Chapter 69: Tenth Ghost Story – Minecraft’s Herobrine (2)


    ‘…Ghost story.’


    <strong>[The Ghost Story Acquisition Skill has activated.]</strong>


    <strong>[Collecting B-rank ghost stories…]</strong>


    <em>Crash!</em>


    My KartRider character, whose concentration 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.


    <em>Pop.</em>


    <strong>[A B-rank ghost story has been added to Ahn Gyeongwon – Legend of Herobrine.]</strong>


    ‘…Herobrine? Ahn Gyeongwon?’


    “Wow~ I won…”


    Sunahughed heartily as she looked at her character who had crossed the finish line sessfully.


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


    “Hehe.”


    <em>Ting~?</em>


    Before I couldprehend the system message properly, the door to the inte 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 ying?”


    “Only for two hours now. It hasn’t been that long we’ve been ying. Did youe to y 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 y a round together.”


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


    “Really? You’ve never yed video games before?”


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


    “I see.”


    <em>He doesn’t y games? That sounds impossible.</em>


    Gyeongwon was a rare species among us hyperactive teenagers.


    “As for gaming, I just asionally 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 inte 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 y 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 ying games, I was quite curious.


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


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


    Gyeongwon pushed his sses as he said with a smile.


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


    MineCraft.


    It is a popr game created by a gaming studio under Clover Co. Ltd that has been popr all over the world for about 10 years.


    The name of the game was abination 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 orbining them.


    The game was quite popr, however, it is a paid game and you have to buy it to y. Since it was no fun ying alone without friends, I have never yed it.


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


    “Yes.”


    Smiling, Gyeongwon shed his sses before opening his mouth again.


    “A strange rumor has been going around the inte recently. Some ghost stories rted 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 downfortably as he replied.


    Since the inte 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 inte. Anyone can y the game now by simply downloading it without having to insert a CD or enter an activation code.”


    ‘Pirated version.’


    <em>Does it mean like it was stolen or robbed?</em>


    “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 sses.


    “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 is 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 inte.”


    “Secret.”


    For a moment, my interest was piqued.


    “What is the secret?”


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


    “It’s so scary. And yet the files are still floating around on the inte? 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 onmunity 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 theputers of an inte cafe such as this? This ce is filled with crappyputers.”


    As if he was dumbfounded, Gyeongwon stared at me.


    “…You want to y it right now?”


    “…Huh?”


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


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


    “It’s not like that.”


    Gyeongwon tried to exin with shaking eyes.


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


    Perhaps it truly wasn’t his intention, he found it on the inte 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 urred to me and I turned my head and nced 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 nk 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. However, from my perspective, eradicating ghost stories everyday and anytime I wanted was normal. From their perspective,ing across strange phenomena wasn’t something to be excited about.


    Today, we gathered in the inte 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 cate 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 befortable?


    “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 y 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 don’t have the time now, let’s do it some other time.”


    “Okay.”


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


    <strong>〈Minecraft Ghost Stories〉</strong>


    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 viges 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.


    <strong>① Herobrine</strong>


    It’s a legend about an NPC that looks exactly like a yer on the server.


    Sometimes, when users create a local server and y 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 yer.’


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


    <strong>[T/N: “BJ ??” (BJ seobeo) is likely referring to “BJ server.” In Korean inte culture, “BJ” stands for “Broadcast Jockey,” which is a term used for online streamers who broadcast live content, simr to “streamers” in Western contexts. “??” (seobeo) means “server.”]</strong>


    The BJ, who followed the traces, followed it around a long path, eventually circling arge rounding path and returning to the same ce. However, once he reached the ce from where he started, arge writing in blood reading, ‘Wee 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 yer from afar along the path.


    <strong>② Netherworld</strong>


    This legend revolves around the Underworld map added in thetest 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 urs.


    The Underworld map was added only in thetest 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 simr to the Underworld of the new version, but with a more sinister atmosphere, broken graphics and unidentifiable howls.


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


    <strong>③ Edge of the World</strong>


    A yer can freely enter the world of MineCraft by connecting to a server and explore the world and build structures ording 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 yers due to the system’s performance.


    A yer 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.


    yers call the world that continues beyond the limit of the map, the inessible world, the Far Away Land.


    “The other legends can be roughly summarized into these three major ones. I don’t have ess to more details. I didn’t y the game, I just watched some videos on YouTube on the way here.”


    Gyeongwon wiped his sses as he finished his exnation.


    ‘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 in which Gyeongwon nodded in return.


    “How about we all y 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 y video games. Although I don’t like MineCraft, it’s easy to y and doesn’t have many difficult quests, so everyone will be able to adapt quickly… Moreover, it’s a perfect game to y together with a group of friends like us.”


    Staring straight ahead at the monitor, he continued to y 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 said, it could be found anywhere.”


    “I see.”


    The pretty girl nodded in understanding.


    I suddenly wondered if we could y 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 y together.”


    “Local server is just fine. So as long as theputers are connected together, like the ones in this inte cafe, we can y together.”


    Local server.


    The concept waspletely unfamiliar to me, who had only yed real online games.


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


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


    “Who among us know how to install the game and contact to a server?”


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


    Dukhun boasted proudly, his eyes still fixed eyes 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 ck hair answered with a nod.


    “Um, but…Who are you?”


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