Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Birth of the Diabolical Final Boss
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Rex.
30 years old, single.
Exceptional abilities and decent looks, but a commoner with no family name to boast of.
Rex's memories began as an ordinary gamer from South Korea, born in 2178.
Shortened to
It was a strategy simulation game that gained prominence right after the release of full-dive VR devices.
This game solidly bridged the transitional period of full-dive tech and ultimately led it into its golden age, becoming a legend among old-timer gamers.
Rex was one of those old-timer gamers.
By day, he killed his individuality to function as a cog in society's machine; by night, he slept in his capsule and awoke in the game world.
The day he possessed this world was no different from any other.
He set his capsule to sleep mode, dozed off, and opened his eyes in Hell Online with a new character.
The only difference was that he couldn't log out.
"Hmm? This dream's dragging on today."
Full-dive technology was based on lucid dreaming.
As such, it was rare but possible to hit logout only to transition into a dream within the game, making it feel like logout had failed.
In those cases, all you had to do was stay calm and wake up naturally.
But after pinching his cheek thinking it was a dream, checking the clock, and eventually getting beaten half to death by alley thugs,
Rex finally realized.
"Ah."
That he had been possessed.
He was bewildered at first, but Rex adapted quickly.
Ironically, he was more respected in the game world than in a reality where individuality was erased in the name of equality.
So it was only natural that he loved the game.
Thus, he decided without regret to live on in this world.
According to the information he'd gathered since possessing, this world wasn't the game world.
The rules and physics were similar, but terrain, place names, history, and more were completely different.
It was disappointing, but not a dealbreaker.
Because he'd brought the game system—his possession perk—with him intact.
The ability to open an interface like in a simulation game, appraise heroes or people, and issue commands directly into their minds.
With that system, Rex had nothing to fear, save perhaps the distant future.
Right after possessing, he was happy.
The simulation game system—what he conveniently called the interface—was useful in many ways.
Youngest ever admission to the Eschric Kingdom Royal Academy's Military Department,
Shortened the 20-year curriculum to 12 years via consecutive grade-skips,
Never once lost his top spot until graduation,
And his command abilities were recognized, leading to his youngest-ever graduation and immediate employment as a staff officer in a city.
Having walked the elite of elites path, he had no doubt he'd live a happy life.
'Get a house in my name, maybe marry two? Three wives if I'm greedy. Then have kids and live happily ever after.'
Rex was an ambitious everyman.
With skills like his, a slow life would be a waste.
But he didn't want a bloody, tumultuous one either.
'With great power comes great responsibility.'
He knew he had what it took to shine as a royal staff officer, but that came with equally heavy responsibilities.
Too heavy for an ambitious everyman like Rex.
So he chose a city staff position.
For thoroughly petty reasons: decent wealth while maintaining everyday peace.
He had no desire to wave a baton from the heart of hellfire.
'Now, in the city, I'll rack up merits here and there...'
But his happy deliberations didn't last long.
'I should've kept a lower profile!!'
A commoner with no backing had outshone the nobles' kids, snagging top honors and youngest-ever awards. They took it personally.
Of course, he still had a bit of puberty left,
He wanted to show off with his cheat skills,
And above all, the admiring gazes from the girls were too enjoyable.
The problem was he hadn't thought about the aftermath.
On the way to his assignment, his carriage was ambushed, a sack thrown over his head.
When he came to, he was in a lab belonging to a scientist introducing himself as Letor.
A staff officer vanishing en route to his post? Would the city lord bother searching?
In a world where officers crossing mountains en route to posts could get mauled by tigers... or orcs, no one would bat an eye.
Especially not for an unknown commoner. No lord would dispatch troops.
And that lord was likely in on it anyway.
Thus began Rex's isekai adventure in a mad scientist's lab.
'My happy cheat harem life!!'
No harem in sight—just a future as a multi-gender Frankenstein.
'I've got cheat skills for once, good looks too—how is this fair!'
In truth, those very cheats and looks had landed him here, but no one was around to point it out.
'If I'd known I'd reincarnate, I wouldn't have picked the brutal bad luck penalty to boost potential!!!'
He regretted choosing the harshest penalty for higher potential stats.
'Oh, God.'
Rex wasn't religious and didn't believe in gods, but he called out anyway.
No response, of course. He accepted reality.
'Sigh. Should've kept a lower profile.'
He should've at least built up martial prowess or played politics.
He'd never understood why his academy peers skipped studies for politics, but now he got it—the deeper meaning.
'No wonder the 20-year curriculum was just morning classes.'
Strategy and tactics were so fun he'd ignored the side-eyes. Karma.
Or maybe he'd overestimated this world's average human decency.
Crack!
As Rex wallowed in past regrets, a dull thud sent electricity racing through his skull.
"Ugh!"
Rex glared at the one who'd clubbed his head.
'Damn barbarian! This is why you can't trust ain folk. What if you damage this precious brain?'
The clubber was a burly goblin about Rex's height.
The goblin's pumpkin-orange eyes met Rex's.
"Snap out of it, useless human!"
Rex bristled at being called that by a goblin, but he couldn't pick a fight.
Level 48.
A monster that could fell even a lord's elite knight.
Dr. Letor assigned ranks to test subjects based on results. This goblin, per its level, was a "decent success."
Rex, by contrast, was a total failure.
No progress in any experiment meant the failure label stuck.
He should've been scrapped, but bootlicking and politicking got him an errand boy gig.
"Back to your room, failure! Kek!"
Even the goblin condescended. Rex's last shred of human pride reared up,
"What're you staring at? Kek. Wanna die?"
But the goblin's spear sobered him. He bowed his head.
Unlike the goblin, Rex was highly rational and pragmatic—pride could bend.
Thus, he meekly returned to his room.
Errand boy or not, no special quarters.
Still the same solitary cell from test subject days.
A 3-pyeong room with just a desk and bed.
Back in his room, Rex flopped onto the bed.
Ignoring the goblin watching through the door, he opened a semitransparent window.
Only he could see it, and eye movements controlled it—no issue doing it openly.
'Idiot.'
Rex sneered at the glaring goblin beyond the bars.
Not just the goblin—Dr. Letor, who saw him as a failure, too.
In truth, he wasn't a failure.
Quite the opposite—an overwhelming success.
'Should I be grateful...'
The doctor's experiments had evolved his interface.
The evolved ability: perfect memory.
Precisely, annotations, memos, and search functions added to the interface—indistinguishable from perfect recall.
He'd once debated reporting it to the scientist.
But he didn't care to fulfill the doctor's dreams, so he hid it, even self-labeling as failure.
'Just a bit more...'
Rex had no plans to rot in this hellhole forever.
Escape someday—
"Kek! Up, you worm! Morning!"
The grating goblin voice yanked his consciousness up.
'What? When did I fall asleep?'
Rex lived another day.
Back in his room after errands.
As usual, lounging on the bed fiddling with the interface, he checked the time.
10:00
He didn't know the principle, but the interface had a clock function.
Confirming the time, Rex pressed his ear to the door.
'Guard's... asleep.'
No matter the level, a goblin's nature didn't change.
With the guard confirmed, Rex perched on the bed and carefully placed paper on the creaky desk.
Using charcoal swiped during errands, he wrote today's note.
Note complete, Rex felt along the solitary cell's wall for the hole.
He gently pushed the note through.
This had been his routine for months.
He traded for charcoal and paper with the next-door subject.
Sentences couldn't be long.
- [A? I ate meat today.]
Meat scraps, sure, but special enough to call a treat.
Rex waited for A's reply.
Name, gender, voice, looks—unknown.
Yet a bond existed between them.
But no reply came.
"Haa..."
Rex sighed unwittingly.
He recalled the rumor from a week ago: A sold to another slaver.
No replies since—he'd suspected.
Realistically, none would come.
Continuing to a vacant cell raised discovery risk if a new subject arrived.
But humans hurt more from loneliness than beatings.
So he couldn't stop this irrational act.
"Haa..."
Rex turned from the left wall to the right, groping for the tiny hole there.
He slipped the note in.
- [D, you alive?]
D was another neighbor he'd bonded with, like A.
Reply came quick.
- [Still manageable, R]
Good—he (gender unknown) was still there.
Rex recalled D's experiment while reading it.
D's was to enable survival without food.
Thus, no food or water for over half a year, he'd heard.
Thinking that, Rex measured the hole.
Big enough for three fingers at start, now a gap for one paper.
Confirmed, he carefully wrote at the desk again.
- [Hang on a bit. It'll break through soon.]
Then, as usual, he pickaxed the hole with a fork.
Another fortnight passed.
The gap finally became a hole.
Through to the other side.
Thrilled, Rex began writing.
- [Drink, D]
Without waiting, he rolled paper into a straw, inserted it, and attached his smuggled water bottle to the end.
Sip—
Water level dropped.
Once empty, the straw vanished toward D.
Soon, the note that went first returned with D's reply on back.
- [Want to see sunlight, R?]
Rex pondered.
In this mood, it meant high odds of a method.
Rex had his own escape plan, but he'd hear D's first.
- [What's the method?]
But D's next action was utterly unexpected.
Boom!
Kuek!!
D's door exploded, goblin death cries echoing.
Followed by meat-grinding sounds.
Lab-wide emergency alarm blared.
Ugh! Code Blue!!! All to stations!
A troll bellowed at the top of its lungs.
Stunned by the sudden chaos, Rex's door ripped away.
Beyond the vanished door, Rex saw D's face.
A hulking 2m frame, shaggy beard, unkempt hair draped over a ragged wildman.
The wildman—D grinned.
"R. First time seeing you. Got anything to eat?"
Overwhelmed, Rex nodded and offered bread.
D—Duke tossed the bread in his mouth, grin unhidden.
'It's finally starting.'
The moment 200 years of effort bore fruit.