Kill the Player (1)
※This work contains somewhat shocking developments. Those with weak hearts, those who suspect your eyesight is failing, please remember that this series is a 'male-targeted' academy novel.
This is an academy novel. For real.
If this novel is BL, I'll drive a spike through my own hand.
I killed the Player.
Because he was a complete and utter son of a bitch.
* * * *
Three years ago, I possessed a game character.
As an extra.
[Arhan: Legend of Heroes]
It was a grand-scale story with game-typical crises and events aplenty, even touching on world destruction, but that's fine!
The protagonist would take care of everything!
I had figured I might as well let the story flow as intended—there was nowhere to run anyway, and leaving the continent wouldn't stop incidents from happening.
I approached, thinking I'd get a look at the face of the protagonist, Park Sihu, who would soon seize wealth and fame, when—
"...frustrating... declining... refreshing... live for myself... efficiency.........."
"..."
Hey, you too?
* * * *
Park Sihu was a possessor, just like me.
If there was one difference between him and me, it was that Sihu was the protagonist, the Player, and had the 'status window,' a privilege of player characters.
The downside was that Sihu had never played this game before, but I could cover for that.
I'd played this game quite a bit, you see.
As a true fan and player of
I'd also played through most of the branching routes, so this information advantage was huge.
However, most things could only be obtained by using the Player's status window and system. So all Sihu had to do was clear the game using the information I gave him.
In this world's story, without the protagonist, countless people would die and the world would be destroyed.
If this world really was destroyed and I died, would I be able to return to Earth?
If it wasn't a game over, but a real departure from this world?
I helped Sihu with everything I had.
Our shared hometown, being from Earth, and the sense of solidarity from falling into a game world made us inseparable friends.
As it turned out, I was a year older in Earth age, so I was treated as his hyung and it felt like I'd gained a little brother; it wasn't so bad.
Still, the limits of an extra were clear, but some of the items obtained through my information were given to me as well, letting me supplement my lacking abilities.
We made a good combo.
If there was one regret, it was that I never got involved with the heroines of the story at all.
This game had plenty of both male and female characters, but part of its charm was the dating-sim elements where you could pursue romance with opposite-sex characters among the playable cast.
Of course, they were characters who showed affection toward Park Sihu, the Player, so I interacted with them merely as a fan would, but......
This bastard Park Sihu never got involved with any heroine, only adding them to the party occasionally when needed.
At some point, only male human characters started joining the party, and Park Sihu's party ended up becoming a gathering of sweaty men, myself included.
"Fuck......"
I should've noticed.
When Arisha Aden, the Sword Emperor's granddaughter and one of the main heroines, didn't appear even at the entrance ceremony,
when Marie, who should have been the final boss of Act 1, went missing,
the unexplainable disappearance incidents and the flow of events diverging from the story I knew.
I shouldn't have just brushed it off with an 'Our Sihu is doing great!'
I should've suspected, even a little, the way of thinking of a human named Park Sihu, his character, the overly contrived flow of events...
"What is this?"
It was a familiar staff.
Definitely... the equipment used by the girl who was the Act 1 final boss.
"Wait, wait just a minute......"
Why is this here?
The equipment of the boss character who should have become the Act 1 boss according to the original story.
Sihu and I had waited in advance to try and prevent the tragedy, but in the end, we failed to stop it and lost her.
At the time, I'd blamed myself for lacking the strength to change the course of events rashly...... So why is it here?
It wasn't just this. In this secret underground space, countless items were displayed like 'trophies,' not just the staff.
The mace of Jaeger, the typical delinquent character who picked a fight with the Player at the start of the semester.
The spellbook of Rak, who caused the midterm exam paper leak incident and was expelled.
No way......
I realized the common thread.
They were all belongings of those who had gotten involved in incidents and 'disappeared.'
People who were, in one way or another... connected to Park Sihu.
Jaeger had picked a fight with Park Sihu at the start of the semester and disappeared during field practice,
and Rak, jealous of Park Sihu's smooth sailing, had framed him and was expelled.
Figures who had been associated with Park Sihu in some way or another, beyond what I knew. And decisively......
This place was Park Sihu's private property.
One of the real estate properties a Player could buy in the game. One that even served as an intermediary space for the inventory......
I'd followed him, who disappeared somewhere every night, never imagining I'd witness such a horrific sight. There were more trophies that shocked me.
"W-why is this here?"
A distinctive single-edged blade displayed like a museum piece. The hidden-piece Demon Sword that Arisha Aden, the Sword Emperor's granddaughter and one of the important heroines in the story, had owned before dying prior to the entrance ceremony...
There was only one condition to obtain this hidden piece in the game.
To trigger Arisha Aden's death event in some form or another.
"...Ah."
A chill ran down my spine.
The grand premise was collapsing.
The grand premise that Park Sihu had never played this game before.
"Ah, fuck."
"...!"
It wasn't a sound I'd made.
"S-Sihu...!"
"...Why is hyung here."
Sihu, who should have been the master of this horrific sight, was surprisingly calm. He seemed to find this situation bothersome.
"You......"
I needed to demand an explanation, to ask what the hell this was, but my mouth wouldn't open.
Because I was afraid to hear the answer, afraid he might confirm it......
"Hyung, calm down."
"Calm down my ass!!"
How could I calm down in this situation? How could anyone stay calm seeing this sight?
I pointed at the aqua-haired girl 'displayed' in a horrifying form. Unlike Arisha Aden's sword, which was displayed like a trophy, she... Marie Dunarev was......
"Y-you... don't tell me... when you said you lost her back then... that was a lie...!"
As if he had read my mind, Sihu began to persuade me like he was making excuses.
"She's a demonkin anyway. Huh? Our enemy. I just used her a bit efficiently, that's all."
"...Used?"
The bastard grinned widely and blabbered on as if boasting of his accomplishments.
"I drained her friend too. And then she was bawling her eyes out hiding in the forest, you know? It was hell trying to find her. Who would've known that vicious bitch would dig a hole in the forest and last a whole month?"
—Shouldn't they pay for their crimes?
"Used? Used?! What do you mean by that!"
"...She's a high-rank vampire. A one-year-old who just awakened, and she's elder-class. You know what comes out when you refine elder-class vampire blood, right? You drank plenty of it too, hyung."
At those words, I suddenly recalled the potions he'd handed me. That thing which was incomparable to the potions sold on the market, rivaling a low-grade elixir—
"H-huuuugh!!"
"Ah, shit... Hyung, are you okay? Wait. I'll clean it up for you."
Even while spewing such horrific and disgusting nonsense, the bastard's attitude toward me hadn't changed. That was what made my skin crawl.
"Why, why on earth......"
"Obviously, to progress the story efficiently."
"The story?"
"If I do what you told me, it's too frustrating. I have to take losses trying to save people, and I can't even kill worthless bastards like Jaeger or Rak."
Jaeger had merely picked a fight. He was just a thug anywhere who threw his weight around.
And Rak? He'd framed Park Sihu, but at most it was a false accusation of stealing exam papers. Sure, if things went wrong he could've been expelled, but still......
"The other bitches are the same. If you don't do their affection grind, you can't use them, can't get their exclusive items, and they'd just form their own little parties. Using them like this is the most efficient."
"You..., just how many people have you...?"
At my words, his pupils darted to the corner. He had opened his Player system window. Then he answered with a composed smile.
"Well? I think my kill log was just under a hundred thousand. Ah, three more kills and it'll be a hundred thousand."
"You fucking animal!"
I grabbed him by the collar. I couldn't listen to that beast any longer.
"Y-you...! People are...!"
"Hyung, get a grip. Why would they be people? They're NPCs. Game characters."
"You...!"
"Haven't you been killing people just fine until now? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"
"Is this the same as guys trying to destroy the world!"
The ones I had killed were irredeemable villains. Major enemies of the story, villains the story provided.
How was Bak Sihu any different from them?
This bastard didn't see people as people.
Of course,
But did that mean those living in this world were NPCs too? Was it okay to kill them indiscriminately just because they were game characters?
How do you judge that? What do you use to distinguish whether this is a game or reality? Why do you judge it so easily?
Stop your bullshit.
"Trust me. What I'm doing is the most efficient play. I'm a veteran player of this game."
I'm sorry I didn't tell you.
It's because I couldn't trust you back then.
I was so dumbfounded that words failed me.
Bak Sihu held a firm conviction. His words were more or less true.
He had a status window and used the system to his heart's content. If he possessed an information advantage like mine, he would naturally have been able to use it with maximum efficiency.
He had monopolized the 'hidden pieces' that would have been the heroines' exclusive items, skillfully triggered route branch events, and reaped the greatest benefits.
Even when the school building collapsed,
Even when terrorists attacked,
Even when a special-grade demon appeared.
This bastard profited in one way or another. No, he monopolized the gains to an excessive degree.
He had definitely 'played' this game with the highest efficiency. I had followed him for three years, resolving many incidents together.
Cases I couldn't follow due to the limitations of an extra, he had resolved splendidly.
Though it was a world inside a game, Bak Sihu had stood tall as a hero, just as the story dictated.
But the Bak Sihu before my eyes was not a hero.
He was a demon. The cold, inorganic eyes of a murderer that could not be found even in the most evil of beings.
A hundred thousand... 'Victims' I had carelessly overlooked in memories that had been bizarrely 'efficient' through countless incidents. And the massacres that must have occurred in places unknown to me.
Events I had dismissed with a shrug, thinking the story might not flow exactly like the game—I was now convinced he had been involved in them.
Ah..., this bastard never accepted this world as reality.
He only saw people as organisms programmed by software.
The world I had adapted to and accepted for three years had been nothing but an illusion to him.
"You... you just chose the easy way out."
"What?"
"Efficiency? Catharsis? Cut the bullshit. If you're such an efficiency freak, why did you take Arisha Aden's Demon Sword? Why would a guy on the mage tree take a knight-class hidden piece!"
"That's because..."
"Fuck! So that's why her older sister, Runia Aden, obsessively tracked the Demon Sword, and you couldn't bring it out! You crazy bastard, you choked trying to monopolize something you can't even clean up after!"
You sloppy, stupid son of a bitch! You selfish, greedy pig!
Did I prop up a bastard like this as a hero? This fucking piece of shit?
"Elixir? Hey, you fucking bastard, you could've substituted it with other ingredients in your crafting window anytime."
You could've just tapped your crafting window a few times, yet you deliberately made this horrific farm? Why did you do such an inefficient thing?
"Efficiency? Stop your bullshit. You just needed sandbags to vent your psycho tendencies. What kind of efficiency-freak bastard displays evidence of his psycho acts in a place like this!!"
"Ah, fuck, seriously!"
Bak Sihu slapped my face. It was no longer the attitude of someone trying to persuade me, but of someone genuinely annoyed.
"Hyung, I'm going crazy because of you. I'm going to go mad!"
"Wha... ugh!"
He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back.
"Hyung, you shouldn't do this to me. Even if everyone in the world curses at me, you shouldn't!"
"Uh, uhhh...?"
Hey, what's with your lines? Can't you choose your wording properly?
"Hyung, don't you know why I'm like this? Can't you see why I'm going crazy!"
"S-Sihu?"
"Weak as you are, you act tough and get beaten up, and you giggle in front of those sluts......"
He glared at me with a burning gaze unlike anything before. An extremely heavy, oppressive look.
"I won't... hold back anymore."
"Huh?"
That was the moment. He suddenly lunged at my face as if to headbutt me.
"Hk?!"
I instinctively avoided that disgusting snout. I managed to preserve my chastity by turning my head, but I couldn't avoid his burning gaze.
"Right... you never had any intention of accepting me anyway, did you?"
"Y-yeah, hey you. Why are you like this all of a sudden? Huh? The story you and I have been through is on episode 199. Why are you suddenly drifting right before episode 200?!"
"I'm going to claim you. Body and mind. Did you think I'd let those vixen bitches steal you away?"
"C-crazy! I've never even dated once, what bullshit is this!"
It gave me chills in a completely different sense than before. To the point that I desperately needed Mother's Russian-style physical therapy.
"W-wait, don't tell me the reason you only put men in the party too..."
"They're just for show. Not the real thing. The only real one... is you, Hyung."
"Uwaaack...!"
I ran for my life. But something shot out of my shadow, grabbed my ankle, and made me fall spectacularly. I had fallen victim to his magic!
"Hyung... you can't run away. Because I'm going to lock you up. Forever."
—T-t-t-t!
I was afraid. I hadn't been this scared even when I first discovered this place.
Even when he confessed he was a cathartic-route efficiency freak, I hadn't gotten goosebumps like this.
What would happen if he caught me?
Looking at victims like Mariena, Lark, and Yegeo, I could easily predict my future.
A chain of suffering, being healed, and suffering again—a state where surviving wasn't truly living.
"You! You...! What about my will! You bastard, what about my will?! I'm heterosexual! A firm heterosexual!"
At my words, Bak Sihu smirked and answered in a smooth, buttery voice.
"Your will doesn't matter. Because you're mine. My only real one in this world full of fakes."
"So creepy! You crazy bastard!"
—Shwaaaaack!
A shadow opening its giant maw. Just before my consciousness blacked out from his magic, Bak Sihu twisted his face into a smile.
"Because everything will be over soon. Once this battle ends, I'll claim you, Hyung."
"Claim what! Claim what, you bastard!"
My consciousness ended there. The reason I barely regained consciousness was thanks to a voice I heard by my ear.
[The Last Stage opens. The decisive battle with the Final Boss begins.]
Ahh, it started.
After I lost consciousness, Bak Sihu began the decisive battle with the Final Boss.
Since he was a guy who monopolized everything alone, he'd probably win against the Final Boss too... If he really defeats even the Final Boss, what will... become of me?
It wasn't hard to imagine a terrible future.
[The Player has died. The challenge has failed.]
...Did this bastard lose?
* * * *
This was the time to look back on my past life.
I regressed. To three years ago.
I have to kill him. I have to kill the Player.