Lv.0 Swordmaster Gaon - [Prologue]
There was something precious to me that someone else might consider worthless.
I didn't know that when I was a child. But now that I'm an adult, I know it too.
Myself, who has become so pitiful that even I feel sorry for myself······
The one who had everything in my life taken away from me.
What exactly happened? It was truly terrifying and horrifying.
The online game I had played to death shut down today.
It meant that my past twenty years had vanished without a trace. The faithful days I had devoted to hunting and raiding without a moment's sleep, hour after hour.
I was walking dejectedly through the city.
While idly scanning the streets, a certain scene caught my eye.
A dark alley, in other words, the playground of gangsters, where an unjust scene was unfolding.
“How much do you have, asshole?”
Three human delinquents were cornering a small orc.
People passed by without noticing the spectacle. Fear, and the thought that an orc like that deserved whatever happened to it, probably lingered in their minds.
I decided to use this situation for my own amusement.
I strode towards the alley. The delinquents, who had been rummaging through the orc's pockets, glared at me.
The crudely built delinquent asked,
“What?”
“Swordmaster.”
Did my answer impress them? The delinquents fell silent for a moment.
They were debating whether to burst out laughing at my words or to get angry, but it seemed they decided to just chase me off.
“Stop talking nonsense and get lost. Huh? Or are you gonna die?”
Pathetically cliché dialogue. As a reward, I gave them a pretty mocking smile.
It looked like their anger was boiling over. They started approaching me, snapping their fingers.
I picked up the stick lying beside me and pointed the end of it at the three of them.
Since I wasn't in a good mood, I deliberately shouted loudly.
“Come at me! I will defeat you villains and purify this city!”
Of course, it wasn't a smart move to challenge three people while just holding a stick.
But the delinquents who looked at my stick, instead of mocking and charging, backed away with pale faces.
I took a step forward.
Two of the delinquents fell and hit their asses.
“Ugh, uwaaaaa······.”
In the end, they rolled on the ground and fled. Pathetic bastards. Anyway, the justice of the city was preserved.
I approached the orc with teary eyes and spoke to him.
“Are you okay?”
The orc couldn't speak immediately after opening his mouth. After fumbling for a long time, he finally managed to say one word.
“That······ is it sword qi?”
The orc's gaze was fixed on the gray energy flickering on the stick.
“This? Yes.”
“Swordmas······”
“Don't speak so loudly.”
The orc couldn't meet my gaze.
“Tha······ thank you.”
After that, the orc kept bowing for a long time, trembling, and disappeared into the alley.
Into the darkness of the city.
I looked at the bright city spread beyond that.
Brilliant lights swallowed the starlight of the night sky. Neon signs and car headlights flashing brighter than the stars.
The world I remembered from tens of years ago wasn't like this. Much quieter, with stars floating in the night sky, and orcs running across the plains with thunderous battle cries.
About a hundred years ago, the Archmage opened a portal to another world.
A portal connecting both sides.
Even in the other world, there were people.
Just as people in our world paid attention to the other world, people in the other world paid attention to ours.
The other world was indeed a world where kind people lived. The kind people there were willing to deliver civilization and freedom to our world.
In other words, it meant they were sending armies to turn the entire world into a colony.
The era had come where tanks were crushing mandrake fields, fighter jets pouring machine gun fire at wyvern flocks, elf guerrillas engaging in hit-and-run tactics, and dwarf engineers digging trenches.
The Archmage who opened the portal felt a sense of responsibility. Since he had brought such terrifying things into this world, he had to lead this war to victory by any means necessary.
However, the Archmage was a genius who could open a portal to another world but didn't know much about magic related to war. So how?
The Archmage gathered the boys.
I was also a boy at the time. Along with the other boys, I listened to the Archmage's explanation.
“There is a world with different time flow from here. A world where time flows tens of times faster than here. One year here is tens of years in that world······ so if you train for about a year there, it's like a few days have passed in our world.”
Even if you spend about a year there, only a few days pass here?
All the boys, including me, were captivated by those words. Boys naturally want to grow up quickly.
“I will open the portal to that world. Train while growing your immature bodies. Become skilled warriors and return.”
Training plans, supply plans, etc., were already in place. With a trainer to take care of us and slaves, we entered the portal opened by the Archmage.
With a solemn sense of mission, we stepped into that world.
In principle, we were supposed to stay there for only a year or two. However, plans always go awry.
In that world, we had to stay much longer than the original plan.
So, two hundred years passed.
Throughout that time, we swung our swords again and again. Without resting even a moment.
There was meaning in the effort.
On a day when we repeated training and battles, my sword glowed with intense energy. Ash-gray sword qi.
And thus I realized that I had reached the realm of Swordmaster. That supreme realm that every swordsman dreams of.
Now, with sword qi gushing out, everything seemed perfect.
After more time passed, I, who was no longer a boy but ready to save the world, kicked open the portal.
The original world welcomed me.
The hometown I hadn't seen in a very long time was already peaceful.
Twenty years had passed since I left.
So I had returned too late.
The war had ended, and the world had changed. The world where the elves' numbers had burned, skyscrapers rose in their place.
Even the kingdom I lived in had become a republic, which was never a good thing. Definitely not.
In the midst of chaos, I had fought a few small battles.
It didn't become good memories.
Amidst increasing panic, I couldn't make sense of anything.
One thing was clear. People in the changed world didn't need a savior who spewed sword qi.
In the end, I was trapped in my own fortress. A fortress connected to the internet.
I stumbled upon an online game that I had touched by chance.
The birth of the shut-in Swordmaster.
So, tens of years passed, and those tens of years became bubbles again with a single service shutdown notice.
Empty.
It's ridiculous to make such a fuss over just one game shutting down, but right now, my desire for suicide is serious.
Damn it, almost all my human relationships were in that damn game!
While walking dejectedly, my pocket was noisy.
I belatedly realized it was the phone ringtone. Because no calls had come for so long.
“Who is this?”
“Hello. Gaon-ssi? Is it Gaon?”
Korean language coming from the phone.
Why was a call coming in a foreign language suddenly? It wasn't hard to figure out the reason.
The game I played was a Korean online game. While waiting for the service to shut down, I exchanged phone numbers with some gamers when saying goodbye.
It was the Korean server, so naturally, the gamers were Koreans.
One of them must have contacted me.
“Yes, this is Gaon. Then this side is Jijonmussang?”
“Yes! It's Jijonmussang! Ah, you almost got me, lucky. Anyway, the game is fucked, I'm depressed, wanna drink?”
The Korean on the other end of the phone sounded like a middle-aged uncle. His voice was cracked to the point of breaking.
Right now, even that cracked voice was welcome.
I said with a slight smile.
“Sorry, I rarely go to Korea. No passport.”
“Passport?”
“Didn't you mention it in the game? I'm from the Hugin Republic.”
“Hugin? Wait, real otherworlder? Not Korean?”
“I'm not Korean.”
“Your Korean is too good, I thought it was a concept. Anyway, real otherworlder, what the hell······”
In my view, you seem like an otherworlder.
Anyway, we chatted happily. We talked a lot about what we did in the game and how much fun it was then.
After a while, the Korean brought up the main topic.
“So, um······ wanna play another game together?”
“Another game?”
“4 Fantasy Online. Haven't you heard of it?”
Of course I had heard. It was the cause of my game's shutdown.
Suddenly, I saw a street advertisement.
World's Only, Perfect Virtual Reality Implementation!
Jump into the battlefield yourself or lead your troops to conquer the world!
While looking at the flashing advertisement, the Korean's voice came through.
“This is money. It's really money.”
“Just a game?”
“Yeah, a game! In developing countries, playing this game is way more profitable than working directly, right? That's why it's becoming a social problem in some countries? For Koreans, if you work hard, you can get the minimum wage, everyone says······”
The Korean spoke as if tempting me, but I had no intention of making money from the game.
I am, after all, a Swordmaster. There are only seven of us in the world. Even just breathing, rich people send sponsorships.
Still, it was an interesting story.
If it's a game that makes money, it won't shut down easily.
Now that the game I had clung to for tens of years had shut down, I wanted a game that wouldn't shut down easily.
“So, let's play together. You'll definitely make a lot of money. Gaon-ssi is a super shut-in, connecting for fourteen hours a day, human macro.”
At the Korean's words, I laughed and replied.
“Sure, let's try.”