episode_0002

0-2. Prologue 2

The street is a feast of colorful lights. They are busy flashing and showing off, as if there is a competition to see who sparkles more.

A song that is played in every store and on every street, so you can hear it wherever you step. A carol that warms your heart and at the same time makes your heart flutter is heard as if you were singing around.

Also, the white snow that falls at the right time brings a certain excitement to the hearts of those who go out on the streets late in the evening.

Isn’t that why you see people everywhere contacting their lovers, and if not, contacting friends in similar situations?

“Ugh… ! cold. Damn virtual reality aptitude test!”

Of course, there are people like me who are not like that.

If all went according to plan, it would have been time to stay in the capsule at home without even realizing that the season had changed. However, I had no choice but to take the virtual reality aptitude test because the deadline for the virtual reality aptitude test ended today.

“Damn government bastards. No matter how much money is made from games, it’s still so violent. The cost of an aptitude test that requires you to sit down and stand up is 50,000 won. Oh!”

I try to walk briskly while muttering, but the chill creeping into my coat is really annoying. I just want to shake off the past me that didn’t buy a car because I had nothing to do with it.

‘If I go in today, I’ll order tea right away! A cool guy with automatic operation! ‘It’s so cold!!’

Is it because of my mood that the more I complain, the colder it gets?

“ugh. Let’s think differently. Ugh, it’s cold. event. You must get the equipment in this Christmas event.”

“Event. Christmas event! Definitely this time! I have to eat the event limited item!”

“Eat unconditionally. I’m going to eat the weapon. weapon. Weapon!”

With the end of the year and Christmas coming together, I am excited and excited with carols and twinkling trees, and the sparkling downtown streets of Seoul are nothing more or less than inconvenient to me.

Something like Christmas.

I’m not saying this because I’m not good-looking, and I’m saying this in a way that would make me mumble.

Tall and tall. A rather pretty face. And since I decided to make money through virtual reality games and exercised consistently, I didn’t get a stomachache.

Look at it now.

Women walking arm in arm are glancing at me.

However, because of my special ability, places with so many people just make me tired and difficult.

“Who are you explaining to now? Rather than that, as long as you get the weapon this time, you will be broadcasted straight to the round of 15. Then the star balloons will be salty too. If successful, why not try a solo raid?”

Perhaps the answer would have been to think about what you like?

As I was thinking about the event, I arrived at the officetel.

As soon as I could get close to the door, which was shiny enough to be used as a substitute for a mirror, I hurriedly put my smart watch on the door. Then, as if sensing my hasty feelings, the thick glass door opened of its own accord.

[Resident. welcome.]

While listening to the woman’s voice mixed with mechanical sounds, I repeatedly hit the up button of the elevator that had just arrived at the first floor. That doesn’t mean the elevator doors open quickly. As soon as I got into the elevator, the warmth made me relax my shoulders, which had been tense without me realizing it.

As soon as I click on the 14th floor, information about the red dragon selected for this event comes to mind.

[This is the 14th floor.]

I hear the elevator reach the floor I pressed and the door opens. Before the door was fully open, I squeezed through the narrow door and ran to my officetel.

So I didn’t see that crazy guy.

“Lord, you’re dead!!”

* * *

Strictly speaking, his failure to recognize the assailant was not entirely due to his carelessness.

He may seem like an idiot, but he’s a cool guy.

There were rumors about the security system of this officetel where ‘Go Baek-seong’, whose character name is ‘Dark Star’, lives in high school. So, it would be even more strange to look around and pay attention in the elevator or in front of your own home.

We must also praise the attentiveness of the criminal who was crouching in a dark corner of the hallway, in a blind spot where the elevator lights could not reach.

“Lord, you’re dead!!”

“Ugh?!”

He let out a strange scream and quickly turned around, but as you can tell from the voluptuous character name of the second-year middle school soldier named Dark Star, he had a low-quality body that had been trained through games. There is no way it can be avoided… … .

“I avoided it!”

avoided. He is also a very lucky guy.

“You you! What!!”

“Lord, die. BJ Dark Star.”

“This crazy guy!! Who are you? Why are you doing this to me!!”

After pressing the emergency call on my smart watch, I quickly backed away to get as far away from the red-eyed crazy man as possible. However, the not-so-wide hallway typical of an officetel soon made Dark Star’s back touch the wall.

“I, I did that! Tongue, tongue, hyeonpi is going!”

A crazy man whose stuttering isn’t because he’s nervous, but seems to be a natural habit. Something suddenly came to mind when I heard the word ‘hyeonpi’.

A common Squidward I met on a broadcast two months ago.

“That… A loser who cried after throwing a wild tracker?”

“Lord, I will kill you! Dark Star!”

“You crazy guy! That’s dangerous!!”

The man called Dark Star moved his body with uncharacteristic agility and backed away from the wall.

Then, I pressed the elevator down button and walked away from the man again. When I dodge, I place my hope on the strong smell of alcohol coming from the man.

“So I warned you! It can fly!! You crazy bastard!”

The origins of this whole incomprehensible situation go back about two months ago.

The name of the man who uses the nickname Dark Star is Go Gon-seong – a white star surname. When it comes to the people, it’s not the people – it’s quite famous. He is ranked 2nd in the ranking of the first complete virtual reality game [The Tempest].

However, the reason he is famous is not just because he is a ranker. What made him even more famous was the Internet broadcast called ‘Youth Because It Hurts’.

The broadcast he does on ‘Because It Hurts Youth’ is, of course, about the globally popular virtual reality game ‘The Tempest’, or ‘The Item’ for short. I don’t hunt or broadcast strategies like others.

Go Gon-seong and Dark Star’s broadcast is an item reinforcement broadcast. How did this make him famous?

That’s why Dark Star is called ‘Midas’ in ‘The Item’. The game company also announced that the success rate until reaching the top 15, the highest level of reinforcement, is down to the sixth decimal point.

When you enter the reinforcement window to actually challenge yourself to level 15, you’ll be asked, ‘Don’t get embarrassed by having shallow expectations and give up here, right?’ The phrase is stuck in place. Actually, the round of 15 is not the problem. The enhancement probability of ‘The Item’ is so extreme that even challenging to level 10 or higher is daunting.

The first thing that confirmed the 15-strengthening challenge phrase mentioned above was the broadcast screen of Dark Star, nicknamed Midas.

It is not known how he succeeded in upgrading his weapon to such a high level. The person concerned only said on the broadcast that it was a feeling.

In fact, he received requests from users who were rich enough to put the words “some rich people” to shame, strengthened their weapons, and earned enough money to buy an entire luxury officetel building just through his hard work.

The reason he was able to achieve this success was because of the ‘ability’ he developed after coming out of the house one day and waking up after fainting when a blinding light poured down on him. It’s like a translucent spear that comes to mind when I see that crazy guy holding that knife right now.

────────────────

〈Status〉

1. Name: Oh Jong-bo

2. Race: Human

3. Affiliation: Gyeongin Security

4. Occupation

DeBlanc Officetel Security – Temporary Contract Worker

5. Body

[Strength 11] [Agility 4(-4)] [Stamina 8] [Thinking 1(-9)]

-Drinking reduces agility and thinking ability.

6. Likeability

[hostility]

────────────────

In this way, the window began to appear.

Go Gon-seong didn’t walk at the end of the year before Christmas for no reason, looking at the floor without looking at people.

From that day on, this information window popped up all the time, regardless of Go Gon-seong’s will, and he had no choice but to spend most of his life at home.

The most helpful thing, as I said, was in a virtual reality game.

Strangely, the information window did not pop up against his will, and only responded to the ‘Confirm’ command to check the item description. It also floats translucently above the general item information window, visible only to him.

There, the probability of strengthening success came up, and the information window also showed how many minutes later the strengthening would be successful.

This was his secret to making unimaginable amounts of money through Ganghwa.

2 months ago.

That day too, I had just received a request for a VIP weapon and had just succeeded in strengthening it to level 14. Of course it was on air.

In the chat window located on one side of the broadcast screen, chats praising him mushroomed to fill his vanity, and the star balloons that appeared occasionally became the cost of his snacks (i.e., the price of gum).

But that day, there was someone who was especially annoying from the beginning.

I couldn’t remember the ID, but I vaguely remembered the contents of the chat, including copying and pasting.

‘Suzaku Broadcasting!’

The phrase ‘manipulated broadcasting’ was especially annoying that day. It was something that could have just been laughed off or blacklisted. In the end, we decided to meet in the game and strengthen his equipment.

Of course, I told him several times that he could fail, but he didn’t believe me. What did you say? He talked for a while about the game, saying that it was a broadcast run in collaboration with a game company, and that there was no way it could fail.

Of course, I was in a bad mood, and with the feeling of “what the hell is going on,” I easily evaporated the max level unique bow, the ‘+9 Wilder Tracker’.

The moment the word ‘Fail’ was written on the broadcast screen along with the sound of ‘wajangchang’, the character’s facial expression became a gif in virtual reality and was circulated all over the internet. Mainly ‘I’m screwed.’ Because the same letters are combined.

After that, he whispered or messaged me in the game or came on the air and said things like he was going to kill me or kill me, but I never thought we would meet like this.

“You crazy guy! I told you to stop!”

“Die!”

A sharp sword wielded while staggering is more frightening than one wielded by a sober person.

“Lord, I’ll give it to you! Top 12 Inferno full set!”

The crazy man’s hesitation came into Go Gon-seong’s field of vision. I thought it was time. So I threw myself away. Inside the stopped elevator.

“… … Die!!”

Pugh-.

He shouldn’t have done that.

“Ah… … . Fuck. It hurts! You crazy bastard!!”

Where did that strength come from? With the knife stuck near his side, he pushed the crazy guy’s chest with his foot. The elevator door closes with a loud crashing sound.

“Really. What a shitty bastard!”

The biorhythm scanner attached to the smartwatch would have recognized the current situation and sent a rescue request to 119, but would it be able to survive until then? Is it already blurry before your eyes?

‘You crazy bastard. It really stung me. ‘He really stabbed me!’

As I said before, it is low-quality physical strength that has been strengthened through games. There’s no way he would have the stamina to survive as he fell into the elevator and sat on the floor, barely able to press down on the first floor… … .

“Hold on!”

Don’t hold on! Just hold on! You selfish bastard! The story doesn’t progress!

Hmm.

Anyway, not long after Gon Seong, who had been holding on tenaciously, closed his eyes, the elevator door on the first floor opened, and the emergency services rushed in.

Gon-seong Gon-seong, who was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance without pulling out the knife, fortunately looked like he would survive.

However, as I have said several times, the low level of stamina developed through games could not withstand surgery. I’m sure this time.

-Holy shit! There are all kinds of deaths like this! You die without even spending all your money!

“Ah… … . found. Second fragment.”

While looking at his own body and lamenting that the thing he regretted the most was the money he had not yet spent, a man’s voice suddenly came from next to him and Go Gon-seong almost dropped the kid he didn’t even know about.

-It’s a surprise! I was so surprised that I almost fainted!!

“You’re dead anyway.”

-ah? That’s right. anyway! What are you? Do you see me better than that?

“Yes. I can see it well.”

-Seo, no way! Reaper!!

“When was the Reaper system abolished due to a manpower shortage? Are you still the Grim Reaper? Let’s go beyond that.”

-Uh, where!!

“Ah, it’s annoying. Let’s just go.”

-Uh, oh oh! Let go of this! Physical freedom in a democratic society… … !

The man, standing with his feet in the empty air, waved his hand and grabbed the struggling soul. If you think about it, this man was the same person as the man who appeared in the sky of Joseon.

For what purpose are souls being collected?

This time, the soul he made with beads, Go Gon-seong’s soul, had a cloudy-looking gray color, unlike the five-colored, brilliant light of the previous souls made in Joseon. As expected, it was strengthened through games… … .

“Now I just need to find one… . I’m exhausted. This is why they say that whether you are a person or a god, you have to sit in a high place and watch. Damn.”