Episode 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 1
Chapter 1: Hello_World
She ran through winding alleys. Her oversized shirt was damp and sticky with sweat. Her tie had been loosened long ago.
Just how many times have I run down this path...?
“Drop your weapon and stand still! Do that, and I’ll let you live!”
Bang! A gunshot rang out, completely contradicting his words. It wasn’t surprising. She hadn’t believed him in the first place, so she’d fully expected this.
Still, you could at least make your words and actions match! You spineless, fickle bastards! she cursed inwardly, then screamed aloud.
“If you’re going to let me live, then stop shooting!”
Suddenly, she noticed her vision blurring. As if to mock her, it flickered between red and normal before a message window popped up.
`SYSTEM: Remaining HP 150 (Entering ‘Combat Incapacitation State’ at 100 HP. Entering ‘Movement Incapacitation State’ at 20 HP.)`
“Aargh!”
Ducking into a shortcut that led to the plaza, Elysia leaned against a wall and crouched, glancing down at her feet. Droplets of blood clearly marked the path she had taken.
Three stacks of continuous damage, two speed debuffs, and one continuous recovery impossible effect. She had taken way too many hits, and the quest was on the verge of being a total failure.
Yeah, I’ve taken a lot of hits, all right... Elysia let out a frustrated scream.
She needed to use a Heal Pack to restore her HP, but the problem was that this was just the intro before the main quest. There were no Heal Packs on the map yet.
Ah, seriously!
“Was this quest even designed to be cleared?”
“Like a little rat.”
Just then, a hand seized her shoulder. All strength drained from her body, and she collapsed onto the cold ground. The impact sent the bullet lodged in her thigh deeper into her flesh.
`SYSTEM: HP -50 (100 / 1,764,000)`
`Remaining HP has reached 100. Entering ‘Combat Incapacitation State.’`
She watched as lock icons appeared over all the weapons filling her inventory.
Failed again. Sighing, she carelessly brushed her brown hair back with a blood-soaked hand.
Her body felt cold, likely from losing so much blood. She forced a relaxed smile to hide the fact that she was on the verge of death.
This damn game. It was realistic, too realistic.
Ah, no. This isn’t a game to me anymore. It had been three years since she’d been trapped here after participating as a tester for her company’s virtual reality game. She had to admit it.
The RPS action-mystery game, <Panic in the City>—this game was now her reality. Even if it wasn’t before, it was now.
Fuck, fuck! I should have drowned my boss in a toilet for pushing me to be a tester, saying, ‘You can’t even trust your own company? Nothing will go wrong!’
Who knew living as a law-abiding citizen would become her greatest regret?
“Now why would a lady like you get involved in the affairs of vicious men, only to end up in such a rough spot... hmm?”
“Hnngh, you sexist bastard...”
“Did you enjoy our little game, Miss Detective? I had quite a bit of fun myself, playing down to your childish level. It’s a shame. This could have been a mutually beneficial relationship if you’d known when to stop.”
The man standing in the center gestured, and men who appeared to be his subordinates rushed forward to snatch the briefcase from Elysia’s hands. A moment later, a file fluttered out of the case and fell to the ground.
`SYSTEM: Quest entry condition, ‘Transaction Ledger,’ has been stolen.`
So this is how it ends... She hadn’t had high hopes for this attempt, but it still felt empty. To fail again.
“Aargh... shit... I ran so fucking hard...”
Muttering curses, she leaned against the wall in resignation and looked up at the man.
Quest failed. No, she’d failed to even enter the quest. The condition for entry was to pass a certain point with that item, but she’d been caught by this mob again.
How the hell is it this hard just to start the quest? What is this quest even about?
The reasons she kept struggling to overcome this absurd difficulty were, first, that she had nothing else to do after years of being trapped had forcibly turned her into a hardcore player, and second, a damn curiosity that made her wonder, ‘Just how amazing is the boss if even entering the quest is this hard?’
The man chuckled and bent down to meet her eyes, raising a hand that held a knife. Sensing what was coming, Elysia squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
Shlick. She couldn’t even count how many times she had felt the gruesome sensation of a blade digging into her stomach.
`SYSTEM: HP -80 (20 / 1,764,000)`
`Remaining HP has reached 20. Entering ‘Movement Incapacitation State.’`
“F... uck... hurts like a bitch... ugh, hnnngh...”
After fighting criminals in a game for three years, swearing had become second nature.
Of course it had. This was a city of darkness where all order had collapsed, all to provide the player with cases to solve.
The name of this city, where you might run over to a passerby who suddenly collapsed only to find they’d been stabbed, was ‘Nightmare.’ It was every bit as hellish as it sounded.
“Serves you right.”
She heard the click of a gun being loaded, and the muzzle of a revolver was aimed at the tip of her nose. Elysia looked up at the man pointing the gun at her with cold eyes and spoke.
“Hey... let me ask you one thing.”
“Last words? I suppose I can grant you that.”
It was a scripted line, one she had heard so many times during her nearly thousand failed attempts to enter the quest that it was sickeningly familiar.
Elysia closed her eyes, trying to cling to her fading consciousness. She was so sick of it all—this game, these soulless beings.
“When are you getting a difficulty nerf?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A smirk played on the right corner of her lips. Elysia grabbed the gun aimed at her and pressed it firmly against her own forehead.
“Hah... just wait,” she muttered. “I’ll be back.”
“You talk a lot for someone who’s about to die.”
“Keep your neck clean and wait for me. I’ll come back and stick a knife in it just the same...”
The man’s face was cold as he pulled the trigger. The sound of a gunshot echoed through the alley. Rain began to pour from a sky the color of damp, dark plaster.
`Quest 19560: Hunt in the Middle of the Night (999th TRY Failed!)`
`SYSTEM: Would you like to try again? Y | N`
Ah, hold on, let me just rest for a second. If I try again right now, I’ll 100% die again.
In the world that had gone completely dark, Elysia pressed ‘N’ to the system window’s question and closed her eyes.
She had cleared every single quest available, and this ridiculously difficult one was the only one left. After being killed by a mere mob 999 times before even reaching the boss, she was starting to wonder if it was even meant to be cleared.
You crazy developers, just nerf it already! Can’t you hear the players’ complaints?
Her consciousness began to fade. Once she lost it completely, her HP would recover, and she would wake up in her bed in the player’s space, the ‘Nightmare Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Duty Room.’ She calmly planned her next move.
When I wake up, the first thing I’ll do is find an item merchant and blow all my gold on defense-attribute items.
She was getting tired. Tired of this game where a colorful variety of crimes occurred every single day.
Let me have some healing time, too. And I don’t mean the kind where I’m frantically chugging Heal Packs on the brink of death. I just want some peace and quiet!
Who’s the mayor of this city? Why is the city in this state, and why does a single player have to clean it all up? I know it’s a lawless city, but shouldn’t the city itself be doing something? Huh?!
`SYSTEM: Moving to !#[email protected]#^?…….`
A wave of drowsiness washed over her.
`initializing data…….`
`applying new settings…….`
`completed.`
*
It was noisy and cheerful. Noisy, she could understand, but cheerful? An atmosphere like that couldn’t possibly exist in this game. Well, except for the few bastards who threw parties after murdering people.
...Wait, was I dragged off to a criminal hideout by myself? But I already cleared that quest...
“Hey, hey! Wake up, will you?”
“Everyone, shut up...”
The moment she sat up in annoyance, the cheerful chatter that had surrounded her came to an abrupt halt. Elysia blinked a few times, her body freezing at the unfamiliar sight before her.
A group of female students, all wearing white frilly blouses with black ribbon ties and blue flare skirts that reached their ankles, were staring at her with surprised eyes. Elysia belatedly realized she was dressed just like them.
People sat inside a magnificent, colorful hall, chatting as if they were sizing each other up. Warm sunlight poured through enormous windows, casting a brilliant golden glow over the hall.
This was the first time she had seen such vibrant colors since being trapped in the game. What kind of color palette had she been living with until now, you ask?
She’d lived her life staring at gray skies, drizzling rain, and blood spreading over black asphalt. What else could it have been?
Elysia’s eyes met those of the girl who had shaken her awake, and she froze, stunned by the other’s appearance. Silver hair cascaded down to her waist, prim pink eyes sparkled in the light, and proud red lips formed a straight line.
How can a person be so ridiculously beautiful?
While Elysia was lost in a daze, the girl’s eyes were clearly filled with displeasure, though she was making a valiant effort to hide it.
With a blank expression that seemed to scream she was trying to act nonchalant, the girl held out a piece of paper.
“I woke you because you need to decide on a department. There’s no need to curse, is there? You don’t look it, but you must be a commoner.”
“What the hell are you talking about, a department?”
“Fill it out and submit it. One can’t help their birth, but you’re still a Minerva student. Such vulgar language... Don’t make me ashamed to be a student at the same school. Got it?”
What’s Minerva, and why am I choosing a department? Her head was spinning. Just then, a system window of a kind she had never seen before appeared.
`♥ Welcome to the topsy-turvy romance game where countless handsome men and beautiful women await! <You'll Fall in Love>! (ʃƪ ˘ ³˘)(´ε｀ ʃƪ) ♥`
What in the world is this? Elysia stared blankly at the cheerfully animated screen.
She thought she’d seen it all, but this was new. A firework-like sound effect played as vibrant flower petals rained down from the system window.
After three years of dealing with nothing but criminals, she was not used to this kind of graphic. She was used to seeing blood splatter, sure, but flower petals? This was quite foreign.
`♥ Amidst the tension of a continuing war in the center of the continent, you have enrolled in Minerva, an academy that gathers the continent’s greatest minds. What kind of events will you encounter here?`
`Check others’ favorability and enjoy a heart-pounding school romance! ♡`
`tip: Giving a gift that suits their taste might make their favorability go up! up! ♥`
“...What is this crazy... what the hell?”
It was a completely different format from the message windows she was used to. Unlike the old ones, which were composed of eerie, blood-red text, this one had cute, neat letters written on a background lavishly decorated with pink hearts.
A romance game? What in the...
Dumbfounded, Elysia cupped her face for a moment before glancing at the departments listed on the paper. Economics, Arts, Landscaping... so many people had applied that the names overflowed the designated spaces.
She flipped to the next page and found departments that were, as if by magic, completely empty. Medicine, Chemistry...
She scribbled her signature in the blank space under ‘Chemistry Department,’ which was as pristine as untouched snow. It was a choice that reflected her desire to rest without being disturbed by anyone.
`♥ Please decide carefully! Once you’ve decided on a name, you can’t change it! (ＯoＯ;) ♥`
...What’s with this needlessly strict world that doesn’t allow name changes?
She didn’t know what was happening, but at the same time, she felt like she did.
<You'll Fall in Love>. She knew it all too well. It was the next title from DECP CORP, the company that made <Panic in the City> and also her former workplace.
The genre was a dating simulation. It had been in development when she got trapped in the game, so it had appeared a few times as an easter egg in the completed <Panic in the City>. Had it been released by now?
Having experienced being trapped in one game, moving to another didn’t seem so impossible. In fact, she felt strangely calm. Elysia smiled in satisfaction.
This might be good news for me, since I was so sick of that gloomy crime city.
What was a dating sim, anyway? A peaceful game where your biggest worry was, ‘Does that guy, or that girl, like me?’ right?
...Actually, I’ve never played one, so I don’t really know, but isn’t that usually how it goes? Unfortunately, the department she had worked in was not the dating sim department.
Anyway, this means my life of chasing criminals and screaming, ‘You son of a bitch, get back here!’ is over, right? It means I can finally get some rest?
Just as she was about to celebrate, the blood-red system window from <Panic in the City> flickered into view.
`SYSTEM: You have accepted the ‘Developer's Quest.’ Skills will be reactivated.`
`SYSTEM: All levels have been reset. Welcome, Elysia Hemming (LV. 1)`
`SYSTEM: Passive Skill ‘Truthful Gaze’ has been activated. Civilian honesty towards you increases by 5%.`
`SYSTEM: Passive Skill ‘Camouflage’ has been activated. Probability of being discovered while in disguise decreases by 3%.`
`SYSTEM: Passive Skill ‘Beast's Intuition’ has been activated. ‘Intuition Accuracy’ improves by 21%.`
“...What is this?”
She could feel the gazes of people looking at her like she was crazy as she muttered at the empty air, but she didn’t have time to care.
That wasn’t the problem. The numbers she was seeing were the initial stats for skills she had poured a desperate amount of resources into maxing out.
The level she had worked so hard to max out had been reset.
Are you crazy? Are you fucking crazy?! After all the work I put into my level!
Wait a minute, why were skills from another game being activated in a dating sim world? A chill ran down her spine.
Sensing something was wrong, she opened her mouth and mumbled.
“Uh, but one of my passive skills was definitely—”
`SYSTEM: Passive Skill ‘Detective's Aptitude’ has been activated. Crime occurrence rate within a 1km radius increases by 5%.`
Increased crime rate within a 1km radius... Elysia spotted the <Panic in the City> system window announcing her passive skill and muttered with a troubled look.
“Wh-why did this follow me here...”
What was she going to do? It seemed she had brought ruin to this once-peaceful dating sim world.