Life Mission Chapter 3:
Life Mission
Volume 1 Chapter 3
There were 10 one-hour videos . Each of them were extravagant and ostentatious enough to be comparable to blockbuster movies . They could not take their eyes off of them .
The lifers were watching a life mission between the Evil Queen and Overload’s battle, and it was almost enough to strip the gamers of their souls . The last video was especially amazing .
Overload lost both of his eyes and his left arm, but he did not care and killed the fleeing Evil Queen .
-[Is this for real?]
-[Wow… . . I spent the whole night watching the videos, and I didn’t even go to school the next day . ]
-[It’s surprising that he even found the Evil Queen . But to think he was able to catch her? A Level 9 mutant?]
-[That’s Overload alright! He is on a different level from the guys who fire their arms from a distance!]
-[I threw up raiding the Level 6 mutants . I guess I have to go kill myself . ]
-[He diced her with just a combat weapon . How do you do something like that?]
-[To the person above, watch Overload’s videos from 10 years ago in order . You’ll know if you watch . Your world will change . ]
-[What do you mean his world will change? This person seems to be mistaken – your universe will change . ]
Scroll .
His mouse rolled through the comments on the video . He went through hundreds of pages with 100 comments each .
“Good . ”
Cha Jun Sung looked through his blog . It had been one week since he uploaded the video .
The fervor did not fade and, with time, there were even more visitors . It was evidence that word was of his raid with the Evil Queen was spreading .
It would have been unfortunate if he did not receive this kind of response . He had invested a lot in this raid . Thinking about the balance, she was not an opponent that could be won with pure skill .
When he caught a Level 8 mutant, he had raised two and a half times the investment . He was not sure how much he would raise this time, but he was expecting it to be more than ever before .
“I guess the mission was a success . It’s needless to say there’s no greater glory to commemorate a retirement . ”
He had played Life Mission for 10 years . He had played games since he was young, and his start was the same as everyone else’s – but his mastery was obvious soon after .
One day he wondered what it would be like if he filmed his games and posted the videos up . As a joke, he created his own blog and uploaded each and every one of them .
Mutant strategy, promotion, creation . There had not been very many visitors at first but after 3 years, he had become a power blogger .
That was the start of a new world . When he became a power blogger, several advertising partners came in . He did not make a profit off of Life Mission, but it was still a good amount of money .
Cha Jun Sung was Overload, one of the 36 rankers in Life Mission, enjoyed by millions of people . The synergy he demonstrated was impressive .
There were currently about 100 advertisements on his banner, with an income of around $100,000 every month . At this rate, it was comparable to a small business .
Look .
There were usually 400,000 visitors in one day . Sometimes it even went up to 600,000 on a good day . But day before yesterday, the site had accumulated 1 . 2 million views . In many ways, it was a happy event .
“I’ll have to hurry and wrap it up so I can finally go travel . I can’t play games my whole life . ”
Life Mission was fun . It was almost as addictive as drugs .
Even after playing for 10 years, the possibilities were endless . But he did not want to leave his body to a capsule to play in his room until he grew old and died .
“Let’s see . The parts I have to sell are the legend patch, 15 sets of switching equipment, metal cyborgs, and 5 mansions . Ah! This is one I’d like to keep . ”
Even without connecting to the game, it is possible to see the selling situation through searches .
Most of the items he had registered on the auction had been sold . This was bound to happen because he had posted items of the highest quality for cheaper than the market price .
“Hades… . . My everything . ”
-[+18 ultimate Hades blade . ]
5 years ago, he had taken $500,000 worth of materials and $300,000 for reinforcement to create this treasure .
Elites have a lower rating than legends so they do not have as many options, but the basic skill for bladers is by far agility .
It was not +18 for no reason . It is still an unbroken record .
There is a famous rumor amongst lifers that a member of Middle East royalty was inspired by his enhanced video and had given a lot of money .
“Is there someone who would be willing to buy this?”
Using it in an occupation other than blader was like a pig wearing a pearl necklace . There are only a few lifers who can handle blader perfectly .
“I’ll just keep it if it doesn’t sell . Honestly, it is a waste to give to someone else . ”
Other items could be bought with money, but not Hades .
It seemed foolish when he was quitting, but didn’t he need to keep one symbol to later prove that he used to have a great reputation as an Overloader?
“Bye . ”
Tatak!
Cha Jun Sung posted a notice on his blog that he was no longer playing Life Mission .
There were comments on comments . The comments were a motley of people congratulating him on leaving, some saying that everything he had done until now is a waste to throw away, and some begging him for items .
Pushuk!
As the computer powered off, the overheated open cooled off .
“I guess I would have been working at part-time jobs until I reached this age if it hadn’t been for Life Mission?”
He laid on his bed and looked at the ceiling . The game and his life were at a standstill .
He could not believe that he had put everything down . He felt like come tomorrow, or even immediately, he might access the game to fight mutants .
Ping .
A text message must have come through, because his phone rang . Cha Jun Sung did not get up and reached his hand out to grab his phone . Friends? Advertiser? Could be spam .
-[The virtual version of Life Mission has been stopped from May 7, 2020 . Thank you for your interest and we will meet you in the reality version . ]
“That’s a new kind of spam . ”
Cha Jun Sung gave his best wishes to the spamming company and deleted the message .
Seuk .
While he was playing around on his phone, he instinctively went on the Life Mission homepage . He rubbed his eyes as though he had seen something that did not make sense .
“What is this saying? Is it a joke? This wasn’t spam? Is my phone broken?”
The same text from the message was on the homepage . On top of that, the whole site must have been paralyzed because he could not do anything beyond the text .
Wiing .
Cha Jun Sung powered up the computer again . If he wanted to check it, he needed to look on the computer and not his phone .
He plopped down .
His legs were weakening . It was the same on the computer . All top 10 real-time searches on the portal site were about Life Mission’s suspended service .
“Why now?”
Cha Jun Sung and the lifers had known that this was going to happen at some point .
Life Mission was strange . First, this incredible system was open to people for free . Even the maintenance costs were funded by the company .
Its industrial utility value must have been overwhelming, but it had stayed the same for 10 years .
“Was that contract about this?”
To create a Life Mission account, he had needed to sign a contract .
It said that the company would not be responsible even if the service was suspended . He had thought that this meant that they just needed to deal with it since the company was taking on everything else .
Sigh .
He sighed automatically . The number of equipment he had not taken care of yet was not small .
The elation he had felt at succeeding in the raid fell flat . At this, it was hard to break even . It was even more frustrating that he couldn’t complain .
“There are going to be people who commit suicide… . . ”
It was not a joke . It was common for people to put all of their salaries into this .
In the most extreme cases, there was a person who sold his house to buy an item . Cha Jun Sung experienced minimal damage because he had coincidentally left, but those people were ruined .
Jing!
-[Apologies for the inconvenience . The virtual version has been suspended . We ask that you use the reality version that will be running soon . ]
He opened the capsule to check, but it was for nothing . The homepage and virtual path were blocked . Now, he had to fold everything even if he did not want to .
“But what’s the reality version?”
If it is an update, there was no reason to suspend the service . He could not figure out what the company was thinking .
Could they be playing some kind of joke?
Ping .
The bell rang again . Cha Jun Sung instinctively read the text message . It was from the company . The message was as ridiculous as the one before .
-[Would you like to activate the reality version of Life Mission?]
-[Yes/No]