Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Tutorial (1)
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Could it be because of that 1-star review terror I left after seeing the developer's SNS post?
Or maybe because I sent a long, machine-translated rant via 1:1 inquiry.
Perhaps it's because I posted a three-part critique on the fan site and deleted all the guides I'd written over the years.
But even so, I couldn't just drop a game I'd been sunk into for years after only one day, so like always, I fell asleep with it running... and woke up in this cold back alley of Labyrinth City.
...It's been three days since I got pulled into this game.
Ian, now the player character in this game, gazed at the sprawl of Labyrinth City from a hill overlooking the streets.
From morning on, mercenaries and merchants bustled about, gearing up for the day.
In a bid to escape reality, he'd wandered the city's nooks and crannies, searching for any way out of this game world, but it was all for naught—his starting funds were just a bit lighter, and that was it.
In the end, Ian had no choice but to admit that clearing the game was his only option.
With one last look at the city below, Ian started walking.
The game Ian had been dragged into—Call of Labyrinth—was a world doomed to destruction without the player's help.
Of course, Ian had played it to death, so on normal difficulty, he could've cleared it with any goofy build, no sweat.
The problem? He'd modded it within an inch of its life—finding the original game underneath would be a nightmare.
Packs to crank up the boring difficulty, item expansion mods.
Extra bosses and hidden ones to fill out the lacking fights.
...And as a bonus, the adult mod pack that turned every mercenary in the city into cute girls.
The labyrinths he'd need to conquer for the clear were no doubt pure hell now.
"Ha... Should've at least installed the editor mode."
Of course, in the community, just having those mods listed got you mocked as a scrub.
Out of hardcore pride—especially since he took tons of screenshots for his guides—Ian had installed the so-called "cheat mods" that let you eat the game for breakfast without leaving a trace.
The city's residents probably couldn't even imagine that an otherworldly incarnation had suddenly spawned in the labyrinth's depths, just waiting to break free.
All because the game was too damn easy.
No guarantee clearing it would send him back to the real world.
But with the time limit ticking and three days already wasted in this game, he had no sharper moves than prepping to clear it ASAP.
Weaving through the crowds for a few more minutes, Ian reached his destination and slowly pushed open the door to the Mercenary Recruitment Office.
Labyrinth City is a city of mercenaries.
Some come to escape their past.
Some chase adventure and glory.
Others dream of striking it rich overnight.
New mercenary corps pop up and vanish like clockwork every day.
And right now, as always, a fresh one was forming.
Ian paused while filling out the form the receptionist handed him and looked up.
"Hey."
"Yes, sir!"
A short black-haired mercenary waiting anxiously right behind him jumped and replied.
"Wh-what is it...? Have you changed your mind?"
"Nah, need your name for this. Fill it in here?"
"Oh, sure!"
Ian held out the new mercenary corps application, pointing to the member section at the bottom.
The one who took it was Rin, the mercenary Ian had hired early that morning at the recruitment office.
"Name... Rin. Hometown..."
Taking the pen, Rin carefully filled in each blank, her face tense as if one slip would invalidate the whole application.
Her gear was barely armor—shoddy stuff with a cheap sword to match.
Her rigid, nervous look screamed rookie who hadn't seen a single commission.
But for Ian, a newbie corps leader just starting out, this was the best he could hire.
As Ian quietly watched Rin, the faint text only he could see sharpened, revealing her stats.
She was one of the basic mercenaries you pick during the "Hire a Mercenary" tutorial after starting the game.
Though mercenaries in this game were randomly generated by default, even starters had slight variations in traits.
Ian had shopped around and picked Rin for her versatile [Throwing] trait—handy for the early game.
...The issue was that last one: [Frustrated Desire].
This wasn't vanilla—it came from the separate adult mod pack he'd installed.
Builds up desire fast, easy to tempt, great training results.
A trait useful in... other ways early on.
The mod creators' obsession with detail was insane; these elements were woven obsessively into every corner of the game systems.
"......Should've installed the editor mode."
They took up trait slots without helping in combat, dragging down the mercenaries' overall fighting power—the biggest headache from these mods.
He'd always marveled at it while playing, but now, stuck leading these mercs through self-imposed hardcore mode, Ian could only regret installing them.
"All done!"
"Alright, hand it over."
The receptionist, who'd been waiting, snatched the form from Rin's hand.
She scanned it in seconds and slammed a stamp at the bottom.
"So, corps name... Ian Mercenary Corps. Registration complete."
With a faintly weary look, she checked the name and slid over the permit along with their two mercenary badges.
"Looking forward to your exploits."
Rin took her shiny new badge with sparkling eyes.
Finally in a corps, she beamed down at it.
"Done? Move aside, please."
"Ah, yep!"
"Next."
But the staffer, who'd seen this scene a million times, shooed Rin from the counter without a second glance.
Grabbing her contract copy and badge, Rin stepped aside and sidled up to Ian, peeking at his face before speaking.
"Um, so... should I call you Captain? You can call me Rin."
"Sure, Rin."
"Please take good care of me!"
Rin bowed politely to Ian.
"I'm, uh... from Rodenfeld, and my swordsmanship's from practicing off books a bit..."
Eyeing what to say first, Rin launched into her intro.
This should've come up during hiring, but Ian—having already checked her stats—skipped the "what can you do?" and jumped straight to the offer.
Rin, not one to pass up a chance, accepted on the spot, leaving them knowing next to nothing about each other.
"Oh! I took down a goblin that came to the village! Don't worry about fighting!"
"I see... But it was just the one goblin, right?"
"Yes! Something like a goblin's easy for me!"
As Rin proudly boasted her tale of beating a lone goblin...
Bang! The guild door flew open.
The mercenary who burst in scanned the room and yelled at the staff.
"Hey! Any D-ranks around?"
"Not at this hour."
"Where the hell are those slackers when you need 'em!"
This awkward time—too late for commissions, too early for returns—was prime for paperwork like corps registration.
The guild held only fresh-faced rookies just forming up.
"What's up, Chris?"
"Rescue call from outpost three. Goblins came down."
"No parties ready to head out right now."
The one-eyed mercenary glanced around, then helplessly jabbed a finger at Ian and the other rookies.
"No choice. Hey, you lot all E-ranks? Come with me—now!"
"Huh?"
"Emergency muster! Slack off and hand back those badges!"
Panic rippled through the rookies in seconds.
"Wh-what's going on? I heard monsters sometimes slip out of the labyrinth and raid the city... Is it?"
Rin asked Ian with a flustered look, but he stayed cool as ever.
This big fuss? It was just the combat tutorial kicking off right after submitting the form.