1. Prologue
Recently, there have been many kids known as prodigies.
Some did calculus at the age of 5, while a 12-year-old is dubbed the Korean Messi at Barcelona Youth.
However, true geniuses are only a handful among them. Most are just precocious kids.
I was one of them.
Just because I was good at baduk when I was young, I was pushed onto the pedestal of expectations set by adults.
“Aren’t those who excel at baduk truly geniuses?”
“If you were born in the past, you would have surely become a famous general!”
“That kid is really sharp. Obviously, the future holds presidency for him, right?”
I was crushed under the weight of adults’ expectations akin to coercion.
I had to read useless humanities books like “The Art of War” or “The Prince” since I was six, and I had to say things that aligned with adults’ expectations.
Naturally, that kind of thing couldn’t possibly go well.
I soon revealed the limits of being a fake genius.
As I entered middle school, I gradually found myself unable to beat others in baduk, which I had been excelling in, and my dream of becoming a professional player drifted away.
I did have talent in chess, which I picked up as an escape, managing to enter the top 10 in the country, but who in Korea really cared about chess?
By the time I was a high school senior, I had to hastily prepare for the college entrance exam.
I did have the brains for studying, managing to study for about 8 months and secure a spot in a top university in Seoul, but at this point, the pedestal adults had placed me on had turned into a bed of thorns.
“Tsk tsk, I thought you were going to medical school.”
“I knew you would. That’s how all kids are nowadays.”
“Everyone’s a genius, right? Look at this. In the end, our Kyungmin went to a better university, didn’t he?”
Adults who placed expectations and freely faced disappointments.
Well, I didn’t have any complaints since I rode on the halo of being a prodigy, but it was inevitable that it was repulsive.
***
So, the kid once dubbed a prodigy was now just an ordinary office worker.
Joining a well-known corporation that made others envious among colleagues, my life was barren both on the surface and inside.
My parents, who argued about my education, got divorced, and I ended up living alone in a studio near the office.
An unfulfilling, empty life.
Gaming was my only refuge.
The game I was currently obsessed with was a mobile strategy RPG called “Athena War Tales,” which had a unique charm.
While the story itself was typical of male-oriented games, the combat system within the game was profound and highly polished.
It was a skill-based game where the outcome varied greatly depending on how intelligently the player moved.
In this era dominated by pay-to-win and auto-play trends in mobile games, it didn’t fit in, so its popularity wasn’t explosive, but it had a considerable number of enthusiasts.
Among those enthusiasts, I was hailed as a god among users.
The god of free-to-play, Wade.
When I posted strategies for free-to-play in the community, dozens of comments poured in, and people lined up for deck advice and tactical consultations.
I poured all my time into game research, except for work to meet the expectations of the users.
I even read through the medical books and tactical guides that I used to think were worthless, trying to find a way.
In the end, doing something under someone’s expectations felt just like when I was a kid, but unlike back then, it didn’t feel bad.
─LightDevourer: Wade, when will you upload the strategy guide for the Karlox battle? F2P players are crying waiting for itㅠ
─GonIsPopped: But isn’t the Karlox battle tough even for P2W players? Is it designed for F2P players to clear? I only trust Wade.
─Wade: Just wait a bit. I’m in the middle of preparing the guide.
─MacaoPark: Oh! The god of F2P!
─LightDevourer: Wade! Wade! Wade!
Pure enthusiasm different from the selfish expectations of adults.
Well, I guess it’s enjoyable because it’s something I like to do.
─MacaoPark: But Wade, wouldn’t it be better to let go of Alselegi? If you replace Alselegi with just one more UR, it would be much easier.
─LightDevourer: Agreed. Nowadays, even F2P players have one or two UR cards. Focusing too much on SSR or SR cards is a bit off.
─GonIsPopped: That’s why Wade posts strategy guides for both decks with SSR and real crappy ones.
─MacaoPark: But you post guides for the crappy decks firstㅋㅋ Honestly, it’s hard to follow a guide for an R card deck. But regardless, it would be better without Alselegi.
─LightDevourer: That’s true.
Alselegi referred to the Alse Line character given at the beginning of the game, which, like any free starting card, was pitiful in grade and performance, hence named Alselegi.
It played a significant role in the story and participated in most battles, leading the story in place of the taciturn protagonist.
Although prominent in the story, Alse was merely an extra character that real users never used.
I always employed Alse in battles.
I tended to prioritize the logic of the game story and actual gameplay over performance.
For example, it was unthinkable to use the king or general characters of B Kingdom drawn from the gacha in a war against B Kingdom. It was simply absurd.
In that context, I always used Alse as an ally, regardless of the situation.
“Alright, cleared it. Phew!”
After countless trials and errors, it took 13 hours for the strategy to succeed. This stage was undoubtedly difficult enough for users to cry out in frustration.
If you couldn’t find the hidden quest within the story, it would be challenging for F2P players to clear.
“I can’t believe there’s a hidden enhancement quest for Alse here.”
Through this quest, Alse would upgrade from an SR to an SSR. Considering it was initially an R card, it was a form of growth according to the story.
This upgrade would surely boost Alse’s tier.
Although reaching tier 1 seemed impossible to me, enhancing abilities to at least tier 2 was feasible.
“Phew, it’s already 3 a.m. I should sleep and upload the guide in the morning.”
I dived into bed, fiddling with my smartphone.
─Wade: Cleared. Will upload the guide after organizing it tomorrow.
─GonIsPopped: 5252! I believed in you!
─Wade: Also, I found a hidden enhancement quest. Probably the first to discover it. Will post the guide in the afternoon.
─DrOh: Wow, crazy. Which enhancement quest? The P2W players who cleared it didn’t mention that.
─Wade: It was inevitableㅋ
There was no way a P2W user would use Alse as their main, especially since the Karlox battle was just updated three days ago.
“Starting tomorrow, the recruitment rate for Alz will skyrocket.”
Before I knew it, Alz had become my favorite character. As much as I looked forward to Alz’s tier rising with the enhancement quest scheduled for the next day.
There was no plan for me to upload a strategy for the next day.
Because an unbelievable sight awaited me as I woke up from sleep.