Chapter 1 - Prologue

I'd loved games ever since I was a kid.

The reason was simple. Confined to a hospital, I naturally had nothing to do but play games. As time went by, they became part of my life.

But anything gets stale and boring if you do it long enough.

“Oh, fuck... Seriously, what is this AI thinking? Why would you heal that guy there?”

At some point, no matter what I played, games stopped being as fun as they used to be.

It wasn't a question of genre—MOBAs, RPGs, FPS games, whatever. All the games flooding the market every year felt like garbage. Their stories and worlds were cut from the same mold, and their systems had no depth.

I wanted a game with something more special to offer.

That was when I discovered [Dungeon and Stone].

TAP-TAP-TAP. CLICK, CLICK.

It was a single-player RPG, an indie game from overseas. It had no Korean language support and used 2D pixel graphics, a rare sight these days.

Honestly, it was far from my usual taste.

Still, it was free, so I installed it, figuring I'd give it a try. Before long, I was completely hooked.

“Wow, that fucking priest almost got me killed right at the end.”

It was an unusual game in all sorts of ways.

If your character died, you had to start over from scratch. NPC companions were essential to progressing through the game, and despite being a vertical scroller, it offered an incredible amount of freedom.

The skill system and world were compelling, and even though I had to read it in English, the story was fascinating.

Above all, there was something special about this game that I couldn't put my finger on.

TAP-TAP-TAP, TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.

At the time, I'd just been assigned to a subway station as a public service worker for my mandatory service. I began delving into [Dungeon and Stone] in earnest.

It wasn't easy.

Combat in this game wasn't simply a matter of HP and MP. Even at full health, one bad decision could wipe out a character I'd spent three months painstakingly building.

“... Let's give it a shot.”

After more than two years without even reaching the middle of the game, I swallowed my pride and searched for guides.

Nothing came up on Korean search engines, so I had to translate English posts as I read them. Even that didn't help much. There weren't many players overseas either, so posts about the game were scarce and had little useful information.

Having spent two years seriously exploring the game through trial and error, I understood it far better than people who'd played for a month or two and declared it trash.

So I stopped looking for guides.

“Up three, left four, down one, left two, then up six and right four. Dodge the trap at the end, too... Okay.”

After all, wasn't this the game I'd finally found after searching high and low for something worth playing? I decided to see it through on my own, however long it took.

And then...

“Whew.”

That brought me to the present.

「Gate of the Abyss」

My character now stands before the portal leading to the final boss room.

Of course, I probably won't see the ending until I've made it here a few more times. This isn't the sort of game where you can beat a boss on your very first attempt.

Even so, the stiffness in my fingertips tells me just how nervous I am.

“The final boss, huh...”

To someone else, it might mean nothing.

But it took me nine whole years to get this far. It would hardly be an exaggeration to say this game has been with me through my entire twenties.

The day I finished my public service duty, the day I returned to school after so long and applied to resume my studies, the day I got a text saying I'd been hired for the job I wanted after graduation...

Through it all, I kept playing [Dungeon and Stone].

「Would you like to enter?」

I move my character toward the portal, and a prompt asks whether I want to enter.

Naturally, I click YES.

But then another rather portentous message appears, perhaps because this is the final boss room.

「You may never return.」

「Are you sure you want to enter?」

From a Player's perspective, this is needless theatrics.

Like I'd come all this way and then not go in.

「Yes / No」

I click Yes, and the screen switches to a loading screen.

Watching the monitor go black, I sharpen my focus.

How many attack patterns will this thing have? What's its element? It'll have an instant-kill move, of course. Hmm, forget beating it on the first try. Let's gather as much information as possible. I might have to completely overhaul my build or party composition.

My brain, buzzing with excitement and anticipation, has room for nothing but the final boss.

That's why I'm slow to notice.

「You have reached the Abyss.」

「Tutorial complete.」

Tutorial complete?

No, more importantly, why is this in Korean? Didn't [Dungeon and Stone] only support English?

「Initiating transfer.」

The instant I sense something is wrong, a brilliant light bursts forth.

It's so intense I can hardly imagine it coming from a monitor.

“Agh, fuck! My eyes!”

In an instant, everything turns white.

My ears ring, and a strange heat washes over my skin. My mind rapidly slips into a haze, as though I've been injected with an anesthetic.

I've always prided myself on how well I handle a crisis, but at this moment, I don't have the faintest idea what's happening.

A sudden flash!

As the light grows even stronger, I lose consciousness.

And when I open my eyes again...

I've become a barbarian inside the game.