Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed – Chapter 2

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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This world is based on the “cyberpunk game” I played.

However, if you ask whether this world is a game, I think the story is a little different.

Well, take a simple street vendor, for example.

In the game, street vendors are nothing more than ordinary objects used to fill an otherwise dull street.

They don’t buy or sell goods or food.

They are merely devices to show off the graphic designer’s excellent modeling skills.

Their sole role is to act as display cases for food you can’t actually eat.

On the other hand, what if the game becomes reality?

As I said, the story changes.

Not only can you buy and eat unidentified street food…

…but a kind of ‘story’ or ‘setting’ that you didn’t know in the game emerges.

A certain street vendor in Neon City thought their stall was too ordinary.

They realized they needed some fresh, unique selling point to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

The vendor’s thought process was short, and their actions were swift.

Thus, an enthusiastic vendor who applied “mood-enhancing drugs” to their food was born.

Who knew that the seemingly friendly street vendor was a member of a drug cartel?

Naturally, I didn’t know this at the time.

One day, I noticed it while watching a news program on NCB24, Neon City’s only broadcasting station (they won the corporate war).

For reference, the news segment in question lasted about 5 seconds, a very minor incident by Neon City standards.

In this world, drugs aren’t even illegal in the first place.

They’re called “mental care pharmaceuticals.”

The reason the vendor was on the news was simply for using mental care pharmaceuticals without paying city taxes.

Anyway, seeing the vendor’s unexpected mugshot on a news program I was watching out of boredom…

…was both surprising and chilling.

I had almost bought food from them several times.

It’s a good thing I didn’t eat the cyberpunk street food because it looked sketchy.

Considering “Susceptible to Drugs” was one of my many negative traits…

It could have been really dangerous.

No one wants to become a drug addict against their will.

But a drug-addicted mage?

One with talent, too?

…That would have been a real disaster.

Anyway, the conclusion is this:

This world is very similar to a game, but…
It’s not a game.

Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

There were good points, too.

What I’m doing now on an “old CRT monitor” could be considered one of those good points.

[BunnyPrincess(Archer) : Spot taken.]

[RealMageHere(Warrior): ?]

“What kind of crazy bastard is this?”

I was hunting here first.

What nonsense.

What is this? Showing off?

That’s right.

Even though I fell into this “crazy cyberpunk world” for the single “insane reason of having played a game”…

I still couldn’t quit gaming.

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The world I originally came from…

That is, my previous life, did have many fun games.

But compared to the “cyberpunk games” backed by mass media saturated with capitalism and sexualism, they felt a bit lacking.

In a way, it’s only natural.

It’s the inherent difference between games played with a monitor and keyboard, and games enjoyed in virtual or augmented reality.

The latter could be enjoyed more easily, conveniently, and simply using the “neural computer chips” that even homeless people in back alleys all had.

So, the winner was all the more clear.

Plus, this world didn’t have a malicious organization like the GRAC (Game Rating and Administration Committee).

Meaning there was no censorship of sexual content or violence based on age restrictions.

It truly was a crazy world.

Of course, there was nothing more ridiculous than being concerned about age in Neon City.

This is evidenced by my neighbor, Mr. Bill, who lives in the same building.

For reference, Mr. Bill is a 95-year-old senior who altered most of his body with bioware implants, changing his appearance to that of a 10-year-old.

He should at least dress his age.

I still vividly remember being scolded for speaking informally to him when we first met.

I said I wouldn’t believe it until he showed his corporate ID (issued by large corporations, harder to forge than city IDs)…

…and got scolded twice as much after I saw it.

Cyberpunk is scary…

Honestly, even now, I think he went a bit too far.

Anyway, it’s perfectly natural for an intellectual living in a world with a highly developed gaming industry to have gaming as a hobby.

Accordingly, most of the games I played were virtual reality games.

This was both natural and very satisfying, but…

Just like you can’t always eat delicious food…

Just like you sometimes crave ramen even while eating a high-quality steak…

In life, you’re bound to have the desire to fill a void.

Yes.

Like how you sometimes crave mint chocolate or pineapple pizza.

Why do people hate mint chocolate or pineapple pizza?

There are even cities in this world that have banned them by law.

Fortunately, Neon City hasn’t implemented such a vicious law yet.

The game I’m currently playing is a similar feeling.

Very occasionally…

I felt nostalgic for Korea.

I wanted to play a normal MMO RPG like Land of Wind or Orange Mushroom Story, where I could just mindlessly grind.

A genre and technology that were common on the streets of Korea, but incredibly hard to find in this cyberpunk world.

Hard to find in a bad way, not a good way.

Everyone plays virtual reality games.

Who would want to play games with a monitor and keyboard?

It was even harder to find a monitor and keyboard because I had to get them from antique shops.

But the world is vast, and tastes are diverse.

Just as there are people who like furry things, there are people in this world who like crappy games.

After a long struggle, I finally found the kind of game I wanted.

Now, it has become an indispensable part of my hobbies, alongside other virtual reality games.

But…

What is this bastard who’s interrupting my happiness?

What does he want, interfering with me like this?

[ RealMageHere(Warrior): Bullshit, I was hunting here first. ]

I carefully continued the conversation as if negotiating with a terrorist.

As a civilized person, I tried to calmly resolve the situation through dialogue.

But my efforts were in vain.

He naturally attacked and stole the monster I was hitting.

That BunnyPrincess(bastard).

He’s even an archer, so his targeting speed is fast.

As a warrior, it was a matchup I couldn’t win.

[ BunnyPrincess(Archer) : Spot taken. ]

[ RealMageHere(Warrior): (Inappropriate Language) ]

I almost felt a pang of nostalgia for the first time seeing profanity censorship in this world.

But given that the censorship was applied to my chat, and that he continued to steal the monsters I was hunting…

Nostalgia, my ass, I was just pissed.

Ah, this cool and heavy feeling.

It was time to return to my ‘keyboard warrior’ roots.

[ RealMageHere(Warrior): (Inappropriate Language) ]

[ RealMageHere(Warrior): (Inappropriate Language) ]

Ugh.

So much censorship.

But even censorship couldn’t break my will.

[ RealMageHere(Warrior): F.uck you. ]

[ BunnyPrincess(Archer) : ? ]

Finally, my words, breaking through the censorship, reached him.

This would be the first step in a noble fight.

He, who had only said “Spot taken,” finally seemed to acknowledge me.

I tried to calmly continue chatting.

Until that bastard attacked my character.

“No!”

My fingers flew across the keyboard.

The distance was too far.

If I had closed the distance and attacked first instead of typing, the situation might have been different.

But there was a considerable gap between my character and BunnyPrincess.

The outcome of a fight between a warrior and an archer at a distance was obvious.

I hurriedly used a defensive skill.

I had to escape.

But wait.

Why is the damage so high?

This bastard, he’s definitely not at the level to be hunting here.

I struggled to survive, but my efforts were meaningless.

It didn’t take long for my character’s health gauge to deplete completely.

[You have died.]

[Resurrection wait time: 1 hour 0 minutes 0 seconds]

“Shit.”

I could only watch as BunnyPrincess (the bastard) disappeared beyond the gray monitor.

I should have just closed in and attacked first instead of chatting…

No matter how much I regretted it, my character’s corpse wouldn’t rise.

I had become a loser, having to wait for an hour.

No different from immobile trash.

…I’m so dumbfounded, I can’t even get angry anymore.

[I inquire, has your character perished?]

“Yeah, I died.”

[Then do you now have the leisure to check the current time and date?]

“Time and date?”

Why so suddenly?

I scratched my head at the AI’s question.

A numerical text displaying the current date and time appeared in the corner of my vision.
Neural computer chips were so convenient.

Scary, but great. Cyberpunk.

So the current date is…

Hmm.

Indeed.

“It’s already been a week.”

[I affirm.]

I don’t know why time spent gaming flows so happily and quickly.

It feels like only a few days have passed.

A whole week already?

I was simply astonished.

“Was I hacked without realizing it or something?”

[I rebuke such a notion.]

“Obviously I’m kidding.”

I stretched.

Perhaps because I slept whenever I felt sleepy and played games whenever I woke up, regardless of day or night…

I had lost track of time.

Well, I did have an excuse for this.

My character traits: “Frail,” “Feeble,” “Fatigue,” etc.

Because I had so many negative traits related to stamina, my stamina was practically that of a walking corpse.

In short, I slept often and for long periods.
It wasn’t strange that I’d lose track of the days.

That’s why I had dark circles under my eyes.

At least I was still somewhat functional thanks to frequent exercise (I went last year, and haven’t gone since) and minimal implant surgeries.

Anyway, about that…

Thinking about it, it felt a little anticlimactic to end things like this.

“I don’t feel like my stress is completely gone yet. Should I play for just one more month?”

[I negate.]

I shook my head.

“But, ‘Eve’…”

[How may I assist you?]

“The doctor told me to do what I want. Did you take the NCMLE (Neon City Medical Licensing Exam)? For the record, I only trust professionals.”

[Ugh, this guy…]

“?”

[I advise you to activate message notifications and check your message history.]

It seemed like there had been a brief AI rebellion, but…

Since Eve, the AI, insisted this much…

I figured I should check.

I didn’t think there would be any important messages.

My social circle wasn’t that wide.

“I have a lot of messages.”

I turned on the notifications and checked the unread messages from the past week in order.

Strangely, there wasn’t a single spam message.

Did Eve take care of them?

I deleted all the seemingly unimportant messages.

Requests, invitations, and whatnot.

I ignored them all.

They were things I could disregard.

After clearing out the unnecessary messages…

I finally saw a message I needed to pay attention to.

It was from a long-time friend of about 10 years.

Sender: ‘Neon City’s Best Freelancer’

Hey. Playing games for a week straight?

Cut the crap and come to the pub if you can. Let’s meet up.

And reply if you read this.

This was from exactly a week ago.

At least read this.

Reply to me.

This was from 6 days ago.

Did you get shot and end up in the hospital? I’ll apologize if you did. Just say something.

At least answer the phone.

And this was from 5 days ago.

This fucking…

I found out. You really are just playing games. Are you crazy? And you’re ignoring my messages?

Check your messages before I come find you.

“Wow, he sent a lot.”

[Whose fault is it for going silent for a week, I ponder.]

I ignored Eve’s inane comment.

From 4 days ago, I had received at least 3 messages every day, consistently.

This was getting scary.

But there was nothing I could do about the messages I’d already ignored.

I decided to relax.

Well… I didn’t do anything particularly wrong, right?

Rationalizing, I skimmed through the flood of messages.

I finally reached the last message.

It was from today.

It’s the seventh day, like you said.

19:00 today.

Location: ‘No Answer’ pub.

If you’re late, I’m hiring someone to find your address.

And the current time was…

“……Eve.”

[I respond.]

“I need to get ready to go out.”

…It was about time I went outside.

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