Chapter 1 : My Hobby Is Games

Chapter 1: My Hobby Is Games

“Hobby? Ah, I….”

Up until last night, the RPG game he had been playing came to Jin Dohyeong’s mind, but.

What actually came out of his mouth was a different answer.

“Reading and watching movies.”

“Reading? Hmm, what book have you read recently that left a deep impression on you?”

“Uh……, Return of the Shaolin by Author Cheonmyeong? These days it’s really…….”

The interviewer let out a small sigh.

Jin Dohyeong was able to immediately sense that his answer had been wrong.

No matter how poorly he had prepared for the interview, it was far too insincere an answer.

Even so, it wasn’t as though he could honestly state in an interview that his only hobby was gaming.

‘I should’ve just said watching movies.’

After that, only a few perfunctory questions followed for Jin Dohyeong.

The interviewers’ gazes and interest shifted to the seat next to him.

“My thoughts differ. The parent company’s security system utilizing the recently trending Bitcoin blockchain technology is, by nature…….”

A man with a tall, handsome impression who answered every question without hesitation.

There was no doubt that tremendous effort formed the foundation of that confidence.

‘That’s impressive.’

Something about blockchain.

Something about the nation’s political situation…….

He was a completely different type of person from Jin Dohyeong, who had struggled to squeeze out answers even when asked merely about his hobby.

Each and every credential he listed one after another clearly revealed his position in the job market.

In contrast, all Dohyeong had at the age of twenty-eight was an unremarkable diploma from a regional university and a Class 2 driver’s license.

All things considered, the man’s standing in the job market was first tier.

‘Mine’s fifth tier……, no, not that bad. Maybe around fourth tier?’

His last shred of pride made him self-suggest that he wasn’t in the absolute bottom tier.

It felt as though an invisible line had been drawn between himself and them.

Just how much effort must it have taken for that man to answer so fluently?

While the man had been striving for employment, Dohyeong had merely immersed himself in the games he loved.

Dohyeong let out a small chuckle, thinking that if this were inside a game, he would be more valuable than that man.

.

.

.

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard. We will notify you of the interview results individually.”

As soon as the interview ended, Dohyeong stepped outside the building and loosened the stifling suit tie around his neck.

“Hoo…….”

A major corporation he had fortunately passed the blind document screening for.

A fortune reading he had seen online said that a huge stroke of luck would follow him this year, so he had wondered if he might really get employed just like this, but.

‘……As expected.’

It seemed that even with luck on his side, it only carried him as far as the document screening.

‘No, with my specs, the fact that I even came to a major corporation interview in the first place is a miracle.’

Jin Dohyeong turned his steps toward home.

It was because he wanted to escape the stress of job hunting and the suffocating reality, and log into his only sanctuary, the RPG game ‘Colossus’.

He was what people commonly called a veteran, hardened game user.

‘Colossus’ was a hardcore online RPG where, once you died, you had to raise a new character again from the very beginning.

Within that game, Dohyeong had raised a truly wide variety of characters.

Not only basic ones like warriors or mages, but also distinctive characters with unique concepts.

And recently, through countless trials and errors, he had cultivated an unshakably strongest character.

A one-of-a-kind hero character recognized even by the NPCs within the game.

If that man earlier was first tier in the job market, then in the world of ‘Colossus’, Dohyeong was the one and only first tier.

Having talent for creative character development, Dohyeong had once done newbie-oriented broadcasts based on the tips he had organized himself.

But perhaps because it was such an unpopular, failing game, the maximum number of viewers barely reached around ten, so he quit after streaming for a month or two.

‘If only the patches were done properly, there’d be more new players…….’

If one were to pinpoint why the game had failed, its brutal difficulty was certainly an issue.

But the biggest reason was that there had been absolutely no patches for the past ten years.

It was as if the game had been completely abandoned.

Had the operators given up?

No, did the operators even exist in the first place?

Rumors even spread that the administrators had completely let go of a game that boasted hardcore difficulty.

Now it had become a game with fewer than ten concurrent users.

Even so, from Dohyeong’s perspective, he was simply grateful that they hadn’t shut down the service entirely.

“Thanks. Once I get a job, I’ll spend a lot on cash items too.”

If ‘Colossus’, which he had played since his school days, had shut down early on, Dohyeong would probably have fallen into deep despair.

It was quite ironic—he had become so absorbed in the game that daily life grew increasingly difficult.

Yet in order to endure that difficult life, he returned to the game again.

Of course, knowing that he needed to break free from this vicious cycle to get a job, he couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.

“What’s the point of thinking like this over and over.”

Dohyeong shook his head once and took a deep breath.

‘……Yeah, let’s live positively. Positively.’

Like a line from some self-help book he had read before.

‘The way you speak, the way you think!’

“Alright!”

Just at the moment he clenched both fists tightly, brimming with determination.

“Okay then, I’ll go home and relieve some stress with a game first……, huh?”

Ding!

Suddenly, a text message arrived from an unknown number.

Could it be a typical spam message?

Just as he was about to press the hold key to turn off the screen, a word that caught his eye appeared in the preview popup.

“Huh?”

Colossus.

The name of the game that could be called another life to Dohyeong.

At the unexpected message, Dohyeong widened his eyes and checked the contents.

============================

Hello, Jin Dohyeong.

This is ‘BUST DOWN’, the developer of ‘Colossus’.

============================

“Developer? They actually had operators? No, but why all of a sudden….”

For a moment, he wondered whether the sender really was the developer of Colossus.

But it was also true that no one would bother pulling a prank with a failing game that had around ten concurrent users.

Soon, another long message arrived.

============================

From now on, a large-scale patch will be carried out targeting people all around the world.

And this message is being sent separately, prior to the patch, only to Jin Dohyeong, who has loved ‘Colossus’ the most up until now.

.

.

.

============================

In an instant, Dohyeong’s eyes spun.

A large-scale patch for Colossus?

The thought that a massive patch was scheduled for a failing game that hadn’t received a single patch in the past ten years made his chest swell with excitement.

And at the words that it was a pre-message sent only to him, the corners of Dohyeong’s mouth twitched.

It felt as though the time he had poured into the game, leaving daily life behind, was finally being acknowledged.

‘So what kind of patch is it?’

Without realizing it, a smile formed on Dohyeong’s lips as he quickly scanned the message contents.

Then, a strange sense of doubt appeared on his face, which had been filled with anticipation.

“What is this?”

Standing blankly, he muttered the details of the large-scale patch in a low voice.

“……Real service? A reality patch is being implemented?”

Was it about incorporating VR, which had been all the rage lately?

Just as Dohyeong tilted his head at the puzzling message.

Pak!

“……Huh?!”

Someone struck Dohyeong’s shoulder hard from behind as they passed by.

Nearly losing his balance and falling to the ground, Dohyeong looked ahead.

“……”

A burly man with tattoos covering his entire body.

As if he were the one who had been wronged, the man scowled deeply and brushed off his shoulder.

“Ah, what the hell.”

Dohyeong slightly bowed his head first.

“I’m sorr—.”

Before he could finish speaking, the man turned his head away and started walking off on his own.

As he glanced Dohyeong up and down, the man’s face was filled with strange contempt and mockery.

In an instant, heat rushed to Dohyeong’s head.

Just as Dohyeong frowned and was about to grab the man walking ahead.

……Stop!

Everything froze for a very brief moment, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

Huh? What is this?

And then.

Wooooong!

An enormous, irresistible energy covered the surroundings—no, the entire Earth.

Struck by a sudden sense of déjà vu, a bewildered Dohyeong blinked and checked his body here and there.

“Just now, something……?”

And right at that moment.

Splat!

A strange sound came from ahead.

Looking forward, he saw the man who had bumped into his shoulder collapse after colliding with something.

“Ugh……?”

The man wiped the sticky mucus off his face and tried to say something, but.

“……H-huh?”

After realizing what he had collided with, he froze completely.

“Grrrllrk…….”

A gigantic monstrous lifeform resembling a slug.

Eyes stretched long like antennae locked onto the man.

At the same time, the creature opened its gaping maw wide.

Hundreds of sharp teeth filled its mouth.

“Aaaargh……!”

Crunch……!

Those teeth cut off the man’s scream in a single bite.

Blood gushed out from the severed neck.

Dohyeong, who had been staring blankly at the scene that reeked of dissonance from reality, muttered.

“……Giga Snail?”

That was exactly what was written above the head of the monstrous lifeform.