Chapter 1

Kim Min-seong, a 25-year-old orphan in South Korea and a part-timer at countless jobs.

That was the phrase that best described me.

Of course, there was another title that defined me in the online world.

The stagnant water of the fu*ked up trash game, ‘Simulation Ruin’.

Yes, I was the only stagnant water of Simulation Ruin, a game that practically reeked of failure just from its name.

To explain briefly, it was a game with a premise as simple as picking the position of Crown Prince or Crown Princess, falling in love with a Saint or Saintess, and saving the world. On the surface, it seemed like just another ordinary simulation game.

But the reason I was called the stagnant water of this game wasn’t because of its simplicity.

It was because I was the only person who had ever discovered a happy ending in this trash game, where choosing one path led to a bad ending and choosing another path led to utter ruin.

“Today was fun too.”

To be honest, in this crazy life where I had no clue how to move forward, this game was the only thing that brought light into my days.

I had played it so obsessively that I memorized every line of dialogue, every situation, and every event. But even so, I didn’t mind.

There were so many routes, almost to an excessive degree, and finding a happy ending no matter which path I took turned out to be more enjoyable than I ever expected.

The idea that every tiny factor could completely determine the ending… it was something none of the game’s other players could have even imagined.

So, what were those factors … Hmm, I was too tired to think, so I decided to sleep first.

Then let’s organize my thoughts after waking up.

***

“Hey, you brat! Do you know what time it is?! Get up already! The crops are going to wither away!”

“Ah…!”

Startled by the sudden yelling ringing in my ears, I shot up from where I was lying.

What the hell?! Who’s shouting like this?!

Was it that crazy bastard next door again? Raging about losing a game and pulling his usual crap, even though he knows these walls are paper thin?

Smack!

While I was trying to make sense of the situation, an older-looking woman came closer and began smacking my back with full force.

It hurt so much. It was like being hit with the ferocity of a Mom’s Touch chicken sandwich!

“Wh-Who, who are you…?! Why are you doing this?!”

“Who am I? Who else would I be?! I’m your mother!”

What now?

A mother? For an orphan like me who had never known a single relative in my life? What kind of nonsense was this woman spouting?

“Ugh, I must be dreaming because I was too exhausted yesterday. Twelve hours of part-time work, followed by four hours of gaming… of course that was insane—”

Smack!

“Ack!”

Wait a second…. this hurts way too much for a dream!

“If you don’t pull yourself together, I’ll throw out your breakfast! Got it?!”

I stared blankly at the retreating figure of the middle-aged woman who stormed off while still fuming.

“…Where am I?”

The place where I had fallen asleep was a small, cheap semi-basement studio room, the kind where the walls were barely soundproof and mold crept along the surfaces.

But what was this pile of straw that looked like haystack bedding?

Was this supposed to be a bed?

It looked like it would wreck my back even more than the cheap bed in my studio apartment, but…

“Oh, surprisingly soft…”

The unexpected fluffiness startled me. It felt almost like a Simmons mattress.

What unwavering comfort this…. wait, that wasn’t the issue here!

The bed was one thing, but the walls, though they made the place look like a fairly old house, they gave off a sense of warmth and care that was immediately noticeable. They were far cozier than the dingy studio apartment I had been living in.

As if this place had been well-maintained by human hands.

“Theo, if you don’t come out soon, your mom’s really going to lose her temper!”

A low but surprisingly cheerful voice came through the crack in the door from which the middle-aged woman who had called herself my mother earlier entered.

“U-Uh… you …!”

“Huh? You? I know you’re just a brat, but isn’t calling your father ‘you’ going a bit too far?

Creak

The door opened, and a man stepped in. Like the woman, he had an unremarkable but kind appearance.

Black hair, black eyes, and was dressed plainly. These were the kind of clothes that screamed, “I’m a farmer.”

“Uh, my father? Dear…father…?”

“Father? Dear father? Have you lost your mind? Did you have some kind of weird dream?”

A dream? Which one was the dream?

Was it the dreary reality I’d lived in so far, or this one?

“Anyway, come eat. You need to finish your meal and get to work.”

I was still unable to fully comprehend the situation when I was hurriedly dragged out by the man who claimed to be my father. A rather generous breakfast spread awaited me on the dining table.

It had been a long time since I had eaten a meal prepared by someone else. Good. Even if this was a dream, I decided I might as well eat before I woke up. With that thought in mind, I shoveled the food down my throat and devoured it without restraint.

“You little brat! You’re worse at this than usual today! If you keep at it like that, you’ll kill all the rice plants! Didn’t your father teach you anything?!”

Smack!

“Ow! That hurts!”

Dream or reality, it didn’t matter anymore. I didn’t have the luxury of figuring it out.

As soon as I finished eating, I was thrown into hard work with no chance of escape. I spent the whole morning right up to noon doing farm work without achieving anything productive.

Shit… So this is what they call give-and-take, huh.

If you receive something, fine, I get it; you’re supposed to give something back.

Alright then. Forget lunch. I’m definitely escaping.

***

When lunchtime came around, everyone went inside to eat.

I was starving to death, but first, I needed to get a grasp of the situation. So, I ran off to a small hill near the house.

Judging from the snippets of conversation I overheard from the people calling themselves my parents, it seemed like Theo—or this brat—wasn’t exactly known for being diligent.

That gave me some hope. Maybe even if I pulled a stunt like this, I wouldn’t get in too much trouble.

After that, I wandered aimlessly around the village and tried to gather some information. As a result, I managed to uncover a few key facts.

First and foremost, this wasn’t a dream.

I tried everything. I jumped into a nearby stream and even rolled down a hill, but instead of waking up, all I got was pain.

…Honestly, I should have figured it out sooner, given how vividly I’d felt that sharp smack this morning. I didn’t need to go through all this nonsense to realize it wasn’t a dream.

I guess the saying is true. If your brain is slow, your body suffers.

Anyway, the next thing I learned was that the clothing people wore and the architectural style of the houses looked eerily similar to what I’d seen in South Korea. For a moment, I wondered if I somehow ended up in some rural backwater of Korea. But no, that wasn’t it.

I picked up a discarded newspaper I found lying conspicuously on a bench and skimmed through it. It mentioned things like “The Empire” and “The Holy Empire”.

It felt as if I had stepped into the world of a novel or game I used to read or play back in Korea.

“……”

And the biggest problem was…

“F*ck, why does it have to be this one?”

No matter how I looked at it—whether I rolled forward or backward—this world was clearly the setting of the game called “Simulation Ruin”.

An empire? A holy empire? Sure, those are generic elements you’d find anywhere.

But the fact that the empire’s name and even the Holy Empire’s saintess shared identical names with those from that particular game? That couldn’t be a coincidence.

Normally, wasn’t it common to possess someone closely related to what the person knows best?

Besides, the only novels or games I was well-versed in were only Simulation Ruin.

So, fine, I didn’t mind being transmigrated in a setting like this.

After all, who was I?

“Wasn’t I the only stagnant water of that game?”

The veteran among veterans.

Someone who had conquered every ending.

I even knew every element required to reach a happy ending.

And they threw me into this world?

Oh, I was perfectly fine with that.

Yet, despite that, there was one reason why I found myself in despair.

…Seriously, who was I?

“No, if I’m getting thrown into this game world, shouldn’t it be as one of the protagonists?!”

All the dialogues, events, and endings I knew—

Every single one of them was from the protagonist’s perspective!

If I wasn’t the protagonist, wouldn’t that make everything completely useless?

Oh, wait…was it that?

Was I supposed to be some kind of hidden true protagonist or something?!

Yeah, that had to be it, right?!

There must’ve been some element even I, the only stagnant water, didn’t know about, right?!

Ding!

[The transmigrator has recognized their situation!]

[Awakening the status window!]

Wow, holy crap!

Look at that timing!

The moment I declare myself the true protagonist, the awakening happens!

Yes, this is exactly what I was waiting for!

[Status window awakening complete!]

[Would you like to open it?]

“Okay! Yes! Show it to me right now!”

[Activating the status window!]

Alright, let’s take a look, then.

Behold, the glorious status window of the true protagonist!

[Status Window]

Name: Theo (Kim Min-seong)

Age: 20

Job: Villager

…? Wait a second, something’s not right here.

“Huh? Wait, no? That can’t be right, can it?”

[Missing components detected. Beginning additional loading]

“Ah, I knew it!”

Whew… There’s no way the status window of this Villager A would have no stats at all.

Who was I after all? I’m a transmigrator, a transmigrator!

Transmigrators are supposed to have ridiculously overpowered stats!

Their status windows are supposed to be impressive, right?! That’s how it works!

[Additional loading of missing components complete.]

[Reactivating status window.]

[Status Window]

Name: Theo (Kim Min-seong)

Age: 20

Job: Villager

Title: Useless Son

…? Okay, so what exactly changed here?