I Became a Disaster-Class Sorcery Genius

Emotionless Iron-Blood (2)

"Alright then, I'll leave this here for now."

After spending some time pondering how to deal with the Salvation Meeting's main base, Kim Dojun finished his thoughts and closed Demon Realm of Tiger's Dread. Instead—

"Let's get started."

He booted up the game he had installed before.

The game's name was 'Lantiarval'.

Genre: Online RPG.

This was one of Kim Dojun's reasons for using this untraceable PC—he intended to play this game today.

Why suddenly play an RPG game?

To relax?

No.

Just for fun?

Also no.

If he genuinely wanted to enjoy a game, there would have been no need to use this trace-blocking PC; he could have just played any game as usual.

Then, was it out of simple curiosity about the game's fun?

Again, that wasn't it.

Lantiarval, which even appears in the Sorcery Killing Technique epic, is notorious among gamers as a 'crap game', possessing all the infamous elements that earn such a title.

If he desperately wanted to play a game, he would have chosen something else.

So why did Kim Dojun insist on choosing Lantiarval? It was because, in this game, he would encounter a character destined to become a Sorcery Killing Technique boss.

To be precise, one of the characters who would become a boss.

Five years later, after being possessed by 'Kantremo of Sloth', she would become the 'Slothful Princess' and massacre the organization Avalanche that she once led, utterly destroying several regions in the process—this future boss was currently playing this exact game.

He was logging in to 'work' on that character.

Kim Dojun recalled who she was and what event would trigger her awakening.

'Her name is Tia, age twenty-two, occupation: mafia. Nickname: "Iron-Blood".'

A stream of profile details for the target character flashed through his mind.

'Tia's trigger is activated by an Easter egg left by her father, a developer, within the game. After seeing it, she awakens by finally being able to experience true emotion—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.'

That far, Kim Dojun remembered, but then he couldn't help but wonder—

'... What kind of Easter egg could possibly cause someone to develop emotion where there was none?'

Soon he shrugged and let his thoughts return to the Easter egg.

'If I recall, the story only mentioned you could get it in a particular region of the game.'

All the information Sorcery Killing Technique provided about the father's Easter egg ended there.

'Well, it's not all that important.'

In truth, its details were irrelevant to Kim Dojun.

'The main thing is, Tia's awakening trigger isn't seeing the Easter egg itself, but rather the emotional intensification it causes.'

Besides, he already had an idea for making Tia experience at least one of those emotions—'anger'—and so...

"Whew."

He first logged into Lantiarval and created a new account.

Five minutes later.

A warrior character named '18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan' appeared in Lantiarval's first channel.

A warrior so monstrously muscular that just by appearance alone, they looked capable of terrifying everyone nearby.

In appearance, this character looked like they could easily defeat those mages or archers wandering around the city in a single hand, but Lantiarval was an RPG game.

Meaning: it didn't matter how intimidating you looked. To become truly strong in-game, you had to level up, and on top of that, enhance your weapons and various equipment items.

In order to pull off the trick Kim Dojun had in mind, his character had to become even stronger than Tia, who had likely started the game long before and was now a high-ranking player.

In other words, he had to raise his character—but Kim Dojun simply didn't have the time.

Besides this game, he had many other things that required his attention, and, honestly, he didn't find these kinds of online RPGs much fun.

Yet even so, he wasn't worried.

'This game is a dying game, after all.'

Dying game—in other words, a failed or abandoned game.

Normally, if a game does well, the developers might occasionally make mistakes, but for the most part, they run the game sincerely.

Popular games can be money-makers for a long time just by being handled well.

So, for the company, it's a stable cash cow.

But what happens when a game fails?

There are a few determined companies who operate to the bitter end, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred, companies with failed games will do anything to milk more cash before the game's final demise. They introduce pay-to-win items that ruin the in-game balance just to accelerate the game's cash intake—and life span.

Lantiarval was no exception.

Just as with that previous minigame in the Sorcery Killing Technique game where he had played to get a special spiritual tool, in Lantiarval, even a level 1 character could instantly become max level with enough money.

Is that all?

This crap game openly allowed a pay-to-win system—spend more, get stronger. Kim Dojun had fully intended to just buy his way to the top.

'Of course, I can't use the money I plan to take out when I escape, but even for this kind of game, it feels wasteful to spend my own.'

Honestly, spending his own money on the game felt a bit wasteful.

Ssssk—

So Kim Dojun had prepared something.

'Good thing I brought this.'

Shin Se-yeon's black card...!

"Alright then, let's start light with ten million won."

He grinned.

Toying with Shin Se-yeon's card and smiling, Kim Dojun began his spree of in-game purchases.

####

Tia, the boss of the massive mafia cartel 'Avalanche' based in Italy and famously known as 'Iron-Blood', had a name known across the entire underworld.

She had inherited the boss's position at only nineteen after her parents' sudden death, and not only did she succeed at taking charge, but she also single-handedly obliterated 'Don Hote', a rival mafia that had once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Avalanche and was responsible for her parents' deaths.

Because of this, all who knew of Tia revered her, calling her 'Iron-Blood'.

Her subordinates followed her with greater loyalty than when her mother had led the mafia.

But—

"..."

Tia herself felt nothing about any of it.

Not even a hint of pride about deeds most would take pride in.

Not even a flicker of satisfaction for accomplishments worthy of boast.

It wasn't due to trauma or any such reason.

She had simply never truly felt any special emotion since childhood.

Even at her parents' death—

When everyone was sobbing and howling at the funeral, her face was blank, emotionless.

No, to be accurate, she did feel something—a dark, squirming mess somewhere inside—but nothing more.

It gave her only a faint, dull sensation, nothing deeper.

The reason she destroyed Don Hote wasn't out of vengeance, but merely because she did what she'd been taught to do.

Her mother had always drilled in her: "If you are wronged, repay in blood."

She lived according to that code.

And it was still the same today.

"..."

Of course, she was curious about what emotions were, deep down.

What was happiness? What was anger?—questions most would find absurd.

Her lack of emotion extended even to playing games.

Tsk, click.

Her game character moved in sync with her mouse, hunting monsters.

"..."

Tia's father, while still living, had always encouraged her to play the game he'd made, asking her to be sure to find the Easter egg he had hidden in it.

He had said he designed this Easter egg just for her, hoping it would let her feel elation and happiness.

Honoring his wishes, even after her father passed away, she kept playing.

Not for joy—rather, simply to fulfill his request and find the Easter egg.

So today she played the game, as always...

[You have died.]

"?"

Tia stared at her character.

At her now-dead character.

[Do you wish to revive?]

Her character hadn't died to monsters.

Her character was far too strong to be killed by the monsters she hunted.

"..."

Knowing this, Tia glanced around and quickly found what killed her in-game.

It was another player's character.

A character named '18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan.'

That character had suddenly appeared and killed Tia's character.

Then—

18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "ㅋ"
18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Such a noob."

—sent mocking chat.

Tia, unfazed, simply clicked 'revive.'

Her character respawned in town at the cost of -5% experience points, and she immediately headed back to where she was killed.

It wasn't out of anger—just a desire to follow her mother's teaching: "Always retaliate."

So, she went after the one who had suddenly PKed her—18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan.

[You have died.]

"..."

She died again.

18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ"
18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Are you braindead? So bad lol"

After killing Tia's character, 18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan made her character ring a small, cheap bell and performed a ridiculous taunt animation.

Tia saw this and once again pressed the revive button.

Losing another -5% experience points, her character revived in town.

And then—

[You have died.]

She died again.

18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Might as well quit."
18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Such a scrub lol."

"..."

18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan did another taunt.

Tia coolly calculated that she'd need to level up more to take revenge on this player.

With that thought, Tia revived and moved to another area.

[You have died.]

But 18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan chased her down and killed her again.

"..."

It was fine. She felt no emotion after all.

She revived again, this time moving to a totally different region.

[You have died.]

18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Lol, I told you to quit."
18yoHighSchoolGirl-chan: "Noob."

She suffered another malicious PK and died.

"..."

She pressed revive mechanically, still feeling nothing.

[You have died.]

She died again.

[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]

"......."

[Your level has decreased!]

This time, having died so many times in a row, her character actually lost a level.

Yet even then, she felt no anger.

Because she felt no emotion.

However—

[You have died.]
[You have died.]
[You have died.]

When she was killed for the 82nd time in total—

"What the fuck is wrong with this bastard!!!"

—for the first time in her life, she felt emotion.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Not just being a dick in reality. He's a dick in games too...
Tsk...
Fucking pay to win.
【( ⩌_⩌)】