It was a day like any other.
I sluggishly got out of bed, turned on my computer with my toes, and sat down in my chair.
And as always, I played the game I usually enjoyed. It was [Neon Nexus: Cyber Shadow], or NeNexus for short.
It had a unique setting that combined a typical fantasy world, where various races like elves and dwarves coexisted, with a cyberpunk-style universe.
Within this world, players could choose from numerous races, customize their character’s traits, and fully immerse themselves in the game.
Although the main events of the game were largely predetermined, being able to experience them from the perspective of a different race or location provided a fresh gameplay experience that made the game very popular with players.
I was no exception. I had already played through the game more than a hundred times.
“Last time, I stopped the apocalypse as a dwarf warrior.”
In my last playthrough, I had started as a dwarf and followed a route that led to preventing the world’s end in the game’s final act.
I had chosen the dwarf character to try something unique, but since it was still a warrior route, it didn’t feel all that different.
“What should I try this time?”
Having played through the warrior route countless times, I wanted to try something different. Something more unique.
What options were there?
“Hmm…”
After thinking for a while, an idea popped into my head.
“Why not go for the corporate route this time?”
Since Neon Nexus was set in a cyberpunk-infused sci-fi world, giant corporations were everywhere, even if the game’s foundation was still fantasy.
In past playthroughs, I had infiltrated corporations to steal confidential information or dismantle them from the inside.
I had also tried playing as a corporate employee a few times, but the heavy restrictions in that route didn’t really suit my playstyle.
“Then I just need to be something more than an employee.”
If not an employee…
Why not be the CEO running the corporation?
If it were a corporation where even the board of directors was completely under my control, I would be able to move freely within the company without any restrictions.
After resetting my play data and erasing it, I entered the new character creation screen and immediately got to work on character customization.
The character’s basic background was set as a corporate CEO.
“Starting with a big corporation right away would be boring, so I’ll begin at a more reasonable level…”
For the race, I chose a demon…
Gender, I chose Male…
For the face, I indulged myself a little and customized him to be a handsome man.
As for abilities… let’s go with this one and that one.
…Wait, am I out of points?
While setting up my character’s abilities, I realized I didn’t have enough points.
To earn more, I needed to assign my character some negative traits.
I browsed through the list of drawbacks.
[Impotence], [Insatiable Lust], [Mana Insensitivity], [Baldness], [Cannibalistic Urge]…
None of them really appealed to me.
Besides, I was planning a CEO playthrough. Wouldn’t impotence and baldness completely ruin the image?
As I kept flipping through the options, I came across a trait that caught my eye.
[Narrow Eyes]
A trait that made the character constantly smile with closed eyes.
It was classified as a negative trait, but it wasn’t entirely bad.
It would fit well with a character concept.
Without hesitation, I chose it.
To complement it, I also added the [Polite Speech] trait.
After picking a few negative traits, I finally had enough points to allocate the abilities I wanted.
With all the traits assigned, my character was complete.
“Alright. Time to start playing.”
Eager to start playing, I didn’t even bother to properly check the character I had created before pressing the start button.
If I knew I would actually end up in the game, I would have put a lot more effort into creating my character.
***
“Rachel, what’s on my schedule for today?”
I leaned back in my plush office chair and asked my red-haired secretary Rachel who was standing by my side.
“After lunch, you have the Academy City Vision Conference with various key figures.”
“Academy City, huh…”
That name felt nostalgic.
I had played as a character from there more times than I could count.
“If you wish, I can announce your absence. No one would dare question it.”
“No, it’s fine. Academy City interests me as well.”
A huge academy that made up the entire city.
For a businessman, it was an irresistible treasure trove of top-tier talent.
And with over a hundred playthroughs under my belt, I already knew exactly which individuals were worth recruiting.
“How about we visit Academy City together sometime?”
“Together… you say?”
“That’s right. Together.”
Of course, we’d go together.
She was my secretary. Where else would she go without me?
This world was inside a game.
There was no telling when or where something might happen.
With that in mind, having a bodyguard like her by my side at all times was an absolute necessity.
When I first woke up in this world, I had been thrown into a panic.
Trapped inside a game world…
No one in their right mind would be able to stay calm.
Countless eldritch monsters preyed upon the innocent.
And in the final stages of the game’s story,
Disasters would strike, wiping out huge numbers of people.
Especially in Neon Nexus, the world I now found myself in.
And so, I did everything I could to figure out a way to survive in the situation I had been given.
Fortunately, I had something no one else here did—
The knowledge and experience of a veteran who had played this game over a hundred times.
And starting out as a demon managing a small business wasn’t the worst beginning I could have asked for.
I used my knowledge of the original game to start building my company.
I bought up crops before famines hit, then sold them at sky-high prices.
I shorted stocks of corporations that were doomed to fail.
I developed and sold technologies that had yet to be invented.
And I scouted every talented individual before anyone else could get their hands on them.
It was all possible because I had knowledge of the original game.
After struggling for several years, my company had grown to a decent size. One I could be fairly satisfied with.
Ranked around tenth on the continent?
It was large enough to be a sufficient safeguard against the apocalypse that would come in the late stages of the game’s story.
I had also gathered a wealth of talented individuals.
Since I knew who would become key players in the game’s final chapters, I managed to recruit them before their latent abilities could awaken.
Rachel, my secretary and bodyguard, was one such talent.
If left alone until the late game, Rachel would fall to an evil god’s corruption and turn into a mass murderer.
Her overwhelming strength would make her capable of cutting down even the Sword Emperor while in a state of complete madness.
That kind of power made her an incredibly appealing choice for a bodyguard.
Of course, she had yet to awaken such strength, but in time, she surely would.
“Boss, it’s time.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
I stepped into the elevator with Rachel at my side.
I was supposed to meet with some prominent figures today.
Who would be attending?
Hopefully, there would be plenty of people worth forming connections with.
***
“Are you referring to Diabel Diessire, the president of Diabel Corporation?”
“Yes, that’s tight, Saintess.”
Saintess Lecia of the Heavenly Church frowned at the Cardinal’s words.
“Your Eminence, you shouldn’t assume someone is evil simply because they are a demon. The Heavenly God embraced even demons as His children. How can you discriminate based solely on race?”
“That is not the reason. If you see him for yourself, Saintess, you will understand right away. He is by no means an ordinary businessman.”
A man who had suddenly appeared like a comet and, before anyone realized it, secured a spot in the top ten of the business world.
His achievements were so absurdly remarkable that countless rumors surrounded him.
They said he had sold his soul to an evil god.
No, some even claimed he was the incarnation of an evil god.
What he had accomplished was far beyond the reach of an ordinary person, so people could only assume there was something more to him.
“Very well. Since Your Eminence insists, I will meet him… but—”
The Saintess responded with a reluctant expression.
Condemning an innocent man as an apostle of an evil god without proof?
As a servant of the Heavenly God, she found it deeply unsettling.
“Ah, there he is now.”
At the Cardinal’s words, the Saintess turned her head.
Everyone gathered in the hall had their eyes fixed on the entrance.
A narrow-eyed handsome man entered. He was accompanied by a beautiful red-haired secretary.
He was merely walking, yet an overwhelming presence seemed to draw the attention of everyone around him.
This was no ordinary demon.
It was almost as if…
Before she realized it, the Saintess had activated her inner sight.
A divine power granted by the Heavenly God. It allowed her to perceive a person’s accumulated karma as numerical values.
And within that vision, she saw it.
The staggering amount of karma that had accumulated upon President Diabel.
A level of sin so immense that it seemed impossible to reach…. unless one had destroyed the world more than a hundred times.
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