Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Player Turned NPC VER.N.DAWN
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"Video will play after the ad."
Ad 1/2 – 1:48
Clicking on a YouTube video brought up the inevitable ad and notification window, right on cue.
Unbelievable realism!
Thrilling action!
Unique NPCs!
Say goodbye to clunky graphics and low freedom in old virtual reality games!
The hot new release, Nina Pinta, opens up a new world!
Coming July 27th!
* * *
Sunlight pierced through the window, falling on the bed where she lay sprawled out.
"Dun! Quit messing around in your room and go grab the stuff from the butcher lady quick!"
Ria Howell, the shopkeeper NPC in the virtual reality game Nina Pinta, yelled at her daughter, who was still snoring away in her room.
"Ah, I'll go. Just wait a sec. Heading out now..."
Rustle. Fidget.
Hearing the voice from downstairs, a girl stirred under the covers. Her light brown hair fell to her shoulders, and above her head floated the name 'NPC Dun.'
Dun kept her eyes closed on the fluffy bed, pursing her lips lazily. She'd said she was going, but she burrowed deeper into the rustling blankets.
Just a little longer, just a bit more sleep...
Wrapped up tight in the blankets, Dun wriggled toward the corner of the bed.
"You know you said that an hour ago, right?"
"Oh, did I...?"
"Get down here NOW!!!"
At Ria Howell's thunderous command, Dun finally crawled out of bed, fumbling around. Making her run errands this early in the morning was just too much.
Yawning hugely, Dun picked her nose and flicked the booger out the window.
Shuffling down the stairs, she spotted Ria Howell handing healing potions to players.
Their home doubled as a general store, always bustling with adventurers morning and night.
"Eight, nine, ten... Total of ten recovery potions. That'll be 10 units."
"Thanks. Good luck with sales."
Blinking slowly, Dun watched Ria Howell sell for a moment.
Above the customer's head floated 'Adventurer Edwin.' His blue blood was splattered everywhere—probably fresh from hunting Blue Eagles nearby.
After buying the healing potion from Ria Howell, Edwin picked up a vial of red liquid and made it vanish into thin air. Likely stashed in his 'inventory.'
Adventurers—players, in other words—had this handy inventory ability, letting them store stuff in a pocket dimension without lugging it around.
Of course, Dun had one too.
An inventory, the unique ability of adventurers that other NPCs lacked.
"If you get beat up by monsters again, come buy more~"
"Yeah, got it. Be back."
Yawning widely, Dun waved to the players leaving the store. The player returned the friendly wave with a smile.
Once Edwin left, Ria Howell's gaze locked onto Dun.
"Good morning."
Dun greeted her in a cheeky tone. Ria Howell, who had been brewing healing potions for players, shot Dun a displeased look.
"Speak after picking the sleep from your eyes. Go wash your face. You're scaring off customers."
"Ugh, that's why I say wash up every day."
"You, young lady."
Dun raised a tiny finger, picking at the crust in her eye.
"No, actually go wash your face."
Dun faked a few more yawns to well up tears, then rubbed her eyes clean.
"No more crust?"
"Is washing with water really that hard?"
"Washing's all about getting rid of eye crust. Job done. Whatever."
Dun raised a finger in the air, acting all logical.
She checked her face in the mirror by the counter, then roughly combed her hair with her fingers.
Grabbing a potion labeled 'Clean' from the display, she poured it in her mouth, gargled briefly, and spat it into the drain.
"Ria Howell, got the items you asked for. Where should I put them...?"
While Dun finished prepping to run her errand, a man walked into the store, arms stacked with boxes that wobbled precariously, threatening to topple any second.
"Why carry it like that? Just set it on the floor there."
"Wanted to do it all at once. Okay, right here the... Ugh, argh!"
The delivery guy yelled as the teetering tower finally lost balance.
The problem was Dun passing right in front of it. Heavy boxes rained down on the little girl's head.
"Dun... Dun!!"
"Hey!!"
Ria Howell and the delivery man frantically called for Dun, buried under the boxes. She had to be knocked down or sprawled on the floor.
"I told you last time, carrying it like an idiot causes accidents."
To their surprise, Dun stood unscathed by the door, munching on an apple. She looked down at the delivery guy with pity and clicked her tongue.
"Huh? Kid, how'd you dodge? The boxes were heading straight for your head..."
"Off on my errand~"
Ignoring the question, Dun waved casually and headed out.
How'd she dodge? With agility maxed out, no way she'd miss.
Snorting, Dun tossed the apple core across the street into a trash can. Perfect hit, though it punched right through.
* * *
NPC Dun.
In the virtual reality game Nina Pinta, she was just a background village kid.
But Dun had something special even among NPCs.
"Ah, haven't seen any decent players lately."
Dun was fully aware she was an NPC in a game.
The simple reason an NPC like her recognized herself as a game character? She'd been a player once.
Now living as Dun, the only daughter of general store owner Ria Howell, in her previous life she'd been Lee Saebyeok.
Her 20 years as Lee Saebyeok had been a spectacular rollercoaster, like a movie.
It started at age 6.
Back then in Korea, 'gates' began appearing. One popped up near the orphanage where Lee Saebyeok lived.
Monsters designed to kill humans poured out periodically from these gate rifts, and the orphanage was easy prey.
Hunters—awakened superhumans—hunted those monsters and cleared gates, but at the time, they weren't active yet.
By the time the unofficial Hunter Association arrived stealthily, few kids had survived.
Age 7.
The Association took the smartest, nimblest survivors for hunter training. Lee Saebyeok was one.
'They took us and ran all sorts of experiments.'
Staring at Ria Howell's recovery potions jogged her memory.
Quick-recovery syringes, mana recovery pills, curse-relief IVs, drinkable status ailment potions from the Hunter Market.
Before those aids hit the market, the Association violated protocols to test directly on awakenees for a head start.
Lee Saebyeok was one swept up in the inhumane 'Abyss Project' for hunter support items.
Then age 14.
Once the Hunter Association went official and bold experiments tapered off, she was thrown into the Nina Pinta simulation for awakening.
Ordinary folks thought it was just a VR game, but it was really a hunter awakening simulator.
Post-capsule update, trainees who cleared it awakened successfully.
'Everyone but me.'
The Association planned to cut support for non-awakener Lee Saebyeok.
She had nowhere else to go. Her whole life was the Association and hunters; she didn't want to leave.
At 20, life's endgame.
After the chairman changed and the place warmed up, Lee Saebyeok attempted the desperate: using a 'Nina Pinta Cheat Engine.'
Top rankers in this simulator had high awakening odds, drawing Association interest. So she made a cheat engine to become one and stay.
[Set max level to what?]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
The cheat engine maxed her character's levels and stats.
She logged in with everything peaked.
[Irregular access detected.]
[Unknown error found.]
Explosion. Flickering lights. Burning smell.
The capsule rejected the cheat, erroring out.
Then her consciousness cut off.
It resumed in what she thought was the game, Nina Pinta.
[NPC (null)]
Level: 999
*Please set name
New body, and the busted cheat was active.
Early restarts had ups and downs, but meeting Ria Howell and calling her mom smoothed things out.
Sometimes happiness swelled her chest; lately, often.
Great weather for sunbathing, sleep when tired, no pains, no annoyances, no bootlicking, loved ones, rest on demand.
Peaceful, leisurely days. Previous life was brutal, died pointlessly without goals met—but so what.
Sacrifice for now made it worthwhile. Maybe all that hardship led here.
"Here for the errand."
"Oh, our Dun's here! C'mere, my cute little one!"
The butcher lady, with her impressively fluffy golden arm fur, greeted warmly.
Easily hoisting Dun—who was light for a 10-year-old—she tossed and caught her playfully.
"..."
Dun's reaction was bland. A normal kid might laugh, but Dun just dangled limply.
To avoid endless solo antics until a kid's giggle, Dun spoke up.
"Kyah."
The dry response left the butcher lady awkward as she set Dun down.
"Anyway, your mom's errand, right? Such a good girl. What Ria Howell wanted is by the door."
She pointed. A huge bundle, twice Dun's size, sat there.
"For real?"
"Figured it'd be too much? Your mom said take it all, so I packed everything... Split trips?"
"That'd take over ten round trips."
With agility maxed, strength and muscle were too—so that was easy.
But Dun's stamina sucked. Cheat powers in a tiny kid body tired her fast.
"It's fine. Got a great idea."
Grinning, Dun left the butcher shop, eyeing passersby.
She grabbed an adventurer whose gaze met hers and popped up a spear.
[F-Grade Quest] Dun's Errand
Quest: Carry the big bundle from the butcher shop to the general store.
*Bundle cannot go in inventory.
Reward: 20 exp
Failure: Little Dun's dislike
A exclamation mark appeared over Dun's head instantly.
Best part of this world? Every player was her shuttle.