Chapter 1

The Marquess Family's Magic Genius - Chapter 1 (1/324)

1

Lucid dream.

I had heard of it, but experiencing it for the first time was something else.

The moment I opened my eyes.

The luxurious room came into view first, followed by my body.

Starting from my arms and down to my legs.

It looked as if I were a mummy, shriveled and dried up.

Moreover, the length of my limbs was off.

This looked like the arms of a child around ten years old, didn't it?

No matter how I looked at it, it wasn't the body of a thirty-six-year-old man, me, Hyunwoo.

It was far too strange to be the body of a well-fed Korean.

A chill ran down my spine, and I tried to scream, but no sound came out of my mouth.

‘...What is this?’

My confusion was brief.

I soon understood the situation.

It seemed my consciousness had entered someone else's body.

‘Is this just a dream?’

Since I was aware, it felt like a lucid dream.

The only thing I could do was think, so I decided to observe.

I couldn't see what the kid looked like beyond his limbs.

“Damn it!”

It was a young voice.

English?

No, it wasn't.

It was a completely unfamiliar language.

But I could understand the meaning clearly.

The kid, who had just opened his eyes and seen his shriveled limbs, shouted in frustration.

“Is anyone there!”

After a moment, a high-quality wooden door opened, and a maid who looked to be around ten years old entered.

She had fair skin and blonde hair.

Clearly, she was a foreigner.

‘What the hell is this?’

In the meantime, the maid, rolling her eyes, cautiously asked.

“M... Master?”

“Bring me some alcohol immediately!”

“But the head of the household...”

“You damn girl! Do you want to die? Where did you get the nerve to argue with me?!”

The maid hurriedly knelt at the brat's harsh words.

“P... Please forgive me... Please spare my life...”

“If you want to live, bring it. Now.”

With that, the maid rushed out of the room.

He seemed to be of high status, but his actions were no different from a street thug.

“Damn...!”

The brat, who had been fuming for a while, stood in front of a full-length mirror next to the bed.

His body, shriveled to an extreme, was reflected.

After staring at his reflection in the mirror for a long time, the kid began to tremble with his fists.

“Gah!”

Unable to contain his frustration, he threw everything he could at the mirror.

Crash!

Even after breaking the ornate mirror, the kid's rampage didn't stop.

Did he have some kind of anger management issue?

I had no idea what he was doing.

‘This seems familiar somehow.’

The gaunt face in the mirror felt strangely familiar.

Where had I seen it before?

‘Ah.’

I soon realized where I had seen him. In a game.

‘Well, I guess after playing so much, I'm now having dreams like this.’

Fantasy Defense.

A virtual reality game released in the 2030s, and a single-player capsule game to which I had dedicated ten years of my youth.

From the incredibly detailed sensory implementation to the vivid realism, it was a game that seemed impossible to create with modern technology.

Just like how games in novels are described as being beyond the technology of their time.

It amazed countless users, and the goal of the game was surprisingly simple.

As you played, various villains, collectively called "villains," would appear, and your job was to defend against their attacks.

The difficulty was extreme.

‘No one had cleared it in ten years.’

Even skilled players would be eliminated immediately if they didn't have luck on their side.

Despite that, the game was thrilling enough for many players to keep challenging it.

It was fun, but there was a decisive reason.

Even if you didn't reach the ending, you would be given a score based on how you played, fostering competition among many players.

My score was 930,000 points.

The highest officially recorded score.

The second place was 320,000 points, so that says it all.

My surprising talent for virtual reality games.

Thanks to this talent I didn't know I had, I was able to thrive as a game streamer.

During the ten years I played this game, I never had to worry about money.

Looking at the kid's face in the broken mirror, I could identify which character he was.

‘Kyle Seltarion, right.’

A side character who gets entangled with the protagonist in an event and gets beaten up badly.

That was this kid.

After causing a commotion for a while, the kid started gulping down the alcohol the maid brought.

‘Wow.’

It seemed to be wine, and I had never seen anyone drink it straight from the bottle like that.

After downing the wine in one go, the kid looked at the maid.

“Ugh. It's still not enough, bring more.”

“...Yes...”

After drinking about three bottles of wine, the brat finally seemed to feel dizzy and collapsed on the bed.

A moment later, he passed out, completely drunk.

He was a perfect example of a spoiled brat.

As the kid closed his eyes, my vision also darkened.

While he was asleep, a scene suddenly started playing in the darkened vision.

It played very quickly.

It seemed to be a memory from the kid's childhood.

The scenes passed by very quickly, but I understood each one in detail, as if I were receiving a cram course.

What the hell is this?

Over the course of the night, I saw four years' worth of the kid's memories.

It seemed that only important or memorable memories were passed on, as there were no trivial ones.

When the memory transfer ended, my vision naturally brightened.

It seemed the brat had woken up from his sleep.

The first thing I saw again was the luxurious room.

‘When will I wake up?’

The dream was longer than expected.

Still, I was relaxed.

I thought I would soon be able to escape this unique lucid dream.

Time in the dream continued to flow.

* * * * *

‘Damn it! When will I wake up?’

This damn dream had already lasted three days.

How long was this dream supposed to go on?

I had never known such a strange dream existed, nor that a single dream could last this long.

I was about to go crazy.

Kyle Seltarion.

If he were a lively character or met various people, it might be less boring, but he wasn't.

The only thing this twelve-year-old did was drink wine all day and break things.

Yelling at the surrounding servants was his daily routine.

At this point, I felt sorry for the servants who had to replace the broken items.

‘There's nothing more to see here.’

Three days.

During that time, I had seen most of Kyle's memories.

The scenes played sporadically, but I felt I had a general understanding of the important ones.

I learned that his emaciated body was due to a strange incurable disease, and that he was the son of a concubine, receiving little attention from those around him.

However.

Even after reviewing his memories, I had completely lost interest in him.

It was hard to be interested in a kid who drank like a middle-aged man who had failed in business multiple times.

If the protagonist did such things, it would be ridiculous, let alone a spoiled brat I had no interest in.

‘Please, just wake up.’

This fantasy world was interesting for a day or two!

Did someone hear my desperate wish?

On the fourth day, I woke up from the long dream.

“Huff!”

I was briefly happy that I could speak on my own, but I frowned at the familiar scenery in front of me.

My gaze naturally turned to the mirror.

“Sigh.”

I let out a sigh, half exasperated and half resigned.

The full-length mirror next to the bed.

There, Kyle Seltarion, whom I had been watching for the past three days, was reflected.

‘...’

I pinched my cheek, feeling a sharp pain.

‘Damn.’

In the ten years I played the game, I had never felt such a realistic sensation.

Fantasy Defense was an excellent game, but it didn't transmit all five senses to this extent.

This place seemed to be reality.

What the hell was going on?

When I saw the emaciated arm moving according to my will, it felt like I had possessed someone.

I couldn't explain this phenomenon otherwise.

As I felt a mix of emotions with my body moving according to my will, a knock came from outside the door.

“Master, may I come in?”

It seemed to be one of the maids.

How should I respond?

Since I was the young master of the Marquess family, it would be appropriate to respond informally.

Thanks to the memories I had received, it didn't feel awkward.

A natural response came out of my mouth.

“No. Don't come in.”

I didn't feel like seeing anyone right now.

The maid cautiously asked.

“Then, about the meal... Should I bring you wine again today?”

Wow.

Now that I think about it, this brat has been drinking wine instead of eating for three days.

That thought made me feel hungry.

‘I'm going crazy.’

It really felt like my soul had properly settled into this kid's body. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel such vivid sensations and hunger that I hadn't felt before.

‘Ugh.’

I needed to eat something since I was hungry.

“...Just leave it outside the door. I'll eat it myself.”

“I... I will do that.”

After a brief response, a voice came from outside.

It was a polite and formal tone, but in summary, it was telling me that the food was left outside the door.

Opening the door slightly, I saw a bowl of food.

‘Porridge?’

The thin rice porridge was a familiar dish to me.

As I ate the porridge, I continued to think.

‘The Seltarion Marquess family.’

The Alton Empire.

One of the families renowned for their swordsmanship in this empire was the Seltarion Marquess family.

Fitting their grand title, they were one of the most powerful and influential families in the vast empire.

Kyle Seltarion, the fourth and youngest son of this prestigious family, was unfortunately the son of a concubine.

While thinking about his situation.

A thought suddenly crossed my mind.

‘This place isn't very safe, is it?’

The Trasden territory, governed by the Seltarion Marquess family.

This was one of the places the villains had already reached. If the game's story progressed as it did, it would soon be completely destroyed.

That thought naturally made my expression sour.

If I was really possessed in the game world, the situation wasn't good.

A sickly, emaciated son of a concubine.

The only thing he had going for him was the Marquess family's influence. But if the villains destroyed the Marquess family?

He would lose his only support.

‘That's a problem.’

I didn't have the power to stop it right now, and running away wouldn't solve the problem.

The Marquess family was just the beginning; the villains' attacks would become even more intense afterward.

Eventually, the empire and the surrounding kingdoms would be completely destroyed.

What should I do?

The first thing that came to mind was the hidden items and knowledge in the game.

Commonly known as hidden pieces.

If this was really the game world and I was possessed, those hidden pieces should exist.

If I could obtain them, I could compete with those guys even with this withered body.

However.

There was a problem.

‘With this body... I can't get them.’

Most of the good ones were guarded by powerful guardians.

They were far beyond what this withered body could handle.

I would be lucky to survive the journey to get them.

“...No. What am I supposed to do?”

Usually, when you're dragged into something like this, you get some kind of power, right?

I had never cleared the game even with a powerful protagonist, so what could I do with this brat's body?

But I didn't want to just die.

At that moment.

I started to see something blue floating around.

Dozens of blue particles were floating in the room.

“...Huh?”

Was there something wrong with my eyes?

As I stared at the object, a message appeared.

“...”

If the message I was seeing was correct.

It seemed to be mana.