Belated Realization (2)

Who the hell is controlling my body? Had the system been dominating me this whole time? Was it that damn administrator again? Were we all just brains in vats? Pew-shing, pew-shing, pah-shing?

...No. That wasn't it.

In an instant, I had the cause of this whole mess pinned down. A gamer's brain had finished running the numbers.

"System, on...!"

I called up the system window and opened my stats.

Setting aside the experience I'd gained from the three zombies I'd taken out yesterday... there it was.

Alignment: Lawful Good.

This. This was it. This was the culprit, no question. Why had I brushed it aside? Why hadn't I taken it seriously?

Why hadn't I locked my eyes on those two little words — Lawful Good — from the very beginning?!

Alright. What is "lawful," exactly?

According to the dictionary: an arrangement or sequence of things that allows them to proceed smoothly, without chaos.

And what is "good"?

A word meaning to act rightly, kindly, and in accordance with moral standards!

So what does Lawful Good mean?

It means suckers who follow the rules and moral standards and act accordingly... no, wait — it means righteous people!

In the source of the system I'd been given — Dragon Gate RPG — a character's alignment was divided into six types total.

Lawful Good

Neutral Good

True Neutral

Neutral Evil

Lawful Evil

Chaotic Evil

A pretty absurd classification scheme, sure — but think of it like those blood-type personality charts or MBTI types people love to believe in (despite almost zero actual evidence). The one difference from those two is that in the game, you could pick your character's alignment however you wanted.

Anyway, if anyone asked why this mattered in the game: depending on your character's alignment, the game's content... well, not the content exactly, but the dialogue and dialogue choices would change. Take this example.

Q. While traveling, a gaunt, frail old man asks you for help. What do you do?

A Lawful Good character's options would probably look something like this:

1. Aiding the weak is only right! Your salvation is reward enough!

2. I can help you... but I am rather hard-pressed myself. Might we negotiate a modest compensation?

3. Forgive me. I haven't the means to aid you at present.

Lawful Evil, sitting near the opposite end, would typically get options like these:

1. I can help you — but I'll be taking appropriate payment, of course. Without it, don't even think about asking.

2. What has befallen you is fate. Accept it.

3. I'll free you from this miserable life. Oh, and I'll be taking whatever you've got left!

Roughly like that — the choices shifted depending on alignment.

Hmm? Isn't the true opposite Chaotic Evil? Well, that one's basically pointless. I tried playing Chaotic Evil myself once, and it came out like this:

1. I'll put an end to your suffering! Die, you stupid old man!

Most RPG players lean toward evil or neutral alignments to get that classic RPG flavor. Go that route and you often get quests and storylines that are either delightfully twisted or deliciously nasty.

So then... why, after picking a triple-class build that was absolute broken nonsense... why had I set that character to Lawful Good? Why on earth would I choose such an exhausting, annoying alignment...?!

"...It shouldn't be that big a deal, right?"

Well, sure, it had startled me... and the fact that the alignment was actually influencing my behavior was a genuine shock, but...

I hadn't caused any major disasters yet, had I? With Room 503, I'd just shown them a little mercy, that was all.

When I put down zombies, when I used Rogue skills — nothing had locked up my body or held me back, right? Meaning going forward, living however I wanted shouldn't be a huge problem.

Mm-hmm. Exactly. So...

"Uuuuugh...!"

"Guuh, guuuhhhh...!"

The man from 503 and his family, arms stretched through the barricade, swinging threateningly in my direction...

It wasn't my fault you'd become zombies, but... at the very least...

...let me send you off in peace.

That fleeting moment of hesitation vanished as quickly as it had come.

April 3rd.

After finishing the sweep of the interior, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠took ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it easy. I dealt with one more zombie — a man who'd turned in Room 502 next door to 503 — reinforced the first-floor barricade, and cleaned up the second floor. All in preparation for heading outside tomorrow.

April 4th.

I decided it was time to clear the area right outside the house. The alleys around here were a maze, so if I cleaned out the approach to the villa and blocked it off, zombies wouldn't be wandering right up to our doorstep anytime soon.

I also decided to test out magic. I picked one of the zombies hanging around in front of the house and...

"Arrow, punish my foe!"

Along with that cringeworthy-as-hell incantation, a magic arrow shot from my hand. It was closer to a glowing orb than an actual arrow, but the zombie that took it square in the face—

THWACK! PSSHHH!

—died on the spot. Its head just exploded. I was genuinely startled. Whoa... Magic Arrow packed that kind of firepower?

After using it once, I wondered when it would recharge, so I tapped Magic Arrow — and this popped up.

Oho. So it recharged one every eight hours. They'd modeled it after the game, where you had to rest eight hours for spells to recharge.

After that, I went back to clearing the surrounding zombies the same way I had on day one — with Stealth and ambushes. Sleep didn't work on undead, and I'd already spent my Magic Arrow, so I swung the baseball bat I'd found on the second floor and chucked baseballs to mop up most of the nearby zombies. I also hit the convenience store I'd looted on the first day one more time.

April 5th.

Similar to yesterday. Except...

My Rogue class hit level 2. As expected of the class with the lowest EXP requirement — it leveled up fast.

Hmm, where to invest it... Lockpicking, which I'd been considering since April 2nd? But I'd already cleaned out our entire villa. In that case...

I'd dump another point into Stealth. That should push the success rate even higher. Though, couldn't the system just show me the success rate as an actual number?

I kept grinding away at the surrounding zombies. And then I struck gold.

All three classes hit level 2! And then this—

In other words, I could now use either Magic Arrow or Sleep twice a day. No need to think about this one. The more ranged attack options, the better.

"Magic Arrow. Add it."

But if this system was faithfully following Dragon Gate RPG's rules, hitting level 3 would definitely present a choice: learn one level-2 spell, or pick up two additional level-1 spells.

I'd have to think hard about that one when the time came. According to the notes I'd written down, there were plenty of good level-2 spells — but learning two extra level-1s for more versatility wouldn't be a bad play either.

And then... the long-awaited April 6th.

I'd already cleaned out every convenience store near the house, so I was on my way back from scouting a new one when I heard a strange noise.

"S-save me... somebody save meeeeee!"

"Eek, eeeeeek!"

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!"

The desperate wailing of survivors, and right alongside it, a grotesque cackling that crawled into my ears.

"Keerk, kehehk!"

"Krrrrrk...!"

That was... a monster! The first monster sounds I'd heard since that flying creature on day one.

Curiosity and competitive fire boiled up, and I jumped straight in — and I...

...paid the price for never preparing a proper countermeasure against my own alignment. A price that would haunt me as lifelong humiliation.

Ugh, uuuugh...!?

Uwaaaaaaagh this is so fucking embarrassinggggg!

I clawed at my scalp and slammed my head against the wall. Thank god there was nobody alive on the floors below. Nobody around to hear the noises this mortified man was making!

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuck!

Younger me! Childhood me! You little shit-for-brains kid version of myself!

What the hell were you thinking?! Huh?!

What kind of brain-dead logic made you pick this alignment, you absolute disaster!!

What, did you want to be some champion of justice? Watch some cartoon on TV and decide you wanted to be the hero?

Fuck, that is peak little-kid energy! And I mean that in the most goddamn infuriating way possible!

Why did this humiliating shackle have to get locked onto me of all people!

Why,

of all people,

ME!!!

This is exactly why you don't just greedily snatch up every shiny freebie someone hands you. Fuuuuck!

April 7th.

When I came to my senses, morning had arrived, and I realized the day had changed.

I gasped and bolted upright — but nothing was particularly different. Looking at the boxes of supplies stacked around the house... I became painfully aware of what I'd done yesterday.

Haaah... Okay, my heart had settled down, but... what the hell was I supposed to do about this? At this rate I might just keep piling up lifelong black marks until I died.

Never mind the sucker routine of handing out freebies left and right — was there seriously nothing I could do about this speech pattern? It felt like a curse. And the biggest problem of all: the more I ran my mouth like that, the more my actual behavior and mindset shifted to match whatever came out of it.

Was alignment really this bone-chilling of a mechanic? I'd spent my whole life ignoring blood-type personality theories, horoscopes, zodiac animals, MBTI, all of that crap...!

Fuck. I genuinely never imagined that some ruleset cooked up for a game would thrash my body and mind around like this.

For now... no matter how hard I thought about it, there was no clever fix in the short term. The one solution that came to mind was simply: keep your damn mouth shut as much as possible. The snout had always been the root of all calamity. So whether I wore a mask or tied a handkerchief over my mouth, the best move was to muffle my voice and play the strong, silent type.

And so, before heading out today... I called up the system window first.

"System, on!"

I'd remembered that the Items & Gold window was supposed to activate today.

Updating...?

I clicked it on instinct — and only got more pissed off.

No? I'd rather go cave your fucking skull in?

I desperately wanted to scream that out loud, but I managed to swallow it. Fine. It was my own fault for getting my hopes up.

I'd forgotten that legendary game-character line: if you never expect anything, you can never be betrayed. Completely my bad. Fuck...!

For my morning routine, I washed my face and substituted a warm coffee and a chocolate bar for breakfast. Scoring that butane gas had been a game-changer. I could put water in a pot, boil it, and make tea, coffee, even hot water for washing.

Sipping my coffee, I carefully thought through what to do today. I'd figured the area around this villa was pretty much cleared out by now... but as luck would have it, stronger creatures — no, monsters — had shown up.

Goblins. I'd expected things like that to appear eventually, but actually running into them had instantly pulverized any notion that this neighborhood was safe.

Monsters that could form packs and set ambushes... and it was only a matter of time before the usual suspects — orcs, ogres, trolls, and the rest — started showing up to trash the surface world. Not to mention those flying monsters that appeared every so often.

...But at the same time, remembering the 900 EXP I'd pocketed from killing six goblins yesterday put a satisfied little smile on my face all by itself.

I opened my stats window.

Today's objectives: find a new convenience store, and hunt goblins.

A leveling route was already mapping itself out in my head. Goblins barely had any answer for ambushes launched from Stealth C+. And with enough time having passed since the collapse, plenty of buildings had crumbled into ruins — perfect cover for sneaking around.

One hundred fifty EXP per goblin. At 150 a pop... pure math said ten kills would net 1,500, enough to push Warrior and Rogue up. Fourteen kills for 2,100 would get Mage to level 3 as well.

Then I'd be able to learn a level-2 spell. Plus a chance to raise a stat! Whoa, this was a gamble actually worth taking, wasn't it!?

Humming a little tune, I geared up properly and headed outside. Just thinking about massacring dozens of them with the Stealth-ambush combo had me humming without even trying.

However...

The moment I jumped down from the second floor and landed on the street, my resolve was crushed without mercy.