RTN 20

“An NPC?”

“Not just any NPC — the mascot character. She appears on the login screen, during loading, everywhere. But since she doesn’t have a name, everyone just called her No Name.”

“Oh,” said Jung Jin-won, looking like he understood now. The others nodded too, glancing at one another.

A few, however, tilted their heads in confusion. Someone asked,

“She had a name? ‘Conductor’? I’ve never heard that before.”

The man didn’t answer. He just sat there, staring up at me in silence. I looked back down at him.

Then suddenly, he frowned, sprang to his feet, and grabbed my arm, yanking me toward him. I stumbled forward and barely stopped before bumping into him — his face was inches from mine.

The people around us moved to stop him, but I shook my head. I was certain — he wasn’t going to hurt me.

His bloodshot eyes scanned my face closely, almost obsessively, but I didn’t look away. After a long moment of inspection, he exhaled.

“Yeah… No Name.”

He spoke slowly.

“The design was insane — easily one of the best. But she had no name, didn’t appear in the game, and yet, she showed up everywhere: on the login screen, the loading screens, like the poster girl. Everyone thought it was weird — she looked like the main character.”

It looked like something had just clicked for him. At the same time, he looked… afraid. Like he wanted to be proven wrong by saying it out loud.

“There was this one event once… strange reports came out after that.”

His eyes fixed on mine like he was testing me — you already know this, don’t you?

“It was supposed to be a special event. Normally, only guilds could fight the final boss, but for this one, they opened it up to solo players. The first to beat it would get an S-rank weapon. So everyone lost their minds.

“But when the event started, no one could even enter the boss area. The gate just… wouldn’t open.”

He spoke faster now.

“People went crazy. ‘It’s a bug!’ ‘A glitch!’ The forums exploded with complaints, but the developers said nothing. They always ignored players anyway. Just when everyone was about to give up, one post appeared.”

His grip on my arm tightened.

“The guy said he’d seen the boss. He was nuts — couldn’t get in with his main character, so he made a new one from scratch. Thought maybe only newly created characters after the event started could access the boss.”

The man’s voice quickened further.

“It should’ve been impossible, but he pulled it off. Didn’t sleep for days, grinded to max level, and when he tried again — bam, he got in.”

The crowd murmured. Some seemed to remember the incident; others were hearing it for the first time.

“But the boss wasn’t the same. Normally it’s a huge monster, right? But as he got closer, it started shrinking — turned into a human woman. He said… it was No Name.”

I tried to recall the woman from the login screen — beautiful, ethereal — but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember her face clearly.

Back then, I hadn’t paid attention. The only thing that mattered to me was logging in under Baek I-hyun’s account.

“He said she started talking to him. Introduced herself as the Conductor. He didn’t know what to do, so he attacked her — and the game just shut down instantly. When he logged back in, that character was gone.”

The man’s voice dropped.

“There were no screenshots, so people dismissed it as a hoax, but it blew up for a while. That player wasn’t just anyone. He was a legend — the type who always got the world’s first clear. His nickname was Juggler.”

Gasps rippled through the room. Most seemed to recognize the name. Only those like me — unfamiliar with the game — looked confused.

“Given his track record, he was the last person who’d lie. But when he said something that unbelievable, people were split. Still…”

The man’s voice turned hoarse.

“Something else weird happened after that. The devs ran an event — handed out illustration cards featuring major bosses.”

It was a lottery-type event — the cards had random prize codes on the back. Players were thrilled when they arrived in the mail.

“But here’s the thing… no one got the card for the final boss.”

Several people nodded — they’d experienced it firsthand.

“Instead, tons of people got No Name cards. Everyone flooded customer service asking why they got her instead of a boss, or if it was a production error — but nobody ever got a reply.”

I understood what he was implying. Maybe No Name had been the true final boss all along. Maybe her real name — as she claimed — was the Conductor.

“When you think about it,” he said, “she was always at the edge of things — login screens, loading, announcements, events, ads. She never appeared in-game, but she was always right between the game and the real world.”

That lined up with what Baek I-hyun had told me — that the Conductor oversaw multiple dimensions. But even if my brain accepted the logic, it still felt unreal.

“So what are you saying? That I’m an NPC?”

“You look like her.”

The man said it flatly.

“…What?”

“You look like No Name.”

He glanced around for agreement. Nobody disagreed. The silence felt heavy.

I exhaled. “Are you saying I’m not human?”

“I don’t know. But we can’t rule anything out. We don’t know anything for sure right now.”

“I really…”

“You’re sure you’ve got nothing to do with the game?”

“I told you — I only logged in once. That’s it.”

“You’re the only one who can see the status window. And in the game, people called whoever could see it the Conductor.”

I couldn’t respond.

He asked again, “Doesn’t any of this ring a bell?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I’ve never even played that game. I don’t know why this keeps connecting to me.”

I tried to dig through my mind for answers — but suddenly, a completely different thought struck me.

“Wait. Do you all remember everything?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean… the place we used to live before we came here. I think I’ve forgotten something. My friend’s parents — I can’t picture their faces. I don’t even remember what they did.”

He finally let go of my arm.

“Maybe you’re just stressed. Memory loss can happen under pressure.”

“No. It’s not that. These are memories I couldn’t possibly forget. They were like family to me — but no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember them. That’s not normal.”

Anxiety crawled up my chest. I looked around. Everyone’s faces were pale with confusion. My heart sank.

“Am I the only one who doesn’t remember?”

No one answered. I took a step back. Cold sweat slid down my spine.

I’d never felt fear like this before — the fear that I was slowly losing my memories, that one day I might forget everything that made me me.

The man raised both hands slightly, trying to calm me down as he stepped closer.

“Do you remember anything else?” he asked carefully.

“Anything… else?”

“It’s not impossible to forget someone else’s parents. But what about your own? Do you remember your parents?”

“My… parents?”

He looked worried.

“Do you remember your mother’s face?”

“…My mother?”

I blinked. My mind felt foggy, like it was full of mist. The words slipped out of me in a daze.

“Did I… ever have a mother?”