Chapter 1: Unleashing Calamity (1)

“Mr. Nam Jooyeon! You lack perseverance! Huh?! Look at those celebrities on TV! Do you think they just suddenly rose to the top? It’s all thanks to their blood, sweat, and relentless perseverance…”

Lack of perseverance.

That’s what the convenience store owner would say every time he saw me.

He had other things to say too.

When you’re young, even if it takes a toll on your body, you should work hard.

You should be grateful that I’m even hiring you at this wage. Do you even know how tough it is out there?

And so on.

“F*cking bastard. Go screw yourself.”

I sighed and threw myself onto the bed in my studio apartment.

“Lack of perseverance, huh…”

It was true.

I never stuck with anything for long.

Whether it was studying, work, or relationships.

How much perseverance could a jobless guy barely scraping by on part-time jobs really have?

That said, it wasn’t like I had zero perseverance.

I could spend a lot of time on things I enjoyed.

Like gaming, for example.

Lying face down on the bed, I twisted my body to pull my phone out of my pocket.

I unlocked it, deleted countless spam messages, and tapped on an icon.

[Disaster Order]

After a modest loading screen, the game’s main menu appeared.

Ding!

Ding-ding!

[Welcome to the world of Disaster Order.]

[While the Ruler was away, this is what happened in your territory.]

[5★ Miriën, the Storm of the North Sea, has returned from an expedition.]

[Rewards: 150 Exp / 3 Tides of the Waves]

[5★ Charred Saint Selene has completed Calamity Synthesis.]

[Rewards: 75 Exp / 2★ Wandering Knight Albert]

[…]

I skimmed through the flood of messages.

Nothing unusual.

I mechanically moved my fingers.

I sent out another expedition and dismantled the newly collected equipment.

Just then, a sound effect played.

Ding!

[5★ Asteria, the Queen Who Swallowed the Stars, has gifted the Ruler a treasure.]

[Rewards: 1050 Exp / 4☆ Amethyst Heart]

“Ah, another junk item.”

I sighed and dismantled the gifted item.

This game was a collection and idle game.

Disaster Order.

A game where you collect characters known as Calamities, develop your base, send out expeditions, craft and synthesize equipment to strengthen your characters—a typical idle character collection game that was once popular.

It had already been five years since I started playing this game, but even I couldn’t figure out how it managed to sustain itself financially.

There was no push for in-game purchases, and it didn’t have a single ad.

Yet, it had been running for years without any server crashes.

Updates were slow, but new characters were added consistently every year.

“Well, I guess the developers are loaded.”

I started playing this game while preparing for my college entrance exams.

It wasn’t fun.

The system was convoluted, and for an idle game, it required a lot of hands-on attention.

The story wasn’t great, and the character illustrations weren’t particularly beautiful either.

When I tried to look up information in the community, it was nearly impossible because so few people played it.

Any normal gamer would’ve said, “Eh, this is a crappy game,” and moved on.

But I held onto this game for a whopping five years.

There was no particular reason.

It was sheer stubbornness.

Even though I lacked perseverance in everything else, I had plenty of it when it came to games.

I wanted to see the end of this modest game, driven by the tenacity of a jobless bum and an innate competitive spirit that led me deep into the abyss of this game.

In the end, I played this game for five years. Since it was an idle game, it didn’t require much effort.

It wasn’t a pay-to-win game either; with enough time, you could create 5-star characters.

The problem was that “enough time” amounted to several years, but coincidentally, I had plenty of time.

So, I collected every character in the game.

After five years of playing, my territory was filled with four 5-star characters, numerous 4-star characters, and various pieces of equipment.

“There’s nothing left to do now.”

It was possible to collect the remaining 5-star characters, but that would mean holding onto this game for over a decade.

There’s no way anyone else had been playing this crappy game consistently for five years, so I’d probably be ranked first on the server. It gave me a strange sense of accomplishment.

“Sigh…”

I let out a deep sigh.

But what does it matter?

Even if I’m the best in the world at a game no one plays, who’s going to acknowledge it?

Moreover, I was planning to quit the game today.

“It’s time to stop.”

The convenience store owner wasn’t wrong about anything.

Nam Jooyeon. Twenty-nine years old.

Dropped out of school after three attempts at the college entrance exam, scraping by on part-time jobs—the epitome of a loser.

It was time to change.

Quitting the game was the first step.

“…It was fun. Or was it?”

I smirked bitterly and entered the formation management screen.

There, I selected all four 5-star characters at once and unlocked the lock icon.

Then, I pressed the dismiss button.

Ding!

[Dismissing 5★ Mirien, the Storm of the North Sea]

[Dismissing 5★ Asteria, the Queen Who Swallowed the Stars]

[Dismissing 5★ Karne, the Mother of Omens]

[Dismissing 5★ Charred Saint Selene]

[Y/N]

It was a scene that would shock anyone who knew the game.

A madman was dismantling more than half of the 5-star characters in the game.

That madman was me.

“…Hmm.”

I hesitated for a moment but then shook my head.

If I left any room for doubt, I might reinstall the game.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I firmly pressed the dismiss button.

Then, red text appeared on a black screen.

[The Calamities are being released. Their power is immense and will bring destruction to another world. This decision cannot be undone!]

[Y/N]

“They made the warning message pretty dramatic.”

I chuckled.

So, this is what happens when you dismiss a 5-star character.

Feeling a strange sense of amusement, I moved my finger to the Y button.

But just before pressing it, I glanced at the characters’ portraits and my eyes widened.

“They can make expressions like this?”

The characters on the screen were staring wide-eyed at me.

They looked shocked, their lips trembling.

Especially Charred Saint Selene, who was crouching with her shoulders hunched.

She was the first 5-star character I ever obtained.

Even though I thought I knew everything about her, this was a pose I had never seen before.

The other characters were the same.

Each had a different but equally shocked expression and posture.

I had no idea this crappy game had such detailed animations.

Then again, who would dismiss a 5-star character they had raised?

It was just like this crappy game to put effort into such unnecessary details.

“It’s a shame, but what can you do…”

Ding! I pressed the button.

The characters on the screen turned into particles and slowly disappeared.

I felt a pang of regret but shook my head.

I wouldn’t have time to play games anymore anyway.

Having made up my mind, I dismissed all the remaining characters and deleted the app.

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll live as a diligent civil service exam student.”

The next day, the world went to hell.

*

When I woke up and got ready to go out, it seemed like just another ordinary day.

The only difference was that I didn’t play Disaster Order like I usually did every morning.

But the moment I stepped out of my studio apartment, I was stunned.

“Young man!”

The landlady, drenched in cold sweat, ran up to me and shouted.

She was usually friendly, so her loud voice caught me off guard, and I asked in confusion.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“Why aren’t you evacuating?!”

“Evacuating? Why all of a sudden? I have to go to work…”

With a thwack, the landlady slapped my back.

“Oh my! Young man! Don’t you know? There’s a war! A war just broke out! A fighter jet flew overhead earlier, and it’s chaos! So, you need to evacuate too! There’s a bomb shelter nearby, so hurry!”

“Wait, a war?”

“Yes, a war!”

“…”

Her words didn’t feel real, so I pinched my cheek.

It hurt.

This wasn’t a dream.

It was real.

“…Damn it.”

In 21st-century South Korea, there’s only one possibility when someone says “war.”

Could North Korea have invaded?

If so, as a second-year reservist, I’d be dragged into it without a doubt.

I had just decided to start a new life yesterday, so why was this happening now?

All sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.

“…No, wait. First… evacuation.”

There’s no time for this.

I needed to evacuate as the landlady said.

I hurriedly grabbed my phone and rushed down the stairs of the villa.

But the moment I stepped out of the building and onto the main street, I was stunned.

Ding!

A semi-transparent window appeared before my eyes.

Not just that, but the message on the window was eerily familiar.

[Welcome to the world of Disaster Order.]

“Disaster… Order?”

The game I had just deleted yesterday.

Why was its welcome message appearing before my eyes?

It wasn’t just me.

Everyone on the street was staring blankly at something in front of them.

It seemed they had the same notification window as me.

After a brief silence, the notification window stretched vertically.

Ding-ding!

[The Calamities of Disaster Order are coming for you.]

[Defeat the Calamities, dominate them, and reign over the heavens.]

[This is your story.]

“…No way.”

I slowly looked up.

And there it was—a massive rift in the sky, shaped like the gacha summoning screen from Disaster Order.

Which meant…

[Mirien, the Storm of the North Sea, dreams of overturning the heavens. A tower rises.]

[Asteria, the Queen Who Swallowed the Stars, whispers of fate. The void approaches.]

[Karne, the Mother of Omens, sings of destruction. Fear the night.]

[Charred Saint Selene scatters the flames of ruin. The abyss opens.]

In a single day, the world had changed.

The crappy game had become reality.