Chapter 2

A bunch of doctors came in, and a series of boring tests followed.

Ian-na noona was standing by the doctors, watching me with tears in her eyes.

The doctors took turns drawing my blood, shining lights in my eyes, checking my blood pressure, and doing all sorts of tests.

After the tedious tests were over, the doctors continued explaining things to noona, who nodded with a serious expression.

Once all the doctors left, Anna noona approached me.

“Arang, are you okay…?”

Noona asked me as slowly as possible. “Are you okay?”

Am I okay? I don’t know. I’ve inherited all of Arang’s memories and emotions, but the real Arang is gone.

“Arang…?”

Seeing noona on the verge of tears again, I quickly opened my mouth.

“…Yeah.”

The emotions left in Arang’s mind were hoping noona wouldn’t be sad.

“Arang…! Th-thank goodness. I’m so relieved…”

Noona hugged me tightly, crying. Even though I’m a young girl, how can she lift me so easily? Is noona super strong? That’s when I realized again.

I don’t have limbs.

‘Well, without limbs, my weight is probably halved.’

Plus, I’ve been bedridden for so long, and my spirit was practically dead, so my body is emaciated. My actual weight is probably less than 20kg.

Maybe I was lost in thought too long, because noona put me down and awkwardly said,

“D-do you want to play a game? Should we start now?”

Ah, was it because I wasn’t reacting? If it were the original me, I’d probably have responded differently, but maybe it’s because I’ve merged with Arang or because I haven’t spoken in so long that it’s hard to talk.

“…No.”

Once noona calmed down, the first thing she did was communicate.

Thanks to Arang’s memories and emotions, I could naturally talk with noona.

To the point where I recognize Anna noona as my older sister. It’s not quite rolling off my tongue yet, but I think time will fix that.

Anyway, while talking with noona, I properly checked my memories.

Arang seems to have been loved a lot by her family. A well-off household, a harmonious family, and everyone’s so kind.

Arang lived a happy daily life under such a family.

“Thank you, Arang. For waking up.”

“…Yeah.”

“Mom and Dad are on their way, but it’ll take some time.”

“Ah…”

“Then, do you want to play the game?”

“…Yeah.”

I turned my head to look at the huge machine on my bed.

I thought virtual world access devices were just simple chokers, but the one on my bed now is the size of a fridge.

From what I recall, this access device is one of only five in the world. It’s also called the “end-of-life device.”

It blocks the nerves in the neck to prevent pain and allows someone with physical issues, like me, to live a normal life in the virtual world.

This access device, a culmination of the world’s most advanced technology, was apparently obtained solely for Arang.

Noona—no, Anna noona—carefully laid me down and placed a machine that looked like an eye massager over my eyes. Then she fastened a choker-like device, identical to the access device, around my neck.

The pitch-black vision soon turned into a pure white space.

I thought I’d immediately enter the game, but I was greeted by a blank white space. What’s this? As I wondered, a hologram appeared in front of me, showing countless game titles.

At the very top was “Legacy of Raid,” listed as the most recently played.

I immediately pressed the Legacy of Raid title and launched it.

Not long after, I found myself back in the plaza where I first regained consciousness.

I quickly ran to the plains I had been to earlier. It’s amazing. It’s clearly a virtual world, but every time my stamina drops, I feel out of breath. They even implemented this?

When my stamina hit its limit, my body started shaking, as if it couldn’t move anymore.

I stopped when my stamina maxed out.

‘Huh?’

Even when I stood still, holding my breath didn’t refill my stamina.

“Phew!”

When I exhaled and took a comfortable position to catch my breath, my stamina started refilling.

‘This is fascinating.’

It’s not just clicking a keyboard and mouse—I’m actually running, and my breath is getting heavy. This situation is so thrilling.

Managing my stamina, I arrived at the plains. More people were hunting goblins than before.

I headed to a less crowded area and approached a lone goblin.

Unlike before, I drew the sword strapped to my waist.

I charged at the goblin, who hadn’t noticed me yet.

The force starting from my feet traveled up to my hands. As I swung the sword, a strange sensation took over my body.

It felt like it was guiding me on how to do it.

I let my body follow the flow, and the sword slashed through the goblin’s upper body.

Swoosh!

10!

The impact traveled from my fingertips to my entire body. And the number above the goblin’s head—it was damage.

It was a pitifully low number, but that wasn’t important right now.

The simple, boring act of attacking a level 1 goblin at the start of the game felt completely different in virtual reality.

“Squeak!”

The goblin, still alive, swung a dagger at me.

Before I could even process it, my body reacted first, twisting my waist. The attack narrowly missed.

I was startled. Even though it’s just a game, I felt a killing intent.

I stopped thinking and swung my sword to kill the goblin. That strange sensation took over again, and as I surrendered to it, the sword sliced through the goblin’s neck.

Swoosh!

16!

The goblin’s head flew off, turning into particles and disappearing. The damage was 50% higher than before. Was it because I hit the neck instead of the torso?

This is fun.

The sensations I’ve never felt before and the realistic combat situation gave me the same excitement—no, even greater excitement—than when I first played a game.

How can killing a level 1 goblin right at the start of the game be this fun?

There’ll probably be raids later… How fun will those be?

==

She woke up. Arang came back to life.

I don’t know when it started. When did Arang, who always brightened up the family, get sick?

Despite pouring an enormous amount of money into it, we couldn’t stop the illness, and we had to amputate Arang’s limbs. Otherwise, she would’ve died.

Arang, who was always cheerful, lost her limbs, grew weaker, and was in pain. Gradually, she lost her brightness and eventually became like a doll, unresponsive to anything.

Even the world’s top doctors gave up, and there seemed to be no way to treat Arang.

Time passed helplessly until we learned about the virtual reality access device Arang is using now. Hoping to see even a glimpse of her old self, we got the device.

We tried many games, but Arang just stood at the starting point, not doing anything. Not even moving a finger.

While we were grieving, a friend contacted me.

They said there’s a game they’ve been enjoying lately and asked if I wanted to try it. I looked it up and found out it was a recently popular VRMMORPG called Legacy of Raid.

On a whim, I installed the game on the access device and forced Arang to log in. As expected, Arang just stood at the starting point.

I shook my head and went to the bathroom. When I came back, something had changed.

The screen, which had shown Arang just standing in the starting plaza, now displayed a plain with a goblin standing there, and Arang was holding a sword.

She moved. Arang was moving.

The moment I confirmed it, I frantically called out to Arang and pressed the forced logout button.

As soon as the access device was removed, Arang turned her head and looked at me.

Arang, who hadn’t moved in years, looked at me and then screamed before fainting.

The doctors came and examined Arang.

Her illness isn’t cured yet, but she’s regained consciousness, her senses are returning, and she’s reacting. That’s definitely a good thing.

The problem is, we don’t know when or how it might worsen again.

After the doctors left, I approached Arang carefully so as not to startle her and talked to her. Arang only gave short answers like “Yeah” or “No,” but even that made me so happy.

Because I was talking to Arang.

While talking, I realized Arang wasn’t fully focused on the conversation but was paying attention to something else. I figured out it was the game.

Since it would take some time for our parents to arrive, I asked Arang if she wanted to play the game. She nodded and said “Yeah.”

And that answer was the loudest she’s spoken so far. Though it was still very quiet.

Thinking about it, the reason Arang regained consciousness was thanks to the game Legacy of Raid.

For now, I thought it was most important to let Arang continue playing the game she’s interested in before her condition worsens, so I set up the access device for her.

‘I need to make it easier for Arang to play the game.’