Chapter 1: Thief, But With a Side of Terminal Illness (1)

I was in the middle of unpacking.

In a box storing my parents’ keepsakes, I found a dusty CD case.

Was it curiosity, or was it longing for my parents?

I opened the case and took out the CD.

It was in pristine condition, and the installation and execution went smoothly.

That was my first encounter with the damned game Heroes of Frey.

The game’s setting isn’t anything special.

The backdrop is a dark fantasy world blending Gothic and Victorian-era aesthetics with swords, magic, and magitech.

The overall atmosphere is dark, grim, and desperate, but centered around an educational institution called Frey Academy, where various characters compete, fall in love, and grow.

By the final act, they face off against the mastermind Beltus Cult to save the continent, forming the backbone of a classic, heroic storyline.

Before I knew it, I was completely hooked on Frey Heroes.

Five years.

From the time I moved to Seoul after my military discharge until I turned thirty, that’s how long I spent with Frey Heroes.

I’d seen the ending long ago.

Replay and clear chapters in different ways was routine.

I’d raise characters by focusing on a single stat, or defeat all bosses with just a wooden staff, imposing extreme challenges on myself for daily enjoyment.

That day was no different.

I was watching the ending credits roll after beating the game.

I don’t remember which playthrough it was.

Maybe around the 72nd? I stopped counting after the 50th, but it was probably around there.

The theme was clearing it in one take, without saving or loading.

I thought it’d be tough, but it was easier than expected, leaving me feeling empty.

But that emptiness vanished completely due to a message that appeared after the credits.

[Another Story Unlocked]

[Would you like to enter? YES / No]

My heart pounded.

Another Story.

A story outside the main canon.

A side story, in other words.

I’d been wondering what new challenges to set for myself, and that message was like a spark igniting a pile of dry ashes.

If it’s a side story, the narrative would likely branch off entirely, which alone would be exciting enough.

Of course, I briefly hesitated at why a side story had suddenly unlocked and the warning in red text that read ‘Hell Mode.’

Very briefly.

But my brain was already pickled in excitement and anticipation for a new story, so I moved the mouse.

“Just do it.”

Think later.

My thoroughly smashed head was incapable of rational judgment.

“And what? Hell Mode? Even better.”

I laughed and clicked Yes.

──And now here I am.

“Shiiiit.”

After parting with the butler, Luis, and returning to the academy dormitory, I let out a curse.

The emptiness echoed in the empty room.

Sighing and staring blankly at the ceiling, even that ceiling, which I’d never paid much attention to, felt resentful today.

Ah. If only this were all a dream?

No joke, I’ve probably thought this dozens of times since ending up in this game.

But I’ve never meant it as much as I do now.

“……I feel dizzy.”

The cause was right in my hand.

The long-term contract with the Beltus Cult that Luis had handed me.

My hand trembled so much from gripping it that the edges of the document were crumpled.

I glared at the contract as if I could burn a hole through it, but that wouldn’t change the situation.

Frustrated, I ruffled my hair for no reason.

“This sucks.”

I became a character in the game.

His name is Gerard.

If I had to describe this body in one word, it’d be ‘recluse.’

A loner recluse.

The most unprecedented failure in academy history, who skips everything—lectures, assignments, events, festivals, and all group activities.

Yet, because of the prestige and reputation of the continent’s top educational institution, they can’t just expel him, making him the worst headache.

A fierce appearance and a socially deficient, rude personality are his passive traits.

Now, everyone thinks of him as a ghost.

That’s me.

Gerard.

He also holds dazzling titles like loser, trash, deadbeat, and the shame of the 888th class.

But the most famous nickname that best describes him is ‘recluse.’

In modern slang, maybe something like ‘outcast.’

Anyway.

This guy has two encounters with the player character, the protagonist.

The first is a minor clash caused by Gerard’s one-sided provocation.

The second is a mid-boss battle when his identity as a thief is revealed.

And later, this becomes my death flag.

Why did this ordeal have to happen to me? I discard such frustrating, pathetic thoughts.

Ah. I shouldn’t have accepted it back then.

No, I shouldn’t have started the game at all.

Or maybe I shouldn’t have unpacked my parents’ keepsake box.

Maybe I shouldn’t have moved in the first place.

Because such self-pity goes on endlessly.

Now, more than ever, I need to focus and make choices.

The deed is done.

I’m Gerard now, and I’m inevitably bound to carry out the Beltus Cult’s requests as per the mainstream storyline.

And I’ll probably die.

So, I need to come up with a plan quickly.

Right.

Let’s calmly sort out the current situation step by step.

I’m trash… no, Gerard.

A cadet of the glorious 888th class at Frey Hero Academy and, at the same time, the master of the thief guild ‘Shadow.’

And it’s currently January.

Two months before the protagonist and supporting characters who drive the story of Frey Heroes enroll.

In the original story, Gerard dies around the end of the first semester, during final exams….

That means I have only five months left to live.

“Shit. It’s like I’m terminally ill.”

Five months.

A bitter laugh escapes, but of course, I have no intention of accepting this reality, not even a speck.

How do I overcome this predicament?

I start thinking through options in the order they come to mind.

First method.

What if I just leave far away?

Then I wouldn’t meet the protagonist, and I could naturally avoid the ‘death’ flag looming over me.

But I quickly shake my head.

That’s too simplistic.

To survive, I need to think broader and farther.

I know the end of this world.

The mainstream storyline of Heroes of Frey flows toward the world’s destruction.

As the episodes progress, the continent gradually becomes a wasteland, with evil rampant everywhere.

Can the protagonist and the academy’s characters stop that fate?

If I’d possessed the protagonist’s body, maybe.

But honestly, I’m not confident.

Moreover, later on, the safest place on the continent becomes Frey Academy, where the main characters gather.

If I leave the academy now, I might live a little longer, but the danger remains the same.

In fact, to prevent the world’s destruction, I’d have to stay at the academy and help the characters….

“I’m screwed.”

I shake my head again and think of the next option.

How about this?

Completely ignore the cult’s requests.

The critical reason Gerard meets his demise is because of the Beltus Cult’s requests—acting as their lackey.

But if I don’t do it?

“Then there’s no reason to die.”

But this option is dismissed without further thought.

It’s the worst possible choice, plummeting straight to death.

For the Beltus Cult, the greatest mastermind in the world, this academy espionage is a crucial stepping stone for their future plans.

If I unilaterally break or ignore such an important deal, it’s obvious the cult won’t sit idly by.

The mainstream storyline hasn’t even started yet.

To incur the wrath of the mastermind before it even begins?

Starting life in Hell Mode?

That’s something only lunatics bored with life would do.

Let’s face reality.

This isn’t a game where I can beat bosses with a wooden staff.

It’s stark reality.

So, this is out too.

Then what do I do?

Following the mainstream leads to death.

Leaving the academy leads to death, and ignoring the requests leads to death.

No matter what, knowing the future, all I see is death.

There’s no answer.

“Then is that the only way?”

In the end, I had no choice but to pick the last option I’d been subconsciously avoiding.

It’s nothing special.

Dive straight into the mainstream and face it head-on.

Follow the predetermined flow, acting as the cult’s lackey at the academy.

Of course, as I’ve said several times, doing this would get me caught and killed by the characters before the story even reaches the mid-point.

But there’s a condition: ‘if I get caught.’

If I get caught, I die.

Conversely, if I don’t get caught?

I don’t die.

It’s a precarious, dangerous gamble where a single mistake could cost me my life.

It’s also a choice that could potentially alter the mainstream storyline of this world.

No. If I, who’s supposed to die, don’t die, the story’s flow will definitely change.

But on the flip side, that’s the only way I can survive.

To live.

I have to change the mainstream.

It won’t be as simple as it sounds.

There will be many difficulties, and I’ll face countless life-or-death moments.

I might even encounter greater obstacles while trying to avoid the death flag.

But I have my own ace up my sleeve.

It’s nothing grand.

It’s me.

I’m not bragging, but I’m a lunatic who’s sunk five years into this game.

Naturally, I know everything about this world’s future, its hidden secrets and information, and the various incidents that will occur at the academy.

If I can make good use of that experience and memory.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find a way out?

Ah. The one obstacle here is the cult’s requests.

If I carry out the cult’s requests to avoid death, I’d essentially be selling the world to evil just to save myself, becoming utter trash.

I’m already in a shitty situation possessing a villain, and I don’t want to become irredeemable garbage just to survive.

I’m not some traitor like Lee Wan-yong.

But I have a workaround for this too.

Don’t give them critical information, and refuse or sabotage requests that prick my conscience.

Meanwhile, I secure my own gains behind the scenes.

In other words, act as their lackey but only ‘pretend’ to, walking a tightrope.

To summarize, follow the mainstream while keeping one foot in both camps—a so-called bat-like survival strategy.

The most crucial part here is maintaining strict ‘neutrality.’

Good and evil.

The academy and the cult.

Surviving by performing an extreme tightrope act alone on the boundary between them is a highly precarious strategy, but.

No matter how much I think, this seems like the only golden lifeline to pull me out of this abyss….

Fine, let’s do it.

In a world where I can only rely on myself, if I’m going to die either way, dying in a game I’ve thoroughly played out feels less unfair.

With that, I’ve roughly set my course.

Now it’s time to act.

First, to learn about this body, I looked into the mirror on the wall.

Over the grim face, something translucent overlapped, forming another image.

Name: Gerard

Age: 30

Occupation: Thief / Frey Academy 888th Class Cadet

Level: 26

Strength: 29

Agility: 43

Stamina: 27

Mental Strength: 33

Traits ─ Versatile / Instinct / Endurance / Memory and Understanding / Coolheadedness / Sharp Perception / Gaius’s Insight

It’s the familiar status window I’ve seen countless times in Heroes of Frey.

The fact that the status window function is active is the one thing I was most relieved about after coming to my senses.

“What? He’s thirty too?”

This is something I didn’t know.

Well, since he’s a guy infiltrating the academy, I figured his age might not be real, but to think we’re the same age.

For a brief moment, I entertain the rational suspicion that I ended up in this body because of our matching ages, instead of some perfectly fine character.

Anyway.

The body was far more usable than I’d worried.

He’s a villain, after all, right?

Of course, his overall level is just that of an early mid-boss, but the [Versatile] trait alone was a golden lifeline bestowed upon me.

It’s like finding a single piece of bamboo washed up on what I thought was a deserted island.

To someone without survival skills, it’s just a piece of bamboo they’d pass by without a thought.

But to someone with strong survival instincts, it’s a material for countless survival tools.

For me, this [Versatile] trait—no, this body itself—is that survival tool.

The only thing I can rely on in this deserted island of a world.

How I utilize it will determine my survival odds.

Various growth strategies flash through my mind and fade.

“The rest are decent too. But what’s this?”

[Gaius’s Insight]

If Gaius refers to Ian Gaius, the great thief of the distant past, then this is likely a unique trait exclusive to Gerard.

“Then I don’t know its effects yet. Well, I’ll figure it out eventually.”

I took a notebook from the drawer and wrote down the stats and traits, along with growth strategies tailored to them, without hesitation.

While I was at it, I also jotted down the major events that would occur at the academy, the benefits I could gain from them, and future directions, adding notes below in Korean, legible only to me.

The notebook gradually filled up.

Suddenly, I recalled what Luis said before we parted.

“I trust you’ll handle it well, but you should prepare for the academy espionage in advance. Familiarize yourself with the terrain or gather information about the surroundings. Training in thievery or swordsmanship wouldn’t hurt either. Whatever you do, give it your all. This is our only chance to rebuild the guild. I’m placing all my expectations on you, Master.”

Two months remain until the entrance ceremony.

How I spend these two months is critical.

Who the original Gerard was doesn’t matter.

Because now, Gerard is me.

What matters is the future and that future will be rewritten by me from now on.

“What’ll happen?”

I ask myself while scribbling with the pen.

Can I preserve my life by changing fate?

Or will I die in vain, as destined?

Like walking through thick fog, there’s nothing I can be certain of.

But one thing I can answer for sure.

This playthrough’s Gerard will be completely different from before.

I will do my utmost to survive.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep