TNAAS Ch 1

Episode 1

Yeonwoo had lived a fairly ordinary life. Not that it was completely without flaws, but they were no more than the kind of troubles anyone might have. Nothing beyond that.

He had never asked for much either. Making just enough money to live on while being a little too serious about games and even earning some extra income through them—it hadn’t been a bad life. On top of that, he found small joys in clearing content one by one and defeating mid-bosses along the way.

The only wish he had left was to defeat the final boss that he hadn’t been able to beat despite several attempts. He had thought it was a modest wish, but perhaps it wasn’t. After all, he had ended up inside the game.

“xx!!!!!!xxxx!!!!!!”

If he had typed that in the chat, he surely would have been reported. But now, there wasn’t even a single player left to report him. At this point, it suddenly crossed his mind that maybe the game itself was telling him to go screw himself.

“I only said manual play was too hard and asked for an easier difficulty! Who said anything about transmigration?!”

Just as the words implied, Yeonwoo had suddenly found himself transmigrated into the very game he used to play, his mind thrown into chaos. And with good reason. Not long ago, this game had been revealed as a trash game^[1], starting with rigged probabilities in cash items and eventually exposing that every single content involving chance had been manipulated.

Public sentiment had hit rock bottom. Veteran heavy players^[2] even uploaded performances of deleting their accounts on YouTube, driving the game’s reputation further into ruin. Despite all of that, Yeonwoo had stubbornly kept playing, unwilling to let go of the money he had already sunk into it. But he had run into serious trouble when attempting the final boss. Since he could no longer afford to spend more money, he had no choice but to rely on his own control skills.

That was why he had muttered, “How the hell am I supposed to press all these hotkeys? At this rate, it’d be easier to just fight with my own body!” But the moment he said that, he lost consciousness and ended up transmigrated inside the game.

And of all things, it wasn’t his main character, the one he had poured a fortune into, but his alt character, the one he had made just to farm boss items and sell them. Still, even though it wasn’t as well-geared as his main, he had put some effort into it, equipping decent gear and even pulling good special skills, so it could at least handle bosses.

But while his main character’s stats were so strong that, with skillful control, it could even solo the final boss, the alt was a pure support buffer with zero attack power. No matter how good its stats were, it could never defeat a boss alone.

As Yeonwoo crouched on the ground in the middle of the village, clutching his head and muttering to himself, passersby gave him strange looks. But he didn’t have the time or energy to care. He had to find a way out of here and return to his original body.

When I get back, I’m selling all my gear and quitting this damn trash game for good.

While sitting and racking his brain over how to return, a sudden thought made Yeonwoo spring to his feet. Come to think of it, in most transmigration stories, the plot revolved around the protagonist, and once they solved the main problem, the story would come to an end, whether in a good way or a bad way.

If that was the case, then…

If I transmigrated because I cursed while trying to kill the final boss, wouldn’t I just need to kill that bastard to go back?

Yeonwoo, thinking it was quite a clever plan, narrowed his slightly upturned eyes into a sly smile. Even if the chances were uncertain, it was still better than sitting around doing nothing. Besides, it wasn’t in Yeonwoo’s nature to stay idle anyway. He already knew the final boss strategy inside out, having attempted it countless times.

The real problem was that the character he had transmigrated into wasn’t just weak in attack power; it was practically nonexistent. He could sustain the fight with buff and heal skills, but without proper enhancements, there was no way to land a critical blow, making the odds slim at best. Gathering enhancement materials would take a lot of money.

On a faint hope, Yeonwoo reached into the small pouch tied to his waist. After rummaging through it, his face fell into despair, and he slumped back down, pounding the ground.

“Argh! I’ve got so much money in my inventory and my bank! Give me back my money!”

Merchants who had been watching him nearby began to wonder if they should report him to the guards. After all, if a stranger were suddenly screaming in the middle of the street, anyone would assume he was out of his mind.

Just then, while Yeonwoo was still sitting on the ground digging himself into misery, a clear chime rang inside his head. Ding! An all-too-familiar window appeared before his eyes.

Balance: 34,600,000,000

Gasping at the enormous number, Yeonwoo’s eyes went wide. He stared at the window for a moment, then glanced around. Judging by the way people were still looking at him like he was insane, it seemed the window was visible only to him.

His trembling fingers traced along the countless zeros one by one. When his hand finally stopped at the last digit, relief washed over him, and with teary eyes, he slowly checked through the inventory balance and the items inside.

“Ahh, my pretties… Why did you only show up now? Do you know how much Daddy missed you?”

Ecstatic, as if reunited with precious family he thought he’d never see again, Yeonwoo’s eyes even began to glisten with tears. But then, he snapped back to his senses. Looking closer, something was very wrong with the items.

“These… These are from other classes! Why the hell did I craft this junk?!”

Cursing his past self, Yeonwoo was forced to shed tears once again. It seemed he had used this alt as nothing more than storage. The moment he realized the expensive items he had acquired were useless here, they became nothing more than rice cakes in a picture.

While he was still lost in his own anguish, the sun had already sunk beneath the horizon. Of course, Yeonwoo had no ties to this place, and now he was faced with the problem of how to survive going forward.

Until he found a way out, he would still need to eat and sleep. That meant he needed a home. But with night already falling, he couldn’t buy a house or even go look for one. Still, since he had plenty of money, it seemed best to ask around and find an inn for now.

At last, Yeonwoo made up his mind. He leapt to his feet, lifted his head, and scanned the area, looking for the most approachable NPC. He hadn’t memorized the names of every NPC in this world, but he at least knew the names of shopkeepers he frequently used.

From the rustic charm of the place, it seemed this was Firenze Village. The shopkeeper of Firenze Village was Madam Mago, known for her generosity that matched her broad figure. Her shop, with its pink roof in the center of the village, was not hard to find.

Spotting Madam Mago, Yeonwoo approached her with a friendly smile, as if greeting an old friend.

“Hello, Madam Mago!”

“…Yes?”

Madam Mago had been watching him ever since he had been sitting in the square muttering to himself like a madman. Now that he suddenly walked up and greeted her so warmly, she only found him even stranger. Whether he knew what she was thinking or not, Yeonwoo kept grinning as he spoke.

“Would you happen to know of any inns nearby? I’m new to this village, so I’m not familiar with the area.”

Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t know at all. But since players never had any need for inns, he didn’t know the exact location. Seeing Yeonwoo speak more normally than expected, Madam Mago looked surprised at first, but in keeping with her kind-hearted character, she replied with a friendly voice.

“Oh my, so you’re new here. Was that odd dance you were doing in the square earlier some kind of spell from your homeland? Or maybe you’re a dancer, since you’ve got such a delicate look?”

Though her words were a jumble of questions and random chatter, Yeonwoo let it pass and made a vague excuse. She was always the type to ramble on about all sorts of things whenever he visited her shop anyway.

“Yes… Well, something like that. It’s a kind of summoning spell, so you don’t need to worry.”

“I knew it! You didn’t look ordinary at all.”

“So then… about the inn, where can I find it?”

If he humored her further, the conversation might drag on until the sun had fully set and the moon was high, so Yeonwoo quickly steered back to the point. Only then did Madam Mago remember his original question, clapping her hands as she answered.

“There’s only one inn in this village! See that big building over there? That’s the inn.”

Looking in the direction Madam Mago pointed, Yeonwoo spotted a building that stood out from the smaller houses around it, somewhat larger and gleaming. Despite passing through Firenze countless times, he had never seen such a place before. What’s more, a large tapestry hung in the center of the building, and its emblem looked strangely familiar.

“And that emblem… What is it?”

“How can you not know that emblem, even if this is your first time here? Have you been locked away somewhere all this time?”

Is it really that famous? I feel like I’ve seen it often while playing, but since I mostly played solo after reaching a certain level, I can’t remember the finer details.

Still wearing an expression of confusion, Yeonwoo only prompted Madam Mago to look at him with pity, as if she had come to some great misunderstanding.

“That’s the emblem of the Ivant Guild. That place is a hotel run by the Ivant.”

With eyes still full of pity, Madam Mago explained in a voice dripping with tenderness, as though looking at a helpless kitten abandoned on the roadside.