Prologue: The Dopamine Rush

Our lives are stained with pain at every moment.

No matter what, the idea that having a lot of money makes you happy leads you to work while sacrificing your health, time, and effort.

But if you only eat delicious things, all kinds of diseases follow, so you force yourself to eat tasteless healthy food and pair it with grueling exercise.

It feels as if everyone has been brainwashed into believing they must live that way, even though life is far too short.

“But I can’t resist chicken~.”

Even a philosopher drowning in unemployment had already finished his short reflection on the gum—life—whose flavor had long since faded and could no longer be chewed.

I received the pre-ordered chicken at the perfect timing right after work and dashed into the room.

Steam rising from the chicken.

An ice-cold can of cola.

The fierce rivalry between slurping the soup and leaving the kimchi jjigae untouched.

I set up every preparation neatly beside the desk and turned on the PC with an infinitely reverent heart.

Right this moment, for this exact instant, I endured the cursing from the company that continuously inflicted debuffs and dot damage on me and gave my all for the quick quitting work.

Thanks to this, while the office workers who treat extension work and overtime as their daily routine were quitting a little late and stuck in traffic, I was witnessing the dopamine overload set right here.

Moreover, this was far from the end.

Today I planned to completely shatter my dopamine receptors.

That was why I connected to the most famous S-company game platform and launched the game I had devoted most of my youth to.

- Escape From Darkzone

The catchphrase for this game was “Survive together or die together.”

A hyper-realistic cooperative FPS game, Escape From Darkzone (EFD), released about ten years ago, had now entered its tenth year of service.

The game concept followed a virtual dystopian near-future society in which death row inmates, stripped of all human rights, were thrown into Darkzones overseen by the government and major corporations.

From there they fought through unknown anomalies and bizarre environments to return with resources and information.

Upon returning, they settled the value of what they had brought, received appropriate rewards, upgraded their bodies, purchased equipment and auxiliary items, and entered the Darkzone once more.

This simple loop was the game’s defining feature.

Of course, failure to escape meant losing every item farmed inside the Darkzone and respawning in the prison to try again.

With just the right balance of RPG elements, roguelike elements, and escape mechanics that never spoiled immersion, it was an incredibly satisfying game.

Furthermore, the variety of maps, environments, conditions, and playstyles made fixation or boredom unlikely.

Thanks to that, countless users were famous even now for sacrificing their entire lives on it.

I had participated from the alpha test and closed beta—events said to be attended only by a tiny handful of users since the cafeteria days—so there was nothing left to say.

And today the long-awaited tenth-anniversary commemorative large-scale update was scheduled.

I tore into the chicken leg roughly while waiting for the update to finish, the juices and seasoning flooding my mouth only increasing my excitement and anticipation.

It was a game I had sacrificed ten years for.

My playtime had long since surpassed ten thousand hours, and my miracle poop videos and walkthroughs had been topics on video platforms and game communities more than once.

From veteran to beyond veteran, for me the tenth-anniversary update was no different from adding a Western buffet to a Korean-Japanese-Chinese one.

- Then why give it away like this?

- The users remain.

Kru!

Is this crazy? Really?

All DLCs were free, no P2W issues, small payments only for battle passes and skins, bugs almost perfectly fixed, and even as a ten-year veteran the content supply never stopped.

Honestly, at this level I thought they deserved GOTY every year.

This time I would aim for the tenth-anniversary speedrun walkthrough.

To do that I had quit work today and burned through the vacation I had never used.

Sitting in front of the desk all day during the holiday and worsening my stiff neck and dry eyes would still make the world’s first speedrun walkthrough impossible.

- Game update completed.

- Prepare for exploration, Prisoner.

“Okay, let’s go.”

I pressed the play button labeled “Input.”

Right then.

Instead of the usual horror-tinged intro video that always played before entering the game lobby, strange text began ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠printing on a black screen.

Before I could react, the black screen on the monitor suddenly swelled until it filled my entire field of vision and swallowed me whole.

“Hah… what was that just now?”

I forced myself to endure the headache that felt like I was about to wake up and blinked repeatedly.

The black screen gradually faded, and soon the bright light around me flowed into my retinas.

After blinking a few more times to clear the haze and rubbing my eyes, the surrounding scenery finally came into focus, like a person waking from a long sleep.

“Prisoner! Concentrate!”

Thud. Thud.

The sudden shout and the sound of something hitting the table snapped my attention.

What? What situation is this? Prisoner? That’s a word that comes out in court, right?

In legal dramas the majestic judge sometimes scolds a defendant who shows no remorse or causes a disturbance.

Coincidentally, this was exactly that situation, but why?

I had clearly been preparing a dopamine full charge in the room?

……

I silently turned my head and surveyed my surroundings.

The man staring down at me from the opposite side was unmistakably the judge who had not strayed from the ominous prediction, with the prosecutor and jury arranged around him like a scene from a legal drama.

For a moment I thought I was dreaming, but the tension and pressure that made my breathing stop were far too realistic.

The pure malice I felt from the people glaring at me with hatred and those openly mocking me was impossible to explain, yet fear crept in as well.

I turned my eyes away from the unchanging scene and finally included the other person standing guard beside me in my field of vision.

Of course, it was the court-appointed lawyer.

Wait, so I am the defendant?

Of course. The judge who looked nothing like the one in reality had pointed at me and declared defendant.

I had no idea what had happened, but I calmed my pounding heart and relaxed my body’s tension as much as possible.

If this was a dream, that would be wonderful, but if not, causing a disturbance would accomplish nothing.

Who are you? Where is this? What’s going on? They would not have kindly answered with those clichéd lines.

More importantly, I had been watching one existence that had been annoying at the edge of my vision with narrowed eyes.

…Robot?

I had never seen a robot like this in reality. In the 2020s robot commercialization was still a distant dream.

But this bulky, enormous machine was nothing like the ordinary humanoid we imagined.

It was a design I was strangely familiar with.

Three meters tall, thick armor, heavy limbs, a shock gun capable of instantly suppressing people, and super-strong claw arms.

That’s a can, right?

Commonly called a can.

A machine designed to instantly suppress suspects who had committed serious crimes or anyone causing disturbances within government facilities.

But how did I know about something that did not exist in reality? Because it was our kind neighbor that I saw quite often in EFD.

Inmates who were not exploring the Darkzone basically stayed inside the prison and solved all problems.

If a user performed suspicious actions or attempted a riot or escape, those cans would come to suppress them immediately.

Unlike the AI with good communication functions, these robots had no flexibility whatsoever.

If irritated, they suppressed first, literally cans.

But if that thing was here…

Could this be the world inside EFD?

I had read novels several times about protagonists being pulled into game worlds and rolling around like dogs, but I had never imagined I would become that protagonist.

Cold sweat poured down my body, barely calmed after the shock of realizing reality.

If that was true…

Shit.

This was the conclusion I reached after careful thought.

There was no need to say it—I was screwed.

…Therefore, the harmonious agreement between the defendant and the suspect could not be reached, the defendant showed no signs of remorse, and finally, the defendant’s crime was very bad.

While I was thinking that, the great judge was slowly finishing the judgment he had been reciting since a while ago.

In short, I knew nothing, but right before the final sentence was about to be given to me, the defendant.

Of course, there was one problem.

The problem was that I knew nothing about this body.

No ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sudden headache with memories returning like in novels, and no status window, the usual convenientist trope.

That meant my mind had been sucked into an unknown body in the estimated game world.

Suddenly I craved tteokbokki.

Koreans have the habit of craving tteokbokki when depressed.

In this court it is judged that the defendant must be quickly isolated from society, and thus the death penalty is sentenced to the defendant Han Seungho.

While I was thinking silly thoughts, the life of this body ended.

The unknown me, with the fantasy quickening of the court-appointed lawyer who knew nothing and did nothing beside me, had just decided the ending.

The people on the opposite side who had been gearing up to kill the character Han Seungho were finally happily freed from this boring time and space.

It meant that the judge, prosecutor, and even the jury were all on the same side.

They all received their due, but the only difference was that nothing remained for me, the party.

“Sorry.”

Now the court-appointed lawyer who had not even attached the smartlink, another symbol of the EFD world view, suddenly spewed an apology without thinking.

Even if it had been sincere, it would not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have stuck in my ears.

If it had, this man would have been a lawyer in Daecheon-dong, not an incompetent court-appointed lawyer.

Setting aside whether Daecheon-dong existed here.

Anyway, he had been released from the existence of me, and I was completely bound in this world.

Good. Good.

Shit.

Clank clank.

From behind I felt the can guarding the courtroom approaching.

The only thing currently restraining me was the flimsy handcuffs, but the can that came close soon used special restraints made of thick metal to instantly bind my body.

It was a restraint that seemed like a giant crab grabbing my arms and upper body entirely.

- Now move.

The can, designed to be as bulky as possible to avoid the unpleasant valley effect, commanded me with a mechanical sound that did not feel any human touch.

I knew that if I went wild here the police robot would give me a tingling electric massage through the special restraint and I would not be able to shake my bones.

So I obediently walked out of the courtroom following the instructions.

Before leaving, the countless gazes pouring on me felt sarcastic smiles, unpleasant excitement, and superiority, but now it did not matter anyway.

The timing I regained consciousness was too bad for the conditions of this body I had regained consciousness in.

No matter what I did, the death sentence could not be avoided.

Now I was about to be incarcerated in the prison as a death row prisoner instead of returning to the detention center.

If this was the EFD world view, it would be incarcerating in that prison.

Most powerful criminals in Korea were sent there.

As expected, as it told that the EFD world view was a dystopian near-future society set in the 2040s, a prison transport armored vehicle was waiting for me.

When I boarded the vehicle, I saw other convicts who were waiting to be sent to the prison.

Since they had not yet been incarcerated, without a national sentencing competition I could not know who was worse, but I was the exception.

In this chicken-coop-like armored vehicle, the only one walking into the most back corner while wearing the special restraint was me.

- This vehicle will now move. All passengers, do not get up from your seats, and do not perform reckless actions. This vehicle is equipped with an internal riot suppression tear gas spray system.

The criminals became a bit more tense in their chairs due to the AI’s warning driving the armored vehicle.

I was not particularly bothered.

If my knowledge was correct, the riot suppression gas used by law enforcement was close to sleeping gas.

The rulers of this world knew better than anyone that it was more efficient to just put people to sleep rather than cause pain.

Of course, I also did not want to dirty the outside air with gas while sitting a little distance away from other criminals with a thin iron bar in the widest back seat.

So the dimly lit dark armored vehicle left from Seoul High Court and headed somewhere.

The final destination was Seoul Southern Prison.

The Seoul Southern Prison where I lived was a criminal correction and detention facility attached to the Seoul Southern Detention Center, but.

The Seoul Southern Prison here had been set to have completely closed the southern detention center for some reason about ten years ago, then massively expanded only the southern prison.

Ordinary people would think it was better to scatter prisons in rural small cities or villages where administration and security did not work well, rather than building the largest prison in safe Seoul to dump a large amount of criminals and manage them all at once.

Actually, it was just to gather all the convicts in one place and conveniently grind them up.

In that sense, we all got unlucky.

Among us, I got especially unlucky.

Then the monotonous guidance broadcast flowed again.

- Three minutes until arrival at the destination.

That meant we had little time left to engrave the outside air of the virtual Korea, which was a mess with environmental pollution and abnormal climate in the 2040s, into our guts.

Moreover, wasn’t this armored vehicle a time machine? Otherwise it could not be this fast.

Whether I thought that or not, the armored vehicle did not stop and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ran smoothly on the paved road, arriving exactly at the scheduled time.

- Arrived at the destination. All passengers, please disembark in an orderly manner. Please be informed that if you refuse to disembark or cause a disturbance, you may receive strong additional sanctions.

I did not know exactly what the strong additional sanctions were, but I thought they were physical injury, additional sentencing, or an unfortunate accident that could lead to maximum death.

Either way, it was not a pleasant story, so the ones who still had attachment to life would suddenly start keeping order, which they would not have kept well in society.

When everyone got up and started disembarking in order, I, who was sitting in the last seat, also pushed the iron bar with my body and went out belatedly.

“Stand straight!”

The shout echoing violently as I was about to get off the armored vehicle hit my eardrum.

The prison guard, who was more bulky and more viciously looking than the security maintenance robot that had dragged me from the court, was glaring at us lined up with a sour expression, accompanied by a prison guard robot (can ver 2).

“You bastards who are always pushed around like you, my health is not what it used to be because of you.

From today you will spend your sentence in this first domestic anti-film Seoul Southern Prison jointly operated and managed by the South Korean government and corporate union.

Of course I do not expect you to be educated or repent like you.

You just need to keep one thing well.

If you want to finish your sentence healthy and return to society, act as model as much as possible in here.

That’s it.”

After finishing his self-talk and turning around, the guard turned his head again, found me standing at the very end of the prisoners, and slowly approached.

“Well well, I almost missed today’s protagonist.”

“It is an honor to be recognized.”

I, who suddenly found myself in this absurd and unreasonable situation, unconsciously could not resist the rebellious spirit and spat out a word.

Of course the price was harsh.

Thud!

The guard kicked my shin as if waiting and grabbed my collar with one hand.

The source of the tremendous strength that lifted my body wearing the special restraint was probably the metal arm replacing part of his flesh.

“Don’t act tough, you bastard.

Twenty years ago it was noisy about human rights and such, so you death row bastards were kings, but now it is not.”

“…Cough! Sorry.

I should have been born about twenty years earlier.”

“You bastards would have been happier if you had not been born.”

I also strongly agreed with that.

The ones who received the death sentence were already garbage that had gone beyond the bottom of life and pierced the mantle.

Very bad guys.

He threw me roughly to the side while I was nodding my head with difficulty while being held by the collar.

He first walked into the prison and ordered the security robot.

“Bring them all in!”

- All move.

- Move in an orderly manner.

No tolerance for sudden actions or disturbances.

With the special restraint released by the security robot, I loosened my stiff body and walked into the prison following the other convicts.