My Skeleton Soldier Is Strange - Chapter 1

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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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Chapter 1
Warlord Online.
A game released in 2020 that earned acclaim for demonstrating the potential and entertainment value of virtual reality gaming.
A game so renowned that whether you’re a gamer or not, you’d have to live under a rock not to know about it.
―Warlord Online Rank 1 player ‘Newbie’s solo raid of the 48-player raid boss Oberon.
And Kim Jae-beom held the staggering title of being Rank 1 in Warlord Online.
He possessed skill to match that prestigious ranking as well―
[Views: 2,127]
[Likes: 509][Dislikes: 21]
“…This game is truly dead.”
Yet the view count on the video I uploaded was disappointingly low.
Despite it being a solo raid video from the Rank 1 player, no less.
“This game is completely finished.”
I stared at the number 2,127 for a long moment.
“Ugh.”
I exhaled a sigh so deep it felt like the ground itself was collapsing. In the past, I’d casually hit view counts a hundred times this number―no, three hundred times this.
‘Yeah. That makes sense.’
But I accepted this reality with equanimity. The reason for the plummeting views was painfully obvious.
‘Because it’s a dead game that nobody plays anymore.’
Warlord Online.
As a first-generation virtual reality game, it was a pioneer that played a major role in the industry.
But now, in 2037, it had fallen into the ranks of what people commonly called a dead game―one that nobody paid attention to anymore.
‘It’s an inevitable progression, though.’
The few views I was getting now came mostly from people watching out of nostalgia rather than active players.
‘All classic games have disappeared this way eventually.’
In the gaming industry, seventeen years is enough time to be treated like ancient history.
‘With better graphics and new technologies being implemented in new releases… players naturally shift their attention.’
Flashy graphics that captivate audiences.
New virtual reality technology that delivers immersive sensory experiences beyond anything before.
New games continuously added features that Warlord Online lacked. Players who once enjoyed Warlord Online naturally turned their gaze elsewhere.
Yet despite all this, I couldn’t completely abandon Warlord Online.
‘It’s my game of a lifetime, and… I made decent money from it.’
For someone like me who favored unforgiving, hardcore gameplay, Warlord Online delivered tremendous satisfaction.
After all, Warlord Online was fundamentally a hardcore-focused game.
And the second reason was money.
Until it began its decline, Warlord Online earned me a substantial income.
More than what most mid-tier company employees made.
I’d started playing the game right when it was entering its downward spiral, and it still paid like that.
‘Uploading to YouTube would get millions of views, so naturally the money would follow.’
That classic game still had a large player base thanks to the advantages it held as a pioneer of virtual reality gaming. At least, that was true for the first five years after I started playing.
‘And from the sixth year onward, it gradually lost ground… Now it’s completely finished.’
Ding.
Just then, a text message arrived on my smartphone.
“Sigh.”
I checked the message that appeared on the screen and let out a long breath.
[YouTube March Income Deposited.]
[Deposit Amount: 532,000 won.]
532,000 won. This was my reality.
It wasn’t an insignificant amount of money, but it certainly wasn’t enough to sustain a living either.
‘If I pay for the capsule maintenance, rent, and living expenses with this… I’m in the red again this month.’
No, considering the fixed costs I had to cover, it was actually a pittance.
Yet the reason I’d managed to survive this long was because I had accumulated earnings from Warlord Online.
‘But now even my savings are precarious… I think I have just over ten million won left?’
When Warlord Online was thriving, I easily earned two to three million won a month, sometimes even over five million. But naturally, as my income increased, so did my spending.
Moreover, to maintain my position as the number one ranked player in Warlord Online, I’d been pouring most of my income back into the game.
So it wasn’t strange that my bank account had dwindled to just ten million won.
―Beep beep! Message received!
Then my smartphone buzzed with another notification.
It was a message from Kim Ji-min, a friend I’d been close with since childhood.
[Made 300k today lol.]
“This guy brags about it every single day.”
I let out a soft chuckle at the message.
Ever since he started Evern Online, he’d been constantly boasting about his earnings to me, which was rather endearing.
It felt like a child who’d received pocket money bragging to a neighbor about earning big money.
[Why won’t you quit Warlord and switch to Evern? You had your thing going, but making serious money is no big deal. Even a guy like me makes 300k a day. Lol.]
Ji-min sent a second message. I blinked as I read it.
‘It’s already been three months since Evern Online came out.’
Evern Online.
A third-generation virtual reality game that had emerged three months ago.
And it was the game that had definitively ended Warlord Online’s reign.
‘It set a record for the highest concurrent players ever, and it’s still breaking that record.’
Until the second generation, Warlord Online wasn’t without its competitive advantages, even if it fell behind in graphics and other aspects.
But Evern Online was different.
Within just a month—no, not even two weeks—of Evern Online’s launch, it had utterly ‘conquered’ the gaming industry.
The impact of Evern Online was that tremendous.
‘…Now that I think about it, they said the second-generation games were shutting down because of Evern Online too.’
The games that had been jostling with each other to gradually overtake Warlord Online and claim the top spot had all become ‘common folk who never became king.’
Warlord Online, which had been losing ground, actually benefited from a rebound effect by establishing itself as a ‘classic game.’
‘Maybe I should give it a try?’
Click!
Information about Evern Online was readily available on the internet.
“Quantum mechanics?”
Evern Online, curiously enough, was managed by a supercomputer that applied quantum mechanical technology.
Considering that the first and second generation virtual reality games were merely extensions of existing technology.
‘This is rather intriguing.’
Indeed, there seemed to be good reason to dismiss all those other games as relics.
‘Three months have passed since the game opened.’
Evern Online began its open beta on December 1st, 2036.
And when January 1st arrived, it entered commercial service.
And today, the YouTube payment settlement day, was March 26th.
I was effectively three months behind the early adopters.
‘Sensory synchronization through quantum mechanics? Now that’s something new.’
Warlord Online lacked this new technology—sensory synchronization was fully implemented here.
It was a technology that made virtual reality games far more vivid and allowed players to push their physical capabilities to their absolute limits.
‘This could be… interesting?’
The reason I hadn’t bothered searching for information about Evern Online until now was simply because my feelings toward Warlord Online remained unresolved.
In other words, I had unconsciously known that the moment I learned the details, I would abandon it.
And that wasn’t all.
The Evern Online community was flooded with endless trading posts, which meant countless people were already consumed by the game.
“Right… it’s time to let Warlord go.”
I finally made my decision.
‘And since I’m doing this anyway, I might as well climb to rank 1.’
Warlord—the first generation virtual reality game.
My rank 1 position in that game wasn’t something I’d achieved only after others had abandoned it.
I had surpassed all users who had played for over a decade, and once I took the lead, I never relinquished that position.
All while competing with other players on records and showcasing my combat videos.
“What? These guys have all been playing here?”
With that thought, I checked the ranking list for Evern Online and my eyes widened in shock.
All the rankers who had competed with me in Warlord Online were gathered here.
―I was fortunate. If I’d chosen a different game, I wouldn’t have achieved this level.
―What do you mean?
―Warlord Online’s hunting is far more hardcore than other games. Time investment matters, but if you have the skill, you can become a ranker.
―My, you seem quite confident in your abilities?
―Well… I can’t deny that.
I checked an interview video of one of them.
“Isn’t this the bastard who asked me how to defeat the early Warlord boss?”
I was utterly dumbfounded.
The guy I’d taught the fundamentals to because he couldn’t even defeat the first tutorial boss was now boasting about his skill.
‘The others are no different.’
They were all the same—people who used to post questions about Warlord Online on the community forums.
They were the ones who had begged for help on the community, so I had kindly taught them the strategies.
‘And now they’re all rankers in Evern Online?’
Yet in the interview videos, there was no mention of that. They spoke as though they had succeeded purely through their own skill.
Moreover.
―By the way, I heard Je-hwang also played Warlord. So are you still receiving help from Newbie, who’s still active in Warlord?
To the question that mentioned me during the interview.
―Well, I did receive various kinds of help when I first started playing Warlord. But those were just basic strategies that anyone else could have taught, not something unique from Newbie.
He answered as though it was nothing significant at all.
Without realizing it, I furrowed my brow.
―So Newbie didn’t really help you that much, then?
―That’s right.
―Hmm, what do you think would happen if Newbie came to Evern Online?
―Evern Online is different from Warlord in that it requires superior physical reflexes and instantaneous judgment. I suspect the reason Newbie continues to play Warlord is perhaps out of concern that their true abilities would be exposed in Evern Online.
“Ha!”
I let out a scoff of disbelief.
The saying goes that the bear performs tricks while the master reaps the rewards. The guy who learned the basics from me was spouting all sorts of nonsense.
‘So I was the bear.’
While I wasn’t paying attention, I—the bear performing tricks—wore a fierce smile.
‘So this is how it goes, huh?’
I couldn’t really blame them.
It was my own choice to stay in Warlord until the end.
If I had started Evern Online before them, I would have swept up all the money they’re earning now.
But I didn’t regret it.
‘I’ll start now. It’s not too late yet.’
After watching the video, confidence surged through me. That guy had always been sluggish and dull. If he could become a ranker by boasting about ‘physical reflexes’ and ‘judgment’, what was stopping me from doing the same?
‘There’s no reason I should fall behind. I’m just starting a little late, that’s all.’
My past self, ignorant of how the world worked, seemed somewhat pathetic. But I didn’t dwell on self-recrimination beyond that.
Those three months could be thought of as a tribute to Warlord, the game that had built my reputation.
Besides, in Warlord, I had started in the tenth year after launch and still reached rank one. Of course, that was only possible because Warlord had expanded the level cap late in its lifespan…
‘I’ll reach rank one.’
Three months was more than enough time to catch up.
* * *
I reviewed the interview videos of the remaining rankers and gathered basic information about Evern Online.
“Phew.”
Then I purchased a one-month pass for Evern Online from the homepage. As a result, my bank account now had less than two million won left.
‘It’s a problem I can solve by earning.’
I wasn’t particularly worried.
I would be able to earn significant money in Evern Online as well.
Click!
I rose from my seat after finishing the purchase.
Then I squeezed my body back into the virtual reality capsule.
―Whirrrrr!
Soon the spherical capsule hummed to life with a loud mechanical sound.
[Please select a game to play.]
Two games appeared before my eyes.
“Evern Online.”
For the first time, I spoke the name of a different game instead of Warlord Online.
[Starting Evern Online.]
[Please set your nickname.]
‘A nickname…’
I pondered carefully as the message appeared.
Then, shortly after.
“Stagnant Water.”
[Setting nickname to Stagnant Water.]
I uttered a word with a meaning completely opposite to the nickname I had used in Warlord Online.
[We wish you an enjoyable adventure.]
Before the message even finished, a golden notification appeared before my eyes.
At the same time.
―Whoooosh!
[Tutorial beginning.]
The world of Evern Online unfolded before me.

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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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