The Weapon I Forged Myself
Lee Shin gazed out from the second-floor window. As expected of a chaebol family estate, the grounds were disgustingly vast. The end was nowhere in sight.
Yet in this enormous place, he didn’t have a single ally?
Completely isolated. Treated worse than the dog freely roaming that wide yard.
Yeah. That’s me.
“Ha, maybe setting compliance and moral awareness to zero was overkill?”
He had drastically adjusted a few stats to match the character concept, never imagining it would come back to bite him like this.
“Still, it’s interesting. The empty spaces got filled with story once the game became reality.”
For example, his reputation stat being zero explained why the TV had been relentlessly bashing him every single day.
In the game, it had simply made recruiting harder and caused factions to view him with hostility. But in reality, it translated to people literally pointing fingers and screaming, That bastard’s a total scumbag!
It felt like the stat had gone into the negatives.
“Looking at it that way, it makes sense why this character ended up a chaebol heir.”
From the very beginning, the concept was a character with zero actual ability who somehow scraped by using charm and wealth to cover everything.
What would happen when that concept crossed into reality?
He had to create a reason.
The process had to be retrofitted to match the result.
“No talent, so self-made success is impossible. Naturally, it becomes ‘born filthy rich.’ And the reason he can still seem charming despite doing every rotten thing imaginable is…”
The unrealistically handsome face reflected in the mirror. The long legs that would be nothing but a dream in his original life.
From head to toe, the only thing he’d ever done right was being born with a diamond spoon in his mouth.
“Third-generation chaebol.”
In the end, he had dug his own grave.
Lee Shin rested his chin on the windowsill and laughed.
“Puhuhu. Interesting. So much fun. Absolutely thrilling.”
He had been struck by lightning with no warning and thrown into the game.
Drug addict. Scumbag. Good-for-nothing. He’d been showered with every insulting slur imaginable.
Now he was being treated worse than a dog.
Even so, Lee Shin was smiling.
So what? What does it matter?
Who cares if he’s a good-for-nothing? Who cares if he’s a scumbag?
Being a chaebol heir doesn’t matter. Being treated worse than a dog doesn’t matter.
Look at this pounding heart.
“Alright. The simplest plan is always the best.”
This is a story from the past—back when Lee Shin was a middle school student.
At that time, Lee Shin had been weak in many ways. Small and frail, with no parents. His family was poor, so he wore his older brother’s ill-fitting school uniform and endured the other kids’ mockery.
Looking back, it wasn’t strange at all that he became a target for bullying.
Middle school life revolved around the law of the jungle.
Bread bags flying at the back of his head.
The culprits’ giggling laughter.
The bystanders deliberately looking away in silent disregard.
For Lee Shin, who had only wanted a quiet daily life, the classroom was far from a pleasant place.
Most kids would have burst into tears at such relentless torment. Some might have exploded in blind rage. A slightly smarter kid might have gone to a teacher.
Lee Shin had tried them all.
Though none of it had worked, of course.
The day he fought back and got beaten in retaliation, the curses, threats, and flying fists had left him helplessly cornered.
But there was one thing that set Lee Shin apart from the others.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he slowly ran his hand across the cold electronic device in his pocket.
This should be enough, right?
A person must accurately understand what they possess.
Only then can they achieve what they desire.
That was the truth of life that middle schooler Lee Shin had realized.
·
·
Self-objectification.
It was a word middle schooler Lee Shin didn’t know, yet he had instinctively grasped it. Ever since he was young, he had been exceptionally good at it—almost to the point it seemed cynical.
What do I have to offer? What weapons are in my hands?
He had learned that accurately assessing these things was the only way to raise the odds of his plan succeeding.
Using dozens of different accounts, Lee Shin posted steadily at calculated intervals.
He poured everything he had into government offices, morning news programs, regular news outlets, and even small internet newspapers.
To repeat: middle schooler Lee Shin had grown up small and frail in a broken home. And by chance, his bully happened to be the son of a very powerful company executive.
The very weakness that had gotten him bullied became his greatest weapon.
A frame was instantly constructed. A burning sense of justice ignited.
The flames swept across the entire country in an instant, and Lee Shin finally obtained the peace he had wanted.
Compared to back then, the current Lee Shin was in a far better position.
After all, who had created the character named Lee Shin? The very person who had crafted the weapon and placed it neatly in his own hands was none other than himself.
The overall stats he had set during creation were below average.
In exchange, he had given the character an extremely high Wealth stat. But he wasn’t an idiot—he couldn’t exactly flaunt money inside a chaebol household. Besides, his assets were currently frozen anyway.
Setting aside money I can’t use right now…
But God still had one weapon left for him.
Charm.
A stat that allowed him to captivate or persuade others.
Through it, the Game Master’s player could interact with the game’s characters in countless ways.
At the simplest level, raising favorability could lead to greater benefits. He could also gain quite useful information through goodwill.
Depending on the value, he could unlock hidden quests. Interfering with hidden storylines could even let him recruit characters that should have been impossible to obtain.
Of course, it isn’t all advantages.
Just as trouble follows wherever there’s buzz, characters with high charm drew attention but also easily created enemies through sudden events fueled by envy and jealousy.
Used well, it could produce incredible results. But if not actively utilized, Charm was often worse than useless.
That was why players generally considered it a mediocre stat. Yet Lee Shin possessed an absurd amount of it.
No. “A lot” wasn’t enough to describe it.
The most.
The highest.
At least in the field of charm, Lee Shin was unrivaled in this world.
Charm: 101
A transcendent charm of 101 that exceeded the player-allowed stat limit of 100.
The strongest weapon Lee Shin possessed, obtained by sacrificing nearly every other ability.
Once you’re certain what weapon you hold, the rest is easy. You simply swing it with everything you have.
He moved.
The moment Lee Shin grabbed the doorknob, his expression changed.
He erased his usual mischievous smirk and replaced it with a gentle, benevolent smile. He even added a soft crinkle at the corners of his eyes.
When he stepped out and saw himself in the full-length mirror, he had already transformed into a universally charming man who inspired no ill will.
“Good morning, everyone! What a beautiful day!”
Every house has its own unique atmosphere.
A quiet family’s home feels calm the moment you step inside. If the family is lively, the house is filled with bright energy.
The atmosphere of the Lee family estate leaned toward the former.
Beyond calm—it was rigid.
When the head of the house, Vice Chairman Lee Young-bin, was present, it even became downright oppressive.
But recently, that atmosphere had begun to change.
The shift in the mansion’s mood over the past few days was most keenly felt by the staff.
“It’s weird. Seriously weird.”
“What’s weird, unnie?”
“When I first started working here, the place gave me chills. I felt cold all the time like I was coming down with something. But a few days ago, that chill suddenly disappeared?”
“Maybe you actually had a cold?”
“Girl, you think I can’t tell the difference between a cold and this?”
“Hehe, I’m just kidding. Actually, I felt the same. It used to feel uncomfortable, but lately it feels… lighter? Like something’s been lifted?”
“Right?! You feel it too?”
They weren’t the only ones.
The groundskeepers in charge of the garden and arboretum, the security personnel guarding the vast estate, even the chefs responsible for feeding everyone—they all felt it in their bones.
The strange pressure that had been weighing down the mansion was fading.
Everyone was curious.
Why? What had caused it?
That was when a cheerful voice rang out from the other side.
“Good morning! Su-jin noona! Hi! Mi-young noona, hello~”
“Good morning, young master.”
“Good morning, young master.”
“Young master is so stiff. Just call me Shin. Oh, Lucky! You’re full of energy again today. Good morning! High five!”
It was Lee Shin.
He greeted each person with a warm, affectionate voice. The occasional playful tone was the finishing touch.
When he bowed all the way down to high-five the Samoyed’s paw, the staff couldn’t help but hide their smiles.
The man who had been confined to his room in disgrace after that scandal had apparently made some kind of resolution. Now he was going around greeting everyone with boundless cheer, and somehow it wasn’t annoying at all.
Look at that eye smile. Seriously, his face is a work of art.
His personality’s trash, but his face is pure innocence. The gap is insane.
Honestly, if you ignored his past behavior, Lee Shin was extremely likable. Especially to the opposite sex—he was simply impossible to hate.
For one thing, he was ridiculously handsome.
Tall with proportions that drew admiration. He wasn’t particularly athletic so his frame was a bit slender, but that only made his long, elegant shoulder line more appealing.
And his face? No need to even describe it. Those droopy puppy-dog eyes turned into the most harmless creature on earth whenever he smiled. It triggered protective instincts in men and women alike.
For someone like that to have done such unspeakably rotten things…
Like how cats would have gone extinct if they weren’t cute, if Lee Shin hadn’t been born this absurdly attractive, he probably would have been buried alive long ago. For real.
The two women were still lost in admiration of his face when Lee Shin broke their reverie.
“Noonas, I have a question.”
“Yes, yes! Go ahead.”
“It’s nothing big. I haven’t seen the butler today. Where did he go?”
“The butler’s off today, right?”
“Yes, it’s his day off. Did you need something from him?”
“No, it’s just that today’s the day the ingredients are delivered. It’s practically the biggest event of the week, so I was surprised he wasn’t here like usual.”
Don’t worry about it.
Lee Shin waved his hand casually and turned away.
That was why they didn’t see the genuine smile that curved his lips.
He walked outside with a relaxed stride. A few staff members in the courtyard-sized yard bowed as he passed.
Lee Shin responded to each one with a kind, friendly smile.
“Chang-seok hyung, hope you enjoyed your day off. You went out with your girlfriend yesterday, right? Your face is glowing… Haha!”
“Take it easy, take it easy. Hey, your back’s not good, remember? Why are you sweeping so hard when your back hurts?”
It had only been a week.
That was how long it had taken Lee Shin to break down their wariness and win their favor.
Even the owner of the house who had warned them, Don’t associate with Lee Shin, would be stunned if he saw this. Who could have guessed that the rude, ill-mannered Lee Shin would be flashing such warm eye smiles at the staff?
People tend to become devils if you treat them well and then stop once. But if you ignore them constantly and then treat them well just once, they see you as an angel. Lee Shin had already become an angel to them.
“Are you heading to the arboretum again today?”
“Looking at the plants relaxes me. Oh, right!”
Lee Shin paused just before entering and asked.
“My laptop’s still in the usual spot, right?”
“If it’s the central lounge, it should be exactly where you left it.”
Just as the arboretum manager said, when Lee Shin reached the central lounge, his laptop was there. His eyes immediately went to the LAN cable plugged into it.
The eraser he had left on top of the cable was still in the exact same position. No one had touched it. Lee Shin smiled with satisfaction and sat down.
Before turning on the monitor, he made sure to check his surroundings.
He pressed the power button, entered the password, and a window immediately appeared.
The black background was filled with numbers and English letters. Code.
Time to wrap this up.
Lee Shin licked his lips and ran his fingers across the keyboard.
He entered commands, converted code, deleted or inserted variables.
New windows opened one after another. The mansion’s security protocols.
There were a lot.
It was a chaebol family, after all. The security system was absurdly thick compared to a normal household.
But security was usually designed to stop outside intruders. So if someone inside, using a wired connection, spent an entire week carefully knocking on every door…
Knock, and it shall be opened!
He inserted the USB containing the keycode.
At once, the dummy programs he had painstakingly planted over the past week activated simultaneously.
Whiiiir—
The lights on the main unit in Lee Shin’s dark room began to flicker. Then the CCTV cameras closest to his room started blinking with the same light, one by one.
They moved from the second-floor hallway where the guest rooms were, down the stairs, through the living room, and all the way to the kitchen.
Occasionally, unexpected code appeared.
It was the limit of working outside his specialty. But Lee Shin didn’t panic. After all, today was the day he would settle everything.
“Perfect. Done!”
He had stolen access privileges.
This house was now his.
Forty minutes later, Lee Shin walked back with a refreshed expression and greeted the manager he had seen earlier.
“Mmm~ Phytoncides! The coffee here in the arboretum really is the best.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Ah, leave the laptop where it is like always. I’ll be back tomorrow too.”
“I’ll let them know.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
After leaving that request, Lee Shin headed back.
On the way to the dining hall, he continued flashing his charming eye smiles at everyone he met, steadily building favor. The most common greeting was, “Enjoy your meal.”
Room, arboretum, dining hall.
Because this route had been repeated for the past week, no one found Lee Shin’s behavior the slightest bit suspicious.
Not while he was eating.
Not when he returned to his room.
Not even the security officer checking the CCTV in his room.
— “He just lay down on the bed. Looks like he’ll fall asleep soon.”
— “Confirmed.”
Using his transcendent Charm, he had completely dismantled their wariness.
Through repetitive behavior, he had created gaps in their vigilance.
And into that opening, he had slipped his hidden trump card without anyone noticing.
Lee Shin closed his eyes and quietly began his own countdown.
“Three, two, one. Go!”
At that exact moment, the laptop left in the arboretum began running at full speed with a loud roar. The security room monitors glitched, and the footage was replaced.
What replaced it was yesterday’s recording.
And at that very instant—
Beeeeeeeeep—!!
The fire alarm screamed at full volume!
While everyone’s attention was drawn to the commotion in the arboretum, Lee Shin casually stood up and walked down the hallway.
He slipped out through the back door, hid inside a laundry basket, changed clothes, and descended into the basement.
If written out, the adventure would take a long time to describe. But when he opened his eyes, the ark that would grant him freedom was already waiting.
It was the food delivery truck scheduled to arrive today!
“Mmm. The sweet taste of freedom.”
Lee Shin hopped straight into the cargo bed of the delivery truck parked in the basement.