Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue
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Lately, there've been a ton of kids hailed as child prodigies.
Like the ones who supposedly mastered calculus at five or the twelve-year-old runt called "Korean Messi" in Barcelona's youth squad.
But among them, true geniuses number maybe one or two at best. Most are just precocious brats.
I was one of those.
Just because I was good at Go as a kid, adults hoisted me onto their palanquin of hype.
"Kid, you know what? The real geniuses are the ones who crush at Go!"
"If you'd been born back in the day, you'd have been a famous general for sure!"
"Man, that boy's sharp. His dream job's gotta be president, right?"
I was crushed under the weight of their expectations, which felt like outright coercion.
From age six, I had to slog through useless humanities books like The Art of War or The Prince, spouting only the lines that'd please the grown-ups.
Of course, that crap wasn't sustainable.
Soon enough, I hit the wall of a fake prodigy's limits.
By middle school, I couldn't beat other kids in my main gig, Go, and my pro dreams faded away.
I jumped into chess on the run, and yeah, I had real talent there—cracked the domestic top ten. But who gives a damn about chess in this country?
I didn't buckle down on college prep until senior year of high school.
I had the brains for it, crammed for eight months straight, and scraped into a top Seoul university. But by then, that flowery palanquin the adults had paraded me on had turned into a bed of nails.
"Tsk tsk, figured he wouldn't make med school."
"Told ya. All kids these days are like that."
"Everyone and their dog thinks they're a genius. Look—our Kyung-min ended up at a better school anyway."
Adults who pinned wild hopes on me and crashed just as hard.
Sure, I'd milked the prodigy halo for perks, so no real complaints. But the grossness stuck.
***
In the end, that so-called child prodigy grew up to be your average office drone.
Landed a job at a big-name corp everyone knows, earned envy from my peers. But my life was barren shell and core alike.
My parents, who'd fought nonstop over my education, divorced. I rented a studio near the office and lived alone.
A life with no fulfillment, no savings.
My one sanctuary was games.
The game I was hooked on now was a mobile strategy RPG called Athena War Tales. What made it special was its depth.
The story was your standard power fantasy for guys, but the combat system was profound and polished to hell.
A skill-based game where outcomes swung wildly based on how smart you played.
It didn't fit the current mobile trend of pay-to-win auto-battlers, so it wasn't a massive hit. But it had a solid cult following.
I was one of those diehards, revered online as a god among players.
Wade, the No-Spend God.
I'd post no-spend guides on the forums, and comments would flood in—dozens of 'em. Deck advice, strategy consults, endless lines.
To live up to their hype, I'd pour every non-work hour into researching this game.
Hell, I even cracked open those strategy manuals and war books I'd once dismissed as kindling, hunting for tips.
Sure, chasing someone else's expectations felt like kid days all over again. But unlike back then, it didn't suck.
─LightBuffRush: Wade bro. When's the Kallaks battle guide dropping? No-spend peeps are sobbing in waitㅠ
─CrayonBurstOrange: But that Kallaks fight wrecked even the whale spenders. Was no-spend even meant to clear it? Real talk, only trusting Wade bro.
─Wade: Hold tight. Working on it.
─Macau Park: Ooh! The No-Spend God delivers!
─LightBuffRush: Wade! Wade! Wade!
Pure hype, unlike the selfish crap from adults.
Well, guess it's fun 'cause I dig it anyway.
─Macau Park: But Wade, sir. Maybe ditch Als Trash already? Swap him for even one extra UR and it'd be way smoother.
─LightBuffRush: Facts. Even no-spends pack a UR or two these days. Sticking too hard to SSRs and SRs feels off.
─CrayonBurstOrange: That's why Wade bro posts guides for SSR decks AND total shit decks.
─Macau Park: But starting with the shit decks lmao. Honestly, R-card decks are tough to copy even with guides. Anyway, anything'd improve without Als Trash.
─LightBuffRush: Can't argue that.
Als Trash was this strategist character, Als Ilrain, handed out free at the game's start.
Like all free starter cards, his rank and stats were trash-tier. Hence the name.
Yet he hogged story spotlight, starring in damn near every battle.
Think of him as the narrator dragging the silent protag's tale along.
Huge in lore, but players ditched him like an extra. That was Als.
I kept slotting him in every time.
I prioritized story logic over raw power in my playthroughs.
Like, if you're at war with Kingdom B, I'd balk at using their king or general I gacha'd. Makes zero sense.
In that vein, I always deployed our side's Als, come hell or high water.
"Alright, cleared. Whew!"
After countless trial-and-errors, 13 hours to nail the guide. No wonder players were whining—this stage was brutal.
No-spend folks couldn't clear without spotting the hidden quest tucked inside.
"Who'd have thought Als's hidden upgrade quest popped here."
This quest promotes Als from basic SR to SSR. Considering he started as R, it's like story-driven growth.
Boosts his tier for sure.
By my math, not top-tier, but solid second-tier upgrade.
"Ugh, already 3 AM. Gotta sleep and post the guide tomorrow."
I dove into bed, fiddling with my phone.
─Wade: Clear complete. Sorting tomorrow for guide drop.
─CrayonBurstOrange: 5252! Knew you had it!
─Wade: Oh, and found a hidden upgrade quest too. Pretty sure I'm first. Guide up this afternoon.
─DrO: Wtf insane. Whose upgrade? Even cleared whales ain't mentioned it.
─Wade: Had to beㅋ
No whaler mains Als as lead, duh.
Plus, Kallaks battle dropped just three days ago.
"Bet Als's pick rate skyrockets tomorrow."
By now, Als was my fave. So yeah, pumped for his tier-up tomorrow via that quest.
But I never posted that guide the next day.
'Cause when I woke up, an unbelievable sight sprawled before my eyes.