The "Red Ward" was not a prison in the traditional sense. It was a localized suspension zone located beneath the ruins of the Seoul City Hall. In the old world, this basement had housed emergency generators and municipal archives; now, it was a high-density storage facility for "Corrupted Assets."
Han-ul stood in the mouth of a ventilation shaft, looking down at the ward. Beside him, Ji-yoon checked the string of her reinforced bow. Below them, the air was thick with a crimson haze—the Red Ward's namesake. This wasn't smoke, but a cloud of "De-fragmentation Nanites." To a normal human, it felt like breathing sandpaper. To a "Tester," it was a suppression field that locked their skills behind a wall of static.
"The nanites are eating my mana," Ji-yoon whispered, her face pale. "I can't even summon a basic arrow."
"That's the point," Han-ul said, his hood pulled low. "The System doesn't want its 'glitches' fighting back. But look closely."
He pointed to a large, glass-walled chamber in the center of the hall. Inside, a dozen figures were suspended in glowing amber tubes. These were the rogue Testers—men and women who had refused the Blessing. Their status bars were flickering erratically: [Status: Quarantined].
Standing guard over the tubes were four "Sanitizers"—lower-level drones that looked like faceless knights in polished chrome armor. But in the center of the room sat a figure that made Han-ul's heart skip a beat.
It was Arthur.
The "First Hero" sat on a throne made of repurposed server racks. His golden eyes were closed, his breathing so slow it was almost nonexistent. He was "Syncing." His consciousness was likely currently floating in the System's core, receiving the latest Patch instructions.
"He's beautiful," Ji-yoon whispered, then immediately shuddered. "And terrifying. He doesn't look human anymore."
"He's a high-performance CPU with a human skin," Han-ul said. He tapped his earpiece—a device Choi had fashioned from "Leech" tech. "Director Lim, are you in position?"
The voice of Director Lim crackled through the static. "We're at the main power coupling for the Gangnam grid. The 'Leeches' are nervous, Han-ul. If this overflow backfires, we'll be fried before the System even notices us."
"Trust the math, Director. The System is currently processing a massive 'Map Update' for the northern sector. Its bandwidth is stretched thin. When you hit that switch, it won't be able to filter the junk data fast enough."
"Copy that. Counting down from sixty seconds. Start your move."
Han-ul looked at Ji-yoon. "When the lights go out, you head for the amber tubes. Don't try to break them physically. Use this." He handed her a small, glowing chip he'd pulled from the "Trash Bin" crate. "It's a [Partition Key]. Just touch it to the glass, and the System will think the 'files' inside have already been deleted. The tubes will vent automatically."
"What about you?" she asked.
"I have to keep Arthur from waking up," Han-ul said, his hand moving to the hilt of the [Null-Blade].
He dropped from the vent, landing silently on the crimson-tinted floor.
The Scavenger's Cloak worked perfectly. To the Sanitizer drones, Han-ul's Level 1 signature was so insignificant that he didn't even register as a threat. He walked past them like a ghost, his boots making no sound on the metal grating.
He reached the center of the room. He was ten feet away from Arthur.
Arthur's flaming sword, now renamed [The System's Gavel], leaned against the throne. The white fire was dormant, but the air around it distorted with heat.
"Thirty seconds," Lim's voice whispered in his ear.
Han-ul pulled the [Null-Blade] hilt from his belt. There was still no blade, but as he approached Arthur, the hilt began to vibrate with a frantic, violet energy. It was hungry. It was a weapon designed to eat the very thing that Arthur had become.
Suddenly, Arthur's eyes snapped open.
The gold wasn't just in his pupils anymore; his entire sclera was a burnished, metallic yellow. He didn't move a muscle, but a shockwave of pure "Order" slammed into Han-ul, nearly throwing him off his feet.
"User: Kang Han-ul," Arthur said. The voice was a chorus of a thousand identical tones. "Your existence has been flagged for 'Terminal Deletion' three times in the last hour. Why do you persist in a world that has already calculated your end?"
Han-ul planted his feet, gripping the hilt with both hands. "Because your math is garbage, Arthur. You forgot to carry the one."
"There are no mistakes in the New Logic," Arthur said, rising slowly from his throne. As he stood, his Level 15 status bar expanded, glowing with a divine, golden border. [Status: Administrator's Hand]. "You are a remnant of the Old Earth. A fragment of inefficient data. You bring the girl. You bring the 'Leeches.' You are trying to build a 'Bug' in a perfect world."
Arthur reached for his sword.
"Ten seconds," Lim's voice was frantic. "Han-ul, the feedback is building! The cables are melting!"
"I'm not building a bug, Arthur," Han-ul said, his eyes locking onto the golden-eyed puppet. "I'm the virus."
Arthur swung the white-flame sword. The move was faster than human sight.
Five.
Han-ul didn't dodge. He couldn't. Instead, he triggered the [Null-Blade]'s unique effect.
Four.
"Variable Edit: [Durability]!" Han-ul roared. "Input: [ZERO]!"
He wasn't editing the sword. He was editing the air in front of the sword.
Three.
The white flame hit a "Zero-Durability Zone." The kinetic energy of the swing didn't dissipate; it collapsed in on itself. The air shattered like glass, creating a vacuum that sucked Arthur off-balance.
Two.
"Now, Lim!"
One.
Far away, in the dark tunnels of the city, a hundred "Leeches" slammed home a hundred switches.
A massive surge of "Garbage Data"—trillions of lines of corrupted, nonsensical code—flooded into the City Hall's power grid. To the System, it was like a human being suddenly trying to swallow a mountain of sand.
The lights in the Red Ward didn't just flicker; they turned a violent, screaming purple.
[CRITICAL SYSTEM OVERLOAD]
[Emergency Protocol: Localized Reboot Initiating...]
[Freezing All Assets...]
Arthur froze mid-swing, his golden eyes wide with an emotion that looked suspiciously like fear. The Sanitizer drones stopped in their tracks, their chrome armor turning dull and gray. The crimson haze of nanites dropped to the floor like lead dust.
Sixty seconds.
"Ji-yoon, go!" Han-ul yelled.
Ji-yoon scrambled toward the amber tubes, the Partition Key glowing in her hand. Hiss. Hiss. Hiss. The tubes began to vent, the "Corrupted" Testers falling to the floor, gasping as they were returned to reality.
Han-ul turned back to Arthur.
The First Hero was a statue, but his Level bar was fighting the freeze. The gold was pulsing, trying to force a "Manual Override."
"You... glitch..." Arthur's jaw moved a fraction of a millimeter. "The... System... will... find... you..."
"Let it look," Han-ul said.
He stepped up to Arthur and held the [Null-Blade] hilt against Arthur's chest—right where the golden tattoo of the "Blessing" was etched into his skin.
"Admin Key... Authorize Permission Wipe," Han-ul whispered.
The violet light of the USB drive in his pocket surged through his arm and into the hilt. A blade of pure darkness, flickering like a broken television screen, erupted from the hilt and pierced Arthur's chest.
It didn't draw blood. Instead, it drew code.
Golden strings of light were ripped out of Arthur, spiraling into the Null-Blade. Arthur's Level bar began to tumble.
Level 15... 12... 8... 4...
"What are you doing?" Ji-yoon cried out, helping a disoriented Tester to their feet.
"I'm not killing him," Han-ul said, his face illuminated by the dying golden light. "I'm 'Un-Patching' him."
With a final, violent jerk, the golden tattoo on Arthur's chest shattered. The gold drained from his eyes, replaced by a dull, human brown.
Arthur collapsed into a heap of flesh and bone. He wasn't a "Hero" anymore. He was just a man named Arthur—unconscious, Level 1, and free.
[REBOOT COMPLETE]
[Restoring Assets...]
"Time's up!" Han-ul grabbed the unconscious Arthur and threw him over his shoulder. "Everyone, into the vents! Now!"
The group of newly freed Testers, led by Ji-yoon, scrambled into the ventilation shafts just as the chrome drones began to hum back to life.
As Han-ul pulled himself into the shaft, he looked back at the Red Ward. The crimson haze was returning, but the amber tubes were empty.
He had stolen the System's finest weapon and its most dangerous prisoners.
But as he crawled through the dark, a new notification appeared in his vision. It wasn't blue or violet. It was a deep, oily black.
[System Update: Patch 1.1]
[New Directive: The Great Hunt.]
[Reward for the head of 'The Archivist': Instant Level 50 and Eternal Blessing.]
"Well," Han-ul muttered, his breath hitching in the cramped space. "At least I know they're paying attention now."