Stay-at-Home Summoner

In determining the third summon, we couldn’t avoid weighing various conditions.

First, we assumed we would pick a hacker assistant and invited an expert in electronic warfare.

What if we summoned an entity like Ultron?

What if we were to summon a robot equipped with a super AI created by a contemporary genius scientist, capable of dominating the world, from a superhero gacha game made in America?

– For the sake of a green and clean Earth, humanity must disappear. Since you are my master, I will kill everyone except you.

There could be such a situation.

This is merely a second-best scenario.

There’s no guarantee that only friendly beings like Elaine or Kiharu would be summoned as my summon.

– Uh, ehehe, so I’m just a mere existence in a game, and everything I’ve experienced is something someone created, and amid that suffering, I’m living… Ugh, ugh…! In such a world, it’s better to just vanish…!

What if, after summoning, a mentally unstable person came and aimed to destroy the world even faster than the collapse caused by the Tower?

Along with those worries, while searching for the talents currently needed for our party, we ultimately reached a certain conclusion.

“A humanoid android.”

We decided to summon an android from a near-future-themed game, specialized in electronic warfare.

“Countering hacking will be a piece of cake. We can just ask President Louis to prepare the necessary equipment.”

Since we originally dealt with underworld matters, I thought we could sufficiently back up our information.

“Even though it’s not a human, it’s a being made to be close to humans, so handling organic matter shouldn’t be a big problem.”

“Is there a chance that the fuel or batteries won’t be compatible, partner?”

“I am concerned about that.”

The minor issue is that it’s an android, not a human, but exceedingly close.

“But this is not a future 2,000 years down the line, and it’s not like we need any special particles.”

“If it’s just a being powered by electricity…”

“It might be possible to charge it with electricity if compatible. And since it’s primarily a summon, it might run on mana instead of electric power. …If future technology is required, I’ll have to instruct them to develop parts for it as discreetly as possible.”

No one knows what impact the ‘near-future technology from the virtual world’ she possesses will have on reality.

“After being summoned, there may be some chaos or shock, but I’ll try to handle it well.”

Although there are various issues, I thought that once summoned, some persuasion might be enough.

“There’s one thing that concerns me…”

There was just one minor problem.

“Is it not domestically produced?”

“Yes. It’s a Chinese mobile game.”

It’s not a domestic game.

“Mobile games come in various shapes and sizes. Many games made abroad get published in Korea.”

Unlike Elaine and Kiharu, whose sources are from a Korean game company, ‘she’ is a being from a game made in China.

“From China, huh?”

“Does it really have to be China?”

Somehow, Kiharu’s expression looked quite sour.

“Wouldn’t it be better to limit variables within Korea rather than increasing the possibilities abroad?”

“Why? Because I’m Korean?”

“It’s not just that, but considering the game company and server protection, I thought limiting it to places within Korea would be better.”

“Indeed. While it’s wise not to put all eggs in one basket, that doesn’t mean scattering those baskets all over the place. Ideally, we want to keep them in the same space.”

The game company should be different, but we can limit it to companies within Korea.

Just protecting the Korean game company and server facilities is all that’s necessary.

No need to worry about securing places all over China, Japan, or the United States.

“That’s the issue we need to resolve.”

“Resolve?”

“By retrieving the server.”

I pulled out a photo for both of them.

“Since game companies can force a service termination by intention or otherwise, I plan to hack and copy their server to back you up.”

The picture depicted a massive server room.

It was much more spacious than the house I was currently living in, but I thought my friend Louis could help with this.

If I ask him to create this in exchange for conquering the S-Rank Tower.

“A server room…?”

“I understand what that means, but if we’re going to hack the server and pull it out… um…”

Unlike Elaine, Kiharu tilted his head with a somewhat sour expression.

“Even though the game has no borders, wouldn’t it be wiser to limit variables to within Korea? Or, perhaps, to the United States regarding the summon?”

“Korean and American hackers pose a threat to world destruction.”

“Ah.”

“I selected this option because it’s the safest under crisis management.”

“That a Chinese origin is safer? If people in this world heard that, they’d be shocked.”

Kiharu still wore a sour expression, but it was something that couldn’t be helped.

There would inevitably be differences between real existences and imaginary ones.

“You never know. A hacker from a Chinese game might be more skilled at hacking.”

People don’t call them experts in electronic warfare for nothing.

– Hey, what’s wrong with her chest parts?

– Ah, this friend originally had ‘big breasts.’

– It’s a cliff while shamelessly doing reality hacking and engaging in busty writing, how dare you!

How much must a chest part drop in a straight line, yet be so skilled at hacking that illustrators all depict it busty to the last person?

“It sounds like a very discriminatory remark, but I refrained from saying something even harsher, so let’s move on.”

“Ahem. Anyway, I want to establish a new base for us either in this country or somewhere else, somewhere we can settle down.”

We can’t continue living in this apartment forever.

“Soon… well, I shouldn’t say soon, but the time will come when we have to leave this place anyway.”

Right now, I’m being cautious, hiding information as much as possible, but later on, if a place with security facilities that even paparazzi or S-Rank hunters can’t easily enter is established, we could move there.

“Whether we go to the US or come back after visiting the US, we need to secure a base for you. As much as ‘game data’ can manifest reality’s abilities, I’d like to do that if possible.”

“Doing that through hacking… No, hacking might be even safer. Since no one in the world knows that your ability is ‘summoning beings from a game.'”

“Right. It might be revealed someday, but we need to prepare in advance for that. If the game company discovers this ability, they could arbitrarily change the performance. They might delete it at will.”

Even if someone destroys the game company server someday after learning about my abilities and attempting to nerf or delete my summons, the servers will have already been backed up safely, so there won’t be any hacking issues.

…Even if I retrieve the server, if it’s impossible, just knowing that indicates the clear value of that knowledge.

If it’s imperative to protect the game company’s main server, then we can align our future plans accordingly.

“Elaine, what do you think?”

“If my master has decided to summon such a being for us, I don’t mind being seen as a woman who wags her tail at him.”

“…Huh?”

“I’ve somewhat shifted my perspective. It would be better to say I adjusted my mindset through discussions with Kiharu. I had a separate conversation with Kiharu.”

After Elaine smiled sweetly at Kiharu, she gestured around the room.

“It might be better to fill this space with women rather than increasing the number of male summons. Of course, if my master spends time surrounded by women, there may be some discomfort, but…”

“That’s fine.”

A minor inconvenience can be resolved in due time.

No one would ever say they dislike living with beauties who conform to my lifestyle.

“Then are you going to summon right away?”

“No. I can’t summon immediately.”

“Is it a limited-time event, so we have to wait for the pickup schedule?”

“Right now, during the 10th anniversary, there’s a multi-banner pickup, and the pickup period is just right. That’s why we’re discussing this.”

I just need to keep drawing from the breakthrough and weapons.

The stats are already somewhat set, and what I need is not in-game performance but the performance according to the setting.

“Let’s start with the summon. It shouldn’t take long to draw because there’s a ceiling… huh?”

The moment I tried to launch the game for the third summon, I felt an eerie sensation from somewhere in the game launcher.

“Why are there so many announcements… what?”

“What’s wrong?”

“…Uh.”

I was flustered.

“…They’re shutting down the server?”

* * *

[At that moment, in Shanghai, China. Game company [ChaoChaoPlay].]

“The server has to shut down, right?”

A man in his late thirties, whose head was balding and appeared frail, sat in a chair, gazing at the ceiling and sighed heavily.

“Ten years. It has dragged on for too long.”

A mobile game has reached its 10th anniversary.

There were celebrations.

There were congratulatory messages.

But there were no users.

Ten years ago, many praised it as ‘the innovation of new mobile games,’ but a decade is an extremely long time for a mobile platform.

A new game was developed.

With the money earned from the popularity of the game, a new game was produced.

The company was divided to place new recruits in existing games, while experts who had been with them from the start were assigned to the new project.

Then the game exploded.

Monsters poured from the tower, consuming even long-time colleagues at the company developing the new game.

There was nowhere to vent frustrations.

Numerous people died when the tower suddenly broke and monsters flooded in.

The only thing we could do was to make the best of the given circumstances, but it was now time to take off the oxygen mask.

“…It’s already been three years of losses.”

This is the fate of a game company that could not produce results.

Running the server and distributing salaries with personal funds has reached its limit.

“I’m sorry, Liufei. Our dream of being avant-garde was no match for the massive wall of reality.”

The man, Chao Chao, squeezed his eyes shut.

“Ten years. Server, shutting down.”

* * *

“…That cannot happen.”

It absolutely must not.

“She may have a small chest, but right now she’s the most crucial talent we need.”

The server’s going to be shut down?

That means I won’t be able to summon even if I want to afterward.

“How much money have I poured into this game?”

Just looking at my payment history, I’ve spent over 3 million won so far.

I’m not an open user, having started mid-way, so I haven’t spent an overly significant sum, but even though my budget is no longer limited now, I’ve cherished this game enough to survive on instant noodles and buy business cards and skins when I had none.

“…No, this can’t happen. I struggled for days to find just the right hacker; this can’t end like this.”

This isn’t summoning.

It’s a rescue.

“Elaine, can you do me just one favor?”

“What do you mean by a favor? Command me with anything.”

Elaine straightened her posture and bowed.

“Let’s do a cosplay. I hope you can cosplay our third summon in advance.”

“Then…”

“Yes. No matter how much it is the age of hunters, whether the opponent is from China, Japan, or anywhere…”

At the very least, there’s a concept of recognition.

“For a gamer, there are no borders.”

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