SYSTEM GLITCH

PUBLIC GLITCH

Chapter 6: PUBLIC GLITCH

We ran.

That was the whole plan.

Run. Don’t die. Don’t get deleted.

Behind us, the sky was white.

*[GM ENFORCER EN ROUTE]*

*[ANOMALY METER: 80%]*

"Where are we going?" Hana yelled as we sprinted down Hongdae street.

It was 2AM. People were still out. Phones were already out.

"Away," I said. "From him."

[Cooldown Reset] on my legs. Again.

We hit 40km/h. Normal people don’t do that.

Someone screamed. "IS THAT THE RNG GOD?"

Great. I’m trending while being hunted.

GM-07 appeared 2 blocks behind us. No running. He just teleported 10 meters at a time.

Clipboard in one hand. The other hand glowing.

"Ren Park," his voice echoed. "STOP. COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY."

"Hard pass," I said.

Hana was keeping up. Barely. Tank stats = good stamina.

"We can’t outrun him," she said. "We need to hide."

"Where?" I asked. "The System sees everything!"

Then I saw it. Gangnam Station. 24-hour dungeon gate. Purple and swirling.

"Dungeon," I said. "We go in."

"That’s a D-rank gate," Hana said. "He’ll just follow us in."

"Exactly," I said. "And I’m about to do something really stupid."

We dove into the portal.

---

*[D-RANK DUNGEON: SUBWAY SLIME TUNNEL]*

*[RECOMMENDED LEVEL: 1-10]*

*[GM-07 HAS ENTERED]*

*[ANOMALY METER: 80%]*

It was empty. Just slimes and pipes.

And 30 seconds later, GM-07 walked in.

No portal. Just appeared.

"This is your last warning," he said. "Surrender, and deletion will be painless."

"Pass," I said. "I have rent."

I drew my bow.

GM-07 raised his hand. The air got heavy again. My HP: 1240... 1100... 950...

He was deleting me. Slowly.

"Okay," I whispered. "Time to be stupid."

I couldn’t beat him. He was Lv.200+.

But I could run. And I could make a scene.

[Cooldown Reset]

[Force Crit]

I shot the ceiling.

The arrow hit a main support pipe. Water and electricity exploded out.

*[ANOMALY +5%. CURRENT: 85%]*

*[DUNGEON INSTABILITY: 30%]*

The whole tunnel shook. Alarms blared.

"What are you doing?" Hana yelled.

"Escaping," I said. "Grab on."

I grabbed her. [Cooldown Reset] again.

We ran. Not away from GM-07.

Toward the dungeon exit. Out. Back into Gangnam Station.

We burst out of the portal at 60km/h.

Into a crowd of 200 people. All filming.

The dungeon behind us was collapsing. Sparks. Water. GM-07 walked out calmly, but his mask had a c***k now.

And me? I was holding Hana, glowing faintly from using 2 skills in 3 seconds.

Phones up. Everywhere.

*[TRENDING NOW: #GLITCHARCHER]*

*[VIEWS: 1M IN 30 SECONDS]*

"Oh," I said. "That’s bad."

GM-07 looked at the crowd. Looked at me. Looked at his tablet.

*[ANOMALY: 85%. PUBLIC EXPOSURE.]*

He couldn’t delete me here. Too many witnesses. The System had rules about that.

So he did the next best thing.

*[SYSTEM BROADCAST]*

*[REN PARK. D-RANK ARCHER. WANTED FOR SYSTEM TAMPERING.]*

*[BOUNTY: 1,000,000 CREDITS. ALIVE PREFERRED.]*

"One million," I said. "I’m expensive."

"Run," Hana said.

We ran.

Through the station. Through people. Through more portals.

Everywhere we went, people were pointing. Filming.

The bounty was on every HUD in Seoul.

*[ANOMALY METER: 85%]*

I couldn’t use powers again. Not for a while. Or I’d hit 90% and he could legally erase me anywhere.

We ended up on a rooftop. Out of breath.

Below us, Seoul was chaos. Drones. GM drones. Player hunters.

Hana let go of my hand. "You’re an i***t," she said. But she was smiling. "A 1 million won idiot."

"I’m worth more," I said. "Inflation."

She laughed. Then got serious. "What now?"

"Now," I said, "we disappear. For a bit."

My phone buzzed.

*Jin*: _You’re welcome. Also I’m in jail. You owe me 2 favors now._

*Unknown J*: _I can hide you. Meet me. Alone. -J_

*GM-07*: _24 HOURS. SURRENDER OR BE DELETED ON SIGHT._

And one more.

*Baek [Iron Fist]*: _1 mil. Mine. See you soon, RNG God._

"Cool," I said. "So everyone wants me."

"Pretty much," Hana said.

I looked at her. "You should go. If they catch you with me—"

"I’m not going," she said. "You saved a kid 3 months ago. You saved me from Baek. You’re an i***t, but you’re my idiot."

"That’s the worst pep talk ever," I said. "But thanks."

We sat on the roof. Watching the drones fly by.

85%. Wanted. 1 million bounty. GM hunting me.

And for the first time in 3 months, I wasn’t scared.

I was angry.

"Okay," I said. "New plan."

"What plan?" Hana asked.

"We stop running," I said. "We find out who J is. We find out why the System is lying. And we break it."

Hana stared at me. "That’s suicide."

"Probably," I said. "But I’m a D-rank. I’m supposed to die anyway."

Below us, a GM drone flew past.

I flipped it off.

[END OF CHAPTER 6]