Chapter 2

◈ Universal Kingdoms (2)

'Let’s look at the Korean Peninsula.'

To him, grand strategy games were ultimately nothing more than a way to indulge in his own country. When playing World Wars or Imperial Realm, no matter how much he tried to play other countries with affection, his routine was always to complete the blue area in the east. However, in his favorite game, European Kings, he couldn’t play East Asia at all. It was incredibly unreasonable, but now that Universal Kingdoms has come out and is satisfying his unfulfilled desires, he felt fortunate.

'Hmm.'

Since he can only choose after 1000 AD, the history of the Korean Peninsula can be selected from the Goryeo Dynasty onward. Naturally, he chose Goryeo. Of course, he wanted to play the game for as long as possible, but the essence of Goryeo was undeniable. It was a national name that embodied the spirit and identity of the Korean people. Even though Korea had the ancient kingdom of Gojoseon, the name "Joseon" was only allowed by the Ming Dynasty. This was a bit of a problem.

Sangmin chose Goryeo and examined the country’s characteristics. 'There’s nothing else, but the core territory defense is quite high.' The historical accuracy is spot on. It’s even too accurate. Even the outcomes of the Jurchen and Mongol wars are meticulously implemented. The names and abilities of the generals are also accurate. The historical accuracy is honestly beyond impressive. Did they hire a competent East Asian historian? As a mod creator for the grand mode, he couldn’t control his curiosity and, before even starting the game, pressed Alt-Tab to dig through the game files. He then examined other Goryeo event chains and playable character files.

'So, you guys can do this if you put your mind to it.' The typical Western bias is still there, but the Korean Peninsula’s countries have become as realistic as the major European nations. With the increasing number of high-quality domestic developers, they had no choice but to pay attention.

After a few hours of digging through files, it was almost midnight when he finally decided on the first scenario. 'Still, a new game should have some excitement.' This game, like other Contradiction Studios games, has an unfriendly guide, a vast interface, and a ridiculous difficulty for beginners, requiring at least 500 hours to get past the newbie stage. Even though he was a veteran of the previous series, he was now a complete newbie with 0 hours.

He relaxed his hands and brought up the character customization screen. 'Of course, there’s a score limit.' To prevent overpowered characters, there was a total score limit for traits. This game is unique in that it doesn’t show individual ability scores. Instead, it uses traits, and there are a vast number of them. Traits are abilities that benefit the country and organizations, and great statesmen and generals have many good traits. For example:

Gang Gam-chan (姜邯贊)

- Indomitable Will, Charisma, Insight, Tactical Genius, Boldness, Diligence, Both Civil and Military.

The other two great generals of the Korean Peninsula probably have similar overpowered traits. On the other hand, there are characters with bad traits, who are often considered notorious traitors or tyrants. To be precise, great traitors, though evil, still have competent traits. Examples include Yi Ja-gyeom and Choe Woo. In contrast, tyrants like Renzong and Rendong are not even worth mentioning.

Sangmin, who was setting his own traits, suddenly became curious and opened the modding tool to examine the trait files. 'As expected.' Immortality (不老不死, Immortality) is a trait that, while making the game boring for veterans, adds a unique charm by allowing the player to see their character survive and adapt to the changing times. Of course, it’s not invincible; if you get hit by an arrow or a sword on the battlefield, you still die. However, being immune to disease and assassination is a significant advantage when playing as a ruler. 'There are a few penalties, though.' For some reason, it couldn’t be selected in the in-game character customizer, but this was no problem for him. In less than five minutes, he modified the target file. By adding one more number to the pre-set 100 points, he increased it to 1100 points, allowing him to stack many traits. However, Immortality alone consumes 1000 points.

He could have increased it further, but he didn’t want to be a munchkin, so he decided to keep it as is. He added Immortality and a few other traits to fill the 100 points. "This should be enough."

It was time to start. The period of the Mongol Wars. A time so dark and terrible that it could be called the darkest era of Goryeo. The country was split between the Goryeo court in Kaesong and the Sambyeolcho, leading to a civil war-like conflict. Of course, the two factions couldn’t be compared in terms of size. For this reason, when he chose the Sambyeolcho, the in-game difficulty indicator showed an extremely high value. Not only were they not the official government but also a rebel group. Additionally, Goryeo was a vassal state of the Mongol Empire, so they had to fight against their suzerain as well.

'What’s the problem? If I can’t hold out, I’ll just run to Taiwan.' After all, his character had the Immortality trait. If he played the long game and held out in Taiwan while implementing a southern policy, it could be a lot of fun.

"Hmm, I’ll keep the historical major nation buffs and set the character similarity a bit higher…."

As Sangmin checked each item, he paused at a strange, small item at the end. It was marked in red and bold, clearly designed to pique curiosity.

- Reflect Real History -

When he clicked it, a checkmark appeared. When he tried to start the game, a perplexing message popped up on the screen.

What does this mean? You can actually change world history?

Even a simple sentence that a primary school student could understand made him wonder if he had learned English wrong. He frowned and scratched his head.

'This is the typical Western something-or-other.'

He clicked and scratched his head again. 'Is this about achieving achievements?'

Starting faction: Goryeo rebel group 'Sambyeolcho'

Starting location: N34.6, E126.3

Starting character: Unidentified character.

Starting time: AD 1270

He realized his beer was empty. It felt a bit empty. He got up from his chair to click the confirmation window when he suddenly stumbled. It seemed he had a cramp in his leg. He pressed the keys absentmindedly and leaned on the desk to support himself, frowning. His vision distorted. The ground felt like it was spinning. It reminded him of his college days when he bravely led a group drinking contest in front of freshmen, drinking a cocktail of soju and an electrolyte drink, feeling like he was about to pass out.

'What’s happening?'

His vision was blurry. He couldn’t stay awake. He tried to force his eyes open, but his body no longer obeyed his mind. He hadn’t drunk much before, and this was beyond just being drunk. It felt like a sleep endoscopy he had done before. As he lost consciousness, he mumbled.

Don’t let my new phone screen break…

On the computer screen where Sangmin had fallen, a different message popped up. Due to his fall, the keyboard was pressed incorrectly, and the computer seemed to lag. The message read:

Starting faction: Goryeo rebel group 'Sambyeolcho'

Starting location: - N34.6, E126.3

Starting character: Unidentified character.

Starting time: AD 1270

Starting faction: Goryeo rebel group 'Sambyeolcho'

Starting location: S34.62 W53.77

Starting character: Unidentified character.

Starting time: AD 1270

—-

Author: gadrukman10sagi

Content: Have you seen the guy who was hyping up Universal Kingdoms or something recently?

– qwerty1234

Yeah, he hasn’t been around lately.

It was quite fun to read as if he was starting a series and modding.

– TRUEROMEISOTTOMAN

But he did a great job with the previous World Wars national pride mod. Maybe he went crazy from the pressure of people demanding quick mod updates?

– PolskaSTRONK

(Polandball crying emoji)

– gaesorihasaram

Stop using such offensive nicknames, you bastards.

– GermanDanzig

When did mentioning authors and modders become offensive?

– roomaniya

Ah, lol, those Contradiction Studios guys couldn’t have made such a god game, right?

– hwandankgaegogi

Come back, man. Update the national pride mod 2.4.0.