The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game

Translator: Dreamscribe

A smash hit!

It was, quite literally, a monster hit!

RL spread by word of mouth through the Sanctuary, and then out beyond the Dimensional Barrier. Countless nobles and soldiers opened accounts, signed up for RL, and threw themselves into the unknown dimension of Arkia.

When someone connected to RL using a bracelet, the video shown at the banquet hall played immediately.

'Ughhh! Prince Reist!'

'How much you must have suffered!'

'We will come to you!'

'For the Kalsus Dimensional Empire!'

The nobles and soldiers of the Kalsus Dimensional Empire who watched that video could not hold back cries like these. Swept up in imperial pride, every last one of them steeled themselves with grim resolve and created an Avatar.

Ahh!

The unknown dimension of Arkia!

Adventuring in Arkia came as an enormous shock to everyone.

Monsters no one had ever laid eyes on before, lurking amid gorgeous natural scenery.

Growth and loot drops, and the sense of superiority that came from PK and competition, delivered an overwhelming pleasure none of them had ever felt until now.

The nobles, and the soldiers too, went out of their minds and couldn't bring themselves to log out of RL. They could finally have the bodies they had craved for so long, and they could hide their true identities, become heroes, and make a name for themselves.

Narcotics.

No, something even more addictive than that had consumed them all.

The moment an item Trading Post and Auction House were established inside RL, it became the single greatest market in the Kalsus Dimensional Empire, with staggering sums of money changing hands.

Jinwoo, Jun, and the servants were gathered in a secret room within the mansion. Security was airtight, so no one could enter without permission.

"The 3rd Imperial Prince has succeeded in enhancing his weapon to +3."

"Let him get to +4 without any trouble. After that, blow it up on every attempt."

"Understood."

Having received the report, Jinwoo gave the order at once. Jun immediately went and rigged the rates.

"Relations between the 2nd Imperial Prince and the 3rd Imperial Prince are steadily souring. As planned, we planted spies in both camps and let them be discovered."

"Nicely done."

What happened in Arkia was not a game to them; it was reality. Tempers had begun to flare amid the competition, and Jinwoo pushed that as far as it would go.

Blood Alliances formed around Kaljest, Scharnhilde, and several other princes, and a structure took shape in which they all competed over Arkia's hunting grounds and resources.

It was actually starting to affect the order of succession to the throne.

"About time we put them in."

Jinwoo grinned and looked to the side.

Beside him was a large, empty space. When he stretched out his hand, countless bracelets poured down into it like a waterfall.

When Jinwoo raised his hand further, a black swamp formed, and countless hands, mouths, eyes, and ears rose up out of it. Bracelets fastened themselves onto the hands, and the other parts attached themselves as well.

[Hand 2,321,3... is connecting to RL.]

[Hand 7,323,3... is creating an Avatar.]

[Eye 5,321,3... is watching the Information Window.]

.

..

...

FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!

Hundreds of thousands of Information Windows popped up as Avatars were rapidly created. The sight looked like countless smartphones all linked together, running the game on auto. It was like looking at one of the Rice Factories that had existed back in the day.

-fun

-kill em!

-PK! PK! PK! PK!

-farm loot, make bank!

-flame war! stir the pot!

The Vengeful Spirits had been deployed en masse.

Jinwoo's influence had grown enormously through RL, so he could commit them without any strain.

Jun's expression turned somewhat complicated.

"It feels strange, doing the criminal stuff even EL Soft never managed to pull off."

"On Earth it's a crime, but here it's a good deed. Go wild, do whatever you want."

"Then I'll go show off with a GM character and do a little PK. Hmm, joining a Blood Alliance, getting promoted, and then blowing up their warehouse wouldn't be half bad either."

Jun moved right away, as if he had been waiting for this.

Jinwoo nodded at his answer and gave him a thumbs-up. It was conduct befitting a servant of the Evil God.

These were things a game company must never, ever do, but in RL everything was permitted. If anything, it was actively encouraged. It was all for the sake of the dimensional realm, after all.

"Let's put some effort into the first Siege Battle."

He planned to issue a quest to attack a castle guarded by the Skeleton Knight's underlings. It was packed with treasure and resources, which made it perfect for inciting conflict between Blood Alliances.

The servants who had infiltrated each Blood Alliance would plant a knife in their backs right as the Siege Battle wrapped up.

"Hmm, and the Episode 1 boss..."

Jinwoo mulled it over for a moment, then nodded and pulled up an Information Window.

There was no need to design anything new.

When Jinwoo waved his hand, Haebyul's figure appeared.

'Should I tweak this a bit?'

He twisted Haebyul's features to make them wicked, and added a cruel personality. He also changed the outfit to give it a spine-chilling feel.

[Boss] Gut Ripper

A cruel butcher who delights in killing by dragging out her victims' entrails. She revels in the feast of blood and draws power from the agony and screams of heroes. You had best flee before everything inside your body comes spilling out.

The appearance and the setup were more than enough to earn notoriety across the Kalsus Dimensional Empire. Layering a backstory over a Hero's likeness made for a better character than he'd expected.

Jinwoo nodded.

He picked out a number of Named Heroes to deploy into RL and gave them the same treatment as Haebyul.

"Let's just drop RomanticBard in as is."

Curiously enough, there was no need to change a single thing.

His mere existence was a calamity in and of itself.

Jinwoo pulled the Heroes' data from the Magic Tower and placed them in RL. The Magic Tower handled granting them egos and making them move according to their objectives and the staging.

Jinwoo brought up RL's map on the Information Window. He'd recycled content from Arsilan Saga to fill it out richly, and now the vast space felt properly packed.

"It is fun, though."

Jinwoo had been enjoying RL himself in his spare time, and it was quite entertaining.

"And the Crown Prince?"

"He's online."

A servant checked the Crown Prince's ID on the Information Window and reported back.

The Crown Prince, having received a report on RL, had a bracelet procured through his aides. But the aides who came to the Golden Palace got so hooked on RL that the report was delayed, and he ended up a latecomer.

Since there was no connection inside the Sanctuary, he had reportedly gone all the way out to Planet 7.

Berto approached and bowed his head.

"Word is the Crown Prince's side has dispatched the Inspection Corps to verify whether RL is genuine."

"So they'll head to the northern dimensional realm. But they won't be able to cross the Wall of the Abyss, will they?"

"The Crown Prince's side apparently possesses technology that allows movement without a Dimensional Portal. It seems to work by condensing Dimensional Energy to open space. That said, it's unstable, so it isn't a technology suited to wide deployment."

Since all they had to do was confirm Arkia existed, it seemed they intended to grind up the Inspection Corps' lives to do it. He'd already prepared for it, so it made no difference, but showing them a proper spectacle didn't sound bad either.

"They're trying to find fault."

RL was flawless.

The spies the Crown Prince had sent snuck onto a planet Reist owned and checked the state of Reist's assets. Jinwoo had siphoned off every last one of Reist's assets, so everything was completely empty.

The amount was so vast that thousands of large warships hauling it for ages still couldn't have moved it all, but stuffing it into Subspace left not so much as a trace. They had no choice but to believe an Authority System existed.

Forcing an inspection through under these circumstances looked like a ploy to find some pretext, obstruct him, and take a cut for themselves.

It was awfully petty, unbecoming of a Crown Prince.

"I hear every prince and princess intends to pool their voices and send a letter of protest."

They found the Crown Prince's conduct objectionable, since it could interfere with RL's operation even slightly. In the past they would have groveled before the Crown Prince, but not anymore.

It was because the more their power in Arkia expanded, the more confident they became that they could surpass the Crown Prince. The 2nd Imperial Prince Kaljest, who had always kept his back bent, as well as Scharnhilde and the other princes, all began holding their heads high.

A very fine development.

He was in a foul mood, so he might as well torment them.

Of course, even if he hadn't been in a foul mood, he'd have tormented them anyway.

"The Crown Prince's faction has bought up Corrupted Goblin Hide in bulk."

"Dump Corrupted Goblin Hide in bulk and tank the price."

At the servant's report, Jinwoo gave that order immediately.

They were pouring in colossal sums to sweep up resources in order to exert influence in Arkia.

Jun clicked a button, and Corrupted Goblin Hide flooded the Trading Post in massive quantities as the price nosedived.

"What's the most expensive thing the Crown Prince's faction holds?"

"Low-grade Magic Stones. It seems they've earmarked them as a substitute resource for Dimensional Energy."

"Reveal a Magic Stone vein."

"Understood."

Prices at the Trading Post shifted in real time like a stock chart, visible to everyone. The moment news spread that a Magic Stone vein had been discovered, the price of low-grade Magic Stones, which had been climbing without pause, began to crash.

The Trading Post had a space where people could leave posts.

Item information could be attached and private trades could be opened, so an enormous number of posts went up.

Scharnhilde: Good thing I sold yesterday. Are there still fools who haven't gotten out?

Kaljest: Who but an idiot would be sitting on a pile of low-grade Magic Stones?

└NobleSoul: They probably sold off believing a baseless rumor. I'm buying more. Fools. You'll regret it.

└Kaljest: A truly wretched intellect. Worse than a low-grade soldier raised in some outland incubator who never got a proper education.

└NobleSoul: Let's see who's laughing at the end of this fork in the road.

PuffPuffUglyPrincess: NobleSoul this guy is straight up unhinged lmao. Just go die already. With that IQ you couldn't even beg successfully, moron.

└Kaljest: Your vulgar tongue grates on me, but I agree in part.

└Scharnhilde: Where are you.

LifeJackpot: Whoa! Heroes! I got my weapon to +5! (attached: +5 success screenshot)

└Kaljest: I'll take you into my Blood Alliance. Contact me.

And so Jinwoo covertly tormented the Crown Prince and the faction that followed him. As one thing after another happened that could only be chalked up to bad luck, the Crown Prince's faction shriveled at a dizzying pace.

"70% of the funds the Crown Prince's side injected have been wiped out."

"We've also dropped the gacha, enhancement, and item drop rates by a wide margin."

At the servant's report, Jinwoo's face broke into a satisfied smile. Jun and the servants toyed with the Crown Prince's faction using GM characters, and left behind evidence pointing to the machinations of rival factions.

Jinwoo brought up the Crown Prince's Avatar on the Information Window.

[Aaaaaaargh!]

He had voice chat turned off while he threw his fit, but with administrator privileges it was audible anyway.

In a fit of rage, the Crown Prince had attempted weapon enhancement five times in a row, and every single one failed and shattered.

[This is a scam! Ughhh! How does not a single one stick?!]

It was, in fact, a scam.

Jinwoo found the Crown Prince's wailing quite pleasant to listen to. Pleasant enough that he wanted to hear it often from now on.

Jun shrugged.

"Even a Crown Prince cries like a little kid, huh."

"Crown Prince or commoner, all men are equal before RNG."

"Rigged RNG, though."

Jinwoo planned to manage the Crown Prince personally and give him a special dose of suffering. He'd have to dote on him even more going forward.

'With everyone gathered in one place, it's easy to pull strings.'

Everyone connected to RL was growing poorer, but Jinwoo's Subspace was filling up with countless treasures and gold coins. The wealth amassed over long ages of invading countless dimensions was slowly flowing into Arsilan.

'Maybe I should just build a planet made entirely of treasure?'

If it kept piling up like this, it actually seemed feasible.

"The Inspection Corps' fleet is standing by to cross the Dimensional Barrier."

Berto, having received word, reported to Jinwoo at once. Jinwoo nodded and rose from his seat. He left the trolling to Jun and used spatial movement to head straight to a position above the Dimensional Portal leading beyond the Dimensional Barrier.

'Ooh....'

A fleet of ostentatious warships came into view.

They bore the crest symbolizing the Crown Prince, and all manner of ornaments dangled from them. The extravagance was so excessive that it came off as tacky.

Jinwoo moved atop the large warship at the very front, then went inside. He was cloaked, so no one noticed a thing.

"Got the drop."

"No way..., that thing's insanely expensive."

"Heheheh! This is ten years of my salary right here."

The soldiers were secretly playing RL while on duty. The sight of their discipline in shambles was a lovely thing to see.

When he reached the bridge, an Inspector General decked out in countless medals was gazing at the Dimensional Barrier with a solemn expression.

"Move out!"

FWOOSH!

At the Inspector General's command, the fleet moved as one, crossed the Dimensional Barrier, and advanced toward the north of the dimensional realm. Making spatial jumps under their own power, they entered what could be called the outlands in an instant.

It was remarkably impressive technology.

'But so what?'

He'd already finished every preparation.

He had created a colossal space, dressed it up to look like reality, and synchronized it with RL. Everything that moved and acted in RL would unfold seamlessly inside that fake space.

'Well then....'

There were an awful lot of spectators watching this show.

Time to stage something entertaining.

* * *

The Inspector General hailed from the great Kalsus Dimensional Empire's 1st Imperial Knight Order. A noble among nobles, an elite among elites, he had earned the trust of the Imperial Knight Order's commander and been appointed Inspector General.

As a loyal sword serving the Crown Prince, he had carried out many missions up to now.

His extraordinary instincts were superb at telling truth from falsehood. That was precisely why he was able to hold the glorious post of Inspector General.

'Something's off.'

RL.

His instincts were screaming that something was off.

Every piece of evidence gathered in the Sanctuary said that RL genuinely existed, but his instincts were screaming that it must never be trusted.

'It may be a trick of the Dimensional Predators.'

It was possible some special ability of a Dimensional Predator had manifested and was deceiving everyone. That was how dangerous an enemy the Dimensional Predators were.

The Inspector General looked behind him.

Great knights, specially selected!

Those tremendously proud knights stood there with solemn expressions...

"Ahem...."

...or they had been, except every one of them had a small Information Window up. They were flicking their fingers, secretly enjoying RL.

"Ahem!"

When the Inspector General cleared his throat, the knights hurriedly shut off RL and straightened their posture. Discipline inside the Sanctuary was unraveling at a frightening speed.

"Faint Dimensional Energy has been confirmed beyond the Wall of the Abyss!"

Everyone marveled at that report.

The Inspector General frowned.

"Send in the 1st survey team."

At the Inspector General's command, a warship that had been standing by moved forward and began a Dimensional Leap. Space opened in front of the ship, and it vanished as though sucked into it.

A lamp indicating signal strength blinked, reporting the status of the warship that had leapt.

BEEP!

The lamp turned red.

"1st survey team's signal lost!"

"It appears they've been completely annihilated!"

The Inspector General nodded.

"Data acquired?"

"We've obtained the coordinate data for the point the 1st survey team entered."

"Have the 2nd survey team skip that location. Secure a safe route."

And so, feeding whole warships into the grinder, they began Dimensional Leaping toward the Wall of the Abyss. The soldiers aboard were expendables anyway. They could be churned out at any time, so using them this way posed no problem.

They had lost survey teams through the 7th, and were about to send in the 8th.

KRRRUMBLE!

The large warship the Inspector General was aboard shook violently.

"A, a dimensional rift has formed!"

"It seems the survey team touched an unstable rift on entry!"

The large warship began to be dragged into the rift.

"Reverse!"

"E, engine control failure!"

KRRRK-KRRK-KRRRAK!

The large warship's shields peeled away like nothing, and the armor plating wrapped around its surface tore free as flames erupted. Before they could even respond, the yawning rift swallowed every last warship whole.

BOOM! BOOM! KRAKOOOOOM!

The warships that had been pulled into the dimensional rift couldn't withstand the dimensional pressure and began bursting apart one after another.

"Raise shields to maximum!!"

"B, but then the engines will...!"

"You think the engines matter right now?!"

At the Inspector General's shout, shield energy was raised to its maximum. One engine after another overloaded and exploded. They sacrificed the engines to generate a thick shield, but even that shield began to crack and break apart at once.

Just as everyone sensed the end was upon them.

Light appeared up ahead.

"Head for it...!"

"Aaaaaaargh!"

The pilots on the bridge blew the last remaining engine to steer the large warship. Just before the shield shattered, they barely managed to slip out into the place where the light was.

The dimensional pressure vanished, and the view outside came in through the display.

"T, this place is...."

Taking in the scenery outside, the Inspector General was left utterly dumbstruck.

*****

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