◈ Episode 1. Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo
…I must look like a lunatic.
But there's no helping it.
After much deliberation, I opened my mouth.
I spoke to my reflection in the mirror.
"...Who am I? What's my name?"
Yes, my name is Lee Hoyul.
Hoyul as in "bright joy."
The youngest son in a family with three daughters.
My grandfather, overjoyed at my birth, gave me this name.
But, despite what I know, the name that slips from my mouth is entirely different.
"...Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo."
A name so bizarrely long, I don't even know what country's nobility it might belong to.
You think I suddenly awakened memories of a past life?
"If only that were the case…"
No, I know this isn't some kind of fantasy scenario.
My reflection in the mirror told me that.
My eyes, now unusually sharp.
My noticeably sturdier build.
And the text that appeared before my eyes.
This was an awakening.
I had become a Player.
That much, I could understand.
The real issue was the body I awakened in—and that ridiculous name.
"No matter how I look at it, this is from over ten years ago…"
[Name: Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
To be exact, twelve years ago.
When I was fifteen.
At the peak of my cringey middle school phase.
It was clearly the character I had created.
I muttered without realizing it.
"…Yeah, I'm properly screwed now."
And in a refined tone, like some nobleman.
Trickle~
I'm doomed.
Despite that sinking feeling, my actions remained oddly calm.
I took out a teacup I'd never used before from the cupboard.
Brewed green tea I normally wouldn't touch.
Then sat at the table and savored the tea.
"The aroma is not unpleasant."
…What is this, a period drama?
Even I was disgusted by how I sounded.
Anyway, I could sense it clearly.
My behavior and speech were influenced by the awakening.
Player Awakening—
Something I thought had nothing to do with me.
Because I had long forgotten…
"…Well, it was over a decade ago."
The Chronicles of the Arcana Continent.
Thirteen years ago.
A VR game that remained at the top since release.
No, beyond just a game—it was called a second life.
[Unidentified structures appear worldwide… Linked to Arcana shutdown?]
Arcana had become reality.
[Strange creatures appear globally… Netizens in Japan: "They're definitely Arcana monsters!"]
Arcana's monsters were appearing in the real world.
[New humanity? Man defeats creature barehanded…]
And then came the Players—
People who awakened the abilities of Arcana characters and hunted these monsters.
Years had passed since that massive upheaval.
That Chronicles of the Arcana Continent had become real.
When I first heard the news in the military, I flinched.
—"Damn it. If I'd known, I wouldn't have quit the game."
I used to imagine things like that while on night duty.
Because being a Player meant being a hero.
[Player 'Golden Flash' defeats named monster 'General Sekir'!]
[Crack zone reward alone worth 5 billion won…]
[Exclusive interview: Player who prevented disaster—'Nam Tae-min']
But that's all it was—just imagination.
—"Even if I awakened, it wouldn't have meant much."
I hadn't even played Arcana for a full year.
Real-life problems were the reason.
The access device alone cost ten million won.
Monthly fees reached into the hundreds of thousands.
"…I'm sorry, kids."
"It's okay, Dad. You don't need to apologize to us."
"Sniff… I can't even face you kids anymore."
"Mom, seriously! Not you too!"
"We're all grown up, Hoyul too. Stop worrying."
By the time I entered high school—
After the day a foreclosure notice was posted on our house—
I'd given up not just on Arcana, but on games entirely.
That didn't change in high school either.
Like it or not, all I did was study, and that led to my current life.
A decent job. A decent one-room apartment.
A peaceful life, visiting my parents on weekends.
Not luxurious, but not lacking either.
"…So what the hell is going on?"
My head throbbed.
I sipped the tea again.
Let's put aside the annoying historical drama speech for now.
The important thing is—I awakened as a Player.
Twelve years ago.
The character I raised in Arcana, Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo, had been overlaid onto me, Lee Hoyul.
I remembered reading interviews like this:
—"The biggest change after awakening? It's like… I've become one with the character. It really feels like reality-me and game-me have fused."
—"But hey, I was the one who played that character. So even if I'm 'possessed,' it's still me."
—"Thanks to that, I can face real monsters without fear."
The difference is—my playtime was twelve years ago.
And the me from twelve years ago was deeply immersed in the character Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
"This is… delicious."
Even my taste buds had changed.
…God, I'm losing it.
Is this because Arcana's character data fused with me?
I'm starting to remember the setting for Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo—
The absurdly detailed lore I wrote when I had a case of teenage delusions.
『Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
His exact age is unknown.
Once heir to a great house, but it fell to ruin at the hands of a demon.
As the sole survivor, Granphel swore vengeance and became a demon hunter.
With long silver hair and refined features, he speaks with the elegance befitting his noble blood.』
So damn useless—and yet I wrote it all out.
Screw you, past me!
Just remembering it makes me want to curl up and die.
Of course, no amount of personal lore had any effect in-game.
I just scribbled it in notebooks and memo pads.
That's why the lore says:
"A fallen noble."
Because I started at level 1, broke and a total newbie.
I slapped on a backstory about "falling from grace" to make it sound cool.
The only true part of all that was this:
He became a demon hunter.
[Name: Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
[Class: Demon Hunter]
Still, I was so obsessed with the lore, I roleplayed as Granphel the whole time I played Arcana.
Looking back now, I was completely deranged…
But I was a second-year middle schooler, after all.
Now it's just a cringeworthy memory I can laugh about.
"…Memories, huh. How nostalgic."
And now that unwanted memory had become reality.
Damn it, my headache is getting worse.
I'm terrified someone might see me like this.
…Wait a second.
Don't I have work tomorrow?!
Let's think rationally here.
Can I go to work and function normally?
You know how it is—corporate life.
You have to bow your head a hundred times a day and swallow your pride.
But with me under the influence of Granphel's setting—
Even my palate has changed.
Can I really survive in the harsh corporate world?
『Granphel Claudi Arpheus Romeo is noble. He bows to no one, no matter who they are. His pride is immense and unshakable—even if it drowns him in its weight.』
…I'd be lucky not to throw coffee in my manager's face.
I'd probably owe more in settlements than I'd earn in wages.
After a refined tea time, I reached a conclusion.
"I can't keep lowering my head forever."
Another accidental noble-speak—but anyway.
To put it simply: I was quitting my job.
I'd decided to live as a Player from now on.
To others, it might seem like a sudden choice.
But to me, it was just logical.
Just think about it.
At this rate, I would just be a burden no matter what job I got.
In the meantime, my bank balance would visibly shrink.
Damn that aristocratic palate.
Even the cost of tea time, which I didn't even enjoy, would now add to my expenses.
Living expenses were becoming more and more urgent.
In the end, it meant that I had no choice but to live as a Player to survive.
Of course, I didn't have any grand ambitions.
I'd naturally come to understand my place as I got older.
There was no longer that middle-school syndrome patient who was obsessed with Granfell and truly believed he was special.
Just enough to make a living.
Then, maybe I could work as a Player without risking my life?
First, I should do some research.
I knew far too little about the world of Players.
It's not like I'd admired them or anything.
I'd just been too busy surviving to pay any real attention.
Still, I was envious of one thing—they made a lot of money.
"...Hmmm."
Tens, hundreds, billions.
There were endless articles about Players making insane amounts of money.
But even as I read them, I felt indifferent.
"To Granfell Cloudy Arpheus Romeo, wealth was a fleeting thing. Born as the heir to a great house and having tasted the pinnacle of prosperity, he had no reason to cling to riches."
That must be another one of those damn character settings.
Still, maybe that was a relief.
I wouldn't be blinded by greed and end up risking my life.
But before that, there was a serious problem.
"…I'm weak."
…Could I even take down a single mob like this?
Would I even be able to leech off a party? That was my biggest concern.
The monsters that appeared in reality were no joke.
There was no way I could take them on in my current state.
"Wow, that was insanely close lol""A party with an average level of 200 barely managed to clear it, right?""They just keep getting tougher, damn.""Rankers probably love it, though—so much EXP."
That was from the comments on a video.
The average level of the Player party was 200.
I checked my status window.
[Name: Granfell Cloudy Arpheus Romeo][Class: Demon Hunter][Level: 55]
Just level 55.
My level hadn't changed in over ten years.
Back then, I wasn't a top ranker, but I was still considered high-level...
Time sure was cruel.
Well, they do say even mountains change in ten years.
"Why did I waste all that time…?"
I muttered to myself with unnecessary gravitas, then stopped.
Suddenly, I searched for "Demon Hunter."
"Wait, I totally forgot."
The Demon Hunter leveling method…!
It had been so long, I'd completely forgotten.
Back then, Demon Hunters could only be leveled in a very specific way.
Unlike other classes that gained levels through hunting, Demon Hunters had to level up through quests.
"Skill"NemesisSilver MasteryShooting MasterySimultaneous FireExorcism Rite
Most quests involved exterminating demons.
That was a huge limitation of the Demon Hunter class.
———Nemesis: Increases combat power dramatically when fighting demon-type enemies.———
While overwhelming against demons, their stats were otherwise incomplete. It was a class that couldn't even show its face in regular hunting grounds.
That was the reality of being a Demon Hunter.
So, shouldn't I just hunt demons?
If anyone asked that—
I could say that back in the day, there were no demon-type monsters in Arcana.
Demon Hunters could only encounter demons during quests.
Because of that, Demon Hunter was an unpopular class even back then.
"But that was in the past."
Yeah, it's been ten years—no, twelve.
That's more than enough time for new Demon Hunter builds to emerge.
Now that Arcana has become reality, it might be a stretch to apply those training methods directly.
But they could still serve as a reference.
Good.
The headache I'd been having since awakening was beginning to clear up.
…Maybe it was the tea? Or maybe not.
Either way, I was grateful to be born in the information age.
Just a few taps and I could find what I needed.
I typed "Demon Hunter" into the search bar.
I looked through the results…
"…What the hell is this?"
The results were completely unexpected.
"Akshan Base destroyed? Everyone died?!"
What the hell happened to Arcana in the last ten years?
Akshan Base.
That was the headquarters of the Demon Hunters.
It was where you completed the class advancement quest and training quests to officially become a Demon Hunter.
But now, it had been destroyed for some unknown reason—and even the NPCs were wiped out.
Because of that, it was no longer possible to become a Demon Hunter.
"And this happened ages ago?"
…Wait, then what about me?
Where's the new Demon Hunter leveling method?!
As I frantically dug through forums and communities, I came to a realization.
"No way…"
"I miss the old days—when there was a class called Demon Hunter.""For real? Never heard of it.""Lol that class was such garbage back then.""Yeah, I made one once then deleted it right away.""Looked cool, but the performance was garbage lol."
The more I searched, the more my "no way" turned into certainty.
Apparently, there were no active Players with the Demon Hunter class.
No, since I awakened as a Player…
It meant I was the only one.
"This can't be real…"
I hated my past self and his terrible taste.
Even with middle-school delusions, how could I have picked a class based purely on style?
If I'd considered performance even a little, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
"My head hurts."
Probably from all the information I'd just taken in.
I clearly needed a break.
Just as I was about to set my smartphone down—
A post caught my eye.
"If I'd known this would happen, I would've kept leveling my Demon Hunter."
"?"
What happened to make someone say that?
I clicked the post out of curiosity.
And froze.
"With the new update, demon-type enemies have been officially added, and ever since then, Rift difficulty has skyrocketed. If it weren't for demons, real-life Players wouldn't be dying…"
What—demons were added?
And now they were rampaging in real life?
'Could it be…'
A possibility surfaced in my mind.
But I didn't say it aloud.
The higher the expectation, the bigger the disappointment.
Besides, even Players far stronger than me were struggling against the demons.
But despite all that realism—
I found myself murmuring:
"Granfell Cloudy Arpheus Romeo's pride, paradoxically, shines brightest before the demons."
"Consider it an honor."
"No temptation, deceit, or trial of any demon can tarnish Granfell's noble pride."
"I'll be the one to send you all straight to hell."
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