Chapter 1: The Return of an Old Flame

A few days ago, I quit my job.

It was my first job after graduating, and it wasn't bad.

At least, until the CEO changed.

A wave of reform swept through the company, all in the name of expansion and progress.

And the new CEO was much older.

The atmosphere, once respecting individual freedom, shifted to something conservative and collective. For employees like me, who valued individuality, it became unbearable.

On top of that, it happened to be just after my sister and brother-in-law had started their own business.

“What? You’re quitting? Are you crazy! No, wait. Hey, then you can take it easy for a bit and start working with us in winter. We’re opening a new department then, so we’ll need people.”

“Seriously? But it’s only just past spring. You want me to slack off for a year?”

“Isn’t it great? And by then, our foundation will be stable, so we could probably look after you.”

“What, really? Don’t tempt me.”

“It’s up to you. Worst case, we’ll let you clean or something.”

“Ah, come on… Then I’d be really grateful. I’ll give you my utmost loyalty.”

I laughed it off, but my sister was pretty serious.

When I asked for details, the job sounded simple enough. Thanks to that, I could breathe a little easier.

Of course, there was the premise that my sister’s business had to survive until winter...

Well, something will work out.

Maybe because I had somewhere to lie down and laze about, I dove into a carefree, if slightly childish, period of temporary unemployment.

“Maybe I should take this opportunity to enroll in some classes?”

At least back then, I had healthy, responsible plans in mind.

But the moment I saw a game article on a website’s main page, that plan vanished like smoke.

[Marv CEO Kim Ji-hyuk’s pick, the VR game ‘Nord World’—no casualties during the bug fiasco?]

“Oh… Marv’s CEO, Kim Ji-hyuk!”

A handsome entrepreneur who runs a shopping mall and even models for it himself. Even I know him—he’s famous.

And since I liked him well enough, I clicked the article, almost entranced.

“I heard Kim Ji-hyuk likes games, but I guess he still does? Is he alright, though? Hope he wasn’t hurt or anything.”

The article wasn’t much. The Nord World incident happened a month ago, and it was all over the news—anyone would know.

A VR game that had been running perfectly well suddenly went down for almost a whole day. With all the safety concerns around connection failures, it caused quite a stir.

“The service is still suspended? Wow, must’ve been serious.”

I used to be an avid gamer, so I naturally read through the article and even browsed the comments.

[This game still exists?]

[The image of flawless VR games was wrecked by Nord, LOL]

[This thing is still alive, haha. Was it two years ago? I started alone, got to know my guildmates, and got help from them. Compared to other games, the manners were good.]

Amid a flood of hate comments, there was one top comment that felt like it came from another world.

Maybe because it was so unique, it drew a flood of replies underneath.

[I did too~ Had fun with Nord for a while, haha]

[Two years ago? Do you remember the Baram Guild? What was your username?]

[LOL I still remember, was it Leon from the original guild? I quit because of that guy’s control freak issues.]

Thanks to that, the comments after that were surprisingly positive.

[Wow, nice to see Nord World’s still alive, haha. Every game I played except Nord’s been shut down, sob.]

The moment I saw that comment, my eyes lit up. All at once, I remembered the game I’d been obsessed with as a high schooler.

“Right. Now that I think about it, what happened to that one?”

Curious, I searched for it. Coincidentally, the name was similar to Nord World.

[Monster World]

“Oh……”

Amazingly, it was still up and running.

“Whoa, really?”

A game released almost twenty years ago. And it wasn’t even popular—basically dead from the start.

That kind of game, still alive? It was kind of absurd.

As I searched for more recent updates, I found a review on someone’s personal blog.

[Monster World]

[In this era of booming, cutting-edge games, this PC 2D (for the old folks) game survives thanks to analog-sentiment fans.]

[As you can tell from the simple graphics in the screenshots, it’s a real old-school hack-and-slash RPG.]

[The average user is in their 30s or 40s, and there are quite a few in their 50s. If you’re in your 20s, people genuinely ask, “Whoa—how did you even find this?”]

[Now it’s a world of “stagnant water” players, so if you’re a newbie, stay away.]

[Your mental health will get wrecked.]

So it’s still alive, but apparently not in great shape.

Well, it already seemed that way back when I played...

Anyway, just seeing a few of the screenshots brought back a flood of nostalgia—though, honestly, not all of them were good memories.

Monster World was notorious for high-level players bullying newcomers.

Realizing that toxic culture had survived all this time made me give a twisted smile—when suddenly, another phrase caught my eye.

[But, the always-open “Another Server” is worth trying, even for newbies.]

[It’s a six-month seasonal server, livelier than the main one, so if you’re interested, watch out for the season opening.]

“What, even the event server is still alive?”

No pay-to-win, and if you put in the effort, it’s fair for everyone. The event-only Another Server.

My heart started to race at the thought that this paradise was still open.

Before I realized it—

I was already installing Monster World.