I Became an NPC That Rankers Are Obsessed Over

In my hand, I held a sword.

And the opponent was in a situation where his hands were tied, unable to escape.

What should I do in this situation?

It’s simple.

I could just cut his neck with the longsword.

But I didn’t do that.

I wanted to give him a more impressive and narrative-filled death.

How should I kill this man in front of me?

How about letting the killer suffer the same method he used to kill others?

He’d die feeling the pain of those he had killed.

Perfect.

“—!”

I dropped the sword.

The loud metallic sound slammed against the ground.

Seeing that, a trace of hope appeared on Chang-yoon’s face.

The ranker asked me.

“Are you trying to fight me fairly? Fine. With that mindset, I’ll give the facility a good report about you.”

The ranker spoke nonsense.

Does he not understand his current situation?

“What are you talking about?”

“…”

Chang-yoon’s face twitched.

Soon, his gaze gradually lowered toward his body.

Because my hand had completely pierced through his abdomen.

“You thought… only your grip was strong?”

He couldn’t say anything as he felt a pain he had never experienced in his life.

All he could do was let out choking sounds with his mouth slightly open.

The sticky sensation of digging into flesh.

Feeling it made my mind writhe like a centipede crawling in my brain.

It rejoiced as if it had tasted a delicious meal.

I shivered at the metallic smell of blood.

Soon, I twisted the hand that pierced through him and stirred it, savoring the sensation.

It felt like my murky eyes gained focus, giving me a fresh thrill.

“Anna…”

But that exhilarating sensation was shattered completely.

Because I heard a familiar voice.

My ravaged eyes turned toward the source of the voice.

It was Sun-ye.

She approached me, bleeding profusely, almost collapsing at my feet.

Behind her, a trail of red blood stretched out along the path she had struggled to crawl.

With pale lips, she looked at me with a sorrowful expression.

Her half-closed eyes seemed to plead for mercy from me.

Responding to that plea, I looked at Chang-yoon.

But by the time I came to my senses, he was already dead.

His expression, frozen in fear, didn’t even allow his eyes to close.

“Run… They’ll surely send another ranker after you.”

Honestly, I didn’t need to hear her words.

Because I wanted to face that “inaugural ranker” from the lab again.

But…

Seeing this girl dying right in front of me erased all those thoughts.

An overwhelming desire to save her surged within me.

At first, I couldn’t understand that emotion.

Was it because I genuinely loved this girl?

No.

It was because if she died without revealing the truth, I wouldn’t know if the memories we shared were real or not.

Without knowing that, the meaning of my existence would completely vanish.

In my mind, a personality yearning for slaughter clashed with one seeking the value of life.

So for now, I wanted to save her.

Save her and ask her sincerely.

If she didn’t regret the time we spent together.

I immediately approached her.

I took off my coat and wrapped it around Sun-ye’s wound.

“Hold on. It’s going to hurt.”

“…”

As I pressed down hard, Sun-ye let out a sharp gasp.

For a moment, I feared she might die right after making that sound.

But fortunately, Sun-ye slowly opened her half-closed eyes and looked at me weakly.

It seemed she could hold on a little longer.

Relieved, I placed my hands under her legs and waist.

And slowly lifted her up.

“Where should I go?”

I glanced back and forth between the shattered window and the front door.

As I had seen earlier, bright lights flickered outside again.

It was the reinforcements.

Breaking through them to escape wasn’t difficult.

But carrying Sun-ye while doing so was impossible.

If she got hit by a bullet while escaping…

I didn’t even want to imagine it.

“—.”

While thinking about that, my hair stood on end.

That strange sensation made me instinctively scan my surroundings.

Was it the ceiling?

No.

It wasn’t the wall, like when Chang-yoon ambushed Sun-ye.

It was beneath the floor of the shop.

Subtle vibrations began to emanate from between the floorboards.

Could it be they invaded even this place?

“—!”

I almost stomped on the floor out of panic.

But before I could, someone else broke through the floor first.

To be precise, they opened a hidden secret door.

Soon, the face of the only other person I could trust emerged from there.

“Dae-hyuk…”

“How many times do I have to tell you to add ‘sir’ at the end?”

He struggled to climb up the passage, nearly getting stuck with his thick belly.

“Where’s Lieutenant Han?”

“Here…”

I didn’t even know she was a lieutenant.

But instinctively, I could tell she was the one he was referring to.

“She’s in bad shape. She’s lost too much blood…”

“Where do I go? I don’t know where to go.”

When I asked, he pointed toward the passage he came from.

As if he had predicted this situation would occur.

“If you go through the passage, you’ll find a collapsed subway. Follow the tracks straight ahead.”

“What about you, sir?”

I asked him as he retrieved a shotgun from under the counter.

Dae-hyuk calmly loaded red shells into the gun and smirked.

“Are you finally able to worry about others now?”

“This isn’t a joking matter. Aren’t you coming with us?”

I knew.

He surely didn’t want to die in this situation.

He had a daughter.

What father would want to die, leaving behind a daughter he cherished enough to send to an expensive academy?

But Dae-hyuk dismissed my thoughts with a laugh.

“I’m a bartender. I have to protect my bar.”

Skillfully, he loaded the shotgun with one hand.

As a former mercenary for the facility, he knew reality better than anyone.

If we all escaped together, we’d be pursued and inevitably caught.

Someone had to stay behind to buy time.

Knowing that, he said.

“Go. Never get caught again.”

“Live your life freely, Anna.”

Freedom…

I repeated that unfamiliar word in my mind.

And in the end, I nodded.

Given the circumstances, I had no choice but to rely on him.

I threw myself into the dark passage.

The light pouring from the shop disappeared completely.

Loud gunshots echoed above.

Shotgun shells clattered onto the floor.

“—.”

I ran.

Since becoming an S-rank hunter, I have rarely gasped for breath while running.

But now, I ran like crazy, my heartbeat loud enough for Sun-ye to hear.

How far had I run? Soon, I found a sign attached to the wall.

“Gasan Digital Complex Station.”

It was a station name I had never seen before.

After coming to Korea, I immediately experienced the Gate incident, so I had no time to learn about the subway lines.

“Sun-ye. Where should I go?”

Hearing my voice, Sun-ye’s body trembled.

Soon, she reopened her half-closed eyes and looked faintly at the sign.

“Out of Seoul… you have to leave Seoul.”

“Seoul?”

“All of Seoul is under the facility’s radar. You have to escape to the outskirts…”

She coughed as she spoke.

Dark red blood trickled from her pale lips.

That hot blood soaked my dress shirt.

The warmth spurred me to move faster.

Somewhere outside of Seoul…

I turned a corner and ran toward Line 7.

I jumped over the fragments scattered on the tracks.

And then I saw a much simpler sign than at the previous station.

“Cheolsan.”

As I climbed over the debris, the night sky opened above me.

There, a melancholy crescent moon shone down on us.

My legs trembled.

Dragging my feet, I entered a secluded mountain.

Reaching the summit, I propped her up against a tree.

“Wait here. I’ll request a support helicopter from the Association.”

I quickly pulled out my phone.

Since there was no signal in the underground passage, I had to climb this high.

“—.”

Damn it.

Was it because it was late at night? No one answered my call.

Please, someone answer.

Only the Assembly members had the authority to dispatch helicopters.

I skimmed through the list of Assembly members I knew.

Those who had promised to help me anytime were now of no use when I needed them most.

No one answered.

No one…

I almost dropped my phone in despair.

“Hello?”

Then, hearing a woman’s voice on the screen, I gripped the phone tightly again.

And shouted without hesitation.

“Helicopter.”

“Anna, is it? I didn’t expect you to call me first.”

“Helicopter.”

The sudden demand left the other side silent for a moment, seemingly startled.

But soon, realizing the situation, the voice on the phone returned with a meaningful tone.

“Where are you?”

“Cheolsan. A deserted mountain near an abandoned apartment.”

“I’ll be there soon. Wait where the signal is strong.”

The call ended abruptly.

I shoved the phone into my back pocket.

Then I approached Anna, who was leaning against the tree.

“Wait. The helicopter will be here soon.”

Sun-ye smiled faintly.

I couldn’t understand why she was smiling despite such deep wounds.

“Why… did you run away with me?”

In a situation where she might die, she asked an odd question.

“Because there’s something I want to ask.”

“The truth about me?”

Sun-ye, as if expecting it, spoke first.

But I shook my head calmly at her words.

“No, about our relationship.”

“Poor Anna… You still believe in me?”

Sun-ye, her eyes half-closed, smiled.

A faint white breath escaped her lips.

“Anna, you know… I’m not actually a prisoner of the facility like you.”

She reached for my hand.

Her hands, which had always been warm, felt as cold as ice today.

“And you’re not, in fact… a survivor abducted by the facility.”

“What…?”

I knew.

I knew Sun-ye wasn’t an ordinary prisoner.

But hearing that I wasn’t abducted by the facility either—what was she talking about?

“The truth is, you were born there. Your lack of emotional understanding isn’t just from drugs or training.”

“…”

Born there?

Then my life in America and my visit to Korea to see my mother…

“Your childhood was entirely artificial. Based on an AI algorithm, you were the 32nd sample, created with the most ordinary human girl’s memories.”

The detailed explanation made my eyes tremble faintly.

My gaze turned as pale as a machine’s.

“You were born by combining the genes of a famous swimmer. That swimmer was the greatest talent of all time and a psychopath who killed fifty women.”

Was that why I instinctively swam when I fell from the facility?

The truths falling into place made my whole body itch as if I was losing my mind.

“You were born with the combined talents of a top athlete and a murderer. Meant to be Tolkien’s secret weapon.”

I looked at my hands.

They were rough, scarred hands with torn lines.

Was this skin and these cells originally those of a killer?

I looked at Sun-ye through the gaps in my fingers and asked.

“Then… does that mean all the happy times I’ve lived were fake?”

Sun-ye didn’t answer.

She just barely nodded with a trembling head.

“I see.”

The wind blew.

Perhaps because of the altitude, the cold breeze swept through me.

“Then, what about you?”

“Me…?”

Sun-ye’s face contorted.

She didn’t seem to immediately understand my question.

“Were the times we spent together all fake, too?”

“…”

She didn’t answer this either.

No, she couldn’t.

“The first time you waved at me, the cocktails you made with beer and champagne…”

“And even the time you kissed me… was all of that fake?”

It was the first time.

My nose stung.

My eyes, which had always been pale, turned red.

Because of the redness on my flushed face, my eyes felt hot.

“Yes.”

Sun-ye, with her eyes barely open, smiled faintly.

At that moment, I realized.

Who the real psychopath was, who the true villain was.

Was it Tolkien, whom I had witnessed so far? Was it Chang-yoon, who had killed countless people?

No.

The greatest murderer was right in front of me.

She had killed something inside my heart.

Like a cruel, psychopathic killer, she had torn it apart.

That killer began coughing.

If she had stayed silent, the coughing would have stopped, and she could have lived longer.

But she coughed even louder, as if making a decision.

“Stop it.”

Even at my words, she didn’t stop.

I clung close to her and forcibly shoved my fingers into her mouth.

I felt her saliva-soaked teeth and fingers.

Between her teeth, Sun-ye’s voice spilled out.

“Now, don’t you regret it? The time you spent with me…”

Regret.

If it were the past, I would have.

I had been deceived by everyone, and I was still alone, and I would forever be alone.

After experiencing this, how could I ever trust anyone again?

But…

I decided not to regret it anymore.

Even if it was all fake, at that moment, I had truly been happy.

That was… an undeniable reality.

“No, I don’t regret it.”

I confessed with trembling lips.

Since I confessed, it was my turn to ask her.

“What about you?”

I hoped she felt the same way.

I hoped that, at least for the time we spent together, she had been happy too.

With that thought, I tightly closed my eyes.

Soon, a faint breath reached my ears.

The breath whispered to me.

“I regret it.”

The moment I heard those words, my trembling lips froze.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked at Sun-ye.

“I started this because I was promised my family would be cared for.”

“But, on the verge of completing the mission, I faltered because of you.”

Half-closing her eyes, she murmured.

But soon, her eyes began to close completely.

“If I die like this… what will happen to my little sister, Si-ho?”

“She’s such a helpless, pitiful child…”

The boundary between her pupils and the whites of her eyes blurred.

Her gaze was unfocused, moving erratically.

“I’m sorry, Anna. I shouldn’t have given you even a hint of affection…”

“I’m sorry for making things end so badly…”

With those final words, Sun-ye stopped moving altogether.

Her blood-stained hand fell limply to the ground.

I stared blankly at that hand.

Her palms bore countless scars from working at the bar.

Burns from pouring hot water.

Cuts from hastily washing dishes.

That hand had made me an aquamarine.

A black velvet.

And had caressed my face.

But now, that hand had gone completely cold.

Her little sister?

Even in her final moments, was her mind only on that damn little sister…?

How futile.

My lifelong companion closed her eyes while muttering about another girl.

“Is this the end?”

The night sky remained silent.

The crescent moon still shone steadily on me.

From the mountain, the lights of Seoul sparkled in the distance.

The city would never know what I had just been through.