In South Korea, all physically and mentally healthy men go to the military.
And most South Korean soldiers live in despair, unable to enjoy their youth, trapped within fences…
But today, I, Doko Young, was not one of them.
“Let’s win! Corporal Doko Young, aren’t you going for a meal?”
“Uh, sure. You can have the military rations.”
“You seem to be in a good mood today. Why is that… oh.”
That’s because…
“…Corporal Doko Young, come to think of it, you’re getting discharged tomorrow.”
“Haha, that’s right. You work hard on your rounds. I’m going home now. Hahaha!”
It was because I was getting discharged tomorrow.
Wow, damn, the world is beautiful.
I just returned all my gear to the personnel officer and completed all my discharge preparations.
Now, all that was left for me was… to wait until the sun rises tomorrow morning.
“So you won’t be working today, right? There’s plenty of time left… what are you going to do?”
“I’m thinking of going to the game room to play some games.”
“Oh, is it that game you’ve been obsessed with lately?”
“Yep.”
I spent my long, dragging end-of-service days playing games.
The game is called “Catch the Outlaw.”
Shortened to “Outlaw Catch,” this game is an open-world adventure set in the Wild West.
I first played it a month ago after a junior recommended it, and it was so much fun.
I hadn’t forgotten the thrill, so I planned to enjoy some games at the game room on the eve of going home.
“I’m not playing Outlaw Catch, so I’m not sure, but I heard that Corporal Kim installed the Outlaw Catch DLC on computer number 4 at the game room.”
“There’s a DLC for Outlaw Catch? I didn’t know that… but anyway, thanks.”
The thought of the Outlaw Catch DLC…
Just thinking about it made my heart race, and I hurriedly tried to rush to the game room.
But at that moment, my junior’s words stopped me.
“But Corporal Doko, the personnel officer said if he catches you playing games at the game room, it’ll result in penalty points…”
“Let them give me penalty points. It doesn’t matter since I’m getting discharged tomorrow!”
“Haha, but they say you should be careful even of falling leaves at the end of your service, right?”
“Is the personnel officer a falling leaf? And considering my service time, how could I possibly get caught? Stop worrying and go do your rounds.”
“…Yes, understood.”
Looking back now, I can’t remember the name or face of that junior.
“Then, Corporal Doko, I wish you good luck.”
I should have found that strange at the time…
“Uh, right.”
Like a fool, I ran off to the game room to play games.
“Wow, there really is a DLC?”
The number 4 computer that my junior mentioned indeed had the Outlaw Catch DLC installed.
Upon discovering it, I quickly launched the game.
When I first saw the Outlaw Catch DLC, it didn’t seem much different from the main game.
But…
‘Oh, oh…
The moment I saw the screen that said ‘Character Creation,’ I could feel an incredible change.
In the main game, you could only play as preset characters with their genders swapped…
This time, you could customize your character however you wanted.
The customization settings, including traits and appearance, were so detailed that I could create the character I desired freely.
“I didn’t know I could create my own character in Outlaw Catch.”
Amazed by the new feature, I dove into character creation.
First, gender.
After thinking about whether to choose male or female… I chose male.
It was because I had played female characters a lot in the main game.
And then, traits.
In the main game, traits were earned through achievements, but in the DLC, players could set them from the beginning.
Having decided to create my own character, I carefully selected only the overpowered traits.
[Best Gunslinger in the West]
[Master of Weaponry]
[King of Close-Combat]
[Superhuman Senses]
[Irresistible Charisma]
I was now loaded with traits that were hard to come by in the main game; it was like having cheat codes.
Especially the first trait, [Best Gunslinger in the West].
With that, my aiming would be so precise it felt like an aimbot. It was perfect for killing time with an overpowered character.
After satisfying myself with the traits, what appeared next was the character’s age.
“Wow… you can even set the character’s age?”
The reason I often used female characters in the main game was that their smaller physique helped dodge bullets.
So…
***
[Character Age: 6]
“Here comes the beautiful boy shot-gun genius!”
Making the age young made my character not only overpowered but also smaller, helping to avoid bullets.
This was a great character.
Satisfied, I saw the last customization box.
[Please name your character.]
A name.
Since I had already crafted the character, I didn’t want to name it casually.
“A name, a name… oh.”
After pondering for a while, I finally came up with a decent name.
[Billy the Kid]
A famous outlaw from the Wild West, Billy the Kid.
This name fit perfectly with Catch Outlaw.
But…
“Ah… something doesn’t sit right with me…”
I felt a little uneasy about copying the name of a real person.
So, I thought about keywords related to outlaws and bounty hunters…
“Outlaw… West, bounty hunter… bounty hunter?”
I recalled the name of a famous bounty hunter I knew and combined it with Billy the Kid.
[Roronoa the Kid]
“That’s a bit long.”
I shortened it to…
“Noah the Kid”
“Good.”
From now on, the name of this character would be [Noah the Kid].
Thus, I finished character creation.
This 6-year-old gunslinger, loaded with overpowered traits, was named Noah the Kid.
Now all that was left was to start the game.
“Let’s go, to ignite my last military service…”
Having completed my preparations to spend my remaining military life splendidly, I pressed the start button.
And…
Wooooosh—.
“Eh?”
Suddenly, with a burst of light from the monitor…
I felt dizzy.
…What, what the hell…
And just like that, I lost consciousness.
At that moment, I had no idea.
That my last day of military service…
Had suddenly stretched to more than 6205 days.
“Ahhhhh—!! Hahhh—!! Don’t press start!! D-Don’t press it~!!! Aaaaaahhh—!!”
“Whoa! Kid—! What’s wrong?”
“Kid—! Kid—!!!”
Thud.
“Gasp… Gasp…”
“Are you coming to your senses?”
“Water, give me some water!”
As I awoke with a stinging sensation on my cheek, I saw the faces of Deaf Bob and his wife, Marie, in front of me.
Damn it.
I was still trapped in this damned Western game.
To think I was possessed just because I played a game the day before my discharge…
I had originally entered the body of a 6-year-old, and now I was 23 years old.
Seventeen years.
I had lived in this damned Western game for 17 years.
I should have adapted, but I couldn’t stop cursing.
Damn.
“Kid—! Are you coming to your senses?!!”
“Shut up; I’m awake now… My head hurts from the hangover.”
“Considering how foul-mouthed you are, it seems like you’re back to normal… But why are you sweating so much? Did you have a nightmare?”
Nightmare?
The dream I just had was not a nightmare.
In fact, this savage world wrapped in romance was my nightmare.
I would escape from here and definitely return home. I must.
The only fortunate thing was that there was a way to return to my original world.
The method was simple.
This is a game world, after all.
‘Log out.’
I just needed to log out and leave.
The only problem was…
“Logout impossible”
[Amount remaining to log out: $894,556 / $1,000,000]
“What the fuck. This fucking world.”
“Ah… you scared me.”
“Fucking capitalistic bullshit. The proletarian revolution should have succeeded, and a utopia where money has no value should have been established, but damn it…”
“Who would have thought you’d be cursing into thin air…”
“Do you think I wanted to become an outlaw?”
“I know you’re an outlaw.”
The reason my swearing had increased and my personality had turned out this way was all because of this damned game world.
Having fallen into this savage world the day before my discharge and being trapped for 17 years, there was no way my personality would be good.
Above all, the fucked-up part was that, as if torturing me with hope, there was a way to log out.
A million dollars.
If I had that amount, roughly 36 billion won in today’s value, I could leave here too.
To gather this amount, I had done all sorts of jobs since I first possessed this 6-year-old body, and now at 23, I had settled here in Justice Town.
Over 17 years, I had rolled around like a dog and managed to gather some money, but I still had a long way to go.
“Ah, damn it… Please just send me home….”
“Marie, what’s he saying?”
Instead of Deaf Bob, his wife repeated what I mumbled.
“Kid wants to go home.”
“Home? Go home! Who’s keeping you here? It’s already been a long time since dawn! Hurry up and go home so we can clean the store!”
Bob said this while nudging me with the mop he was using to clean the floor.
“While you’re at it, take those corpses with you!”
“…Corpses? Ah, from the job yesterday.”
When I looked at where Bob was pointing, there were well-arranged corpses of outlaws.
Altogether, they were worth about $1,200, quite a hefty sum.
The reason I settled in Justice Town was precisely because of those.
This place was a respawn point for outlaws in the game.
After a certain amount of time, outlaws would come automatically, making it very suitable for bounty hunting.
“…Still, lately it’s only been weaklings getting caught, but these guys have a decent bounty.”
“Decent or not, hurry up and get rid of those corpses! It’s getting hot, and they’ll start to stink!”
“Ah, damn. Do you know how much money I spend in this tavern? The treatment for a regular is really fucked up. Fine, I’ll go.”
Under Bob’s nagging, I reluctantly stood up from my seat.
I then grabbed a corpse in each hand and tossed them outside the store.
“Oh, right, Bob. I’ll get some money from the sheriff and come back for more drinks, so don’t close the store.”
“Seriously, you’re so self-centered. This is why they call you an outlaw… Fine, I get it!”
So, I left the store while listening to Bob’s complaints.
What welcomed me was the scorching sun already high in the sky and the four corpses that hadn’t yet closed their eyes.
“But how am I supposed to move these by myself?”
It was quite a distance from this deaf tavern to my house.
While I was at a loss about how to move the corpses, I suddenly remembered something from the past.
“By the way, fuck. At first, I would cry and scream at the sight of a corpse, but now I’m completely unfazed.”
Seventeen years into the possession.
I had gotten so used to this damned Western frontier era.