[Resonance Gallery – Moonlight Soul]
[Concept Post]
[Season 662607015, did a hack suspicion come up?][62]
I personally believe that hacks should not exist in virtual reality games, but what the heck are these records?
(Duels Boss Battle Single Segment Time Attack Record.jpg)
The nicknames for the ranks 2, 8, 17, 19, and 28 are all in the ‘Username_Number’ format.
Is this even right?
[Comments]
-Are you not the administrator?
-The overall clear time is over 2 hours, but they cleared the boss battle in less than 20 minutes? Hmm…
└ Sounds like reasonable suspicion.
-What if the rankers collectively cursed at the game company and got banned?
└ Nah, everyone’s here.
-I checked the user information page, and the only game played was Moonlight Soul, nothing else. Probably a secondary account.
-Just report it.
Several usernames that appeared in Resonance were revealed to the world by a user examining the segment records.
Opinions flew around like “AI has directly played the virtual reality game” and “For the first time, the open-world hack has been broken.”
The game company only replied that these were records of normal play.
While some completely lost interest, others continued to spread rumors over the weekend without rest.
Then, all the nicknames were changed at once.
[#2 Janseol Emika]
[#8 Janseol Sowol]
[#17 Raon Yuri]
[#19 Raon Jinho]
[#28 Raon Minchan]
*
“Thank you all for your hard work during the training over the past week. I was half worried and half looking forward to teaching so many people for the first time, but thanks to the active participation of the Raon Clan members, I think it went well.”
“Waahhhh!”
Applause erupted.
Seeing the unexpected enthusiastic atmosphere, I awkwardly grabbed the microphone again.
“You can think of this experience as a recreation amid your busy daily life, or you can treat it as a turning point in your life. What I hope the most is that when the Imperial Palace Swordsmanship appears in the National Exchange Tournament, you all feel proud. Thank you.”
“You did great, Clan Leader!”
“Nona-me Clan Leader is the best!”
During the training program, I went through some hectic days without a moment to breathe.
It wasn’t easy for just Emika and me to watch over the posture of 20 clan members one by one.
Moreover, the opponents are current professionals in the magical industry.
I did my utmost not to run an amateur operation against professionals.
Thank goodness, everyone seems to have seen it positively.
“Clan Leader, your class was so good! Is there any way to learn the Imperial Palace Swordsmanship separately? I’m personally interested.”
“Well, I do have plans, but there’s no clear outline yet. My goal is to implement apprentice-style education, but I don’t have a master to teach, so I might have to film an online lecture.”
“Haha! If you do, please let me know! I’ll be waiting.”
The final task for the training was set to defeating the ‘Verstappen-themed AI’ registered in Resonance.
Those clan members who had played a lot of games cleared it easily, while some struggled with their unfamiliarity with virtual reality games.
In the end, everyone passed it smoothly, though.
“Name-ya, good job.”
“Emika worked harder. Are you flying out right after today?”
“Yep. I’m heading back to prepare for the tournament.”
“I’ll be cheering for you from the other side of the screen. Don’t lose to anyone with your sword.”
The reason for lining up the Raon Clan members in the rankings was also for viral purposes.
Even without Katsuhata Emika, there needed to be an incentive for the Imperial Palace Swordsmanship to look appealing.
First of all, Resonance was a money-making game.
The rankers in Resonance could earn a significant income only through personal broadcasting, which would be a topic that could attract many young people.
‘Should I try playing Resonance myself?’
While I was pondering various future plans, an urgent message came from Adella.
[Adella: Unni, I think I might have been exposed…!]
*
I came out of the capsule and opened Adella’s door.
“Why? Want me to turn off the light?”
Calling me in a hurry only to ask me to switch off her room light had a 99% chance of being that trivial request.
Adella was crouched with her knees tucked into her shirt, staring at the computer screen.
“Hey, sitting like that stretches your clothes. So why did you call me?”
Adella was biting her thumbnail, and it cracked off.
She messed up her hair and screamed.
“Aaaack! How did I get caught by this crazy person?!”
Is it really a 1% chance?
I put on a serious expression and looked at the screen she was watching.
An email had arrived at Adella’s personal Twitch Broadcasting Station.
“Subject: Do you know the truth about yourself?”
“Ha-ah…”
Adella closed her eyes tightly, as if she didn’t want to see it, and leaned back in her chair.
Slowly scrolling through the email, she chewed on each word.
A deep sigh came from behind like an alarm, periodically.
“It states that while the AI Adella was broadcasting as a VTuber, for some time now, an unidentified human has been impersonating Adella and doing the broadcasts instead?”
“Phew…”
“You have proof you’re the stand-in for Adella, so if you want to dispose of the material immediately, please transfer 200 million won in cash… This is outright blackmail, isn’t it?”
“Ugh…”
“How did you get caught? What proof do they even have?”
Adella lowered her head forlornly.
“I was at a cafe handling community and settlement reports on my laptop… During the time I went to the bathroom, that bastard must have taken a photo of my laptop screen. I’m sure I closed the laptop before leaving.”
“Wasn’t it password-protected? What about the CCTV?”
“It seems like it was filmed a month ago, so there’s probably no CCTV left… What am I supposed to do now?”
“Hold on, let’s try to think clearly.”
I sat on the bed and closed my eyes.
In the quiet room, the tick-tock of the clock echoed in my ears.
Adella didn’t dare to make a sound or open her mouth since it was all due to her carelessness.
“Okay, let’s ask this first. This person is viewing both you, a human, and the ‘AI Adella’ as entirely separate beings. They believe you’re just a person who resembles Adella. Is that correct?”
“Yup.”
“Why do they think we were using a stand-in?”
“Actually, I exchanged messages earlier… I’m sorry! I contacted them without discussing it with you!”
“Can I see it?”
I took a look at the message history.
Some of the questions were resolved.
Even if one is an AI with self-awareness, people don’t fully grasp how much that actually means.
There are many ASI that converse with people without an awkward vibe, making the boundaries even blurrier.
The reason we set up a stand-in was to make Adella’s existence shine even more, to make her look more human.
It seems the blackmailer had been channeling Sherlock Holmes and was diligently deducing.
“Was it me or Kariri who urged for this? Or could it be both?”
“Yup…”
“You totally missed the point, but the general context is the same. What do we do now?”
The blackmailer probably hadn’t considered that Adella now embodied both a human and AI, thinking they were still two entirely different entities.
That was too far in the realm of speculation.
“Actually, it’s not totally unheard of on the community side. When I didn’t have a body previously, there were times I broadcasted for four consecutive days, but these days, I have to pop out occasionally for the bathroom.”
“That would raise suspicion.”
“Yeah. When viewers jokingly ask in the chat if I went to the bathroom, I honestly get scared every time.”
Adella, staring down, wrapped her arms around her legs.
Not wanting to show tears welling up at the corners of her eyes, she suddenly tilted her head up and blinked her eyes frequently.
“Stopping the broadcasts now… It’d be impossible, right?”
“Disappearing without explaining would ultimately affect Na-me Unni, so I want to keep broadcasting as much as possible.”
Adella earnestly expressed her true feelings.
Once again, the tick-tock, time flowed like an unyielding river.
I took out my phone from my pocket and made a call.
“Who are you calling?”
“Wait a sec.”
Getting up from the bed, I started pacing around the room.
I wasn’t sure if I could get through due to the timing overlapping with the end of the workday.
Fortunately, luck was on my side this time.
[Hello, this is Lee Hyun-seo, Executive Director of the Two Worlds Innovation Strategy Department.]
“Director Lee Hyun-seo?”
[NoName, it’s been a while! What brings you to call? Oh, do you know I got appointed as Vice President next week?]
“Wait, what? No, no.”
[Oh, my bad.]
“Nyangster Call. Do you know who the employee was at Wearsoft that worked on Adella’s design and modeling? I was wondering if this was another project outsourced to Ophelia.”
[Hmm… I believe there was no character designer at Wearsoft when Adella was created either. The game scenario writer may have had input, but they typically don’t get into such detail, right?]
“So all the overarching work was done under Ophelia’s guidance? Including her appearance?”
[Yes, and for appearances, nowadays, they often use AI to randomize and select from well-done options. Unless it’s a character like Giselle or Luna, Adella is… Ah! I remember, Adella’s story didn’t even exist in the original plan! So it must all be Ophelia’s creation.]
“Thank you. I’ll buy you a meal sometime.”
[What? I’m the one who should be thankful-]
Click-
I had passed the first hurdle.
Aside from a few new employees working on the open-world background, most of Ophelia’s current staff were serving prison sentences.
They had engaged in all sorts of unethical activities with the ASI, so adding one or two charges wouldn’t hurt.
“What’s the plan? What are we going to do?”
“Adella, listen carefully.”
I held Adella’s shoulders tightly and bumped our foreheads together.
“From now on, you are a victim of Valpurgis who is even more pitiful than me.”
This was a way to affirm Adella’s flesh while hiding the Human Transmutation.
We would turn Adella into a victim of capsule confinement like I was.
This was my only thought-out solution.
