Adrias Cromwell (1)

[Quest: Clear the End of Baal!]

[You are now free to play.]

[A new character has been unlocked!]

He pulled his hand away from the mouse, ignoring the message he had seen more than ten times.

Sigh.

He stretched his body and let out a scream.

Checking the time, it was 11 a.m.

Despite staying up all night, he felt fine.

Thud. Thud.

"Hello?"

Kim Jin-ho! How are you doing?

"Oh, is it already lunchtime?"

Yeah. I called during my break. What have you been up to?

"Playing a game."

You're still playing?

He turned his gaze to the game filling the computer screen.

"Yeah."

I gave up on it a long time ago because it was too difficult. Is it really that fun?

"Yeah, it is."

Look at you, speaking so nonchalantly. Why are you so indifferent?

Eventually, a dry laughter burst out at Yong-ho's voice coming through the receiver.

"Thanks for the game, hyung."

Sigh. You cheeky brat. I shouldn't have done that. Don't ever say that again.

Afterwards, Yong-ho, who had been mumbling for a while, suddenly brought up old memories.

It's been four years since you entered society, right?

"...."

All the hard times are over. Now go out, meet some girls, and enjoy yourself.

"I'll try my best."

-Tsk. I know it won't go the way you want it to. But our motto was always about turning the impossible into possible, right?

It's already been four years.

The military organization I was involved in disbanded due to an unexpected event.

Of course, it was a good thing.

It was something to be happy about.

But because it happened so suddenly, I still couldn't grasp the situation.

"I thought reunification with North Korea only happened in novels."

Of course, only my unit was disbanded, and other units were still active.

The place I belonged to was hastily eliminated because there would be no good outcome if it became known.

After a brief thought, I opened the refrigerator to fill my stomach.

"Let's meet up sometime."

Oh, great! Let's meet this weekend. I'll come to your place.

I ended the call and casually tossed my phone onto the bed.

Yong-ho, who I had just spoken to on the phone, was a colleague from the same unit as me.

Although he was discharged earlier due to an accident, he is currently working at a company.

I looked at the refrigerator while contemplating and finally took out a frozen food.

When I was in the military, even my diet was managed, so I never thought I would be able to eat this again.

As I was part of a strictly controlled and managed unit, the sudden discharge caused severe aftereffects.

As a result, I couldn't adapt to society.

Of course, thanks to the salary I had saved up and the compensation I received due to the forced discharge, I had plenty of money.

As a result, I became a wealthy misfit and tried various things, but with Yong-ho's help, things had improved a lot.

Ding!

The quickly heated frozen dumplings started emitting steam.

I moved the dumplings to the desk and sat back down.

Peccata.

The name of the game displayed on the screen.

Although I didn't know anything about magic or mana, how did I find it interesting?

I had never played a game before.

But I kept playing the game and eventually cleared it in one year.

The feeling of emptiness that asked if this was the end quickly disappeared.

Playable characters continued to unlock as I cleared the game.

And the unlocked characters started in much worse conditions than before.

[Tarman (Martial Law Expert)]

Even the character I had just cleared was of an extraordinary difficulty level.

Even though I had experienced more than ten clears after countless deaths and revivals, I was frustrated.

Sometimes, when I liked a cleared character, I played a little longer, but I passed on this one.

While eating a dumpling, I tried to check the newly unlocked character.

Thud. Thud.

"Who could it be?"

The phone kept ringing today for some reason.

I didn't have anyone to call me.

Checking the number, it showed "Caller ID Restricted."

A sense of unknown tension surged through me, and I hesitated whether to answer or not.

Even though it has been disbanded now, the unit I belonged to was an extremely confidential unit with significant risks.

Frankly, it was surprising that the government just let us go without any repercussions.

Should I be grateful for not being killed and silenced?

That's why seeing the caller ID restriction made me feel nervous.

Click.

It was disconnected.

Without realizing it, a sigh escaped my lips.

Thud. Thud.

And as if mocking my sigh, the phone started ringing again.

In the end, I decided to answer and immediately pressed the call button.

"Hello?"

"Uh, uh. Can you hear me?"

"Who is this?"

"Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you. Who is this?"

With a playful voice, it was difficult to determine the gender.

It sounded like a distorted voice.

"Ah! I am the developer of Peccata."

Peccata?

What was that supposed to mean? But when he mentioned the developer, I remembered the game I had been playing.

"Peccata?"

"Yes! That's right."

He chuckled with a strange sound and continued.

"It seems that Kim Jin-hwan has recorded a remarkable 12 clear experiences. We are really grateful and congratulations for enjoying our game so much."

My breath stopped when my name came out of his mouth.

It's fine if it's about the game, but how does he know my name?

Yong-ho brought the game CD, right? No, that couldn't be possible.

"How do you know my name?"

"Well, let's overlook that trivial issue for now and explain the benefits."

"I'm asking you how you know my name. Answer me."

"Well, first of all, we would like to provide Kim Jin-hwan with a more realistic gaming experience. Additionally, as a bonus, the next episode will give you not one, but two special features. One will be random, as usual, and the second will be an opportunity for you to choose. How does that sound? Amazing, right?"

As soon as I heard that, I hung up the phone.

Then I called Yong-ho.

His phone was turned off. Beep—followed by silence...

Although I had just talked on the phone a while ago, I couldn't connect.

I anxiously opened the closet and packed my belongings.

An ominous premonition pierced through my mind.

"I need to change the location first. They might have tracked my location... No, they might have known my location from the beginning."

I hastily packed my things and tried to leave, but I noticed the computer screen that was still on.

"Just in case, I should format the computer too."

Sitting in front of the desk for a moment, I looked at the game on the screen to turn it off.

[Playable Character: Kim Jin-hwan (Adrias Cromwell)]

What is this?

Why is my name on the game screen?

Before I could even finish that thought, the screen gradually turned black, transforming into a sticky liquid-like substance.

Before I could even attempt to avoid that supernatural phenomenon, my consciousness turned as dark as the screen.

***

"Adrias!"

With a sharp outcry, an empty flask flew towards me.

I effortlessly caught the flying flask and looked calmly at Silberk, who was standing in front of me.

"I distinctly told you to organize and put 'The Conflicting Understanding of Nature and Mana' on my desk by today!"

I cautiously nodded my head.

"Yes."

"Yes? Yes? Then why is there nothing on my desk?"

He said it like that.

"I didn't even know the basics of magic, let alone understanding mana. How could I organize it?"

Of course, I didn't say those words out loud.

As I stood there without saying a word, Silberk's face contorted and he yelled.

"Go out and organize it right now! Hurry!"

Without even turning back, I quickly left the office.

As I stepped outside, I could feel the gazes of numerous students passing through the corridor.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen enough?"

Ah, I unintentionally said it out loud.

It seems like this bumbling character is influencing my personality as well.

Fortunately, those who heard my words simply wore expressions of pity and went on their separate ways without any objections.

I, too, had more important matters to attend to than paying attention to those gazes, so I made my way to the library.

Upon exiting the building, I saw a vast expanse of grounds with architectural styles reminiscent of the Middle Ages.

And above all else, towering spires that seemed to pierce the sky and three gigantic moons that filled the heavens caught my eye.

Ding!

[There are unselected attributes.]

The Korean characters that used to fill my field of vision were now difficult to see.

"I'll choose later. I'll choose later."

The people here are even speaking Korean that they can't understand.

I let out a deep sigh.

It has been a week since I arrived here.

I had clearly intended to format my computer but lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I wasn't myself anymore.

I was Adrias Cromwell, not Kim Jinho.

It was confusing, but I hid my emotions.

The more critical the situation, the more I practiced hiding my emotions.

Perhaps fortunately, I also had fragments of Adrias' memories.

Of course, I didn't know his entire life, but I could at least grasp where this place was.

To recall, this place was a world of 'sin' called "Peccata."

Adrias' memories were no different from the game's world of sin.

And as I reviewed Adrias' memories over the past week, I became more certain.

I had entered a world within the game.

"I want to find a book."

"What kind of book?"

"'The Conflicting Understanding of Nature and Mana.'"

"Magic-related books are located from the 9th row of the 5th column to the 438th column of the 32nd row."

So they don't find it for you.

Is their fee increasing day by day?

I nodded my head.

Lately, thoughts that I wouldn't usually have were popping up in my mind.

It seems like Adrias' influence is quite significant.

"Of all characters, why him?"

I've never even raised this guy before.

After the Law Mage Tarmund, the last character I raised was him, apparently.

"But still, isn't the difficulty level increasing too abruptly?"

Adrias Cromwell was an undeniable villain.

But what can I say?

If I had to put it in words, he was a character who was practically insignificant for the player's experience.

Rather, the problem lies with his mentor.

No, should I call that guy his mentor?

"I found it."

While I was lost in thought, I finally found the book I was searching for.

Luckily, it was in alphabetical order, so I found it quickly.

I decided to take a look at the book right away.

"...This is challenging."

It was different from the game.

In the game, I had raised three different mage characters.

Yet, the content of this book was about catching clouds in the sky.

In reality, it wasn't as simple as just learning skills and using them.

According to the book's contents, mana had to be manipulated through intricate and complex processes for magic to be activated.

"Well, it's just a theoretical book."

I let out another sigh inwardly and took the book with me.

Although I didn't have any intention of organizing it, I had to act in a way that wouldn't raise suspicion for now.

As I walked back with the book, I once again thought about myself, Adrias.

As someone who lacked common sense in the game, I knew about insignificant characters like Adrias as well.

Initially, this guy would die quickly in the early stages of the game.

Although I didn't kill him with every playable character, I remember killing him at least eighteen times out of the twelve characters.

"Why did I have to kill such a useless mage?"

His mage identity was a disguise.

His true identity was a dark mage.

And among them, he specialized in necromancy, dealing with necromancy and manipulation.

I had become the most forbidden mage, a necromancer, in this world.