I'm Not a Genius Commander

Prologue

"Mr. Seowon! It must have been an unreasonable request, but thank you."

Inside Pien Soft, a female employee, her face blooming with a bright smile, expressed her gratitude to a man.

The man responded with a mildly polite smile.

"It's nothing. Colleagues should help each other."

"Well... I'm so grateful that... There's a famous restaurant nearby! Would you like to go with me, just the two of us? I'll treat you."

"I have some things to do at home, so I'll just take the thought."

"Ah... Yes..."

Seo Yuri.

She had long held feelings for the man and had mustered the courage to ask him out, but what she received was a cold rejection.

After months of heartache, her carefully planned proposal was dismissed so easily that it rendered her internal struggles meaningless.

As she returned, visibly dejected, a mischievous grin spread across the face of a colleague who had been watching her.

"What? Yuri, were you rejected?"

"Rejected? No! I was just trying to show my gratitude... nothing more."

"Yeah, yeah~ You assigned him something you could have done yourself, but you're saying there were no feelings involved? Sure, I'll believe you~."

"...Sigh."

Seo Yuri, unable to respond to such a teasing remark, let out a long sigh.

Her colleague, still chuckling, glanced at Yoo Seowon as he tidied up his desk, preparing to leave.

A man who always dressed neatly and completed his tasks perfectly.

Although he teased her about being love-struck, he too agreed with her sentiment.

"Well, Seowon is indeed very capable."

"All of a sudden?"

"Remember that time when a payment error happened, and everyone had to work overtime? Do you recall?"

"Ah... I could never forget that, at least."

It was a day when an enormous error occurred in a massive batch of payment documents due to Seo Yuri's mistake. The error was so significant that most employees had to work late into the night.

Naturally, Seo Yuri became the target of criticism and resentment.

'The paperwork is done.'

Yet, a single person handled the massive workload in an instant.

The way he managed multiple tasks simultaneously...

His actions seemed far beyond human capability, allowing everyone to leave work on time, reducing what could have been harsh criticism of Seo Yuri to a mere trivial incident.

"He handled the work of dozens by himself. And so cleanly, without any mistakes."

"...He was amazing."

Whether Yoo Seowon knew they were talking about him or not, he quietly finished his preparations to leave and bowed slightly to them.

"See you tomorrow."

—Whirr

As the automatic door opened and his figure gradually receded, Seo Yuri muttered absentmindedly.

"Does he have a girlfriend at home or something?"

"With that face and those skills, it would be weird if he didn't."

"...Can't you just lie and say he doesn't, even as a joke?"

"Uh, no."

Since Yoo Seowon never disclosed anything about his private life, his coworkers continued to make all sorts of guesses.

But in the end, they were just guesses.

There was no way to know the truth.

They could only wonder, 'What does that person even do at home?'

***

Home.

Today, as usual, he finished his tasks and was about to leave work, but a colleague asked for help with paperwork, so he focused a little.

It turned out to be a simple task, leaving him baffled as to why they had asked him in the first place.

Since it was already done, he didn't dwell on it. He quickly changed clothes, skillfully turned on his computer, and logged into his daily game.

—Ding

[Averow Saga]

Although he genuinely enjoyed the game, one thought always crossed his mind while playing.

What exactly is a 'dead game'?

Some might say it's a game with a ruined story, while others might describe it as a game abandoned by its director.

However, there are cases where, despite the story being intact and the director still involved...

A dead game exists.

[Current Online Players: 1]

Before starting the game, a bleak statistic appeared on the screen.

He was the only player online.

Since its release, this game had never once reached the ranks of great games.

"They should've just toned down the difficulty a bit."

At its launch, it was an open-world roguelike game that drew explosive interest from many gamers.

With decent graphics, a vast world, and a story that branched out in various ways depending on character actions, the game had all the makings of a masterpiece.

...If not for its absurdly high difficulty.

***

[WTF, I leveled up to Sword Master and got beaten by bandits? Does that even make sense??]

LOL, idiot

Just quit the game. Why work so hard on that?

***

One post on the game's community board.

A video was attached along with the title.

[Thud! Ugh! Gah!]

A knight in resplendent silver armor was beaten to death by five bandits, with a giant 'You Die' message plastered on the screen.

That armor and sword were items only granted to those who reached the final tier of the Sword Master class.

To achieve Sword Master status in this game, one had to grind for months.

And in the end, all those months of effort led to nothing but a restart.

"If he had parried the incoming attack at a 45-degree angle with his shield, rolled once, and canceled his two basic attacks before using a combo, he could've incapacitated two enemies and survived."

Though surrounded by five enemies, it was a fight he could have won with enough composure.

With genuine intent to advise, he typed out a comment on his keyboard.

But the responses he received were...

Oh, great. Another keyboard warrior.

Isn't this the same guy who always stirs up trouble? Just ignore him.

LOL, talking like a pro when he probably can't even leave the starter village.

He didn't write it to mock or show off.

He simply felt sorry for the hostility and frustration.

"Well, it can't be helped."

That Sword Master was the only other player who had played the game as long as he had.

Since the user, who had posted on the community board every day, had now quit, even that thin sense of camaraderie was gone.

Because they had quit.

—Clack

He placed his hands on the keyboard, now a familiar motion.

What attempt was this, anyway?

If he remembered correctly, it was his 21st run.

In a roguelike game, reaching the 21st run might not seem odd.

And yes, that's partly true, but it wasn't because of the brutal difficulty.

"How should I raise this character?"

The twenty characters he'd developed before had all reached the final chapter.

And every single one of them had been deleted upon reaching it.

Deleted, though, might not be the right word. It was more akin to suicide.

For some reason, once a character reached their peak, his affection for them instantly disappeared.

Some he made masters of magic, others of swordsmanship, and even some of alchemy.

The game required a deep understanding of each field, which was undoubtedly a significant entry barrier.

Many players quit before even changing jobs.

So he pondered deeply over how to develop this new character.

"I've tried all the viable jobs."

Raising a character with the same traits again didn't appeal to him.

But having exhausted most options, it was inevitable to feel conflicted.

An hour passed as he sat in front of the monitor, lost in thought...

"Ah!"

He decided to change his approach.

"Let's try raising a character that, even if they reach the final stage, won't be anything special."

Until now, he'd always aimed for characters who could become top-tier.

But he had never attempted to raise a character who, no matter how much they grew, could never enter the ranks of the strongest.

And so, he began his new adventure, but as the game loaded, an unexpected wave of drowsiness washed over him.

"Ugh... What's going on...?"

As his vision blurred and his body felt unresponsive, the loading screen hovered at 99%.

And as a sharp pain stabbed his eyes, he closed them for what felt like ten seconds.

When he opened his eyes again...

"...Huh?"

A bright light filled his vision.

"Is the monitor too bright...? Wait, what...?"

I thought the light shining on me was coming from the monitor.

However, when I opened my eyes, the scenery before me left me with nothing but confusion.

The intense sunlight bore down, and the people and buildings around me looked straight out of the medieval era, entirely incompatible with the modern world.

And in my hand, I held a wooden staff.

This wasn't the dim room I had been in.

"Sir Arthur!"

A man in leather armor appeared before me, calling me Arthur.

I couldn't distinguish whether this was a dream or reality, so I pinched my thigh hard, but all I felt was pain.

In fact, the pain was much sharper than I expected.

"Huh...?"

I looked down at my reflection in a puddle on the ground.

A man with short blonde hair and blue eyes stared back at me.

I definitely recognized this man's face.

He was an NPC who appeared as a commander on the northern front.

A character who, as a notorious scoundrel, wasted all his time and eventually died a brutal death at the hands of barbarians.

Only then did the situation begin to make sense.

"...Does this even make sense?"

I had always enjoyed playing this game.

I had been possessed by an NPC from "Averow Saga."