One Man Army

One Man Army – Episode 2: [Chapter 2] Coming back (1)

It wasn’t much different from a usual day. Nothing had changed even though he won the Major Leagues.   

He drank heavily and fell asleep after coming back home from the interview.

However, everything changed when he woke up.

He couldn’t think straight for awhile because of the situation, which didn’t make sense commonsensical.

After recovering, he found a mirror and checked himself.

“No, it  doesn’t make sense…”

It is definitely reality and not a dream for him, seeing the change which didn’t make sense at all as soon as he saw himself through his mirror.

In the mirror, he saw that an eighteen year old young Sang Hyuk, who lived in the orphanage, standing in front of the mirror, not a veteran director who made a team the best when he was 36 years old.

‘This doesn’t make sense no matter which way I look at it.’

Of course it didn’t seem like a dream. Everything was real despite him constantly looking around.  No one could have imagined be able to turn back everything even though they really wished so.

Sang Hyuk had the same thought. It was just his delusion. However, the delusion was real. Of course he was confused about the situation.

‘*Sigh*, please calm down and grasp this situation’  

After he woke up, he had not accepted the situation change for a good five hours. But, he had to accept it.

As he was a very cool man, named the “Ice Man”, he started grasping the situation gradually.

‘All I know is that I have either turned back time or just had a really long dream experiencing my future.

Neither one made sense, he could only guess about the situation that way.

‘If I had to choose either one, I think I might have turned to the past? No matter what it is, the important point is that I might be going to live the way I have already seen in my dream. If it is yes, I will have one more chance to live again.’

It was really embarrassing, the more he thought about it, the weirder he felt.

‘Has God given me a chance to live again just because I really wished for it?’

It was impossible to explain about this supernatural phenomenon with general knowledge. So he forced himself to accept the situation. He forcefully convinced himself by bringing in the presence of a god that he usually denied its existence.  

“If I can’t avoid it, I might as well try and enjoy it.”

He looked at the mirror and murmured his motto. He had seen this life motto by chance when he was at the bottom of his life. At this point, in the future, anyway, he thought totally different because he was 18 years old with the mental age of 36.

****

It took a few days for Sang Hyuk to accept this situation as is. He could confirm that this was not a dream with meeting people or colleagues around who he didn’t remember well, and he was sure that he had gone to the past through it.

Honestly, It wasn’t easy for him to admit this unbelievable situation, he could organize his thoughts faster than he thought because he was 36 years old mentally, not just 18 years old.

He started looking around after admitting everything. He already knew that it was in 2026, thus, he was 18 years old (2nd grade in high school). It was 22nd of December in 2026 on his old cellphone.

‘The moment which is going to change my life will happen right before my winter vacation of 3rd grade in high school.’

The moment which made him despair will happen after eleven months and Sang Hyuk had been struggling in the depths of misery five years after since the moment.

It was weird to think about what it is going to happen in the future, as it was expected if his future went as he knew.

Sang Hyuk didn’t really want to repeat the same mistakes.

‘I have less time than I think. If I want to live a second chance without regrets….I have to change many things.’

As the orphanage’s rule, people had to leave if they didn’t go to college after 19 years old. Sang Hyuk could live in the orphanage until February 2028 exactly.

Sang Hyuk knew that he couldn’t go to college, of course he had no choice but to come up with an alternative and consequently, he was forced to make a quick decision.

As a result, it was the worst choice, but it had been the best choice at the moment.

‘I can’t rely on a more particle of resettlement funds. Those rotten bastards who sold us to those trash bitches didn’t give us a settlement rate. I absolutely have to find a way to live by myself.’

Because Sang Hyuk had already comeback from absolutely nothing, he felt that this time, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Especially, the most important fact at this moment… Sang Hyuk looked perfectly normal.

“The talent I have. I can achieve what I want truely with it.”

The talent which was not stolen by bitches. Sang Hyuk still had it and he was confident with everything as long as he had the talent.

Indeed, Sang Hyuk could overcome the situation even though he lost it. That’s why he nodded his head with a confident face.

****

Nothing was uncomfortable for him despite not remembering many things. Because he already had quite a personality and he had 36 years old veteran wits which teenagers never got, he could mingle easily without any doubt.

Sang Hyuk adjusted to the situation in days and started making plans seriously for his future.

The information of the future, he wasn’t completely clear of, was almost the same between the current of the present and the future as a result of living for the last few days.

In this situation, it was too silly if he didn’t use the information he had already known.

‘The first thing I need… of course it is money, isn’t it?”

Money was really important for Sang Hyuk to live all alone after a year.

‘Then, how can I make money?’

Realistically, it was really limited for Sang Hyuk who was just 2nd grade in high school to earn money. All the money he could make was from the part time job with working like a slave.

“Working part-time never makes as much money as I want. If so… is the answer to make money at the DN(Dream Network)?”

DN was a huge world in 2020 made by developing of VR(virtual Reality) skill rapidly as people commonly saying.  

DN had developed as fast as the internet in the past and it was acknowledged as another existing virtual world altogether. It absorbed and covered whatever the internet used to do before.

‘Do I still have a bit more than a year to release EL(Eternal Light) called the revolution of DN?’

EL released on March in 2028 and became the best VR game all over the world in four months after its release. And it has been keeping the best position for 15 years since it was released.

“I have to establish the foundation to focus on EL before releasing EL.”

He couldn’t do anything special even though he had been sent back to the past because all he had was only his body.

He himself knew well especially about what special talents he had. So, he was thinking to be the best of the best with those talents.

“What was the most popular VR game at this time?”

Sang Hyuk had put memos on his cell phone about the important incidents or information that he remembered since the day he turned back to the past.

Sang Hyuk who was taking a look at his note and he found the name “Sword & Magic”, he remembered that the game was the most successful game in DN before releasing EL.

“ Alright. This game had been gaining popularity for awhile.”

Even though he hadn’t had lots of experiences, he played Sword & Magic for 6 months roughly.

‘At least it is helpful now. From his past, he was forced to play the game to avoid getting bullied.’

Although Sang Hyuk quaked with fury when he was reminded of the memory of that time, the experience of the time could be a help now.

‘That’s really a relief that a capsule VR machine hasn’t  been released yet.’

The capsule VR machine was a hit with EL. Exactly, if someone wanted to enjoy an EL, he needed to have a capsule VR machine.  

The Sword & Magic was enjoyable enough with a headphone VR machine, the used headphone VR machine could be bought at around $400.

“ The problem is that I don’t have $400 right now.”

He had to have money if he wanted to make money with DN. That meant that he at least had to work part time at a convenience store to make money to buy the VR machine.

  ****

Working part time was really more drudgery  than he thought as a 18 years old boy with 36 years mental age. A part time job Sang Hyuk used to choose was working at a convenience store because it was easy and he got used to it…It was the most difficult point for him having to endure many illogical things which he didn’t recognize when he was young.

However, it had not changed even though he did something for it and it couldn’t be helped so that it was the best way to make money.

As soon as Sang Hyuk who had worked at a convenience store for one month ended up making $600, he bought a used headphone VR machine.

Because Sang Hyuk had professional knowledge about VR machine, the seller of the secondhand store couldn’t swindle him with the price.

It was a hard to play the VR machine in the orphanage. He couldn’t tell anyone about buying the VR machine due to several reasons.

Due to the fact that he needed to play in secret, he made a deal with the shop owner to play the VR game in the corner of the store for $100 for 2 months.

It seemed a bit expensive considering a shabby VR room monthly rate was $150, but it was more important to start playing the game as soon as possible.

He had already decided to drop out of school and he thought he was going to attend the school enough just to avoid getting a call to the orphanage from the school. It wasn’t a big problem to show up at the school once every few days because the high school already had lots of problem students.

Sang Hyuk started  his first step with a chance he got in the shabby room of the corner of VR room.

A dizziness happens when you log in DN through VR machine. Even though it became better after developing the skill and releasing capsule VR machine, it couldn’t eliminate dizziness perfectly.

But at least, he didn’t feel any particular dizziness. It was not because he already got used to in the past.

The talent Sang Hyuk had. He couldn’t feel dizziness at all because of it

The talent which hadn’t existed so far while virtual skill was developing and the true virtual world appeared.

The ability that could react and move faster than whoever in virtual reality, not the real world, and could see things which others can’t see.

People who have this kind of ability became pro sportsmen in reality, but in DN, they became pro gamers naturally.

Anyway, this ability was called VRA(Virtual Reality Ability) which was thought by people as just an abstract ability, but exact analysis and research surfaced later after professionals began to appear.

VRA measuring was only used in DN, most people had between 100 to 150 VRA.

And, people who had low adaptability was measured between 70 to 100 VRA, in contrast, people who had high adaptability was measured around 200 VRA.

Commonly, the average of VRA of special people who were called pro gamers was measured approximately 250.

250 VRA meant that they had the ability to perform even as pro sportsmen.

Of course Sang Hyuk had high VRA which was far from normal VRA. According to his memory, his highest VRA was as high as 350.

The number which overwhelmed even pro gamers… may not be correct, I heard that his VRA could be a new world record.

Of course he became dejected after his numbers fell 4 years after hitting its peak, all the way down to VRA 40. Anyway, Sang Hyuk had a the extremely high VRA now.

“In half a year… I am going to earn money as much as I can and leave the orphanage!”

Sang Hyuk murmured as he displayed his determination before signing in DN. He was thinking about making money and being independent through Sword and Magic.

It wasn’t easy to make money through Sword and Magic since it had been out of style. However, Sang hyuk believed that he could achieve his wish with some information he already had and his special ability.     

< [ Chapter 2 ] Coming Back(1) > end

Translator : Joyce Gim