novelraw Chapter 1 : Chapter 1
Chapter 1 : Chapter 1
Chapter 1. Possession
A game where you became a bounty hunter, roamed the world, and captured escaped prisoners.
I liked this game.
The outstanding combat descriptions, the vast world-building, the bizarre yet beautiful map design, and the unique sentimentality of a dying world.
On top of that, it had massive volume, a high degree of freedom, and a damn hardcore difficulty.
Every element that made up the game was seriously my cup of tea.
Because of that, from my college days through my job-seeking period and even after I joined a company.
I played this game to death.
Six years.
I had played every class in the game at least once, cleared all the hidden quests to understand the story, and completely devoured the lore book on the official website.
In Korea, no, in the whole world, I was probably the only user who had chewed, torn, and savored this game to such an extent.
The related communities, both Eastern and Western, were all dead, and there wasn't a single user other than me posting strategy guides.
If it had been an online game, it would have been shut down long ago.
But since it was a single-player game, it somehow managed to survive to this day.
In a way, this lack of popularity was to be expected.
Because this goddamn game was released without the ending part.
It blatantly dropped foreshadowing about the final boss from the very beginning of the gameplay, yet the final boss never even appeared in the story.
You fought some mid-tier boss, and that was it.
This absurd development, like a toilet disappearing mid-shit, made countless gamers quit the game.
Of course, when I found out, I cursed my head off and threw my controller too.
But I picked it back up because it was the only game that suited my tastes.
If there's only one food in the world that suits your taste, you have no choice but to eat it, even if it's a little moldy.
It was the same today.
I came home from work, washed up, cracked open a can of beer, and started
And then I spat out my beer.
“DLC released?!”
Those crazy bastards had released a DLC after six years.
And the ending part, at that.
“Why are you releasing this now!!”
All the users are gone, so what's the point of releasing it now!!
Even as I yelled, my hand was moving the cursor to the DLC purchase button.
There were things in the world you had to do even while cursing.
I had poured six years into it; wasn't it only right to see the ending?
So I went to the DLC purchase page.
Black God.
The final boss of this game, who was only mentioned in the story but never appeared.
I almost screamed.
“Okay, let's calm down, calm down… where's my card.”
But when I looked, there was no need to take out my debit card.
Because this was written in large letters on the purchase page.
<65,000 Credits → 0 Credits>
Free.
It seemed the game company bastards had a shred of conscience, releasing the DLC for free.
“Oh yeah.”
Now there was truly no reason to hesitate.
I immediately pressed the purchase button.
And–
Whoosh!
With a sudden flash of light, I lost consciousness.
* * *
A pungent smell burrowed into my nostrils.
At the same time, I could feel fine dust sticking to my cheek.
“Ugh…”
When I opened my eyes.
I realized I had been thrown not into my room, but some strange place.
“What is this place?”
I first sat up from my lying position and looked around.
It was a tiny room.
Of course, the studio apartment I lived in wasn't very spacious, but this place was even worse.
On top of that, a bed, a toilet, and a sink were all lined up next to each other without any partitions.
A truly indescribably horrible furniture arrangement.
Furthermore, the floor beneath my feet was cold stone, and the walls and ceiling were lined with thick iron plates.
As far as I knew, there was only one type of building that adopted such an anti-humanitarian interior.
A prison.
“Why me?!”
I had never committed a crime in my life.
I had never even paid a common fine.
A model citizen like me is suddenly in prison?
“No, but wait a minute.”
This prison's interior felt strangely familiar.
It had to be.
This was the prison from the game.
“…This is Mugan, isn't it?”
The highest-grade prison where only the world's worst heinous criminals were incarcerated,
A place with a history spanning a hundred years and a large number of inmates due to its enormous scale.
For a moment, my mind went blank.
“Don't tell me… I've entered the game world?”
It seemed I was in a situation where I had possessed a character in the game.
It sounded absurd, but there was no better explanation right now.
“But if I was going to be possessed, it should have been the bounty hunter I was playing, why did I possess a prisoner…!”
There were various classes in
Mage, Musketeer, Swordsman, Machinist, Archer, Shapeshifter, Fighter, and so on.
But regardless of which class one chose, the profession was fixed as 'Bounty Hunter (Headhunter)'.
Because the core of
Not me becoming a prisoner.
“But why…!”
The orange prison uniform, the thick handcuffs and shackles on my wrists and ankles.
I was, by all accounts, clearly a prisoner.
The word 'fuck' was about to escape my lips, but I forced myself to calm down.
“…Calm down. Let's figure out the situation first.”
I remembered the profiles of almost all the prisoners incarcerated in Mugan.
Their origins, personalities, abilities, all of it.
In that case, if I could figure out which prisoner I had possessed, I would be able to get a hint on how to deal with the future.
The fastest and simplest way to find out who I was.
I approached the mirror above the sink.
And through the mirror, I checked my current appearance.
Long, flowing black hair.
A gaunt face, looking to be in his early to mid-twenties.
And deep, dark eyes that emanated a creepy glow.
The moment I saw this face, these words automatically came out of my mouth.
“What the.”
I froze on the spot.
Because I possessed an unknown character?
No, the problem was that it was a character I knew.
“The Black God…?”
The final boss of this game who never properly revealed himself to the players, the Black God.
I had possessed him.
“…What do I do?”
My mind went blank again.
Because I knew almost nothing about the Black God.
All I knew was the face I saw once in a cutscene.
And just the vague information that he operated in the shadows of the world, growing his power.
I knew next to nothing about what abilities and background the Black God possessed.
'Still, there's a way.'
This game, despite its hardcore difficulty, was one that always had a loophole to break through.
Naturally, the current situation would be the same.
'I know nothing about the Black God. So I have to find a solution using only the information I can get right now.'
First, this place was definitely Mugan.
And…
“No, wait a minute.”
I was overlooking some very important information.
“This bastard, the Black God, why is he locked up in here?”
And one more thing.
“Why is Mugan still intact?”
Mugan appears in ruins right from the game's introduction.
Because of the 'Great Breakout', an incident where the prisoners of Mugan all attempted to escape at once.
The Great Breakout, the main culprit that turned the game's world into a mess and the major incident that made the protagonist set out on bounty hunting.
Because of this incident, all of Mugan's prisoners scattered across the globe, and Mugan was shut down.
Naturally, in that process, the longest-serving inmate, the Black God, also escaped.
So, the fact that Mugan was intact like this meant…
'Right now is the very beginning of the game, the introductory phase.'
My heart began to beat faster.
Not the latter half of the game, but the beginning.
This meant it was the point in time where I could use the information I knew most effectively.
In a word, it was practically the same as having regressed.
'Let's make a plan.'
I don't know exactly what the current time point is.
But the Great Breakout will definitely happen in the near future.
Mugan will fall, and it's a given that I'll get out of here.
So I had to make a plan for what to do after getting out.
I should have, but…
KABOOM!
With a fierce explosion, the cell door was torn off and sent flying.
The wall was also torn down and collapsed.
At the same time, the thick smoke from outside rushed into the cell.
'Gasp…!'
I could now identify the pungent smell that had been seeping through the crack in the door.
The smell of something burning.
And the dust that had been sticking to my cheek was fine ash.
And I could finally see outside the cell.
The inside of Mugan was on fire.
Explosions were going off everywhere, and walls were crumbling.
“…Damn.”
The Great Breakout had happened much sooner than I expected.
“Hmm…”
The cell door was gone.
The prisoners had all completely fled.
In this situation, the best course of action I could take as an inmate was to escape.
I instinctively tried to step outside the door.
But I couldn't.
Thud, thud, thud!
Footsteps coming from nearby.
A group of people was running towards this place.
'Two of them.'
After unconsciously muttering this to myself, I was surprised.
Because I had figured out the number of people just by listening to the chaotic footsteps.
The me outside the game didn't have this kind of ability.
'Is this an ability of this body?'
This Black God fellow, I could be certain that his senses were at least extremely sharp.
The very next moment.
Two men really did appear in front of the cell.
“…!”
The moment I saw them.
I froze.
To be precise, I froze after seeing one of them.
'Lancelot?! Why is this guy here?!'
Lancelot Powell.
Chief swordsmanship instructor of the World Federation Army, and the one with the title of Sword Saint.
At this point in time, there wasn't a single human on this Earth who could beat him with a sword.
And Lancelot already had his sword drawn.
Blood was dripping from the blade.
The moment I saw that, my instincts told me.
'If I attack, I die.'
Of course, in the Black God's body that I possessed, I might have been able to put up a fight.
But that was too much of a gamble.
I hadn't properly grasped the Black God's abilities yet, and more importantly, the handcuffs on my wrists were a problem.
Ability-sealing handcuffs, Model XT-10.
While wearing these, both magic and supernatural powers were sealed, and a debuff was applied to physical abilities.
On top of that, my body's own condition was not great due to the long imprisonment.
To attack in this state, relying only on the name value of the Black God, the opponent was just too unfavorable.
So I chose.
To stand perfectly still for now.
Seeing me make no move, Lancelot's side was instead flustered.
“…You're not escaping?”
“Wouldn't you cut me down if I did?”
“That's… true.”
When I answered with sound reasoning, he showed a hint of being flustered again.
“…Riman Solaris, alias the Black God, correct?”
“That is correct.”
Riman Solaris.
So this was the Black God's real name.
“Then I understand even less. You're going to stay put in a situation like this? The Black God?”
“Brother, let's just cut this bastard down too.”
The guy standing behind Lancelot said, glaring at me.
I knew about this guy too.
His name was Kyle.
Lancelot's close younger brother and disciple.
And he had a hot-headed personality.
The type to just cut down any villain in front of him.
But of course, I had no intention of being cut down by Kyle's sword.
So I said.
“By what authority do you intend to cut me down?”
“What?!”
“There is a legal provision that escaped convicts may be executed on sight. But I am not, in principle, an escaped convict. I haven't taken a single step outside my cell. You have no authority to cut me.”
I pushed Kyle with logic, forcing a dignified expression and voice.
Of course, I knew.
That guy wasn't the type to be stopped by logic.
“This bastard dares to run his mouth…?”
Saying so, Kyle pointed his sword at me.
At that moment.
“Lower your sword, Kyle.”
Lancelot blocked Kyle.
It was just as I thought.
The target I was trying to persuade with logic was never Kyle in the first place, but Lancelot.
Unlike the hot-headed Kyle, Lancelot was a thorough man of principle.
Lancelot agreed with my logic, which was why he blocked Kyle.
I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Lancelot asked.
“So why didn't you escape?”
“Before that, I'd like to ask what you plan to do with me.”
The only weapons I had right now were information and my words.
Therefore, I had no intention of handing over the initiative in the conversation.
“…You'll be transferred to another prison. Your sentence isn't over yet.”
Fuck.
My mind grew complicated.
I had survived for now, but at this rate, I'd be thrown back in a cell.
That couldn't happen.
'Think…!'
I gathered, reviewed, and combined all the information in my head.
And finally, I opened my mouth.
“No, there's no need to go to the trouble of transferring me.”
“What?”
“I propose a deal.”
I decided.
To persuade this guy, Lancelot.