Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: To a New World
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Ryu Sia’s house was a splendid place.
It had so much space that it almost felt too big for one person, and it was right in the heart of the city with excellent access to transportation.
The clean interior typical of a brand-new building, paired with a neatly organized ivory countertop.
The impeccably white wallpaper blended seamlessly with the simple Nordic-style decor.
The consistent use of marble in the furniture created a sense of unity.
The layout made excellent use of the generous square footage, exuding an air of luxury all on its own.
Even for someone as tall as me, the ceiling felt plenty high—more than enough to provide a real sense of psychological comfort.
"Did you pick out the house yourself?"
"I don’t really know much about that sort of thing... My parents handled everything. They never visited even once, though."
Ryu Sia replied as she kept chopping away, her apron tied neatly around her waist.
Her divorced parents refused to admit they were indifferent to their child. Having achieved economic success, they didn’t want to be seen by those around them as heartless people who had “abandoned their kid after the divorce.”
That was why they spared no expense on financial support for Ryu Sia. Not out of love for her, but to appease the eyes of the public.
What she had truly needed, though, was emotional support.
'I exploited that gap perfectly.'
The desire for recognition, the desire for love—at the root of it all lay an unconscious wish that if she could once again prove herself special, her family might come back to her.
'All I did was redirect that desire. Nothing more.'
The desire had already ballooned to massive proportions. All that was needed was to turn it in a new direction.
Twist the craving for recognition into a burning need for my recognition.
Infiltrate the void in her heart left by absent parents and emotional deprivation, then fill it with myself.
Now, she no longer wished to mend her family ties. Her new life’s purpose had become earning my recognition and love.
Even if that meant living as a subservient slave—she had grown utterly dependent on the pleasure and security I provided her.
Before long, she placed the finished dish on the table.
"Curry? Looks delicious. Dig in."
"Sia senior! Itadakimasu!"
The first spoonful filled my mouth with a deep, rich flavor. The onions, stir-fried for ages until they’d browned to sweetness, brought a delightful mix of sweet and nutty notes.
Packed full of meat, the curry carried an even more intense aroma. Chewing it let me replenish the protein I’d burned through overnight.
"Mmm, delicious."
"Wow, so that thing you were stir-frying forever was onions! It’s so good, senior!"
"Hmph hmph."
Emboldened by Chae Yu-na’s praise, Ryu Sia thrust out her chest proudly and began bragging about the dish.
"I slaved over this for a full hour, all for Master!"
Her smug pose, huge breasts on full display, brought a smile to my face.
"I used to relieve stress by cooking! These days, I’ve got other ways to unwind, though..."
"Anyway! Point is, this is me showing off my full skills!"
It felt just like eating a meal prepared by a wife in our newlywed home.
This was the exact scene I’d once dreamed of.
A joyful newlywed life with Kang Su-ah. A salvation from the research and suffering that had filled my existence.
"...Grind."
My teeth clenched hard, scraping in my mouth with a harsh sound.
The life I’d longed for had been impossible from the start. Every moment she’d spent with me had been a lie.
I’d been the only one who wanted that life. She had simply been waiting for me to complete the technology and die.
"Master...? Are you angry?"
Yu-na and Sia gazed at me with worried eyes—pure concern for my emotions, without a trace of fear.
Looking at them soothed my heart. These two weren’t targets of my revenge. If anything, they were the ones caught up in it.
Which meant I had a duty to take responsibility for them. A duty to make their altered lives truly happy.
...It didn’t matter how that happiness had been obtained.
The old me would have recoiled in horror at such twisted thinking. But the current me was a warped utilitarian.
As long as the end result was maximum happiness, what did the methods matter?
"...No. I just felt a bit indignant for a second there."
"Indignant about what?"
At Ryu Sia’s question, I flashed a reassuring smile.
"Felt unfair that I hadn’t tasted something this good until now. It’s really delicious. You worked hard, Sia."
I took her hand as I spoke.
"Hehe, no big deal at all..."
"It is a big deal. I watched you cooking away like that earlier. Thanks."
"Eek, seriously, it’s nothing. But... thank you for saying so!"
Delighted by the nonstop praise, Sia blushed and giggled happily.
We finished the meal in a cheerful atmosphere.
Once we were done eating, Chae Yu-na gave her report on the results.
"Master, how much do you already know about GK Group’s Virtual Reality division?"
"Pretty much everything. You can assume I know it all from the project’s launch up until six months ago."
"As expected... Master knows everything, even our company’s top-secret intel."
Chae Yu-na began moping, wondering aloud if she was useless after all.
'She doesn’t realize I was the one overseeing that project.'
I chuckled inwardly and patted her shoulder to comfort her.
"What matters to me right now is the info from the last six months. Can you focus on that?"
"Yes! Over the past six months, there have been massive changes in the Virtual Reality division."
"It used to be the runt of the litter—sucking up huge R&D budgets every year while posting insane deficits."
She manipulated a device on the table, and a holographic graph popped up.
"But now... the tables have completely turned."
The stock graph shot straight up like a rocket.
"Half a year—that’s how long it took for GK Group’s new Virtual Reality environment to dominate the market."
"It’s being hailed as half a century ahead of rival tech. No wonder the old competitors can’t even compete."
"Virtual reality... so they actually completed it?"
I voiced the question that had long nagged at me.
"Yes. Even after the death of lead researcher Jung Jin-hyuk, they finished the tech in record time and launched it to market."
'That doesn’t add up...'
The core components of the Virtual Reality tech had indeed been complete, but refining it for commercial use was an entirely different beast.
The idea that the lab’s dead weight had polished it to that level struck me as highly suspicious.
'Without me, those losers couldn’t have pulled it off.'
'Maybe there’s someone—or something—like me out there.'
I began to suspect the existence of a master operator who could naturally manipulate Virtual Reality, or perhaps an AI.
Mentally vowing to stay on guard, I listened intently to her explanation.
"Some busybodies even snickered that the tech only finished right after Jung Jin-hyuk died—implying he’d actually been holding it back."
"Well, the dead can’t speak for themselves."
She spoke of me with a bright smile.
"That’s... hm, never mind. Keep going."
A natural irritation welled up, tempting me to argue back. But I quickly lost interest.
She didn’t know my situation, so any rebuttal would turn into a long, exhausting explanation. I’d tell her someday, but now wasn’t the time.
She continued manipulating the screen as she briefed me.
"The personal-use Virtual Reality took off like wildfire, so GK quickly followed up with a new service."
"As a sequel to the earlier Reality of Your Own—RY service, they launched a new one called Life—RY-IF."
She pronounced the names clearly and precisely, teaching me about GK Group’s latest offering.
"It’s an existing Virtual Reality setup infused with the concept of ‘what if.’"
"The biggest difference from standard personal Virtual Reality? Almost all the restrictions are gone."
"Inside [Life], you can do things that would be utterly impossible in reality."
"Cast magic, unleash sword auras, wield superpowers—as long as you follow that world’s rules..."
"It’s no different from creating an entirely new Earth with its own set of rules."
"RY was a smash hit, becoming an essential part of modern life. But right now, most of GK Group’s revenue comes from the [Life] service."
"Their main server, which handles the bulk of GK’s data processing, is also running [Life] simultaneously."
"Which means if you can fully dominate [Life], you can breach GK Group’s main server."
She pulled a cute bunny-shaped doll from her pocket, then grabbed a nearby knife and sliced its throat.
"Kyaa!"
Startled by her sudden action, Ryu Sia fell flat on her butt. Chae Yu-na ignored her and rummaged inside the doll’s severed neck.
"Oops, sorry, senior... Didn’t mean to scare you."
Her belated apology rang hollow—her eyes were glued to the doll.
"It should be right around... aha!"
She rummaged a bit more, then smiled as she withdrew her hand from inside the doll.
Tucked between her fingers was a tiny data chip.
"Hmm, was tough to hide it in there... but ta-da!"
She proudly showed off the fingernail-sized chip.
"This is the access code you wanted for infiltrating the GK server room."
"...What security level does it get me into?"
"Just the lowest one—the worlds handled by the fifth server room. We’ll have to start there."
"It’s that old-school modern fantasy genre that used to be popular. Trends come and go, and now pure fantasy and martial arts are all the rage, so it’s the least popular by far."
She chattered on with a bright smile, adding that it also had the weakest security.
"What do I need to do to access a higher-security server?"
I asked in a resolute tone, steeling myself.
I hadn’t expected revenge to be easy. It could be a long, grueling, agonizing two years.
'Even so, I’ll have my revenge on her.'
The question carried all my determination—and her response delivered a delightful shock.
"Just do what you’re best at, Master...♥"
"Huh...?"
At my confused echo, she explained calmly.
"The fifth server room’s processing power won’t be able to recover if you twist the entire world beyond repair...♥"
"What if you shatter all the main scenarios? Kill off the key figures who are absolutely necessary, or turn would-be heroes into whores?♥"
"Mm...!"
"Sneak into a hero-training academy and corrupt it with lewd common sense? Or plaster pervy fetishes all over some noble human? That’d be fun too, right?♥"
"No matter what you do, Master—as long as you wreck the original world enough that it can’t resolve itself..."
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as words tumbled out rapidly.
"It’ll automatically link to a higher-processing server room...♥ All you have to do is access it then...♥"
"Just like you broke me... break those other worlds your way too, Master...♥"
Her face twisted in madness, as if watching me ruin worlds was the height of entertainment. She trembled with eerie excitement.
Her eyes brimmed with expectation for the worlds I would twist.
A lewd anticipation, forged from the warped mind I had created.
As I stroked her cheek, the corners of my mouth curled into a chilling smile much like hers.
Maybe revenge would be fun from beginning to end.