Became the final boss in the game

Chapter 1

How did I end up in this situation?
“Is playing a game such a big crime?”
I’m frustrated. I’m so upset that I feel my anger rising. All I did was open the game with excitement after a patch update.
Is that really such a huge mistake?
“Life is truly…”
Damn it. Just as I muttered the last curse in my mind…
“Don’t lament too much. You’re not dying. You’re just going to keep living with me.”
A terrifying old man, whose skin was so wrinkled it was nearly falling off, with bones visible in between, laughed and spoke.
He looked like a monster who had lived for over 500 years.
‘I can’t accept that this is my fate, being taken over by this old monster.’
I can’t accept this. It doesn’t make sense.
“Still, you’re calmer than I expected. I thought you would cry and scream, saying your father could never be this kind of monster, that this couldn’t be real.”
Father. The monster in front of me is my father. Or more accurately, the father of my ‘body’ right now.
“…I’m just speechless because this is so ridiculous. I never imagined I’d die like this.”
The body I’m in isn’t mine. The body’s name is “Jian.” It’s a new playable character released with the latest patch in the game I loved.
‘Damn it. This situation is so absurd. Why did the possession start like this…’
Yes, right now, I’m experiencing the ‘game possession’ phenomenon firsthand, something straight out of a novel.
“The way you speak doesn’t seem like someone who’s totally clueless. Did you know about this?”
“Know? Know what?”
The game I’m possessed in is called “Saga of Heroes,” or “SH” for short. It’s a single-player RPG.
I’ve played this game for 5 years and have nearly 10,000 hours in it. I know everything about it.
The one thing I didn’t know was about the new character “Jian” introduced in the latest patch.
“My identity…”
So I know who this old monster in front of me is.
‘Zirahon.’
I can’t not know him. He’s the final boss of the game. No matter which playable character you choose, the main villain is always Zirahon.
“Heh. So you knew all along. How did you find out?”
Zirahon, the final boss of “SH,” is far stronger than any final boss in other games. The chance of me defeating this monster and escaping on my own is essentially zero.
“Answer me.”
Zirahon grabbed my neck, his red eyes glowing as if he was about to snap it.
Normally, I would’ve fainted from just looking at him, but…
“Go ahead. Kill me if you want. Dying like this, or having my body taken, it doesn’t matter either way.”
The body I’m in isn’t some ordinary person’s body. It’s a body that Zirahon himself cultivated as a vessel.
It’s not easy to intimidate me.
“You’ve really changed overnight. I thought you’d be crying and panicking about this, but now you’re acting all calm and collected.”
“Maybe I was faking it. Maybe not. What do you think?”
Zirahon can’t kill me. His goal is to take over my body, not kill me. Why would he harm the body he wants to possess?
“Aren’t you going to kill me? If not, could you let go of my neck? It’s kind of hard to speak like this.”
“Heh heh.”
Zirahon laughed, clearly enjoying the situation.
“So everything was an act? Pretending to be clueless, pretending to be immature, while gathering information and preparing to escape?”
I don’t know what the original owner of this body was like. Maybe they were truly preparing to escape, or maybe they were just as immature as they seemed.
Zirahon laughed even more, clearly entertained, before letting go of my neck.
“Maybe I was pretending. Maybe not.”
I locked eyes with Zirahon, desperately trying to act tough.

My goal was to buy time.
‘If someone put me into this game on purpose, they wouldn’t have set it up so that I die immediately.’
There has to be a way out.
There must be a way to survive this.
If there isn’t… that just wouldn’t make sense.
‘There’s definitely a way. There has to be.’
Whoever put me here wouldn’t be some psychopath who enjoys watching people die meaninglessly.

There must be an escape route.
I just have to find it. And to do that, I need time.
“If you’re that curious, go ahead and torture me until I talk. Not that you can.”
“Haha.”
I needed to act like I was hiding something big, anything to delay the moment he tried to steal my body.
This was my desperate bluff.
“You really seem like a different person. Are you really the Jian I knew?”
Zirahon seemed surprised by my confidence.
It looked like he was finally taking a real interest in me.
‘…Good.’
The more interested he is in me, the longer I stay alive.

I kept staring at Zirahon while desperately searching my mind for a way to get out of this situation.
‘If I think about the usual tropes in web novels, there’s a high chance the hint was given right before I was transported into the game.’
What was I doing right before I ended up here?
‘I saw the new update… clicked on Jian to create a new character… and then—’
[The difficulty has been set to Lunatic by default.]
Right after that message popped up, my vision went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was here.
‘That’s not a helpful hint at all. That’s just straight-up despair.’
Unlike typical isekai stories, I didn’t even get to customize my character.
I simply clicked on Jian’s character slot.
That’s it.
‘If the difficulty was forced to Lunatic, they should’ve at least given me some kind of special perk. Or at the very least, let me set up my stats!’
Even just distributing my skill points would’ve been something.
Not that it would’ve saved me in this situation, but still…
‘Damn it. What the hell am I supposed to do now?’
Just then, a dark red light began glowing beneath me and Zirahon.
“Hm. It seems the preparations are finally complete.”
I started losing all sensation in my body. It was like I was being paralyzed.
Starting from my fingertips and toes, the numbness slowly spread inward.
“I’ll find out how you knew about me soon enough once I take over your body. There’s no need for you to talk.”
‘Damn it. He wasn’t delaying because he was interested in what I had to say. He was just waiting for the ritual to be ready?!’
And now I learn that when he takes my body, he also takes my memories.
I was wasting my time for nothing.
“Finally… I will be free from this decrepit body.”
Zirahon’s voice trembled with excitement.
“I’ve waited so long. So long… Do you know how many years I have dreamed of this moment?”
I could barely feel my body anymore. It was like I was fading away.
I knew instinctively. Soon, I would cease to exist, and this body would become Zirahon’s.
‘…This can’t be happening.’
My senses dulled. My vision blurred.
‘What kind of game possession ends the second it starts…?’
With the last bit of control I had, I bit down hard on my lip.
Was this really it?
Was I going to die without even putting up a fight?
‘…This is so… messed up…’
As my consciousness began to fade completely—
—[System synchronization complete.]
A voice I couldn’t recognize suddenly rang through my head.
― Character creation will now begin.
― Distribute points freely into ‘Status,’ ‘Traits,’ and ‘Skills.’
It was a strange feeling. I could hear the voice clearly, yet my mind felt sluggish.
The words weren’t difficult, but for some reason, they didn’t make sense at first.
Was this what it felt like for brain cells to shut down?
“Character creation… distribution…?”
Maybe because my mind hadn’t completely blacked out yet, I was able to process the voice’s words though a bit late.
So basically, it was telling me to set up my character right now?
― Lunatic difficulty bonus: Additional free points granted based on past achievements.
― Total free points awarded: 73,320.
― Use 73,320 points to complete your character setup.
I didn’t even process the rest of the message. Clinging desperately to my fading consciousness, I screamed internally.
“All points… into Status: [Mental]… ALL IN!”
The Mental stat provided immunity to mental domination and body possession effects.
“If I dump all 73,000 points into Mental, I can raise it to EX Rank.”
The only way to survive this situation was to max out my Mental stat.
― All free points have been allocated to Status: [Mental].
That was it. I was at my limit.
“No… I can’t… hold on… any… longer…”
Just as my mind was about to completely shut down—
― Status [Mental] has reached maximum rank: [EX].
At that moment, my mind snapped back into full clarity.
“This is…!”
At the same time, Zirahon’s voice rang out in shock.
[Your Mental stat has reached the highest rank.]
[All status ailments are nullified.]
My vision returned.
A system message appeared before me, clear as day.
[All mental interference has been nullified.]
“I… I’m being pushed back…?”
The numbness in my body faded, and the dark red mana that had been invading me was forcibly expelled.
“This is impossible. This should be impossible…”
[‘Soul Transfer’ has been completely neutralized.]
[‘Soul Transfer’ has backfired.]
Zirahon’s eyes lost focus—like a man on the brink of death.
“No… This can’t be. Not here… Not to a mere child…!”
I knew what was happening.

Zirahon’s soul had been rejected.
His old body was already abandoned, and just before he could fully take mine, he was forcefully ejected.
“No… My wish… My dream… I… I must…!”
The light in Zirahon’s eyes flickered. Then, it completely faded.
“…He’s… dead?”
Thud.
As if to confirm my words, his body collapsed lifelessly.
With Zairon’s death, whatever binding spell had been holding me vanished, and I regained full control of my body.
Cautiously, I nudged his unmoving body with my foot.
No response.
“He’s really dead…”
The final boss of Phantom Chronicle.
The mastermind behind everything.

Zirahon… was gone.
“I… I survived…”
Relief flooded through me, and I sank to the ground, tension leaving my body all at once.
“Haa…”
As I sat there catching my breath, I heard a voice from directly behind me.
“Master.”
“…!”
It was a man’s voice.
Cold and frightening like the darkness itself was speaking.
Slowly, I turned my head to see who had spoken.
“What the hell…?”
A man, dressed in pure black from head to toe.
Only his eyes glowed faintly with iridescent colors.
I knew exactly who he was.
“One problem after another, huh…?”
One of Zirahon’s most loyal subordinates. A mid-boss from the game Shadow Chronicle.
“I just beat the final boss, and now I have to deal with a mid-boss?”
Reaper.
A fanatic who lived and died for Zirahon.
He stared down at Zirahon’s lifeless body for a moment, then slowly turned his gaze to me.
“So, this is it.”
There was no way a zealot like him would let me live after I killed Zirahon.
I braced myself for death—
Thud!
But suddenly, Reaper dropped to one knee.
“Congratulations.”
“…Huh? Congratulations?”
His words.
His respectful posture.
“How does your new body feel?”
It seemed… he thought I was Zirahon.
Which meant—
A sliver of hope remained.
“Ahem. Not bad at all.”
I still had a chance.