Chapter 1: Server Down

The fluorescent lights of the PC café buzzed overhead as Lee Jin-woo adjusted his headset for what felt like the hundredth time today. The familiar weight of the full-dive visor pressed against his temples, and the neural interface cables snaked down his neck like digital veins. Around him, dozens of other players lay motionless in their pods, lost in the virtual world of Eternum Online.Just another Tuesday in paradise, Jin-woo thought bitterly as he initiated the connection sequence.

[ETERNUM ONLINE - WELCOME BACK, PLAYER][CHARACTER: Jin-woo][LEVEL: 47][CLASS: Warrior][LAST LOGIN: 16 hours ago]The familiar blue interface dissolved as his consciousness transferred into the game world. The bustling streets of Arcadia City materialized around him—towering spires of crystal and steel, floating platforms carrying merchants and adventurers, and the constant hum of magical energy that powered everything in this digital realm.Jin-woo materialized in the same spot he always did: the corner of Beginner's Plaza, where the fountain of eternal youth sparkled with rainbow light. It was supposed to be ironic—a level 47 player hanging around the newbie area—but Jin-woo had long since stopped caring about appearances.His reflection in the fountain's surface showed his avatar: a fairly average-looking warrior with brown hair, basic leather armor, and a sword that had seen better days three months ago. Nothing special. Nothing impressive. Just another face in the crowd of millions."Jin-woo! Over here!"The shout came from across the plaza. Min-jun, his guild leader, was waving frantically while standing next to what looked like a recruitment booth. Even from a distance, Jin-woo could see the man's gleaming silver armor and the legendary weapon strapped to his back—clear indicators that Min-jun was somewhere north of level 200.Jin-woo jogged over, his worn boots making barely a sound on the cobblestones. "What's up?""Dude, you're not going to believe this," Min-jun said, his eyes practically glowing with excitement. "The devs just announced a server-wide event. World boss raid. Tonight. Everyone who participates gets guaranteed rare loot.""Everyone?" Jin-woo raised an eyebrow. In his three years playing Eternum Online, "everyone" usually meant "everyone except players who can't pull their weight.""Well..." Min-jun's enthusiasm dimmed slightly. "Look, I talked to the other officers. We think you should sit this one out."There it was. The familiar sting of rejection wrapped up in fake concern."It's not personal," Min-jun continued quickly. "It's just... the boss is going to be level 300 plus. One mistake and you'll be looking at a week-long death penalty. We can't afford to carry anyone tonight."Jin-woo nodded, forcing his expression to remain neutral. "I understand."But he didn't, really. He'd been with the Crimson Phoenix guild for eight months, faithfully showing up to every dungeon run, every grinding session, every guild meeting. Sure, his damage output wasn't spectacular, and his equipment was outdated, but he followed orders and never complained."Hey," Min-jun clapped him on the shoulder. "Use tonight to work on your crafting skills or something. Maybe run some solo dungeons. There's always next time, right?"Right. Next time. Jin-woo had heard that phrase more often than he cared to count.After Min-jun jogged off to prepare for the raid, Jin-woo stood alone in the plaza, watching other players rush past him with purpose and excitement. Groups forming, strategies being discussed, equipment being checked and double-checked. The electric anticipation of a major event buzzed through the air like static.He opened his character panel and stared at his stats:[STR: 156]
[AGI: 143]
[VIT: 167]
[INT: 89]
[LUK: 23]Three years of playing, and these numbers felt more like a medical diagnosis than a character sheet. Average across the board, with luck so low it was practically a running joke among his guild mates.Jin-woo closed the panel with more force than necessary and started walking toward the city gates. If he wasn't good enough for the world boss, he'd go grind some experience in the Whispering Woods. Maybe if he gained a few more levels, pushed his stats just a little higher...The woods were quieter than usual—most players were either preparing for the raid or had logged off to grab food before the event started. Jin-woo found a small clearing populated by Shadow Wolves, creatures that gave decent experience for their level range. Perfect for mindless grinding.He drew his sword and engaged the nearest wolf. The familiar dance of combat began: dodge left, strike, block, counter-attack. His movements were mechanical, practiced, efficient but uninspired. The wolf's health bar drained slowly but steadily.[Shadow Wolf Defeated!]
[Experience Gained: 347 EXP]
[Gold Gained: 15G]Jin-woo barely glanced at the notification before moving to the next enemy. Then the next. And the next.Time blurred together as he fell into the grinding rhythm. Strike, dodge, loot, repeat. His experience bar crept upward with agonizing slowness—he was still 2,000 EXP away from level 48, and at this rate, it would take him another two hours just to gain a single level.Maybe Min-jun was right, he thought as he parried another wolf's claws. Maybe I really am holding everyone back.That's when the first warning appeared.[SYSTEM ALERT: Unusual network activity detected]
[SYSTEM ALERT: Connection stability fluctuating]
[SYSTEM ALERT: Please prepare for emergency logout procedures]Jin-woo paused mid-swing, his sword frozen inches from a wolf's snout. Around him, other players had stopped what they were doing, all staring at the same series of red warning messages."What the hell?" someone muttered in the distance.Then the world started to glitch.It began subtly—textures flickering like old TV static, shadows moving independently of their objects, the sky briefly turning a sickly green before snapping back to blue. Jin-woo's interface started displaying corrupted text:[EXP G@!n3d: ERROR_NULL]
[Current L0cat10n: [CORRUPTED_DATA]]
[Pl@y3r St@tu$: UN_KNOWN]"This is bad," Jin-woo said aloud, reaching for the logout menu. But when he tried to access it, nothing happened. The menu flickered in and out of existence like a dying light bulb.More alerts flooded his vision:[CRITICAL ERROR: Neural interface malfunction detected]
[WARNING: Forced logout may result in data corruption]
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: Attempting emergency shutdown in 3... 2... 1...]The world exploded into white light.Jin-woo's last coherent thought before everything went black was that he should have listened to Min-jun. He should have stayed in the city. He should have logged off hours ago.But most of all, he shouldn't have been playing a game that was apparently trying to kill him.

[SYSTEM ERROR]
[CONNECTION LOST]
[NEURAL INTERFACE: OFFLINE]
[PLAYER STATUS: UNKNOWN]

Somewhere in the real world, emergency sirens wailed as medical teams rushed into PC cafés across Seoul. Dozens of full-dive pods had simultaneously malfunctioned, leaving their occupants in deep comas. The game servers of Eternum Online had crashed catastrophically, taking with them the consciousness of nearly ten thousand players worldwide.Lee Jin-woo's body lay motionless in pod number 23, vital signs stable but brain activity unlike anything the doctors had ever seen. His neural patterns fluctuated wildly, as if his mind was trying to process two different realities at once.On the darkened monitor next to his pod, a single line of corrupted text flickered in and out of existence:
[GLITCH PLAYER DETECTED]
[INTEGRATION: 0.001%]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: UNKNOWN]The first phase of Lee Jin-woo's real game was about to begin.