* * *

[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[A gate is about to open within a 1km radius.]
[Do you want to confirm its location?]

I clutched the toilet and retched painfully.

“Uuurgh—!!”

I felt like I was going to die from dizziness. Playing games excessively had finally driven me to a mental breakdown.

Ding!

[Guild members of Full Minak are calling the guild master.]

[Do you want to respond?]

No matter how much I vomited, it showed no signs of stopping.

“Hah, hah.”

Hallucinations kept echoing in my ears, and notifications floated before my eyes.

Amidst this, my max level was gone, and my stats, which I had spent years grinding, were all reset.

“Insane…”

I felt like crying out of frustration. Not because my precious stats were reset.

It was just sad to look at, but since it was an illusion, that wasn’t the reason for my tears.

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of knocking on the door made me want to vomit again.

I retched on an empty stomach, panting heavily, and fumbled on the floor with trembling hands.

“Ha…”

I found a water bottle and took a sip.

After rinsing my mouth, I swallowed a few gulps and wiped the tears from my eyes.

Ding! Ding!

[Guild members of Full Minak are calling the guild master.]
[Guild members of Full Minak are calling the guild master.]
[Do you want to respond?]

I closed my eyes and opened them several times, trying to ignore reality, but the hallucinations continued, and the notifications did not disappear. The various status windows from the game.

Crazy. I can even see the bound hero skill window.

Recently, many users on the free board of the game I poured my life into were talking about seeing hallucinations, causing a stir.

They said they could see game status windows in real life.

We used to laugh at it together with the guild members, calling it a systematic mental illness of game addicts, but now I, the guild master, was afflicted by it.

Creak—

The bathroom door behind me opened.

“Yoo Gahyun, are you really okay? Shouldn’t you go to the hospital? I told you not to play too much.”

“Shut up.”

“What am I supposed to tell your aunt—”

“Didn’t you hear me say shut up?!”

From outside the hastily closed door, Kim Jaehyun’s deflated voice apologized.

“…Sorry.”

Bastard. I want to kill him.

This is all because of him. If he had any sense of decency, he would know it’s his fault.

With trembling hands, I brushed my hair back and lifted my head. The game status window was still floating before my eyes.

I might have gone mad. Seeing this in reality.

[Name] Kaisha (lv 1)
[Strength] 10 / [Health] 10
[Agility] 10
[Mental Power] 99999999+
[Life] 100%
[View Full Details]

No matter how much of a hallucination it is, why is my level 1?

When did I hit max level in VFA? Why is my level only 1, and why is the mental power normal, making it feel real?

[Slash lv1]
[Stab lv1]
[Block lv1]

Why is the skill window reset? This is a basic skill window that you see at level 1.

The hallucination pisses me off. The stress brought another wave of nausea.

“Uweee—!”

There’s nothing left to come out, but my stomach keeps churning. To empty my stomach, I shoved my fingers down my throat.

“Gag. Ugh. Ugh!”

[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[A gate is about to open within a 1km radius.]
[Do you want to confirm its location?]

Every time a notification rang, it felt like my skull was vibrating. Kim Jaehyun opened the door again.

“Hey, are you really okay? Should I call my physician? You didn’t take any weird drugs, right?”

“Get lost, ugh, I said, uuugh!!”

This is all because of that damn Kim Jaehyun.

If he hadn’t tattled to my mom about me quitting my job, I would have been enjoying the climax of my life in the game.

* * *

[Why isn’t Kaisha coming out](177)

It’s been ages since the gate opened, why isn’t the guild master coming out;;

Full Minak should be leading the awakened ones with a sense of duty in this situation. Otherwise, Space King and Gold Bunker will take over everything.

Before the siege fever dies down, I hope they quickly recruit those wanting to join Full Minak.

P.S.: I am ready to be Full Minak’s loyal meat shield. I eagerly await the appearance of our esteemed guild master.

Comments (177)
-The last three lines are the key points, lololol
-lolololol
-Our guild master, lolol. Who said it was your guild master? Have some conscience, lolololol
-The guild master is missing.
-I also want to join Full Minak
└The siege price will explode through the roof due to competition
└Who doesn’t know that, dammit
-Why isn’t Kaisha really coming out? Maybe they still don’t realize it’s real?? Do they think the status window is a hallucination?
└I also realized it was real a few days ago
└What were you doing when the news broke?
└Cut off from civilization as an exam student
└Oh
-Actually, isn’t it plausible that they’re a netkama? They did everything to act like a girl
└This guy is hilarious, lol. When did Kaisha ever pretend to be a girl??? There are plenty of men playing female characters, and you’re just spouting nonsense after imagining things, lol
└This is definitely the most convincing speculation
└What’s wrong with being a man? Is it a crime to be a man, damn it? Kaisha hyung, just come out confidently….
-If Kaisha were a girl, they would’ve just come out already, lol. Look at Dart and Gilgamesh’s faces, lol
-Abyss must be raising hell, saying they’ll leave if the guild master doesn’t show up
-I bet they’re too ugly to show their face
└Do you want to die?
└There are many Full Minak members here. Watch your mouth.
└Did I say anything wrong? The Full Minak guild master is a huge game addict, so they might be a bit ugly.
└What makes you so cocky? Do you want a real fight with Full Minak?
– It must be a lot of pressure. Dart has completely overshadowed everything with his face, leaving no stage for Kaisha.
└Damn…
└Is he handsome? He’s tall.
└Not really, he’s pretty ugly.
└Honestly, not that bad??
└The comments above are just jealous LOL. Even as a guy, I think he’s incredibly handsome.
└Don’t badmouth our guild master; he’s even better-looking in person.
└Is he with Space King?
└Yeah.
└Guild members incoming, wow.
– Dart is eagerly waiting for Kaisha to show up.
└Why? To kill him?
└That’s absurd.
– This is all because of Dart.
– It’s understandable to be worried. When you’re a high-ranking player, your face becomes public property. Once your face is known, you can never live a normal life again.
└Just look at Dart…
└The whole nation already knows his name and face LOL.
– What does Kaisha look like in person?
└A typical game addict.
└An obsessive otaku.
– The guild master of Full Minak doesn’t have such a loser image, does he?
└It’s just jealousy LOL.
– God of Siege Wars. Especially leading the charge in the Lowgard battle was epic.
– Where are you, guild master? T_T
– I hope they’re a woman.
└Please, please, please.
└They can’t come out because they’re a guy.
└Shut up.
– If even Kaisha turns out to be a guy… there’s no hope left for me…
– With Dart and Gilgamesh being so good-looking, Kaisha might not want to show up. He’d be overshadowed and look bad in comparison.
└But isn’t it good that the guild masters look like celebrities?
└Absolutely. Thanks to them, the public has a great image of the awakened ones, especially women LOL.
– If Kaisha turns out to be handsome too, that would be overpowered and totally unbalanced.
└The game balance is already broken with Dart LOL.
└If Kaisha were a normal person, he would have no reason not to show up. If he did, he could take over Korea.
└Yeah… true…
└He could even conquer the world.
– After such an impressive showing in the Siege War, not seeing him makes me even more curious.
– Gilgamesh being born into wealth was well-known, but Dart just makes me envious every time I see him. How can a person look like that?
└I’ll tell Dart about this.
└Don’t, damn it…

—

One day, a gate opened in the middle of the city.

It was unprecedented, and no one knew what it was, so it was left alone.

Then, monsters started pouring out of the unattended gate, turning the city into chaos.

This phenomenon would later be named Dungeon Break (D.B.), but at the time, it had no name.

The authorities were immediately deployed to deal with the situation, but ordinary people could not handle the mysterious monsters. In this unprecedented situation, the entire nation was on high alert, and many casualties occurred helplessly.

[Oh my god, it’s real. Camera!]

A group of civilians appeared from somewhere and rushed to the scene.

[Am I the only one who’s been getting insane warnings about this? What’s going on?]

Those with cameras skillfully filmed the scene.

[Let’s start recording the broadcast. My notification window calls that a ‘gate.’ Monsters that look familiar are pouring out of the gate.]

[They look like monsters commonly seen in the northern part of Lowgard. We’re quite familiar with them.]

[Even though our levels have all reset to 1, strength in numbers will prevail. The players are banding together to raid the monsters.]

The raid was successful.

After the video was uploaded, the game broadcast channel run by the guild ‘Gold Bunker’ immediately surpassed 2 million subscribers and even made the news.

The superhumans who suddenly appeared and used amazing abilities to defeat the monsters. They had an uncanny amount of knowledge about the monsters from the gate and knew exactly how to attack them. They appeared suddenly, used their abilities, and saved the city from the gate’s catastrophe.

These people are later called the ‘First Generation,’ Korea’s first hunters.

The first-generation hunters, who started seeing status windows just before the gate incident, all had one thing in common: they were users of the virtual reality war game VFA (Virtual Fighter Arena). When their game abilities began to manifest in reality, they formed three guilds.

Space King
Gold Bunker
Full Minak

The guild masters of Space King and Gold Bunker, Dart and Gilgamesh, immediately revealed themselves and began leading their guilds. The problem arose with Full Minak.

Many users with manifested abilities eagerly awaited the activation of Full Minak, but the guild master Kaisha did not show up no matter how long they waited.

Soon, the internet was abuzz with all kinds of speculation and rumors about Kaisha.

VFA is a siege warfare game.

Kaisha was the most notable player in the recent 99th Siege War.

Especially for users who participated in the Lowgard battle, Kaisha’s performance was unforgettable, and they were determined to join Full Minak.

With Kaisha’s reputation at its peak, there was no reason for him not to show up at this time.

However, as Kaisha did not appear, people were confused, and in the midst of heated speculation, some even started impersonating Kaisha to gain attention.

Finally, a warning video was posted on Gold Bunker’s official broadcast channel.

[There’s a lot of chaos with people impersonating Kaisha lately. Our guild master and Full Minak’s rankers want to send a message: if you’re caught impersonating Kaisha, you’ll get seriously punished.]

[Wow, is this a joke?]

[But why won’t he show up? If it were me, I’d want to shout to the world that I’m Kaisha.]

[How should I know? Maybe he doesn’t want to reveal his face. Even the guild master of Space King is having trouble because of that.]

[Stop complaining. If you have that face, you should be able to handle it.]

[True.]

Most Speculation are about: perhaps Kaisha was male, extremely ugly and hiding because of it, died of a heart attack after the war, was killed by an ambush from the Space King guild leader, or was a famous person concealing their identity.

As wild theories circulated and attention-seekers impersonated Kaisha for attention, public interest and awareness of Kaisha only grew.

* * *