Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: E3 (3)
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By the time he came to his senses, he had already finished playing.
Woo-hyeong let out a hollow laugh, but soon came to an understanding that was closer to self-justification.
‘…Right, how could I just walk past this.’
In fact, it would have been strange to ignore it.
Especially considering the nature of a game convention.
E3 is fundamentally a place to showcase electronic entertainment.
As such, the space is filled mostly with things like futuristic LED lights, mechanical parts, and electronic billboards, wouldn't you say?
Now, imagine a brown tree waddling around in a place like that.
And it wasn't just walking, either. It was even talking, saying, ‘Care for a round of our game?’
Anyone who could ignore that would have to be an event staff member, or perhaps someone who had no interest in games and was dragged here against their will.
No, it was eye-catching enough to grab the attention of even the uninterested, so you'd have to despise *Hellic* with a passion to pass it by.
Proof of this was the long line stretching out in front of the booth.
From where Woo-hyeong was sitting, the end of the queue was out of sight.
‘Good grief, that’s something else.’
Woo-hyeong, now aware of the tree's true identity, clicked his tongue at its phenomenal ability to draw a crowd and stood up.
He then took out his notebook.
He jotted down keywords.
『Hellic 3
Changes from the series: Parts system, customization, increased focus on action.
Inherited from the series: Weapon build system, the cosmic horror setting of Hell, use of narrative tooltips.
Noteworthy points: Protagonist whose body is a weapon, mechanism of farming the corpses of war heroes, visuals refined to a AAA standard.』
After finishing his notes, Woo-hyeong wore a satisfied expression.
‘This article is going to be a long one.’
Choosing *Hellic 3* for his first booth was indeed a wise decision.
Just forty-five minutes of gameplay had allowed him to gather significant information.
It seemed he would have plenty to write about for the community forums, in addition to his article.
Woo-hyeong closed his notebook.
Now it was time to take pictures for the articles and posts he would write using these keywords.
*Click!*
He photographed the beckoning tree and the long line trailing behind it.
Just as Woo-hyeong was about to leave.
“P-President…!”
“?”
Woo-hyeong froze.
Something tremendous was approaching the booth.
“Sorry, it took a while to get ready.”
“Not at all…! Here, President, your seat is right here…!”
“Right, thank you.”
Woo-hyeong carefully observed the ‘thing’ conversing with the tree.
It had a form that seemed to blur the lines of… something.
White hair in victory rolls, an exaggerated double chin that looked as if it were stuffed with prosthetics, a knee-length skirt reminiscent of ancient Greeks, sandals, and a sleeveless top.
Up to that point… well, it was fine.
But there was something on its chest that he simply couldn't overlook.
‘Whoa…’
A chest so excessively emphasized it was shocking, making one wonder just how many pads were stuffed in there.
Woo-hyeong let out an involuntary gasp.
That chest alone was enough for him to realize what this cosplay was meant to represent.
‘A playable character…!’
Combining a few of the parts he had seen during the demo would result in exactly that appearance.
Of course, Woo-hyeong had never even considered such a bizarre customization.
It was beyond creative; it was phenomenal. The courage it took to put that into practice was worthy of awe.
‘That person…’
Does he know no shame?
The thought crossed his mind as the man, radiating a presence as unique as the mesmerizing tree, drew all eyes to him like a triumphant general at the front of the booth.
Woo-hyeong remembered what the tree had said.
‘President…’
Which meant that the man blurring the lines of something (and gender) was Yeon-ho.
Suddenly, the various community posts hoping for his cross-dressing flashed through his mind.
Woo-hyeong glanced down at his camera for a moment.
And then,
*Click!*
He took a picture of Yeon-ho next to the tree.
For about three seconds, Woo-hyeong debated whether or not to upload this photo.
But in the end, it was merely a formality.
A smile bloomed on Woo-hyeong’s face.
‘This is totally getting upvoted!’
Woo-hyeong was someone who valued upvotes more than his conscience.
In other words, he was a born reporter.
***
Faced with two choices, the worst and the second-worst, ninety-nine out of a hundred would choose the latter.
I, too, was a person with such common sensibilities.
If I had to choose between full drag, a skintight suit drag, or half-drag, my only option was half-drag.
“P-President… it looks good on you…!”
*What in the world are you talking about, A-yun?*
The words rose to the tip of my tongue, but I held them back.
Because showing shame is something an amateur would do.
If you can't avoid it, you should enjoy it.
And even if you can't enjoy it, you shouldn't cry.
That's what a true professional does…!
“…Thank you.”
Countless gazes pierced me after I managed to force out a reply.
But it was hard to even react.
The seven pads stuffed into each side made it difficult to breathe.
The prosthetic on my chin made it hard to speak, and the rolled-up hair kept poking my skin.
All this, combined with my shame, made me feel dizzy.
If only it had ended there.
“…Cheon Yeon-ho?”
Someone called my name.
I looked up and found myself face to face.
“…James?”
James Han, that guy, was staring at me with an indescribable expression.
“Hmm…”
James scratched his cheek.
His eyes scanned me up and down.
I had no idea what he was thinking.
But his gaze stirred something deep within me, a cry that rose from my very core.
‘Don't…’
Don't look at me like that!
…It was a cry that would never reach him.
***
James Han, age 25.
A mega-popular game streamer invited to E3, and a long-time friend who had been with Yeon-ho since the beginning of his broadcasts.
He pointed toward the booth and asked Yeon-ho.
“Should I head over there?”
He could have asked about the bizarre cosplay, but James chose not to.
Psychologically speaking, he was in the ‘Sure, why not’ camp.
In other words, it was the power of his environment.
The neighborhood James lived in was the kind of place where Johnson next door was gay, Marinda across the street was a lesbian, and Bob the supermarket cashier was transgender.
Living in such an open-minded culture, cross-dressing seemed like a rather sophisticated hobby. (Though, to be honest, James’s immediate surroundings were a bit unusual.)
Whatever the case, James was here to play a game, and as long as the game was fun, that was all that mattered.
Yeon-ho nodded stiffly.
With that, James walked past him and sat down at the booth.
By then, any thoughts about Yeon-ho’s cosplay had been erased from his mind.
‘Finally get to play it.’
His attention was already focused on *Hellic 3*, which he had been waiting for so long to play.
Without delay, James put on the headset.
As he grabbed the controller, the game started.
—*Kyaaaaaaak!*
The familiar intro sound.
The name of the developer appeared: [Studio Rewind].
James’s heart pounded.
It was the thought that the game was about to truly begin.
He pressed the ‘Game Start’ button, and a cinematic began to play.
James furiously mashed the [Skip] button.
‘Who has time to watch this?’
The allotted time was short.
That meant if he wanted to devour all the content, he had no time to focus on the story.
Besides, that was James’s playstyle.
Unlike Woo-hyeong, who had played before him, James was the type who didn't consider a game’s story to be important.
So much so that he only started paying attention to *Hellic 2*’s story around his fourth playthrough.
He intended to focus solely on the gameplay within this limited time.
—*Wooooah!!*
The cinematic passed, and he was thrown straight into combat.
A tutorial. Understanding this, James followed the guide and used each weapon.
‘No major changes to the weapons. Next up is the parts system, right?’
*Tap, tap, tap.* After finishing all four phases of the tutorial combat, James ran to the temple.
There, he encountered the first corpse.
‘Oh.’
His hands stopped.
His gaze briefly flickered to Yeon-ho.
That wig… it was the same kind as the one on the in-game corpse (Napoleon).
‘Ah, so it was a playable character cosplay.’
Understanding dawned on him, and he looted the corpse.
He immediately equipped the parts that dropped, not bothering to compare the specific stats.
‘I’ll just try them out and switch to whatever feels best in my hands.’
Forty-five minutes was too precious a time to spend reading descriptions.
Having roughly memorized the keywords for the parts, James immediately started the first chapter.
The Swamp of Grief. The combination of the blue swamp and old, dead trees boasted a gloomy beauty.
James leaped through the area.
And so, the first battle began.
‘Oh, a root attack.’
When the scrawny corpse swung its hand, entangled roots shot up from the ground.
A red circle indicated the attack range, making it easy to dodge.
He charged forward with his spear and shield and thrust.
*KABOOM!*
The effects and sound exploded satisfyingly, giving James a rush.
‘The impact feels good!’
The corners of James’s mouth lifted.
But it wasn't just the impact that was good.
Even this skinny corpse, which seemed to be a regular monster, had two attack patterns.
‘Root attack for range, and up close, it’s like this…’
It transformed its hand into a tree branch and swung.
James raised his shield.
*CLANG!*
A sound rang out as he successfully blocked, and a heavy vibration pulsed from the controller.
In that moment, James noticed it.
‘Oh, it’s that.’
He was talking about the character’s preparatory motion and the monster’s stagger.
He was a user who played games by breaking them down frame by frame.
That’s why a moment like this, which others might overlook, was an exceptionally clear and special change for him.
And there was one system he particularly loved.
‘Parrying!’
A playstyle where you negate an enemy’s attack with perfect timing and launch a counterattack to dish out double the damage.
‘That bastard Cheon Yeon-ho…!’
It seemed that since this installment was focused on action, he had even included elements like this.
He couldn't have been more pleased.
*Tap, tap!*
James’s hands flew across the controller.
With a heavy motion, his character thrust the spear toward the monster, which was left vulnerable by the stagger.
And then,
*THWACK—!*
*ZZZZING—!*
An incredibly satisfying sound effect erupted, and a vibration traveled up his arms.
On the screen, exactly double the damage number popped up.
The monster’s remaining health was 0.
Immediately after, the monster that looked like a dried corpse collapsed.
It gradually crumbled, its form shifting, until it became identical to the other trees nearby.
‘Aha, so that’s how you do it.’
James licked his lips and opened the item build screen.
He could tell that the spear and shield he was holding were weapons specialized for parrying.
Among them, the ‘Shield Specialization’ build was designed to drastically increase counterattack damage.
‘This is it.’
James decided on his build in that instant.
He immediately checked the Napoleon parts.
Only now did he start to properly read the descriptions.
『Napoleon's Body
The conqueror's heart beats with dominance.
Trait: Gain Dominance.
Dominance: Final normal attack damage is reduced by 50%. Final critical attack damage is increased by 50%.』
The mechanics of the parts were simple enough to understand at a glance.
The trait of the ‘Body’ part, like the core of a machine, determined the character’s core mechanics, while the other parts affected stats like specific ability scores or attack range.
James thought.
‘A parry is a guaranteed critical hit.’
In that case, Napoleon’s ‘Dominance’ attribute was a good choice.
He didn't know what might come later, but it seemed unlikely that there would be another trait in this demo as specialized for parrying as one that increased final critical damage.
‘Swap, swap, swap!’
And so, James’s character became Napoleon.
His stats formed a grotesque imbalance of near-zero defense and overwhelming critical damage.
In his subsequent playthrough, he farmed two more corpses, including Joan of Arc, further exacerbating this imbalance.
He naturally ignored his character’s appearance; he was racing solely toward clearing the demo.
‘Looks like there are multiple routes. Did they simplify it? Well, it is only a 45-minute demo.’
Traces of other paths, visible here and there, led him to such a guess.
Of course, he couldn't be sure.
Stray thoughts were quickly erased, and the void was filled with the satisfaction of combat.
‘Ah, a boss.’
The boss of the first chapter was a four-meter-tall old man who looked like a dryad from a fantasy story.
But its cry was like that of a child, and its movements were far from the sluggish staggering of an old man.
James persistently aimed for counterattacks.
The combination of the controller's vibration and the visual effects in *Hellic 3* made the feel of parrying exceptionally unique.
*THWACK!*
*THWACK!*
*THWACK!*
With flawless, precise parries, James grinned as he defeated the boss. By then, exactly twenty minutes of his playtime had passed.
‘Plenty of time.’
At this rate, he would be able to clear the second chapter’s boss as well.
With this thought, James moved past the Swamp of Grief.
However, that’s how things are in the world.
They rarely go as planned.
The BGM swelled.
*Piiiiii—*
*—Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah.*
A kissing sound laid over the bass, a field of skulls steeped in darkness, and tombstones in front of them.
A shiver ran down his spine.
The exquisite combination of visuals and sound awakened his senses.
It was in that moment.
—*Fufufu…*
James saw her.
The silhouette of a woman into whom the art team had poured their souls.
—*Fufufut…*
Pale skin, thin clothes that were tantalizingly see-through, a veil covering her face, and ornate decorations.
She danced lightly on her tiptoes, an incongruous presence among the skeleton soldiers.
Was it because of her transparent glow, or was it the curves of her silhouette?
James pondered, but ultimately, it didn't matter.
*Shunk!*
“Huh.”
In the single moment his attention was diverted, the skeleton soldiers’ swords had lunged at him.
As stated before, the defense of the character James was controlling was near zero.
[GAME OVER]
Instant game over.
He was killed by a regular mob, not a boss or an elite.
It was the first time that had happened in James's life since he was six years old.
Despite this shocking piece of history being written, James failed to even register it.
His gaze was fixed solely on the dancing woman beyond the gray screen.
—*Fufufut…*
“…”
To reintroduce him, his name was James Han.
A Korean-American living in California and a skilled game streamer who played games by breaking them down frame by frame.
The story was simple.
He saw the dancer sway, frame by frame, and in that moment, James came face to face with his own base youth.
He was twenty-five years old.
E3 (3)