MDPS 01

Chapter 1

 Special Reward

At the age of eighteen—supposedly strong enough to chew iron—
Oh Hyun-woo, who was going through a late-blooming adolescence, made history in the collectible RPG game Legend Seven.

He was the first to ever subdue the final boss of the last chapter.

《Final Chapter Villain: Defeat the Black Prince Theo and clear the game!》

A popup urging him to finish the game.

But Oh Hyun-woo wasn’t the type to obediently follow a tooltip.

“Why would I kill Theo? He’s so damn cool.”

A hipster rebel with an aversion to doing what everyone else did—
It was only natural that he’d end up admiring the “villains” in the game.

Home, school, cram school—
A repetitive and suffocating routine.
Nothing major missing, but nothing special either.

Eighteen-year-old Oh Hyun-woo felt endlessly small.

But the villains of Legend Seven were different.
They didn’t care about other people’s eyes.
Born with the seeds of heroes, yet through twists of fate, they had fallen to become the worst of villains.

And above all—
They had the courage to fight against the entire world for the sake of their beliefs.

Oh Hyun-woo admired their lives.
He used every possible means to recruit them as subordinates, and eventually succeeded.

Finally—
He even subdued the last remaining piece of the puzzle: Theo, the villain of the final episode.

Theo shouted repeatedly at Oh Hyun-woo—no, at Lucifer—who kept standing in his way.

—Kill me. A useless king who couldn’t even avenge his parents has no reason to live.

Hyun-woo paused for a moment.

“Hmm… what answer would convince him to join me?”

Legend Seven, being a collectible RPG, had plenty of features designed to appeal to hardcore fans—
Especially the communication function with summoned characters, powered by generative AI.

Each summon had its own personality and backstory, allowing real-time conversations with the adventurer.

Hyun-woo lowered his voice and spoke into the mic.

—Will you give up, Theo? You, unforgivable one. Foolish king raised by the hands of your enemy.
—…
—If you were going to abandon your burden so irresponsibly, you never should have taken it on in the first place.
—You’ve got some nerve, saying that with your mouth wide open…
—How long do you plan to keep blaming yourself? Do you truly believe your parents would want that?
—…!!
—If it’s too heavy to bear, then leave it to me.
—…What?

Theo looked at Lucifer with clouded eyes.

—All your sins. Your pain, sorrow, resentment, anger, despair—I’ll take them all.
—What are you… saying…?
—I mean I will carry the evil you have accumulated in your stead. So don’t think. Don’t grieve. Just… become mine, young king.

Theo stared at him for a while, then with trembling hands, lowered his weapon and knelt.

Lucifer stepped forward and patted his head.

—That’s enough.

Hyun-woo, in his stormy teenage years, marveled at his own lines.

‘Damn! That was badass. Absolutely insane!’

At last, Hyun-woo had won Theo’s heart, gaining every villain under his control.

《You have obtained the Final Chapter Villain, ‘Black Prince Theo’.》
《Hidden Achievement Unlocked: Hate the Sin, Not the Sinner.》
《You now own all seven villains.》
《A special reward will be given to Lucifer.》
《You may claim the reward later.》

Finally possessing all seven villains, Hyun-woo was overjoyed—but didn’t show it.
Making noise in the middle of the night would earn him a beating.

Still, he knew he’d sleep well tonight.
He believed that someone who had achieved such greatness could surely become special.

Ring, ring, ring…

“Hello?”

[Oh, hey. What’s up?]

“I sent you some money. Get yourself something to eat today.”

[…I told you, you don’t have to. I’ve got a part-time job now, so you don’t have to help so much…]

“Yeah, right. How much do you think you can make from a part-time job? Just shut up and take it when I give it.”

[…Thanks.]

“Good. How are Mom and Dad?”

[They’re fine, nothing’s wrong.]

“That’s a relief. I’ll come by this weekend.”

[Okay. See you then!]

Click.

…That was ten years ago.

Unfortunately, my life stayed completely ordinary.
And I figured it would keep going that way.

I graduated elementary, middle, and high school like everyone else, went to a mediocre college, and got a regular office job.
It’s like playing a game long enough to know exactly how it’ll turn out.

At twenty-eight, working as an assistant manager at a small company, it was time to accept reality.

“Phew…”

When I was younger, I’d give all sorts of meaning to a single game.
Believing I could become someone special.
But in the end, that experience didn’t really help me in life.

‘Ugh… in the red again this month.’

Hospital bills for my sick parents.
My own student loans.
Supporting my younger sibling, who had to take a leave from college to study for the civil service exam because of our financial situation.

Even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough to cover it all.

Honestly, I felt resentful.
If only my family hadn’t been caught up in that accident on the day the world changed, we’d be better off now.

‘It’s already been five years, huh.’

Five years ago, the “Great Cataclysm” completely changed the world.
Some crappy game swallowed reality in an instant.

Towers sprang up all over the globe.
Each one had 100 floors, with a time limit to clear each floor.
If the deadline passed without clearing it, monsters would pour out and attack people—this was called a “Dungeon Break.”

And my parents were victims of the very first Dungeon Break.
Because of that accident, they’ve been in the hospital for years.

[Exclusive interview with America’s top adventurer, ‘Dwayne’!]

‘…Must be nice, being an adventurer.’

Adventurers—
People who awakened the power to handle “summons” capable of fighting monsters.
The name came from how NPCs in the game addressed the protagonist: “Adventurer.”

Influencers? Celebrities?
No—adventurers were the real stars now.
What they wore and drank became instant trends.
The successful ones made more money than you could ever imagine.

And the name of the game?
Legend Seven.
A garbage game that used to be so bad it didn’t even have a proper strategy community.

And I? I was one of the hardcore veterans who played that garbage game to death.

‘I mean, come on. If anyone deserved to awaken first, it was me. I was the only person to clear the final chapter before the servers shut down.’

Even now, I was confident I could grow faster than anyone else if I awakened.
Before the shutdown, I had been the unofficial #1 ranked player.

Unofficial—because I kept my account info private.
I didn’t want anyone commenting on my collection.
On the rankings, I was just “Unknown Adventurer.”

‘Idiot. Seriously. Should’ve just revealed my nickname and played openly.’

Back then, I thought this “shadow powerhouse” act was cool.
But after the world turned into this mess, I regretted it countless times.

Right after the Cataclysm, I even tried selling information online to make some quick cash.
No one cared.
Whenever someone commented, “So what’s your rank?”, I had no answer.

With all the chaos, unverified information was ignored.
Sure, if I’d kept posting, I could’ve eventually proven myself and been acknowledged… but…

[Major guild ‘Revolution’ cracks down on Legend Seven info leaks!]
[Leader of Japan’s Top 5 Guild ‘Tora’ warns: “Run your mouth and you won’t be safe.”]

Once things settled down, the “first movers” solidified their grip on power.
They monopolized information, threatening or even kidnapping unawakened rankers.

Rumors were so bad that I deleted all my posts and quit before anyone could target me.

Even now, with law and order mostly restored, everyone knows—they still do plenty of shady things behind the scenes.

‘God, these newbies… don’t know a damn thing but act like they do.’

So even with valuable info, I had to keep my mouth shut.

‘I bet they still don’t know you can use episode villains as summons.’

There’s something called a “wall deck.”
A term used in card games or turn-based games like Legend Seven—
It’s when fighting something feels like hitting a wall.

And the villains I loved?
Every one of them had overpowered skills.
Each one was basically a wall deck by themselves.

‘Not that anyone else could use them properly even if they had them.’

But there’s a catch—
They’re insanely hard to recruit. And even if you do recruit them, they don’t listen.

To even get them to pretend to follow orders, you had to go through absurd lengths to raise their affinity.

If you went into battle without befriending them?

《Black Prince Theo ignores your command and ends his turn.》
《Witch of the Apocalypse Hertia goes berserk and attacks allies.》
《Seren the White Grain King casts a buff on the enemy out of excitement.》

…They caused more chaos than an unruly grade-schooler.

But through sheer effort, I learned to handle them.
By the end, they even followed me willingly…

‘Doesn’t matter now.’

Because right now, I’m just an unawakened nobody.
Even if I awakened, I couldn’t keep them.
Summons from before awakening don’t carry over.
In other words, I’d have to start again at level 1 with no resources.

‘Man… I miss the old days.’

Back when I could throw myself into the game, laugh at small things, and live without worries.
Now? I can’t even find a reason to smile.

Ding!

“Ugh.”

These days, even my phone’s notification sound scares me.
It’s usually either a late payment notice or a loan ad.

Still, I couldn’t ignore it.
I opened the message nervously…

「Special reward for Lucifer has arrived!」

‘…? What the hell is this?’

At first, I thought it was some new AI phishing scam.
But something felt different.

‘Special reward for Lucifer?’

That was different.
The only time I ever used the nickname “Lucifer” was in Legend Seven.

And the only place that could connect Oh Hyun-woo with Lucifer was the game’s developer, Legend Seven Pictures.

“Wait… wait, wait…”

My heart began to pound.

The special reward they had promised for clearing the final chapter—
I’d forgotten about it after they said nothing until the shutdown.
And now, ten years later, they send me a message?
After the world became Legend Seven?

It couldn’t possibly be anything ordinary.

With trembling hands, I read the rest…

「Special reward has been delivered to your front door. We apologize for the late delivery.」

I shot up from my seat.

Heart racing, I rushed to the door and opened it.

Right there, next to the door, was a small box—
About the size of my palm.
No shipping label.

At first, I thought it was delivered to the wrong address.
But no—on the bottom, my old nickname, Lucifer, was written.

‘It’s mine!’

I took it to my room, slit the top with a knife, and opened it.

Inside was a small ticket, the size of my finger.
As soon as I picked it up, a message appeared before my eyes.

《This ticket contains your special reward.》
《Tear the ticket to claim it.》

“Whoa! A message window!”

My heart was about to burst.

“This… this has to be it!”

I didn’t know what the reward was, but I couldn’t help feeling hopeful.
Some baseless instinct told me this would lead to a better future.

Rip—

Holding my breath, I tore the ticket—

Ding!
Pop! Boom!

Fireworks exploded before my eyes.

《Congratulations! To Lucifer, who cleared every episode of Legend Seven—we send you this special reward with our deepest thanks!》
《Would you like to check your reward?》