episode_0001

Ring-ring-

The damned alarm drilled into my skull.

I couldn’t tell if the throbbing headache was from the cheap spirits I drank last night, or a chronic ailment I’d developed after falling into this cursed world.

Probably both.

I slowly, like a slug, lifted my body from the creaking cot.

A faint, translucent system window still floated before my eyes.

[Kang Jin-woo] Affiliation: Chronos Mercenary Corps (Low-Rank Mercenary) Rank: Private (Cog7) Credits Held: 350CR Status: Hangover, mild malnutrition, chronic fatigue

Cog7.

A part number, called instead of a name.

It was one piece of evidence that this place, though similar to the world within the game “Galaxy Titans,” was reality.

I still didn’t know why I, who once topped the rankings in the game by piloting the Asura mech and only using melee weapons, had fallen into such a gutter.

One day, I just woke up and found myself here.

“Ugh, my head’s splitting… Hey, 7! Looks like you drank quite a bit too. You look a mess.”

Cog5 from the next bed, the guy who called himself Jinx, scratched his messy hair and spoke to me.

His face didn’t look particularly good either. Well, was there anyone decent among the guys here?

“Shut up. Worry about your own face.”

I retorted curtly and got up.

Then, from the bed across, Cog6, nicknamed Sparky, grumbled.

“Damn it, where are we going to be sent to slog today? I just hope it’s not Gamma Sector. They say that place is a complete ghost haunt.”

Jinx scoffed.

“Hey, Sparky. No matter where we go, it’s all the same shithole. We’re just cannon fodder anyway, so what’s there to complain about? Just be grateful for the food they give you.”

“Food? You mean that nutrient paste? I feel like puking every time I eat it!”

“Still better than starving, right? Isn’t that so, 7?”

Jinx looked at me, seeking agreement, but instead of answering, I pulled on my crumpled mercenary uniform.

Their conversations were always like this.

Cheap alcohol, terrible meals, dangerous missions, and meager pay.

Their complaints were natural, but to me, who had transmigrated into a game, they simply sounded hollow.

I couldn’t just keep complaining like them.

I had to survive somehow and see the end of this world.

“Hey, Cog7! Stop dilly-dallying! It’s briefing time!”

Sergeant Bulldog’s shouting was heard from the end of the corridor.

The briefing room was, as always, thick with cigarette smoke and the stale body odor of the mercenaries.

Sergeant Bulldog brought up a holographic map and spoke in a stiff voice.

“Today’s mission is reconnaissance of the abandoned asteroid mining base in Sector Gamma-7.”

Sparky’s premonition was right.

A faint groan was heard from him.

“Unknown signals have recently been detected in that sector. They could be pirates, or remnants from a rival company. In any case, we’ll go in, confirm, and eliminate any threats. Squads Cog4, 5, 6, and 7 will be deployed. Pay is 2000CR each. That’s all.”

2000 Credits.

It was an amount that would leave me penniless after paying for my Bugbear mech’s maintenance, fuel, and a week’s worth of nutrient paste.

But what could I do? I had no food for today.

With Bulldog’s irritable shout, the mercenaries headed for the hangar, and I followed them.

My “beloved” rather than “reliable” Bugbear, shoved into a corner of the hangar, was still in a wretched state.

Its armor was dented and rusted, and its right laser rifle, hit during the last mission, only had a repair sticker on it.

The only intact weapon was the vulcan cannon on its left arm, which only had half its ammo.

Beside me, Jinx was kicking his mech and swearing.

“This piece of junk! The coolant’s leaking again! Isn’t this thing going to blow up in mid-air?”

“Don’t worry, your life is tougher than that.”

When I scoffed, Jinx started to point a finger at me, then sighed instead.

“Yeah, my life and this scrap metal are pretty much the same.”

[Pilot recognized. Cog7. System activating.]

With a familiar yet strange mechanical hum, the cockpit’s control panel lit up.

The old engine coughed and vibrated, revealing its unstable vitality.

To think I had to survive by piloting this thing.

A moment later, the sortie order was given.

A total of four mechs—the Bugbears piloted by me, Jinx, and Sparky, plus Cog4’s mech—were successively launched from the transport ship and flew towards the abandoned mining base.

Following squadron leader Cog4’s instructions, we cautiously entered the base through the gaping maw of the enormous, torn-apart hangar door.

[My god, it’s a complete ruin.]

Sparky’s voice came through the comms.

He was right. Inside the hangar, only darkness and silence prevailed.

Only the headlights of our mechs illuminated the dusty floor and rusted mechanical debris.

The air circulation system must have been off for a long time, as a pungent metallic dust smell seemed to seep even into the cockpit.

[Maintain formation and advance. Search Sector Alpha first. Don’t let your guard down.]

Following squadron leader Cog4’s instructions, we entered a massive internal corridor.

With each step, metallic thuds echoed back.

Only intermittently flickering emergency lights guided our way through the darkness.

[Hey, Cap. My sensors have been picking up strange noise for a while… Like something’s there.]

Jinx spoke uneasily, and Cog4 replied curtly.

[It’s an old base, that’s why. Probably residual energy or structural instability. Ignore it and focus on the front.]

But I also felt a chill run down my spine.

If this were a game, places like this were nine times out of ten event trigger zones.

It was too quiet, as if an ambush were hidden.

We arrived at a massive cavern, which seemed to be the central processing facility.

Beneath a ceiling dozens of meters high, gigantic mining equipment stood rusted and motionless.

Dark passages opening in all directions felt like the maw of a monster.

“This is the final search point. Each take a sector and…”

Cog4’s words were cut off before he could finish.

BOOM!

Flashes erupted simultaneously from a dark ventilation shaft near the ceiling and a side passage.

With the explosion, Cog4’s mech turned into a heap of scrap metal without even letting out a scream.

[It’s an ambush! Enemy mechs! They’re everywhere!]

[Damn it! Where did they come from!]

Red warning lights on the control panel flashed frantically.

More than six enemy signatures suddenly appeared on the radar.

[Aargh!]

Sparky’s mech was hit by concentrated fire and slammed into a wall.

There was no explosion, but it seemed to be incapacitated.

Jinx frantically fired his vulcan cannon to provide cover, but two pirate mechs swiftly closed in and tore his mech to shreds.

“Jinx!”

I called his name without thinking, but he didn’t answer.

Why does this damned world keep screwing with *me*?

“Oh, I’m screwed!”

I instinctively pulled the throttle, hiding behind a massive piece of mechanical debris.

I tried firing the left vulcan cannon, but soon only a loud beeping warning of low ammo resounded.

The laser rifle was still dead.

Beams and projectiles flew from all directions, pounding the cover I was hidden behind.

Two pirate mechs approached cautiously.

This was the end. It was only a matter of time before my cover was destroyed.

I desperately scanned my surroundings.

Right next to me, I saw the remains of a drill that had been carving out massive rock formations.

A huge drill bit, made of tungsten carbide, at least a dozen meters long.

It was covered in a thick layer of dust, but its sheer weight remained.

‘…That’s it!’

It was a crazy idea.

But now, it was all I had.

I had to replicate the move I’d mastered in the game, one that seemed impossible in reality, right here, right now.

I extended Bugbear’s intact left mechanical arm and gripped one end of the drill bit.

-Screech!

With a chilling screech of friction, the immense weight transferred through the entire mech, causing it to stagger.

[Overload warning! Exceeding limits!]

“Shut up.”

Now was not the time to think about limits.

I burst from behind cover and swung the drill bit towards the closest approaching pirate mech.

The opponent seemed flustered by the unexpected counterattack and paused for a moment.

In that fleeting moment, I put all my strength into it, feeling Bugbear’s joints scream, and slammed the massive drill bit into the enemy.

Crunch! Crack!

A dull, dreadful tearing sound. The drill bit precisely struck the pirate mech’s cockpit.

Sparks erupted from between the crumpled armor, and the enemy mech crashed to the ground, its functions ceased.

“…Hah, hah.”

I was breathless. I succeeded. Even with this hunk of junk.

But there was no time to rest.

The remaining pirate mech, seemingly enraged by its comrade’s death, unleashed a barrage of beam cannon fire and charged wildly.

I barely dodged, using the debris of the fallen enemy mech as a shield, and gripped the drill bit once more. My palms were drenched in sweat.

This time, I was faster. More accurate. Strangely, the opponent’s attack patterns and next movement paths were vividly clear to me.

Just like in the game, where I’d fought them hundreds, thousands of times.

“Yeah, screw this, how many times have I killed these bastards?!”

Dodge. Close in. And once again, a powerful strike containing everything I had.

CRUNCH!

The second pirate mech was also effortlessly destroyed by the drill bit.

Silence descended upon the massive cavern.

Only the sparking wreckage of the two fallen pirate mechs and the smoke-billowing, battered Bugbear remained.

I slumped deep into the cockpit, gasping for breath.

My entire body was soaked in sweat and trembling. I survived. Again.

Then, a small notification appeared in the system window.

[Enemy Mech Destroyed x2 Confirmed] [Mission Contribution Increased] [Special Bonus: Melee Combat Performance 1000CR]

“Melee combat performance bonus?”

I stared blankly at the words.

Swinging a piece of scrap metal brought a much bigger reward than a few shots from a cheap vulcan cannon.

The rules of this world might not be entirely different from the game I knew.

What I was best at, what I was obsessed with.

That might be the way to survive here.

I gripped the tattered controls of the Bugbear firmly once more.

A faint smile unknowingly appeared on my lips. Well, since things are this way.

“Alright, let’s see this through, my way.”