Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: A Very Stable Starting
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Have you ever regretted a choice you've made?
I have.
Quite a lot, in fact.
Like back in elementary school, when I had a crush on the girl sitting next to me and acted like a total brat just to get her attention.
Or when I bought into that internet saying, "Heroes don't study," ditched my books for games, and ended up with a master's rank in gaming instead of decent college entrance exam scores.
Or when I decided to just get my military service over with quick and volunteered for the 81mm mortar unit, only to spend my days freezing my ass off in Cheorwon and regretting it desperately.
After all that, I made a firm resolution.
From now on, no more regrets.
Absolutely none.
It wasn't like I made that vow after nearly tumbling down a hill while dozing off during a march with a mortar on my back or anything.
Anyway.
Sadly, that ironclad resolve of mine ended up going by the wayside.
Because an even bigger, more brutal regret came knocking—one that dwarfed all the previous ones.
But what can you do?
I didn't even know it was coming.
Still, it was impossible not to feel a twinge of regret.
...
Yeah.
I should've just played Animal Crossing.
I bought a game.
Of course, as a broke job-hunting college grad, where was I gonna get the money?
Naturally, I snagged it on a 75% discount.
【RISK CITY: HOLIDAY】
A game for proudly chilling on a holiday, even as a freeloading job hunter like me—and it had a subtitle that fit perfectly.
While waiting for the install bar to creep along, I searched the community on my second monitor.
─ Newbie Guide for First-Time Players [99+]
─ Risk City Info Compilation [99+]
─ (Spoiler) My Self-Insert Milk Jug That's About to Burst [99+]
I skimmed the pinned community posts, pondered for a sec, then clicked the one that seemed most relevant to me right now.
(Spoiler) My Self-Insert Milk Jug That's About to Burst
(Screenshot of a black muscle dude flexing his pecs)
I wasn't lying. Like it and move on.
What the fuck, why is this pinned? Did the mods get hacked?
"What the hell."
The graphics were ridiculously good for no reason.
Sure, these days, outside of indie games, everything looks amazing anyway.
After losing my eye health in seconds, I sighed and closed the browser.
Fine. Since when did I ever bother with info guides?
'Eh, how hard can it be.'
I can just wing it.
It's just a game, after all.
Instead, I started reading the brief description on the platform.
[An open-world action-adventure RPG set in the chaotic metropolis of Risk City.]
The genre was cyberpunk.
But that alone felt lacking, so they mixed in bi Punk and arcane Punk elements—basically a fusion Punk world.
'Better than bland black bean noodles; this is tasty mixed noodles.'
What matters is if the game tastes good.
If it's fun, that's all that counts.
I considered shelling out for a AAA medieval fantasy RPG in the same vein.
But in the end, I went for the cheaper mixed noodles option.
'Hmm, pretty stable flavor.'
After watching the trailer—blinding enough to trigger photosensitive epilepsy—for a few minutes,
Just as the install finished.
Flash.
A bright light exploded from the monitor I'd been staring at blankly.
In that instant.
"...Ugh!"
Dizziness crashed over my whole body.
No time to even finish my mutter,
A deafening ring pounded my skull.
My consciousness got sucked away somewhere.
It took less than a few seconds before I blacked out completely.
It was noisy around me.
Beeeep─.
A shrill tone like a PC failure beep hammered my ears.
My awareness was still buried in darkness.
Downward.
Deeper down.
My mind sank heavily.
Beep─.
But the alarm-like ringing yanked my sinking consciousness back to the surface.
"Hey, hey. Hurry up and slice it. It's a rare clean corpse."
"Tch, focus. Your rotten nutrient tube breath is killing my concentration."
"That's 'cause we're in a rush! What if the others smell it and show up?!"
"Then shut your damn mouth!!"
Or maybe it was the voices of two strangers that snapped me awake.
Before I even opened my eyes to look around.
A disgustingly bright female voice rang right in my ear first.
The chipper voice, like something from a pay-to-win marble game loaded with microtransactions.
And it wasn't done.
So what?
The pounding headache and blaring voice forced me to snap to.
Plus, I was curious about my surroundings.
I slowly opened my eyes.
No idea how long I'd been out, but my eyelids felt heavy as hell.
Or maybe it was just crusty sleep in my eyes.
"Whoa, this guy's eyes just opened."
"Bullshit. Megacorp handing out free food or what? I scanned his vitals earlier—been dead for ages."
Unlike that voice in my head, these guys' voices felt brutally real.
Right as I tried to look up at the voices overhead.
I noticed my field of vision was seriously narrowed.
'...Something's off.'
Like half the world got sliced away.
I hadn't even closed one eye, but the dark sky looked like a blacked-out monitor screen—exactly half visible.
'A dream?'
Wasn't I just at my desk?
A cool breeze blew in from outside.
Chilling, even.
And these two grubby dudes in rags yapping over my face?
Impossible to explain unless it was a dream.
My body felt numb, like it was anesthetized.
"No, look! Eyes are open!"
"...For real."
I stared up at the two casually chatting.
Then spotted something seriously weird.
A filthy guy with a scruffy beard peered down at me.
"Hey, these are bio eyes, right?"
In his hand: a glossy, lifelike eyeball staring back at me.
"No cyber signals at all. Thought it was some new corp prosthetic."
Thud. A heavy weight dropped onto my chest.
Half my vision gone.
A familiar-shaped eye in some thug's—or psycho's—hand.
And the wet sensation around my eye socket.
"Don't look so aggrieved. Who naps in a dumpster?"
"Pfft, who naps here? Probably got jumped after drinks."
"...Can't you take a joke?"
That's when I got what "Player's health is low" meant.
Turning my head was starting to scare me.
Already missing half my sight.
No need to check the rest of my body—I knew.
Anemia was already kicking in.
The guy, crouched too long, groaned and straightened up, grabbing his sore back.
In his other hand: a gleaming red-metal blade.
"Wasted effort for nothing. Thought we'd score big with a new corp prosthetic. That shit's valuable."
"Just leave it?"
"What else?"
The other guy's gaze dropped to me.
"Poor bastard. No emergency services come out here anyway."
Pity in his tone, but his eyes were as deadpan as the first guy's.
"Tch, fine. First cut's the hardest, right?"
His grimy blade glinted.
Drip. Drip.
Blood falling from the tip sounded brutally cruel.
But I had no bandwidth for their casual chat.
Life-threatening blade aside, the voice in my head left me dumbfounded.
'...Marbles for everyone?'
No volume control? It was deafening.
That instant.
The blade inching toward me flew up into the air.
Clang!
A crisp, spinning ring.
Then.
Thud, thud, thud-thud... Boom!
Like skipping stones—rhythmic thwacks.
The two guys near me vanished.
What the—
Before I could process, a new shadow blanketed my face.
Backlit, so no clear view of the face, but they clearly just saved me.
"You alive?"
A husky woman's voice.
Accompanied by thick cigarette smoke.
I only noticed the cig in her mouth after inhaling the stench.
'...Even now, secondhand smoke sucks.'
My face twisted at the harsh fumes; a snort of laughter came from above.
Something about that laugh.
All my tension melted away.
Guess I'd been pretty wound up, despite appearances.
Hadn't been conscious long, after all.
"Hey? Close your eyes here and you're really done for."
"...Feels like I'm done for either way."
"Yeah... you do look it."
She scooped me up effortlessly.
The floating sensation was surprisingly cozy.
Cozy enough to pass out again right there.
Roguelite, actually~
You must've misclicked at start. There's a random character birth option—if you pick wrong, that's what happens.