Chapter 131
Chapter 131
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: I Loved You
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Security expert Kim Cheol-yong had been a boy who loved games in his childhood.
But after suffering the shocking trauma of losing his painstakingly raised character—and every last item—to a Chinese hacker, he dedicated himself to studying so no such tragedy would ever happen again, eventually becoming a security expert.
A true master who raked in over 100 million won a year just from security contest prizes.
Instead of taking a job at some company, he savored the freelance life.
And with the free time that life afforded him, he watched internet streams.
Kim Cheol-yong was a diehard fan of Jeon Jeonseol.
The sight of that girl weeping as an entire world perished filled him with an unbearable rage.
He fired off an email to the Meteor Land devs.
[I can handle your hacking issues for you.]
He teamed up with the operators to distribute fake hacks.
More precisely, they were hacks that seemed to work fine at first but secretly pinged the operators with a self-report, auto-banning the user—like suicide cheats.
Once it came out that most free hacks floating around were express trains to a ban, hack usage plummeted.
The next phase targeted the big-fish hackers raking in absurd profits with their advanced cheats.
This would've been tough without the big game publisher stepping up with their client-side access, but to his surprise, they cooperated fully, sending those professional hack peddlers straight to prison.
And so, peace returned to Meteor Land.
As for Jeon Jeonseol's peace...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Attack 12 wooden gloves? 400 million!? Not 400, not even 4,000—400 million? That's eight zeros? Too many zeros to even process at a glance?"
⭐ Superchat [12 Woodglove donated 4,000 won] ─"Your life's way too cushy, you bastard lol" <Whoa, fuck, it actually dropped> <No 'Yasuo' chant this time?> <Rich family, pro gamer skills, pretty girl face—now you snag the last Meran too? Gotta hog everything?> <JEON JEONSEOL!> <JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL! JEON JEONSEOL!> <Outta the way lolololol—this server's mine now> <Hmm... that's decent I guess... I'd call it legendary at At. 15, but At. 12 feels a tad short, y'know?> <Sell it and go for At. 15?> <Sell it and go for At. 15? Sell it and go for At. 15? Sell it and go for At. 15? Sell it and go for At. 15?> ⭐ Superchat — Loyal Retainer [Loyal Retainer donated 10,000 won] ─"Legend-nim, you gotta stop right here. At. 15 is a pipe dream. On a normal glove that's failed one 10% upgrade, even nailing four 60% upgrades only gets you to At. 11. To hit At. 12, you'd need three 60% successes after two 10% fails. Hitting At. 12 raw from here? Probability-wise, it's basically impossible. Slap these on, and you're insanely strong already. Use 'em as lifelong gear, sell for a full set, or just keep 'em. Chasing At. 15 would be straight-up madness." <What’s with the essay lololol> <Legit loyal af> <Zhuge Liang-tier brain ㄷㄷ> <Rational take is nuts> <Ditch At. 15? Ditch At. 15? Ditch At. 15? Ditch At. 15? Ditch At. 15?> <All the way (2014, action/thriller)> My head was burning up.
I could really feel why the ancient sages warned against booze, women, and gambling.
Because it's so goddamn good that nothing else matters!
I'm a girl now, but fuck anyway!
"This feels fucking amazing."
<Why's her speech like that lololol> <Ew so cute> <Prim proper face with thug mouth—gap moe insanity> <This is why we watch Legend stream> Ecstatic viewers.
Reason paralyzed.
Dopamine surging.
And that one thought dominating my mind again.
The delusion that I'm special.
The fantasy that this time, it'll really work.
"At. 15, let's go!"
Do you know why gambling is a loser's game?
Even if luck lets you win for a bit, you keep going until you lose it all.
Before you start, you think: quit if I win.
Stop when ahead, end on a high note.
Everyone vows that—but almost no one actually does.
Out of five upgrade slots, four straight 10% successes.
Jeon Jeonseol crafted Attack 12 wooden gloves worth a fortune, reaping catastrophic gains.
Her dream, sparked by a single 1 million gold scroll, swelled her balance to 400 million gold.
But she couldn't forget the ecstasy of that 10% quadruple success, the dopamine explosion—and gambled until her balance hit zero.
Meteor Land of Dreams, Hope, Despair, and Ruin—Complete.
And a few days later.
⭐ Superchat [Mesungi donated 1,000 won] ─"Legend Jeonjeon, word is Meteor Land wiped out all the hackers and bounced back hard—wanna come back?" One day, out of nowhere, the name Meteor Land slipped back into my life like finding an old ex-girlfriend's bookmark tucked in a bookshelf.
(Never dated.)
Meteor Land, Meteor Land, Meteor Land.
I rolled that lovely name around on my tongue over and over, then shaped it into a song and let it out.
"What's past is past."
<Why so wistful lol> <Aaah... that nostalgic name...> <There was a game like that...> <If only no hackers ffs> <Hate it but one more go?> <Said no nostalgia but cried her eyes out when it tanked—total immersion queen lol> <Why do RPGs never progress, just regress?> <Oak gloves? 400 mil? Ugh! My head!> <Hold tight! Legend coin to Mars!> <Breaking: Legend rocket explodes midair, investigating...> <'No regrets, I loved you'~> "That was a joke. Guess I'm the type weak to pleasure, so I shouldn't mess with that stuff."
<Huh? Pleasure?> <ㅓㅜㅑㅓㅜㅑㅓㅜㅑ> <Pleasure-weak Jeon Jeonseol... hehe...> <Naughty chat halt!> "Booze too—no one to stop me, and I got no self-control. Gambling? Once the switch flips, can't stop. Better stay far away from that scene."
There's one more thing I suck at quitting.
Feels like spilling it on stream vs. offing myself.
Absolutely can't say it.
"So, sadly—no comeback."
Yeah, life means endless meetings and goodbyes.
Some you wanna cling to desperately, like you can't let go or you'll regret it forever.
But that's exactly when you gotta steady your heart, step back a couple paces, keep your distance, and think it through slow.
Meteor Land's a game with an expiration date.
In the original Meteor story timeline, this gameplay loop holds for maybe 3-4 years tops.
After that, irredeemable rot piles up until a patriotic crisis decision drops the Cataclysm patch, changing everything.
Nostalgics come flocking.
But you can't stay trapped in that era forever.
Even without hacks, could this hype have lasted a year?
Nah—as a nostalgia machine, it'd fulfill its role, slot into memory lane, and drift into deep sleep.
Watching something you loved so fiercely fade, wrinkle, crumble... that's heartbreaking.
So maybe saying goodbye right here is the prettier ending.
So maybe, but still.
Can I leave just one last word?
"I fucking loved you! You bitch!"
<lolololololololololololol> <Anyone'd think she got dumped for real> <So poignant fr> <How deep were those feels?> <Jeon Jeonseol, real one with games> <'Fucked her' you kov bitch is canon lol> <Next life, spawn in a hack-proof client plz ㅠㅠ> <Meteor Land—Complete—> <Now actually complete it—how many fake endings?> <Thanks for loving Meteor Land all this time.> <The Meteor Land I loved is gone. It was summer.>