Ch.388383 – The Blackmailer

[Resonance Gallery – Moonlight Soul]

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[Season 662607015th Hacking Suspicion?][62]

I’m also in the camp that believes hacks can’t exist in VR games, but what are these records supposed to be?

(DeSoul Boss Battle Time Attack Records.jpg)

Right now, the 2nd, 8th, 17th, 19th, and 28th place usernames are all in the ‘Username_number’ format.

Is this normal?

[Comments]

-Must be the admins?

-Total clear time is over 2 hours but boss battles under 20 minutes? Hmm…

└ Reasonable suspicion.

-Maybe top players got banned for trash-talking the game company?

└ No, all the usual players are still there.

-I checked their user profiles and they have no game history besides Moonlight Soul. Must be alt accounts.

-Just report them and see what happens.

A player examining the sectional records brought these multiple “Username” accounts to public attention.

Various theories circulated – AI directly playing VR games, the first-ever open world hack being discovered, and more.

The game company only responded that these were legitimate gameplay records.

While some people lost interest, others kept the discussion going all weekend.

Then suddenly,

All the usernames changed at once.

[#2 Janseol Emika]

[#8 Janseol Sowol]

[#17 Raon Yuri]

[#19 Raon Jinho]

[#28 Raon Minchan]

* * *

“Thank you all for completing this week-long training program. I was half worried, half excited about teaching such a large group for the first time, but thanks to the active participation of the Raon Clan members, I’m glad we finished successfully.”

“Wooooo!”

Applause erupted.

Surprised by the unexpectedly enthusiastic atmosphere, I grabbed the microphone again with a slightly awkward expression.

“You can think of this experience as recreation in your busy lives, or as a turning point. The only thing I hope for is that when Imperial Palace Swordsmanship appears at the National Exchange Competition, you’ll all feel proud. Thank you.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Clan Leader!”

“NoName Clan Leader is the best!”

The training program kept me incredibly busy without a moment to breathe.

It wasn’t easy for just Emika and me to personally check the form of 20 clan members.

Plus, we were dealing with professionals from the magic industry.

I made every effort not to run things like an amateur when teaching professionals.

Fortunately, everyone seemed to appreciate our work.

“Clan Leader, I really enjoyed your lessons! Is there any way to learn more about Imperial Palace Swordsmanship? I’ve become personally interested.”

“I’m planning something, but I don’t have a clear blueprint yet. My goal is apprenticeship-style education, but without teachers available, I might need to record online lectures.”

“Haha! If you make lectures, please let me know! I’ll be waiting!”

The final assignment of the training was to defeat the “Verstappen-type AI” registered in Resonance.

Clan members who had gaming experience cleared it easily, while those unfamiliar with VR games sometimes got lost.

In the end, everyone passed without much trouble.

“Name. Good job.”

“You worked harder, Emika. Are you flying back today?”

“Yeah. I need to prepare for the competition again.”

“I’ll be cheering for you from behind the screen. Don’t lose to anyone with a sword.”

Getting the Raon Clan members into the rankings was done for viral marketing purposes.

We needed something to make Imperial Palace Swordsmanship look attractive even without Katsuhata Emika.

Resonance is a profitable game, after all.

Resonance rankers can earn significant income just from streaming, making it an appealing topic for many teenagers.

‘Should I try playing Resonance myself?’

While I was contemplating future plans from various angles, an urgent message arrived from Adella.

[Adella: Sis, I think I’ve been found out…!]

* * *

I exited my capsule and opened the door to Adella’s room.

“What, you want me to turn off the lights?”

There was a 99% chance she’d called me urgently just to ask me to do something trivial like turn off her room light.

Adella was sitting hunched with her knees tucked inside her t-shirt, staring at her computer screen.

“Hey, sitting like that will stretch out your clothes. So why did you call me?”

The thumbnail she’d been nervously biting snapped off.

She frantically messed up her hair while letting out a scream.

“Aaaaargh! How did I end up dealing with this psycho!”

So it’s the 1% scenario?

I hardened my expression and looked at the screen with her.

An email sent to Adella’s personal Twissy channel.

“Subject: I Know Your Entire Truth?”

“Haaa…”

Adella closed her eyes tightly in disgust and leaned back in her chair.

I slowly scrolled through, carefully considering each word.

Behind me, deep sighs came periodically like alarms.

“So originally an AI Adella was streaming as a VTuber, but at some point, an unidentified human started impersonating Adella and taking over the broadcasts?”

“Hnnng.”

“I have evidence that you’re Adella’s stand-in, so if you want the material destroyed right now, please transfer 200 million won… This is straight-up blackmail?”

“Mmm…”

“How did you get caught? And what evidence are they talking about?”

Adella hung her head low.

“I was working on community stuff and accounting at a café with my laptop… While I was in the bathroom, this jerk must have taken pictures of my screen. I’m sure I closed my laptop before leaving.”

“Didn’t you have a password? What about CCTV?”

“It seems like it happened a month ago. So the CCTV footage probably isn’t even saved anymore… What should I do now?”

“Let me think for a moment.”

I sat on the bed and closed my eyes.

The ticking of the clock echoed in the quiet room.

Adella kept her mouth firmly shut, not even breathing loudly, knowing this happened because of her carelessness.

“Okay. Let me ask this first. This person sees human you and ‘AI Adella’ as completely separate entities, right? You’re just someone who looks like Adella. Correct?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Why does this person think we used a stand-in?”

“Actually, I already exchanged texts with them… Sorry! I contacted them without discussing it with you first!”

“Can I see the messages?”

I looked through the text history.

Some of my questions were answered.

Even with self-aware AI, people often couldn’t grasp the extent of their capabilities.

With many ASIs now conversing seamlessly with humans, the distinction had become even more blurred.

The blackmailer claimed our reason for using a stand-in was to make Adella’s existence stand out more from the concept of artificial intelligence. To make her appear more human.

The blackmailer seemed to have been playing Sherlock Holmes, making their own deductions.

“So they think either I or Kariri encouraged this? Or maybe both of us?”

“Yeah…”

“They’re completely off track, but the context is similar. What should we do about this?”

The blackmailer probably hadn’t considered that the current embodied Adella could be the same entity as AI Adella.

That would be too much in the realm of fantasy, so this conclusion was likely the most rational inference they could make.

“Actually, this isn’t completely unheard of in the community. When I didn’t have a body, I could stream for 4 days straight, but nowadays I have to take breaks even just for bathroom trips.”

“That would raise suspicions.”

“Yeah. When viewers jokingly ask in chat if I went to the bathroom, I honestly get scared every time.”

Adella lowered her gaze and hugged her legs with her arms.

Not wanting to show her tears, she suddenly lifted her head and blinked rapidly.

“Is it impossible to… just quit streaming at this point?”

“If I disappear without explanation, it would eventually affect you too, Name sis… And I really want to keep streaming if possible.”

Adella painfully expressed her true feelings.

Tick-tock, time flowed like an unstoppable river.

I took out my phone from my pocket and made a call.

“Who are you calling?”

“Just wait a moment.”

I got up from the bed and paced around the center of the room.

It was rush hour, so I wasn’t sure if they would answer.

Fortunately, luck was on my side this time.

[Hello, this is Executive Director Lee Hyun-seo from DuWorld Innovation Strategy Division.]

“Executive Director Lee Hyun-seo?”

[NoName, it’s been a while! What brings you to call? Oh, did you know I’m being appointed Vice President next week?]

“What? No, no.”

[Ah, I guess not.]

“NyangsterCall. I was wondering if you might know who designed and modeled Adella at Wearsoft. I thought maybe you outsourced to Ophelia as well.”

[Hmm… As far as I know, Wearsoft didn’t have character designers when Adella was created. Game scenario writers might have had input, but they usually don’t add such detailed settings.]

“So the overall work was done under Ophelia’s direction? Including appearance?”

[Yes. And for appearances these days, they usually generate random AI designs and pick the best ones. Unless it’s a character on the level of Giselle or Luna, but Adella… Oh! Come to think of it, Adella’s story wasn’t even in the original plan! So it must definitely be Ophelia’s creation.]

“Thank you. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

[What? I should be the one-]

Click-

The first hurdle was cleared.

Except for a few junior employees who create open-world backgrounds, most of Ophelia’s staff are currently serving prison sentences.

They played around with ASI in all sorts of unethical ways among themselves, so adding one or two more charges wouldn’t matter.

“What? What did you decide to do?”

“Listen carefully, Adella.”

I gripped Adella’s shoulders firmly and pressed our foreheads together.

“From now on, you’re a victim of Walpurgis, even more pitiful than me.”

A way to affirm Adella’s physical body while hiding her human synthesis.

We just need to make Adella a capsule imprisonment victim like me.

This was the only solution I could think of.