[Quest: Defeat the End of Baal!]
[You are now free to play.]
[A new character has been unlocked!]
I took my hand off the mouse, leaving behind the phrase I'd seen over ten times already.
Crack.
I stretched my body to its fullest and let out a scream.
Checking the time, it was 11 a.m.
Even though I stayed up all night, I felt fine.
Ring. Ring.
Thunk.
"Hello?"
"Kim Jin-hwan! How's it going?"
"Oh, is it lunchtime now?"
"Yeah, just thought I'd call during my break. What have you been up to?"
"Playing a game."
"You're still playing?"
I turned my gaze to the game filling the computer screen.
"Yeah."
"You're enjoying it that much even though it's difficult?"
"Yeah, it's fun."
"Man, listen to yourself. Why are you so nonchalant?"
Finally, a dry laugh burst out at the sound of my brother Yong-ho's voice coming through the phone.
"Thanks for the game, hyung."
"Ugh, goosebumps. I shouldn't have done that. Don't say that kind of thing again."
Then my brother Yong-ho, who had been mumbling for a while, suddenly brought up an old story.
"It's been four years since you entered society, right?"
"...."
"All the difficult times are over. Now go out, meet some girls, and enjoy your life."
"I'll try my best."
"Tsk, I know that may not be what you want. Still, wasn't making the impossible possible our motto?"
Has it already been four years?
The military organization I was a part of disbanded due to an unexpected incident.
Of course, it was a good thing.
It was something to be happy about.
But because it happened so suddenly, I was still unable to grasp the situation.
"I thought reunification with North Korea only happened in novels."
Of course, only the unit I was in disbanded, while other units remained active.
The place I belonged to was best left unknown, so it quickly disappeared.
After a brief thought, I opened the refrigerator to fill my stomach.
"Well, let's meet up sometime."
"Oh, that sounds great! Let's meet this weekend. I'll come by car."
And I lightly threw my phone onto the bed after ending the call.
Yong-ho, who I just spoke to on the phone, was a fellow soldier from the same unit.
He was discharged earlier than me due to an accident, but now he's working at a company.
I stared at the freezer for a while but eventually took out a frozen food item.
I never thought I'd be able to eat something like this again, considering how strictly our meals were controlled in the military.
The sudden discharge from the thoroughly controlled and managed unit caused me to experience strong aftereffects.
As a result, I couldn't adapt to society.
Of course, with the savings I had accumulated and the compensation I received for the forced discharge, I had plenty of money.
As a wealthy misfit, I went through various ups and downs, but with Yong-ho's help, I had improved a lot.
Ding!
The microwave quickly heated up the frozen dumplings.
I moved the dumplings to the desk and sat back down.
Peccata.
That's the name of the game displayed on the screen.
Right after being discharged, I was in such a serious state that not even Yong-ho could do anything about it.
During the two years of being discharged from the military, I tried various things, but problems always arose.
"I owe a lot to Yong-ho hyung."
Then, Yong-ho Hyung coincidentally brought me a game CD.
Taking a breather, I followed his suggestion and played the game with a relaxed mind.
The graphics were mediocre, but the high degree of freedom, numerous branching paths, and various playable characters quickly drew me into the game.
Since I had never played a game before, I had no sense for it.
But I kept strategizing and eventually achieved my first clear after a year.
The feeling of emptiness, wondering if that was the end, quickly disappeared.
Playable characters kept unlocking the more I cleared.
And the unlocked characters started under much worse conditions than before.
[Tarman (Lawbringer)]
Even the character I just cleared was of unprecedented difficulty.
I died and struggled over ten times, even with my experience of clearing previous levels.
Sometimes, if I liked a clear character, I would play around with them a bit more, but I passed on this one.
I took a bite of the dumpling while trying to check out the newly unlocked character.
Thump, thump.
"Who could it be?"
Today, the phone keeps ringing.
There's no one in particular who would call me.
Checking the number, it shows "caller ID restricted."
An indescribable tension crept up my spine, and I hesitated on whether to answer or not.
Although the unit I belonged to has been disbanded, it was an extremely secretive and dangerous unit.
Honestly, I'm amazed that the government simply let us go.
Should I be grateful that we weren't silenced through death?
Because of that, seeing the caller ID restriction made me naturally tense.
Thump.
The call was disconnected.
Unknowingly, a sigh escaped from me.
Thump, thump.
And as if mocking that sigh, the phone started ringing again.
I eventually felt that I had to answer, so I immediately pressed the call button.
"Hello."
"Uh, uh. Can you hear me?"
"Who is this?"
"Can you hear me?"
"I can. Who is this?"
The voice was playful, making it difficult to determine the gender.
It sounded like a distorted voice.
"Oh! I'm the developer of Peccata."
"Peccata?"
Although I had no idea what he was talking about, the mention of being a developer reminded me of the game I was playing.
"Peccata?"
"Yes! That's right."
He chuckled and playfully continued speaking.
"By the way, I just checked, and it seems that Mr. Kim Jin-hwan has cleared the game a whopping 12 times. I want to express my sincere thanks and congratulations for enjoying our game so much."
My breath stopped when my name came out of his mouth.
It's fine if it's about the game, but how does he know my name?
The one who brought the game CD was Yong-ho Hyung.
Could it be that Yong-ho Hyung told him? No, that's unlikely.
"How do you know my name?"
"Uh, well. Let's put that small issue aside for now and let me explain the benefits."
"I'm asking you how you know my name. Answer me."
"Well, first of all, we will give Mr. Kim Jin-hwan a more immersive gameplay experience. Additionally, the next session will offer two special features. One will be random, as usual, and the second will be an incredible opportunity to choose. How does that sound? Isn't it great?"
The moment I heard that, I immediately hung up the phone.
Then I called Yong-ho hyung.
"The power is off. Beep..." a sound came after...
I'm sure I had just made a call earlier, but it didn't connect.
I frantically opened the wardrobe and packed my belongings.
An ominous feeling pierced through my mind.
"For now, I need to change my location. They might be tracking my whereabouts... No, they might have already known where I am from the beginning."
I roughly packed my belongings and as I was about to leave, I noticed the computer screen that was turned on.
"Just in case, I should format the computer too."
I sat in front of the desk for a moment and planned to turn off the game when I looked at the screen.
[Playable Character: Kim Jin-hwan (Adrias Cromwell)]
What is this?
Why is my name on the game screen?
Before I could finish that thought, the screen gradually turned dark and transformed into a sticky liquid-like substance.
Before I could even attempt to evade that supernatural phenomenon, my consciousness turned as dark as the screen.
"Just in case, I should format the computer too."
I sat in front of the desk for a moment, intending to turn off the game and format the screen.
[Playable Character: Kim Jin-hwan (Adrias Cromwell)]
What is this?
Why is my name on the game screen?
Before I could finish that thought, the screen gradually turned dark, as if being engulfed by a viscous liquid-like substance.
Before I could even attempt to escape from that supernatural phenomenon, my consciousness turned as dark as the screen.
"Adrias!"
A sharp voice rang out, and an empty flask flew towards me.
I effortlessly caught the flying bottle and calmly looked at Silbeck, who was glaring at me.
"I specifically told you to organize 'The Conflicting Understanding of Nature and Mana' and put it on my desk today!"
I cautiously nodded my head.
"Yes."
"Yes? Yes? But why is there nothing on my desk?"
Well, what can I say? I never even knew about magic, let alone how to organize it.
Of course, I didn't say that out loud.
I simply stood there silently as Silbeck's face turned red and he yelled.
"Go out immediately and bring it organized! Now!"
Without looking back, I quickly left the office.
As I stepped outside, I could feel the gaze of numerous students passing through the corridor.
"What are you looking at? Have you never seen anything like this before?"
Oops. I accidentally let that thought slip out of my mouth.
Seems like this indecisiveness has affected my personality as well.
Fortunately, those who heard my words gave me pitiful looks without offering any objections and went on their way.
I also had more important things to attend to than worrying about those looks, so I headed towards the library.
As I stepped outside the building, a wide open space and architectural styles reminiscent of the medieval era spread before me.
But what caught my attention the most were the towering spires that seemed to pierce the sky and the three massive moons that filled the sky.
-Ding!
[There are unselected traits.]
The Korean characters that were covering my field of vision made it difficult to continue gazing at the sky.
"I'll choose later. Later."
The people here were babbling in a language they wouldn't understand, and I let out a deep sigh.
It had been a week since I arrived here.
I had lost consciousness while trying to format my computer, and when I woke up, I wasn't myself anymore.
I was Adrias Cromwell, not Kim Jinhwan.
It was confusing, but I suppressed my emotions.
The more dire the situation, the better I became at hiding my emotions.
It could be considered fortunate that I had some memories of being Adrias.
Although I didn't know his entire life, I at least had a grasp of where this place was.
This place was the world of "Peccata," a game that was no different from Adrias' memories of the world.
And as I recalled Adrias' memories over the past week and acted accordingly, one thing became increasingly clear.
I was in a world inside a game.
"I want to find a book."
"What kind of book?"
"'The Conflicting Understanding of Nature and Mana.'"
"The magic-related books are in rows 9 to 32, columns 5 to 438."
So they won't help me find it, huh?
Do they think I'm getting paid by the hour?
I shook my head.
Lately, thoughts that I wouldn't normally have kept popping into my head.
It seemed like Adrias' influence on me was quite significant.
'Of all characters...'
Among the many characters, it had to be him.
I had never even tried raising this guy before.
After raising my last character, the Lawbringer Tarmen, this was the next one.
'But the difficulty spiked too abruptly, didn't it?'
Adrias Cromwell was an undeniable villain.
But if we were to compare him to experience points meant for players, he was a rather insignificant character.
Ironically, the problem lay with his mentor.
No, should I even call that guy a mentor?
"I found it."
As I continued to think, I managed to find the book I was looking for.
Thankfully, it was organized alphabetically, so I found it quickly.
I didn't have any plans to organize the book, but I had to act in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion.
I took the book and headed back, thinking about Adrias once again.
He lacked any sense in the game and took notes on everything, even the most insignificant things.
Thanks to that, I knew about him despite never actually raising him as a character.
Finally, I killed this worthless mage in the game.
Although I didn't kill every playable character, I remember killing him at least eighteen times out of twelve characters.
Why did I have to kill such an insignificant mage?
His identity as a mage was a disguise.
His true identity was a necromancer, specifically a necromancer skilled in necromancy and enchantment.
I have become the most forbidden sorcerer in this world, a necromancer.