Chapter 118

「In the principal’s office, the adults were chatting away. The principal, explaining the advantages of the kindergarten, seemed like a salesperson.

I was just staring blankly into empty space. Hard to imagine now, but back in the days without smartphones, everyone zoned out like this.

Someone tugged at my clothes from the side. I turned my head. A little girl was staring right at my face. She was also waiting for her parents to finish their consultation.

The girl said, “I’m hungry.”

As if it were routine, I pulled out a Po○ bread from my bag and handed it to her.

This was my first memory.

I had a childhood friend.

Actually, two, so it’s more accurate to say I had childhood “friends.”

We lived in the same apartment. I was in unit 501. My childhood friends were in 502 and 503. Since it was a corridor-style apartment, visiting each other was super convenient.

Where I lived wasn’t quite the countryside, but it wasn’t exactly a city either. People usually called it a rural town, but I just called it the countryside. With rice fields all around, what else could it be?

People often say there’s nothing to do in the countryside, but that’s not true. At least, not back then.

When I was a kid, hanging out with people was all the fun we needed. Unless you were in some remote mountain village, it was rare not to find people in a small town with over 10,000 residents.

There was an abundance of things to do.

Games like cops and robbers, freeze tag, and escape games took over every corner of the neighborhood.

But even so, we missed out on most of the games.

“I’ll see the tip of the sword.”

It was all because of my female childhood friend.

“…Me too.”

“If you’re doing it, then I will too.”

Though it felt like I was swept up in her dream, I ended up enrolling in a dojo with my male childhood friend to learn swordsmanship.

Walking the path of the sword together was tough, but also fun.

It must have been so enjoyable that those summers left a strong impression on me.

Sometimes, so much so that it appears in my dreams.

“Ah.”

When I opened my eyes, sunlight seeped through the blackout curtains.

I brought the smartwatch I always wear up to my face.

11:00 AM.

…It’s the entrance ceremony today. I’m screwed.」

Lee Junseong was staring blankly at the game screen when he snapped out of it.

‘What’s this?’

He got so immersed that he almost got sucked into the game world.

Like the streaming GOAT, Ga Joon-sik.

Of course, Lee Junseong didn’t have the qualities of a streaming GOAT.

The qualities of a king aren’t something just anyone can have.

But Lee Junseong did have a similar experience to Ga Joon-sik.

Why?

It was because of the game.

Objectively, the story wasn’t that moving. It was too short to evoke such emotions.

But Lee Junseong was immersed in the game for just over a minute.

Because the story was about him.

Of course, Lee Junseong didn’t have a childhood friend who vowed to see the tip of the sword. He never vowed to follow a dream. In fact, he didn’t even have a childhood friend.

But.

Everything else was about him.

Waiting outside the principal’s office for his parents as a kid, living in a rural town, loving Po○ bread—all of it.

Even the fleeting scenery resembled his hometown, giving him goosebumps.

Your own story is always the most interesting.

People empathize with stories related to themselves.

And empathy is fun.

And <RE: Snowball Garden> was filled with stories players could empathize with.

‘A coincidence?’

No. Lee Junseong knew. This wasn’t a coincidence.

To dismiss this as a coincidence would ignore everything Han Yoorim had shown so far.

A game that forces people to immerse themselves? She really made something like this.

‘…But is this even technically possible?’

Even though current VR devices are over-the-top in technology, they have clear limitations.

If full-dive technology had appeared in the world, it would make sense. That’s a method where the brain and device are directly connected.

But no matter how advanced, current VR devices are just regular VR devices.

They don’t read brainwaves, and they don’t have anything close to that functionality.

Reflecting past information not provided in the game would require more than the device’s capabilities.

How did she do it? Account info synchronization?

Would that even work? Other accounts wouldn’t have info about me waiting outside the principal’s office as a kid, living in a rural town, or loving Po○ bread.

Then again, Han Yoorim has always been a bit odd.

If we’re pointing out the weird stuff, the cloud gaming service came first.

Implementing such a perfect cloud gaming service would require infrastructure and technology that’s still lacking in many ways.

…But this time, it was just too strange.

Reading people’s thoughts—if it’s not that, then this is impossible—.

“……”

Wait. That would make sense, but it’s too sci-fi.

Probably not.

Whatever. Lee Junseong decided.

Quickly organized his thoughts.

Anyway, that kind of thing wasn’t really important.

What mattered more was whether this game was fun or not.

He was a gamer, after all.

Lee Junseong controlled his character.

The academy city ‘Mu Hak Do’ was an artificial island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In the weather created by magic, boys and girls who had just become high school students learned martial arts.

The protagonist, influenced by his childhood friend, took the path of the sword, but in ‘Mu Hak Do,’ one could learn various martial arts like Tao, Fist, Spear, and more if they wished.

Lee Junseong operated the watch-like device on his wrist.

This watch-like device was a culmination of technology, an essential item for any student learning martial arts in ‘Mu Hak Do.’

Zing—. A hologram appeared from the device.

Name: Lee Junseong

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Nationality: South Korea

Nickname: None

Level: 3rd Class

<Characteristics>

Speed Reading (E), Concentration (D)

<Martial Arts>

Three Talents Sword Technique [3rd Class]

…It was a status window that made him feel a bit weird.

Especially the characteristics part.

First, speed reading. Since he was young, Lee Junseong could read books quickly. However, it was just fast reading, not enough to be called true speed reading, which seemed to be reflected in the E rank.

Concentration was the same. Lee Junseong had been praised for his good concentration since he was young. However, it wasn’t at the level of geniuses who could stay focused even if a fire broke out next to them, which seemed to be reflected in the D rank.

In other words, the status window that just appeared was a reflection of the real Lee Junseong.

Well, since he had experienced something similar in the intro, he wasn’t too surprised, just a bit intrigued.

As for martial arts… the Three Talents Sword Technique.

Being someone who often read genre novels, Lee Junseong knew exactly what the Three Talents Sword Technique was.

A basic technique. Or a fundamental martial art. A martial art that didn’t contain any sophisticated moves, just horizontal slashes, vertical slashes, and thrusts.

It was natural that he hadn’t learned any impressive martial arts since he just started the game, but he still felt a bit disappointed.

It would have been nice to learn something like the Plum Blossom Sword Technique or Taeguk Hyegeom. Sigh.

‘How do I use martial arts? …Oh.’

When he thought about using martial arts, he naturally knew how to do it.

It wasn’t that martial arts knowledge was injected into his mind… but rather, a semi-transparent trajectory appeared in the air thanks to the system assistant.

It was a system he was already familiar with from <Excel Busters>.

When he swung his sword, the move came out cleanly. A residual image of internal energy followed the sword’s trajectory.

Lee Junseong blankly stared at the simple yet dazzling residual image.

In reality, swinging a sword wouldn’t do anything, but this was a game. Han Yoorim wouldn’t have left out the flashy effects.

He wanted to quickly learn higher-level martial arts and try them out.

‘How do I learn martial arts? Do I just progress through the game?’

Just as Lee Junseong muttered to himself—

“Kyaaah—!”

Someone screamed.

The protagonist, who was late for school, got caught up in an incident. A very typical story development.

Lee Junseong ran toward the source of the sound.

‘Mu Hak Do’ was a very large island.

The area where the ‘academy building’ was located was only a small part of the island, but since the island was so vast, even that small part was quite large.

So, it took Lee Junseong a while to reach the place where the voice had come from.

Lee Junseong scanned the area and frowned.

There was nothing there.

‘Did I come to the wrong place?’

No way. Since he had heard the scream just 10 seconds ago, he couldn’t have come to the wrong place.

Then what?

Did they hide after I arrived?

Unable to figure it out, Lee Junseong tilted his head, drew his sword, and took a step forward. And then—

—The ground gave way.

“Uwaaah!” Screaming as he fell, Lee Junseong only realized the situation after hitting the ground.

Someone had set a trap.

Who would do such a thing?

The answer came surprisingly quickly.

“Ah. We got a freshman.”

Someone peeked out from the round hole in the sky.

A beautiful girl with black hair and black eyes.

She said,

“Junior. Want to join our club?”

Hearing the voice that he had heard somewhere—specifically, the same scream from just a moment ago—Lee Junseong let out a hollow laugh.

It’s you again, Han Yoorim?