A Village Appeared on My Desktop

---

Chapter 85 – The Eaters (5)

‘What exactly is changing the wallpaper?’

What caught my attention more than anything was the ability to change the wallpaper file.

Right now, my wallpaper featured a vast and beautiful grassland, and the residents actually lived there.

No matter how much I scrolled, there were only other grasslands, rivers, or forests appearing. Perhaps that was to be expected, as my wallpaper was literally a world on its own.

So, changing the wallpaper would mean altering the world, and no matter how many bizarre things I’ve seen, this just didn’t seem possible.

‘What happens to the residents?’

I hesitated, worried that something might go wrong with the residents. They still didn’t know the exact nature of my presence, but our bond was strengthening with time.

Having just established the system and begun to settle in, I was afraid that it might fall apart. If things went wrong, I would definitely be in danger, but the residents would be in even greater peril.

“But if we don’t keep progressing…”

I squinted and sighed softly. That nagging belief sounded like the most absolute law—that we must not become complacent in reality.

Since the moment I first met the residents, we had survived, opposing enemies while making sacrifices, paying costs to continuously evolve.

It could be fearful. It could be unsettling. But the moment we failed to overcome that, both I and they would meet our demise at the hands of the enemies.

Everything we had achieved so far was the fruit of that courage.

“—?”

“–.”

Amidst my internal conflict, I caught sight of the residents gathered for a communal dinner under the nearly setting sun. Smoke from cooking rice rose from all directions.

Balun designated all the harvested food from the game world as common property and stored it in the warehouse, managing it strictly. No one seemed to mind that action. Since the quantity was ample, Balun always distributed food generously.

There were people laughing and joking with their abundant food, coexisting with those holding a solemn ritual to honor soldiers who fell in the recent battle.

‘You cannot gain anything without being prepared to lose something.’

As an ordinary rookie employee who had grown up normally and lived in an ordinary world, I didn’t have a wealth of experience. I had never lost anything significant or risked my life to protect something.

But my thoughts began to shift dramatically as I observed them. Realizing that their lives hinged on my choices was impossible to ignore.

They were small aliens who had unexpectedly come into my wallpaper. Indeed, in some respects, they could be called primitive barbarians.

However, they were certainly not foolish; they were excellent individuals who even imparted lessons to me.

[Activating Wallpaper Folder]

Ultimately, I made a decision. I spent my accumulated points to activate a program.

‘What on earth is this?’

I examined the folder controlled by the Master Program. Previously, it was merely a folder for storing images or video files that could serve as wallpapers.

It remained the same. I hadn’t been concerned about wallpapers, and while the items were unfamiliar, the basic fact remained that several files were stored there.

Simply looking at their appearance, they were just files containing natural landscapes.

[Dwarf Kingdom Entrance (Contamination): 1000P]

[Elf Village Entrance: 1500P]

…

“Uh?”

However, when I moved the mouse to check the names of those files, my eyes widened in surprise. They certainly looked like ordinary forest images, but the names of the files were unusual.

It might seem like an overreaction to be surprised by such odd names, yet given the circumstances, I couldn’t simply brush it aside.

‘Now that I think about it, I feel like I’ve seen that name before.’

And then something I had forgotten floated to the surface of my mind along with the name “Dwarf.” In the past, I had used a file converter to create titanium ingots from some of the residents’ possessions, which I had forcibly requisitioned.

I believe there was something with the name “Dwarf” among the items I had to commandeer at that time. I had been preoccupied with other matters, so I had brushed it off without much thought.

“Could it really be a Dwarf?”

In disbelief, I muttered blankly.

The Dwarves I knew were fictional races found in creative works, but I couldn’t argue against their existence in that world. They were typically depicted as short and sturdy individuals, but I couldn’t be sure they would appear that way in this realm either.

‘Contamination.’

Moreover, the mere possibility of the Dwarf race appearing wasn’t all that was on the table.

What seriously got my attention was the part labeled (Contamination) in the file name.

I had seen that (Contamination) mark not too long ago. It was in the very place where the bugs had made their nests, producing numerous glitches.

What had once been an ordinary plain had become a contaminated zone due to the bugs that had harmed the locals and taken over the area, so it was clear that there must be Dwarves in that location as well.

‘If I activate that wallpaper, can I send the residents there?’

I suddenly realized the purpose of this program.

Changing the wallpaper meant changing the space.

This way, I could dispatch residents to the location presumed to be inhabited by bugs and launch a counterattack. Until now, we had only been on the receiving end of their assaults and were finally getting a chance to fight back.

[This area cannot be replaced]

After making my decision, I attempted to pay the points and replace the file, but I received a notification saying it was impossible in the area containing the village.

Immediately second-guessing myself, I turned the screen to another direction and tried again.

[Do you want to replace the file?]

As I turned the screen from the village, bustling with life, to the adjacent plain, a message confirmed that the action was indeed possible.

*

“Everyone, under no circumstances doze off, stay thoroughly vigilant. Our enemies are not mere looters or beasts. I trust you all understand that.”

Late at night. Raul, now the leader of the night guard for the village, stifled a yawn as he encouraged the soldiers on night watch.

The armed soldiers spread throughout the village, tasked with vigilantly watching for any potential enemy incursions.

With the village growing larger and the population increasing, the areas requiring vigilance had expanded even further.

However, the soldiers did not relent and maintained their tension. Only just before, they had fought off the bugs’ advance. They would rather not imagine the scenario where they attacked while everyone was asleep.

“It’s nice not to have to worry about food, learn to read, or be burdened with hard labor, but the fear of when those monsters might come is daunting.”

“They’re not your ordinary beasts…”

The two soldiers standing guard passed time by chatting with each other.

They were regular soldiers, whose main occupations were ordinary hunting or leather crafting.

As members of the Tribe of the Grassland, they were skilled horse riders and adept at marching and archery, making them excellent soldiers, but they were not prepared to confront the horrific monsters crafted as slaughter machines.

After a few hours had passed, dawn began to break.

Their watch was ending, and it was time for them to return to rest as the residents who had been deeply asleep were now waking up to start their day.

“…What’s that?”

At that moment, one of them, still stifling a yawn, spotted something.

In the distance, something shimmered, causing the space to ripple as if a mirage were rising. It resembled the gateways connecting to games that had appeared in the center of the village, yet there was something different about it.

“I need to report this.”

They reported the finding up the chain. Naturally, the news reached Balun, who had just awakened.

“We need to investigate. This is the will of the gods.”

Before long, Balun stood before the shimmering rift and explained to those accompanying him that this was the will of the gods. There was no need for proof; after all, it was indeed his will that had brought them here by moving them with a mouse.

“Arm yourselves. Riena, you too.”

Balun had thoroughly armed the warriors and soldiers. He instinctively sensed that beyond this rippling space lay something the guardian deity he and the others believed in wished to reveal.

Having awoken and changed my wallpaper folder, I was now manipulating the mouse to send the residents across the screen.

“Everyone is ready.”

As a result, the elite soldiers of the village, including Riena, had fully armed themselves and gathered in formation.

Both warriors and regular soldiers were equipped with weapons and armor made from by-products of mutants. They were the elite forces of the Arin Tribe.

If their arming seemed inadequate, he repeatedly used the mouse to send them back, checking their preparations.

Balun had never prepared this thoroughly before, which made him visibly tense.

“Let’s go investigate what lies beyond this.”

Wearing a helmet made from the skull of a Drakos, Balun personally led them through the rippling space, which seemed to stand vertically like a surface.

‘Strange feeling. But what on earth is this place?’

Riena, who stood at the forefront with Balun, passed through the shimmering veil. Frowning at the peculiar sensation, she gasped at the scenery that had completely transformed.

“Where on earth are we? Oh, wait. How did we all end up here?”

The others were equally as stunned. As the northern plains of the village instantaneously shifted to a different space, they looked around in shock.

“Ah! Could this be!”

Meanwhile, one of them recognized where they were. A soldier from a small tribe to the north noticed that it resembled a place they had once inhabited.

“Is this the Northern Land?”

“I’m not entirely sure. However, the trees and grass do resemble what I saw while living in the north.”

Balun murmured with a dazed expression, gazing at the thick woodland sprawling in front of them. Putting aside the incredible distance they had traversed in an instant, at this moment, it appeared to be a perfectly ordinary natural environment.

“Over there! Enemies! The Black Monsters!”

Yet this eerily quiet and gloomy atmosphere didn’t last long.

A soldier patrolling the area spotted something rustling in the woods, gasping in horror as he shouted.

“Shoot the arrows!”

Clenching his teeth, Balun urgently ordered as he sprinted towards a mass of ants charging at them through the forest.

The massive black-armored ants, with their exceptionally developed jaws gleaming, were racing toward them.