"WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TO SAVE THIS DAMN KID?!"
The words tore from his throat as he sprinted down a crumbling alleyway, dodging bullets that screamed past his head like angry hornets.
The slums were in total chaos.
Two rival gangs—chrome-loaded maniacs and neon-punk psychos—were in a full-blown war, tearing each other apart with grenades, mantis blades, and automatic fire. Explosions lit up the night like a twisted firework show.
Stray bullets ricocheted off walls, tearing through makeshift barricades and shattering whatever was left of peace in this hellhole.
Any player caught in the middle had no choice but to run—and he was one of them.
But unlike the others, he had a crying, squirming toddler in his arms.
And he had no fucking clue why.
He was just a player.
A gamer. Someone who'd been waiting forever for this damn game to come out.
Hyped since 2013, it had been nothing but teasers and lies.
No release date, no solid footage—just endless "leaks" and concept art that looked too good to be true.
He didn't believe a word of it.
But the studio was smart.
They kept dangling just enough info to keep hope alive, like a carrot in front of a dying horse.
And now, in 2025, it had finally dropped.
No announcement. No warning.
Just a sudden ping on his screen: Download Now. Free for all players.
Free? Yeah, right. Nothing's ever truly free.
Still, he jumped in. Who wouldn't?
And holy shit… the game was unreal.
The graphics? Photorealistic—he could almost feel the grime in the air, smell the smoke, and taste the blood.
The world? Brutal, filthy, alive.
The NPCs? Too real.
Like this damn kid. It looked at him with wide, terrified eyes—and for a second, he forgot it wasn't real.
He wasn't the type to care about pixels. He'd left NPCs to die for loot a thousand times before.
But this one?
This one felt different.
Bang! Bang!
"FUCK!!"
He ducked, clutching the child tighter as a spray of bullets tore through the metal wall beside him.
"This is just a game… right? I can respawn… right?!"
Another explosion rocked the street.
A body landed in front of him with a sickening thud—a mix of flesh and metal, leaking blood and some kind of oily black fluid.
His stomach turned.
Too real. Way too real.
He tried to step over it—then the thing grabbed his leg.
"WHAT THE—?!"
Its head twisted toward him, eyes lifeless yet locked onto his with mechanical hunger.
"Your body... I need... IT."
Suddenly, the machine parts detached from the corpse and launched at him like metallic insects, crawling, snapping.
"FUCKING PARASITE?!"
He stumbled back. In the chaos, the baby slipped from his grip and hit the ground with a whimper.
"I NEED IT. I NEED IT. I NEEEEEEEED IT!!!"
The parasite clamped onto his head. Pain exploded in his skull.
"Are you kidding me?! I just started this game—does the dev team hate players?!"
His vision dimmed, sound fading into a dull hum. His body dropped to its knees.
Was this it? Game over already?
Then—
BANG!
A single shot rang out. The parasite shuddered and collapsed in a twitching heap.
He gasped, sucking in stale air. The pain dulled. His vision cleared.
He looked up.
Someone was there. A silhouette in the shadows—cool, composed, holding a glock.
Then, just like that, they were gone.
"...What the hell?"
[Congratulations! You've encountered your first Key NPC.]
A glowing notification hovered in the air beside him.
Still dizzy, he scrambled to the system menu, then froze.
The child was still there, lying on the ground, weak and pale. Its tiny hand reached toward him.
"…goddamn it."
He got to his feet, scooped the child up again, and ran—through smoke, through fire, through chaos.
***
"Parasite machines too? This gang's seriously dangerous."
I looked at the mechanical part, then crushed it underfoot.
After the player left, I came over to examine the body.
That's how I found an important piece of info.
'My next target… is part of this gang.'
How do I know? It was all stored in this guy's hard drive—I just had to pull it out and plug it into a device to extract the data.
"Now I've got a reason to fight… Why now, of all times?"
No choice. But if I don't act fast, the money will slip away.
And I don't let money get away.
I slipped into the shadows, hiding myself in the darkness.
I ran toward the two gangs who had just been fighting, blood and other things filling the air.
"…"
Ezren scanned the scene. The battle had stopped.
It looked like both sides had gone into hiding.
So, he followed the traces they left behind.
The problem was… both gangs looked identical—hard to tell who was who.
Well, then why not just kill them all? Costly in bullets and effort, but it'd work.
After all, if he killed his target, the rest would surely come after him, even if he tried to hide his identity.
Might as well wipe them all out now so no one gets in his way later.
"Gah!!"
A scream rang out behind him, and he instinctively spun around, gun aimed.
"…?!"
It was a girl. She looked familiar.
'Wait… isn't that the one who got shot earlier? How is she still alive??'
Ezren scanned her body—no mechanical parts. Pure human, like him.
Then how the hell was she still alive after being shot?
"Um… Please don't shoot me. I don't wanna have to pay to respawn again."
"Pay?"
Then he noticed: below the area where players first spawned in, glowing lights began forming human bodies.
A few of them collapsed right after appearing, groaning in frustration.
"WHAT THE HELL?! I'M ALREADY IN DEBT RIGHT AFTER SPAWNING?!"
"GAHHHHHHH!!"
W-What is this…?
Ezren was utterly shocked as he watched the players respawn…
After death?!
Suddenly, a fascinating idea sparked in his mind.
'…I need them. I need them as my allies!'
Ezren stared seriously at the player in front of him. She flinched, clearly scared.
Probably thought he was part of one of the gangs.
But what happened next, she didn't expect at all.
He dug into his pocket, then tossed her a pistol.
"?!"
She stared at him. He looked back, pointed at her, then gestured for her to follow him.
[Hidden Quest! Do you accept it?]
"A Hidden Quest?! I'm so lucky!!" she said, quickly hitting accept.
Ezren looked at her and thought:
'Strange people. Strange speech, strange behavior, unbelievably clueless and naïve… but they can revive. I'll invest in them. Just don't let me down, you weirdos!'