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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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“This is such a shitty game.”
But strangely, I liked it.
I scratched my head and muttered to myself, looking at the other users chatting amongst themselves, trying to gather information.
‘There it is.’
It seemed like this person made their decision quickly.
A person popped out of the black portal.
In their hand was a katana.
‘A samurai again.’
It was strange to see ninjas and samurai in a fantasy setting, but well, it was a Japanese game.
I counted the number of each class in my head.
Another user disappeared into the portal, guided by the priest NPC to receive their class.
Confirming that the user had disappeared into the portal, I fell into thought again.
‘The framework is an MMORPG, but the level design is closer to a packaged game.’
The balance was a complete mess.
Of course, I wasn’t just playing around while dozens of people chose their classes.
Other diligent users were the same.
And as we gathered the accumulating information, the outline of the game became somewhat clear.
‘If they put this kind of thing on the market as an MMORPG, it’ll be dead within a month, not just in America and Europe, but even in Korea.’
Basically, professional gamers usually specialize in one-on-one battle games that are fun to watch.
Genres like AOS or FPS.
So, would you say MMORPGs are a weak genre for professionals? Absolutely.
As a Korean, I had experience with MMORPGs in elementary and middle school before my debut.
And I was good at it, in a different sense than usual.
For games suitable for esports, it’s either you make money or you don’t.
All or nothing.
Except for competitive records, no matter how long you play, you don’t create economic value.
You’d only be a pro, a streamer who broadcasts their play to viewers and receives advertising or sponsorships.
However, MMORPGs are different.
MMORPGs are not suitable for esports.
Because they lack the ‘equality’ required for a competitive game. Especially Korean games.
Therefore, there are no leagues, no pros.
But basically, the in-game currency you earn accumulates, and if you sell it to users who need it, you can convert it into real money.
‘Thanks to that, I haven’t had to worry about money since elementary school.’
I’m not a fan of pointless grinding.
What I did was the so-called ‘chicken run’.
When a new game launched, I would quickly conquer the game as a frontrunner, sell all the rewards at the highest price in the early stages, and then quit the game.
It’s called chicken run because you buy chicken with the money you earned from the launch hype.
The value of items in a newly launched game depreciates at an incredible rate as each day passes.
Therefore, what you need is speed.
You have to understand the system properly, know what’s efficient at each stage, and have the ability to execute it perfectly.
When a highly anticipated Triple-A game launched during middle school, I earned almost 10 million won in about a month.
‘Ah! The memory of that crispy, savory chicken run!’
It doesn’t even have to be an MMORPG, a fool who lacks the ability to grasp the meta can’t become a professional gamer, let alone a top-tier one.
This nameless game, which I, with my expertise, have judged, is frankly, a ‘shitty game’.
‘Most importantly, the concept devoured the balance.’
I looked at the status window.
[Name: Yoon Sihu]
[Main Class: Hero [EX] – None]
[Sub Class [0/3]: None]
[HP – 10.3] – Lv. 1
[Stamina – 10.1] – Lv. 1
[Strength – 10.3] – Lv. 1
[Agility – 10.5] – Lv. 1
[Circuit – 0] – Lv. 1
[Magic – 0] – Lv. 1
[Divinity – 0] – Lv. 1
Skills (2/15): Babel’s Language (EX), Hero’s Destiny (EX)
[EXP: 1062464]
[Achievements: 12-time World Champion & 7 others – See more]
Based on the information I gathered from conversations with other users, my avatar’s stats were outrageous.
I didn’t ask all 108 people, but basically, the main class, Hero.
Most of them were C ~ B rank.
These two made up 60%.
A rank was about 10%, and there were two people with S rank.
The rest were below C, and the lowest one was F.
It seemed like I was the only one with EX.
There were a few cautious individuals who didn’t tell me honestly and seemed to have thrown in some dummy information, but it probably wouldn’t be much different.
The balance was already broken.
This wasn’t some mobile gacha game where you had to reroll, shouldn’t the start, at least, be fair?
I don’t know if it was random or intentional, but a gap had already formed between the users without us doing anything.
[Skill: Hero’s Destiny (EX)]
The destiny that those who come from ‘Jipanggu’, the land where the sun rises in a distant space and time, possess.
It promises great potential to those who hold the destiny.
1. Expands skill slots to 10. (Unlocked at F rank or above)
2. Gain an additional 50 EXP per 100 EXP gained. (Unlocked at E rank or above)
3. Reduces EXP requirements for acquiring skills and leveling up by 30%. (Unlocked at D rank or above)
4. Reduces EXP requirements for increasing stats by 30%. (Unlocked at C rank or above)
5. Gain an additional 100 EXP per 100 EXP gained, and the skill level cap is increased by 1 level. (Unlocked at B rank or above)
6. Increases skill slot limit by 5. (Unlocked at A rank or above)
7. Adds 1 additional sub-class slot and reduces EXP requirements for acquiring skills and increasing stats by 20%. (Unlocked at S rank or above)
8. Gain an additional 200 EXP per 100 EXP gained, the skill level cap is increased by 1 level, and 1 additional sub-class slot is added. (Unlocked at EX rank or above)
Linked to the Hero main class rank, it’s a skill that all users have along with Babel’s Language.
It permanently occupies one skill slot, but it’s a skill worth having.
The problem was the performance gap.
Even a beginner could see that the difference in ability from the lowest to the highest rank was severe.
‘What’s the point of making such a difference?’
If it was an ordinary game, I’d quit or delete my account and reroll, but this was a game where you couldn’t even log out, and who knew what would happen if you died.
Naturally, getting a new rank seemed impossible for now.
Maybe there wasn’t even a way.
‘Honestly, it’s good for me.’
I was the one who benefited from the broken balance, so it was definitely good.
It’s only natural to accept when they give you this much, especially when your life might be at stake.
‘But I have to be careful.’
Reading the text, it was ultimately a skill related to potential.
It meant that it didn’t guarantee immediate strength.
Like the Doraemon trio, there were many users who showed more extraordinary thoughts and actions than I expected.
It’s better not to do anything that would arouse unnecessary jealousy.
Even when I was exchanging information with people, I consistently said I was A rank.
And then the stats.
This too was different for each person.
For adult males, it was around 910, and for females, 89, but sometimes even 10.
It didn’t seem to be randomly assigned.
‘The most likely thing is a scan.’
Users entered the game looking exactly as they did in reality, wearing the same clothes they had on at the game show.
It was highly likely that they scanned our physical information and assigned stats based on that.
‘However, considering the description of Hero’s Destiny, it seems like it can be increased with EXP, so a difference of 1~2 points at the beginning shouldn’t be a big deal.’
And then I turned my attention to the strangest part.
[EXP: 1062464]
[Achievements: 12-time World Champion & 7 others – See more]
EXP and achievements.
I haven’t done anything in this game yet, but I already had 1.06 million EXP.
Other people also had some EXP, but the average amount was usually between 500 and 20,000 at most.
‘Where did this 1.06 million come from?’
Honestly, at this point, I was scared because I couldn’t even comprehend the intention.
Am I the only one in cheat mode?
Something… something’s happening.
‘…It’s not going to be a problem later, right?’
Suddenly, the developer would appear out of nowhere, claiming it’s an illegal act and chop off my head, or my body would explode like fireworks.
I’ve seen enough Japanese manga to know that you can suddenly die for no reason.
The situation was so absurd that I wondered if the person who created it made a mistake, so I was a little worried.
And lastly, achievements.
12-time world champion, and other achievements.
Actually, in a way, this was the most awkward part.
’12-time world champion… and all, it’s like they dragged my real-life career into this.’
As for the international tournament titles I earned during my professional gaming career, I won the Odd Worlds five times, the MSI five times, and once won an FPS game that I played as a sub with the Asian Games team.
The rest, ‘Regional Victor’, ‘National Pride’, ‘Great Recorder’, and four others.
These also almost perfectly matched my career, like winning the OCK League, my experience as a national representative, and the number of seasons I ranked first in ranked games.
The fact that it was recorded as Yoon Sihu instead of my nickname ‘Kid’, and even blatantly bringing in my real-life career as achievements.
‘…Did they already gather information about the users beforehand?’
Not many users, including myself, had anything in the achievements section, but those who did had records of careers that were considered remarkable in reality.
‘…I don’t know.’
If it was just a game, I wouldn’t care, but how am I supposed to know what’s going on in that crazy bastard’s head?
I sighed.
Still, at least in my case, it seemed like I had the best start out of everyone, at least for now.
For now, I just had to be satisfied with that.
‘…Ninja.’
A female user emerged from the portal.
The weapon in her hand was a kunai.
Ninja, in the case of a woman, they call them kunoichi, right?
“Aren’t you choosing a class, Kid? You’ve just been staring at the portal while talking to people.”
As I was counting the classes of the users coming out of the portal, a woman cosplaying as Princess Zelda spoke to me.
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I really like how much of gamer this guy is! Usually in these isekai situations the gamers don’t have this kind of analyzing skill. This makes it very cool.
Hmm, so it seems like your previous life experiences get factored in to your currently accumulated exp? Or is it purely achievements related to gaming? Otherwise I’d assume some of the other special guests like big streamers and such could similarly be said to have “achieved” a lot in life.
(Going off of his theory)
Considering that he was invited as a special guest, it’s not unreasonable for the group that hijacked the login to do their research on him. Same for the 7 other special guests that got invited.