Two in the morning. The city of Arcadia was silent. The sound of footsteps on cobblestone, the bustle of the marketplace—all of it gone. Outside the window, only moonlight. The second floor of the inn "Restful Stronghold." Keisho's room. Aozuki Keisho sat on the edge of his bed, terminal open. He couldn't sleep. No—he had no intention of sleeping. (If I'm going to do this, it's now.) During the day, while analyzing code in the plaza of the Transfer Spring, he'd caught a glimpse of that log for just a moment— 【TRACE_ACTIVE: Observer 1 case】 Someone was watching. From the moment he realized that, he'd been thinking about it constantly. Wait, or move? Keisho's answer was "move." His fingers flew. The standard player interface—weapons, skills, quests—none of that mattered. Deeper. Into the system's foundational layer. The domain where Keisho, as a hacker, was most skilled. He triple-camouflaged the connection route. He wouldn't use the path that got exposed yesterday. He searched for a thinner, less conspicuous detour. Code flowed. Numbers danced. Thirty minutes later— 【SYSTEM_CORE: Layer-7 connection confirmed】 "…Found it." The words escaped him. Keisho covered his mouth. Touya was in the next room. Waking him would be a pain. The screen displayed a massive collection of data files. Encrypted. Not all of them—but one of them, a tag caught his eye. 【CORE_CRYSTALLIS_COORD: Coordinate data confirmed】 Core Crystallis. The name of a hidden area that didn't exist on any game map. In EP5, he'd confirmed the coordinates existed. But this—it wasn't just coordinates. Attached to the surrounding area was a massive amount of encrypted logs. Nexus Corporation's internal files, Keisho's instinct told him. (This might be the key to escape.) Something pounded violently in his chest. He attempted to copy it. He began analyzing the encryption key— That instant. A red window exploded in the top right of the screen. 【ACCESS_DETECTED: Unauthorized access detected / Warning Level 1】 "—" Keisho immediately cut the connection. He closed the terminal. The room went dark. His entire body went rigid. (I'm caught.) Detected. At what moment? When he tried to copy the log? Or earlier— The cursor moved. A movement not of his own will flickered for just an instant at the edge of the screen. Then it vanished. Keisho shoved the terminal under his bed and stared at the ceiling. (Should I tell the others?) Touya. Milia. Mileina. —Impossible. Not yet. If they found out the surveillance intensified because of him, what would they think? He took a deep breath. Outside the window, the moon hid behind clouds. --- The next morning. His eyes were heavy. He'd barely slept three hours. Keisho descended to the inn's common space. The wooden stairs creaked. The morning air was cold, and the fireplace was still unlit. Three people were already at the table. Mileina, holding a teacup, looked at Keisho as he entered. "[sarcastic]…Your complexion looks rather poor. Did you catch a curse or something?" "[cold]Sleep deprivation." "[sarcastic]Hmm. That's all?" Her deep violet eyes fixed on Keisho's face. Not so much waiting for an answer as knowing it already. Keisho averted his gaze and sat down. At that moment, Mileina tilted her head. "[serious]Last night, didn't you get a strange system message?" —Everything stopped. "[surprised]I saw it too!" Touya leaned forward. His silver-gray hair caught the morning sun, his jade-green eyes serious. "[surprised]Some kind of warning thing. It disappeared in a flash, but—I felt like I was caught on a security camera or something." "[serious]…I confirmed it as well." Milia spoke quietly. Her lavender eyes rose from the documents and looked at Keisho. "[serious]There are traces of someone interfering with the system. A GM, or…perhaps another player. There isn't enough information to judge, but either way, someone is moving." The three of them naturally turned their gaze toward Keisho. (They'll figure it out. Like this—) Keisho picked up some bread. He opened his mouth. "[cold]I don't know anything about it." A lie. But he couldn't say it. Touya shrugged with a "guess so." Milia returned her gaze. Only Mileina looked at Keisho a moment longer before taking a sip of tea. --- Early afternoon. The center of Arcadia Plaza, the Transfer Spring. The water surface quietly reflected light. The four of them were exchanging information in the surrounding area. "[serious]I identified several routes to Core Crystallis from yesterday's analysis." Milia spread out her documents. "[serious]However, reaching it seems to require multiple hidden quests—" At that moment. A system message reached all of their screens. 【Unauthorized access detected】 【Target player: Aozuki Keisho】 【Warning Level: 1 / Transitioning to enhanced surveillance mode】 All three froze. Every eye turned toward Keisho. Touya closed his open mouth. Mileina's violet eyes narrowed. Milia's fingers stopped on the documents. Silence remained, leaving only the sound of the Transfer Spring's water. Keisho gave up. "[serious]…Last night, I accessed the core code." "[surprised]Huh?" "[serious]The system's deep layer. The warning came when I tried to copy the encrypted logs. Just before that, I confirmed the coordinate data for Core Crystallis." Touya raised his voice: "[surprised]You could do that?!" His voice was loud. A few nearby players turned to look. Touya shrank back with an "[surprised]Ah, sorry." "[sarcastic]…You certainly did things on your own." Mileina's voice was quiet. Whether angry or exasperated, it was unreadable. "[serious]Information should have been shared." Milia stated it plainly. Not coldly. Just accurately. "[serious]We are here. There is no reason to act alone." Keisho didn't answer. He had no words to return. Mileina's expression softened slightly. "[sarcastic]So. Will you show us those coordinates? If we've come this far, we need to check the contents for it to mean anything." Keisho opened his terminal and displayed a screenshot of the coordinate data. The three leaned in to look. Milia's eyes sharpened. "[serious]…This is quite a deep location." "[serious]Impossible to reach by normal routes. Multiple hidden quests, and then even deeper—is that right?" Touya asked, "[surprised]How long would it take?" "[serious]I don't know. But as a clue, it's genuine." Mileina crossed her arms and looked at Keisho. "[sarcastic]Last night's warning is painful. If the GM intensified surveillance, that means the next time you try the same thing, the warning level could go to 2 or higher." "[cold]I know." "[sarcastic]Do you really? Because it's written all over your face—'I'm going to do this alone again.'" Keisho didn't argue. It was the truth. --- Evening came. They returned to the inn. The four sat in front of the fireplace. Their usual seats. Milia poured tea. The inn's proprietress—an AI-controlled NPC with impressive attention to detail—brought bread and vegetable soup. The food at this inn was strangely delicious. Even though it was inside a game. "[serious]I apologize again. I acted without permission." That was all Keisho said. Unadorned, brief. "[serious]But this might be the key to escape. I confirmed the coordinates for Core Crystallis. The encrypted logs—I haven't been able to analyze them yet, but—" Touya shrugged. The corner of his mouth turned up. "[laughing]Well, all's well that ends well. I'm not mad. Just surprised, you know?" "[laughing]I mean, Keisho can do stuff like that? Honestly, I'm impressed. So you really are a hacker." "[cold]I always was." "[laughing]You're not straightforward at all, are you?" Mileina glanced at Keisho while sipping her soup. "[sarcastic]Next time, consult with us, okay? If you keep raising the warning level on your own, it puts the whole team at a disadvantage." "[sarcastic]…Well, since we got the coordinates this time, I'll let it slide." Keisho nodded silently. Milia began organizing their strategy. "[serious]Warning Level 1 means the GM's surveillance has intensified. If we attempt to interfere with the system again, we'll need a much more careful approach." "[serious]First, I want to gather tools for analyzing the encrypted logs. There might be such items in the game—as rewards from hidden quests." "[serious]We should also confirm the route to Core Crystallis step by step as we proceed." Touya said, "[serious]The direction is becoming clear." Keisho looked at each of his companions' faces. They weren't angry. Not exasperated. They were thinking through the problem together. (I was trying to do too much alone.) He hadn't wanted to worry them. He'd thought that if they knew, he might put them in danger. But that was Keisho's arbitrary judgment. Night fell. The three returned to their rooms, and only Keisho remained. The fireplace flames flickered. The smell of soup still lingered. Keisho opened his terminal. This time, he wouldn't dive alone. But he wanted to confirm once more—the coordinate data he'd acquired last night and the structure of the encrypted logs. Numbers flowed across the screen. The coordinates to Core Crystallis. A hidden area deep underground that didn't exist on any game map. And the massive log files he still hadn't decrypted. (I'll analyze it no matter what.) Quietly, but with absolute certainty, Keisho decided. At that moment— Something moved at the edge of the screen. The cursor, for just an instant, moved independent of Keisho's will. Just one pixel. Then it returned. Keisho double-checked the screen. He reviewed the logs. Nothing remained. (Again.) Someone was still watching. Warning Level 1. The GM had intensified surveillance—but maybe that wasn't all. There might be another "observer" outside the GM's domain. He'd sensed that yesterday too. Keisho closed his terminal. The fireplace flames flickered quietly.