Eighteen—the age when they say you could chew through iron.
While going through a belated teenage rebellion, O Hyeon-woo made history in the collectible RPG game Legend Seven.
He was the first person to subdue the boss of the final episode.
《Defeat the final episode villain, Black Prince Theo, and clear the game!》
It was a pop-up message urging him to complete the game.
However, O Hyeon-woo was not the sort to obediently follow a tooltip.
“Why would I kill Theo? He is fucking cool.”
O Hyeon-woo had a contrarian streak that made him recoil from any road others followed.
It was only natural that someone like him would come to admire the ‘villains’ in the game.
Home, school, cram school.
It was a stifling daily life that turned like a hamster wheel.
There was nothing especially lacking in his life, but nothing exceptional about it either.
At eighteen, O Hyeon-woo felt endlessly small.
However, the villains of Legend Seven were different.
They did not care about the opinions of others.
Born with the makings of heroes, they had each gone through their own hardships before falling into disgrace as the worst of villains.
Yet they possessed the spirit to challenge the world itself for the sake of their convictions.
O Hyeon-woo admired their lives.
He used every possible means to find a way to recruit the villains as his subordinates, and he finally succeeded.
That left only the final puzzle piece.
He had even subdued Theo, the villain of the final episode.
Theo cried out to O Hyeon-woo—or rather, Lucifer—who had stood in his way time and time again.
-Kill me. A useless king who could not even avenge his parents has no reason left to live.
Hearing Theo’s line, O Hyeon-woo considered his response for a moment.
“Hmm, what should I say to make him join me?”
As a collectible RPG, Legend Seven had plenty of elements that catered to otaku sensibilities.
Above all, it had a feature that actively used generative AI to let players communicate with their summons.
Each summon had its own personality and story, allowing it to communicate with an Adventurer in real time.
Soon, O Hyeon-woo lowered his voice and spoke toward the speaker.
-Will you give up, Theo, you who cannot be forgiven? O foolish king, raised by the hand of your enemy.
-…….
-If you intend to cast it aside so irresponsibly, you should never have borne it in the first place.
-You sure have a lot to say…….
-How long do you intend to blame yourself? Do you truly believe that is what your parents would want?
-…!!
-If it is too much for you to bear any longer, entrust it to me.
-…What?
Theo looked at Lucifer through clouded eyes.
-All your sins. Your pain, sorrow, resentment, rage, and despair. I will take all of it from you.
-What… are you saying…….
-I am saying that I will bear the evil deeds you have accumulated in your stead. Therefore, do not think. Do not grieve. Simply become mine, young king.
Theo stared at Lucifer for a moment, then lowered his weapon with a trembling hand and fell to his knees.
Lucifer approached the kneeling Theo and stroked his head.
-That is enough.
In the full fury of his adolescence, O Hyeon-woo admired his own line.
‘Khh! That was incredible. Absolutely incredible. Those lines were insane!’
Having finally won Theo’s heart as well, O Hyeon-woo held every villain in the palm of his hand.
《You have obtained Black Prince Theo, the final episode villain.》
《You have achieved the hidden achievement, “Hate the sin, but not the sinner.”》
《You now possess all seven villains.》
《A special perk will be granted to Lucifer.》
《The perk can be claimed at a later date.》
O Hyeon-woo had finally brought all seven villains under his command.
He was so happy he could have jumped for joy, but he did not show it.
If he made a commotion in the middle of the night, his back would not survive the consequences.
Still, he thought he would sleep exceptionally well that night.
After all, having accomplished such a great feat, he believed that he could surely become someone special.
***
-RING-RING
“Hello.”
[Yeah, big brother. What is it?]
“I transferred the money. Buy yourself something to eat today.”
“Listen to you. How much could you possibly earn from a part-time job? Be quiet and take it when I give it to you.”
[…Thank you.]
“Sure. How are Mom and Dad?”
[They are fine. Nothing is wrong.]
“That is a relief. I will visit again this weekend.”
[All right. See you then!]
-CLICK
…Or so I had believed. Ten years had passed since then.
Unfortunately, my life had turned out to be utterly ordinary.
And I would probably continue living this way from now on.
Like everyone else, I had graduated from elementary school, middle school, and high school, gone to an ordinary university, and found an ordinary job.
Having played the game this far, should I not have had a decent idea of how it would turn out?
As a twenty-eight-year-old assistant manager at a small-to-medium enterprise, it was time for me to face reality.
“Phew…….”
When I was young, I gave all sorts of meaning to a single game.
I believed that I could become someone special.
However, that experience had not helped much in real life.
‘Ha… I am in the red again this month.’
My parents’ hospital bills, my student loans, and even the support I gave my younger sister, who had taken a leave of absence because of our difficult circumstances and was studying for the civil service examination.
Even ten bodies would not have been enough to handle it all.
To be honest, I did feel wronged.
If my family had not been caught up in that accident on the day the world was transformed, we would have been better off than we were now.
‘Has it already been five years?’
Five years ago, the Great Cataclysm that changed the world from top to bottom occurred.
One damned trash game suddenly engulfed reality.
Towers that rose all over the world.
Each tower had one hundred floors, and every floor had a time limit for its conquest.
If a floor was not conquered before the deadline, a ‘Dungeon Break’ occurred, in which monsters poured out and attacked people.
And my parents had been victims of the first Dungeon Break.
Because of that accident, they had to remain in the hospital for years.
[Exclusive Release: Interview Video with Dwayne, a Prominent American Adventurer!]
‘…It must be nice to be an Adventurer.’
Adventurers.
That was the name for people who had awakened the power to command ‘summons’ capable of fighting monsters.
Apparently, it had been taken from the way the protagonist was addressed in the game: ‘Adventurer.’
Influencers and celebrities?
Adventurers were what everyone cared about now.
What they wore and drank became the trend.
And the successful ones earned unimaginable sums of money.
So, what was the name of that game?
It was Legend Seven—the damned trash game that had floundered without even a proper strategy community.
And I was a hardened veteran who had played that trash game to death.
‘No, seriously. Even if I awakened, should I not have been the first? I was the only person who cleared the final episode before the service ended.’
If I awakened even now, I was confident that I could grow faster than anyone else.
Before the game’s service ended, I had been ranked first on the unofficial rankings.
The reason it was unofficial was nothing special.
I had kept my account information private.
I did not want anyone looking at my collection and gossiping about it elsewhere.
Even on the ranking chart, I had only been listed as .
‘Idiot. What a complete idiot. I should have just revealed my nickname and been active.’
Back then, I had thought this whole ‘mysterious expert in the shadows’ concept was cool, but after the world ended up like this, I had regretted it countless times.
Right after the Great Cataclysm, I had tried selling information online a few times in the hope of getting my family back on its feet.
Surprisingly, no one paid any attention.
Whenever someone commented, ‘So what is your rank, then?’ I had nothing to say.
Society had been in chaos, and all kinds of wild rumors had circulated. Naturally, information posts without so-called ‘proof’ were ignored.
Of course, if I had kept posting information, it would have been verified eventually, and people would have acknowledged that I was not talking nonsense, but…….
[The Tyranny of the Major Guild ‘Revolution’! Legend Seven Information Leaks Are Strictly Controlled!]
[The Guild Master of Japan’s Five Major Guilds, ‘Tora,’ Says, “If You Watch Your Mouth Carelessly, We Will Not Let You Off.”]
Once the situation settled somewhat, the early movers established their own vested interests.
To monopolize information, they threatened rankers who had not awakened and even resorted to kidnapping.
The rumors were so unsettling that I quickly stopped my activities and deleted every post I had made.
Public safety had recovered considerably by now, so they could not do such things openly anymore, but you knew it and I knew it.
Behind the scenes, they were still doing whatever they pleased, whether they should or not.
‘Those newbies. They do not know a damned thing, yet they are so eager to show off.’
Given the situation, even if I knew valuable information, I had no choice but to keep quiet as a mouse.
‘They probably still do not know, do they? That episode villains can be used as summons too.’
There were things known as wall decks.
It was a term used in card games and turn-based games like Legend Seven.
It came from the feeling that, no matter what you did, you were fighting a wall.
And every villain I loved had outrageously powerful skills.
Each one was practically a wall deck in its own right.
‘Well, even if someone else recruited them, they would not know how to use them properly.’
However, there was one problem.
These villains were horribly difficult to recruit, but recruiting them was not the end of it.
For one thing, they did not listen at all.
To make them even pretend to heed my commands, I had to raise their Affinity through every absurd stunt imaginable.
What happened if I entered battle before becoming close to them?
《Black Prince Theo ignores your command and ends his turn.》
《Hertiya, the Witch of the End, is consumed by rage and attacks an ally.》
《Ruinbringer, the Siren of the Hundred-Valley King, is exhilarated and casts a buff on an enemy.》
…They caused such a mess that disobedient elementary school children would have seemed tame by comparison.
Still, after relentless effort, I had succeeded in controlling them.
By the end, they had even taken the initiative in following me, but…….
‘Damn it. It does not matter.’
What difference did it make?
I was only an unawakened person now.
Even if I awakened, I could not keep them under my command.
Awakening as an Adventurer did not mean that the summons I had possessed would be inherited.
In other words, I would have to start all over again at Level 1 with nothing.
‘Ah… I miss the old days.’
I missed the days when I could immerse myself in games to my heart’s content.
I had no worries then, and even small things made me laugh.
Now, though, there was nothing to laugh about.
DING!
“Ugh.”
These days, even my phone’s alert sound frightened me.
It was bound to be either a text about overdue loan interest or an advertisement from a loan company.
Still, I could not ignore it, so I checked the message anxiously…….
「A special perk has arrived for Lucifer!」
‘…? What is this?’
When I first saw the message about a perk, I wondered whether it was some AI phishing scam that had become popular recently.
However, something was strange.
‘A special perk for Lucifer?’
That was a different matter.
Legend Seven was the only place where I had used the nickname ‘Lucifer.’
Since I had personally kept it private, there was only one place in the world that could connect O Hyeon-woo to Lucifer.
Legend Seven’s developer, ‘Legend Seven Pictures.’
“Wait. Wait, wait…….”
My heart began to pound.
The perk the developer had promised to give as a reward for clearing the final episode.
There had not been a word about it until the game’s service ended, so I had forgotten all about it. Yet they had sent me a message after approximately ten years?
And after the world had become Legend Seven?
There was no way it could be an ordinary item.
With trembling fingers, I read the rest of the message…….
「The perk has arrived at your front door. We apologize for the delayed delivery.」
I sprang to my feet, my heart racing, and opened the front door.
The moment I opened it, I found a small box beside the door.
It was a delivery box no larger than the palm of my hand.
However, it did not have a shipping label.
For a moment, I wondered whether someone else’s package had been delivered to the wrong house, but that was not the case.
The nickname I had used, 「Lucifer」, was written on the bottom of the box.
‘It is mine!’
I returned to my room, lightly scored the top of the box with a knife, and opened it.
Inside was a tiny ticket the size of a finger.
As I slowly picked up the ticket, a message flickered before my eyes.
《This is a ticket containing a special perk.》
《Tear the ticket to claim the perk.》
“Whoa! A message window!”
My heart felt as though it might burst.
“Could this be…!”
I did not know what the perk would provide, but I still wanted to hope.
I had a baseless premonition that it would offer me a better future than the one I had now.
RIIIP—
Holding even my breath, I tore the ticket—
DING!
BANG! POP! POP!
Celebratory fireworks burst before my eyes.
《Congratulations! To thank Lucifer for clearing every episode of Legend Seven, we are sending this special perk!》
《Would you like to view the perk?》