I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 813

A darkened arcade.

All the other machines have stopped working, their screens dark and silent.

In the center of the dimly lit arcade, a large game machine emitted a rough, whirring noise and the unique heat of its mechanics.

In front of this game, the only one powered on in the arcade, sat a young boy.

He wore baggy patient clothes that didn’t fit his small frame, a beanie on his closely shaved head. His skin was pale from lack of sunlight.

“……”

The boy stared at the screen of the large game machine.

A message flickered on the static-filled screen.

– CONTINUE?

The number next to the message also flickered, rapidly switching between 1 and 0.

Though unclear, it seemed to be slowly decreasing from 1 to 0.

And perhaps, the moment it reached 0… the game would be over forever.

“……”

Watching the number slowly fall, the boy was calm. Perhaps he seemed resigned, or perhaps he seemed disinterested.

The boy simply stared at the screen with empty eyes.

As if wishing for the number to reach 0 quickly.

As if wishing for the words ‘GAME OVER’ to appear on the large screen.

It was then.

“Aren’t you going to play that game anymore?”

A young man’s voice came from the entrance of the arcade.

Following that, the young man entered the arcade with the sound of his footsteps.

“It’s a shame to stop here, why don’t you try one more time?”

“……”

The boy, who had been sitting in front of the game machine waiting for a game over, reluctantly answered.

“I’m sick of this game.”

There was even a hint of resentment in the boy’s eyes as he looked at the screen.

“It’s hard. It’s tiring. It hurts. It’s not fun.”

“……”

“I’m going to stop now.”

Thud. Thud.

The approaching footsteps stopped behind the boy.

The boy glanced back and blinked in surprise.

“Oh, is that you, Go-deok hyung?” [Hyung is a Korean term used by males to address an older male, like an older brother or close male friend.]

It was a man who looked very similar to the game enthusiast he always saw on TV.

…Or so he thought, but looking again, it wasn’t him.

His appearance was completely different. Moreover, this man was wearing a unique uniform that he had never seen before.

Why did he get confused when they didn’t look alike at all? The boy tilted his head.

“I’m sorry. You just looked a bit like someone I know… But, who are you?”

The hesitant man paused for a moment, then chose his words.

“A friend.”

He answered with an awkward smile.

“A long-time friend of Go-deok’s…”

“Ah, that explains it.”

The boy scratched his head under his beanie.

“Somehow… you don’t look anything like Go-deok hyung, but your impression is similar. That’s why I got confused.”

“Hahaha. I hear that a lot. That Go-deok and I look very alike.”

The man, laughing, pulled a chair from the nearby game machine and sat next to the boy.

“Do you know much about that Go-deok guy?”

“Sort of? After all, I’m the first viewer of his broadcast.”

“How did you end up watching his broadcast?”

The boy chuckled and reminisced about the past.

“He’s a popular game streamer now.”

“That’s right.”

“But back when he first started, he was a total beginner. His broadcast setup was a mess, and the games he played were all old classics. So, he didn’t have any viewers.”

The boy got excited as he talked about his favorite streamer.

“I was just lying in the hospital, bored, so I was browsing through different broadcasts… and I happened to see Go-deok hyung’s broadcast. A zero-viewer broadcast, a retro game broadcast that no one even knew existed.”

The boy paused for a moment.

After a brief silence, the boy continued.

“That day was the day I was thinking about dying.”

“……”

“The treatment was hard, the surgery was scary, the medicine made me throw up, and I felt sorry for my mom and dad… I was just so sick of it all, I was thinking of just slowly dying.”

The man listened silently.

“That day, I went into that broadcast that no one was watching, and the game looked really hard. But his life was almost gone, with only one bar left, and monsters were coming from all directions. And I thought.”

The boy lowered his eyes.

“If this guy gets a game over, I’ll give up too.”

The boy’s hand, which was worn out from too many injections, clenched into a fist.

“I’ll die today.”

“……”

“But… he cleared it.”

A faint heat flickered in the boy’s voice.

“He actually succeeded. He was right before a game over. He gritted his teeth and desperately held on… He didn’t give up, and he went all the way to the end, beat the final boss, and saw the ending.”

“……”

“Strangely, after seeing that… the desire to die disappeared.”

The boy said once more.

“I wanted to live.”

The man quietly looked at the boy’s profile.

The boy continued.

“After that, Go-deok hyung didn’t give up either. Difficult retro games, unpopular broadcasts… he kept going until the end. He cleared even the most difficult games. And the broadcast that no one watched slowly grew.”

The boy nodded.

“I think I gained courage from watching him.”

The boy slowly raised his gaze and looked at the large game machine in front of him.

“So, I think I’ve been fighting with this guy.”

Still.

– CONTINUE?

On the game machine’s screen, the number was converging to 0.

“…Well, that’s the end of it now.”

The boy raised both hands.

“I’m not going to do it anymore.”

“Why aren’t you doing it anymore?”

“Because there’s no chance of winning.”

The boy kicked the game machine’s body with his hospital slippers.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve fought this guy. But I was always the one getting beaten and knocked out.”

“……”

“I gained courage from watching Go-deok hyung, so I got up and challenged again, and again, and again.”

The boy shook his head slightly.

“Not even once… could I win.”

“……”

“Even if I try to have hope, even if I take my medicine and get surgery, things only get worse. The treatment fails, the surgery fails, and my struggles fail. I tried hard, but I can’t escape this hell.”

A long sigh escaped from the boy’s lips.

“It’s always like this. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I work, the world takes it away from me. Nothing changes.”

“……”

“I’m going to stop now. I don’t want to live like this anymore.”

Clunk!

The boy pushed his chair back and stood up from in front of the game machine.

“Game over.”

He declared it himself.

And just as the boy was about to turn away from the game machine.

“Hey, kid.”

The man suddenly asked.

“Do you think this world is unfair?”

The boy was momentarily stunned, then nodded.

“Yes.”

“Do you think that even if you struggle to overcome the obstacles in front of you, life is still painful?”

“…Yes.”

Then the man smiled.

“I thought so too.”

“Huh?”

“I thought this world was a hell of nothing but pain, where you couldn’t survive unless you were an iron man who never failed. I thought so too.”

Hell.

Iron man.

The boy pondered the man’s words and tilted his head.

“You ‘thought’… does that mean you’ve changed your mind now?”

“A little.”

The man smiled faintly and recalled the past.

“I thought it was over if I failed even once… but even when I fell to the bottom, there was someone who reached out to me.”

“……”

“Life is a hell of mostly pain, but there were moments of beauty, like wildflowers, that bloomed rarely but clearly.”

The man gestured to the boy.

“You had someone like that, moments like that, didn’t you?”

“……”

The boy didn’t answer immediately, but he didn’t deny it.

In front of the boy, the man slowly stood up.

“I won’t say that this world isn’t hell. I won’t say that this world doesn’t require you to be an iron man. But.”

The man looked directly into the boy’s eyes.

“This world is a much more beautiful hell than you think.”

“……”

“And even for failures like us who can’t become iron men… if we don’t give up, there are always opportunities.”

Then the boy growled.

“What are you trying to say?”

“……”

“What did you come here to say to me?”

There was resentment mixed in the boy’s voice.

“You don’t know how hard it is for me, you’re not going to live my life for me! You’re not going to get treatment for me, get surgery for me, throw up for me, or cry for me! So, what’s the point of throwing out such irresponsible comfort… !”

“Go-deok asked me to tell you.”

The boy’s eyes widened.

The man smiled.

“To cheer up. That he’s cheering you on.”

“……”

“And to cheer you on, he cleared the most difficult game in the world while you were sleeping.”

741 game overs.

And the journey of the past three years.

The man recalled.

“Do you know why he did that?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Because you saved him from hell.”

The boy’s body stiffened.

The man said with conviction.

“Because you were the first to approach him, who was isolated and dying alone in his own hell, and you greeted him.”

In this hellish world, the only thing ordinary people who aren’t iron men can do is… reach out to each other.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

Because the man believed that.

“I know. It’s irresponsible. I can’t live your life for you. We’re all struggling just to deal with our own hells. We’re all struggling just to endure the most difficult games we face.”

“……”

“But, just as you gained courage from that friend.”

With sincerity.

“That friend also gained courage from you.”

Hoping that even a little of this feeling would be conveyed.

“We want you to live.”

The man said.

“We don’t want you to give up on your challenge to your life, your conquest of your world.”

“……”

The boy bit his lip.

The man continued.

“There will be many more difficult things for you in the future. The treatment will still be hard, and continuing to live will be painful. Even if you overcome one hardship, unimaginable trials will keep coming.”

“……”

“But, one more time. Just one more time.”

The man put his hand in his pocket, took something out, and…

Flicked his wrist. He threw it to the boy.

“Fight.”

The boy caught it in surprise.

What the man had thrown to the boy was… an old coin.

As he stared blankly at the coin in his hand, the man smiled.

“The choice is yours.”

The man turned around.

And with long strides, he walked out of the arcade.

“…Hey.”

The hesitant boy called out urgently.

“Hey, mister! Wait a minute!”

At the entrance of the arcade, the man stopped.

The boy asked, looking at the man’s back.

“How do I repay this coin you lent me?”

Then the man chuckled,

Slowly turned around.

“You’re not ‘repaying’ it.”

He pointed at the boy with his index finger.

Then, he pointed at himself with his thumb.

“I ‘repaid’ it.”

Leaving behind words that the boy couldn’t quite understand.

The man opened the arcade door and disappeared outside.

“……”

Standing there blankly, the boy stared at the entrance of the arcade where the man had left for a long time.

Then, finally… he slowly turned around.

– CONTINUE?

He approached the game machine with the message still displayed, the one he was so sick of.

After sitting down with a thud.

He silently looked at the coin in his hand.

“…One more time.”

He clenched his fist with the coin.

“One last time.”

– Insert A Coin

The boy pushed the coin he was holding into the game machine’s coin slot.

Clink…

Right after the sound of the coin hitting the bottom.

The number that was infinitely close to 0 soared up at once. A clear new message appeared on the flickering screen.

– Here Comes A New Challenger!

– Get Ready For The Next STAGE

A new challenger has appeared.

Get ready for the next stage.

“…Hoo.”

He took a deep breath.

After opening his tightly closed eyes.

The boy’s small, dry hand slowly grabbed the game machine’s stick…

– PRESS START

He pressed the start button with all his might.