Transmigration into the World of Hero Maker
I woke up inside Hero Maker—one of the defining games of my entire life.
I had transmigrated straight into a world where all my favorite characters actually existed!
Naturally, I indulged my inner fan to the absolute limit. I recruited every single one of my beloved heroines onto my staff. I even had them dress up in cosplay just so I could admire them in every possible outfit. I took photos, spent my days by their side, and savored moments that felt delightfully like real dates. And along the way, I personally dismantled every tragic bad ending lurking in their paths.
It was pure, unadulterated bliss.
However.
I never had the slightest intention of seducing them all the way to the wedding altar. After all, every single one of my favorite heroines was designed around the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The superhero Phoenix embodied the Sin of Wrath.
The magical girl Miracle Heart embodied the Sin of Jealousy.
White Angel embodied the Sin of Greed.
And the assassin Nightmare embodied the Sin of Pride.
All four of the core heroines were vessels of the Seven Deadly Sins. Under normal circumstances, they were perfectly fine. But the moment their emotions spiraled out of control, they transformed into absolute lunatics. A lunatic consumed by rage. A lunatic driven mad by jealousy. A lunatic blinded by greed. A lunatic drunk on pride. It wasn't even an exaggeration to describe them like that.
From a safe distance, they were undeniably magnificent, awe-inspiring heroes. But as girlfriends? They were lethal hazard zones. That was why I fully planned on quietly slipping away into the distance the moment I secured their happy endings.
Or at least, that was the plan.
"Boss? Where do you think you're going?"
"Oppa. Were you really thinking of abandoning us and running off?"
"Prophet... To think you would try to vanish without a single word. I'm truly heartbroken."
"My lord. Do you intend to forsake the sacred covenant you swore—to stand by my side for all eternity?"
"......"
I was completely cornered by my favorite characters.
Hero Maker was a game where you selected one superhero and set out to save the world. On your very first playthrough, it was notoriously brutal. But there was never any need to fall into despair. Every time you died or reached an ending, the game rewarded you with Ability Points.
You could invest those points into buffing your starting character. You could raise base parameters or tack on game-changing skills, talents, and traits. Thanks to this progression system, the game turned into a walk in the park on repeat runs.
Around your tenth clear, you could easily max out one stat all the way to S-Rank and start off equipped with a couple of top-tier skills, talents, or traits—more than enough to cruise comfortably toward an ending. Around run fifty, you could push every single parameter to S-Rank and unlock every viable skill, talent, and trait under the sun, letting you experience a cheat-mode run where you trampled even S-Rank villains right out of the gate. By run two hundred, all parameters could be pushed to SSS-Rank, with every conceivable skill, talent, and trait fully mastered—a god-mode munchkin run where a flick of your finger eradicated villain syndicates from the map.
And around playthrough nine hundred and ninety-nine?
You ended up transmigrating directly into the game.
"......?"
A blinding flash of light erupted from my computer monitor, and before I knew it, I had crossed over into the world of Hero Maker. But it hadn't dragged me in without warning. A prompt had popped up first.
You are eligible to transmigrate into the world of Hero Maker.
Will you transmigrate?
If I selected [No], I could have gone right back to my ordinary life as if nothing had ever happened. But if I selected [Yes]?
I would get to see my favorite characters in the flesh! I could gaze upon the heroines I loved most with my own two eyes and stan them in reality! Naturally, I slammed [Yes] without a second thought.
Would you like to allocate your Ability Points?
"Of course I'm allocating them!"
If this were just another playthrough, a zero-point challenge run on hard mode might have had its merits. But this was actual transmigration. Entering this world as an overpowered, broken munchkin with every stat, skill, talent, and trait maxed out was the only rational choice. With that thought, I set to allocating points.
There was no need to rack my brain calculating optimal point efficiency. This was playthrough 999. I had points practically rotting in my inventory. Maxing everything out was a foregone conclusion.
...Or so I had assumed.
"Hm?"
A staggering amount of brand-new options had appeared. Brand-new skills, talents, and traits had been added to the catalog. I could spend points to alter my physical appearance, purchase items, and there was even a feature that converted leftover points directly into cash. Intrigued, I inspected the options one by one.
"Holy crap!"
Allows you to select and possess one individual within the world of Hero Maker.
The realization hit me like a splash of ice water. If I hadn't bought this, what would have happened? Would I have been randomly dropped into one of Hero Maker's lead characters?
"......"
The main cast of Hero Maker consisted entirely of women. In other words, a default transmigration meant waking up as a woman. Not that becoming a girl was a dealbreaker—if it meant being able to meet my favorite characters in person, I would have accepted turning into a woman in a heartbeat! But possessing one of my beloved heroines was an absolute line I refused to cross. Possessing my favorite character was tantamount to murdering her with my own two hands!
"I don't know what happens to the original soul when you take over a body, but..."
Upon transmigration, the soul of the vessel's original occupant is registered as deceased.
"......"
That settled it beyond any doubt. Possessing a favorite heroine meant destroying her soul. As a devoted Hero Maker otaku, that was an unforgivable sacrilege. Purchasing the Character Transmigration Ticket was non-negotiable. Passing on it was never an option. I bought it immediately.
"Now then..."
The next question was deciding whose body to take over.
"Possessing a villain is definitely the safest choice."
Since transmigration meant eliminating the host, picking some irredeemable piece of human filth whom anyone would be justified in putting down was best. I mulled over the options. Which villain would serve my purposes best?
"Hmm..."
I pondered it from every angle. No matter which villain I took over, reaching the happy ending for my favorites was already guaranteed. I was starting with maxed-out SSS-Rank parameters, skills, talents, and traits—a completely broken munchkin. Orchestrating a happy ending would be trivial. So it was far better to focus on another priority entirely.
"For instance..."
Which villain body would provide the optimal vantage point for supporting and stanning my favorites? As that thought crossed my mind, inspiration struck.
"That's the one!"
A villain tailor-made for admiring them came to mind. He possessed an exceptionally versatile ability, and he was such an utter scumbag that putting him down was practically a public service.
The only issue is...
He was so thoroughly corrupt that his rap sheet was atrocious. A career criminal even before his awakening, who morphed into an even more vicious felon after getting powers. If I took over a guy like that, the crimes he committed before my arrival might stir up needless trouble down the line...
Completely scrubs and cleanses the target vessel's identity and criminal record.
I purchased it instantly. Then I dumped points into every newly added skill, talent, and trait until all of them were maxed out.
"As for the rest..."
I bought items that could save my heroines in critical moments, items that could enhance their combat potential, quality-of-life utility items, and specialty goods tailored purely for fandom indulgence. Checking the balance, around ten percent of my points remained.
"With what's left..."
I invested heavily into physical aesthetics. I poured points into my face to sculpt top-tier, heart-stopping good looks, and chiseled my body into athletic, muscular perfection. I stretched my height to a comfortable 180 centimeters and even endowed myself with a subtle, naturally pleasant scent. I gave my partner down below a generous upgrade while I was at it. When I checked my balance again, about five percent remained.
"Convert the rest."
Every single remaining point was liquidated into cold, hard cash.
Will you transmigrate?
"Hell yes, transmigrate!"
If I had family or a girlfriend waiting for me back in the real world, I might have hesitated and chosen my ordinary life. But having neither, I took the plunge with a completely unburdened heart.
Name: Kang Minwoo. Age: 22. Ability: Shadow.
An awakened ability user capable of manifesting shadow clones and forging weapons of darkness—swords, spears, arrows, and chains—to tear through opposition. He possessed a stealth technique called 'Shadow Meld' and an instantaneous teleportation skill known as 'Shadow Step'.
On paper, he sounded formidable, but in the original game, he was nothing more than an early-game mob villain. His power set was versatile, but his mana capacity was absolute rock bottom. He was a pathetic scrub who collapsed from exhaustion after firing off two or three measly skills.
But with me taking the wheel?
"Status Window!"
Name: Kang Minwoo
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Ability: Shadow (S)
I was an SSS-Rank munchkin powerhouse. With SSS-Rank mana reserves, I was an absurdly broken cheat character who could spam abilities recklessly without a care in the world. Clones could be mass-produced at will, and spatial teleportation could be executed endlessly. Which meant...
Whenever my favorite heroines leaped into battle, I could tag along via teleportation and fangirl to my heart's content! If I handed a camera to a clone, I could capture their heroics from every imaginable angle! If I handed them a camcorder, I could record their glorious moments in high-definition video! And once I edited the footage together, I could produce a full-length Hero Maker blockbuster movie!
...Not that I planned on shooting anything just yet.
The canonical opening date of Hero Maker was March 1, 2025. Right now, it was January 1, 2025. I had transmigrated a full two months ahead of schedule. Even if I rushed out to film them right now, I wouldn't catch them in their superhero forms. They were still living ordinary civilian lives. Not that their daily routines lacked value—while seeing them transformed as heroes was magnificent, watching my favorites go about their regular, everyday lives was just as precious. Recording that had its own charm.
Unfortunately, there was no time for that right now. I had far too much to prepare.
"If all I wanted was an ordinary happy ending, I wouldn't need to go through all this trouble, but..."
Having transmigrated in person, how could I ever settle for a mediocre happy ending?
"What I'm aiming for isn't just a happy ending—it's a Super Happy Ending."
The original game's so-called happy ending, where the journey was drenched in agony and trauma only to wrap up with a hollow smile? I vehemently rejected that. In the Hero Maker film I was directing, there would be zero room for regret, trauma, gloom, or toxic fixations.
"A superhero epic needs some adversity, of course, but..."
Every sickening, gut-wrenching plot point would be purged completely. Groundwork had to be laid immediately.
With that resolve, I conjured a shadow clone. Given the mountain of preparation ahead, dividing and conquering was the fastest route to get everything in order.
"Main body."
"What?"
"Our mana pool is practically bottomless. If you spawn a few more clones, couldn't we film their daily lives while getting everything else done?"
"Brilliant!"
I immediately manifested an extra batch of clones.
Until March 1, 2025 arrived, I threw myself into endless preparations. And above all else, the task I poured the most effort into was securing funds.
The initial cash converted from leftover points was substantial, but it was nowhere near enough. I needed astronomical financial muscle—wealth so overwhelming that virtually any crisis could be extinguished simply by throwing money at it. In the game, amassing that volume of capital was near impossible. But in reality, unburdened by game system restrictions?
What if I deployed dozens of shadow clones to crack open and loot the secret vaults of criminal syndicates simultaneously? What if I systematically cleaned out every hidden vault across all of China?
"It's literally an infinite money glitch."
And so, I looted them blind. Chaining shadow teleportations endlessly, I plundered vault after vault. Not only did I clean out the hidden caches of Chinese villains, but I also swept through the offshore vaults of corrupt high-ranking Chinese officials, leaving them stripped down to the bare walls. Afterward, I made sure to let surveillance cameras catch glimpses of me disguised as a Chinese villain.
What would happen next?
"They'll point fingers at each other and tear each other to ribbons."
It might even erupt into an internal war.
"Which works out even better for me."
In the lore of Hero Maker, China was an antagonistic faction with a one-hundred percent certainty. Chinese villains were hostile hostiles, and the Chinese government was an antagonistic regime. The more Chinese factions tore at each other's throats, the more our side stood to gain.
...Not that I planned on getting directly involved in their mess. Today was far too important for distractions.
March 1, 2025.
The historic day Han Soyeon, one of the central heroines of Hero Maker, would awaken and transform into 'Phoenix'! The monumental occasion marking the very first heroine's debut! I intended to capture every single second on film. And, above all, I was determined to strangle the bad ending in the crib.
"If it plays out like the game..."
Depending on how she fought today, Phoenix was destined to earn one of two notorious epithets:
1. The Arsonist Hero
2. The Civilian Butcher
Becoming known as an Arsonist Hero was manageable. No rookie hero started out flawless. When a fire-attribute ability user fought desperately for her life, nearby objects were bound to catch fire, and blazes were bound to erupt. Property damage was within acceptable margins. Torching a building? Incinerating parked cars? The sheer power of money could smooth over any amount of material collateral.
However, burning innocent bystanders alive was an irredeemable catastrophe no amount of wealth could ever fix. Claiming she couldn't control her powers because it was her first transformation? Claiming she failed to moderate her output because it was her first real fight? Excuses—every last word of it. A hero who slaughtered civilians was never forgiven. Not just one or two casualties, but someone who turned an entire crowd of surrounding citizens into ash would inevitably be branded a villain.
That path led straight into psychological ruin, despair, and an unavoidable bad ending.
"I won't permit that under any circumstances."
In the Hero Maker masterpiece I was directing, there would never be tags for regret, trauma, or toxic obsession. I would stop it without fail.
This is the illustration of Phoenix, the first hero.
Generated with AI.