Chapter 1
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<The Awakening of the Hero> was a game that gradually gained fame in the community.
[Anonymous: The Awakening of the Hero? This game is hellishly difficult; it’s not even like raising a child, why do you have to take care of so many things?]
The difficulty and grind efficiency were considered trash.
Moreover, after a few months, it became almost impossible to find any mentions of it in the community.
Of course, there were hardcore users like me who continued to play behind the scenes.
<The Awakening of the Hero> was a typical game where you awaken the hero and gather allies to defeat the Demon King, just as its name suggests.
Users played the role of a deity entrusting their protagonist, and there were many branching points. You could start by entrusting a young hero from the beginning, or you could start entrusting them from their coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen. This shows how important player involvement was.
Of course, players could freely choose the hero’s allies as well.
‘Should I take only Priestess Mariel with me this time?’
Usually, strategy guides strongly recommend taking a DPS mage and a healing priestess with you.
Sometimes, if you made the strong but morally questionable assassin character your ally, the hero would resist. However, if you insisted a couple of times, they would give up willingly.
‘Oh, I died again.’
However, in the episodes where the hero rebelled, they would die quickly again.
This cycle of dying abruptly, dying again, and then game overing left only hardcore users while casual users had no choice but to quit.
Of course, I was among those who remained.
[manggamer: They say there’s a hidden route in ‘Hero Awakening,’ but I keep dying suddenly, so there’s nothing I can do. What, eighteen years old? They say you have to raise them from that age, but they can die from child abuse, so those who want to unlock the hidden route should keep that in mind.]
Amidst all that, I put in tremendous effort to see the ending faster than anyone else because of the talk about the hidden route.
If I had studied as hard in my school days as I did with this determination, I would have easily made it to a top university in Korea.
Your hero has died.
“Oh, why did you die again!”
However, whether it was truly a hidden route or not, the route divergence didn’t come easily. If you entrusted them at eighteen to awaken quickly and see the ending, starting from eight years old meant you really had to try each and every possibility.
“They can’t break me down with just this much!”
Fueled by an unknown determination, I tried again and again, dozens, hundreds of times.
Anyway, no one, not friends, family, or anyone else, came looking for me, and there were no incoming calls.
With nothing else left but time, I dedicated all my time to seeing the hidden route that everyone else had given up on.
However, even with such efforts, breaking through the hidden route was not easy.
‘Kill the Demon King alone without any companions, does this even make sense?’
But they said the outcome wouldn’t betray the effort. Referring to the early game guides posted in the community, I dashed forward to see the hidden route.
1. Start from the age of eight.
2. You must have no companions.
3. Do not kill any lifeforms in the Demon King’s castle except the Demon King.
I cleared each stage while adhering to the cruel conditions.
Despite the requests from candidates to take them as companions, the hero chose to leave the village without selecting any companions.
Thus, the hero, alone, headed towards the Demon King’s castle. Without killing any monsters, he either escaped or dodged them, facing the Demon King alone.
In particular, the condition not to kill any monsters before facing the Demon King was extremely difficult.
He had to move stealthily without being noticed by them, all the way to the Demon King’s chamber.
And when his holy sword pierced through the Demon King’s abdomen.
SYSTEM: The hidden route has been unlocked.
Hidden Route: The Hero of the Demon King’s Castle
Unlike the normal route that ended with [THE END] after killing the Demon King, a new window popped up.
“Wow, amazing!”
I finally did it!
Instead of transitioning to the ending credits, the screen continued. The fallen corpse of the Demon King and the hero standing in front of it.
‘You’re awesome, my boy!’
Your hero gazes silently at the corpse of the slain Demon King.
“You can’t just stand there. Let’s get rid of it.”
Your hero grabs the Demon King’s two legs and drags them away.
After barely managing to control my excitement, I quickly pondered on how to see the hidden ending.
“The Demon King’s castle seems larger than I thought. If I kill all the remaining monsters… No, considering the condition in the hidden route not to kill the monsters, there might be some other purpose for them…”
Your hero discovers a gemstone with a symbol engraved on it in the Demon King’s embrace.
The item ‘Demon King’s Subjugation Stone’ is added to the hero’s inventory.
However, even with new routes, my enthusiasm quickly waned, and I soon felt bored.
“Sigh. Exploring a new map is fun, but this is getting dull.”
The Demon King’s castle was vast, but too vast, and with no other companions, watching the hero’s solitary journey was all there was.
‘Now is it time to end the game… But it feels too unsatisfying to call this the ending.’
Still, if someone went through the trouble to unlock the hidden route, I thought I might as well see the ending, so I watched the hero’s movements for a few months.
After all, there was nothing else to do.
The part-time job I had managed to find treated me like trash just because I was a high school graduate, and I had no family to support. While I had myself to feed, I found it more entertaining to watch the hero eat.
In the hidden route, there were occasional events where the hero would defeat rebellious demons.
Seeing demons that used to die at the entrance of the Demon King’s castle still alive made me feel strangely melancholic.
Just in case, I strongly advised not to kill them.
Then, one day, a message popped up.
Your hero is curious about you.
“Don’t bother being curious about a pixel fragment like me.”
I calmly spat out a rejection, but inside, I was quite flustered.
Normally, game characters talk to the player and all.
It seemed like an unnecessarily swift rejection.
Maybe this is the direction leading to the ending. It was when I was lost in thought, pondering over it. After receiving a swift rejection and standing still silently, the hero once again displayed a message.
Your hero is curious about your name.
“Lone warrior number 1…”
Isn’t it? Wasn’t there a name in the tutorial? I skipped so much I can’t even remember.
Your hero gasps and shyly reveals his name as “Adam”.
“Hmm?”
Hearing the name Adam for the first time was surprising. It was natural. Throughout the game, he was referred to as ‘Sir’ or ‘That common knight’.
“It’s a nice name.”
It was a brief remark.
Your Adam shyly smiles.
However, the modest Adam seemed appealing. I even had the illusion that his digitally created cheeks were slightly flushed.
Nevertheless, as I picked up a snack and munched on it quietly, I couldn’t help but mutter, “It’s not like seeing the ending suddenly turned into a romance…”
Perhaps because of this, I deliberately refrained from interacting with him and only engaged in trivial conversations.
No new quests popped up, and I ignored the occasional trivial questions the hero sent me.
So, the ‘Demon King’s Castle Redevelopment Plan’ was progressing smoothly.
“Work, work! I can’t just sit around in the Demon King’s Castle. Nowadays, it’s tough to find such prime real estate! It’s like trying to catch a falling star to find a house these days. Getting a free house is a jackpot.”
The hero for this episode, who had disbanded the party, which usually consisted of at least three people, in favor of tackling the challenging task of rebuilding the Demon King’s Castle alone, suddenly stopped in his tracks after several days of work.
Your hero requests to write a contract.
“Hmm?”
This message arrived a month later.
