Episode 1. prologue
“Do Yoon-ah. It’s not your fault.”
Thick cigarette smoke filled the sky. When I raised my head, the night sky with countless stars was spreading out.
“I won’t talk too much. rest for a few days Forget about work and enjoy a hobby that allows you to be deeply immersed in something. Then it might get better.”
The client made an extreme choice. He was the first person I consulted with after I got my license as a counseling psychologist.
“I’m sorry, senior. I’ve heard that this can happen, but… . When I experienced it myself, it felt different.”
“Don’t feel too guilty. You did your best.”
“I’ll make up my mind and return to the office as soon as possible.”
“Don’t overdo it. If it doesn’t work out, drink a lot at home. If anything, I might even be your drinking partner.”
“Ahahahaha… . I will only accept your heart.”
After a few more small chats, the call finally ended.
‘It seems like I’m always indebted to my seniors.’
The person on the phone was a senior I had known since college. After that, I continued to graduate school, and after receiving a recommendation, I got a job at a psychological counseling center where a senior worked.
By the time it hadn’t even been a month since I went to work like that. This happened.
“ha.”
let out a long sigh.
The client’s type of worry was love-related.
There were three relationships, and all of them ended in a way that made a difference. She wanted to know what the problem was and how to solve it.
As it was my first actual match as a professional, I consulted with all my heart. Looking back now, maybe that was the problem.
“i like you.”
One day, a client suddenly confessed to me. It was said that there was no one who understood him this far, and that he fell in love with that heart.
“sorry.”
I couldn’t respond to her feelings. It is because the moment I received the confession, the first thing that came to my mind was work ethic.
and two days later.
It has reached the same state as it is now.
‘Maybe I lacked tips.’
I could have refused a little more euphemistically. For some reason, I wondered if going out like that would confuse the other person even more by giving them room for nothing.
“Whoa.”
I put out the cigarette butts in the ashtray.
Entering the living room, I pondered for a while between the TV and the computer. I felt like I had to do something because I kept thinking badly.
drooling.
My choice was a computer.
I pulled up a chair and sat down and put my hand on the mouse. When motion was detected, the monitor screen, which had been in a power-saving state, turned on.
‘Let’s follow the senior’s advice.’
I was thinking of playing a game.
The reason for choosing a computer over a TV was simple. I stare blankly at the TV, but I have to control the computer games myself. I wondered if it would be easier to immerse myself in it.
“oh.”
From nob le mt l. com
Just in time, there was some striking news.
It was about the addition of a DLC for ‘Psychic Age’, a game that I worked very hard on before, but gave up for a while to study.
Personally, I was interested in the game because it was the most immersive game. Feeling good, I straightened up and downloaded the DLC.
[DLC for Psychic Age. Run ‘New layers’.]
[The DLC participates in the story as an original character optimized for the player’s propensity.]
[Please fill out the questionnaire to check your character’s aptitude.]
After passing several phrases, a questionnaire suddenly appeared. It was quite long, but for me, it was a very familiar sentence.
‘It looks like some kind of MBTI test.’
I tried my best to write it. If I was going to play a game seriously, I wanted to do it properly.
“hmm.”
At the end of the 10-minute survey, I sighed once and moved my mouse to the submit button.
Click.
[Questionnaire analysis complete.]
That was the moment.
[Grants an aptitude optimized for the player’s disposition.]
[World reboot is in progress for smooth DLC application.]
Abnormally strong light emitted from the monitor and swallowed my body.
It was the last memory before passing out.
***
A week has passed since then.
My life has changed drastically since the first fainting incident I experienced. Technically, the world has completely changed.
‘I’ll have to accept it now.’
At first I thought it was a dream. It was only after a few days that I finally got a full picture of the situation.
It was a situation where I could only think that my favorite game, Psychic Age, was surprisingly superimposed on reality.
‘I don’t know who caused this, but… … .’
I could guess what triggered it.
It must have been influenced by downloading Psychic Age’s new DLC New Layers and submitting a strange questionnaire.
I lost consciousness for a while, but when I came to my senses, I was in the same situation as I am now.
Here is not the end.
[Signal 1st grade class 3 Kim Do-yoon.]
I was treated as if I had suddenly entered the school where the protagonists of the Psychic Age attended. Even tomorrow was the entrance ceremony.
‘I should go.’
In the Psychic Age, there are people called Saints.
As many as 1 in 12 adults are born with supernatural powers. In Psychic Age, that special power was called ‘nature’.
Signal was a special educational institution to teach the natural possessors.
‘It is also the stage where the protagonists of Psychic Age are active… … . As I expected, there is a high possibility that the events that happened in the game will happen in reality.’
Among those events, there are several episodes related to the end of the world. This was the biggest problem.
I’m not that optimistic. I wanted to see for myself whether the protagonists of Psychic Age would perform as well as the original, or whether the original story would continue if left alone.
‘It’s different from when the player directly manipulates the main character.’
That was the conclusion I came to after clearing my troubled mind for the past few days.
However, before that, there was a task that had to be checked first.
The game was overlaid with reality, and he became a freshman at Signal. This meant that I, too, had the nature to be a saint.
The way to confirm this nature was simple.
‘Vital chip.’
Psychic Age added its own settings to the status window provided for the convenience of players. It was a vital chip.
The chip, implanted in the brain, projects a hologram onto the user’s retina in the form of augmented reality. It was a function that visualized as if checking the character’s abilities in the game.
How to use is easy. The chip is already implanted in my brain without even knowing a mouse or a bird. As long as I pour my will into it, the function will be activated at any time. That is, according to the original setting.
‘I didn’t think that it should work because I haven’t been in a hurry until now… … .’
Now I had to face the changed reality.
[Activate the vital chip.]
[The scanning process will take some time. please wait for a moment.]
‘It’s a scanning job… . I remember seeing it in a set book. Was it the work of turning one’s nature into a skill?’
I watched the situation slowly, retracing my memory. It was a rather long period of time away from the game, so I needed to think about it step by step.
[Scanning has been completed.]
[Your natural name is ‘Influencer’.]
‘Influencer? Did the Psychic Age have this ability?’
Even while I was puzzled inside, the notification window continued to appear.
[The power of the user’s nature is digitized and displayed.]
[Nature is classified by ability that puts a lot of strain on the user’s body.]
Step 1 / Emotion Implant, Mental Acceleration
Step 2 / Demagogue, Delusion Practice
Level 3 / Memory Reading, Telepathy
Step 4 / Mind Siege, Eyes Fake
Stage 5 / Amnesia, Ripley Syndrome
[For the protection of the user’s body, the abilities of the remaining stages except for the first stage are sealed.]
[If you raise your natural mastery and accumulate experience, higher levels are automatically unlocked.]
[New natures may be added depending on the efforts of adults.]
It was the same as when I first played Psychic Age. The difference is that it is a reality now, unlike when it was controlled with a monitor and keyboard.
‘Let’s look at things that can be used right away rather than abilities that can’t be used.’
First, we decided to look at the Emotion Implant.
＜Emotion implant＞
:: Injects the emotions desired by the caster so that they can be felt by themselves or others.
‘Injecting emotions arbitrarily?’
One hundred words are not enough.
I decided to try writing it myself.
[Do you want to register the shortcut key for Emotion Implant?]
[Shortcut types include motion recognition, voice recognition, and will recognition.]
[It is recommended that you use at least two recognitions in parallel to prevent misfire.]
This detail was different from the original. Back then, I had to operate it with a keyboard and mouse.
I decided to do motion recognition and will recognition in parallel. It is set up in such a way as to think of using the emote implant while wriggling the little finger. After that, it’s just a matter of writing it yourself.
[Activates ‘Emotion Implant’.]
[What emotion do you want to instill?]
I recalled a pleasant feeling in my head.
“Ughhh.”
At first, it started with an endless burst of laughter. It seemed that the output could be raised, so I tried to inject more emotions.
“aha! hahahaha!”
Emotions are not something that can be easily defined in the form of letters. There are different types of pleasure too.
The tingling feeling you get when you’re drunk. The sense of accomplishment that comes when you accomplish an impossible task. If you go a little further, there is even s*xual pleasure.
Recalling the emotions of that moment, I showed my natural ability one after another.
“Kuhhh! ahahahaha… . ah?”
Then, at one point, I happened to see my reflection in the full-length mirror. He was laughing like a madman. I even drool and drool and sat down.
I abruptly stopped my ability. Shame came later. It was fortunate that there were no people around.
‘I can’t just use this nature.’
after coughing once.
I opened the skill window again.
＜Mental acceleration＞
:: Accelerates the caster’s thought circuit, slowing down the perceived time.
‘How can I check this nature?’
After thinking for a while, I headed for the sink. After turning on the water and setting the activation like an emote implant, he finally demonstrated his natural ability.
“… … !”
That moment.
The pouring water just stopped.
‘No, it didn’t stop.’
Upon closer inspection, I could see that it was moving, albeit very minutely. As I lowered the power, the water began to move faster and faster.
[warning! Your mental strength is below 10%.]
[For the safety of the caster, Activation of Nature is paused.]
“uh?”
Suddenly, I thought my eyes were spinning, and then I collapsed to the floor. It seemed that the smaller the remaining mental strength, the worse the aftermath.
I collapsed on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling, immersed in the lingering sound for a while.
‘But this heaven… . Something feels strange.’
influencer.
If you listen to the name and roughly interpret it, it means ‘a person of influence’.
Considering the characteristics of the ability 『Emotion Implant』 I just experimented with, I wondered if the influence referred to here was an influence related to ‘mind’.
In other words.
‘Isn’t this a total hypnotist?’
To give such power to a counselor and no one else. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It really couldn’t have been a trick of fate.
‘Still, with this power, it might be possible.’
Confidence soared. I thought that if I used this power properly, I would be able to handle the events of the Psychic Age that would happen in reality.
It’s nothing else, it’s a mental interference ability. Right now, these two natures are all, but unlocking higher tiers will add more powerful ones.
‘This wasn’t what I expected?’
… … There was a time when I thought
Even before entering Signal.
To begin with, the Psychic Age overlaid on reality was different from the starting point of the original work I knew.
The existence that leads the main episode of Psychic Age. The Alpha and Omega of Psychic Age. Yuseong, who was the main character in the game.
‘This crazy. Where did Yuseong go?’
In the world line of the Psychic Age overlaid with reality, the ‘protagonist’ did not exist.
It was not a level of fire falling on the instep, but a crisis level of a meteorite.