Chapter 1
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Translator: volt
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Returned to the Farm, Ended Up in the New World
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“Haaah... I've moved all the packing materials. Does that wrap up today's chores?”
I wiped the beads of sweat from my brow and flopped down onto the cool floor of the room after hauling hundreds of styrofoam boxes.
It might sound sudden now, but South Korea is in the grip of a pandemic.
Not COVID. This one's an ancient plague that's been around forever and still hasn't been eradicated.
Legend has it that it only infects relaxed, retired couples in their fifties and sixties. The vectors of transmission include things like “I'm self-employed” and “Home by 6 PM.”
I call it the “return-to-the-countryside bug.”
My parents, who'd spent their whole lives near Seoul without even trying a weekend farm plot, suddenly got the itch and bought a 4,000-pyeong Shine Muscat vineyard. Go figure.
...Actually, I know exactly why. It was that lady who always dumped multi-level marketing junk on Mom, whispering about the “easy money you can make after retirement, living the leisurely life.”
And so, with grand dreams and romance of rural life—clean air, pure water, peace and quiet, friendly folks—they headed to the countryside.
They shelled out a fortune for a Shine Muscat farm setup that was supposedly “so popular with the youngsters these days, you can't even buy one if you want.”
When I pointed out their bad backs, they swore modern equipment made it a breeze.
Then, exactly one year and four months later...
-Sorry, son! Guess we're city folk after all~^^
...Along with that text came the farm dumped in my lap.
Perfect timing(?): the son wandering unemployed from the COVID crisis.
Perfect timing(?): parents wrecked by grueling farm labor.
And the perfect storm of rural mosquito swarms, bug hordes, finicky pruning, fertilizing, and all the rest.
“Hoo... Once everyone and their dog started growing Shine Muscats, the prices tanked!”
I cracked open a beer from the fridge and sighed, but there was no one around to hear it.
It had been about five years since I'd up and left my early-twenties Seoul life for this vineyard. I was probably single-handedly dragging down the village's average age by five years or more.
By all rights, a city boy like me should've bailed on farming after a year or two.
Unfortunately, Shine Muscats really were that hot item pre-COVID—“can't keep 'em on the shelves for the young crowd.”
In other words...
-“S-Sales like this? Haha, hahaha! Looks like I'm stuck farming these for twenty years!”
I made a killing, too.
For the first three years, anyway.
But that taste of success was too sweet for a guy whose web novel attempt tanked at 14 views.
Just like those early days when Shine Muscats were bursting with flavor.
“Success... it's a drug. A damn drug. The government should ban people from succeeding. What are the cops even doing?”
That's why I'm still hooked on this grind five years later.
At least after five years, I've gotten the hang of it.
The neighbors who gave me grief for being the young outsider now look at me with pity and trade potatoes or chickens.
I've mastered spraying pesticides, watering, pruning—solo farming's a lot less daunting now.
Of course, harvest season hits like a truck. That's when Mom and Dad show up with their slightly guilty faces, dragging wide-eyed wannabe farmers full of excitement to help out.
“Speaking of which... harvest time's right around the corner.”
This quiet countryside house, all mine for once, is about to get noisy again. My precious alone time's coming to an end.
Ding-dong.
“Ah, it's here!”
So much for gaming time, too.
“You're Kim Isang, right? Could you sign here, please?”
“Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thank you!”
I shouldn't let that happen.
With a grin and a friendly nod to the mail carrier, I hustled inside and tore into the package.
It was none other than the limited pre-order edition of the most anticipated Q4 open-world stealth-action RPG: Immortal Order: Origin!
Hwang Suksoft's masterpiece series, chronicling the protagonist's battle against the secret society lurking behind America’s Independence, Civil War, World Wars, and more. This was the long-awaited prequel.
Word was, this entry finally unveiled the hidden origins and truth of that society, teased endlessly across the series. To dodge spoilers, I'd cut off the internet for two whole days.
Slide. Click.
Ah, there's something special about unboxing a premium package.
In the 16th century, England under Queen Elizabeth dispatches settlers to Roanoke Island to establish its first permanent colony in North America. ‘In our world,’ that endeavor ended in tragic failure. But what of the truth behind it…
Damn. Perfect localization. I owe the publisher three deep bows.
They even included a detailed map and booklet on the Roanoke colony and surroundings, styled like an antique.
Top-notch. This lineup hits all the marks.
Especially in this grape apocalypse where searching “Shine Muscat” pulls up ragebait like “Shine Muscat no flavor.” I dropped 144,000 won on this.
So, this game has to be good.
It can't suck.
I punched in the CD key from the package and swallowed hard. Hwang Suksoft's logo—with the boss's famously big ears front and center—filled the screen, backed by epic BGM that set my heart racing.
Then, a black screen. Korean dubbing prompt: I hit Yes. Flames erupted over the menu as subtitles and voiceover kicked in.
‘Thou art sufficiently prepared.’
Yeah. I'm more than ready.
‘Thou hast the right to peer beyond the secrets amassed thus far, across centuries, to glimpse the truth.’
Drop 144,000 won, and yeah, you earn that right.
‘Immortal one who transcends eras, a new world now calls to thee.’
Migrate to the New World
Decline
...Migrate to the New World?
That's weird. The Immortal Order series always had “Defy the Society” as the signature start button.
Eh, whatever. It's a prequel—mixing it up isn't bad. As I moved the mouse...
Crackle.
A bad feeling flashed through my mind.
Somehow...
In web novels, doesn't something ominous always happen here? Like getting sucked into the screen when I click start?
“Hah... Harvest season's close, and here I am thinking nonsense.”
Click.
...
...
...
See? Nothing happened.
I smacked my own head for the dumb thought, stretched to get the blood flowing, and glanced back at the screen.
On the black background, a single line:
‘...Thou hast surely consented.’
And then the computer shut down.
“...”
Click. Click.
“...”
It wouldn't turn back on.