Prologue - This Isn't a Remaster!
Every man has a game that feels like his first love.
A game he sank endless hours into during childhood or adolescence, one that consumed him completely.
For me, Ha Seungri, that game was Dungeon & Academy.
As the title suggested, it was a single-player package title that perfectly captured the essence of both dungeon exploration and academy life.
Whenever I had a spare moment, I returned to it like a salmon swimming upstream. I had played it so much that I could now recite every line of dialogue from memory.
The cosmic masterpiece D&A, beloved by so many, is finally receiving a full-scale remaster!
New episode DLC added in bulk! System improvements!
A new Goddess of Victory joins the D&A roster!
Pre-order bonuses available!
The game I had poured nearly twenty thousand hours into was returning completely transformed?
I couldn’t possibly pass this up.
After all, I had just paid off the last of my family’s debt—interest and principal. Surely one gaming session as a personal reward wasn’t too much to ask?
The DLC purchase was practically a gift to myself. A new pink-haired main heroine had been added, so how could I resist? Above all, her title had struck a chord with me.
Goddess of Victory.
Only her lovely appearance and exclusive heroine title had been revealed so far, but the name felt like destiny. Since my own name was Ha Seungri—literally “victory”—it seemed like a blessing for the debt-free future that lay ahead of me.
It felt like fate.
Almost as if possessed, I clicked pre-order… and then waited.
And waited.
Finally, when the loading screen for the newly revamped opening movie began to play—
“—aren’t you listening?”
I had been enjoying the completely transformed opening cinematic. Yes, I’m certain that’s what I was doing. So what happened next?
“Hey!”
The sharp sound of a palm slamming against a table snapped me back to reality.
When I turned my head, I found myself staring at an elegant office bathed in warm sunlight streaming through the windows. Seated at the table was a woman glaring directly at me.
She was stunning.
Her silver hair, so perfect it didn’t seem real, was tied back neatly. The slender, graceful arms extending from her white sleeveless shirt were striking. She looked about seventeen. Her pale face had peach-like cheeks with a faint blush, and her golden eyes were almost blindingly beautiful.
“Hey. Don’t ignore me. I hate being ignored more than anything.”
Even while scolding me, her gentle voice carried the refined elegance of nobility mixed with unshakeable confidence. In my previous life, women like her had existed in an entirely different world from mine.
“Victorica.”
The name left my lips with a strange sense of familiarity.
“Victorica Arclight.”
One of the flagship heroines of Dungeon & Academy.
Vice President of the student council at the prison academy where the story took place.
A character who never placed lower than first or second in the strategy community’s popularity polls. The sheer number of entries on the wiki proved her status.
She was even strong in parties.
And now that very heroine was looking at me, lips parting.
“So you do know who I am. I was starting to think you had genuinely become a fool, Victor.”
“If you are referring to me as Victor, then yes.”
Victorica frowned at me as if I were some bizarre creature.
“Victor, what on earth is wrong with you lately?”
She planted her hands on her hips. I offered what I could in response.
“I would also like to know the reason for this.”
I was certain I had started the tutorial with fresh excitement after watching the new opening. So why was this happening?
“Your condition really is strange. Did that first-year hit you so hard you suffered brain damage? You’ve been acting suspicious ever since you woke up from fainting. The doctors said there was nothing wrong, but…”
I had been hit?
Come to think of it, my head did feel like it was throbbing. When I touched my forehead, I found a large lump. The last time I had a bump this big was after getting struck by a brick at a studio apartment construction site.
I kept rubbing my forehead. Victorica let out a small sigh.
“Anyway, your defeat at the hands of that strange first-year has become quite the topic of conversation. A disciplinary committee hearing regarding your conduct will be held soon.”
“Disciplinary committee?”
“Yes. The auditors from the inspection department are sharpening their knives. Especially Enio… She already dislikes me and the student council, so she will definitely attend this session.”
A disciplinary committee.
Even in my dazed state, my ears caught the words clearly. A disciplinary committee for me? What exactly had I done wrong?
No—while my mind tried to reject the idea, the memories from playing Dungeon & Academy over and over again supplied the answer.
Victor.
There was only one person Victorica Arclight would call by that name.
Boss: Executor – Victor
Former disciplinary committee enforcer of the student council. A cold, inflexible hunting dog of the Arclight family. In Episode 7 he transforms into a monstrous boss with fifteen health bars on hard mode and possesses instant-kill patterns.
Yes. A boss monster.
And not even human anymore.
…He becomes incredibly grotesque.
The lump on my forehead proved all too clearly that I had somehow become that very character.
What now?
No—I had to do something. Anything.