I Became the Snow Woman I Created.
Having entered the final countdown, only about an hour remained. I needed to channel the last spurts of strength.
With a faint tension gripping my palms, sweat beaded across my hands.
-Giiig...!
Even from the screen, a bone-chilling black mass belched a howling wail. Familiar as it now was, the first time it had terrified me. Before the Disaster stood the slender beauty with azure-white hair.
As the mouse moved, the woman acted. Of course, she was the playable character I controlled. I watched her back for a moment, affection stirring, then entered the command.
Savor it later. Right now, I had to rush.
The final clash with the Disaster was imminent. Having watched the cutscene many times, the solemn music swelled. I was skilled enough to crush an ordinary character with a stomp, but this time I had to stay serious.
Time was short, and the character I had chosen for this game set was Quillere, whose combat ability was low. Coming this far had been thanks to the high-tier items gathered from previous servers. Of course, I was stacked with every possible buff.
Sa-a-a-
Using the blizzard skill from Quillere's combat techniques, the battlefield was swallowed by fierce snow and fog. Classified as a high magic for the purpose of changing the climate, it was nonetheless considered trash because it lacked killing power against non-mobs. The only redeeming points were its range and the atmosphere it created. Compared to the extreme blizzard of a grand mage, it fell far short, yet I was satisfied. After all, I had designed it for that exact purpose.
Still, it was regrettable in a fast battle. I had no choice but to improvise. I ignored the Disaster's counterattack that would have been oblivious to the blizzard, disguised my evasion as the blizzard, and pulled a wand-type equipment from the inventory. A stream of mythic-grade gear that constantly orbited me like a stellar light.
"...How embarrassing."
Rankers I knew well would have laughed, saying a final boss was taken down with mythic gear. As someone considered an old-timer, I felt quite ashamed, but there was no other way. With time running out until the release of 'Sa-gye War II'—until the end of the world—I needed another solution.
In games with such extreme freedom, users could directly create the character they would play. As an early member and hardcore fan like me, I had created hundreds of characters, and among them, the snow woman was the masterpiece I perfected at the very end.
A character designed solely for looks and atmosphere, considering the game's difficulty had plummeted due to the user's steep growth. I ignored stats, time-attack potential, or anything else, and focused only on appearance and vibe.
Naturally, her settings were tailored to that, making her unsuitable for actual gameplay. Even basic stats and combat skills were extremely poor. To clear it on the original base alone would have taken at least half a day. Of course, my control was solid; I could clear it if I tried.
"But time is short."
So sorry, but die. With that resolve in mind, I struck the built-in scam skill on the wand, and the thing died instantly.
-Kieeeek!
With the grandeur befitting a final boss and its ear-splitting death cry, the Disaster vanished. Seeing it, I felt a twinge of pity. If it were really a final boss, I should have toyed with it a bit more before killing. In my haste, I had rushed, but after taking it down, there was quite a bit of time left.
As the Disaster dissolved, the crimson screen returned to normal. A shining drop item gleamed under clear skies. As a gamer's instinct demanded, I quickly collected all the items. Since I had taken so many already, they were all familiar names, except for the last one.
[Apocalypse of Disaster]
"Huh?"
I paused for a moment and stared at it. An old book reminiscent of a sinister magic tome. The first item I had seen while playing Sa-gye War. One of the drops from the final boss, the Black Disaster.
Information I hadn't known yet existed. A thrill surged through me, and I picked it up to check the description window.
〈Apocalypse of Disaster〉
·Grade: ?
·Effect: Offer something that cannot be exchanged with anything else, and the Disaster will end.
·Description: Equivalent exchange, the first principle of all magic. Truth does not distinguish between degree and apostle.
"Oh..."
What kind of nonsense was this? The grade was a question mark, and nothing was properly explained. At first glance, it seemed to mock users, but I felt rather good about it. This game encouraged direct user participation and exploration, so good items often had vague explanations.
What it was and how it could be used was something the gamer had to figure out. Well, since Koreans were quick to action in games or tasks, most people asked the community how to use it. But the early rankers like me had found the uses without any hints.
I wanted to savor the old days and investigate this slowly, but unfortunately there was no time. Even by appearances, it was a high-grade item, and items above a certain grade would not sync with 'Sa-gye War II'. A restriction for game balance.
"Can't help it."
Since I couldn't leisurely investigate, I decided to use it immediately. The only way to sync items with the next title was to apply something that had a permanent effect on the character itself.
Such items were extremely rare, and the probability of this one syncing was vanishingly low, but since I couldn't use it anyway, there was no loss. I immediately applied the Apocalypse of Disaster to the snow woman Quillere. The sinister book cover turned to ash and seeped in.
"...What?"
Nothing happened. Thinking the use had been canceled, I checked again, and the Apocalypse of Disaster was clearly gone. There must have been some activation condition.
"Or is it an activation condition?"
It was applied invisibly and supposedly activated under certain conditions. Various hypotheses arose, but there was no immediate way to prove any of them. In the end, with no reaction and the item gone, I felt a little disappointed.
[05:48]
I soon turned my eyes to the remaining time, ignoring it. In about five minutes, my masterpiece, the sequel to Sa-gye War, would be released. Since I had already received the data, I could start immediately upon release.
"Haa..."
Thinking that, my heart started pounding again. I had wanted to buy the brain that had never played Sa-gye War as my current wish, but it had been fulfilled in another way. The emotion I had felt when I first got hooked wouldn't settle.
Sa-gye War
Four Seasons War
This title that appeared like a comet a few years ago recorded a record of selling 4 million copies in just two weeks. Considering the developer was a newcomer with nothing built up, the performance was astonishing.
If I had to pinpoint the reason for its popularity, it would mostly be the extreme freedom. I had felt the same. The story itself was nothing special, after all.
Sa-gye War had the chaotic continent engulfed in war throughout the four seasons as its backdrop, and the main stream was to vanquish the Black Disaster, the source of all chaos. An era of heroes being born easily. In the age of warring feudal lords, players had to gather heroes and power everywhere to defeat the Disaster.
If the player didn't intervene, the continent would be destroyed by the Disaster and end there. So users had to use their heads to grow efficiently and build up strength.
"There were so many things I could do."
Here, the player could be anything. From the beginning, users could design and set up the playable character they controlled, and they could handle everything from game progression to various additional elements. For example, creating NPCs that didn't exist originally or partially altering storylines.
This uniqueness had taken the genre beyond simply playing a role within the work, creating a new genre called 'role-making RPG'.
It was an unprecedented masterpiece, and naturally it had produced countless nerds like me. There were so many things to do that it never got boring, and even those who quit temporarily would return the moment a new meta appeared.
"Looking back, there were many things."
I quietly reflected on the past events and gazed at the screen. After defeating the Disaster, this game set had reached the ending and returned to the settings window. On a square board named '109 Set,' three characters stood.
The one in the center was, of course, the first character, Quillere. The two on either side were the second characters applied with a licorice flavor to the tavern. In this game, besides the main character directly controlled by the player, two second characters could be deployed.
Even as second characters, each had their own settings and backgrounds, so they could become allies or enemies. The two characters applied this time were concepts I had played before, but unfortunately I hadn't met them.
Because I cleared the pre-release mission in just one day to start fresh, I hadn't had time to recruit companions, and since meeting them as cheerful companions with Quillere's settings would have been nonsense anyway, I hadn't tried.
"Playing with them was quite fun, though."
I looked at the two highly individualized male and female characters. The lonely vampire and the taciturn lone army black knight. The former taken from the vampire legend everyone knew, the latter created by briefly falling for the romance of some quiet strong guy. Including Quillere, all three had some indefinable lofty aura, and that was where my taste was clearly visible.
If I hadn't been hooked by the private legends and settled on the snow woman setting, I would have kept trying other concepts. Since creating Quillere, I hadn't felt any interest in other characters.
"This is... love...?"
I muttered absurdly and checked the time, then was startled. It was truly right before me now.
[00:23]
Every time the number changed, my heart skipped a beat. Apparently, the background of Sa-gye War II was a thousand years before the Sa-gye War era. A sequel and prequel to the original, but what kind of events would unfold here?
With the subtitle 'The Birth of the Disaster,' it seemed they wanted to dig deeper into the Disaster. No matter what, as long as it was fun, it didn't matter to me as a gamer.
[00:00]
"Let's go!"
Time up, I clicked the start with superhuman reflexes. How was it? This was the physique of a major game old-timer. No one would respond, but the system window appeared instead.
[Game Starting.]
[Playing records for 'Sa-gye War' found. Would you like to sync the data?]
[Y/N]
Since I already knew, I pressed Yes without hesitation. Instantly, the screen went completely black along with my vision. I have no memory of what came after.
It was probably just a moment of headache. My head throbbed. For some reason, I felt like I was floating, and dizziness had come over me. I lightly touched my forehead and opened my tightly closed eyes.
"......"
It was a brand-new world. The wallpaper of my room, which had been lived in for a long time and had a yellow tint, was gone, and in its place was something entirely white that I might not even be able to call a wall. Perhaps because I was so shocked, I froze on the spot.
"What... is this...?"
An involuntary murmur escaped me, and the moment I heard the voice, I froze again. It was an exquisitely beautiful tone that could not possibly be male. The thick, familiar male voice I had used all my life had vanished without a trace.
It was unbelievable. That the voice I had heard just moments ago had changed so suddenly? Moreover, even if it changed, it should have changed reasonably. Hearing such a voice from a man was absurd. My gaze, which had been circling once to figure out the situation, was magnetically fixed on one spot.
"......!"
There was a mirror. The full-length mirror with no particular patterns looked rather luxurious, but it couldn't possibly be in my room. But that wasn't the issue. The woman reflected in the mirror was far too familiar. A woman as white as snow, the snow woman Quillere.
"...What is this?"
A heavenly voice shook my eardrums, and another headache assaulted me. I raised my hand to touch my forehead and froze. The hand was smooth like untouched paper, flawless. The callused, rough hands I had known all my life were nowhere to be found.
I stared blankly at the pale, veinless hand beyond the white one, then shifted my gaze. I stared straight at the snow woman in the mirror. My eyes rolled, my hands moved, and she moved exactly the same way, like a puppet.
The shock came one after another, and I lost my words. After being frozen for a while, I muttered.
"Is this... possession...?"
In subculture, possession or reincarnation wasn't a strictly defined genre, but a widely popular one existed. I wasn't boasting, but I was very familiar with those things, and thanks to that, I was able to accept the current situation relatively quickly.
"Game possession... and also TS...?"
Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't shocked. I had been casually playing games when I suddenly got pulled into the game and my gender changed. Who wouldn't be flustered? The evidence was right there: my stomach was churning and my heart was pounding like crazy.
"But there's no sign of it."
My inner thoughts were like an erupting volcano, but the snow woman reflected in the mirror... my appearance didn't move at all. Her eyes were cold, beyond mere chill, and even though I was extremely tense, not a drop of sweat formed. It was a coolness that evoked a frozen climate.
Even if you were lost in the desert, you wouldn't sweat, right? Thinking that casually because I was lost, I blinked.
"Now that I think about it, where exactly am I now?"
I stood up abruptly and looked around again. This place was clearly inside some building, filled with pure white that looked like snow. If I had pressed start and fallen into the game, and if I had possessed the snow woman I created and her settings applied...
I probably knew this place. Since Sa-gye War II shared the same world as the previous title, it was right here. I walked to the window and looked outside. I had expected it, but my mouth couldn't stay shut.
"Wow..."
The Snowfield. Other than the phrase 'a land covered in snow,' what words could describe this view? Only a white, monochromatic world, with fierce winds and various snow flurries blowing. A knife-like wind hit my face, far harsher than what I remembered from Earth.
"It feels so refreshing..."
But I felt nothing about it. No matter how I looked, the cold seemed sharp enough to freeze flesh, yet to me it was just soft. I lightly touched my cheek. The snow woman's hand should have been extremely cold, but I felt no sensation. In this weather, the whole body should have been frozen solid, yet I was perfectly fine.
"As expected, the settings have been applied."
Quillere, the snow woman I had put so much effort into, had various settings. As a snow woman, being immune to cold was obvious, and after listing the rest of the appearance and minor settings, there were too many to mention now, so I picked only what was necessary.
"Emotional expression is extremely minimal."
This was already confirmed. No matter how I felt inside, my facial expression barely changed. Originally, I wasn't very poker-faced anyway.
"I reside in the Snow Castle within the Snowfield."
Like the previous one, this was also a setting I had added for fun to convey the character's vibe. After all, the character in the game couldn't realistically reflect emotions, and the latter would break the balance if it did, so I had added it to the castle from the beginning.
But it turned out like this. There was only one place called the Snowfield in Sa-gye War. An uninhabitable, extreme cold land in the far east of the continent. As a snow woman, I should live here, so I chose the location and added that I lived in the Snow Castle to give it a snow queen feel.
"The snowball has rolled."
Anyway, this revealed that the place I was in was the Snow Castle, a new building. No wonder the view from the window looked far away. The view from inside the castle made sense.
Thankfully, I hadn't been thrown onto the ground like an isekai trip. I had fallen into the extreme land, but with cold immunity, I was fine, and I had even been given my own house, whether it was a castle or something. I didn't need to worry about wild survival.
One concern was being attacked by someone, but that didn't need much worry either. The Snowfield was a no-man's land where even ordinary monsters couldn't live, and no human or other races could live there. But that didn't mean no one lived... According to the settings, I didn't need to worry about 'that.'
"Then what now?"
My chest still felt fluttering, but since there was no immediate danger, my mind quickly calmed. The fact that I had become a woman I had never imagined pierced my stomach, but because the situation was so shocking, I didn't feel it that seriously.
I would think about that later.
"For now... should I take a look around the castle?"
I had only said I resided in the Snow Castle and not described what was inside. So this process was necessary. Whether it would continue forever, for now I had a place to live, so I needed to know the structure.
Deciding that, I immediately moved. The place I was in seemed to be midway between the middle and upper floors, so I followed the spiral staircase downward to go up. Probably because it was a tall castle, the core facilities might be on top.
And I was right. While wandering through the spacious castle and looking at the decorations, I discovered a large door on one side. Carefully pushing it open, I immediately realized it was a storage room. The items inside the storage were in complete disarray, but I rather shone with excitement.
"This, Pegasus headpin! This, celestial music box!"
I had instantly recognized what they were. All items from my memory, 'items in the game.' But the number was staggering. The vast storage room was full to the ceiling and still overflowing.
"Was my inventory synced after all?"
It seemed so. They were all things I knew, and an old-timer like me wouldn't have so many unless they were my collection. I had pressed Yes to the question about syncing data. Thinking I could finally touch my long-held treasures, I was overjoyed and rummaged through everything.
I rummaged for a while until I got tired and sat down. It was happy to have so many items, but at the same time, disappointment was great. I had guessed, but it seemed high-grade items didn't sync. There were a few usable ones, but I couldn't see any truly good items.
"It's a shame, but... this is enough."
Even this much was a huge gain. If I tried to get everything, I'd get sick. After shaking off the emptiness and dust, I stood up and started investigating again. The castle had its own kitchen, cleaning tools, bathrooms, and other living facilities. Whoever made it, they were clearly flexible.
Then, when I reached the upper floor that was almost done, I opened a door and my eyes widened in shock. It was... a dressing room.
A dressing room filled with various colorful clothes. Garments covered in dust and not yet tarnished filled the room. That itself wasn't anything to worry about, but my interest turned to the clothing.
They were costumes I had painstakingly collected over the years.