Chapter 1: Prologue.

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Reasonless fortune is rare.

For example, someone who has never bought a lottery ticket cannot win the lottery.

Even for luck that seems to come for free in life, a minimal cause-and-effect relationship is necessary.

But misfortune is different.

Tragedy that plunges life to the bottom sometimes strikes without any signs.

Like the development of an improbable novel, it may be the providence of misfortune to overturn a smooth life in an instant and not take responsibility.

In that sense, what happened to Seo Jin was also the ultimate misfortune.

Aegis Project.

It is a collectible turn-based strategy simulation game set in the struggle of humanity resisting the unknown extraterrestrial life form, [Encroachment], that engulfs human territory.

There, the player takes on the role of the Allied Forces commander.

The story of ‘Aegis Project’ is about cooperating with psychics called ‘Aegis’ to carry out missions one by one, and gradually pushing back [Encroachment] from the human sphere.

Overall, it is a well-made work with a good balance and a fairly immersive story, making it a masterpiece that any player can easily get into.

Thanks to this, it had a solid fan base.

Seo Jin was one of those users.

He had been playing steadily for quite a long time since the open beta, and he was confident that his skills were not bad.

However, compared to those who devoted their lives to the game, he was just an ordinary user.

There were probably hundreds more players at Seo Jin’s level.

So, he still didn’t understand.

Why he was thrown into the world of the ‘Aegis Project’ setting.

Moreover, he couldn’t even guess why he was dropped alone, with nothing but his bare body, 10 years before the original story began, without any signs or clues.

In short, he opened his eyes and was just there.

That was really all.

“Status window!”

“System!!”

“Status!!!”

“…Inventory!!!!!”

“Settings!!”

“Options!!!”

“Exit game!!!!”

“Log out, exit, end game!!!!!”

“What the f*ck….”

When he first became aware of reality, Seo Jin’s heart was filled with indescribable resentment and absurdity.

His once normal life had been completely blown away. He wanted to believe it was a dream.

But no matter how much he struggled, nothing changed. Even denial and avoidance didn’t last long.

In the end, all that remained was himself, suddenly becoming a lost child in a strange world.

It took several more days for him to realize that this world was the setting of the game he used to enjoy.

Even accepting reality was difficult.

But the bigger problem was that the point in time when Seo Jin fell here was not even the main story of ‘Aegis Project’.

It was 10 years before that.

It was the worst. In the setting, humanity had just encountered [Encroachment], and the society, terrified by the unprecedented enemy, was in utter chaos.

In the midst of the struggle for survival, where everyone was busy protecting what they had, jobs were nowhere to be found, and even begging only brought cold stares.

There were always many vagrants on the streets, and every morning he would see some of them curled up, unable to open their eyes the next day.

In the chaos of realizing that this was what war was like, there was nothing that a person like Seo Jin, without identity, home, or even a penny, could do.

So, he almost starved to death on the street in just a week.

There was a time when Seo Jin also expected something from the world.

At least, if you’re going to suddenly throw someone into a strange world, it’s common courtesy to give them something to use. Because it is a world full of such capable people.

Clinging to a straw, he prayed that a hologram message or something would appear before his eyes one day, but….

“Status window…. please…….”

There was no such thing.

Therefore, Seo Jin had no choice.

‘Joining the army, huh….’

Enlistment.

Passing through the Allied Forces’ enlistment center, Seo Jin lamented at the strangely familiar feeling.

At the present time, humanity was literally fighting for the survival of the species.

On the front lines, which were larger than any great war in history, there was always a shortage of troops, so anyone who was a complete human being could enlist at any time.

Even someone like Seo Jin, who had no connections, would get food, clothes, and a place to sleep once he joined the army. In a situation where he was on the verge of starvation on the street, it was literally an unavoidable choice.

Thus, Seo Jin became a trainee of the Allied Forces.

The player in the game is depicted as a fairly competent commander.

An expert in Hexa Virus prevention, a hero of the Encroachment War. Always the best assistant to the protagonists of Aegis, and always achieves the best results in any situation.

Of course, such achievements are only settings in the progress. Since mission failure means game over, only the successful results, no matter how many times the player repeats, are treated as canon. He had no choice but to be set as a commander who only wins battles.

But for a skilled player, that’s not such a wrong assessment.

Due to the nature of the strategy simulation genre, it becomes more difficult and challenging the more you delve into it. Approaching the top level requires judgment, improvisation, game knowledge, and familiarity with the settings, all of which must be equally equipped to win the game.

Above all, if you dig into one thing for a long time, you will become familiar with even trivial skills and knowledge to some extent. Therefore, the information that Seo Jin remembers could be a really important clue to victory 10 years before the story of the main story begins.

For example, Seo Jin remembers what forms the variant species of [Encroachment] will evolve and molt into in the future, or what concepts the Allied Forces’ weapons system will develop into as the story is patched.
And he also knew the outline of the key battles in the story, roughly.

If used properly, it was valuable information that could bring an early victory to humanity.

But it was useless now.

Seo Jin was just a homeless person without even an identity. He was wandering the streets in a war like a vagrant, and the only means he could find was the army, just before he was about to starve to death.

Moreover, the situation was the same even after enlisting. In the midst of the chaos where hundreds of millions had already died, what could an ordinary soldier, let alone a mere recruit, do?

He was in a position where he had to worry about what would happen after the training was over, let alone talk about the war situation.

And the worry quickly became a reality.

As the war situation worsened, even basic training was shortened, and just two weeks later, Seo Jin was assigned to the front lines with a recruit rank.

The 47th Defense Line.

That place was hell.