Life-or-Death Gacha
The staff member from the Field Management Team glanced at me as I stared at the empty body bag. “Oh? What’s a Bureau employee doing here?”
“I’m here to participate in entity management.”
“Huh? An employee? Did you kill a civilian or something?”
“I’m a new recruit who entered through the Human Rights Waiver Admission track.”
“Aigoo, what the hell did you do outside to end up here?”
The curiosity on his face quickly melted into pure pity.
“The N-Grade personnel will arrive in five minutes. Just wait a bit.”
“Understood.”
The other agent beside him zipped up the body bag containing the last corpse.
“Still, you’re pretty lucky, you know.”
“Lucky?”
“Yeah, dumbass! Three teams got wiped out today. Normally, at least one survivor would’ve come from the second team.”
“You idiot. If he were actually lucky, a survivor would’ve already shown up and he wouldn’t be here.”
“Oh, right!”
What kind of comedy routine were they performing in the middle of all these corpses? It was honestly terrifying.
“Oh, here they come.”
I turned around. A group of people dressed in white uniforms was walking toward us in a single file line.
Every single one of them had a vicious look on their face…
I guess this was what the Bureau considered prime N-Grade material.
Agent A looked at the man leading the group.
“Wait… Jang Tae-sik? Why the hell are you here again?”
“I volunteered. If I reduce my sentence this time, I’ll be released.”
“You’ve already survived three times. You really think the fourth will be easy?”
“But I heard I hold the record.”
“That’s true.”
Surviving three times… that would mean he was incredibly lucky—no, unlucky—no, lucky—wait, which one was it?
When the man called Jang Tae-sik turned around, the four N-Grade personnel following him pulled out their phones.
A moment later, different voices in Japanese blared from the devices.
What kind of games were these that their launch messages sounded like that…?
I figured I should do the same, so I launched the game I had installed earlier.
[The world’s best profit-making tool!]
A rich, booming Chinese voice rang out.
“Hey, I get the others, but what the hell is that one?”
“Oh, this? It’s an old game. It’s been running for eight years.”
“There are actually people who play this?”
I only found out about it today myself.
“You probably already know the management protocol, but once you enter the isolation chamber, the entity will explain the details itself.”
“The entity will?”
“Yeah. Among the lower-grade ones, some with self-awareness occasionally explain their own containment conditions. This one’s like that.”
How considerate.
“Enter!”
With a cacophony of mismatched game music serving as the BGM, we stepped into the triple-layered isolation chamber.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
One door opened. We stepped inside and waited.
The door behind us closed. The door ahead opened. We waited again.
Even though it was a low-grade entity, the security was extremely tight.
I wonder if they use diamond enclosures for the high-grade ones.
In the center of the isolation chamber stood a single desk with two chairs.
On the desk was a tablet that I assumed belonged to the entity known as Why Are You Luckier Than Me?
And gripping that tablet was a black, humanoid figure.
Come closer! Come closer! I’m in a very good mood today!
The black figure waved at us.
This was the low-grade entity that had already claimed fifteen lives today.
“Let’s go.”
Jang Tae-sik spoke naturally and walked straight up to the entity.
You’re back again? You unlucky friend?
“It just kind of happened. But today will be my last time.”
Aha! You’re getting out? You’re getting out?
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
An unidentified sound came from Jang Tae-sik’s direction.
What was that?
“You know I’ll die if you say any more.”
Right! Right! You go last!
It was hard to follow the situation with just sidelong glances. Time to check the gallery.
This guy is having a suspiciously normal conversation with an N-Grade personnel.
And what was that notification sound coming from the N-Grade guy’s body?
Anyway, homework time.
While I’m gone, post everything you know about N-Grade personnel and self-aware entities in the comments.
Please.
As expected, the gallery never lets me down.
I really need to survive and straighten out these ghosts’ spines for them.
Start! Start!
While I was typing in the gallery, one of the N-Grade personnel sat down across from the black figure.
What’s the pity rate on that game? What are the odds?
“…Ninety pulls. 1.4%.”
Good!
The black figure tapped the tablet a few times.
You and I will take turns doing ten-pulls! Whoever gets the highest rarity character first loses!
It was a comment I had seen before learning the entity’s identity.
That was the alpha and omega of this creature.
Same odds, same number of attempts. Pull a higher rarity character later than it and you live. Pull sooner and you die.
If you pull better than me, you all die. How many people would want to become this thing once they learned about it?
Starting with me.
Beep boop! Beep boop!
Brilliant sound effects rang from the N-Grade personnel’s phone as the screen flashed wildly.
Stars fell from the sky inside the game.
Eight purple, two yellow.
“Phew.”
The N-Grade personnel let out a sigh of relief. Looked like there was no highest rarity.
Well, if it came out in ten pulls, that would be—
Clink! Clink! Clink!
“Huh?”
Suddenly one of the yellow stars shone brilliantly and turned orange.
Animation change.
It was the famous “pity bait” system where the highest rarity didn’t appear during the preview but upgraded at the very last moment, giving players that sweet, sweet rush.
To some gacha players it was practically a blessing. Everyone wished for it.
Unfortunately, that miracle was currently functioning less like a wallet-saving miracle and more like a death sentence.
Today is your last day.
A stylish blond elf swordsman appeared with a flashy animation.
Five stars.
You pulled it? You pulled it?
The black figure tapped the tablet and turned the screen toward the seated N-Grade personnel.
The screen displayed only plain, text-based results with no graphics.
It looked like one of those bare-bones gacha probability simulators you sometimes saw online.
The only difference was that it didn’t even have minimal graphics.
Ten square cards appeared on the screen.
Each card only had stars drawn on it according to rarity.
Eight 4-stars, two 5-stars.
I didn’t pull it?
Crunch!
Thud.
The moment the words left its mouth, the N-Grade personnel’s head was ripped off in an instant.
The black figure’s face suddenly enlarged and bit straight through the man’s neck.
Gulp.
I ate too much today! Too much!
The entity’s voice, now much brighter, echoed through the isolation chamber.
I felt like all the blood in my body had dried up.
If I hadn’t experienced the Backrooms, I would have panicked, banged on the isolation chamber door, and begged to be let out.
A human life could vanish so easily, so absurdly.
A few seconds ago, I had thought this thing seemed a little fun.
What could a low-grade entity really do?
Why had I thought that even after seeing the corpses outside?
I realized something inside my mind was broken and forced myself to regain composure.
This thing was a monster. It had taken countless lives.
Next! Next!
“When will you go?” Jang Tae-sik asked me.
He was still treating me with the respect due to a Bureau employee.
“I’d like to go as late as possible.”
“…Understood.”
Jang Tae-sik’s face twisted into a vicious scowl. He couldn’t hide his expression.
It was understandable.
If the person before you succeeded, the rest could survive. The later your turn, the better.
This was even the final spot the entity had promised him. Of course he was furious that a mere agent had snatched it away.
But what could he do?
I didn’t want to play Russian roulette either.
Other people’s lives mattered, but they couldn’t compare to my own.
“Two hundred pulls guaranteed with 1% rate.”
Confirmed! Setting it up!
The second N-Grade personnel began his gacha.
It was a lower probability game than the first person who had died.
“Can I go later?”
With a trembling voice, he suggested changing the order.
Why Are You Luckier Than Me? tapped the tablet a few times, then shook its head violently.
Good! Good! Do whatever you want!
Why Are You Luckier Than Me? showed its screen first.
Six 3-stars, four 4-stars.
Looked like 5-star was the highest rarity in this game.
Your turn! Your turn!
“Ah, yes.”
The second challenger pressed the gacha button with a trembling hand.
Huuuuaaaah!
A character that looked like it came from a manhwa struck a pose right before throwing a punch.
Here we go!
The finger sliced through the air and the fist slammed into the screen.
“Huh?”
A brilliant golden light exploded, revealing a sturdy robot.
Five stars.
“Why… why!? I’ve never gotten a pity pull on this game before!”
You pulled it? You pulled it!
Crunch!
Had he used up all the luck of his entire life right here?
The second challenger, just like the first, had his head torn off by Why Are You Luckier Than Me? and died.
The metallic stench of blood from the severed necks of the two men filled the isolation chamber.
I quietly approached the desk and picked up the phone of the man who had just died.
Two consecutive pity pulls in ten-pulls.
No matter how I thought about it, the probability was far too low.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that the entity was manipulating the results.
But after looking at the gacha screen, I had no choice but to abandon that theory. Even if the previous twelve deaths had been rigged, I couldn’t suspect this particular person.
[After reaching 200 pulls, the pickup character has been guaranteed.]
Because the second challenger’s cause of death was simply not checking how many pulls he had left beforehand. It was suicide.