Ch. 69 - Tenth Ghost Story - Minecraft's Herobrine (2)

‘…Ghost story.’

[The Ghost Story Acquisition Skill has activated.]

[Distributing a B-rank ghost story…]

Crash!

My KartRider character, whose balance was momentarily lost because I was surprised by the sudden message, crashed into the wall.

“Joon lost…”

Sunah giggled beside me as her character in the game diligently moved forward, leaving my character behind.

‘...Ghost Story Acquisition Skill.’

It was the message I’d seen in a long time.

It had been about a month since the psychopathy test when I added this skill to the club and as a result, Sunah had to encounter the same ghost story as me.

‘The buffer period is too long.’

As soon as the collection of ghost stories was over, another message popped up in front of my view.

The message showed which ghost story had been collected and who had collected it.

Pop.

[A B-rank ghost story has been added to Ahn Gyeongwon - Legend of Herobrine.]

‘...Herobrine? Ahn Gyeongwon?’

“Wow~ I won…”

Sunah laughed heartily as she looked at her character who had crossed the finish line successfully.

“....Yeah, I lost. Yoon Sunah is amazing.”

“Hehe.”

Ting~♬

Before I could comprehend the system message properly, the door to the internet cafe opened and Gyeongwon, in a casual jacket, entered, looking around.

“Gyeongwon! Over here, over here…”

At Sunah's excited call, Gyeongwon, who was looking here and there, shifted his gaze to us before approaching our way.

Looking at us, he let out a snicker.

“So Dukhun, Prez, and Sunah are all gathered here. How many hours have you been playing?”

“Only for two hours now. It hasn’t been that long we've been playing. Did you come to play games too?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Gyeongwon looked around as he replied.

“I went out for a family gathering with my parents and was on my way home. I saw in the group chat that you guys were here. So I stopped by.”

“I see. If you have time, let’s play a round together.”

“I’ll just look around. I'm not that good at playing video games.”

“Really? You've never played video games before?”

“I used to, but I don’t really like it these days.”

“I see.”

He didn't play games? That sounded impossible.

Gyeongwon was a rare species among us hyperactive teenagers.

“As for gaming, I just occasionally look through YouTube clips. And even then, I don't do so because I’m interested in the games themselves, but rather because I want to learn about internet memes and such.”

I was amazed again.

‘This guy pursues his thirst for knowledge even in such an entertaining field.’

But if a high school boy doesn’t play games at all, what on earth does he do to have fun in his free time?

As someone like me who doesn’t have any other hobbies except for playing games, I was quite curious.

Is it really fun to just read books and browse the internet at home to gain more knowledge?

“More importantly, Prez, I found something interesting on the way here.”

Gyeongwon pushed his glasses as he said with a smile.

“Have you guys ever played a game called MineCraft?”

MineCraft.

It was a popular game created by a gaming studio under Clover Co. Ltd that had been popular all over the world for about 10 years.

The name of the game was a combination of two words; Mine, which means ‘my’ or ‘my own’ and Craft from ‘crafting’. It is a 3D sandbox adventure game where all the elements in the game are made of hexahedral cubes. With the cubes, you can create your own world by breaking or combining them.

The game was quite popular, however, it was a paid game and you have to buy it to play. Since it was no fun playing alone without friends, I have never played it.

“No, I haven’t played it. Isn’t it the game where you build houses or things with blocks?”

“Yes.”

Smiling, Gyeongwon flashed his glasses before opening his mouth again.

“A strange rumor has been going around the internet recently. Some ghost stories related to the pirated version of that game are making a sensation all over the world.”

“Pirated version?”

“It means illegal version.”

Pulling a seat from a nearby desk, he sat down comfortably as he replied.

Since the internet cafe was half empty because of its remote location, no one seemed to pay any attention.

“It’s a version that was made from the official version of the game by hacking. They unlocked the security code, and spread it on the internet. Anyone can play the game now by simply downloading it without having to insert a CD or enter an activation code.”

‘Pirated version.’

Does it mean like it was stolen or hacked?

“Are you talking about the Legend of Herobrine?”

I just learned that phrase myself with the help of the system.

The reason I asked him was to check if the name of the person who collected the ghost story and the contents of the system matched.

“That’s right. I guess Prez has heard of it too.”

Just as I expected, Gyeongwon smiled once again, pushing his glasses.

“It seems that hackers have broken through the security code of this game and even unlocked something that ‘should not have been unlocked’.”

“Something that ‘should not have been unlocked’?”

“It's a dangerous secret that the people of Clover Co. and its developers have hidden for so many years. Hackers just messed around with the code and released it on the internet.”

“Secret.”

For a moment, my interest was piqued.

“What's the secret?”

“I have actually no idea what the secret could be. But, it’s certain that strange phenomena will occur if one is to play the pirated version of the game. There have been rumors of many people going crazy or disappearing after playing this illegal version.”

“It’s so scary. And yet the files are still floating around on the internet? Even if we don't take the ghost stories into consideration, it’s an illegal version. No one is doing anything about it?”

“No. I guess some weirdos change their IPs and spread it around on community forums on purpose.”

“Where can I get it?”

“It gets deleted periodically, but it can still be found everywhere, from Naver blogs to DC. I think if you search now, the link to download will appear right away.”

“What about the specs? Will it be okay to run it on the computers of an internet cafe such as this? This place is filled with crappy computers.”

As if he was dumbfounded, Gyeongwon stared at me.

“…You want to play it right now?”

“...Huh?”

“This is a ghost story. And you still want to play it?”

“…Didn't you tell me for that purpose?”

“It’s not like that.”

Gyeongwon tried to explain with shaking eyes.

Since the system said that the ghost story was added to Gyeongwon, I thought he wanted to play the game.

Perhaps it truly wasn't his intention, he found it on the internet and thought it was interesting so he just wanted to share it with us.

“I got ahead of myself. It’s dangerous anyway.”

“No, well… If Prez wants to try it, he should…”

Although he had a face that said he would follow my instructions, his expression was a bit stiff as he said so.

Something occurred to me and I turned my head and glanced at Dukhun and Sunah.

Dukhun was typing something on the keyboard while staring at the monitor absentmindedly.

Sunah was just listening to our discussion with a slightly blank expression.

‘Hmm. They don’t look very enthusiastic.’

It was my fault to think that these guys would naturally follow me together to hunt down ghost stories.

It was just yesterday when we promised to work hard together and get stronger. From my perspective, eradicating ghost stories everyday and anytime I wanted was normal. But from their perspective, coming across strange phenomena wasn't something to be excited about.

Today, we gathered in the internet cafe not to solve ghost stories but to have a pleasant moment together.

While everyone was immersed in the moment, suddenly wanting to solve a ghost story was being insensitive of me.

They must have felt burdened by my enthusiasm.

‘… Well. Although we want to save the world, we won't be paid for this noble work. Moreover, we're just a bunch of high school students. It would be strange for them to follow along with everything I say.’

On top of that, this week was tough enough with midterms, the crazy science teacher, and a head ghost.

When realization finally dawned over me, I hurried to placate him.

“Sorry for rushing you guys. It's been a tough week, you know."

"No, well…”

Gyeongwon hesitated a bit before changing his stance.

"Actually, I understand why Prez said so. The world will be destroyed in 3 years, so how can we be comfortable?”

"No. We should rest when it's time to rest."

I waved my hand in a dismissive manner, indicating it was fine.

"Let's just play games and have fun today. We have CA sessions every Friday anyway. There's no need to push ourselves just because we're determined to do something."

"Yeah….”

Gyeongwon nodded awkwardly as he crossed and uncrossed his arms.

"If Prez says so…”

"We should continue our discussion. If you have the time now, tell me everything you know."

"Okay."

After that, Gyeongwon began telling us all the rumors and legends related to MineCraft which were trending on the Internet.

〈Minecraft Ghost Stories〉

On the surface, it may look like a game featured for children because of the hexahedral cube graphics, however, once you dig deeper, you’ll find that MineCraft is a game that implements realistic elements quite deeply.

It’s a game that features the elements of ‘day/night’, change of weather, hundreds of crafting ideas, characters feeling hunger and food consumption. Even the ability to build villages and cities, giving it infinite freedom.

Since it’s a game that fundamentally emphasizes exploration and survival, there are quite a few ghost stories that were based on users’ imaginations about unknown areas in the game. The three most iconic ones are said to be the following.

① Herobrine

It's a legend about an NPC that looks exactly like a player on the server.

Sometimes, when users create a local server and play the game, strangely enough, some structures that they didn’t build are found all over the game world.

Structures that could never have been created naturally, but must have been built by a game character.

Those structures were the evidence of ‘Another entity except the player.’

While such legends were circulating on the internet and making an uproar, a BJ followed the traces for a long time, hoping to find something interesting for his gaming video content.

[T/N: "BJ 서버" (BJ seobeo) is likely referring to "BJ server." In Korean internet culture, "BJ" stands for "Broadcast Jockey," which is a term used for online streamers who broadcast live content, similar to "streamers" in Western contexts.]

The BJ, who followed the traces, followed it around a long path, eventually circling a large rounding path and returning to the same place. However, once he reached the place from where he started, a large writing in blood reading, ‘Welcome to Hell’ appeared there.

Later, when he edited the recording of the tracking process to upload it to YouTube, he found a mysterious character who looked exactly like him, a.k.a 'Herobrine', observing the player from afar along the path.

② Netherworld

This legend revolves around the Underworld map added in the latest version.

Opening the dimensional gate to the Underworld using an item was possible by which, you can enter and exit this Underworld freely. But if you exit the game and revert it to the old version after entering the Underworld, a strange phenomenon occurs.

The Underworld map was added only in the latest version, not in the old version.

However, if you force it to run and revert back to the old version after entering the Underworld, the existence of the Underworld, which couldn't exist in the old version, appears perfectly.

The Underworld of the old version, which shouldn't have appeared, looked similar to the Underworld of the new version, but with a more sinister atmosphere, broken graphics and unidentifiable howls.

If you still continue playing in this state, it is said that the true Netherworld will appear.

③ Edge of the World

A player can freely enter the world of MineCraft by connecting to a server and explore the world and build structures according to their liking.

However, that doesn't mean the world is infinite in size.

Even if the world seems vast and endless, since it's a game, such a view appears in the eyes of the players due to the system's performance.

A player who had reached the edge said that he couldn't go any further because he was blocked by a transparent wall.

Countless unidentified buildings and bizarre ecosystem could be seen beyond the transparent wall, which was thought to be the edge of the world.

Players call the world that continues beyond the limit of the map, the inaccessible world, the Far Away Land.

"The other legends can be roughly summarized into these three major ones. I don't have access to more details. I didn't play the game, I just watched some videos on YouTube on the way here."

Gyeongwon wiped his glasses as he finished his explanation.

'So he found it on YouTube on the way here…’

Perhaps it must have been around that time when the Ghost Story Acquisition Skill was activated and that message popped up.

"Sounds fun."

"Right?"

The pretty girl who was standing next to Gyeongwon and listening to our discussion voiced out her opinion, Gyeongwon nodded in return.

“How about we all play together now?”

“Right now?”

Gyeongwon was slightly flustered by the girl’s offer and couldn't understand what to say. But Dukhun seemed to agree as he muttered without even looking our way.

“I agree. It's embarrassing to see a bunch of teenagers not being able to play video games. Although I don't like MineCraft, it's easy to play and doesn't have many difficult quests, so everyone will be able to adapt quickly… plus, it's a perfect game to play together with a group of friends like us.”

Staring straight ahead at the monitor, he continued to play Dungeon & Fighter while saying so.

“Do we have to buy the game?”

The pretty girl asked again and Dukhun shook his head, his gaze still stuck at the monitor.

“Oh, you heard them discussing, didn't you? They were talking about the pirated version the whole time. So we will download them illegally.”

“Really?”

“Yup. As Gyeongwon-kun said, it could be found anywhere.”

“I see.”

The pretty girl nodded in understanding.

I suddenly wondered if we could play together since it would be the illegal version and we wouldn't need to be online.

“But if it’s illegal, doesn’t it mean we will have a hard time contacting the server? It would be better if we can play together.”

“Local server is just fine. So as long as the computers are connected together, like the ones in this internet cafe, we can play together.”

Local server.

The concept was completely unfamiliar to me, who had only played real online games.

It seemed like there would be no problem in connecting to one server and playing together.

“But I’m playing it for the first time.”

“Who among us knows how to install the game and connect to a server?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve done it a few times.”

Dukhun boasted proudly, his eyes still fixed on the monitor.

“Even though it's been a few years since I've done this… Well, I don’t think there’ll be a problem.”

“I see.”

The pretty girl with flowing black hair answered with a nod.

“Um, but…Who are you?”

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