Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

"Hurry! Hurry!"

"Inseok! What's so urgent that you have to run in like that!"

Yu Han, who had just gotten out of the car, went straight into the hall. Despite his mother's complaints from behind, he paid no attention.

"Surely my ranking hasn't dropped in that time, right?"

A week ago, Yu Han was dragged to the countryside by his mother.

During this time, he couldn't log into the game at all, which made him feel like thorns were pricking all over his body.

As soon as Yu Han entered the bar and changed his clothes, he immediately went into the capsule and logged into the game.

The scene before him brightened, and the surroundings transformed into a solemn temple of light, the typical login screen of the game 'Arpedia Online'.

A small fairy with silver wings fluttered over and asked,

"Of course. Why else would I get into the capsule?"

Yu Han went to the countryside because his maternal uncle called, saying that his grandmother was in critical condition.

She wanted to see her grandson's face one last time before she passed away.

However, when he was reluctantly dragged to his grandmother's house by his mother, he saw her standing at the door, greeting him with a bright face.

His grandmother had lied. She did this because it was difficult to see her grandson, who was always locked in his room.

'Damn it, if my ranking drops, it's all because of my grandmother!'

Yu Han grumbled as he entered his ID and password.

As soon as the character selection screen appeared, Yu Han hurriedly chose his only avatar, 'Bartz'.

Leaving the fairy's cute voice behind, Yu Han felt as if he was being sucked into a black hole. It was like being pulled into a vortex by a Qinglong train.

"Ugh! I can't get used to this login method at all!"

Due to dizziness, Yu Han shook his head, and the square of the Kingdom of Varkas, where the capital Balden was, appeared before his eyes.

Whoosh!

The water streaming down from the central fountain felt refreshing. Around it, NPCs including guards and new players who were still at low levels and couldn't leave the city were visible.

"Huh? That's strange. I clearly stopped the game at the Tower of the Sky…"

It was common sense that you would restart from the point where you last logged out unless you died in the game.

Yu Han's eyes widened as he looked around.

His reflection in the water, the unique outfit of his avatar Bartz, was just a pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt.

Wasn't this the outfit for new players starting the game for the first time!

"What's going on! Where are my Red Bone Plate Mail and Flame Sword? And my item bag?"

The Red Bone Plate Mail, with a defense of 400 and a fire attribute, was an A-grade armor that was hard to obtain.

What about the Flame Sword? It was a powerful weapon with an attack of 250, obtained during a fire spell quest!

Startled, Yu Han hurriedly opened his status window.

The window that appeared in the air made Yu Han's mind ring with a thunderous sound.

"Aaaaaah! What's going on here!"

The surrounding scenery turned dark. It wasn't just because of the shock.

With a beautiful woman's voice, the tragic boy, Kang Yu Han, was forcibly logged out of the game Arpedia Online.

The biggest problem with virtual reality games is the addiction of the players.

Unlike the clumsy early virtual reality games, Arpedia Online had a virtual reality technology that was almost indistinguishable from reality.

Therefore, the developers were concerned that players would neglect reality and become addicted to the virtual reality game. They implemented several safety measures before the game's release.

One of these was an automatic logout program.

If a player's mental state was unstable or their body was extremely weak, the program would forcibly disconnect them from the game.

"What's going on! Why is my Bartz like this!"

In Arpedia Online, Bartz was quite famous. He was a warrior character in the top 50, known for his stubborn quirks and past.

Bartz did not participate in guild activities.

He never played in a party.

Whether in the field or in dungeons, he always played alone.

He was obsessed with fighting alone and even disliked when others offered support spells or healing.

If it were just that, he would have been treated as a lone wolf.

However, this lone wolf single-handedly defeated the strongest field boss monster, the Red Dragon, when the game's commercial service began.

He defeated the newly respawned Red Dragon with full HP and MP.

Defeating a dragon alone was something the game company had declared impossible.

But Bartz boldly defeated the Red Dragon in front of everyone, and the scene was recorded in a video file and posted on the official website and various strategy sites.

Bartz, the Holy Warrior, Bartz, the Dragon Slayer.

From then on, Bartz was known by these names among the players.

Numerous players aspired to be like Bartz, and the number of warrior characters increased.

However, no one knew who Bartz was. Not only in reality but also in the game, there was no one who was close to Bartz.

Bartz was truly a fierce and lonely wolf.

But this wolf suddenly became a puppy.

"What's going on…"

Yu Han lay motionless in the capsule for a long time.

It felt like he had been hit on the back of the head with a large hammer.

No, when he realized that his unique avatar Bartz was completely stripped of all items and had returned to level 1, his heart felt like it was shrinking.

Fortunately, his heart didn't stop, but it felt as if a large hole had been punched through his chest.

A cold wind kept blowing through that hole.

"There must be some mistake."

He must have logged in with someone else's ID by accident.

Yu Han, convinced of this, logged back into the Arpedia continent.

No matter how many times he tried to log in, the result was the same.

Players who were forcibly logged out could not log back in within 6 hours.

This was also one of the programs designed to protect players.

Bang!

Yu Han punched the capsule wall and went to the computer in the room to access the official website of Arpedia Online.

Although you couldn't play the game by accessing the official website, you could check your character's status.

"Aaaaaah!"

Despite his denial, the nightmare was real.

What he had seen earlier was not an illusion. The items he had obtained through great effort were all gone, and his bank, which had been full of money and gems, was now empty.

If it were just the items and money, he could have gone crazy.

But what really drove Yu Han mad was that the character he had spent countless hours and effort on was completely reset.

Level 1.

The status points and skill points were exactly the same as when the character was first created.

"Aaaaaah! This can't be! This can't be happening!"

Yu Han pulled at his hair and screamed.

"You bastard! What can't happen? Clean your room quickly!"

As he was about to go mad, his mother's nagging voice came from beyond the door.

That day was the most miserable day in Kang Yu Han's gaming life.