Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Game or Not a Game (1)

Hero.

The first place where nine-year-old Min-jun encountered that word was inside a pirated game.

“Now, Hero. Set out at once and slay the Demon King! With that power, save this world from the crisis of destruction! Now, go! Now, at once!”

That scene, where the man called the king shouted at the Hero.

The very scene where he ordered the Hero to go cut off the Demon King’s head all alone.

To young Min-jun, that scene felt somehow unfair.

Without attaching even a single soldier as support.

“Now, at once!”

To be forced by that heartless king’s pressure into a fate where he had to protect the world alone.

What a lonely and cruel fate that was.

‘If he’s going to do that, he should at least give him some money.’

The road to the Demon King’s Castle was full of hardship and adversity, partings and frustration. Above all, it was packed with the brutality of self-sufficient logistics.

At times, the Hero had to barge into random houses like a robber and seize the household’s valuables just to secure supplies.

“A Hero is…….”

Min-jun did not like that very much.

“……just a sucker?”

Yes.

A Hero was a sucker.

He became certain of that perception after time had flowed by like running water.

One summer.

“Now, everyone be quiet. There’s one instruction from the higher unit, so listen up.”

It was the day when Min-jun was in the middle of his military service.

“Starting today, you’ll call one another Hero.”

“Yes?”

Hero?

He doubted his ears.

“D-Did I hear that wrong?”

“No, you heard right. Starting today, the form of address between soldiers is Hero, so don’t get caught calling each other mister. You know the Ministry of National Defense is running that Good Words Campaign these days, right?”

“A good word is…… Hero?”

They said it was the result the Ministry of National Defense had produced after agonizing over forms of address among service members.

To Min-jun, however, it strangely overlapped with the scene from the game he had played as a child.

-Now, Heroes. Start digging at once!

Hero.

-Waste the golden years of your twenties, receive a salary the size of a rat’s tail, and labor hard!

Hero!

-Tonight’s dinner is fried boneless pollack, so make sure you brace yourselves!

Damn it.

“Even if it feels a little weird, it came down from above, so listen. A soldier just does what he’s told. Got it?”

The platoon leader only grinned as he watched the soldiers’ expressions rot.

“Why? Hero has a good meaning, doesn’t it?”

It was the day he realized all over again that the word “Hero” meant “sucker.”

Of course.

Had the Ministry of National Defense also become aware of how ridiculous the title “Hero” was?

Before long, that absurd title was quietly swept under the rug and disappeared as if it had never existed.

Min-jun had to take small comfort in that fact.

The “real incident” happened when spring came.

Click-!

The sound of something’s mechanism locking into place beneath his foot.

BOOM-!

Three weeks passed after he lost consciousness along with a tremendous explosion.

“…….”

The first thing that greeted Min-jun when he woke from his coma was his right leg, which had vanished without a trace.

‘Ah…….’

The loss of a familiar presence.

The sight of the line that had run along his shin breaking at a sudden curve and creating an alien emptiness.

Min-jun stayed frozen for a long time.

‘A landmine…….’

He had stepped on a wooden-box landmine.

Yes, he understood. It was an accident that had happened during a search operation beyond the Civilian Control Line, so it was entirely possible.

“Big brother!”

His younger sister, who ran in after hearing that he had regained consciousness, shouted that for the first time in nearly ten years.

“Min-jun! What are we going to do…….”

“Oh no, oh no…….”

Only when his older sister and mother came in afterward with devastated faces and held his hands did it finally feel real.

It felt as if his heart had dropped.

“Oh no…… What are we going to do about my son now?”

-At least I gave birth to you with a healthy body.

The words his mother had repeated like a habit whenever he whined about not getting pocket money flashed through his mind.

“We express deep regret over the matter concerning Hero Do Min-jun, and the government promises to provide the greatest possible support! Without reservation!”

That day was the third time in his life that he heard the word “Hero.”

At the same time, he realized something.

‘There’s no way the country would take care of a sucker bastard like a Hero.’

Everything went exactly as Min-jun expected.

“The greatest possible support” meant support within the upper limit they had decided, and the expiration date on the phrase “without reservation” was terrifyingly short.

-What remains after going to the military, you ask?

-What remains from the military: pride in national defense! A healthy body! A strong spirit! Join our sturdy Gudgeon-i!

Min-jun was left behind.

He was thrown into a bleak world and future together with an ankle that had simply disappeared.

‘That’s just how my life is.’

Still, it was fine.

A foundation appeared, saying it would sponsor him with 400,000 won a month for the time being, and he also won a rental apartment recruited by the housing corporation and moved in.

‘This is enough.’

Like a weed growing bluish-green with the bare minimum of nutrients in the middle of building cement, Min-jun lived on.

At least he was still alive.

-Ah, Princess! Once this battle is over, I’ll build a cabin on a peaceful hill and live happily. Together with you!

-Yes, it’s a promise, Hero……!

“This guy…… he’s going to die.”

Min-jun yawned again and again in disgust as he watched the game screen.

-No, Hero! You mustn’t die!

-I’m sorry, Princess…… Still, I…… you…… lo, lo……

-Hero! Please open your eyes, Hero!

“What bullshit.”

He had bought the game with expectations, only for it to show him a development so predictable it made him sick.

‘No. The game isn’t bad. It’s just because I’ve played games like a lunatic. The game did nothing wrong.’

Perhaps the phrase “gaming junkie” existed to refer to someone like him.

‘I really have played too many games.’

For two years after the accident, not a single day had gone by without games, games, and nothing but games.

‘At this point, it’s harder to find a game I haven’t tried…….’

From online games to mobile games, package games, and even old classics that were hard to obtain, he had swept through every game that could be called a game.

As if there was nothing else in the world.

The face reflected in the black monitor was sharply gaunt, and his two eyes were murky, like the eyes of a dead fish.

‘At this point, rather than a junkie…… I feel more like I’m just half a corpse.’

Min-jun mocked himself as he stroked the beard that had grown thick and messy.

-Sis : Are you eating properly~!

-Sis : I sent you some food, so receive it when the package arrives! Don’t send it back again~!

-Sis : Sent a gifticon!

-Sis : Buy something tasty and eat. Don’t just stay home all the time. Go outside too, get some exercise, and eat your meals on time!

-Sena : Do Min-jun, Mom told me to ask when you’re coming home. She says to hurry over and take some side dishes. Message delivered.

Below that, messages from his family continued one after another.

‘I’ll reply later.’

He deliberately kept his distance from his family.

Because not becoming a burden to them was the last support Min-jun had left.

‘I shouldn’t end up like my father, who left the family with debt and vanished. Even if there’s nothing I can do, I at least shouldn’t become a problem child who makes them suffer.’

That was all he thought.

Even if he was in this pathetic state.

-Continue playing?

-YES/NO

He chose YES without hesitation. It was not as if his life would improve now just because he stopped playing games.

‘Is there any decent game somewhere…….’

He grabbed another game and concentrated for a while.

-Recruiting new Heroes.

–Hero Agency, Hero Communications.

That mysterious text arrived on his phone right then.

‘What is this?’

It was an MMS message whose contents were hard to guess. Min-jun began guessing what it meant on his own.

‘Could this be…….’

He remembered receiving quite a few texts of a similar kind.

‘A game ad?’

The word Hero was obviously the term used to refer to the player.

These days, games are trending toward calling players by all sorts of names, such as Traveler, Mortal, or Successor.

Seen in that context, “Hero” was not particularly unusual. If anything, it was trite.

‘Was there some game scheduled for release that I didn’t know about?’

Without thinking much, Min-jun pressed it and read.

-Recruiting new Heroes.

-Ariel, the Spirit of Wisdom, has named you a Hero Candidate through an oracle.

-At this very moment, dimensional rifts are breaking, countless mutants are appearing, and reincarnators tainted by evil are corrupting the world. You have been granted the chance to change your class to Hero.

-This is by no means an opportunity granted to just anyone. If you safely pass the “minor test” given to become a Hero, you will receive enormous rewards and benefits!

-Do you want to become the master of the world? Money? Honor? Power? Of course, nothing is free!

-You who have been personally named by the Spirit of Wisdom, Hero Candidate. If you agree, please install the application through the link below!

-Lilical.brave.app/771/Download

‘What a grandiose ad.’

It was an advertisement so exaggerated that it made him frown, but his hand was already pressing the link below.

‘Well, it’s a game.’

To Min-jun, who swept through every game in the world, there was no reason to avoid it.

No sooner had he clicked the link than something began downloading and installing on its own.

‘This isn’t a scam, is it?’

What if it was a scam where pressing the link drained his money, bricked his phone, or stole his personal information?

Just as suspicion arose.

-The dedicated Hero Agency application “Hero Communications” has been installed.

-You have been registered as the 4,301st Hero Candidate. Preparing Hero Tutorial.

Something appeared before his eyes.

“Wh-What the hell?”

He thought it was a glow coming from his phone, but it was not.

‘There are words floating there?’

They were floating translucently like an illusion—no, like a hologram screen.

When he turned his head, the clearly colored letters followed in that direction.

“This is bad.”

It was certain.

The thing he had feared had happened.

‘Yeah, I really have played too many games.’

Min-jun closed his eyes in silence, then opened them. He did it with desperate force, as if trying to drive away the ghost that had possessed him.

‘But.’

-Hero Tutorial Stage 1 ready.

-Time remaining until summoning: 15 seconds, 14 seconds…….

‘It increased.’

He had thought it would disappear, but more had appeared instead.

-10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds…….

“What kind of countdown is this?”

A countdown of unknown meaning had even begun, and even at this very moment, it was rushing toward 0 seconds.

“What the…….”

Min-jun moved his uncomfortable leg and limped backward.

Fear crept over him in the face of the mysterious phenomenon.

-5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.

-Beginning summoning.

“Urgh!”

Light covered heaven, earth, and all directions.

It was a light so bright it felt hot.

It felt as if his retinas were burning white.

‘I heard games could kill people, but……!’

As his consciousness faded, a lecture about game addiction from the internet faintly came to mind.

-Everyone! If you play games, you can die! Understand? Gaming is a disease! A disease that kills people!

At the time, he had thought, “What nonsense,” and ignored it.

‘Games really do kill people!’

Min-jun regretted it too late.

-Welcome to your first visit.

-The world rests in your hands.

A clear voice.

The world was swallowed by white light.

“Urrrrgh!”

The second day that changed Min-jun’s life arrived just like that, out of nowhere.