A man with salty eyes awoke from the exhaustion of yet another hardcore gaming spree. He was bored—no matter how punishing the game, he could beat it in a single night.
Suddenly, a notification blinked on his monitor:
"Sales Update: Group Guard Goals has reached 567,000,000,000,000."
Distracted by the bizarre pop-up, he instinctively clicked to install the game.
Installation successful.
"Hey… what kind of feature is this?"
"What kind of junk game uses only abbreviations for its settings?"
g.r, t.m, n.t, n.l.
Totally lost, he activated every option in the settings.
Then came the character customization.
"This is insane—even the cosmetic names are abbreviations?"
Frustrated again, he selected Randomize Character.
The game started.
He immediately skipped the tutorial and rushed straight into the PvP zone.
Slaughtering everything in sight, he leveled up rapidly through relentless PK.
One hour in, he hit a puzzle. Once again, the only clues were from a set of random characters.
Players nearby were baffled.
"How is this guy in a level 60 zone while still level 15?"
He became the center of attention.
Coincidentally, one of his old gaming friends was in the same area.
People gasped.
His friend? Level 500.
They couldn't believe it.
In just one day, the legendary RPG player Laglan had nearly cleared the game.
A bit chaotically, he and his friend formed a guild, with Laglan as the leader.
The clock ticked past 3 a.m.
Asahiro Migure—Laglan's real name—suddenly remembered his overtime shift.
"Ugh… my head hurts. Maybe I really shouldn't have stayed up all night."
Then it hit him—his voice had changed.
"Huh? My voice…?"
He looked up.
Not at his bedroom ceiling—
But at a vast, endless sky.
He realized: he was no longer himself.
He had taken the physical form of his in-game character.
"What kind of dream is this? Even a 10-day fever dream isn't this weird."
He tried to wake himself up, but exhaustion overtook him.
"This place is actually… kinda comfy."
He dozed off again.
When he woke, he was in a cramped, dark cell—some kind of prison.
His hands were bound by steel cords.
He sighed. He was resigned.
A burly figure appeared and tossed a sack of potatoes into his cell.
Then a strange interface lit up before his eyes:
Options:
1. Iron Bars
2. Fist
3. Iron Bars + Fist
(And nine other choices.)
"What the hell is this?"
"Stop fighting it. Just wait—it's your last day," said the man who threw the sack.
Cold Turn Timer: 60 seconds.
Suddenly—
Time stopped.
"Alright," Laglan muttered.
He clenched his fist.
Choices appeared again:
Punch the guard
Punch a fellow inmate
Punch yourself
Laglan ignored them.
He punched the iron bars instead.
His right hand snapped instantly.
The guard, startled, opened the cell.
A mysterious voice echoed:
"Your turn."
Laglan sprinted out.
"Huff… what was that?"
"If I really am inside a game, this is way too weird."
"How do I even open the status window?"
He felt lighter than usual.
"First things first—I need a place to stay."
He ran north—unaware that he was heading straight into a monster-infested area.
With no supplies, he dashed ahead.
Right into a pack of monsters.
Danger: Threatened Wolf – Level 4.
Options:
1. Run – 45% success
2. Fight
Laglan attempted to flee, but they gave chase.
Forced to fight, he muttered, "My legs feel heavy. Oh no…"
Options:
1. Kick
2. Punch
3. Throw rock
(+5 more choices)
He kicked one of the wolves hard—it collapsed.
That seemed to intimidate the others.
"This game uses realistic physics... and I'm in VR? I've got to learn fast."
He lunged at the remaining wolves.
Two more fell.
The last two tried to escape—he let them.
But his luck ran out.
Those wolves came back with reinforcements.
Options:
1. Charge – 45%
2. Flee – 89%
(+4 more choices)
Laglan bolted. Thankfully, he made it out.
He stumbled into a village and took refuge at an alchemist's shop.
With just 400 coins, he could only afford a cheap dagger.
He sold a wolf fang and dipped his dagger into a strange liquid, intentionally rusting it.
Then he visited a tailor and sold the wolf hide.
He bought a light plate.
A nearby merchant noticed him.
"Wanna try a new weapon?" the merchant asked.
Laglan agreed.
"Whoa… this is so light! How'd you make this?"
"What if I just gave it to you?"
"How?"
The merchant, introducing himself as Raben, said he needed a sponsor for the arena.
He'd supply weapons to whoever helped him.
Options:
Fight – 0%
Steal weapon – 27%
(+5 more options)
"Cress."
Laglan stabbed Raben and took the weapon by force.
Raben cried out in agony—he had contracted tetanus.
As Raben collapsed, Laglan looted him and ran.
He got a new weapon, but a system message popped up:
"Minor Violation Detected: Assaulting NPC. EXP gain halved (50%)."
But before he left, he bought a map with the money from his loot,
so that the next journey wouldn't be so chaotic and light-headed.
50% EXP received.
But then—
"This damn system... I just respawned and it's already asking me to despawn again."
He looked up at the sky and saw something.
Because of the noise, he muttered, "I thought something was happening."
"So it was you," he said, his face lighting up with excitement