SWNOVELXO Chapter 1 - The Game Became Reality (1)
Chapter 1: The Game Became Reality (1)
‘Isn’t that person taking the game way too seriously?’
People often criticized those who were overly immersed in the virtual reality game, “Elthera Online.”
Abandoning wealth, honor, family, and friends to dedicate themselves to a game seemed far from normal.
They derided them as game addicts and pointed at them as failures in life.
Until then, no one knew.
[The synchronization between Elthera World and Earth has begun.]
The game became reality.
Levels turned into power.
Numbers came to symbolize status.
No one knew.
“Sigh…”
I took a deep breath.
The air was polluted and acrid.
Collapsed buildings, fallen satellites, ruined civilization, and regressed science.
The sky was steeped in a murky despair, and the earth was covered in red tears, writhing with death.
‘The end of Earth.’
I could feel that the world was on the brink of its end.
‘…So this is how it ends.’
Five years ago, in 2040.
Something unbelievable happened to Earth.
The levels, items, monsters, and the fantastical world from the world’s only virtual reality game, “Elthera Online,” all synchronized with reality.
All wealth and honor in the world became worthless scraps of paper and disappeared.
Only the items in the game protected Earth from the invasion of the otherworld, and the numbers called levels became proof of one’s status.
Those with high levels became nobles, and those without were reduced to livestock beneath their feet.
In the five years since the synchronization, humanity found countless reasons to die.
The invasion of the Demon Lord.
The attack of otherworldly beasts.
Gate erosion.
Magical contamination.
Yet, in the end, humanity survived.
They drove out the otherworldly beasts, created settlements, and even raised the severed head of the Demon Lord high.
They survived.
Humanity clung to survival.
But there was one catastrophe they hadn’t anticipated.
That catastrophe was none other than humanity itself.
Humans killed humans.
No disaster or catastrophe could truly threaten Earth, but humanity couldn’t stop the calamity that was itself.
The hundred Royal Rankers who defeated the Demon Lord and the thousands of High Rankers were all killed by one person.
Rank 1, Chensolla.
He had slain everyone present and was now approaching me.
Silence reigned.
The crimson stillness of death, with corpses piled like mountains, drew terror from the depths of instinct.
Chensolla.
I thought he would strike me down with that radiant sword that had felled thousands of Rankers, but he didn’t.
He merely opened his lips to speak.
“This was destined to happen.”
I raised my head and met his gaze.
It had been a long time since I had heard his voice.
Even as he massacred thousands of Rankers, he hadn’t uttered a single word.
“Unranked Legend, Yeon Seo-Jun. I acknowledge your skills. When it comes to pure combat sense and strategy, you might surpass any Ranker—even me, Rank 1. But you cannot defeat me.”
“…I know.”
“Does it frustrate you? Then you should have leveled up more diligently before the game and reality synchronized.”
“Who could have known the world would end up like this…”
A sudden gush of blood erupted from my mouth.
The wound in my abdomen was bleeding profusely.
I probably wouldn’t last long before dying of blood loss.
Was he refraining from swinging his sword because he knew I would die anyway?
Or was there something he wanted to say to me, enough to break his long silence?
He spoke with a heavy gaze.
“After the synchronization, Earth fell into chaos. More people died in the wars between humans than from the otherworldly invasions. Even now, with the Demon Lord defeated, the future awaiting humanity can only be extinction.”
“Extinction? Are you seriously saying that?”
“Yes. Not extinction at the hands of the Demon Lord, but at the hands of Rankers. The Rankers were planning a war.”
What? A war?
I had no idea.
The Rankers who had raced to save the world were planning a war against humanity?
“They are strong. The already devastated Earth cannot withstand the power of the Rankers who even defeated the Demon Lord.”
So, he killed them all.
Before the world was completely destroyed.
Before the Rankers could shatter it.
Chensolla said, with an indifferent expression, as if his massacre was nothing.
“…I can’t believe it.”
“You don’t have to believe it.
The result has already happened, and that result is reality.
Yeon Seo-Jun, join me. Let’s rule the surviving Earth together.”
“What…?”
Rule Earth?
I let out a hollow laugh at the absurd suggestion.
With great effort, I parted my lips to respond to him.
“Half of Earth’s population is dead because of you. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
“…”
For a moment, Chensolla was silent before murmuring quietly.
“It was a necessary act of incineration.”
“Necessary? You call this necessity? You mad murderer.”
“Yes, it was necessary! With the invasion of monsters and demons, and with gods beginning to interfere with the world, humans gained supernatural powers. The Earth of the past no longer exists. A new Earth empire must be built in a new way. To ensure proper rule, population control was essential.”
“What’s left after doing it like this? Out of a population of ten billion, nine billion are dead. Half of that was by your hand!”
As I spoke vehemently, a fountain of blood gushed out, but I couldn’t care less.
“Starting again from the remaining one billion will suffice. It will become a world ruled by the absolute players. Population inflation always follows when civilization recovers.”
“Madman…”
Even if Chensolla was Rank 1, he couldn’t encompass all of humanity in his sight at once.
That’s why he incinerated most of humanity.
To place all of humanity under his grasp and enforce his dictatorship.
“A world without war or tears. Humanity will desperately strive to protect what little is given to them. White? Black? There will be no racial discrimination. Gender discrimination? Of course, that won’t exist. Only those chosen by me will level up, and status will be determined solely by level.”
He said.
“Yeon Seo-Jun. Despite lacking special skills, having low levels, no hidden class, no unique race, and being stuck with a production job, you still led the Royal Rankers on the front lines of the battlefield. I need you.”
As if he had planned it for a long time, he spoke with unwavering conviction.
“I will become the god who rules Earth. You shall be the divine messenger who bridges me and the world.”
I laughed.
A hollow, bitter laugh escaped me.
I laughed because I found myself revolting.
The man who slaughtered all my friends and comrades offered me a chance to live, and my heart wavered.
A single drop of hope in the barren desert of despair tasted so sweet that I wanted to reach out, grasp it, and lick it greedily.
I despised myself for feeling that way.
‘If I survive, could I get my revenge on him?’
If there was one thing he was mistaken about, it was that I had no talent for ruling or managing anything.
I was just an ordinary person with a knack for thinking on my feet.
But if I joined forces with him, I might gain a chance for revenge.
Perhaps I could kill him one day.
So I desperately calculated, but…
‘Impossible.’
No matter how much time passed, I would never be able to defeat him.
That’s the miserable conclusion I arrived at.
The gap in levels was just too overwhelming.
“…Forget it. Your regime won’t last twenty years before it collapses.”
I had seen countless times how leaderless groups fell apart after the synchronization.
A hundred million people under the rule of a psychopathic overlord and the worst alchemist wouldn’t last twenty years.
But for me to kill Chensolla and catch up to his level, I would need at least twice that time.
And he wouldn’t wait for me to level up.
The moment his regime began to crumble, he would kill me first.
My revenge failed before it could even start.
“Just kill me. I have no intention of living like a dog under you and dying like one.”
It was pride—baseless, meaningless pride.
In truth, I wanted to live.
I wanted to cling to his leg and beg for my life.
But this worthless pride, which I had nothing left to lose, resisted at the very last moment.
“…”
Chensolla fell silent at my refusal.
He neither killed me nor made any gestures, just stood there, lost in thought for a long while.
“…Without you, I won’t last five years, let alone twenty. Either I’ll fall prey to the schemes of the gods trying to claim Earth, or all of humanity, except me, will perish. I have neither your strategy nor your tactics.”
At his words, my expression hardened.
The gods.
The beings who granted us game-like powers and plunged the world into chaos.
“You know it too, don’t you? The supernatural abilities bestowed upon us by Elthera Online weren’t blessings—they were curses.”
“Cough! I know that much.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t know anything.”
He drew a dagger.
It was uniquely adorned with engravings of skulls and a clockwork mechanism, something I recognized instantly.
The world’s only “mythic”-class item, obtained after defeating Riolis, the world’s strongest and final Necromancer.
He gripped it tightly, lowering his head.
The strength in the hand on my shoulder intensified.
Chensolla’s shoulders trembled.
Then, tears flowed down his cheeks.
‘What?’
I forgot even my pain in disbelief.
When he raised his head again, Chensolla was truly crying.
“…If only I could.”
Pointing the dagger at my heart, he said.
“If only I could go back.”
“What nonsense are you…”
“If I were given another chance, I would protect this land and this world with my own hands.”
Something felt off.
Strange.
“But I’m too tired. My way has failed, and even if I were given a second chance, I would fail again.”
Thump.
My heart pounded.
I looked directly into Chensolla’s eyes.
He hadn’t taken his eyes off me for even a moment.
“Listen carefully, Yeon Seo-Jun. The me of the past was despicable but relentless in surviving. Through methods so vile you couldn’t comprehend, I grew strong.”
Unwrapping the cloth around the dagger, he knelt before me to meet my gaze.
“Understand this. I may be vile beyond your imagination… but I live with a burning desire for revenge in my heart. That’s why I have gained power no one else can possess.”
I couldn’t comprehend his words, but it seemed he wouldn’t allow me to question him.
With one hand gripping my shoulder, he thrust the dagger into my heart.
Squelch!
Death came without warning.
Though I had expected the impact, strangely, there was no pain.
As I widened my eyes to glare at him, Chensolla spoke in an oddly gentle tone.
“The me of the past can neither be persuaded nor reasoned with. Become stronger, Unranked. Grow stronger and kill me.”
“What are you saying…”
I tried to ask what he meant, but strength left my body.
“Kill me, and kill the stars in the heavens that mocked Earth. The truths of this world, which even I couldn’t uncover… only you can find them.”
As the world darkened and everything was consumed by shadow, his final words echoed.
“Remember what the gods fear. They are not invincible. They are not omnipotent, which is why they fear the power of players.”
The last thing I saw was…
“They fear our ‘death.’
Remember, Unranked.
You are no longer an alchemist.
Through death, overcome your karma, rule death, and master it.”
His determined, radiant eyes shone brilliantly until the very end.
“Though I failed, please… protect our world.”
And so, the world came to an end.
[By fulfilling the hidden advancement condition, ‘Fated Death,’ you can now transition to the S-rank class Necromancer.]
As I heard the message at the moment of death, I let out a hollow laugh and closed my eyes.
An S-rank class, accessible to only the top 0.01%.
A Necromancer, said to be the strongest on Earth.
But.
What good was it now?
‘What a cruel joke.’
The advancement condition was ‘death.’
It felt like the heavens were mocking me, someone who had spent his life as an E-rank.
I hated the heavens with every fiber of my being, but there was nothing I could do now…
[Through the effect of an item, you are granted a single instance of reversing time.]
[Final user: Yeon Seo-Jun, confirmed.]
Crackle!
[Deus rejects unauthorized temporal interference… Crackle! Rejection overridden.]
[This is your final chance. Return to the date your ‘Elthera Online’ account was created, defying death.]