Hardcore Gamer Trapped in a Dead Game

Chapter 1 – Floor 0 – Trapped in a Dead Game

There’s something called the Infinite Monkey Theorem.

It’s a concept related to probability.

Imagine a hundred monkeys randomly typing on keyboards.

For an infinite amount of time.

What are the chances that one of those monkeys will eventually type out the complete works of William Shakespeare?

The probability approaches 100%.

The world moves forward, and the dice of probability keep rolling.

No matter how impossible something seems, given enough time, it will eventually happen.

That’s just how the world works.

What happened to me was no different.

I had ignored countless warnings.

What happened to me was one of the oldest clichés.

A story long conquered in the realm of imagination.

Maybe it happened precisely because it was such a story.

Or at the very least, because the probability was higher than I thought.

I should have realized it sooner.

I could have realized it when I watched Jumanji.

Or when I begrudgingly read that web novel my friend kept nagging me about.

Even the lore of the game I played was like this.

I should have been prepared.

In this modern world, anyone could—

—get sucked into their favorite game one day.

Sounds ridiculous?

I thought so too.

Honestly, who prepares for something just because they watched Jumanji or read a novel?

And so, now that it’s already happened, everything I just said is nothing more than a bitter joke.

Since the Big Bang, God has given those typing monkeys far too much time.

Enough time for one damned monkey to type out a scenario where I get thrown into a game.

Getting trapped in a game.

Even if it’s impossible—

—hell, I should’ve at least considered the possibility.

At the very least, I should have done an extra push-up or two.

The genre of roguelike is defined by many characteristics, but two are the most important.

First, when you die, your character gets deleted.

Second, it’s an infuriating game of pure luck.

[Generating a new world…]

After getting sucked into the game, during my early newbie runs, I felt relieved that I wasn’t into soulslike games.

Soulslike is an overly honest genre—entirely skill-based.

Unlike roguelike, where luck plays a major role.

You have no choice but to get better.

[The Tower of Babel is tilting more and more…]

No matter how much knowledge I had, actually pulling things off depended entirely on my physical abilities as a gamer.

If I had gotten trapped in a game like that, my fate would have been obvious.

I was never particularly gifted in physical combat.

Even when playing games, I died over and over again—how much worse would it be in reality?

[King Arthur is getting caught up in Merlin’s experiment…]

So, the fact that this was a roguelike was a small mercy.

Because this genre of game creates a certain kind of environment.

Normally, when a character dies, they’re permanently deleted.

There’s no way to restore them.

One death is eternal.

[The great warrior Egil Skallagrimsson is slaying a dragon before collapsing…]

At first glance, this seemed like a death sentence in reality.

So, in my first playthrough, I was extremely cautious.

But I couldn’t avoid death forever.

Fortunately, the world was faithful to its “game” setting.

Even if I died, I would simply start over.

Whether my heart was ripped out, my body melted in acid, or I burned in lava—

—I would just lose all my gear and levels and return to the moment I was first sucked into the game.

Only my character died. The player, me, remained.

[Codename “Blanche” is staring down a gun barrel, sensing her impending death…]

And this game is the ultimate luck-based nightmare.

Terrain, items, monster placements, whether certain NPCs appear or not—

Every single element is randomized.

Every time I die and return, the world is completely different.

After my first death, I focused on the second key element of roguelikes.

[A starving little vampire is attacking the pineal gland in order to make someone lose their way…]

If your luck is terrible, things can go south endlessly.

But if you’re lucky, sometimes the game practically clears itself.

Trial and error.

No—error isn’t even necessary.

Just keep going until it works.

Eventually, I’d get a lucky run.

Lady Luck doesn’t always smile on the enemy.

That’s how the world works.

[Feeding candy to the crying goddess of chaos, whose followers keep dwindling…]

And I had another reason to be confident.

I was what you’d call a veteran.

A hardcore gamer who invested all my free time into playing.

Someone who didn’t settle for easy games and deliberately sought out brutal challenges.

And this roguelike was my life’s game.

For a long time, I held the undisputed #1 ranking in the online time attack leaderboards.

[A bright-eyed high school girl from Earth-4 is being recruited for a thrilling tale of love and murder…]

Even in a game dominated by luck, skill still matters.

There’s a saying about card games—

“Luck is 70%, skill is 30%.”

That’s exactly it.

Luck plays a big role, but knowing how to maximize what you’re given is also a skill.

I was confident.

I could do this!

At least, that’s what I thought back then.

[World #2975 has been generated.]

Somewhere along the way, 97 years passed like that.