Chapter 1
༺ Kill the Player (1) ༻
I killed the player.
He was one hell of a fucker.
***
3 years ago, I woke up as a game character,
As a side character at that.
『Heroic Legends of Arhan』
As expected of a game, it had an enormous setting filled with all sorts of crises and events, including even the destruction of the entire world, but it was fine!
Because the protagonist would solve it all!
There was nowhere to run, and it’s not like I could avoid things from happening by leaving this continent, so let’s watch the story unfold from the side~ was what I thought.
At least let’s have a look at the face of our dear protagonist, Park Sihu, who was now destined to have both wealth and fame but——
“…Slow development… hate… fast plot… I’ll live for myself… efficiency……”
“…”
Wait, you too?
****
Park Sihu was a ‘possessor’ like me.
The difference between him and I was that Sihu was the protagonist, the player, and had access to the ‘status screen’, the privilege of the playable character. It was unfortunate that Sihu had never played this game before, but that was something I could handle.
Because I had played this game quite a lot.
As a previous player and a diehard fan of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, I knew the game story by heart and had gotten most of the hidden pieces.
I had also seen most of the various endings and this informational advantage was an extremely significant merit.
However, most of the items were unobtainable without the player’s status screen and the system, so Sihu just had to use the information I gave him to beat this game.
In this world’s plot, countless people will die without the protagonist and the world will also fall to ruin. If I perish alongside the end of this world, will I be able to return to Earth?
What if instead of a ‘game over’ screen, it straight away led to my life being over?
With that doubt in mind, I helped Sihu with all my heart and strength. The kinship of being from the same hometown, and both of us having fallen into a game from Earth, made us the bestest of friends.
We soon realized that I was older than him back on Earth, so it felt like I had a younger brother who would call me ‘bro’ every time, so that wasn’t that bad either. And although my limit as a side character was obvious, a portion of the items we got using my knowledge was also given to me to supplement my lacking abilities.
The two of us made a good duo.
The only unfortunate part, I guess, would be that we couldn’t get closer to any of the heroines of the game.
There were all sorts of male and female characters in this game, but the romance simulation of the playable character interacting with characters of the opposite gender was also an attractive element of the game.
Of course, the girls would show interest in Park Sihu, the player, so I only wanted to watch from the side as a fan but…
Park Sihu – this guy did not interact with any of the heroines and only added them into the party only when they were necessary.
By the time I realized it, the party was filled with male humans and our party ended up being a sweaty group of men, including Park Sihu and me.
“Fuck…”
I should have noticed something was off.
When one of the main heroines, the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden, did not show up at the entrance ceremony;
When the final boss of the 1st arc, Marie, had gone missing;
When the mysterious missing incidents caused the story to flow in a direction unbeknownst to me, instead of optimistically saying, ‘You’re doing great, Sihu!’ I should have taken a deeper look into it.
The mind and the personality of the human called Park Sihu, and the oddly unnatural flow of events… I should have doubted them.
“What’s this?”
It was a familiar staff.
If I recall correctly… it was the equipment used by the final boss girl of the 1st arc.
“Wait wait wait…”
Why was this here?
A gear of the character who should have been the boss of the 1st arc according to the original plot. Sihu and I had waited for a long time to stop the tragedy, but in the end, could not stop it from happening.
Back then, I reprimanded myself for lacking the power to change the original plot but… why was this here?
That wasn’t the end. This secretive underground basement not only had the staff but also countless other items put on display like trophies.
The mace of the typical bully character, Jaeger, who picked a fight with the player at the start of the semester.
The spellbook of Lark, who got expelled after stealing the mid-sem test papers.
Don’t tell me…
I realised something common.
These were all items of the ones who had gone ‘missing’. And they were items that belonged to those that… were somehow related to Park Sihu.
Jaeger went missing in a prac after picking a fight with Park Sihu at the start of the semester, whereas Lark was expelled after trying to put the blame on Park Sihu, who excelled in everything he did, out of jealousy.
Besides, every other item also belonged to those that were related to Park Sihu in some shape or form and most importantly…
This building was Park Sihu’s private property.
It was one of the houses that the player could buy in the game, that could be used to store items as an extra storage…
I could not have imagined that tailing him who suddenly woke up at night would lead to such a result, but there was something else that shocked me the most.
“W, why is this here?”
A unique single-edged sword was on display like a trophy. The demon-slaying sword that belonged… to the granddaughter of the Sword Emperor, Alicia Arden, an important heroine, who died before the entrance ceremony.
There was only one way to obtain this hidden piece in the game – and that was to cause the death event of Alicia Arden in whatever method possible.
“……Ah.”
It gave me goosebumps.
The biggest premise thus far shattered – the premise that Park Sihu had never played this game before.
“Ah, fuck.”
“…!”
That voice belonged to someone else.
“S, Sihu…!”
“…Why are you here bro?”
The owner of this horrendous scene, Sihu, was oddly calm. He only appeared slightly annoyed by this whole thing.
“You…”
I wanted to ask for an explanation questioning what all of this was about, but I could not bring myself to open my mouth in fear of what I would hear in response…
“Bro, calm down.”
“Calm down my ass!!”
How could I possibly calm down in a situation like this? How can I be calm in the face of something this horrible?
I pointed at the water-coloured girl that was on ‘display’ in a horrifying state. Unlike the sword of Alicia Arden that was stored like a trophy, she… Marie Dunareff was…
“You… You… You lied to me when you said you couldn’t catch her back then…!”
Understanding my point, Sihu tried to persuade me and justify himself.
“It’s a demon anyway. You know? It’s an enemy. And I was just using that as efficiently as possible.”
“…Using?”
He smiled and blabbered as if bragging about his achievement.
“She even sucked her own friend. And yet she was hiding in the forest crying by herself. Do you know how hard it was? Who knew that stubborn bitch would dig a hole in the forest and stay there for a whole month?”
– Shouldn’t she pay for her sins at least?
“But ‘using’? What do you mean by using!?”
“…She’s a high-vampire. A one-year old that just awakened is at the same level as an elder. Don’t you know what happens when you refine a vampire elder’s blood? You had it a lot too, bro.”
His words suddenly made me remember the potions he gave me. Those potions, incomparable to common potions, that rivalled low-grade elixirs—
“U, uweeekk!!”
“Ayish… Bro, are you okay? Wait a sec. Let me clean this up.”
Despite babbling about such awful and horrifying deeds, his attitude towards me remained the same and that was the most horrifying of all.
“But wh, why would you…”
“Of course it’s to progress the story as efficiently as possible.”
“The story?”
“If I do as you tell me, bro, it’s too slow. We have to suffer losses trying to save people and can’t even kill retards like Jaeger and Lark.”
All Jaeger did was pick a fight. He was just a random bully that was blinded by his own power.
As for Lark? He tried to blame Park Sihu, but all he did was steal test papers. Of course, Park Sihu might have been expelled if things went south but even then…
“It’s the same for the other bitches. They’re useless unless you build rapport with them, you can’t take their items and they just party up by themselves. This is the most efficient way to make use of them.”
“You… How many have you…”
His eyes went to the corner in response to my words. He opened the player’s system window and replied nonchalantly with a smile.
“Who knows? I don’t think the kill log was over 100k… Ah, three more and I’ll hit 100k.”
“You fucking animal!”
I grabbed him by the collar. I could no longer listen to the words of an animal.
“You, you…! How could you do that to people…!”
“Bro, wake up. How are these guys people? They’re NPCs. They’re game characters.”
“You…!”
“And haven’t you been killing people as well? There’s nothing new here.”
“Those were guys that tried to destroy the world!”
The people I killed were evil ones that were beyond saving. Main enemies of the story – characters that were designated by the plot as villains.
How was Park Sihu any different from them? This guy did not view people as people.
It was true that ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ was a game, and the game had NPCs in it. However, are people in this world also NPCs? Can they be killed just because they are game characters?
What makes you say that for sure? Who says this is a game or a reality? How can you be so certain?
Fuck that.
“Trust me. I’m telling you my way is the most efficient gameplay. I’m a veteran player at this game.”
Sorry for not telling you, bro,
I couldn’t trust you before.
That was what he said.
It was so dumbfounding that I couldn’t say anything. Park Sihu was so sure of himself, and in a way, he wasn’t wrong. He had the status screen and could make use of the system however he wanted. If he had an informational advantage on top of that, like me, of course he would have used that as efficiently as possible.
He had monopolized all the hidden pieces that belonged to the heroines and profited as much as possible from the events.
Even when the school building collapsed,
Even when the terrorists came to attack,
Even when a Unique Grade monster attacked the school,
This guy profited in whatever method possible. He excessively monopolized everything.
He probably had indeed been ‘playing this game’ as efficiently as possible. Over the 3 years I had spent following him, he had indeed solved many cases and problems with ease, including cases that I could not solve due to the limitations of a side character.
Although it was a world within a game, Park Sihu stood firmly as a hero just like the intended story.
However, the Park Sihu in front of my eyes was no hero.
He was a devil. He had a psychotic gaze that I had never even seen from any of the past villains.
Hundred thousand… I reflected on the events that had been oddly ‘efficient’ among the countless incidents and the ‘victims’ that I had overlooked. There must also be countless massacres that happened outside of my sight.
I realized that all the events which made me think the real world would naturally be different from a game plot were all affected by him.
Ah I see… so this guy had never considered this world a reality.
All the people were only programmed organisms in his eyes.
This world that I had accepted and adapted to for 3 years was nothing but a virtual world to him.
“You… just chose the easy way out.”
“What?”
“Efficiency? Plot? Bullshit. If you really loved efficiency, why would you take Alicia Arden’s demon-slaying sword? Why would you take a hidden piece that’s for knights with your mage build!”
“That’s…”
“Fuck! No wonder. It’s because her sister Lunia Arden was so stubbornly chasing after the sword that you couldn’t take it out! You fucking retard. Of course you can’t handle it all because you try to monopolize things that you can’t even swallow!”
Stupid and sloppy idiot! Selfish and greedy little pig!
Was I really hailing this guy as a hero? This fucking idiot?
“Elixir? You fucker. You could have substituted that with other ingredients using your crafting window anytime!”
All he had to do was tap the screen a few times so what was the point of this horrendous farm? Why was he doing such an inefficient thing?
“Efficiency? Don’t fuck with me. You just needed a sandbag to quench your psychotic thirst. What kind of bitch that loves efficiency exhibits such psychotic proof in a place like this!!?”
“Ah damn it. For fuck’s sake!”
Park Sihu struck my face with a seriously irritated look on his face, that was vastly different from his previous persuasive attitude.
“You’re really driving me crazy bro. You’re driving me insane!”
“What… ugh!”
He grabbed onto my hair and pulled it back.
“You can’t do this to me bro. Even if everyone in the world talks shit to me, you can’t do this to me!”
“Huh, huh…?”
Oi, what’s wrong with your sentence? Be careful with your choice of words!
“Do you not know why I’m like this, bro? Do you really have no idea how you’re driving me crazy!?”
“S, Sihu?”
“You put your nose into other’s business as a weak-ass and get bashed up. And smirk in front of those sluts…”
He glared at me with passion that I had never seen before. It was an extremely burdensome gaze.
“I’m… not gonna hold back anymore.”
“Ehng?”
It was then. He suddenly pushed his head forward as if doing a headbutt on my face.
“Hikk?!”
I instinctively dodged that disgusting mouth. I managed to protect my chastity by turning my head, but I could not escape from his burning gaze.
“I see… so you had no plans of accepting me huh?”
“Uhh, oi dude. What’s wrong with you all of a sudden? Huh? You weren’t like this before. You and I were going through the story till like Episode 199. What’s with this sudden drift in Episode 200?!”
“You are mine bro. Both your body, and heart. Do you think I’ll let those foxes steal you from me?”
“F, fuck! I haven’t even dated anyone before, so what’s this shit about!”
It gave me goosebumps in a different sense than before. To the point that I needed the physical treatment of mother Russia.
“D, don’t tell me the party is full of men because…”
“They’re just there for looks and they’re not the real one. My only real one… is you bro.”
“Uaakk…!”
I desperately tried to escape, but something suddenly popped out of my shadow and grabbed onto my ankle and made me fall flat on the ground. It was his spell.
“Bro, you… can’t run away. I will lock you up. Forever.”
– Hiiiiik…
It was terrifying.
It wasn’t even this terrifying when I first discovered this place, nor was it this horrifying even when he confessed he was a psychotic lover of fast plot development.
What’s going to happen to me now?
By seeing the victims like Marie, Lark and Jaeger, it was not difficult to predict my future.
Being alive not in the true sense of the word, and a repetition of pain and curation.
“You! You…! What about my consent! You fucker, what about my consent?! I’m a heterosexual! An unwavering heterosexual!”
In response to my words, Park Sihu grinned and replied with a butter-like voice.
“Your consent is not important bro. You are mine. My only real one in this fake world.”
“You’re fucking giving me goosebumps! You crazy fucker!”
– Chaaakk!
The shadow spread its mouth wide open. Right as I was about to lose my consciousness from his spell, I saw him float a crooked smile.
“It’s all almost over now. After this fight is over, I will have you for myself, bro.”
“Have me?! Have me for what you bastard!”
That was the end of my consciousness. I only woke up later thanks to a certain voice that reached my ears.
『The Last Stage has been opened. The final fight with the Last Boss will now begin.』
Ahh, so it has begun.
It seemed that Park Sihu had started the decisive battle with the Last Boss while I was unconscious.
Since he loved monopolizing everything for himself, he would probably win against the Last Boss as well… If he really does defeat the final boss… what would happen to me then?
I could easily imagine the horrifying future waiting ahead of me.
『The Player has been killed. You have failed the attempt.』
………This fucker lost?
****
With that, I finished looking back on my past life.
I returned to the past; to 3 years ago.
And I must kill him.
I must kill the player.