episode_0001

I wanted to possess the world of my favorite game and live a happy life with my beloved character.

…That’s what I thought, at least.

“Wow…”

“I can’t believe I actually got isekai’d…”

I possessed a game character.

Specifically, the tutorial character from my favorite medieval fantasy game, Prophecy RPG.

[Cain]

I took over the body of the guy who teaches the protagonist (the hero) basic swordsmanship, magic, and life skills before leaving.

But my reflection in the lake surpassed all my expectations.

“Damn…”

“I’m really handsome.”

A pretty boy with black hair, dark eyes, towering height, and a fit body.

Even as a dude myself, I couldn’t help but admire him.

But.

That was it.

“Out of all people, I possessed this guy who’s just a pretty face with mediocre stats…”

Cain is a D-rank adventurer.

S-rank? The hero.

A-rank? Main characters who can join the hero’s party.

B-rank? Sub-characters who can’t join the hero’s party but still help out.

C-rank? Extras on the level of cannon-fodder soldiers.

By that logic, D-rank is just… trash.

A character whose only purpose is to teach basic skills to a level 1 hero before fading into irrelevance.

…I was disappointed, but then—

‘Wait.’

‘Isn’t this actually perfect?’

If I’d possessed the protagonist or a main character, I’d be stuck fighting non-stop until I took down the Demon King, living a life of constant chaos.

But Cain, the tutorial guy?

‘All I have to do is teach the hero the basics, and I’m done.’

Suddenly, I felt great.

“The weather’s nice.”

The sky was clear and blue.

That’s actually a pretty important detail in Prophecy RPG.

‘You can tell the difficulty level by looking at the sky.’

Despair (Very Hard) mode? A blood-red, ominous sky.

Adversity (Hard) mode? A pitch-black sky choked with dark clouds.

Adventure (Normal) mode? A cloudy, overcast sky.

Journey (Easy) mode? A perfectly cloudless blue sky.

And right now?

Blue sky.

Which means—

Journey (Easy) mode.

‘Game over, basically.’

Journey (Easy) mode means the hero can stroll around like they’re on vacation and casually bring back the Demon King’s head as a souvenir.

No need to tag along giving them tips or guiding them to hidden items.

But.

Still gotta do my job.

“Cain’s the tutorial guy, after all.”

“Gotta at least run the tutorial.”

After that?

Head straight to the village where my favorite character is.

Perfect.

This plan is flawless.

Ruben Village—the countryside.

Cain’s hometown.

Also where the protagonist lives.

And also the village doomed to be wiped out by bandits.

But luckily, the hero survives.

…Which is how Prophecy RPG starts.

‘Wonder where the protagonist is.’

Huh?

What, you expected me to know as a veteran?

Of course I don’t.

Prophecy RPG is a game where the story changes based on the protagonist’s gender, personality, and traits.

Depending on what you pick at the start, the beginning location changes too.

So.

Finding the protagonist is gonna be a pain…

“Waaahhhhhhh!”

A girl’s crying.

Since there’s no one else alive around, that has to be the protagonist.

‘Oh.’

‘A female hero, huh?’

Personality: Crybaby

‘Not a bad starter trait.’

For a male hero, Crybaby is straight-up trash with nothing but penalties.

But on a female hero?

Surprisingly decent.

Why?

Because when a drop-dead gorgeous girl like the protagonist starts crying,

male NPCs rush over to help her, triggering all kinds of lucky events.

‘Though in combat, she becomes dead weight. But that’s offset by the benefits.’

Considering some personality traits are pure trash with zero upside,

Crybaby is honestly… fine.

Thinking this, I walked toward the sound.

And there she was.

A sobbing, brown-haired beauty.

‘Whoa…’

‘The protagonist really is…’

Even in the game, she was pretty. But seeing her in person? Next-level.

My favorite character is cute too, but—

The protagonist’s beauty is on another level.

“…?”

But the monster next to her wasn’t a goblin.

“Kyuu! Kyuu!”

“Kyuut!”

‘Slime Kyurings?!’

‘Since when do they show up?!’

Kyurings—

The unofficial mascots of Prophecy RPG.

Adorable little monsters.

Slime Kyurings, Mimic Kyurings, Flame Kyurings, Giftbox Kyurings… plenty of varieties.

Their HP? Only 1.

But the gold, EXP, and item drops? Boss-tier rewards.

Basically, the ‘Golden Slime’ type of monster.

But.

You don’t just find them.

In the standard difficulties—

Journey (Easy), Adventure (Normal), Adversity (Hard), Despair (Very Hard)—they never spawn.

They only appear in Blessing mode.

A.k.a. “Waaahhh Mode”—a cheat-like difficulty where they very rarely show up.

‘So.’

‘This world’s difficulty isn’t Journey (Easy)…’

It’s Blessing Mode?!

‘Holy…’

‘I got isekai’d into a cheat-tier world…’

Colloquially known as “Waaahhh Difficulty,”

it’s basically Journey (Easy) with broken added traits.

Bonus monsters like Kyurings are already unfair, but—

The real cheats are these:

〈Absolute Invincibility〉 – All damage above 1 received by the hero is reduced to 1.

〈Instant Kill〉 – The hero can apply “Instant Death” to any attack.

(If they don’t intend to kill, “Critical Injury” is applied instead.)

〈Instant Death〉 – Reduces the target’s HP to 0.

〈Critical Injury〉 – Reduces the target’s HP to 1.

〈Complete Immunity〉 – The hero can nullify all status ailments.

Et cetera.

A level 1 hero could grab the Demon King by the collar and crush them without breaking a sweat.

So basically, this game’s already over.

…Or so I thought, watching the scene play out.

“Waaahhhhhhh!”

Meanwhile, our hero cried her way into Awakening.

Transforming from a brown-haired village girl into—

A blond-haired warrior maiden.

Golden locks fluttering in the wind.

A white-and-gold hero’s armor.

And.

A sacred sword infused with divine power.

Wow!

Our hero’s awesome!

Now she’ll wipe out those Kyurin—

“Waaahhhhhhh!”

Even after Awakening, our hero kept getting smacked by the Kyurings.

-1

-1

-1

“Waaahhhhhhh!”

Still crying, still getting hit.

-1

-1

-1

‘Uh…’

‘Isn’t that kinda bad?’

Thanks to 〈Absolute Invincibility〉, all damage is capped at 1 but—

A level 1 hero only has 100 HP.

Meaning—

100 hits = death.

‘Eh…’

‘No way she’ll just stand there crying until she dies, right?’

-1

-1

-1

“Waaahhhhhhh!”

‘……’

Our freshly Awakened hero took hits from three Slime Kyurings without fighting back.

“Sigh…”

“Fine, guess I’ll handle it.”

Slice! Slash! Slice!

Three strokes of my sword later, all three Kyurings were diced.

“Ugh…!”

I could feel my body growing stronger.

‘Ohhh…’

‘Is this what leveling up feels like?’

Feels good.

Kyurings really are MVP.

EXP equivalent to three boss kills in one go.

Shot my level through the roof.

“Hngh…!”

Beside me, the heroine let out a weird moan as she powered up too.

Technically, she tanked the hits while I did the DPS,

so splitting the EXP makes sense.

…While thinking this, I reached out.

“You okay?”

“Can you get up?”

“Eek…!”

“Y…Yeah…”

She took my hand and stood.

‘She stopped crying.’

“Sniff…!”

‘Ah.’

‘Never mind.’

“Moooommyyyy…”

Our hero started bawling again.

I took a moment to think.

‘Well…’

‘That’s fair.’

If you watched your mom get murdered and weren’t traumatized, something would be wrong.

Especially with the Crybaby trait.

Crying is expected.

But.

Game-Cain was ice cold.

“What good will crying do?” he snarled, forcing a sword into her hands.

“Get revenge on the bandits who killed your mother,” he urged.

That’s how the tutorial begins.

That’s the game’s plot.

…Or it should be—

‘Was there really a need to be that harsh?’

I get why Cain was like that.

He returns from a job to find his village massacred.

Family, friends, lover—all dead.

Could someone like that muster warmth for a weeping girl?

‘No way.’

But.

I’m not Cain.

I’m not drowning in grief—I can spare comfort for a heroine mourning her mom.

‘I do really wanna see my favorite character soon but—’

‘The protagonist is dear to me too.’

Rather than see her cry, I’d rather see her smile.

So I made a choice.

‘This is Waaahhh Mode, anyway.’

‘Even if I mess with the story, the Demon King stands no chance. Why not tweak things a little?’

A choice impossible in-game.

The ultimate forbidden move—

Ending Spoilers.

“Lia.”

“M-Mooommyyy…”

“Lia!”

“Mommy… huh? …Eh?”

Lia blinked up at me, confused.

“My name…”

“How did you…?”

(Because if you pick male, the default’s “Lian,” and female is “Lia.”)

…But I obviously couldn’t say that.

I brushed it off.

“Forget that.”

“I’ve got something really important to tell you.”

“I…Important…?”

“Your mom’s alive.”

“…..?”

She stared at me like I was crazy.

So I elaborated.

The mother who died in the village?

Just a clone.

The real one is still out there.

“Cl…Clone?…”

“Mom’s alive?!”

“Very much so.”

“Th…Then…”

“Where is she?!”

I pointed upward.

“Up there.”

“Up?”

“The divine realm. Celestia.”

“C-Celestia?!”

“Yes.”

“So… Mom’s an angel?”

“Nope.”

“Way beyond that.”

“Th…Then what?…”

“The Goddess of Light, Selena.”

“That’s your mom’s true form.”

(+AI-generated crying hero illustration.)