The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game-Chapter 12: Romance and Fantasy (2)

Translator: Dreamscribe
TL Note: Changed Brave Warriors to Heroes
Lee Woon-sung let out a sigh.
It was such a deep sigh.
“Hoo, I’d love to do that right away..., but I can’t even stand up.”
He refused, but his voice was overflowing with regret. If that regret were to be turn into water, this room would be filled to the brim and spill over, potentially flooding the entire mansion. He even went as far as to resent his own body for being injured from merely collapsing.
No matter how much money he had, this was something that couldn't be fixed.
Because time was equal to everyone.
‘How futile.’
As his body weakened, his thoughts became hazy and his will weakened.
If only he could have a young and healthy body even for a single day, he’d pay any amount of money.
“Do you remember the promise I made to surprise you?”
“Hmm? Of course I do.”
“Just a moment.”
Jinwoo brought over the VR Connector from his room.
Lee Woon-sung frowned slightly when he saw what Jinwoo was holding. It brought back unpleasant memories.
“Isn’t that the game device? The one your brother messed up big time?”
“It’s similar. But let’s talk after you try it.”
“Ehh! Forget it. That kind of thing is too complicated for me.”
As Jinwoo silently stared at him, Lee Woon-sung eventually had no choice but to take the device in hand.
Lee Woon-sung looked at the VR Connector.
The high degree of completeness caught his attention. The finish was flawless, and the design was sophisticated.
‘Hmm, something like this might sell pretty well.’
Lee Woon-sung never had high expectations for VR Devices from the start. Still, since his grandson had brought it to him after a long while, he wanted to humor him.
He must be going through a lot these days, yet he didn’t show it and endured with dignity, something Lee Woon-sung found admirable.
Even a clumsy fishing game would be enjoyable if he learned it and played with fun.
Time spent with his grandson would be enjoyable no matter what they were doing.
Lee Woon-sung put on the VR Connector. It felt lighter wearing it than when he was holding it.
‘Better than those Ohsung Electronics kids.’
Even though it was a test product, it had good wearability.
“Are you ready?”
“Hmm, yes. Let’s give it a shot.”
Jinwoo pressed the power button on the VR Connector.
“Then I’ll see you in Arsilan.”
The moment Jinwoo’s voice rang in his ears, light spread before Lee Woon-sung’s eyes and his consciousness was pulled somewhere.
Jinwoo returned to the Magic Tower and created a body for Lee Woon-sung.
Although the player’s body had the form of a living creature, it wasn’t entirely biological. It was a bio golem capable of performing all human functions.
It could implement soul data into a physical form.
It was a mass-production version of the method Jinwoo had been using.
"The customization system turned out pretty decent."
The Character Customization system was well built, just like in a real game. The soul separated from the Soul Chip would link with the Magic Tower’s system, and upon customization, the information would be used by a body-constructing Magic Circle to create the body.
Once connected, the soul would possess the body immediately, and when logged out, the body would harden like stone on the spot.
If someone logged out outside of a Safe Zone.
[If you do not log out in a Safe Zone, it is dangerous!]
A message like this would appear.
If they logged out in a village or Safe Zone, the Magic Tower would preserve their body in Subspace.
To maintain players like this, the Magic Power stored in the Magic Tower had to be consumed. So, to increase the number of players to the scale of hundreds of thousands or millions, a Magic Stone Mine was essential.
Anyway, that was a problem for later.
“The body is....”
Lee Woon-sung had been quite the handsome man in his youth.
There was a photo of him from his early forties circulating on the internet that had briefly become a hot topic. Based on that information, Jinwoo constructed Lee Woon-sung’s body.
Jinwoo quickly created the body and changed his own appearance to that of Lee Jinwoo. Then, he immediately moved to the outskirts of Evanth and created a Summoning Circle.
Paaah!
As the Summoning Circle activated, the body he had made appeared, and Lee Woon-sung’s soul descended upon it.
“Ugh, hmm?”
Lee Woon-sung opened his eyes.
Suddenly, his head spun, and he remembered being sucked into some kind of light.
“This place is....”
With a dazed expression, he looked around, then suddenly jumped in shock.
What he saw in front of him was a forest.
An incredibly beautiful forest. And beside it stretched a vast open field.
The air was so refreshing.
The caress of the wind brushing his fingertips felt blissful. On top of that, his body that had felt as heavy as a thousand pounds was now unbelievably light. He felt like he could run as fast as he wanted right that moment.
Just a moment ago, he had been in his room, and now this scenery had unfolded before him!
Lee Woon-sung shivered.
There was only one explanation for something like this.
“W-what! D-did I die?”
Death.
It had to be that he had died and come to the afterlife.
Even though the hospital said there were no problems, maybe something had gone wrong in his body and he had died suddenly?
Still, seeing such a beautiful landscape, it didn’t seem like hell. Perhaps it was a reward for having lived conscientiously, considering he had built a conglomerate.
“Haa.”
So, I died just like that.
Lee Woon-sung’s heart grew heavy.
How heartbroken must our Jinwoo be? He had hoped to endure at least ten more years to be a reliable umbrella for him, and now that dream was shattered.
He deeply regretted his life of only working and worrying about the company.
“Grandpa.”
Jinwoo’s voice was heard.
Lee Woon-sung shed a tear. Even in the afterlife, he was hearing his grandson’s voice as a hallucination. That meant he missed him that much.
“Grandpa!”
“Khuhk, Jinwoo. You must stay healthy! This old man will always watch over you, even from the afterlife!”
Lee Woon-sung shouted like that.
But, how would he watch over him? Wouldn’t there be some way once he fully crossed over to the afterlife?
Jinwoo placed his hand on Lee Woon-sung’s shoulder.
Flinch!
Only then did Lee Woon-sung turn around. He looked at Jinwoo in shock.
“J-Jinwoo! What on earth is going on..., d-don’t tell me you too...”
Tears welled up in Lee Woon-sung’s eyes.
He had died and come to the afterlife, and his grandson had come with him! At that thought, he couldn’t help but cry. Jinwoo looked at him for a moment and then smiled faintly.
“Grandpa, calm down. This is inside the game I’m developing.”
“Game?”
“Yes, a virtual reality game.”
Lee Woon-sung’s mouth fell open.
Come to think of it, he had received such s. Even Lee Woon-sung had thought it was absurd nonsense. Still, he had completely entrusted FS Games to Jinwoo, so he hadn’t looked into it separately.
He simply trusted Jinwoo and waited. While nervously fidgeting with the Legal Team’s card.
“V-virtual reality? Are you saying that rumor was true? Huh...”
“I told you I’d surprise you, didn’t I?”
At Jinwoo’s words, Lee Woon-sung wore a blank expression.
“T-this is on a whole different level. When did you research and create something like this?”
“Ah...”
Jinwoo tried to come up with an excuse.
“When I was in a vegetative state..., actually, I was conscious then. I kept thinking about this and that in my head, and came to a realization. It’s like I could devote that time entirely to research.”
“For three years?”
“Well..., the flow of consciousness and the flow of time are a bit different. It was probably longer. Thanks to that, I was able to fully understand my brain.”
Lee Jinwoo had been in a vegetative state for three years.
It was fine to pile on outrageous excuses. The world existing right before Lee Woon-sung’s eyes made those excuses seem like truth.
“Of course, I had already been developing it before then.”
“...You went through a lot.”
Days trapped inside his mind, able to do nothing but research in a vegetative state.
It must have been hell.
Imagining the pain Jinwoo went through, Lee Woon-sung tightly shut his eyes. Only then could he barely nod and respond.
“Then let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To go fishing.”
Jinwoo pointed to the side and started walking, and Lee Woon-sung followed. In reality, he would get tired after walking just a little, but in this place, his body felt incredibly light. It felt like being born anew.
“Shall we try running?”
As Jinwoo began to run, Lee Woon-sung also broke into a run.
“Hoooh!”
It felt like he had returned to his younger days. No, it was even better than that. Even the breathlessness felt refreshing.
“Wahaha! This is wonderful!”
Lee Woon-sung laughed like a child.
The feeling of running side by side with his beloved grandson was indescribably joyful. The emotions and sensations he hadn’t felt in so long made Lee Woon-sung feel exhilarated.
“Over there.”
“Oh, ooooh!”
The forest disappeared, and a massive lake appeared.
The lake shimmered with a bluish hue, and it was extraordinarily beautiful.
He was startled by the reflection of himself on the lake’s surface. He had returned to the prime of his life.
“It’s my gift to you. I wanted to make you look even younger, but there wasn’t any reference data.”
Lee Woon-sung let out a long breath and stared at his reflection endlessly. Joy, emotion, and a touch of nostalgia all came at once.
"You must have been quite popular?"
“Hahaha! I sure was.”
Swoosh!
Jinwoo created chairs with magic and rummaged through Subspace to pull out a fishing rod used in Arsilan.
Lee Woon-sung blinked.
“A-amazing.”
“It’s magic.”
“Can I do it too?”
“Yes, I’m developing it so it’ll be easy to use.”
As Jinwoo handed him the fishing rod, Lee Woon-sung examined it.
Except for the glowing sphere instead of bait, it wasn’t much different from a fishing rod on Earth. After swinging it a few times, he quickly got the feel for it.
“Watch this old man closely.”
Lee Woon-sung expertly swung the fishing rod. The hook flew in an arc and sank into the lake, creating a small ripple.
He calmly waited, feeling every sensation from the rod with his hand.
“Got it!”
A heavy sensation tugged at his hand!
It wasn’t just any fish!
Lee Woon-sung skillfully manipulated the fishing rod.
Thudududu!
The surface of the lake quaked, and a massive shadow appeared. Something was rising from the bottom of the lake, darkening the once-blue water.
It was truly a jackpot.
An enormous fish. But the problem was that this was Arsilan.
Bubble bubble!
Bubbles surged up, and then.
KWAaaaaah!
A fish the size of a house soared into the sky.
Lee Woon-sung was stunned, staring blankly at the fish. The massive fish that had leaped above the lake twisted its body spectacularly and plummeted back into the lake.
At this rate, Lee Woon-sung might lose the rod or get pulled into the lake after the fish.
Whip!
Jinwoo quickly approached and grabbed the fishing rod with him.
The fish sank beneath the lake, but with Jinwoo holding firm, the fishing line went taut.
“There’s a button on the handle, right? Press that and pull!”
“Uooooh!”
That fish wasn’t just a fish, it was at the level of a monster.
It couldn’t be caught by ordinary means.
When Lee Woon-sung pressed the button, sparks flew from the rod and Lightning Magic surged out. The line began reeling automatically, and the rod bent into a full-on tug-of-war.
“Uaaaah!”
Lee Woon-sung was feeling incredible feedback.
It wasn’t just a tug in his hands, his entire body could feel the tension. The lake churned, water pillars shot up, waves surged like a tide, and the storm-like spray scattered in all directions.
A duel!
This was a duel with the fish!
“Uoooooo!”
Lee Woon-sung felt truly alive.
The weak old man who had been dying each day, crushed by the relentless march of time and resigned to accept it all, was no longer here.
Lee Woon-sung’s arms were tight with strength.
The body granted in Arsilan was quite strong. Even with Jinwoo’s help, he was holding his own well against that massive fish.
Lee Woon-sung wrestled with the fish for quite a long time.
“This guy’s got some real power!”
“The Magic Power is fully charged! Pull and press the button!”
Lee Woon-sung pulled the fishing rod hard while pressing the button.
Bzzzzt!
Lightning Magic flowed along the fishing line and electrocuted the fish's body. Thanks to that, the weakened fish passed out and was drawn toward Lee Woon-sung along the line.
Thud!
Jinwoo reached out and grabbed the fish, pulling it out of the lake.
The fish was easily over 4 meters in length. It wasn’t a fish anymore, it was on the level of a whale.
Jinwoo and Lee Woon-sung looked at each other at the same time.
Both of them were completely soaked, like drowned rats.
“Wahahaha!”
“Hahaha!”
They burst into loud laughter.
Jinwoo and Lee Woon-sung laughed heartily for a while.
When was the last time they laughed like this?
It had been so long they couldn’t even remember.
Their bodies were wet, but their hearts felt warm.