The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2

Chapter 2.

“This feels kind of empty.”

Starting at 18 years old, now suddenly 21.

For what could be considered a short or long time, he really did nothing but play games like his life depended on it. While others were drinking and enjoying college life, Dohyun spent his time holed up in his room corner, doing nothing but gaming.

He said it was for money, but honestly, it wasn’t such a grand reason.

It was fun.

Even though he played while cursing up a storm, gathering with other veteran players to casually hang out, struggling through raids only to get junk drops, but then occasionally getting lucky with an item and everyone gathering together to hug and celebrate.

Everything was just fun.

But what remains at the end is server shutdown.

Did he really dedicate 3 years to a game that would fail this easily?

He had some skill, so if he had played other games, he probably would have made decent money… They say if you become a ranker in the VR version of Linnich, you wouldn’t envy any building owner, right?

Thinking about it made him feel somehow wronged.

‘I’m ranked 1st, so why don’t I have money?’

The money he had on hand was at most 500,000 won.

Achieving 1st place ranking in a completely failed game couldn’t possibly make money.

No matter how good items you get, there need to be people to buy them. Even this money was what he had carefully saved up bit by bit when it could at least serve as pocket money.

“…”

If the first game he started wasn’t this shitty failure but a game like Linnich… no, if it had been at least an ordinary VR game, things would have been different.

“Sigh.”

Such thoughts were brief, as Dohyun soon shook his head.

“Well, what can I do? It’s my fault for not being able to abandon this shitty failure.”

He could earn money from now on.

Although it was a shitty failure, thanks to it he learned he had talent for games.

And that was in VR games that approached the virtual reality of his dreams.

Considering that VR games make a bit more money than PC games, it wasn’t like he was destined to die.

‘Money isn’t urgently needed right now… let’s look into it slowly.’

Since he was living off his family anyway, there was no rush for money.

500,000 won would be enough to play around and eat for a month.

Not wanting to think complicated thoughts, Dohyun plopped down in his computer chair.

He was thinking of looking into new games.

But when he actually turned on his computer, the first place he went to was the Demroc homepage.

“Ah.”

Is this why habits are scary?

Well, whenever he turned on his computer, it was always either to post strategy guides on the homepage or to browse posted articles.

Click.

[When will this fucking failure game die – Purple Taste]

Dohyun clicked his tongue while browsing the homepage since he was already there.

‘There are no new posts.’

He thought there might be posts from users who had been hiding since the service ended.

It seemed like it was more of a failure than Dohyun had thought.

Seeing that the last post was from Violet-Flavored Auntie a month ago.

‘Sigh. Let me close this and look up information.’

It was just as he was about to leave the homepage.

“…Huh? A new post?”

A new post appeared with ghostly timing.

And it wasn’t from a regular user, but a post directly from the game operators.

[We would like to express our gratitude to all users who have enjoyed Demroc so far… Thanks to you, we were able to decorate the ending with joy…]

Looking at it wondering what it was, it was an ordinary thank you message.

Like how a postscript appears after reading a webtoon to the final episode, it was a lengthy postscript expressing gratitude for staying together until the end.

‘Why am I reading this so long for no reason?’

Even while letting out a hollow laugh, Dohyun was scrolling down with his mouse.

Since it was the end, he wanted to see what they had to say.

[Thus, Demroc, which was a test work and Season 1, has ended its service, and we will soon meet you again with Season 2, the official version.

The official version has been conceived by maximally reflecting the data you left while playing and the feedback you sent us.

We are confident that it will be a free world full of adventures. We invite you to this paradise of adventure.]

“Season 2 is coming out?”

There was a lot of talk about test works and official versions, but to summarize, it meant the next game would be the real deal, so please look forward to it.

It was unexpected. Who would have thought they were ambitiously preparing Season 2?

However, honestly, he was skeptical.

‘User feedback… there’s probably nothing but curses sent about it being a luck-based shitty failure.’

Demroc’s notorious reputation for its gacha system was widely known to any gamer.

And any user who had played Demroc would have put their true feelings into letters called feedback.

With very thick curses, that is.

‘And more than half of those cursing inquiries were probably mine, weren’t they?’

Most people didn’t know, but Dohyun could confidently say he was the victim who suffered the most from Demroc’s luck-based shitty failure system.

From skill gacha to item drops, item enhancement.

The list would be endless.

How much could such a shitty failure change just by reflecting feedback? He couldn’t help but think that way.

That’s when it happened.

Pause.

There was something that caught his eye as he scrolled down.

It was text written at the very bottom of the screen.

-Season 2 will meet you not as VR, but as a virtual reality game.

“…Virtual reality game?”

Dohyun’s face contorted sharply upon seeing those words.

* * *

Every 21st century gamer has one dream in a corner of their heart.

Virtual reality games.

Games commonly seen in secondary creative works like novels or comics. They were also fantasy games because they couldn’t be achieved in reality.

However, after 2020, the world took a big step closer to virtual reality games.

VR 3rd generation.

A device that goes beyond the 1st generation of enjoying games realistically only with eyes, to wearing a helmet-like device on the head to enjoy games like dreams.

At first glance, it was a device quite similar to virtual reality games in novels.

But the reality was completely different.

‘Compared to the production seen in novels, the quality was ridiculously inferior, artificial intelligence made of graphics and patterns without a trace of emotion, sensations that couldn’t be felt at all.’

Everything from one to ten was a severely degraded version.

No wonder even experts said it would take at least several more decades for proper virtual reality games to emerge.

This was why people were satisfied with current VR.

[…We will meet you not as VR, but as a virtual reality game. ‘God of Savior’ will perfectly fill the emptiness of those of you tired of VR that mimics virtual reality.]

“Bullshit.”

And this was also why Dohyun frowned when he saw the post on the homepage.

“Even if it’s a shitty failure, isn’t this trolling too extreme?”

Yes, he acknowledged the game quality itself.

When it first launched, it received praise as the most perfect VR 3rd generation available.

That meant they had the technology.

‘But virtual reality games are still ridiculous.’

That would be like memorizing multiplication tables and then trying to solve university mathematics.

Not even half a chance of that happening.

Not worth expecting.

Still, it was a game he had grown attached to, yet it was deceiving users until the very end, so he couldn’t feel good about it.

It certainly wasn’t just Dohyun’s opinion.

[Breaking) Demroc shutting down servers. We can’t use memes anymore.]

-That trash game finally died? I was wondering when it would collapse, and it’s really shutting down.

-Yeah, but they posted an announcement there saying they’re releasing some virtual reality game.

-?? What’s that supposed to mean?

-They said Demroc was a test version, and now they’re releasing a virtual reality game as the official version? God of Savior or something like that.

Since the VR market industry was small, quick-footed users had spread the news.

Or maybe it was one of the veterans who had been checking the homepage like himself.

Considering how quickly it spread for a game that had failed so badly, this was a more reasonable guess.

The reaction was as expected.

-Virtual reality game lololol you actually believe that?

-Exactly. Logically, if a real virtual reality game was coming out, rumors would have spread everywhere already. There should be articles plastered all over, but just a homepage announcement? Ugh;;

-For real lol But since their tech skills were good, they should be able to make VR well.

-So are you going to play it?

-Nope, absolutely not playing that RNG trash game. Want to taste some Bondragon Mountain bricks?

-Fuck, brick lololololol that’s so fucking hilarious. That shitty game was the first and last time.

-It was disgusting and let’s never watch it again for real;;

It was natural.

The idea of a virtual reality game coming out was that absurd.

So Dohyun closed the community without any regrets.

‘To make money from gaming, I’d need at least two months of character development… Linnich is too late to start now. Isn’t there a suitable game?’

Linnich was beyond stagnant—it was rotten.

Even if he tried to establish himself now, reaching the top ranks would inevitably require investing a lot of time.

But games with too little recognition wouldn’t make money either.

A game with moderate fame and mid-tier status would be appropriate…

‘But I don’t want to just play any random game… Even if it’s a gamble, should I look for newly released VR games?’

With new releases, he was confident he could secure a ranker position, and he wanted to enjoy himself while making money with an interesting game.

It was while he was clicking his mouse and racking his brains like this.

Slam.

“Hey, mom told me to give you this.”

“Ah, you scared me. Won’t you knock?”

“Knock what…”

The door slammed open and a girl with short hair and still youthful features entered.

About 160cm tall with fair, delicate skin.

Her round, large eyes and delicately arranged features were the cute type that men would like, but in Dohyun’s eyes, she just looked like a wild boar.

“This kid keeps talking back to her oppa.”

“Ugh, gross, what oppa. And take a shower. Don’t just hole up in your room playing games all the time. I’m embarrassed to death to bring friends over.”

“…It’s not an embarrassing face though?”

At his genuinely confused look as he glanced at the mirror beside him, the wild boar… no, Hyuna frowned as if she’d seen something unbearable.

If disgust could settle in one’s pupils, it would probably create that kind of look.

“Ah… I need to go drinking but I already feel sick. I’m leaving…”

Hyuna coolly left after placing the mail on the shelf by the door without even coming close.

Watching her walk away, Dohyun scratched his head.

‘Hmm. I think I look pretty handsome though.’

Objectively speaking, it didn’t seem bad, but apparently not in Hyuna’s eyes.

Well, that’s how all siblings were.

Anyway, that was that, and he was curious about what Hyuna had left behind.

Using the momentum from getting up from his chair, he quickly went to the shelf and tore open the mail.

“…!”

Dohyun’s eyes widened.

His hands holding ‘that thing’ trembled as if he couldn’t believe it. It was far from excitement.

It was more like a reaction close to fear.

It was an unimaginable reaction from Dohyun, who never showed tension even when any raid boss appeared, but it couldn’t be helped.

Even Mabongseok would be unable to control his trembling if he saw this.

[Military Enlistment Notice]

-Name: Kang Dohyun

…In accordance with Article 16 of the Military Service Act, we hereby notify you of active duty military enlistment as stated above.

“…”

The nation’s call that comes to all healthy young men of South Korea.

Even he, who was called a god in Demroc, couldn’t escape the nation’s call.

“I’m screwed…”

And so Dohyun was reborn from a trainee into a proud member of the 51st Division’s Mobile Battalion of the Army.

And around that time.

Demroc’s official version, God of Savior, was released.

With the title of being a virtual reality game.

[First Virtual Reality Game God of Savior Released!]

[The Emergence of a Super-Scale VR MMORPG. Declares Ambition to Become a True Virtual Reality Game…]

[A Dream Born from Worry and Expectation. Will It Be a Ray of Hope or Despair?]

The virtual reality that had been treated as absurd talk had truly revealed itself to the world.

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