I Became My Ex-Boyfriend’s Concubine - Chapter 56

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 56

“A Role-Playing Game?”
“You’ve never tried one before, following Dan-bi around?”
In the hospital room, Hyun glanced at Dan-bi, who lay on the bed, then turned back to Som.
At that expression of complete bewilderment, Som let out a small sigh and continued.
“It’s what you call a Role-Playing Game. You become the protagonist in a game world and complete quests.”
At those words, vague memories surfaced—scenes she’d half-forgotten.
Games that rendered virtual worlds with startling realism.
Back then, Dan-bi had pointed at the monitor, her eyes bright as she mused that one day people might actually live inside such a world.
Hyun himself had been struck several times by how quickly the technology seemed to be advancing.
“But why are you bringing this up suddenly?”
In response to Hyun’s question, Som held up what was in his hand—a helmet-shaped device that looked identical to the one they’d found at Dan-bi’s house before.
Or rather, while the design was the same, it was actually a different device.
When Som had entered the hospital room earlier, he’d immediately handed something to Hyun, who was already there paying a visit—a Beta Test Device that Som’s Company was developing.
“This is it. An RPG Gaming Device.”
A Role-Playing Game with high degrees of freedom, where the story branches into tens of thousands of paths depending on the player’s choices.
It wasn’t easy to grasp the explanation all at once, but combining it with what he’d observed while staying beside Dan-bi, he began to get a sense of it.
“But what we’ve made this time is a little different.”
“Are you talking about a Virtual Reality Game?”
Hyun recalled an explanation Som had given before.
A technology that stimulates not just vision but all five senses, making virtual reality feel genuinely real.
A game that creates the sensation of moving directly within that world, he’d said.
At his words, Som hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“That’s part of it, but there’s one more thing that’s different.”
“What’s that?”
Som flipped the gaming device over and showed him. The inner surface of the helmet where it touched the head was studded with bumpy protrusions, its texture rough and textured.
These weren’t mere styrofoam or sponge—they were far more intricate and densely packed nodules.
“As I said, this is a Virtual Reality Game that stimulates all five senses. But on top of that, we’ve added an RPG element.”
Som tapped the helmet lightly as he spoke.
“In other words, it makes you feel as though you’ve truly become the protagonist of that world.”
Honestly, Hyun didn’t quite grasp what he meant. What could it possibly mean to become the protagonist of a world out of nowhere?
Som, reading his expression, elaborated.
“You look confused.”
“A little.”
“Just think of it as Possession. It’s like stepping into a character who already exists within an established world setting.”
“Possession?”
“Right. That character has already built a history with the people there before you ever start the game.”
Now it made sense.
So it was like becoming the protagonist of a novel, then.
“But don’t all the other RPG games do that already?”
“Exactly. That’s why our company added one more point of differentiation.”
Som pointed to the bumpy interior of the helmet. It resembled the electrodes he’d mentioned earlier, the ones that stimulate the five senses.
“These electrodes don’t just stimulate the five senses. They also extract the player’s memories.”
“The player’s memories……?”
“The world setting is randomly generated based on the memories of whoever wears the helmet.”
It sounded impossible.
It was difficult enough to craft a single perfect scenario, let alone construct a world in real time by reflecting a player’s memories.
It was something that transcended the limits of data processing.
Seeing Hyun’s stunned expression, Som nodded.
“Right. At first, everyone at the company said it made no sense. I was the one who first proposed this game.”
Hearing that, Dan-bi’s words suddenly came back to him.
How excited Som had been, saying he was developing an extraordinary new game.
Hyun also knew that whenever Som created a game, he always sought Dan-bi’s advice.
Given how passionately she loved games as a user, it was something a developer would naturally welcome.
She’d mentioned several times that she was eagerly awaiting this particular game.
“Do you know why?”
“Don’t tell me…….”
“That’s right.”
Som glanced back at Dan-bi lying on the bed, turning the gaming device over in her hands.
“I made this with you in mind.”
Som had noticed lately that Dan-bi was struggling more than usual because of Hyun.
Dan-bi tried to brush it off as nothing serious, but Som could sense a conflict that ran deeper than her usual troubles.
Watching Dan-bi’s stress reach its peak, Som had hit upon the idea of gifting her a game where she could vent her grievances freely.
And that was how this game had come to be.
“It’s what I’d call a Revenge Role-Playing Game. The quest only completes once you’ve carried out your revenge within a story constructed from the player’s memories.”
“Revenge?”
“Yes. All the people around you—even the target of revenge—are reconstructed from the latest people in the user’s memory.”
Som turned the thought over in her mind.
If Dan-bi really started this game, what kind of world would her latest memories—as reflected in the device—create?
Surely there, Dan-bi would find herself navigating between people who bore an uncanny resemblance to those in reality.
And it didn’t take much guessing to figure out who the target of her revenge would be.
‘…It could be Hyun.’
Perhaps that was precisely why she’d conceived of this game—to let Dan-bi pour out in a virtual world what she couldn’t possibly express in reality.
Som was hesitating, unable to bring herself to voice this truth aloud, when a question cut through the silence.
“But wait—is that gaming device the same as this one?”
Hyun’s question pulled Som’s attention away.
In his hand was a helmet-shaped device identical to the one she was holding—the very object he’d discovered at Dan-bi’s house.
Truth be told, Som herself couldn’t make sense of the situation.
When Hyun had first brought the device, she’d only been surprised at how closely it matched the design the company had been planning.
But not long after, the Beta Test Device had been manufactured in that exact design.
The problem came next.
“…It’s the same.”
“You’ve verified it?”
“Yes.”
Som recalled that day when she’d rushed to the Company Research Lab the moment she’d received the device.
She’d connected the dedicated adapter to the power supply, plugged in the state-of-the-art charger to measure voltage, and even unscrewed the casing piece by piece to disassemble every internal component.
And the result was unmistakable: from the circuit patterns on the motherboard to the serial numbers on even the smallest chipsets.
They matched without a single deviation to the Beta Test Device that her company had been developing in absolute secrecy.
It was a perfect replica of their own product—so perfect that one might believe someone had stolen the blueprints and duplicated it exactly.
But that wasn’t the strangest part.
“I’ve cross-checked every component, and it’s definitely our company’s product. But what I really can’t understand is…”
Som trailed off, then fixed her gaze on the device blinking in Hyun’s palm.
“…throughout the entire process of taking it apart and reassembling it, this gaming device never powered down once. It kept running the whole time.”
Hyun looked down at the device in his own hand again.
Deep inside the helmet, a crimson light flickered unpleasantly, tinting his palm with an eerie glow.
Yes, that light had been the problem from the beginning.
Ever since they’d first discovered the device at Dan-bi’s house, the helmet had continuously emitted a red signal indicating ‘active operation.’
Days had passed without a single charge, yet the unsettlingly wavering light showed no sign of dimming.
As if someone’s time were still flowing within it.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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