A Village Has Appeared on My Desktop



1 – Unexpected Visit (1)

“Sigh…”

A sigh escapes involuntarily the moment the door opens and I step inside.

The dark and cold house, with the lights off, feels naturally eerie. But since I live alone, the silence isn’t unsettling. If anything, it would be more frightening if I sensed any signs of popularity.

The dampness clinging to my shoulders as I enter the house is more a result of my recent job, just starting out after graduation, than the house itself.

I just finished work and brought some tasks home again today. While working from home has its advantages, it hasn’t been as great as expected so far.

“Just a little break…”

Even though the house has been empty all day, household chores manage to accumulate. However, I keep postponing them. I have work to do, but right now, I’m too drained to do anything.

“Ugh…”

Wearing uncomfortable clothes or something light and casual, I change and slump in front of the computer desk where some items fill the otherwise empty room. Physical fatigue is one thing, but I can’t ignore the mental exhaustion from the sharp nerves that stood on edge during my time at the office.

If I were to work in this state, my mental fatigue would undoubtedly worsen. So, naturally, I found myself contemplating playing a game, a hobby I’ve picked up recently.

I can only play for an hour or two a day, but for someone like me who isn’t fond of physical activity during busy times, it’s a pretty good hobby.

“I can’t do much, though.”

I quickly enter the password and open the desktop, thinking about what to do today. There’s a popular RPG game with daily quests, so I’ll probably just do that and log off.

“Hmm?”

However, when the wallpaper unfolded before my eyes on the 27-inch monitor—a neatly arranged background featuring a majestic sunset, a verdant meadow, and a forest as a backdrop, with icons taking up only two lines.

I yawned absentmindedly, ready to click on the familiar game icon when I noticed ‘it.’

“…What’s this?”

Mumbling foolishly, I stared at it intently. At first, I thought it was a mistake. It’s the same wallpaper I see every day, but maybe there’s something I overlooked.

However, my eyes widened, and my breath caught. Confusion and astonishment simultaneously knocked on my head, and not knowing how to handle these emotions, a meaningless laughter hovered on my lips.

“Did I unintentionally update something without realizing it?”

In an attempt to rationalize, my mind tried to justify the situation as if it were obvious. Of course, it wasn’t baseless rationalization, considering that having a moving desktop background, even a rare or impossible one, wasn’t out of the question.

Even if that rationalization led to a scene of people setting up tents on my desktop background, depicted in a meadow photo, it wouldn’t be too surprising.

“As I look closer, they’re kind of cute.”

Certainly just a type of data file, yet the sight of the bustling people on the screen had a strangely addictive quality.

Having convinced myself that they were part of a stored video, I forgot about playing games and quietly observed this video, updated at some unknown time. It wouldn’t be long before the same scene repeated. The file size wouldn’t be that large. At least, that’s what I thought for now.

“Is this where they’ve just arrived?”

Approximately thirty of them were busily constructing a house, and there was no sign of them slowing down. Their appearances, with black hair and eyes resembling Koreans, didn’t discriminate by age or gender.

However, their clothing was somewhat peculiar. Different from modern attire, their outfits made of rough fur gave them an unfamiliar appearance. In my mind, it seemed like the attire of nomads from the northern regions.

Observing the tents they were building and the horses they brought along, that thought became even more certain.

“But when will this end?”

Absorbed in watching their activities, time had quietly advanced to 7 p.m. As the clock struck 7 p.m., my desktop background, set to gradually transition between day and night, turned into complete darkness.

Watching them pause their construction and start lighting fires to illuminate the surroundings, I snapped back to reality. I had a mountain of tasks to do, and staring at the wallpaper couldn’t be the way to spend my time.

“It’s fascinating, but it’s getting annoyingly distracting.”

With a sigh, I absentmindedly clicked and dragged them from a corner of the screen.

[35 Immigrants Selected]

[Master Program Activated]

“!?!!”

But at that moment, a window of unknown origin appeared on the screen, signaling a change as a program was executed. Just dragging on the desktop background should never have caused such an event.

“What, what’s this?”

I lifted my hand off the mouse and flinched. My heart raced with the thought of being infected by a virus, and I quickly recalled the hacking and virus incidents I had seen on the news.

However, a window with the phrase [Activate Master Program] suddenly appeared in the middle of my desktop, but it just stayed there without rummaging through or damaging my computer.

“No way.”

Still cautious about this sudden event, I nervously grabbed the mouse again. It’s natural to feel tense when encountering something I have never experienced before.

[Sync Master Program]

[Would you like to sync? Syncing will enable interference through the Master Program.]

When I clicked that window, this virus claiming to be a master program asked me with an even more suspicious question, whether I would sync with it.

I immediately found the close button. There’s no way I would hand over my computer to some crazy program.

“It can’t be?!”

But I failed to find the close button. I tried various methods in confusion. Minimizing the window, using task manager, and so on.

However, there was no way to reject this virus anywhere. It’s completely locked.

“Oh, seriously.”

In the end, I put my hand on the power button. I was afraid that the virus-infected computer would turn back on, but this was the only option now.

“Ha…”

The problem was that no matter how long I held down the power button, the computer wouldn’t turn off. Overwhelmed by the sudden rush of stress, I had no choice but to unplug the cord.

[Would you like to sync the Master Program?]

Afterwards, filled with genuine fear, I stumbled back and fell off my chair.

My bruised buttocks didn’t even hurt. In front of my eyes, the computer, still operating smoothly with the code removed, continued to illuminate the screen with its words.

***

“Press it.”

Alone in a room. My own place where I live alone. In the silent, dark space that becomes quiet if I don’t make a sound and don’t turn on the lights, I muttered quietly.

The only monitor emitting light in the darkness is currently forcing me to make a choice. Despite pulling out the code, the cause of this phenomenon, which cannot happen in reality, must be that.

If I were a normal person, if it were my usual self, I would have immediately taken a picture of this phenomenon with a camera, informed the people around me, and fled from this house.

“Why?”

However, I didn’t do that now. I just stared blankly at the monitor, calming my mind calmly.

I felt a strangeness because I myself knew that I am not usually such a calm person. Perhaps an unreasonable change has come to myself at this moment.

[Master Program, Synchronization]

[Synchronization 11%···]

Raising and sitting back in the chair, I cautiously grabbed the mouse and clicked on the window that appeared on the screen. Synchronization in progress at the same time.

The progress was quite fast. Before even a minute passed, synchronization exceeded half.

[Synchronization Complete, Master Program Officially Activated]

At the moment the progress reached 100%, some unknown virus was executed.

“Is this the end?”

And nothing happened. The window of the master program that demanded synchronization disappeared, and on the desktop that reappeared, those people were still building the house with the fire as they did before.

In disbelief, I manipulated the mouse and tried dragging one of them like before.

[Chief Barun]

[Characteristic: Leadership]

[Assignment: -]

“???”

Then, a completely different result appeared compared to before.

I dragged the man who was hammering the wooden stake to secure the tent. Astonishingly, as if selected files, blue lines appeared around his body, accompanied by small writing that brought up several pieces of information.

It was clear that some kind of master program or something was activated.

The problem was that the man seemed completely unaware of what was happening to his body. Occasionally, he would shout to others but continue with his tasks.

[Close observation]

Since I had dragged, I naturally tried right-clicking as well. Surprisingly, when I right-clicked while he was selected, an option called “close observation” appeared.

I clicked on it, dumbfounded.

“Insane.”

I sighed at the same time. The entire background screen started moving, and in an instant, it zoomed in. The man, who was the size of a fingernail, suddenly became the protagonist on a 27-inch monitor, and I could freely observe his work through mouse control.

His rough skin, the sweat trickling down, and his muscular figure visible through the unbuttoned shirt. Even the world in the background desktop.

Is that really the meadow and forest I always saw? It feels unreal. Except for the fact that I can freely manipulate the perspective, it feels like watching a well-made movie.

“—.”

And there was a woman approaching him, speaking incomprehensible words. He looked up in response to her call. Through the screen, it felt as if her face with long hair reaching her back was looking at me.

Unconsciously, I exclaimed. She was that beautiful.

[Chief’s daughter, Leana]

[Trait: Martial arts]

[Placement: -]

“So, she’s his daughter.”

I shrunk the screen again and this time, I dragged the woman who had approached him. The information that appeared described her as the chief’s daughter. Since the man I just saw was named Barun and was the chief, they were a father and daughter.

“Martial arts?”

Seeing the word describing her trait, I realized that she had a bow on her back and a sword at her waist.

The slender woman didn’t match well with me, but I let it slide and decided to try something different with the Chief of Staff, Barun.

I clicked left.

“Huh?”

And I was startled, causing me to jump. Barun, who was stuck in my mouse pointer, came along with it into thin air.

I was surprised too and dropped my hand, causing the mouse pointer to shake wildly. I dropped him onto a distant part of the desktop.