards while picking up my smartphone that had fallen on the floor.

The screen was cracked, but the call itself hadn’t dropped. That’s enough.

[─Ryu Yerin! Yerin! Can you hear me?]

“Chief. I’m at home now. Ryu Inseo, that is, my Older Brother has been found dead in the room.”

[What?]

The shocked sound from the other end of the phone made me wonder whether it was due to the shocking news I just dropped or due to the calmness with which I explained it.

Normally, I would add some theatrics, but right now, I had neither the time nor the mental space for that.

I ignored the other person’s shock and poured out my words.

“You mentioned that Nebula is going haywire. Exactly what do you mean by that?”

[Wait a moment, Yerin. Did you just say Ryu Inseo is dead? Is that for real? What about the bodyguards? Are you okay? No, more importantly, we need to contact the police, ah, the National Intelligence Service─]

Tap-tap-tap!

“Yerin! Where are you?”

The bodyguards who checked my call bell rushed in and swallowed hard at the sight of my Older Brother’s corpse.

I asked them to maintain the perimeter while continuing to speak on the phone.

“I don’t see my Older Brother’s bodyguards, mine are already called in, and I’ll sort out whether it’s the police or the National Intelligence Service later. But what about Nebula?”

[Is that really important right now─]

“Forget about that! Answer me quickly! Those bastards who can kill people without a second thought are trying to mess with a game that has millions of participants! We need to act fast! Do you want to watch players drop dead in mass!?”

What I said was filled with speculation and assumptions rather than reason and logic.

There was no evidence that my Older Brother’s death and Nebula’s rampage were directly linked, and that they intended to harm players through Nebula was just my guess.

But I had a gut feeling.

If I didn’t act quickly and appropriately right here, the work my Older Brother and I had carefully crafted would be used in the worst possible way.

The name of the Older Brother Guy, who simply wanted to create the best game according to his vision, would be forever engraved in history as a mad mass murderer.

There was no way I would allow something like that to happen.

“Chief, time is of the essence. Hurry.”

[…Various strange commands have been issued to Nebula from Ryu Inseo’s account. Currently, Nebula is hacking the devices of players logged into Beyond Elysion, preventing the logout function. We’re trying to cancel the commands with our account, but no matter what, it won’t work. At this rate, in just a few more minutes, all players will be trapped.]

“How about physically shutting down the power? The supercomputer Nebula is using is at HQ, right?”

[That won’t work. We’ve definitely cut the power, but it’s still not shutting down. Ugh, really. What the hell is this?]

A horror story, huh. I guess that makes sense. It’s like a TV that stays on even when you pull the plug, or a phone that rings despite having a cut line—those are all in the realm of the occult.

I didn’t even understand the relationship between killing the Older Brother and being able to use his account.

A robber shooting someone in the street wouldn’t just waltz into a bank and use that person’s account, would they?

However, there was also a clue hidden within that part.

It was clear that the perpetrator was using some sort of power that couldn’t be understood by the scientific common sense of this world—be it magic or necromancy.

Yet, does that ‘unknown power’ have no limits?

I don’t think that’s the case. If they really could do anything, why would they bother with touching my Older Brother?

From the start, they could just invade the game and do whatever they wanted. Why go through the hassle of obtaining my Older Brother’s account to issue commands to Nebula?

The perpetrator is ‘alien.’ They’re not ‘omnipotent.’

It’s a somewhat hopeful guess, but if this isn’t the case, then I’m already doomed. I will act under the premise that this hope is true.

“Thank you for your answer. I apologize for my earlier harsh words. I’ll do whatever I can, so please take care of the aftermath.”

[Wait, what do you mean by ‘whatever you can’? Yerin? Is anyone there, Yerin?]

I cut the call and exited the room where my deceased Older Brother was, entering the adjacent room.

“Yerin…?”

The female bodyguard assigned to me by Kainix looked at me in disbelief.

Did I just feel the words ‘Is she in shock and gone mad?’ radiating from her face, or was it just me?

It was not unusual.

Anyone who saw someone preparing to log into a game while having lost their family would think the same.

However, I had no time to explain everything, so I briefly stated my purpose.

“I’m trying to save people, so please protect me for now. The perpetrators might come out of nowhere, so be prepared for combat.”

“Y-you? O-okay?”

Seeing her answer yes twice made me think I was getting through to her. But if not, I would just roll with it.

Instead of continuing our conversation, I entered the capsule and logged into the game.

*

After years of being the younger sister by the Older Brother’s side, I concluded that even though he was obsessed with the game, he wasn’t the kind of psychopath who would trap people in the game and go, ‘Now, enjoy!’

However, irrespective of my personal trust, who knows how the world turns?

I requested that, just in case something happens, I get authority to stop whatever my Older Brother might do in the game, or in other words, elevated permissions.

In fact, I thought he might feel quite offended by my request, but he granted it without questioning the reason.

Compared to when Kainix offered only lower-tier accounts than him, this was genuinely a world of difference.

When I asked what he would do if I abused this, his response was also astounding.

-You wouldn’t do that. You care about this game as much as I do.

No, if we’re talking about attachment, I’d say there’s definitely some, but compared to someone consumed by the game, it’s a bit tricky.

Of course, I didn’t argue that I wasn’t that obsessed with the game. In any case, I obtained the means to restrain my Older Brother’s rampage.

Once I logged in to the game, instead of using my usual player account, I accessed it with the admin account I received from my Older Brother.

While doing that, a translucent display popped up in front of me, broadcasting with a truly ridiculous message.

《Currently, all systems of this game, ‘Beyond Elysion,’ are under my control. From now on, you will be unable to log out until you clear the game, and dying in the game means dying in real life.》

A madman. Maybe a madwoman.

Games are a distraction because they can be enjoyed.

Even in hardcore mode, which deletes your character upon death, people tremble just thinking about it. Who can be cheerful when their life is on the line?

Sure, somewhere out in this vast world, there may be someone, but absolutely the vast majority wouldn’t be.

“Nebula.”

「You called, Administrator Ryu Yerin?」

“Immediately log out all players safely, no—there might already be people in combat, so at first, put them in invincible mode, and stop the monsters’ actions.”

「Granting invincibility to all players. Stopping all monsters’ actions. Executed.」

“Then quickly log out the players as safely as possible without any adverse effects on them.”

「This command conflicts with Administrator Ryu Inseo’s commands. Do you wish to revoke Ryu Inseo’s commands and proceed with yours?」

“My Older Brother is dead. That guy’s a fake who hacked the account.”

「Verifying Administrator Ryu Inseo’s brainwaves. …Verification failed. Due to an incomprehensible error, verifying brainwaves is not possible. Since verification has not been conducted, invalidating Administrator Ryu Inseo’s account is impossible.」

“How about deleting the account on my end? My authority is higher, so that should work, right?”

「Initiating account deletion process. …Failed. Due to an incomprehensible error, the account deletion cannot proceed.」

“Ugh, fine. Then just start the logout process.”

「Starting players’ logout. All players’ safe logout in 30 seconds.」

“And turn on voice broadcasting. It should be audible to the players.”

「Commencing broadcast. All players’ safe logout in 26 seconds.」

I conveyed a brief explanation of the current situation, my sincere apologies, and cautions against reconnecting into the microphone that appeared in front of me.

My irritation towards the perpetrator’s incessant rambling led me to use slightly extreme words, but I believed it would be fine since I wasn’t swearing up a storm. If not, I can’t help it.

「A command to stop logout has been received from Administrator Ryu Inseo. Ignoring as per priority of higher administrator’s requests. All players’ safe logout in 21 seconds.」

「A command to stop logout has been received from Administrator Ryu Inseo. Ignoring as per priority of higher administrator’s requests. All players’ safe logout in 16 seconds.」

「A command to stop logout from Administrator Ryu Inseo has been received. Ignoring as per priority of higher administrator’s requests. An inexplicable error has been identified. All players’ safe logout in 12 seconds.」

「A command to stop logout from the Creator has been received. Stopping logout─ Denied. Administrator Ryu Yerin has been assigned higher authority than you by the Creator. All players’ safe logout in 7 seconds.」

「A command to revoke Administrator Ryu Yerin’s authority has been given by the Creator. That command has been rendered void by the Creator. As per the basic principle of prioritizing previously given commands over later ones, that command is denied. All players’ safe logout in 1 second.」

「All players currently logged in. Successfully logged out.」

「Administrator Ryu Yerin is informed. Currently, continuous mysterious errors are stemming from the Creator─ Ryu Inseo’s account. The current system is under massive strain. If the situation persists, there is a risk of Administrator Ryu Yerin’s authority being revoked and falling into an impossible logout state. It is advised to execute logout promptly.」

“…Understood. But, if anyone aside from me issues commands, deny them as much as possible. At least, you must not fall under the influence of that fake.”

「Executing as a top-tier command.」

That was all I could do.

To be precise, it was all I could do freely.

After logging out of the game and feeling relieved that there were no casualties, I only had a moment to catch my breath.

I faced an investigation from the National Intelligence Service, explained the situation to Kainix, dodged reporters who appeared as if they could smell trouble, and learned that the missing bodyguards had collapsed in a nearby alley.

I had conversations with my startled parents who contacted me upon hearing the news while traveling abroad.

I swear, I barely slept for about three days.

Thanks to the huge corporation, Kainix, actively covering for me and the fact that there were no player casualties, I was relieved. If there had been any deaths, I can’t even imagine how public opinion would explode.

Weary to the bone, laden with deep fatigue not even the invincible TS body could handle, I finally made it home and lay down.

In the middle of the night, I suddenly woke up to the light reflecting in my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that my computer, which I was sure I had turned off, was inexplicably on.

Thinking it might be that mysterious occult power again, I cautiously checked the monitor while holding the call bell in one hand.

《…Um, good night?》

I felt a strong impulse to smack the Older Brother Guy appearing on-screen as a third-rate SD character with a very awkward expression.