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Chapter – 01
Height 178 cm, weight 120 kg.
Once a promising sports university student who had everyone’s expectations on her shoulders, but after an accident, she dropped out and now lives as a convenience store part-timer—an ugly, bespectacled, acne-covered pig.
That is me.
As long as my part-time pay gets deposited regularly, I don’t want anything more. I don’t really have dreams or goals. That’s the kind of life I was living.
Ding—
As a blond-haired guy opened the door and walked in, he greeted me immediately.
“Unni! I’m here!”
Finally, it was time for shift change.
The guy with dyed blond hair was a new part-timer who had joined recently—friendly and bright.
After finishing the handover, I stepped out from behind the counter.
“Good work.”
“Yep.”
A group of male students who had been eating ramen and laughing suddenly went quiet and glanced at me as I limped out of the convenience store.
More precisely, at my leg.
After the accident, I became a cripple.
That was the reason I dropped out of school.
No one would have expected that a so-called genius who had entered the sports world as a child prodigy would end up like this without even getting a proper chance to perform.
My life, where I once dreamed of an Olympic gold medal, collapsed in an instant.
Around that time, my parents also got divorced.
My father decided to raise me, but not long after, he remarried, and I ended up living alone in a semi-basement room.
While I was living like a shut-in, I regained motivation after discovering a virtual reality game through an internet ad.
God of Fighters (GOF).
It’s a VR game where you don’t summon characters—you summon “constellations,” and by “possessing” them, you gain their combat abilities.
There are various modes such as 1v1, raids, and battle royale, making it quite fun to play.
I started working part-time at a convenience store just to play that game.
Just before I left the store, I heard the male students who had been glancing at me whispering.
“Was that a girl? I thought it was a tall guy with long hair…”
Maybe it’s because of my build.
Even when I tie my hair up, people sometimes mistake me for a man.
“Hey, shut up. That convenience store part-timer is super famous at our school. I heard seniors who tried to buy cigarettes here got totally wrecked.”
“One hit from those fists and you’d probably die on the spot.”
I’ve never actually hit any students though.
I live quietly, treating the game as my real life, so I have no idea why rumors like that started.
“Because of my face?”
Honestly, even I get startled when I look in the mirror after forgetting about it.
There’s some kind of vicious-looking criminal staring back at me.
Maybe the store owner spread rumors to chase away delinquent students, or maybe boys from a nearby all-boys school made up some urban legend after seeing my face. I didn’t really care.
I smiled brightly at the male students who were secretly watching me.
Grin.
“…?! C-cough! Cough!”
One of them choked while eating ramen and quickly turned his head away. Another smacked the back of his friend’s head, then bowed repeatedly at me as if greeting me.
Even the one who got hit quickly turned back and bowed.
‘Kids these days.’
Cute.
I smiled more warmly at their polite greeting and left the convenience store.
I knew they were intimidated by my appearance.
Even when people flinched at my build and ugly face, or whispered behind my back while looking at my limping walk, I didn’t care.
My real life is inside GOF anyway, and my physical body in reality is just a survival machine for playing the game.
BOOM—!
The enemy who was struck flew through the office window and fell downward.
I immediately chased after him.
Jumping out through the window, the fierce wind slapped my cheeks.
Whoooosh—
A tall building made entirely of office floors stretched beneath me, and even higher above was a distant full moon.
The city at night.
Pure gravity alone wasn’t enough acceleration, so I stepped on the window frame.
And ran straight down toward the ground.
Tatatatata—!
Seeing me descending at insane speed, the opponent tried to activate a defensive skill, but my fist slammed directly into his face first.
Crash—!!
A skill exploded from my hand, and a red flash streaked downward like a laser, striking his face.
Judging from his expression, he was probably screaming curses just before impact—but I had muted the system, so I couldn’t hear anything.
He was probably muted too.
Everyone mutes it anyway; when fighting like dogs, swearing is normal.
Crash—!!
The abnormal pressure from the skill shattered all the surrounding windows at once.
Glass screamed like a violin’s sharp notes, while city lights flickered like piano keys.
Countless shards sparkled under the full moon and night skyline.
“…Man. I love how real this is.”
My whole body tingled.
I grabbed a glass shard about the size of my palm and continued falling.
Grip.
As I clenched it tightly, a sharp pain pierced my hand, and I could clearly feel the glass blade digging into my skin.
It didn’t last long.
GOF’s pain system is incredibly well-made, but the only downside is that there’s no blood.
It even shows intestines and everything else in full detail.
“Why don’t they make an adult version?”
As I muttered while tossing the shard away, the constellation spoke in a scolding voice.
【Stop saying perverted stuff and finish that quickly.】
The enemy player’s HP bar above his head was flashing red, almost at zero.
He was charging his final skill.
I couldn’t lose.
I flicked two fingers, opening the constellation skill window.
Time for an AoE skill.
“Here I go.”
Even though it’s a 1v1 match, AoE skills exist because GOF isn’t just 1v1.
As I prepared the skill, the constellation interrupted.
【You’ve already won. Wasteful.】
I knew that skill energy doesn’t reset after a match, so saving it made sense.
But I glared at the blue star floating around me like a parasite.
“Shut up, data scrap.”
【……】
Games exist for the player’s fun.
No matter how much it pretends to be a sentient being, it’s just data. Its opinion doesn’t matter.
Whoosh!
A ranged attack flew toward me.
I had already predicted it and kicked off the wall, leaping upward.
As expected, the enemy’s follow-up attacks chased me tightly.
Damn, I got grazed.
Bastard.
【Even after knowing who I am, you still ignore me? I’ll make you regret treating me like data.】
The “data scrap” kept whining.
I should send another complaint email asking why constellation chatter can’t be muted.
【I said it before—among constellation AIs, there are real constellations—】
“Shut up.”
【Damn it.】
I clenched my fist and rushed forward, but the opponent dodged lightly and raised his middle finger at me mockingly.
Since he was grounded now, he had the speed advantage.
But he probably didn’t expect me to use an AoE skill despite the HP gap.
That was my plan.
As I activated the skill, a blue flash erupted and constellation possession activated, and a voice not my own came out of my mouth.
“【Attention-seeking bastard.】”
Seriously, this game needs a constellation dialogue mute system.
BOOM—!!
Slamming my hand down, the AoE skill activated.
A zone of distorted gravity formed.
A sticky blue energy spread like clouds in a dome, slowing everything inside like it was submerged in molten metal.
The opponent froze, shocked.
I closed the distance instantly, grabbed his middle finger, twisted it, and punched his jaw upward.
Crash!
His body flew up, and a large message appeared in the air.
[K.O!]
[You Win!]
Victory.
But I didn’t stop and kept punching his motionless character.
Thud thud thud thud—
A so-called “corpse beating” taunt.
It helps release stress completely after winning.
Lightning effects exploded in the darkness like a beautiful show.
Flash,
BOOM—!!
“Ah… that feels great. That was fun.”
【Boring. Bring a stronger one.】
“….”
This damn star.
Ignoring the data scrap, I moved to the waiting room.
My GOF character is a cool female avatar, 178 cm tall, with her hair tied up.
I designed her with sharp eyes, black hair, red eyes, same height as me. She turned out stylish and fierce.
The kind of beauty that looks like she beats up delinquents and makes them cry—exactly my type.
“If I looked like this in real life, I’d have no regrets.”
Even though she has that handsome-cool VR avatar look, what I’m most jealous of is her perfectly fine legs.
There’s a lot I envy, actually.
“If I just had a few skills, I could wipe out ranked hunters easily.”
Hunters are annoying people who play real-life raid games using superpowers to deal with monsters coming out of gates.
They belong to guilds or national hunter organizations.
Guilds make huge money from monster materials, mana cores, or magic stones found only in gates.
‘I bet they’re rolling in money.’
GOF is said to be a training game made for hunters.
As a top-ranked player, I can’t help but envy those hunters making money hand over fist.
‘If I were a hunter, I’d be rich. But first, I’d fix my legs.’
In reality, I’m just a convenience store worker.
Games are supposed to simulate desires and achievements you can’t easily get in real life, but sometimes the gap between reality and the game hits hard.
Especially for me, since I’m a top GOF ranked player.
As I stood in the waiting room staring at myself in a large mirror, the annoying constellation suddenly chimed in again.
【Want me to fix it for you? It’ll cost something, but it’s possible.】
