At some point while watching Inas and Glarus, Nigel’s consciousness had completely blacked out.
When vision returned, darkness blanketed everything, and all he saw was a system window displaying one number:
NOW LOADING……
100%
All memory seals have been released.
The blinking window vanished, replaced by a new one:
<system: Access granted to authorized account.>
<system: Loading user00 account…>
User00?
Thinking back, even the empty save file labeled [00000] started from 0, not 1.
[00000] —————
[00001] Kingdom Year 274, May 2
[00002] Kingdom Year 284, March 27
…In other words, entry 0 was simply skipped in the list.
The same applied to user accounts. In the earlier window, Nigel had clearly been shown as user02. Which meant Inas must’ve been user01.
He had never thought deeply about the numbers, but—was there a user00 even before them?
Nigel didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Before he could process it further, the memories began to replay on their own.
Nigel was pulled helplessly into a flood of memory.
***
Loop 0
The reason Lee Ji-woon started playing Brave Legend 2 was simple.
His college entrance exams were over, he’d already hung out enough to get bored, and with nothing left to do but rot in his room, his sister shoved a game into his hands.
To be honest, he didn’t find the retro game all that appealing.
The old-school graphics didn’t hold up for someone like Ji-woon, who had grown used to modern, flashy visuals.
He booted up the game without much interest.
But surprisingly, it was fun.
The main storyline moved fast and smooth, and even the spontaneous quests from talking to NPCs in villages had their charm. Brave Legend 2 had a kind of satisfying depth.
Soon enough, Ji-woon found himself immersed—and his sister’s smug grin grew every time he played. Before long, he reached the ending.
The game was short. Too short.
So the next day, Ji-woon immediately started a second playthrough.
His sister had told him he’d missed an important hidden route, which helped nudge him toward going again.
Since he’d already cleared it once, he cruised through the early parts. He found new features, new content, and eventually reached the hidden route.
The quest chain that unlocked the hidden route started with The Duke’s Secret, triggered by the ghost of Rimera.
It revealed the tale of the ducal family that had defended the kingdom from monsters for a thousand years, and the hidden truth behind the current duke, Nigel.
To Ji-woon, this Nigel guy came off as incredibly fake.
Drenched in self-pity, spouting pathetic lines—he was exactly the kind of character Ji-woon couldn’t stand.
No wonder his sister constantly ranted about him.
So, finding Nigel annoying, Ji-woon just spammed through his dialogue, mashing random keys to skip it.
That’s when it happened.
A mysterious window popped up over the game screen:
You have discovered a dimensional rift.
You may cross into the world you are currently observing.
However, if you cross, the world will become fixed based on your presence.
YES
NO
True to its name, a rift had appeared—fracture lines splintering across the screen like shattered glass.
The graphics were crude, yet so vivid it made Ji-woon wonder if the TV screen had actually cracked. He reached out, half-expecting to feel a break.
He had no idea what kind of route or event this was, so he quickly searched online.
Nothing.
He combed every old wiki and archive site. But there was no mention of this.
Curious, Ji-woon casually hit [YES].
After all, it was just a game. If he messed up, he could always reload.
The moment he clicked, the screen violently glitched out. Then came a crimson warning window:
Requirements not met.
Once the requirements are fulfilled, you will automatically transfer to the target world.
And just like that, the game shut off.
Ji-woon was annoyed, but he didn’t think much of it. He just laughed and told his sister he’d found some weird bug.
That was the last thing he remembered from Earth. He didn’t recall the accident. Not the impact. Not even the pain.
The next thing he knew—he had awakened in Nigel’s body.
***
When Ji-woon first realized he was inside the game world, he completely panicked.
After much flailing, he concluded that the last message he saw must have had something to do with how he got here.
But even then, he didn’t take it seriously.
Thanks to his sister, he’d read tons of fantasy novels where people possessed characters and used game knowledge to live it up.
Some even went home after reaching the ending.
Yeah. I just need to reach the ending.
That hopeful assumption gave him something to cling to.
Thankfully, the character he’d possessed—Nigel—was perfect, aside from his trash personality.
He was the Duke of Magnus, one of the kingdom’s most powerful figures.
All he had to do was return to his territory and help guide the protagonist’s party. No real responsibilities.
Using his authority, Ji-woon offered support to the main cast—funds, potions, gear—and accompanied them like a sightseeing noble.
Thanks to that, Kay and the party beat the final boss and escaped the dungeon.
It was a little jarring that nothing changed afterward, but he figured there was still the epilogue.
Surely once that was done, he’d return home.
***
Kingdom Year 284, March 27. Afternoon.
Contrary to his hopes… the game reset.
He woke up in the same world again.
Panic flooded him.
What went wrong?
Desperate, he tore through the system windows—and there, he found a category labeled <Achievements>.
Achievement Progress
[ 41 / 327 ]
[000] Complete the Tutorial – CLEAR!
[001] Chapter 1: The Journey Begins – CLEAR!
[002] Chapter 2: Unease in Peace – CLEAR!
[003] Chapter 3: Commotion in the Capital – CLEAR!
…
[017] Start the Pokoling Hunt! – 460 / 1000
[018] Defeat Eight Enemies at Once – CLEAR!
…
[087] Use a Combo Attack with Kay and Lana – 5 / 10
…
[322] View Lana’s Ending –
Only 41 had been completed. The rest were blank or in-progress.
Achievements usually existed to reward players for accomplishing certain tasks.
You couldn’t finish them all in one playthrough—especially if character romance routes were involved.
Multiple runs were mandatory.
…Do I have to complete all of them to escape?
In normal games, achievements were just shiny digital trophies.
They didn’t affect progression.
Ji-woon had never paid attention to them—only hardcore completionists like his sister did. There was no real evidence that completing them would send him home. But at the time, he had nothing else to hold onto.
Luckily, the game wasn’t filled with branching paths like modern titles.
Still, there were six different endings per character. Even rushing, it would take at least six years. He dared to hope that he wouldn’t have to complete them all.
That hope shattered a year later.
Another ending reached—another reset. He was devastated but didn’t stop. The situation was hellish, but if he kept optimizing, maybe he could finish. He pushed those lingering doubts about the achievements aside.
Again, Ji-woon threw himself into manipulating events—arranging encounters, nudging the cast toward routes, even requesting Pokoling hunts as “favors.”
Eventually, he became close with Kay. The protagonist was a textbook good guy—mature, thoughtful, kind. For a while, Ji-woon even forgot about reality when he was around.
But one day, Ji-woon had to kill him. Some achievements required a game over involving the protagonist.
He had no choice.
He watched Kay get assassinated by men he had hired.
It felt real.
It hurt.
This isn’t real. It’s just a game.
He kept repeating that as he did unspeakable things for the sake of going home.
Eventually, after two game overs and seven different endings…
After eight long years in this world…
He finally completed every achievement.
He wept, watching Kay and the party defeat the final boss again.
It was painful to leave this world he’d grown to care for. But he was ready.
Kingdom Year 284, March 27. Afternoon.
Once again, the game reset.
***
“Why?”
Terrified, Ji-woon checked his achievements.
They were all done. Weren’t they…?
Achievement Progress
[ 327 / 999,999 ]
“What the hell…?”
The number had ballooned into something grotesque.
999,999 achievements. Just some arbitrary, maxed-out number slapped in without care.
He was overwhelmed with horror and rage. Most of the new achievements weren’t even visible.
