- Bedeseu >
◈ Episode 1. Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo……
I must look like a madman.
But it can't be helped.
After much deliberation, I opened my mouth.
I spoke to my reflection in the mirror.
“……Who am I? What is my name?”
That’s right. My name is I Hoyeol.
Ho for greatness, Yeol for joy.
Three daughters.
The name my grandfather gave me, overjoyed at my birth as the youngest son of a house with nothing but daughters.
But contrary to what was in my head, an entirely different name spilled from my mouth.
“……Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo.”
I didn’t even know which country’s noble name this was.
A bizarrely long name, nothing else……!
“Did I suddenly awaken to a past life or something?”
“Rather, I wish that were the case…….”
No, I know it’s not that kind of fantasy development.
Because my reflection in the mirror was telling me so.
Somehow sharper eyes.
A noticeably sturdier physique.
And finally, the letters floating before my eyes.
This was an Awakening.
It meant I had become a Player.
Yes, I could understand that much.
The problem was my appearance as a Player, and that bizarre name.
“No matter how I look at it, this is from over ten years ago…….”
[Name: Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
To be precise, twelve years ago.
In other words, age fifteen.
Back when I was suffering from eighth-grader syndrome.
The character I raised was obvious.
I muttered without realizing it.
“……It seems I am truly and deeply fucked.”
As if I had become a nobleman, elegantly.
***Slurp—
I’m ruined.
Despite that feeling, my actions were overflowing with composure.
I took out a teacup I had never used from the cupboard.
I brewed green tea, which I wouldn’t even touch normally.
And I sat at the table, savoring the green tea.
“The aroma is not bad.”
……It’s not like I’m filming a period drama.
Even as I say it, this manner of speaking is terribly awkward.
Anyway, I could instinctively understand.
That both my actions and speech had changed due to the Awakening.
Player Awakening.
I had thought it had nothing to do with me.
Because I had completely forgotten about it.
“……Well, it was over ten years ago.”
Arcana Continental Chronicle.
Thirteen years ago.
A virtual reality game that never once stepped down from the top since its launch.
No, a game called another life.
[Unidentified structures appearing around the world…… Could it be related to the termination of Arcana service?]
Such Arcana had become reality.
[Unidentified creatures appearing across the world…… Netizens: “Definitely Arcana monsters.” Controversy spreads like wildfire.]
In such reality, monsters from Arcana appeared.
[New humanity emerging? Strange creature taken down with bare hands…….]
And Players who had awakened the abilities of Arcana characters to hunt those monsters in reality had appeared.
Several years had passed since that Great Upheaval until now.
That Arcana Continental Chronicle had become reality.
When I first heard the news in the military, I was startled.
“—Ha. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have quit.”
I once imagined such things while standing watch late at night.
Because Players were literally heroes.
[Player ‘Golden Flash’ repels Named Monster ‘General, Sekir’!]
[The reward for the rift clear alone is approximately 5 billion won…….]
[Exclusive Interview: The Player who prevented a great disaster, ‘Nam Taemin’.]
But that was all.
“—Honestly, even if I Awakened, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Because I had quit Arcana Continental Chronicle before even playing for a year.
There was a big realistic problem there.
The connection device alone cost a whopping 10 million won.
The monthly fee was nearly several hundred thousand won.
“……I’m sorry, guys.”
“It’s okay, Father. You don’t have to apologize to us.”
“Hic hic. Mom can’t face you either.”
“Ah, seriously, Mom, why are you like this too?”
“We’re all grown up, including Hoyeol. What is there to worry about?”
Around the time I entered high school.
After the day a foreclosure notice was taped to our house.
I completely shut off any interest in Arcana Continental Chronicle, or even games in general.
That remained the same after entering high school.
Whether I liked it or not, I had no choice but to study, and the result is where I am now.
A decent job and a decent studio apartment.
A leisurely routine of visiting my parents’ house every weekend.
A life that isn’t abundant, but since I don’t have great ambitions, it’s passably okay.
“……But what in the world is this?”
My head throbs.
I force myself to tilt the teacup.
First, let’s set aside this damned period-drama speech for now.
The important thing is that I’ve Awakened as a Player.
Over ten years ago—to be precise, twelve years ago.
The character [Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo] that I raised in Arcana Continental Chronicle had been superimposed onto me, I Hoyeol.
I had often seen such interviews.
—The biggest change after Awakening…… I suppose it’s the feeling of having become one with the character? Really, it feels like the me in reality and the character in the game have merged into one. Roughly speaking, it’s like possession?
—Well, even if you call it possession, the one who played the character was me. So even if the character I played possesses me, nothing much would change.
—Still, I think that’s why I can look at the monsters in reality without fear.
If there’s anything different, it’s that my playtime was over ten years ago.
And that over ten years ago, I was ‘deeply’ immersed in the character [Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo].
“It’s delicious.”
To the point that even my palate changed, you see.
……I’m going crazy.
Is this thanks to Arcana’s character information being superimposed?
The settings of [Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo] that I had forgotten began to resurface.
Naturally, they were vast settings created by me, who had been suffering from eighth-grader syndrome.
‘Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
His exact age is unknown.
He was the successor of a great house, but the house fell to demons.
Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, hereafter Grangfel, walked the path of a demon hunter to take revenge on those demons.
His features are his long, flowing silver hair and splendid appearance, and his usual speech carries a noble refinement befitting his status.’
To think I wrote something so useless in such detail…….
I’m going insane, this past me bastard!
It was a setting that made my hands and feet curl up just from recalling it.
Naturally, even though I wrote the settings, they weren’t reflected in the game at all.
The so-called settings were nothing more than scribbles in notebooks and memos.
So weren’t they also in the settings?
That he was a fallen noble.
Because I started as a Level 1 beginner with jack shit.
I had simply tacked on a plausible setting about a fall from grace.
Yes, out of that lengthy setting, there was only one truth.
That he had walked the path of a demon hunter.
[Name: Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
But past me had played Arcana while intoxicated by the setting.
In other words, I had acted out Grangfel’s life in Arcana.
Thinking about it now, I was no different from a madman…….
But I was in my second year of middle school back then.
I can look back on it now and laugh it off as a memory.
“……A memory. How nostalgic.”
But that memory I wanted to forget had become reality.
Damn it, my migraine is getting worse.
I was anxious that someone might see my cringeworthy state.
……Wait a minute.
I have to go to work tomorrow, don’t I?!
Let’s think calmly.
Can I go to work normally and carry out my duties like this?
That thing called social life.
It’s not easy.
You have to bow your head and cast aside your pride several times a day.
And me, whose palate has changed under the influence of Grangfel’s settings.
Could I last even a single day in the harsh society?
‘Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo is noble. No matter who the opponent is, he never bows his head. His pride is immeasurably heavy and unshakeable. Even if he sinks under that weight and drowns.’
……I should count myself lucky if I don’t throw coffee in the section chief’s face.
My settlement money might end up higher than my salary.
After this elegant teatime, I reached a conclusion.
“It is not something I can endure lowering my head forever.”
My words ran away with me again, but anyway.
In short, it meant I would quit my job.
I had resolved to live as a Player from now on.
Anyone seeing this might think it’s a sudden decision.
But I had merely made a rational judgment.
Think about it.
In this state, I would obviously be a nuisance at any job I took.
Meanwhile, my bank account balance would visibly dwindle.
Damn noble palate.
Adding the cost of teatime, which I didn’t even enjoy, to my expenses—
I would need living expenses even more desperately.
In the end, it meant I had no choice but to live as a Player to survive.
Of course, I don’t have great ambitions.
Because I’ve naturally come to know my place as I grew older.
The middle school second-year syndrome patient who was immersed in Grangfel, who believed without a doubt that he was a special person, no longer exists.
Just enough to get by.
Then wouldn’t it be safe to work as a Player without my life being in danger?
For now, let me search.
I knew too little about the world of Players.
Because I hadn’t lived admiring them.
I was just too busy surviving to pay much attention.
Still, I did envy one thing: making a lot of money.
“……Hmm.”
Tens, hundreds, thousands of billions.
Articles about Players with literally endless talk of billions.
But even as I read the articles, I was indifferent.
‘To Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, wealth was fleeting. Born as the successor of a great house and having tasted the pinnacle of abundance, he had no reason to obsess over riches and glory.’
This too was the influence of that damned setting.
Still, perhaps I should be thankful.
Because it seemed I wouldn’t be blinded by greed and gamble my life.
But before that, there was a serious problem.
“……I am weak.”
……Could I even catch a single monster properly?
I was worried whether I could even tag along with a party.
The level of the monsters appearing in reality was no joke.
To the point that the current me couldn’t possibly face them.
—Wow, that was really close lol
—A party with an average level in the 200s barely cleared it, right?
—Look at the level getting higher and higher dd
—Rankers would actually like it though? It gives a lot of EXP.
They were comments on a video.
The average level of the Player party was said to be 200.
I checked my status window.
[Name: Grangfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
[Level: 55]
A mere Level 55.
My level was the same as it was over ten years ago.
Back then, I was perhaps not a ranker, but still in a fairly high bracket…….
Time is truly cruel.
Well, they do say even rivers and mountains change in ten years.
“Why did I waste so much time…….”
I muttered such pointless, pretentious words for a moment.
I suddenly searched ‘Demon Hunter’ in the search bar.
“Wait, I had forgotten.”
The Demon Hunter’s raising method……!
I had completely forgotten because it was from so long ago.
Back then, the Demon Hunter was a class that could only be raised in a limited way.
Unlike other classes that raised their levels through hunting, the Demon Hunter had to raise his level through quests.
《Skill》
Nemesis
Silver Mastery
Marksmanship Mastery
Simultaneous Fire
Exorcism Ritual
The majority of the quests were about subjugating demons.
Therein lay the great limitation of the Demon Hunter class.
───────
Nemesis: Combat power drastically increases when fighting the demon race.
───────
Against demons, he boasted overwhelming might, but against anything else, his stats were missing screws.
Thus, he was a class who couldn’t even show his face in level-appropriate hunting grounds.
That was the reality of the Demon Hunter.
Then wouldn’t it be fine if he hunted demons?
If someone were to ask.
I could answer that back then, demon race monsters did not exist in Arcana.
The only time a Demon Hunter could encounter demons was during quests.
Because of that, the Demon Hunter was an unpopular class even back then.
“But that was the past.”
Yes, it had been ten plus two years.
Enough time for a new Demon Hunter raising method to have emerged.
Now that Arcana had become reality, it would be difficult to apply the leveling methods to reality exactly as they were.
Still, I could at least use them as reference.
Good.
The throbbing in my head since awakening began to gradually clear……
Was it because I drank tea? Or not.
In any case, I was glad I’d been born in the information age.
To think I could find the information I wanted just by moving my fingers.
I typed “demon hunter” into the search bar.
I looked through the search results……
“……
What in the world is going on?”
The results that came up were completely different from what I had expected.
“Akshan Base was destroyed? Everyone died?”
What on earth had happened to Arcana over the past ten years?...
Akshan Base.
It was the headquarters of the demon hunters.
Akshan Base was where you carried out the class change quest, went through the training quests, and were reborn as the demon hunter class.
But apparently, that Akshan Base had been destroyed for some unknown reason, and even the NPCs had been wiped out.
Because of that, changing classes into a demon hunter had become impossible as well.
“And that happened ages ago?”……
Wait, then what about me?
Where did the new demon hunter leveling guide go!
After digging through all kinds of communities, I came to a realization.
“Don’t tell me.”
-I miss the old days. Back then, there was even a class called demon hunter.-For real? First time I’m hearing of it.-Lol, demon hunter was such a trash character back then.
-I raised one too, then deleted it and started over lol-Looked cool, but its performance was garbage lolThe more I searched, the more that “don’t tell me” turned into certainty.
Apparently, there wasn’t a single player currently playing the demon hunter class.
No, since I had awakened as a player……
It seemed I was the only one.
“This can’t be.”
I resented my past self, and my tastes.
Sure, I’d been a middle schooler with a terminal case of chuunibyou who lived and died for style, but still.
Would it have killed me to think about performance even a little?
“My head hurts.”
It was probably because I’d taken in too much information all at once.
It seemed I needed rest.
Just as I thought that and was about to put down my smartphone,
one post suddenly caught my eye.
-But if I’d known this would happen, I would’ve kept raising my demon hunter.“?”
What kind of story was behind it?
Why had they posted something like that?
Out of curiosity, I tapped the post.
And then I flinched.
“With the new update, the demon race was officially added, and from then on, the difficulty of the rifts skyrocketed. If only the demon race hadn’t existed, real-life players would never have lost their lives……?”
What, the demon race was added?
Those demons were running rampant in reality too?‘If that’s the case…….’A possibility surfaced in my mind.
But I didn’t say it out loud.
The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
More than anything, even players far higher level than me seemed to be struggling against the demon race.
But contrary to that grasp of my own situation,
I ended up muttering.『The pride of Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, paradoxically, soars highest in the face of demons.』“Count it an honor.”『No temptation, deception, or trial of any demon can put even a scratch on Grandfell’s lofty pride.』“For I shall cast you into hell.”