Click, click-click.
One mouse click after another.
The hour hand had already ticked past the number 3.
That meant it had already been four hours since I got home, wolfed down dinner, and started working.
The work order had dropped right before clock-out on Friday.
It was not the first or second time, so I was not even angry anymore.
-We have a meeting at 2 p.m. on Monday, so let’s add two more event proposals by morning and discuss them then.
-Understood.
-We don’t know when the design team will give us the images, so Assistant Manager Kang, put together the mockups too.
Our team leader, who was like family, casually dumped a fucking mountain of work on me.
If I talked back, I would get at least an hour of nagging.
If I had to choose between listening to a grand speech before working and just working?
The latter was obviously the wiser choice.
“Am I a game planner, a marketer, or a designer......?”
How many times had I sighed now?
An unavoidable sense of futility washed over me.
“Whew, time for a mana potion.”
I drained my sixth can of coffee.
At times like this, I had to light a fire under my motivation somehow.
Click.
I clicked a folder.
The single-player role-playing fantasy game, Weapon of Infinity.
It was a story game about defeating the calamities descending upon the world and becoming a hero.
In this game, calamities referred to mighty monsters—in other words, boss monsters.
It was difficult to face them through controls alone.
Only by obtaining abilities that could strike at their weaknesses, or artifacts that could break through their powers, did the story progress smoothly.
Once you defeated the eight calamities, the game was finally cleared.
‘There still isn’t an ending, though.’
Weapon of Infinity, WoI for short, was a game I had been developing alone since before I got a job.
Even after I started going to work and exceeded the regulated working hours, I kept filling in the blank spaces of this world whenever I had time.
Because whenever I looked at the unfinished game, even my motivation that had burned white to ash would catch fire again.
‘Your original spirit matters. It sure does.’
I softly hummed the music that played when the game began.
Once I moved the character with familiar hands, my complicated thoughts sank away.
“If I get through Monday’s meeting, maybe I’ll continue writing the latter-half script for the first time in a while?”
A story that still had no period at the end.
It began as a worldbuilding game I secretly played with a friend during class.
That world grew wider each time we snickered, and forests, seas, and grasslands came into being.
‘But a world that’s only peaceful is boring after all.’
I created beings from another world who coveted that abundant world.
The invaders exhausted their strength while crossing worlds, then fell asleep in the form of ore.
They became the Seeds of Calamity that scattered otherworldly energy.
Soil piled over them, plants sprouted, civilization arose, and the animals and plants contaminated by the energy of calamity buried underground became monsters and hunted people.
It was a development my friend, who had been playing with me, did not like.
Does this person really have to die? I want to save them......
In the end, I created my friend’s character and put him into the world.
Then he swept away the monsters and saved the people.
We were so absorbed that we did not even notice the class bell and ended up standing punishment.
-Hey, Kang Jin-hyo! Can’t you make this into a computer game later?
-Was it fun?
-Don’t ask the obvious! You have to make it and let me play it, all right?
After that, I entered the Department of Game Studies and studied, and in the end, I brought the world of WoI to life.
And among the people who played the prototype I submitted for my graduation exhibition, several handed me their business cards.
One of them had the name of a major company that anyone would think of when talking about game companies stamped on it.
‘As if getting promoted will let me work on my own ideas.’
Ding!
Before I knew it, while playing without thinking, I had already entered the recovery shop, an early story progression point.
[Welcome. It’s been a while.]
Maybe it was because I had opened WoI for the first time in so long.
The line the NPC said felt as though it was directed at me.
‘......This guy’s fate is really miserable too.’
The recovery shop NPC was a character I had even considered making a second protagonist in the early planning stage.
Unlike the other NPCs, I had put considerable effort into his model, and there was even a system centered around this character.
You could combine gathered herbs to craft potions that weakened enemies or helped allies.
But during the process of making the game, I drastically cut that plan.
Because my advising professor gave me feedback that it might lower the game’s immersion.
[You want me to appraise a jewel? I’m not an appraiser!]
In the end, this guy became an extra with as little presence as a mob character.
His role was to be asked to appraise the jewel-like Seed of Calamity, then get murdered by the bandit gang that came after it.
It was almost a waste for him to have the setting of being the protagonist’s friend.
[Since it’s a childhood friend’s request, I’ll make an exception. Leave it here.]
The playable character had no assigned script.
But the NPC faithfully displayed his lines even when the protagonist gave no answer.
He probably did not know he was about to die.
“......Maybe I’ll stop here for today.”
I quietly closed the unfinished world.
Now it was truly time to work.
Click-click.
I worked the mouse diligently.
Compared to before I had opened WoI, I had picked up speed, so should I at least call that fortunate?
When I finished the work and stretched, the world outside the window was growing faintly bright.
“Oh, fuck. What time is it?”
6:25 a.m.
Seeing the time made the back of my head tighten even more.
No wonder it had been brutal, since a planner was also trying to design event banners.
“I’ll have to send the file after I wake up.”
I yawned and rose from my seat.
At that moment.
BEEEEEEP!
A tinnitus like a beep tone rang in my ears.
At the same time, the world spun round and round before my eyes.
‘Did I go too long without sleeping......?’
Had I slept about ten hours this week?
I was used to the feeling of my head being pricked by an awl, but this was somehow different.
“Kh......”
It felt as though my brain had been shoved into a press and squeezed dry.
The floor lurched so badly that I could not tell which way was up or down.
In the end, I lost my balance.
THUD!
What I could see through my half-open eyes was the ceiling.
My thoughts flowed in fragments.
‘Did I fall? ......But why does the back of my head hurt so much?’
When I groped at my head, my fingertips grew wet.
A hot, sticky liquid trickled between my fingers.
“Blood......?”
It seemed I had split it open properly.
No matter how much I tried to press down on my head, the strength gradually drained from my fingertips.
‘......I need to call 119.’
My phone was on the desk, and there was no one who would come running to a house where I lived alone.
Would the situation have been better if I had done overtime at the office?
‘Would this not even count as an industrial accident?’
Maybe that was not important.
My hands and feet had gone cold as ice, and now my vision was completely blurred.
‘Don’t tell me I’m dying like this......’
My vision, which had been spreading white, instantly went pitch-black.
As if someone had turned off the power.
......♪
From far away, the sound of a violin drifted over faintly.
An awkward melody, as though played by an amateur.
It was the background music that played at the start of WoI.
Immediately after, an emotionless voice struck my ears.
-Planner’s Perk! You can use skills.
It was a voice I had never heard before.
To think I was listening to a game system notification even at the moment of death.
‘I’ve worked too much......’
-Confirming suitable character......
I was tired.
I wanted to sleep deeply without dreams.
-Confirmation complete! Based on the character’s traits, the skills you have acquired are Appraisal Lv1 and Medicine Crafting Lv1.
The voice buzzed round and round.
I wanted to lower the volume, but I could not move so much as a finger.
-Synchronization with the world will begin.
WHIIING!
A sound like something tearing through the air.
At the same time, my mind was sucked somewhere.
***
BANG!
The sound of a wooden plank being struck slammed into my ears.
I snapped my upper body up from where I had been lying facedown.
“Wh-what is it?”
“What do you mean, what is it? I’m a customer! Why don’t you stop sleep-talking and get up?”
The self-proclaimed customer clicked his tongue from the other side of the long bar counter.
He was a large man wearing light armor, with a beard like a bandit’s.
‘Are they filming a movie?’
I quickly looked around.
It was a place with wooden planks lining the walls and floor.
A display cabinet that filled one wall was packed with flasks.
A shop displaying unknown potions of all sorts of colors—it looked exactly like a recovery shop.
‘It feels strangely familiar.’
Clink!
I whipped my head around at the heavy sound.
On the table were two cloth pouches.
“Check them.”
The customer gestured with his chin, his face fierce.
Inside the pouches I opened as if possessed were dark, grimy coins.
‘What kind of money is this?’
They were not won, cents, or euros.
Was there a currency with insects embossed on it?
My memory was terribly hazy.
BANG! BANG!
A loud noise seized my mind.
My shoulders flinched and jerked up despite myself.
“Hey! Why are your damn eyes all that’s moving? Take my order already.”
Thick veins were bulging on the customer’s fist.
I decided not to pointlessly dawdle.
“......An order, you said?”
“Ten Health Recovery Potions. I’ll pay 50 copper apiece.”
My resolve was useless; my mind went blank.
Health Recovery Potions?
‘Did I hear that right?’
The customer in front of me did look like a character from the fantasy genre.
Even if I ignored the dark-red beard and blue eyes, he was wearing armor too.
Unless he was a costume player, it was the kind of outfit I would never normally see.
“Health Recovery Potions, you mean......”
I swallowed back the words, Why are you looking for those from me?
Between getting cursed at for acting frustrating and working, just working was better.
Rustle.
I opened the small pouch beside the coin pouch.
Inside the pouch, red fruit boasted a vivid color.
It was definitely a fruit I did not know, yet it looked as though I had seen it somewhere.
“My name is Jekus. I’ll come to pick up the goods at this time tomorrow.”
Jekus unilaterally finished placing his order and turned around.
He strode out so quickly that I had no chance to stop him.
“Good grief.”
I rubbed the back of my head out of habit, then stopped with a start.
Because it felt as though my blood had gone cold.
‘Wait, what happened?’
I hurriedly looked at my palm, but it was clean, without a single smear.
I quickly searched through my memories.
‘I’m sure I was bleeding heavily just a moment ago.’
After working all night for days on end, I had collapsed and struck my head hard.
I had thought it would not have been strange if I had died.
Belatedly, I clenched and unclenched my hand several times.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
I had fallen into a strange place, but in any case, I was alive.
My thoughts, which had been clogged tight, finally began to flow, and the emotionless voice I had heard just before losing consciousness came back to life in my head.
“It said I could use skills, didn’t it?”
If my memory was right, the skills I had acquired were Appraisal and Medicine Crafting.
It was something that should only exist in a game, but......
“I’ll have to test it.”
I picked up one of the red fruits inside the pouch.
Then, half in doubt, I opened my mouth.
“......Appraisal.”
Ding!
-Vitality Fruit. Recovers a very small amount of health when eaten. Can be used as an item crafting material.
Along with a cheerful notification sound, a gentle voice rang out.
It was so clear that I could hardly doubt my ears.
“Medicine Crafting.”
As though it had been waiting, the cheerful notification tone and gentle voice rang out again.
-Medicine Crafting skill activated. Please select materials.
My heart began to pound violently.
Until just now, I had been too disoriented to notice, but after confirming even the skills, the situation slowly began to take shape.
The inside of the recovery shop, which gave me a sense of déjà vu, and even the fruit with its somehow familiar shape.
‘Then......’
I hurriedly looked around.
In the corner of the shop, just as I remembered, there was a small well.
My hand trembled as I opened the wooden lid.
“Appraisal.”
-Tasty Water. It is cool. Can be used as an item crafting material.
It was familiar content after all.
I picked up an empty flask from the display cabinet.
My hands no longer trembled.
The recipe for a Health Recovery Potion was already in my head.
“......One Vitality Fruit, 250 ml of Tasty Water, and one empty flask.”
Bright light burst from the pouch and the well, and two streams of light flew into the flask in my hand and mixed together.
“Ugh!”
I slowly opened my eyes, which I had squeezed shut.
The pale, blood-colored liquid sloshing inside the bottle was clear.
The Appraisal result was......
-Health Recovery Potion Lv1. Restores 10 health when consumed.
“......Haha.”
I shoved the recovery potion roughly into the pouch, then lowered my head and looked into the well.
Instead of an ordinary thirty-three-year-old office worker, the water’s surface reflected a slender young man.
‘Right. At this point, it’s obvious without even looking.’
Snow-white hair flowed down over my shoulders.
Dull purple eyes, pale skin, and a shabby gown.
It was someone I knew.
“Ritak Methyl......”
A resident of Weapon of Infinity.
The owner of the recovery shop, and a frail, weak-willed, feeble mad scientist.
“This is driving me insane.”
Apparently, I had become an extra in the world I created.
And of all people, I had become the ill-fated supporting character who was set to enter the death route the moment the game’s main story began.