I opened the front door.
Chilly air seeped into my nose.
'Somehow, it feels colder inside than outside.'
Goosebumps rose from the shivery chill.
I brushed the snow off my shoulders and head and put on my slippers. I placed the bag containing the hamburg steak bento and cider I bought from 8-Eleven on the sofa. Using the remote control placed on the shoe rack by the entrance, I turned on the boiler and dove onto the two-seater sofa as if collapsing.
I took out the battery that was mounted on the charging cradle.
I opened the phone case, replaced the battery, and turned on the power. The screen lit up white. After fingerprint recognition, I reached the home screen. I tapped the app in the center.
It's a mobile game released 2 years ago. The developer is Moebius.
Now, 2 years later, Pick Me Up has become a popular game boasting nearly 100 million downloads worldwide.
After loading, I reached the main screen.
[Welcome to Pick Me Up!]
[T O U C H!]
I tapped the main screen.
The familiar scenery of the waiting room greeted me.
In the waiting room's office, a blonde female knight was sitting demurely.
The 6-star Grand Knight, Siris. She was the leader of my main progression party, and the first and last natural 4-star hero, a Super Rare character, that I ever pulled.
I recalled the time I summoned Siris.
At that time, I was quite angry because I had poured in five million Won, but couldn't even get a 4-star, let alone a 5-star. Not five hundred Won. Five million Won. That's why when the fanfare first rang out [for her summon], I even shed tears. Thanks to that, I raised her preciously, like gold or jade, and poured every good material I had into her.
Later, as I got absorbed in the game, I learned that five million Won was barely anything [didn't even make a dent], but that came later.
When I tapped Siris, her illustration appeared.
She was a green-eyed beauty with her blonde hair tied up.
I couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. Although she wasn't a natural 5-star, an Ultra Rare, she has now become a top-class hero who wouldn't lose out to most 6-star characters.
I pressed the 'X' in the top-right corner to close the illustration and observed the other heroes bustling about in the waiting room's various facilities.
First, the heroes training hard in the training grounds. Most were 1 or 2-star heroes obtained from free summons. They say there's a very low chance for a 'jackpot' hero surpassing natural 5-stars to emerge from among them, but it almost always ends up being a dud. It was the same for me.
Even in the world of mobile games, there's a divide between 'gold spoons' and 'dirt spoons'.
Heroes below natural 3-star end up disappearing as synthesis materials for high-grade heroes. Because my ratio of high-grade, 4-star+ heroes is extremely low, I raise them out of necessity, but that's generally how it goes.
Second, the heroes who have successfully completed their training. It feels like a waste to use them as the main force in small missions of 5 people or less, but they are good enough to participate in large-scale parties or special missions.
Lastly, my main force, whom I raised with utmost care.
A party assembled by carefully selecting only the most promising prospects from countless heroes; they have all now reached 6-star max level, and a week ago, they became the first in Korea to clear Floor 88. These are heroes who can hold their own anywhere.
A game that doesn't just run on status window stats or visible skills.
I recalled the hardships I went through to become the world's 5th ranker.
'It was hellish.'
It was really, truly hellish.
Pick Me Up's subtitle is Hyper Roguelike Summoner RPG, meaning, it's a Roguelike.
Which means it's a 'Luck-Based **** Game'.
Summoning is luck-based, but abilities are also luck-based, and combat is luck-based too.
Even though you can give basic guidelines, the combat ends with the heroes pretty much doing their own thing. They decide when and how to use skills themselves. It's also common for them to become incapacitated for unknown reasons.
As memories from that time vividly resurfaced, my grip on the phone tightened.
'No, stop that.'
That was just back when I knew nothing about Pick Me Up.
There are definitely aspects that can be covered by management and know-how.
I was living proof.
I was a guy with incredibly shitty luck.
Even though I'd done thousands of paid summons, I'd never once pulled a 5-star hero, the kind that practically every ranker below world #100 seemed to have. Honestly, forget 5-stars, I barely had any 4-stars either. If any, only Siris. Even considering the 5-star rate is 0.1% and the 4-star rate is less than 1%, isn't that just too much bad luck?
However, if Pick Me Up were purely determined by star grade and sheer luck, I wouldn't have become a ranker. You can overcome luck with skill. That was also the biggest factor that got me hooked on Pick Me Up.
Today is Friday. Check the waiting room status and issue directives to the heroes. The number of heroes I own has become enormous, making it nearly impossible to control them individually.
And check the announcements.
[Pick Me Up Surpasses 100 Million DL!]
[Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Masters worldwide, Pick Me Up's total downloads have surpassed 100 million! We are holding a special event to celebrate. Please check the details below.]
So it's passed 100 million.
'Let the Advent Dungeon open!'
Gems or gold aren't bad, but they're things I can obtain otherwise. Now that my operation is stable, I even have an overflow. Summon tickets aren't appealing either. What's the point? I pull them, but nothing good comes out anyway.
What I need is Hero Awakening!
The chance to obtain a 7-star hero, known as the 'dream tier'!
With a trembling heart, I checked the notice.
[1. From Jan 27th to Feb 5th, 20XX, 100 Gems will be distributed daily. A chance to get 1,000 Gems total! Note: Reward not provided if not logged in.]
[2. We are giving 1 High-Grade Hero Summon Ticket to all logged-in Masters. Fact: High-Grade Tickets summon 3-star minimum!]
[3. Final Event! The Super-Difficulty Advent Dungeon will open.]
Seeing the third event, I let out a cry of joy.
It was a Super-Difficulty Advent Dungeon, opening for the first time in a whole three months!
In the main waiting room, I selected the 'Rift of Time and Space' at the bottom left of the menu. A blue summoning portal enlarged, and the dungeon list appeared.
[Climb the Tower, Save the World!]
[Main Dungeon: Current Floor - 88]
[A Feast of Dungeons Changing Daily!]
[Daily Dungeon: Isralta Mine (High - 5 hours)]
[Collect Various Rare Materials!]
[Expedition Dungeon: Exploring, Holy City (Time Remaining 17h 35s)]
[Prove Your Strength!]
[Advent Dungeon: Difficulty - Super]
It's there.
The Super-Difficulty Advent Dungeon was open.
I gulped. Joy, excitement, and tension mingled within me.
'The Book of Defiance.'
The core material needed to become a 7-star hero.
I had already obtained the other materials long ago.
If I could just acquire the Book of Defiance, which drops at an extremely low rate in special Advent Dungeons, I could create a 7-star hero - supposedly less than 5 of them exist in the entire world. I could aim for World #1, not just #5.
I opened the Hero Box and looked over my heroes.
There was a party composed of heroes suitable for figuring out the boss's patterns, but whose loss wouldn't be a major blow. Their abilities are useful, but they hinder waiting room operations.
Their role: the scouting party.
Pick Me Up employed an extremely harsh system where heroes disappear permanently upon death.
Namely, Hardcore.
With a single mistake, or just bad luck, a hero you poured tens of millions [of Won] and hundreds of hours into disappears. Some people curse, asking who would play such a game, but I— no, the enthusiasts of Pick Me Up, including myself— don't care at all.
That's why it was fun.
Even though it's a mobile game, the thrill felt close to reality.
If infinite attempts were possible, the Roguelike element wouldn't work.
The tension of not knowing when or where you might die. The satisfaction of watching battles carried out by the unique internal AI assigned to each hero. The joy of a hero's growth and the frustration of their death. The sense of liberation when clearing a floor.
This was the essence of Pick Me Up.
I dispatched the temporary party into the Advent Dungeon.
I didn't know what kind of boss would appear.
What level it was, whether it was monster-type or humanoid, what type of skills it used.
The scouting party would analyze the boss's patterns and then die gloriously.
[Drumroll!]
[The Advent Dungeon is opening!]
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
A red message announcing the appearance of a powerful enemy popped up on the screen.
Field type: Darkness. In Pick Me Up's lore, it's called 'Transdimensional Space'. It was a rare map simply spread with pitch-black darkness. Even I, having cleared dungeons thousands of times, could count the times I'd seen a Darkness field on one hand.
As it was an Advent Dungeon, there was no progression stage; we entered the boss fight immediately.
However, as soon as we entered, messages indicating hero status changes popped up on the right side of the screen.
['Diora (★★★★★★)' feels Fear! All stats decrease by 30%.]
['Nicolas (★★★★★)' feels Fear! All stats decrease by 30%.]
['Ghent (★★★★★)' feels Fear! All stats decrease by 30%.]
['Akelta (★★★★★)' feels Fear! All stats decrease by 30%.]
['Melki (★★★★★)' feels Fear! All stats decrease by 30%.]
'These bastards?'
The boss hadn't even appeared yet.
Before long, Diora, the party leader and main tank, outputted a suggestion.
['Leader 'Diora (★★★★★★)' of 'Party 38' suggests retreating. Will you accept?]
[Yes / No (Select)]
Without a second's hesitation, I pressed 'No'.
['Diora (★★★★★★)' falls into Panic! All stats decrease by 50%...]
['Nicolas (★★★★★)' falls...]
['Ghent (★★★★★)' falls...]
'What now?'
Even if they were disposable pawns, they were five-star, and the leader was six-star. Their levels were maxed out too. For guys like them to fall into Panic... Panic was a status effect you'd expect to see only on newly summoned heroes in their first battle.
Then, there's only one conclusion.
'It's a foe with fear-inducing abilities.'
The conclusion was reached quickly. A list of items and skills that raise Fear Resistance flashed through my mind.
This means I might have to create a second scouting party if things go wrong.
Soon, with a dynamic sound effect, the boss appeared.
The boss's name appeared at the top of the screen.
[SS▩SH黑⊙∈※ Lv.999]
"What the heck is this?"
What kind of name is that? Is it a bug?
Its appearance was even more of a spectacle. I could tell it was small-sized and humanoid, but its entire form was pixelated. Only the minimal shape was visible. I couldn't make out the rest.
['Diora (★★★★★★)' falls into Despair! All stats decrease by 80%...]
['Nicolas (★★★★★)' falls...]
['Ghent (★★★★★)' falls...]
A hollow laugh escaped me.
And the level? 999? Clearly a system error.
Wow, I've lived long enough to see a bug in Pick Me Up.
From launch until now, two years later, besides a few minor glitches, no bugs had ever been reported.
I pressed the camera button to take a picture, then waited for the scouting party's end. I wanted to do something, anything, but once a battle starts, you can't turn back.
The battle began.
I used a few Status Effect Removal Potions bought with Gems, but the Despair wasn't cured.
Sure enough, reflecting the 80% decrease, Diora stepped forward with her shield, moving very sluggishly. The dealers, Nicolas and Ghent, took the middle rank, while the supporters, Akelta and Melki, moved to the rear.
A standard formation.
And then, on the 'Darkness' field colored a deep violet, the boss moved.
"..."
It was a massacre.
Diora died without putting up any real resistance. Even though she had a 'Combat Continuation' type skill, there wasn't even a 'Near Death' status before she died.
Because of the mosaic covering the boss, I couldn't even tell what skills it was using. It just creepily approached, and only corpses remained where it passed.
['Diora (★★★★★★)' returned to the Goddess's embrace. Her fighting spirit will be remembered forever.]
['Nicolas (★★★★★)' returned...]
['Ghent (★★★★★)' returned...]
The seven letters 'You Lose' appeared in the center of the screen.
The max-level party, including a 6-star, was wiped out without lasting even 10 seconds.
"Damn it."
I knew they would die. I sent them expecting it. But is this all I gained? Do they even know how long it takes to raise five-star heroes?!
I needed to at least see its desperation move to get a handle on it!
"Damn, Luck-Based **** Game!"
Of all the times for a bug to occur!
No matter how much I raise hell with customer service, they won't restore them. Once a hero is gone, they're absolutely unrestorable for any reason.
I just mashed the innocent screen repeatedly.
Huh? But…
"Why isn't it moving on?"
The screen wasn't transitioning back to the waiting room.
The boss remained, looking at the center of the screen, the 'You Lose' message still displayed.
"What kind of damn bug is this?"
I pressed and held the power button on the right side of the phone.
A bug like this warrants a direct phone complaint, not just customer service.
I waited for the phone to force shutdown and reboot.
"…Insane."
It doesn't turn off.
The power didn't turn off. The 'You Lose' message remained. The boss standing inside the field looked at me through the screen.
The part of the boss's face obscured by the mosaic, where its mouth should be, seemed to whisper something.
「Found you.」
And my consciousness faded.