Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin *Revised*
1. The last chapter update of the national game wreck
An amazing game which is known by the entire nation is called a national gem game and the ruined[2] game is called a national game wreck.
The Republic of Korea didn’t have a national gem game, but there existed a national game wreck.
Up until now, this game had been released for about 10 years.
Mobile RPG ‘Player Maister Highschool’, or ‘PMH’ for short.
In the modern era of rapid changes caused by the Clash of Different Worlds.
Maister high school trained Players possessing superpowers.
That school was a background for the mobile role-playing game, where you progress the story or clear quests by controlling numerous characters.
The start of PMH, which became a hot topic even before the opening[3], looked great.
The highest development and marketing costs in the history of the gaming community.
The opening song sang by a famous and talented singer who topped the music charts.
The CMs were broadcast on airwaves, cable TV and general broadcasting stations during the golden hours.
The posters filled every bus, bus stop, subway wall and screen door.
The banners and video ads were plastered all over the portal sites.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that in the whole country, there was no one who didn’t see PMH’s ad.
‘I found the game of a lifetime!’
I was one of the three million pre-registered users who thought like this.
The day of PMH’s service launch was a day after university exams[4].
I, who was free as the exams just ended, dived in from the first day of service together with three million users.
But for numerous gamers, PMH became a game wreck of a lifetime.
Characters, skills and items messed up the game balance all alike.
The number of bugs just increased day by day without any being fixed.
Difficult controls, which one didn’t know if they were made to work this way or to made one feel like dog-shit.
Small rewards for extremely repetitive grindy elements, without auto function.
If you excluded the ‘Request another Player’s[5] help’ command, it was only single Player mode and the multi-element was missing.
The zero stars terror continued at the store, and the reviews were overflowing with declarations of quitting and curses.
However, the fans who were solid like concrete endured.
It was overflowing with weaknesses, but this game also had strengths.
Beautiful high-quality illustrations.
The character rendering and in-game graphics which are on par with those illustrations.
Detailed and attractive character settings.
The concrete fandom couldn’t let go of this game.
But even that didn’t last.
The development of the story without dreams or hope broke the concrete’s mentality.
[thanks to the story of water that started to rot from the day of opening, refund run goes]
[I run now because of all raised characters, family, good teachers and friends[6] died. Anyone who succeeded in the refund run, I ask for information. Thank You[7].]
[Because Dragon Teach-nim Jeokho hyung fu*ked-up deaths, devs lost all screws. You guys flee quickly. I understand your hearts, but look up the refund page a bit.]
[The military recruitment notice came when I was trying to forget about it. Isn’t that lucky?]
[I’m so suffocated because of the nuclear sweet potato[8] story development I think I’m going to fall back now. Getting off!]
[I won’t speak long. Quit. Let your brain live without playing this game.]
[I’m transferring cafe management staff positions. If there is no application comments within 3 days, I plan to randomly transfer it and drop out.]
After the story where the majority of characters ended up being slaughtered were unfolded.
The PHM unofficial info-sharing community was ruined and the remains of the concrete broke off.
Later this event came to be called the ‘PMH concrete collapse incident’ in the gaming community.
And such words started to circulate in the gaming community.
‘Don’t associate with the Player Maister Highschool stagnant waters[9]’
PMH was a rare game wreck engraved in the gaming history.
They said that no one but game developers[10] or freaks played it, but as both of them were dangerous types, don’t associate with them.
On the other side, I repeatedly took breaks and returned, while listening to the word ‘freak’.
Each time a story update came, the Playable Character and people around them died miserably.
The mindset of the surviving characters crumbled.
Even so, I kept enduring to read the next story.
‘If even one more person dies, I’ll really quit!’
I truly thought so at those moments.
However, while I thought that, more than a double digits of characters died, but I didn’t quit.
At some point, I didn’t even take a break, which I used to do sometimes.
Even after joining the army, I used the 3 hours of available smartphone time to keep playing.
“Youngest.”
“Yes, private Jo Uisin at your service, sir!”
“What game are you playing?”
“… Player Maister Highschool.”
The atmosphere in the barracks instantly became heavy.
The mouth of sergeant Choe who held a smartphone in one hand and the TV controller in the other hung wide open.
Sergeant Choe’s eyes were saying he was looking at an idiot who was diving head-first into the ground, and he said to me:
“Huh, this pitiful bastard.’”
Until I was discharged I was treated as a pitiful bastard.
Until sergeant Choe was discharged, thanks to ‘don’t touch pitiful bastard’ policy, my army life was comparatively comfortable.
But after corporal dog, no, corporal Gye[11] became sergeant Gye, I was constantly bullied until my discharge.
A few years later, I really became a pitiful bastard.
“4th stage of lung cancer.”
I didn’t know what kind of sound[12] I was hearing right now.
It was not a sound that a gamer, who couldn’t even afford the costs of cigarettes should hear.
“It’s rare, but there are cases where lung cancer can develop to the 4th stage without any symptoms.”
Words of ‘There are many People[13] even among the non-smokers who suffer from lung cancer’ were added.
After that, the doctor spoke some more.
Half of what the doctor said came in one ear and came out the other.
I barely understood what follows:
If early, I would die within six months.
If I received treatment and the prognosis was good, I could expect to live three more years.
Even if I apply for health insurance, without work, I wouldn’t be able to bear the hospitalization cost long term.
After saying that I’ll think about it, I didn’t visit the hospital again.
I lost my parents-nim as a middle school student and living on scraps in the relative house, graduated from high school.
I graduated from 4-year university, while repeatedly taking leaves of absence to earn living expenses and tuition fees, and returning to study.
The arranged job opportunity thanks to the professor’s recommendation, was given to a parachute[14] instead and for a year I lived as a jobseeker.
I survived on part-time work and at last succeeded in getting a job last month.
When I got a health check for the necessary recruitment health check-up documents, I received a clear terminal patient diagnosis.
This life which was worth living even though there were many difficult things was coming to an end like this.
I became a game junkie.
Up till now, I was a common gamer, with some social life.
However now I shut myself in a gosiwon[15], stopped all productive activities and socializing, and only stared at the smartphone with sunken eyes.
I ended up as a recessed game junkie with no excuses.
‘One of the reasons for my cancer must be this game.’
I lamented thinking about having cancer a few times when playing PHM.
But even now, when I had cancer and was going to die, I couldn’t let go of this game.
Recently, the coughing became worse.
I spat out cough mixed with blood two or three times a day.
Sometimes, because my whole body hurt so much I thought I was going to die, I couldn’t sleep.
The painkillers sold at the pharmacy didn’t help even a bit.
‘Is it time to die?’
I was okay when playing the game, but during game maintenance, I couldn’t come up with anything but thoughts about death.
When I refreshed the game news tab of the portal site to distract myself.
The main article changed.
[Masterpiece mobile RPG Player Maister Highschool’s final chapter update expected today!]
Dying or whatever, curses came out automatically.
I clicked the article straight away and commented:
[jo2god111: Why is an article about such game wreck’s update on the main news? What a great masterpiece. If you have money to throw at reporters, do a balance patch or fix bugs.]
Within a few minutes, comments were posted under mine.
[kye777ing: So real. PMH parents left, but that dogshiiiiiiiiiitgamewreck is still not shut down? I can’t sit at the same table as the bastards who play this game.]
It was correct to say that PMH was a game wreck.
But as I endured even XXX nonsense, my mood became foul.
Even if you’re going to roast, shouldn’t at least a person, who played this game, do the roasting?
I roasted it, but even then it was in a rotten spirit as the fan who played this gamewreck myself.
I impulsively made a reply.
[jo2god111: That’s a bit harsh. Did try to play it in person before roasting?]
After that, an explosive reaction under my comment continued.
[zxYJ0008xz: jo2god111 what is it, seems like you’re sick?]
[kye777ing: Are you crazy? Look again at the comment you wrote and then come back.]
[dudtn90: Please don’t feed trolls.[16]]
[rkrehrl12: Protect Yourself from lawsuit, (excessive curses) mhmhmhm with no subject.]
It was a comment I wrote, but looking at it up and down, what was it really?
Soon the comment section was half filled with curses at the game, half at me.
As I completely couldn’t refute it and was beaten up in the comments, the moment PHM maintenance ended, I closed the news page.
‘… I’ll see the ending and die, huh?’
As I laid down on a small bed and opened the PMH app, the update was in progress.
While the update file was downloaded, I took out a file folder and a setting book.
The file folder was holding my organized tactics printed on A4 paper.
The eight volumes of the setting book with over 500 pages per volume were widely regarded with the negative ‘Who read this?’ review.
I threw them under the bed, so I could find them and read them straight away.
As I picked up and read the setting book that was written all over with conquest memos I left, the update completed.
‘Does it end now?’
The six months the doctor spoke about ended a long time ago.
In the situation when I didn’t know when I would die, time and strength were more valuable than gold.
But I used it all up for such a game.
* * *
The life-and-death struggle, spanning for over dozens of hours, ended.
‘It ended.’
In no way have I expected it would be such a bad ending without dreams, hopes or mercy.
In the end, nothing could be protected and no one could be rescued.
‘Baek Ho-gun’, my best and main character, who was with me until the last boss battle.
Even he, lost everything in the wicked hands of the story writer[17] and met a gruesome end.
‘Story writers, you dog fuckers.’
I thought I would be fine no matter what kind of bad ending I face.
Rather, if I faced a happy ending when I who was soon to die was left behind, I might be irritated.
However, my thoughts were wrong.
I guess I was awaiting a happy ending.
Even while I paused playing a few times, because of the painful stories I read, in the end I returned, but it wasn’t because I was a freak enjoying the pain.
If not, there is no way I would feel such a wretched feeling.
‘Because I was awaiting a happy ending, I couldn’t let go of this game, huh?’
I barely realized after becoming a terminally ill patient and clearing up this entire game.
However, the game ended.
All Playable Characters died miserably.
And I’ll also die soon.
I forcibly closed the game and threw the smartphone into the corner of the bed.
Ding!
Then as if in some kind of protest, I heard an alarm.
It was a notification from the PMH game app.
‹You can obtain the Last Chapter Clear Compensation. Please check the gift box.›
‘… Last Chapter Clear Compensation?’
PMH, the game in which operation was reviled as feeling like playing with feet.
Let alone advertisement push notification, it didn’t send even an update notification, so why suddenly?
‘No matter how I look, it will be a lousy compensation.’
I didn’t hope for anything, but I was curious.
I had to check.
It was a thinking circuit worthy of a game addict, playing right into the hands of the game company.
Even while thinking that, I opened the game app with dead eyes.
However after opening the gift box in the game’s main screen, the screen paused.
No matter how long I waited, the screen didn’t move.
Even forced closing didn’t work.
Even when I tried to turn off the entire smartphone, it didn’t turn off.
As it was a type with an integrated battery, I couldn’t take out the battery straight away.
“Aah, a bug here?! Cough, uugh.”
The moment I opened my mouth, I burst into coughing.
The end of a game I played for over 10 years.
The feeling of futility resulting from this.
The released tension.
The long time playing and strength shaved by the fight with disease.
My body started to quickly crumble.
Cough, ough, cougeek, cough…
Gradually, rather than the sound of coughing, it became closer to screams.
They were like the last screams in deathly agony.
I thought I spat out saliva and wiped my mouth, but my hand was dyed crimson.
‹Connection with Transcendent Universe completed. Examining the connected Player’s suitability.›
Co… What?
I started to have auditory hallucinations.
This is dangerous.
I guess it’s really time to die.
‹Examination completed. Player ‘Jo Uisin’ is selected as Suitable Other Dimension Future Modification.›
“Uisin hyung, this is Seong-hyeon. Are You okay?”
I heard the sound of the gosiwon manager Cheon Seong-hyeon knocking at the door.
Other tenants might have made a complaint because of the sound of coughing.
A place at the hospice would only be available next week, perhaps because there were many people like me.
If I didn’t die today, I should go there, even if it meant lying in front of the ward.
As it was a nuisance for Cheon Seong-hyeon and the tenants around me.
‹Suitable Other Dimension Future Modification ‘Jo Uisin’s’ information modification, dimension synchronization and transfer is in progress. Completion in the next 10 seconds.›
Department junior Cheon Seong-hyeon followed me well since my university days.
Even after we met as a gosiwon manager and a tenant, Cheon Seong-hyeon’s attitude didn’t change.
He brought me snacks and cough medicine, saying it was in exchange for the meals I bought him before.
He was a precious junior to a soon-dead bastard.
I made preparations for in case when I suddenly die in the gosiwon room.
A will and a bit of remaining cash to hold a funeral.
The envelope had Cheon Seong-hyeon’s name written on it.
‹8… 7…›
At first, I tried to say that I’m okay, but I couldn’t reply.
Hearing auditory hallucinations in my ears and vomiting blood, it was a mess.
At least I blocked my mouth to try to quieten the sound of coughing.
However, because the coughing grew even more severe, the sound only grew louder.
Cough, cough, heugh, euhg, cough!
Cheon Seong-hyeon started to bang on the thin door.
“Hyung, open the door!”
As if Cheon Seong-hyeon found a key, I heard the sound of scrapping metal a few times, and then soon a click and the lock opened.
‹2… 1… 0.›
Almost at the same time as the door opened, my vision was wrapped in pure white light.
*~*~*
[1] The last chapter update of the national game wreck — the homonyms of ‘chapter’ can also mean the leader of a military force, the generals in janggi (‘Korean Chess’ colloquially named, a game derived from xiangqi), the place where some event takes place. (Yes, I know there is no number marker besides the title, but as it’s the only title without a number at the moment, I want to make sure it stays this way.)
[2] national game gem and ruined — ‘Ruined’ it’s equivalent to saying ‘fucked up’ in English, but in consideration of this novel’s notorious wordplays I’ll translate this literally. So please keep in mind when you see it in the future, it’s a curse. And raws just use the name ‘national game’, I’m using ‘national gem game’ so it makes more sense for you, the English readers.
[3] opening — lunch would be a better word here, but that word is suspicious so I’m translating it literally.
[4] university exams — university scholastic ability tests (or SAT) are on the third Thursday of November.
[5] Player — this particular word will be capitalized. If you see player not capitalized, it refers to something else.
[6] good teachers and friends — there is no comma or ‘and’ between them, so it could be also mean teacher friends. Also, the ‘good teachers’ here is ‘은사 (eun-sa)’.
[7] Thank You — when polite tone is used, I’ll capitalize You to show it. If there is some specific situation where polite tone is used, but the speaker is specifically using impolite you, or non-polite tone is used, but polite You is used, I’ll specify. That said, I started using this method late in the translation so you might start seeing this only much later.
[8] sweet potato — a slang for something that makes you feel stuffed and suffocated.
[9] stagnant water — a slang for someone who played the same game for a very long time.
[10] developer — 제작자 (jejakja) a person who produces an item or work of art.
[11] corporal dog, no, corporal Gye — 개 (gae dog) and 계 (gye) sounds extremely similar in Korean. Also, a dog is type of curse in Korean.
[12] sound — it doesn’t sound natural (pun not intended) in English, but as ‘sound’ is very important in this novel, you may see me use it in some unnatural ways to accommodate the usage of the word.
[13] People — similarly like with capitalized You in polite tone, when an honorific word to refer to someone is used, I’ll capitalize it.
[14] parachute — a slang for someone who gets a job through connections, without skills.
[15] gosiwon — a student accommodation, with cheap rent and very small rooms.
[16] Please don’t feed trolls. — this person sounds as if they’re using an old-fashioned polite tone.
[17] writer — because it’s a word borrowed from English it also sounds like ‘lighter’ in Korean.
Translator’s note: New readers, welcome to a masterpiece! Re-reader, hello again! I wish you the best of luck in keeping your sanity.
A few things of note:
1. What you just read is a re-translated chapter. About the first 50 chapters are scheduled to be completely re-translate, because the quality between them and my current translation quality is a chasm so deep I’m afraid an abyss will look back at me if I try to look at them. The re-translated chapters will have *revised* at the top.
2. As this translator isn’t an English or Korean native speaker they refuse to attempt of trying to come up with how the Korean names should be romanized to preserve their spelling. I’ll be just using Revised Romanization for most of the characters’ names (there are a few exceptions which I’ll note and explain why when they come up) and for location names.
3. Don’t be scared of the notes. They’re here to help and drive some people crazy! If you’re still confused about something, just ask!
Patron thank you note
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Links to advanced chapter (Patreon & Kofi)
> Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LibraryKeyTranslations
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