“Nam Joo-yeon, listen here! You lack perseverance! What about those celebrities on TV over there? Do you think they suddenly rose to the top? All of this was possible only because of their blood, sweat, and relentless perseverance….”
Lacking perseverance.
That was the phrase the convenience store owner always brought up whenever he saw me.
There were other things too.
If you’re young, you should work hard even if your body may suffer a bit, shouldn’t you? You should be grateful to be employed at this wage. Do you even know how tough it is elsewhere?
And so on.
“Fuck off, why don’t you.”
I sighed and dived into my studio apartment’s bed.
“Perseverance, huh….”
In truth, that was accurate. I never held onto anything for long—whether it was studying, work, or relationships.
But how much perseverance could someone like me, a jobless person barely scraping by on part-time gigs, even have?
Not that I lacked it entirely. I did tend to pour significant time into things I enjoyed, like, for example, gaming.
I twisted my body on the bed and fished my phone out of my pocket.
After unlocking it, I deleted countless spam messages and tapped on an icon.
[Disaster Order]
After a simple loading screen, the main menu appeared.
Ding!
Ding-ding!
[Welcome to the world of Disaster Order.]
[In your absence, these events transpired in your domain.]
[5★ Storm Mirien has returned from her expedition.]
[Reward: 150Exp / 3☆ Wave Warden]
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene has completed her calamity fusion.]
[Reward: 75Exp / 2★ Wanderer Knight Albert]
[…]
I scrolled through the notifications popping up one after another.
Nothing seemed unusual.
Mechanically, I tapped my finger, reassigning them to new expeditions and then breaking down the newly collected equipment.
Just then, a chime rang out.
Ding!
[5★ Queen Who Swallowed the Stars Asteria has gifted the Lord a treasure.]
[Reward: 1050Exp / 4☆ Sapphire Heart]
“Ah, another junk item.”
I sighed again and dismantled the given item.
In this way, the game was a collection-based, idle RPG.
Disaster Order.
A game centered around collecting characters referred to as “Calamities,” developing a base, sending them on expeditions, and manufacturing and synthesizing equipment to upgrade them. It was one of those common idle character collection games that had been trendy.
I had been playing it for five years already, yet even I couldn’t figure out how this game maintained its business model.
There was zero in-app purchase pushing, no intrusive ads, yet it had run steadily for years without server issues, with updates, albeit slow, consistently rolling out new characters each year.
“Well, the developers must be rich.”
I began this game during my college entrance exam preparation.
It wasn’t fun. The system was complex, and even for an idle game, it required a lot of manual management. There was nothing remarkable in its story or character illustrations.
Community guides were nearly non-existent because so few people played this game. To most gamers, this would have easily been dismissed as a “shitty game” and forgotten.
Yet, I held onto it for a full five years, for no particular reason.
It was sheer stubbornness.
Even though I lacked perseverance in life, in gaming, I was tenacious. An odd persistence and innate competitiveness, characteristic of a jobless freeter like me, led me to delve deeper into the intricacies of this small game. The idea of seeing it through to the end captivated me.
For five years, I continued playing it. As an idle RPG, it didn’t need constant effort, and there was no pay-to-win system; simply investing time allowed you to steadily acquire 5-star characters.
Though the amount of time required would stretch into years, ironically, I had plenty of it to spare.
Thus, I eventually collected almost all the characters in the game. My domain, built over five years, was filled with four 5-star characters, numerous 4-star characters, and a wide array of graded equipment.
“There’s nothing much left for me to do.”
While it was possible to collect the remaining 5-star characters, continuing would likely keep me locked into this game for well over a decade.
Given the rarity of anyone sticking with this “shitty game” for five years, I was likely the top-ranked player across the entire server.
It brought a strange sense of accomplishment.
“Haa…”
I let out a deep sigh.
What was the point, though? Even if I became world champion in a game no one played, who would care?
Besides, I intended to quit this game today.
“Guess it’s time.”
The convenience store owner wasn’t wrong about anything.
Nam Joo-yeon, age twenty-nine, an orphan without parents, high-school graduate. Someone barely scraping by on part-time jobs—your textbook definition of lower-class life. It was truly time for a change.
Quitting the game was the first step.
“…It was fun. …Or was it?”
I chuckled bitterly and entered the party configuration window.
There, I selected the four 5-star characters at once and unlocked the lock icon.
Then I clicked on the “Dismiss” button.
Ding!
[5★ Storm Mirien is dismissed.]
[5★ Queen Who Swallowed the Stars Asteria is dismissed.]
[5★ Mother of Omens Karne is dismissed.]
[5★ The Blackened Saint Selene is dismissed.]
[Y / N]
This was a scene that would terrify anyone familiar with the game.
A crazy person in this game just erased over half of the available 5-stars.
That person was me.
“…Hmm.”
I momentarily hesitated but shook my head. If I left room for regret, I might reinstall it. That wouldn’t do.
I firmly pressed the dismissal button.
Then red letters appeared in a black box.
[The disasters are unleashed. Their might is so powerful they could destroy another world. This decision cannot be undone!]
[Y / N]
“Fancy warning message they’ve built here.”
I smirked.
Did such a warning pop up when dismissing 5-star characters?
I found a bit of entertainment in it as my hand moved to the “Y” button. Just before pressing it, however, I checked the character portraits and widened my eyes.
“Can they make expressions like this?”
The characters in the screen were glaring directly at me. Their lips trembled, as if in shock.
The Blackened Saint Selene in particular had collapsed, covering her shoulders. She was the first 5-star character I ever got, and even I, who thought I knew everything about her, had never seen this motion before.
The same was true for the other characters. They each displayed varying degrees of shock through gestures and expressions.
I didn’t expect such detailed production in this “shitty game.” Of course, who would dismiss a 5-star character they’d nurtured? It was fitting that they poured effort into an otherwise useless aspect, fitting for a “shitty game.”
“A bit regrettable, but nothing can be done…”
Ding! I pressed the button.
The characters on the screen disappeared, breaking into particles.
A wave of regret washed over me, but I shook my head. At any rate, I wouldn’t have much time for gaming from now on.
With firm resolution, I dismissed the remaining characters and deleted the app.
“From tomorrow on, I’ll live as a diligent public servant aspirant.”
The next day, the world was pretty much destroyed.
*
Up until the moment I woke up and prepared to leave, it felt like any other day.
The only difference was that I didn’t play Disaster Order that morning.
But the moment I stepped out of the building’s entrance, I froze in confusion.
“Yo, young man!”
The building owner rushed toward me, drenched in cold sweat.
The ordinarily friendly neighbor yelling startled me, and I asked in confusion.
“What’s the matter?”
“Hurry up and evacuate! What are you still doing here?”
“Evacuate? Why? I have to go to my part-time job…”
She smacked me on the back with a “tsk.”
“Wh-What do you mean you still don’t know! There’s a war, a war!”
“A war?”
“That’s right! Warplanes just flew overhead earlier! Now, young man, evacuate immediately! There’s a bomb shelter nearby!”
“…”
I pinched my cheeks—hard. It hurt.
It’s not a dream.
This is reality.
“…”
If it’s war in 21st-century Republic of Korea, there’s only one possible scenario.
Surely North Korea invaded. So, as a second-year reservist, I’d be dragged off.
I just decided to start a new life yesterday, and already, this tribulation is arriving.
All kinds of thoughts raced through my mind.
“…Ah, wait. First… evacuate.”
There’s no time to think about this now.
I should evacuate as the landlady said. I hurriedly grabbed my phone and rushed down the building’s stairs.
But the moment I stepped out and onto the main road, I froze again.
Ding!
A translucent screen appeared right in front of me.
And the message on it looked incredibly familiar.
[Welcome to the world of Disaster Order.]
“Disaster… Order?”
The game I deleted just yesterday.
Why is its welcome message appearing in front of me?
Not just me—it seems everyone on the street, wide-eyed, was staring at similar notifications.
The silence didn’t last long. The notification window expanded vertically.
Ding-ding!
[Disasters from Disaster Order are now reaching you.]
[Repel the calamities, bring them under your command, and become the ruler who conquers the world.]
[This is your story.]
“…”
Slowly raising my head, my mouth gaped open as I stared at a massive rift in the sky.
The rift, similar to the gacha screen from Disaster Order.
If that’s the case…
[Storm Mirien dreams of overthrowing heaven. A tower rises.]
[Queen Who Swallowed the Stars Asteria whispers destiny. The void arrives.]
[Mother of Omens Karne sings of ruin. Fear the night.]
[The Blackened Saint Selene spreads conflagration. The Abyss opens.]
The world transformed in a day.
The shitty game had become reality.
