Chapter 03
“…? Wait a moment.”
In front of me, GM Neria hurriedly contacted someone.
Was this the “unprecedented” gift YourMoneyGames prepared?
In nice words, unprecedented. In bad words, something no one had ever heard of.
Deleting the data of a user who heavily invested in building their company?
This is the gift?
“Ah… yes, I understand. Then I’ll tell User Uni that.”
It seemed they got an answer.
GM Neria suddenly pushed a screen in front of me.
“Have you ever seen this user before?”
On the screen was an extremely handsome male character who didn’t even look like he belonged in Uneria.
Of course I had seen him. How could I forget?
“Mr. Ned!”
I shouted like lightning, pointing at the screen.
“Huh?”
But why show Mr. Ned now?
Don’t tell me—
“What, don’t tell me my character and Mr. Ned’s got switched? No, my nickname shows correctly in the status window?”
What is this?
Was the Red Orb event prize a character swap?
“Did you perhaps exchange Red Orbs with a user named Ned?”
“……”
Ex… change…? Are you saying that’s the reason?
I looked up at GM Neria with a twisted face.
After seeing my reaction, she nodded.
“So this is what happened…”
Her explanation was this:
Each user received a slightly different Red Orb. Only the special winner’s orb had a certain device placed inside.
So normally, I should have brought my character’s specs and items with me.
But because my orb and Ned’s orb got switched, this mess happened.
“Then don’t make the Red Orb droppable in the first place!”
My anger exploded to the top of my head.
“We forgot that part.”
GM Neria scratched her head and winked.
Is that something you say while smiling?!
This is your fault!
“Just log me out already.”
“That’s… not possible.”
“Huh?”
What? Didn’t you say you could before?
GM Neria suddenly put on glasses from nowhere and spoke seriously.
“Right now, your information has been switched with User Ned’s. So normal logout is not possible.”
“Wow.”
“If you just clear the game, you can log out…”
My anger reached the top of my head again, but I forced it down with a sigh.
Fine. I cleared it once. I can clear it twice.
And for an old game, Uneria didn’t even have that many main story quests.
“Then just fix the character information quickly. Don’t tell me you can’t fix that too?”
“Of course we can fix it. In this case, User Ned has illegally taken your items. Through our hacking damage recovery service, you can receive help.”
Even though it was their fault, she spoke smoothly.
“It’s not that Mr. Ned hacked me… but fine. So how do I get it restored?”
If I say I don’t want Ned punished, that should be enough.
First, I need my character info back.
“First, let me check your OTP security service.”
“I don’t use OTP.”
OTP. The thing where you have to grab your phone and type a code within 30 seconds every time you log in.
Too complicated. I don’t use it.
These days you can log in with fingerprints. Why bother?
GM Neria blinked.
“According to Uneria’s regulations, only users with OTP can receive hacking recovery service.”
“?”
Is this a joke? I blinked.
“Unfortunately, it seems we cannot restore your data.”
GM Neria smiled brightly.
“Please check the notice at the bottom right again, and enjoy your adventure in the world of Uneria.”
“Excuse me?”
????????
Then GM Neria smiled sweetly, scattered a bunch of powder, and disappeared.
That exit looked very rushed.
What? Is that it? That’s the end? What am I supposed to do?
“Enjoy your adventure?”
I grabbed my head.
This is all because of that Red Orb!
If I had known it had such deep meaning, I would’ve switched it back!
“Are you kidding me?”
Before that, what kind of stupid event is this without any warning? And when did our country’s technology advance so much that I could fall into a game world like this—
While my mind was in chaos, Ned’s face suddenly appeared in my thoughts.
“Ahhhhh!”
Noooo! Noooooooo!
I remembered him smiling and entering the dungeon.
I mentally went back in time a hundred times and screamed at my past self.
Don’t switch that orb! Nooooo!
An hour passed.
An hour of me trying everything to log out.
When I was playing on PC, if the game lagged or crashed, I could just force close it or restart the computer.
But this wasn’t a computer. I had entered the game.
So I couldn’t restart anything.
All I could do was search through the menu floating in front of me.
[Menu]
[Inventory]
[Status]
[Equipment]
…
Of course, there was no Logout option.
At this rate, I won’t get out unless I punch GM Neria.
With that temporary goal in mind, I opened the mailbox in the corner of the room.
GM Neria said there were precautions I must read.
There were three letters.
[Hello, User Uni! Welcome to the continent of Uneria!
You are the first and only user in the world to experience Uneria with your own two feet!]
The letter began by telling me I was the first victim of this ridiculous experience.
[The precautions are the same as those announced in the PC version of Uneria during the winner announcement.]
“…I didn’t see it.”
I didn’t even hear GM Neria say my nickname.
This must be my house internet’s fault.
Thankfully, the precautions were written again below.
[First, you can check your remaining HP and Mana at the bottom right of your vision.
As HP decreases, your movements will become restricted.]
Same as the PC version.
The difference is that now, my actual body would become harder to move.
[Second, if your HP reaches zero, you will die. You cannot revive unless another user resurrects you.]
Same as before. Nothing special—
“Wait.”
Something felt wrong.
I looked back at the top of the letter.
[You are the first and only user…]
Only? So I’m the only user here?
[You cannot revive unless another user resurrects you.]
“?”
So if I die, I just lie on the ground for ten years? A hundred? A thousand?
A gentle smile slowly spread across my face.
[Third, a hunger system has been added!
You can check your fullness in the status window.
If fullness drops below 50%, your HP will decrease by 10% every hour.
Please eat well.]
“Damn it!”
[Fourth, some parts of the main story have been changed from what you know.
Please save the continent of Uneria once again, Hero!]
“I don’t need that!”
Hero my foot!
I crumpled the letter and threw it away.
If I read more, I might die from anger first.
[Neria GM’s Second Letter]
GM Neria. Just wait.
I opened the second letter roughly.
[Hello, User Uni! It’s GM Neria. Are you enjoying your adventure in Uneria?
Due to our mistake, your character information and User Ned’s have been switched.
As a result, User Ned has also fallen into the same world as you.]
“Oh.”
That was good news.
Even if I die, at least Ned might wander this huge continent and eventually find and revive me.
That’s great, right, GM Neria?
Still, the last letter seemed slightly useful.
[Hello, User Uni! It’s GM Neria.
After internal discussion, we decided to give you compensation instead of hacking recovery.
Please write what you want in the blank below.
However, since the main story quest has been changed, we cannot grant character stats or experience points that must be obtained through quests.]
Actually, never mind. It’s not useful.
If I can’t get stats or experience, then what? Three wishes?
[Please note that requesting more than two wishes is also difficult ^^]
“……”
I felt like she read my mind.
“What should I choose?”
Grabbing GM Neria’s collar could wait.
First, I needed to level up, clear the game, and escape.
Ned must be lucky.
With my specs, he could clear the main story even naked in his underwear.
I opened my status window, inventory, and skill window and thought deeply.
“Whoa.”
After seeing my inventory, I almost jumped.
Then I calmed my eyes and decided what to write in the letter.
I had forgotten that Ned had spent enough money to receive a Red Orb.
Long live Ned! I love you!
