Ash-gray skies rained down dregs of data—the discarded byproducts left behind whenever the System completed its 'optimization.'

  They piled up at the bottom of the dungeon, this scrapyard, reeking of a biting, metallic scent.

  "Deletion confirmed."

  Si-woo finished his brief report to the hologram window.

  At his feet lay the twisted fragments of what was once a legendary blade.

  Once a hero’s pride, now it was merely junk waiting to be cleared.

  [System Administrator has accepted the report.]

  [Initializing deletion process for the corresponding data...]

  The fragments began to crumble, dissolving into a faint blue light.

  Si-woo looked on with a vacant expression, checking the side of his backpack.

  [Status: Green Level]

  The indicator glowed softly, signaling that the internal subspace remained stable.

  He reached back and lightly tapped the Isolation Module, which looked like a worn-out collection bin.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Hidden inside was the core essence of the sword he had just reported as 'deleted.'

  A mere 0.1-second window—the brief moment when the System’s surveillance blinked.

  Exploiting that microscopic gap was Si-woo’s specialty.

  "Let the rankers keep their justice,"

  he muttered, a thin, cynical smile tugging at his lips as he adjusted the weight of his Subspace Rig.

  If caught, he faced immediate deletion—an absolute execution—but to him, this was just another day at the office.

  Suddenly, a violent burst of static erupted from a corner of the scrapyard.

  [Disposal Target Identified: Entity No. 404]

  [Status: System Error due to Ego Overload.]

  [Commencing disposal protocol.]

  It was an artificial personality in the form of a young girl, her image flickering in broken pixels as she awaited the deletion laser.

  Through her fading silhouette, a string of blue text burned into Si-woo’s retinas:

  [0214-X]

  Si-woo’s entire body stiffened into stone.

  It was his sister's birthday—the one who had vanished into the cold gears of the System three years ago.

  It was a fragment of a code only the two of them knew.

  "...Why do you have that?"

  [10 seconds remaining until deletion process.]

  Crimson warning lights flooded his vision. Without a moment's hesitation, Si-woo slammed the release switch on his rig.

  Clack!

  The modules expanded with a sharp mechanical snap, and a veil of blue plasma shimmered between the interlocking plates.

  Instead of the girl’s collapsing form, Si-woo lunged and snatched the fist-sized sphere hovering precariously at her center—the Main Core containing her memories and personality.

  "I'm taking this much, at least."

  He shoved the core roughly past the plasma veil.

  The girl’s lingering silhouette let out a silent scream as it was sucked into the sphere.

  [WARNING: Unauthorized data influx. Risk of overload.]

  The indicator screamed, instantly turning a deep, bloody crimson.

  [Status: Red Level]

  The backpack looked calm on the outside, but Si-woo could feel the frantic, chilling vibration against his spine.

  The subspace stabilizers were redlining.

  [Data Deletion Confirmed.]

  The System’s gaze withdrew. Si-woo exhaled a ragged breath, his knuckles white as he gripped the straps of his rig.

  There was no turning back now. If he pulled the core out here, the data would collapse, and the only clue to his sister—the trace he had spent three years hunting—would vanish forever.

  He was now holding the most dangerous piece of evidence in the world, with his life as the collateral.

  "Saving you wasn't a charity act."

  Si-woo pulled the rig, now pulsing with a rhythmic, bloody light, tight against his chest.

  "You're going to tell me exactly where you found that code."

  The single wrong answer that the perfect System had missed.

  That bug was now pulsing dangerously right behind his back.

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  Subspace Rig soon, so stay tuned.