The Zero-Star Irregular

Jeonghun stared piercingly at the Patron Spirit.

“……”

He was a man who looked to be in his late twenties, with thick, impressive eyebrows. But there was one massive difference between him and the other Patron Spirits.

A white T-shirt and jeans.

It was the outfit of a modern person, with not a single trace of fantasy or wuxia flair to be found even if you scrubbed your eyes raw. And with the name ‘Kang Jinho’ added on top, there was only one possibility.

“A Korean.”

A modern human as a Patron ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Spirit? Had that ever happened?

Jeonghun tilted his head and logged back into RaSe IpVen to search for info.

But he couldn't find a shred of information about modern humans appearing as Patron Spirits. Not even on 0-star Patron Spirits.

……A bug?

RaSe was famous for being bug-free, but…… could a game made by humans ever be truly perfect?

There had to be minor bugs here and there, and Jeonghun figured this was one of them.

Probably some other user's personal info got mixed in…… But why does he look so familiar?

A face he'd seen somewhere before.

Jeonghun rummaged through his memories for a bit but couldn't place him. At least, it wasn't anyone with a direct connection to him.

Whatever. I'll just report the bug to the devs and get back to gaming.

The moment Jeonghun went to file the bug report.

“……”

Well, I'll be damned.

Jeonghun canceled the report and looked back at the Patron Spirit. This didn't seem like a simple bug after all.

The info was short, but every word screamed not normal. The other details barely registered, though.

One word burned itself straight into his brain the instant he saw it.

Irregular!

He felt his heart pounding faster.

Jeonghun had read a fair share of light novels back in middle and high school. Here, “light novels” meant comics, fantasy, wuxia, that sort of thing.

He hadn't devoured them to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠point of tanking his grades, but he was at a level where he could jump into any related convo and have a blast.

So of course Jeonghun knew.

In cliché terms, Irregular couldn't possibly be a dud!

And it's explicitly marked [Irregular] in the info window. Not a system glitch, right?

Not a bug.

RaSe had an “Irregular” category that just hadn't been publicized yet, and he'd pulled one.

……No other options.

Jeonghun glanced at the knight emanating a silver aura. Not quite 7-star level, but it had a noble poise that caught the eye.

In RaSe, starting with a 6-star was actually a pretty solid launch. Most folks couldn't even pull that and had to grit their teeth through 4- or 5-stars.

A 6-star, and a popular “knight” type like this? Stable growth guaranteed.

But I'm going 0-star!

Jeonghun wasn't the type to chase stable growth. If he were, he'd have picked the 7-star ages ago.

Hardcore grind? Nah, fun first.

If something looked more entertaining, he'd charge in, even if it meant sacrificing some gains.

That was Jeonghun's style.

“Trying to scare me.”

The standard warning popped up, but Jeonghun ignored it and tapped Yes like he'd been waiting. The response was immediate.

“Ah.”

The other Patron Spirits vanished.

All but the selected one dissolved away, leaving trails of blue energy. Not just them—the vending machine itself vanished too, leaving a huge blue glow.

Then the energies tangled together and seeped into the remaining Patron Spirit: 0-star Kang Jinho.

And.

The Patron Spirit, eyes closed until now, slowly opened them. Jeonghun swallowed hard without realizing.

Once you fully select a Patron Spirit, you get a bit of time to chat, right?

There were countless Patron Spirits in RaSe. But the number of users? Way more, uncountably so.

Naturally, one Spirit had to handle multiple users, spreading their attention thin. No way they could micromanage every player.

Once you actually start playing, real talk only happens once in a blue moon.

Actually, “talk” was generous. Usually, the Spirit just dumped a one-way message and peaced out. More like an oracle than a chat.

But there was one moment even haughty Spirits stuck around for a proper convo: right after pulling them.

No matter how busy or arrogant, intros were a must at first meet.

I heard some like Cao Cao hit you with insane impact on first meet.

Word was, their words could move you to tears. Listening made Three Kingdoms hype bubble up from your soul, leaving you itching to hop on a horse and charge the battlefield.

It wasn't just Cao Cao. Tons of users raved about their first Patron Spirit encounters.

Gulp.

What kind of deep emotion would this bring? Jeonghun watched Kang Jinho with bated breath.

-Hoo.

With a short exhale, the Patron Spirit fully opened his eyes. Maybe needing time to process, he checked his body, clenched and unclenched his fists a few times, stomped in place.

Then he straightened up, looked Jeonghun dead in the eye, and spoke.

-What the fuck is this shit?

“……”

That was Jeonghun and Kang Jinho's first meeting.

-Hoo. So let me get this straight……

Kang Jinho scratched his chin in disbelief after Jeonghun's rough explanation.

-So you……

“Jeonghun. Speak casually. You're way older than me.”

-Nah, not way older…… Eh, fine, casual it is. Anyway, that's not the point. If what you're saying is true, I popped up in RaSe's Patron Spirit gacha, right?

“Yeah. As a 0-star, even.”

-Haa. I was just playing fine a minute ago. What the hell?

From their quick chat, Kang Jinho wasn't some lore Patron Spirit—just a regular user. The “0-star Irregular” jackpot seemed like a system glitch after all.

Jeonghun felt a pang of regret but shrugged it off.

“Looks like a bug, huh.”

-Bug? Bullshit. RaSe has no bugs. The info said I'm a 0-star Patron Spirit Irregular, right? That means the system recognizes me as one. I'm a real Patron Spirit now. Fuck.

“What? Come on, it's obviously a bug. Users don't just turn into NPCs.”

-First time for everything, but it's no bug.

“How do you know……

-I know. Excluding the devs…… no, including them, I've played RaSe longer than anyone.

“……”

Guy's lost it.

Jeonghun took a step back at the chuuni-level line, but Kang Jinho ignored him, muttering seriously.

-What went wrong? This wasn't in the plan……

Jeonghun brushed off the mutter too. Time to report the bug and grab some food.

“Anyway, I'm logging out. Gotta sleep early for the Champs finals at dawn.”

-Butterfly effect…… Huh? Champs finals?

Kang Jinho gave Jeonghun a what the hell look.

-What're you on about? Champs finals are in June.

“Yeah. June 5th. So dawn today.”

-It's March now? March 19th.

“……Look, sorry to be rude on first meet, but are you okay mentally?”

Rude, but Jeonghun had to ask.

First he claims to know more than the devs, now his sense of time's off. Frozen for three months and just thawed? Captain America much?

-Driving me nuts, fuck. Really June 5th?

“Yeah, for real. You could mix up a day or two, but March? No way.”

-Yeah, normally you couldn't. Normally.

Kang Jinho muttered that last bit. Then, like he'd pieced it together, he asked Jeonghun.

-Anything big happen around mid-March…… Nah, can't remember specifics. Fine. Around mid-March, any major events or incidents?

“Outta nowhere, what's that mean? Major events?”

-Big world news, or something about you. Or RaSe-related. Anything that blew up?”

“Hmm.”

Random as hell. But his eyes were dead serious, so Jeonghun racked his brain anyway.

Mid-March…… what was I up to?

Nothing huge. Just filed for leave of absence, enjoying student-free life.

That's why I figured I'd chill with some RaSe…… Huh?

Suddenly, a memory flashed. Jeonghun looked up at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kang Jinho—and chills shot down his spine as familiarity hit.

That's where I know him from!

Yeah, about three months ago, he'd planned to start RaSe. Then some incident killed that vibe.

That incident was.

“Kang Jinho. First user to die playing Last Savior. The death sparked all that VR game regulation drama……”

-Aigoo, fuck. Now I'm dying and getting stuffed as a game NPC. My face was on the news?

“Yeah. That's why you looked familiar. Um……”

-What? Spit it out.

“Are you…… a ghost?”

-Beats me. Probably not, though. System flagged me as Patron Spirit. Maybe something exploded mid-game and folded my body data, soul, whatever into the system?”

“No way.”

That was straight out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of fantasy novels or movies. A ghost felt more plausible.

“But why so chill? This is huge.”

-Seen weirder.

“……”

Weirder than dying and soul-NPCing? No clue.

Kang Jinho scratched his head in frustration, sighed deeply, and spoke.

-Dunno if you'll buy this, but……

Then.

A new vending machine sprouted from the floor. Before Jeonghun could process, capsules churned wildly inside.

“Whoa? This is?”

-Skill draw time. Starts after Patron pick and some chat. But it's boring compared to Patron draws. Grades are fixed. Same flashy effects by rank……”

“Flashy effects?”

-……What the hell effect is this? First time seeing it. No way.

6-star: silver glow. 7-star: gold.

Skills too—the whole machine lights up in rank colors.

But this machine? No color at all.

Just cracks spiderwebbing across it.

-……You said my rank was 0-star, right?

“Yeah…… Wait, no way?!”

-Yeah, probably that no-way.

Skill draws bored compared to Patron ones for one reason.

Fixed ranks.

In RaSe's gacha, Patron rank + skill rank always totaled 10!

Boom!

The machine shattered, one capsule rocketing out.

-Whoa. Shit game crazy.

“Whoa. God game crazy.”

Jeonghun's 0-star pick hit the jackpot.