I Became the Black Sheep of a Conglomerate Family

Everyone has that one game—the game of their life.

For Woojin, it was Gate Hunter.

Gate Hunter was a virtual reality game set in a modern-day world of hunters. Its graphics seemed a decade ahead of the competition, it had a vast open world, and even its NPCs reacted like real people.

“Holy shit. Did they torture aliens to make this?”

“The combat’s no joke, either. This is seriously insane!”

“And it’s not even online? It’s a standalone single-player game? Say no more. Take my money!”

Released when he was in his teens, the game had taken the world by storm. At its peak, it racked up millions of downloads a day.

‘But it flopped in the end.’

The reason was simple.

It was too hard.

〈(Tip) Death returns everything to nothing. Treasure your life!〉

That was the very first message that appeared when you started the game.

Gamers who brushed it off went through absolute hell.

Because you only had one life in the game.

[Park Siwoo (Protagonist, Starting Character)]

[Traits: Swordsmanship Genius]

[Clear Difficulty: ★]

[Recommended Class: Swordsman]

[Fastest Clear Rankings]

[1. Kukuruppingppong - 365 days]

[2. Hello - 533 days]

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[Park Siwoo Player Forum]

—Why’s killing five goblins in the tutorial so damn hard? Is it normal to keep restarting here forever??

—Fucking normal lmao. Give it a month and really grind at it lol.

—He’s a swordsmanship genius, so why the hell am I getting sliced up by goblins?!

—Lmao guess your brain isn’t a genius.

—Ah fuck. Said one wrong thing and got sent back to the starting town lol. This bastard’s supposed to be one star?

—One mistake and the Siwoo I’d been playing for two years is back in his underwear lmao. What do I do now lol.

—Re:Starting Your Reset Life from Zero. Grats grats.

Even with the protagonist available as the starting character, it had taken a year for the first successful clear to be reported.

The difficulty was so brutal that anyone with ordinary talent had no hope of beating it.

And as for Han Sia, the second character players could unlock...

〈(Tip) To become an excellent mage, you must learn to control mana well.〉

[Han Sia (Female Protagonist)]

[Traits: Magical Genius]

[Clear Difficulty: ★★]

[Recommended Class: Mage]

[Fastest Clear Rankings]

[1. Kukuruppingppong - 401 days]

[2. Hello - 703 days]

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[Han Sia Player Forum]

—For fuck’s sake lol. How do you cast magic lmaooo.

—Sir... I want to cast magic so badly...!

—Breaking news! Successfully created a Fireball on run 20! GREAT★SUCCESS!

—Talented fucks piss me off. Downvoted. Fuck you, fuck you.

—Shitcademy exam attempt 30. Another spectacular failure lmaooo.

—Fuck, I seriously can’t do this anymore!

Forget hunting monsters. Most players washed out of the “academy,” where they had to sense mana and produce magic themselves in order to graduate.

It was hardly surprising that players trapped in endless restarts began leaving one by one.

Now, fifteen years after its release, only a tiny handful of people still played Gate Hunter.

It made sense. Plenty of games had come out that were much easier, had better graphics, and offered a more satisfying power fantasy. By now, it was halfway to being just a nostalgic memory.

‘Probably not many left, aside from freaks like me.’

He logged in from inside his capsule.

[Welcome, Kukuruppingppong!]

[Here is your list of currently playable characters!]

[1. Park Siwoo (★)]

[Fastest Clear]

[2. Han Sia (★★)]

[Fastest Clear]

[3. Namgung Min (★★★)]

[Fastest Clear]

[4. Seo Yerim (★★★★)]

[Fastest Clear]

[5. Kim Minwoo (★★★★★)]

[Day 1,832 in progress.]

“Ugh, what a slog.”

Woojin grinned at the character list. Those five entries held fifteen whole years of his life.

Fortunately, he was one of those people whose life had taken a dramatic turn for the better thanks to a game.

His personal streams of Gate Hunter had absolutely blown up.

Woojin, beating a notoriously difficult game in record time.

His streams gave players an enormous sense of vicarious satisfaction, and the generous donations that poured in had transformed his life.

The fame he had earned as the world’s best virtual reality gamer was a bonus. That hadn’t changed even now, with Gate Hunter’s popularity on the wane.

Plenty of people still watched his walkthrough videos with gritted teeth, even if they no longer played themselves. By now, he had enough to live on for the rest of his life without ever playing another game.

People had cursed the game every way imaginable, but to Woojin, it was a lifelong benefactor.

“I’m getting that ending today.”

Kim Minwoo.

Five-star difficulty.

Known as Gate Hunter’s final playable character, this bastard was so infuriatingly difficult that he made you swear.

[Kim Minwoo (Eldest Son of Ilseong Group)]

[Traits: Born with a Diamond Spoon, Talentless, Arrogant, Lazy, Coward, Lecher, Crybaby, Freeloader]

[Clear Difficulty: ★★★★★]

[Class: Swordsman]

[Objective: Slay the Dragon Lord within 3 in-game years.]

The eldest son of Ilseong Group, the nation’s number-one conglomerate.

Apart from that one thing, everything about this character was garbage.

〈(Tip) Kim Minwoo has a stronger sense of self than any other character. Please respect his opinions!〉

“You goddamn bastard.”

He recalled the opening message he had seen so often that it made him shudder.

Each of the five characters had their own approach to beating the game.

Kim Minwoo was no exception.

A strong sense of self.

Woojin had only learned what that meant after he started playing.

This bastard actively “interfered” with the player’s actions.

The way he interfered was simple.

Try to enter a gate, for instance...

[Kim Minwoo refuses to enter!]

“ A gate? Why would I go somewhere that dangerous? I’ve awakened. Isn’t that enough? Items? I can just buy those, can’t I?”

[Kim Minwoo refuses to act!]

“You want me to take an elixir and strengthen my body? No thanks. I heard that hurts like hell. I can’t stand pain.”

[Kim Minwoo refuses to train!]

“Ugh, grinding skill proficiency is such a fucking hassle. Seriously. I can live the good life without doing this shit.”

The sadder part was that even if Woojin somehow forced him to train his ass off, he could never get beyond the level of an intermediate awakener. His lack of talent in every single field was appalling.

And why did he have to be such a coward?

Woojin still vividly remembered encountering an early-game boss.

[Kim Minwoo is gripped by extreme terror!]

[All stats decrease by 50%!]

[All skills are sealed!]

[He refuses all combat actions and flees!]

“Eeeek! Run away!”

[You have died.]

[Game over.]

Three in-game years.

No matter how carefully he optimized his route, Woojin could see no possible way to slay the Dragon Lord.

How the hell was he supposed to beat the final boss in three years with a bastard like this?

Most of the forum users who watched his stream that day had much the same reaction.

—Watched the walkthrough stream. This Kim Minwoo fucker is truly legendary lmao.

—This thing’s a swordsman? Siwoo was a fucking angel lmaooo.

—Like Ppingppong said, maybe if he at least had a different class, but come on lol.

—For real. If he were a necro, maybe. But you can’t change classes in this game lol. He’s in for some serious suffering lmao.

That first battle had been nothing but despair.

A class that summoned creatures, like a necromancer, would have been far better.

Kim Minwoo was the talentless one, not his summons.

Even an F-rank skeleton could do its job perfectly well if you loaded it up with rare treasures.

And undead summons weren’t cowards like this bastard, either.

But, despairingly, the class Kim Minwoo had awakened to was swordsman.

Kim Minwoo had shown him the true might of five stars.

After that day...

[Kim Minwoo Attempt 1,024. Let’s Try Making Some Friends!]

Thinking that allies might solve the problem of his hopeless lack of talent, Woojin tried playing with a party for the first time ever. But...

[Kim Minwoo takes great offense!]

“A lowborn wretch dares criticize me?”

Just when Woojin thought he had finally won someone over, Minwoo would turn them into an enemy in an instant. Even Woojin had to marvel at his way with words.

‘You socially maladjusted piece of shit!’

He realized then.

This bastard was constitutionally incapable of having companions.

What followed was a horrific ordeal of patience and endurance.

Eventually, he managed to blaze a new trail.

He clawed his way up from the very bottom of the family hierarchy, acquired greater authority, earned money, and bought up every artifact he could.

No talent? Make up for it with money.

If money didn’t work, throw more money at it. If that still didn’t work, spend even more!

He had invested 1,832 days in beating this character.

Now it was time to reap the rewards.

[Connecting to the game!]

[The stream is starting!]

A moment later, an enormous door appeared before him.

[Entrance to the Hall of Dragons]

[The final boss, the Dragon Lord, sleeps here.]

[1 day remains until the Dragon Lord awakens.]

[Slay the Dragon Lord to clear the game.]

‘I’ve got a shot.’

Right before the Dragon Lord awoke and wreaked havoc. The moment when Kim Minwoo was at his strongest, and the Dragon Lord at its weakest!

“Let’s goooo!”

The door opened.

A monster with an enormous, dragonlike body revealed itself.

* * *

“An uninvited guest.”

[You have witnessed the form of a dragon!]

[Intense fear washes over you!]

It happened that instant.

CRACK...!

Cracks began racing across the rings on his fingers.

[Mental protection artifacts activate!]

[Iron Man (S) activated!]

[Indomitable Will (S) activated!]

[Perfect Serenity (S) activated!]

[Viking’s Valor (S) activated!]

[Berserker (S) activated!]

[Resisting the Dragon Lord!]

[Resistance successful!]

[You are immune to fear for 15 minutes!]

All five rings shattered at once.

‘Fuck!’

He had jumped through so many goddamn hoops to get those!

One measly act of resistance had chewed through every last one of his top-tier rings.

—Fuck lmao. Five artifacts for one look lol. Is that exchange rate for real?

—That’s actually insane lol. Did they even make this thing beatable?

Fifteen minutes of fear immunity.

He couldn’t waste a single second.

He activated every artifact he had gathered over the course of his relentless charge toward this moment.

[Dwarf King’s War Cry (S) activated!]

[The stats of all equipment worn by Kim Minwoo increase by 50%!]

[Hymn of the Holy Relic (S) activated!]

[Kim Minwoo’s talent ceiling increases by 100%!]

[Lightning Blade (S) activated!]

[The attack power of Kim Minwoo’s equipped sword increases by 100%!]

[Sword Dance (S) activated!]

[Kim Minwoo’s swordsmanship proficiency increases by 200%!]

Even the shittiest talent, with enough stacked boosts...

SLICE!

...could cut through the Dragon Lord’s tough scales.

He slashed, then slashed again.

The battle continued, drawing him into something close to a trance.

Three minutes.

—Holy shit. How’s he dodging all that and still landing thrusts?

—Ppingppong isn’t world number one for nothing lol.

[The Dragon Lord’s HP is below 85%!]

[You have earned an astounding achievement...]

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Eight minutes.

[The Dragon Lord’s HP is below 63%!]

[You have earned an impossible achievement...]

—He’s fucked. Hasn’t he used up all the items he brought?

—Don’t think this’ll work. The attack patterns keep getting nastier;;

—Wait, impossible achievements are a thing? First time I’ve seen one.

—Same here.

Fourteen minutes, fifty seconds.

[The Dragon Lord’s HP is below 50%!]

[Inexplicable achievement earned: ‘One Who Discovered Possibility’!]

It happened that instant.

“The entertainment ends here.”

[Dragon Tongue (EX) activated!]

[An artifact activates...]

[You cannot resist!]

[You lose control of your body!]

THUD.

His body collapsed like a kite with its string cut.

‘Ha...’

An EX-rank ability.

A hollow laugh escaped him.

This thing hadn’t been made to be beaten.

‘Goddammit. Maybe with another class, but a swordsman can never kill this thing.’

Cowardly Kim Minwoo and the swordsman class were the worst possible match.

Everything from his early growth rate to his late-game potential was far too low.

‘How the hell am I supposed to beat this?’

He had beaten this game countless times, but this time, he simply couldn’t see an answer.

Then it happened.

The screen began to freeze, and a blue message appeared in place of the usual red ones.

〈Player.〉

〈Congratulations.〉

〈You have surpassed our standards and demonstrated your potential.〉

[Notice: The final stage, Stage 6, has been unlocked!]

[Kim Minwoo]

[Clear Difficulty: ★★★★★★]

[Traits: Born with a Diamond Spoon, Talentless, Arrogant, Lazy, Coward, Lecher, Crybaby, Freeloader]

[Class: Unawakened]

[Clear Objective: Slay an Outer God within 7 years.]

[Special Features]

[1. Kim Minwoo’s class changes from Swordsman to Unawakened!]

[2. All main characters in the game gather in a single shared world!]

[3. Character growth branches into more diverse paths!]

[4. The scope of the playable world expands greatly!]

[Entering Stage 6 in 10 seconds!]

‘... What?’

Woojin stared blankly at the messages appearing one after another.

‘There was a Stage 6?’

Was taking more than half the Dragon Lord’s HP the unlock condition?

This was also the first he had heard of an enemy called an Outer God.

Nine seconds.

Eight seconds.

Watching the time swiftly tick away, he thought:

‘Stage 6, huh? Sounds fun.’

With Stage 6, he wouldn’t have to worry about streaming content for a while, would he?

And that goddamn class had been reset to Unawakened, too.

Just having Kim Minwoo be something other than that infuriating swordsman guaranteed a good time.

Then the ten seconds were up.

Woojin’s consciousness began to fade. His body vanished in an instant.

Not just from the game, but from inside the capsule as well.

When the screen began moving again...

—Did Ppingppong log out?

—Why’d the stream suddenly end?

—Did something happen?

The stream had ended. Only the chat window kept scrolling furiously.