The Returnee's Hidden Strategy Stream

Chapter 2

"Hyung, what\'s wrong?"

Yeonwoo shook Hanbit\'s rigid shoulder.

But Hanbit had no room to react.

\'That damn Goddess, what is she doing?\'

The moment doubt turned into certainty, his temper flared.

Even on that day two years ago when he returned to reality.

Even now, clenching his teeth, he harbored doubts in a corner of his heart.

Because the timing and reason why the Goddess let him go were too unclear.

Moreover, he vividly remembered the last words he heard.

\'I expect it there too.\'

Expect.

It was what the Goddess always said when sending Hanbit to that problematic world.

He never dreamed that those irresponsible words would continue on Earth, in this form of all things.

"Hyung..."

At the sound of the voice again, Hanbit raised his head.

The guidebook in his hand was crumpled up.

Immediately composing himself, he asked his junior, who had a worried expression on his face.

"The developers who made this game, it was a team called Zero, right?"

"Yes. But they\'ve never revealed themselves."

"Never?"

"External activities are handled by the CEO of Record Project. I think it\'s Michael Walton\'s youngest daughter or something."

Yeonwoo noted that no one even knew how many members were on the Zero development team.

A bizarre structure that naturally raised suspicions.

He was sure it had something to do with that damn Goddess.

The founder Michael Walton and his daughter, the current CEO, must also be hiding something.

\'But why a game?\'

Hanbit fell into a fundamental dilemma.

The world he was sent to by the Goddess wasn\'t some game.

All the physical and mental pain and emotional turmoil he experienced there couldn\'t have been virtual.

The unpleasant sensation of killing someone for the first time.

The terrible sensation of dying himself for the first time.

The hot blood running down his cheeks, the rage, the despair, were all still vivid.

Then why, on this Earth, did it suddenly appear in the form of a game?

The release timing also unpleasantly coincided with right after his discharge.

\'First, I need to see it for myself.\'

Immediately concluding, Hanbit took out the card he received from Yeonwoo.

"You said I can get the gear with this? How long does it take?"

"These days, it takes less than 2 hours I think? It\'s shipped immediately."

"Really? Where do I do it?"

"You just need to download an app. Can I see your phone?"

He took Hanbit\'s smartphone and quickly proceeded with the process.

The task was completed in less than a minute.

"I think it\'ll arrive right when you get home."

"It\'s good that it\'s fast. You were already playing, right?"

"I started, but I\'m not that great. If you\'re going right away, shall we buy that first?"

"Ah."

Yeonwoo pointed at the crumpled guidebook.

Embarrassedly smoothing out the cover, Hanbit paid for the book at the counter.

"Please contact me as soon as you create an account. I\'ll be waiting."

Yeonwoo left for home as soon as they left the store.

Hanbit also immediately headed for the subway station.

* * *

"...It\'s really here."

Arriving home, Hanbit found a box in front of the door.

Is it okay to leave a 5 million won item like this?

"It\'s light."

The box, neither big nor small, was lighter than he expected.

He opened the door and immediately came in to unseal the tape.

"Hmm."

Excluding the charger, the components were simple.

A headgear to wear on the head and four white rings.

Looking at the manual, they were items to be worn on the wrists and ankles.

"This is worth 5 million?"

Sighing at the expensive items, Hanbit took the equipment and went into his room.

There was still quite a bit of time left before his mother came home, but he didn\'t want to be caught looking like this.

Click-

He locked the door and connected the charger.

As he put on the rings and headgear, his vision went black.

Hanbit lay down on the bed very slowly.

Wooo-

After a few seconds, along with the sound of the device activating, light flickered in his vision.

[Scanning biometric information.]

The short message that appeared before his eyes was familiar.

Because it was similar to the hologram that showed the cumulative number of returns and regressions.

[Scanning brainwaves.]

\'...Brain? Isn\'t this dangerous?\'

Hanbit, who didn\'t know much about the gear, became a little anxious.

He hadn\'t heard anything about it digging into his head.

Ding-

As if to make a mockery of his worries, the scan ended quickly.

The next message popped up immediately.

[Starting link.]

Swoosh-

A strange sensation enveloped his body as the letters disappeared.

When he opened his eyes, Hanbit was standing in a pure white space.

"Oh."

Looking down, he wiggled his fingers and toes.

It felt like he was moving his real body.

Although he looked like a mannequin now, he could move.

Was the slightly heavy feeling a limitation of the gear?

[Creating character.]

[Moving to customization screen.]

A large mirror and a message appeared in front of him.

Yeonwoo had explained that it was okay to freely customize the appearance.

He said that the scanned information was well-corrected in many ways.

Except for the fact that the only race was human, the freedom of appearance was quite high.

"...Why isn\'t it showing up?"

Hanbit, waiting for the screen to appear, wondered.

It had already been 5 minutes since the message appeared.

"Is it a bug?"

Errors weren\'t particularly new, considering it was a machine.

Sighing, Hanbit tried to press the exit button in the right corner.

But then.

[Failed to create character.]

[Applying existing character.]

Suddenly, the screen started flickering with a strange message.

"Existing character? What\'s that..."

He had never played this game before.

But he could guess the reason, even if he didn\'t like it.

"Is this your doing as well?"

A dumbfounded question thrown at the Goddess.

Even if he wanted to go find her and argue right now, he couldn\'t.

Swoosh-

The screen changed as his entire vision went dark.

When the light returned, Hanbit was standing in a harbor with a blue sea in view.

\'It\'s... Edlen.\'

The harbor city of Edlen, designed in a semicircular shape, was all too familiar.

The first city he arrived at when he was sent to the other world.

A city he had experienced hundreds of times during 55 regressions, possessions, and reincarnations.

"Oh, this is awesome."

"Hey guys, where do we go?"

"Is there no tutorial?"

Other new players were looking around.

\'It\'s empty.\'

He had some expectations for the so-called existing character.

But there was nothing, not even a single item, let alone progress.

Sighing, Hanbit approached a mirror installed next to him.

"...Huh?"

He was flustered by his clearly reflected appearance.

Because a person exactly like his real self appeared in front of him.

Moreover, this body.

It was the one used in the last round of regression.

"Ha..."

He had a lot of choice words to say, but he didn\'t bother to utter them.

The damn Goddess\'s words and actions always went beyond his expectations.

Sighing, Hanbit turned his attention.

\'Was Yeonwoo\'s nickname Roper?\'

Yeonwoo\'s nickname, which he received via message.

There were 10 reminders to add him as a friend as soon as he logged in.

"Hyung?"

While he was figuring out the controls, he heard a voice from behind.

Turning his head, there was a neat human standing there.

"...Are you Yeonwoo?"

"Yes, it\'s me! But hyung, why did you customize your character like that? Almost no one uses their real appearance."

The word \'Roper\' appeared above the character.

He could tell it was Yeonwoo just from his speech and behavior.

"Just... It happened like this."

"It\'s kind of like you, which is nice... But your naming sense is even more amazing."

"Naming sense?"

"Your nickname, hyung. Look at the character information window in the top right corner."

At the somewhat strange reaction, Hanbit opened the character information window as instructed.

And when he saw the nickname written above, he couldn\'t hold back the words that burst out.

"No, shit."

[Black Dragon - Lv.1]

[Title: None]

Strength: 4

Agility: 4

Intelligence: 4

Stamina: 4

A strange nickname with no relation to his regressions whatsoever.

Cursing was only natural.

“Can’t I change this?”

“Why? It’s fun! I don’t think anyone will forget it once they see it.”

Yeonwoo was already bursting into laughter, enjoying himself. Hanbit approached him and grabbed his head, turning it forcefully.

“Can you change it or not?”

“Of course not. Wasn’t there a warning message at the beginning? It said the nickname is permanently engraved on your biometric information.”

“Ha.”

He was shocked by those despairing words.

To play the game with this kind of nickname… It made him feel dizzy.

“This is crazy, really.”

Ding-

Just as a deep sigh followed, an alarm sound rang in his ears.

[The play screen will be simultaneously broadcast on Roper’s stream.]

[Do you agree? (Yes/No)]

"What the... what’s this now?" Hanbit asked, staring at Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo, who was manipulating something in the air, grinned and said.

"I\'m streaming. I\'m still a small-timer, but it\'s more fun than I thought."

"Streaming? You mean like, internet broadcasting?"

"Yeah. There\'s a platform called \'Recorder\' supported by RP. Oh, it looks good."

Yeonwoo took his hand away from the air and came closer to me. He was looking at a point marked in the air, trying to get the right angle.

"Hey, hyung, I\'m about to start the stream. Can you click \'yes\' for me?"

"Click \'yes\'? Why would I do a streaming?"

"I\'ll be the one streaming, hyung. You just have to play the game. And we\'ll split the profits 50/50. Guess who gets the bigger 5."

"... 50/50?"

Hanbit\'s playful banter was overshadowed by the mention of splitting the profits. If all he had to do was play the game, there was no reason to refuse. Whether it was 500 won or 1,000 won, it was practically free money for Hanbit.

"So, what do you think? Good deal, right? If the stream goes well, I\'ll even give you a bigger cut."

"It\'s your stream, why would you give me more? Half is enough. You already gave me expensive gear."

"That just means I have high expectations. Anyway, I\'ll make sure you\'re taken care of. So, will you click \'yes\' now?"

"... Fine."

Click-

Having already made up his mind, Hanbit clicked the \'yes\' button. The message disappeared and Yeonwoo\'s voice boomed out.

"Hello everyone! This is Roper!"

"Damn it, you scared me!" Hanbit pretended to be startled by Yeonwoo\'s unusually high energy.

In the upper right corner of the screen, a small window appeared, showing both of their faces and a chat window.

-Why are there two of you?

-Who is that?

Chat messages slowly trickled in. Despite the dry response, Yeonwoo remained unfazed.

"The person next to me is my hyung, who will be playing the game with me from today. You see his nickname, right?"

-Black Dragon?

-Is he a chuunibyou?

[Tl/N: “Chuunibyou” refers to "eighth-grader syndrome," a slang term for adolescents who have delusions of grandeur and believe they have special powers.]

-Typical small-timer, has zero sense.

"...What?" Hanbit\'s fists clenched at the ruthless chat messages.

Yeonwoo, who had already anticipated this, said in a low voice.

"Hyung, if you get angry, they\'ll only try to provoke you more. Our goal is to make money, right?"

"Aren\'t they just trolls? Can you actually make money from this?"

"That\'s why we need to show them the results. For now, please just focus on the game."

-Daddy\'s not sleeping, you bastards.

-Small-time streamer trying to filter out hate comments?

-Gonna learn your lesson when you have 1 viewer, huh?

-Want to see what real hate comments look like?

As if they could hear the conversation, sharp, hostile messages popped up in the chat. Hanbit sighed, watching Yeonwoo\'s eyes sparkle with excitement.

"So, what do I need to do now?"

"Since it\'s the starting city, we need to clear the quests first. We can get the most important skills in this game and other rewards too. After that, we move on to the main quest."

"Starting? Are there other cities?"

"There\'s one more. You have no idea how relieved I am that you chose Edlen. I forgot to mention it."

"Yeah, great job."

Hanbit roughly understood the explanation. All the skills and techniques he had learned and mastered over 55 playthroughs... if they were reproduced in the same way as skills in this game, there was nothing he didn\'t know.

"How many types of skills are there?"

"Tons. But in the long run, it\'s best to focus on mastering one skill tree."

"Just one?"

"You see the recommended skills in the guide, right? That\'s based on electrical signals... brainwaves, I think? Anyway, it\'s the result of scanning all sorts of things. It probably shows up to three icons, right?"

"Hold on."

Hanbit pressed the guide button at the top of the screen.

"Is it this one?"

The recommended skill button was blinking in the list. He was curious about the results derived from scanning him.

Click-

A new window popped up.

But then...

Scroll, scroll, scroll-!

The list that was supposed to be just \'recommendations\' kept going and going without end.