Everyone Except Me is a Newbie

Chapter 2: 

Kim Iseo was a successful game planner. He had a knack for producing hit games, and his consistent success earned him the authority within Donson to form a special project team called “We Plug.” 

However, We Plug decided to venture into the less popular realm of console games, a puzzling move considering Kim Iseo’s reputation. 

“Wow, what kind of cash-grabbing game has he made this time?”

“He’ll go down in history as an online wallet thief.”

As his colleagues headed to the showcase, they commented on Kim Iseo’s tendency to create games purely for commercial gain. Yet now, he was venturing into console gaming—an unusual decision.

‘People won’t fall for the same tricks anymore,’ Kim Iseo thought. 

It wasn’t that he suddenly had a romantic vision for gaming. He was simply aware that the market for Donson’s mass-produced games was dwindling. He sensed a shift in the market. However, his conviction alone wasn’t enough to move a corporate giant like Donson.

“Do you… have no sense of reality?” said Executive Director Lee Kyung-young, who held a tight grip over Donson’s marketing and planning departments, as he reviewed the Mana Sword project. 

“What do you think games are for? Did you come here to create masterpieces or to make money?”

“I wasn’t trying to create a masterpiece, but to aim for a well-made game that fits current trends and opens up a new market…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Donson hasn’t even conquered the current market. What are we supposed to do if a talented guy like you starts dabbling in other markets?”

Kim Iseo had no choice but to swallow his words. ‘The current market is dying…,’ he thought, but as a mere manager, he couldn’t push back against an executive director.

“I’ll remake it as a PC-based online game.”

Leaving the meeting room, Kim Iseo was consoled by Huh Won-moo, his peer and the development team leader of the same project team.

“Hey, it’s okay. We can try again, right?”

“Yeah… I’ll make another cash-grabbing game for them…”

With his eyes blazing with anger, Kim Iseo headed straight for the team office, not paying any attention to Huh Won-moo, who wisely decided to step aside.

“Haha… I’ll just go have a smoke.”

Ignoring his colleagues’ curiosity about the results of the showcase, he walked into the office and slammed a thick stack of project plans onto his desk. The team members immediately sensed the situation.

“Starting today, it’s overtime again, you code monkeys.”

Their worst fears were confirmed by Kim Iseo’s voice.

“Really…? Not even a day off? Haha… You’re kidding, right, team leader?” the youngest developer, Choi Seo-yeon, asked hopefully, but to no avail.

“A day off? Are you crazy? Report every time you take a dump from now on.”

“Whine…”

And so, the five members of Kim Iseo’s project team, We Plug, spent a year and a half transforming the console game into an online game.

* * *

A year and a half later, the date of the Mana Sword remake’s launch arrived.

“I… can’t take it anymore,” Huh Won-moo, the development team leader, was the first to collapse.

“I can’t either…”

Even Ji Ho-tae, a seasoned five-year developer, slumped over his desk after the grueling final testing.

“Ha… I’m going to the break room,” Choi Seo-yeon headed to the women’s break room.

“Ha…” Deputy Lee Hae-won fell asleep right where he was, not complaining, just silently dozing off.

“Ah… damn it,” Kim Iseo, the last one standing, also collapsed, chewing on dried squid to the end.

“Ah… no…” Even in his dreams, he struggled to resolve issues.

In the end, the entire We Plug team fell asleep.

While they slept, a mysterious light descended upon the office. It was a small light that could easily be mistaken for a firefly.

“This looks good,” said a tiny figure emerging from the light, peering curiously at the still-lit monitors.

With two sets of transparent wings and golden hair braided neatly, she looked like a typical fairy. She rested her chin on her hand, examined the monitors for a while, then nodded decisively.

“I’ll suggest using this for the next story.”

* * *

The next day, the launch day finally arrived. The launch was a success—in fact, it was excessively successful.

“68 billion concurrent users!?”

The entire world was (forcibly) playing the game.

[A short sword is given.]

[It evolves into a mana sword after the prologue.]

“What… is this…” Kim Iseo mumbled in disbelief, looking at his hand, which held a short sword—a design of his own. Even seeing it directly, he still couldn’t believe it.

[Thrust forward. Next is an overhead slash.]

Regardless, the tutorial message continued, proceeding with the tutorial designed by Team We Plug.

“This is a prank? right?” he said.

“Right… team leader…” Choi Seo-yeon, who was by the window, instinctively sensed danger and hid behind Kim Iseo.

It made sense, as Mana Sword was no easy game.

[The brief tutorial has ended.]

In the meantime, the tutorial finished. It was a simple game, so the tutorial wasn’t lengthy.

“Check the player information,” Kim Iseo mumbled as he stared blankly at the player info screen.

[Player Information]

Name: Kim Iseo
Rank: Red ★ / Blue ★ / Green ★ / Yellow ★
Skills: Basic Slash Lv. 1, Basic Thrust Lv. 1, Strong Body Lv. 1
Stats: Red 0/10, Blue 0/10, Green 0/10, Yellow 0/10
Constellation: 0
Special: Creator’s Eye

With the staggering number of 68 billion current users, the short sword in his hand, and most importantly, the player info window in front of him, it became undeniable.

“Is the game really out in the real world?” Kim Iseo admitted to himself. The simplest explanation for the current events was that the game had somehow leaked into reality.

“Calm down. This is a cliché setup for game nerds like us,” Kim Iseo tried to reassure himself. As he said, the concept of a game turning into reality was a well-worn trope.

“But usually, the game world is the one that people enter, right?” Huh Won-moo pointed out.

“These days, there are plenty of cases where the game comes out into the real world too,” Kim Iseo responded.

“Still, entering in the game world is far more common…”

“Ahhh! Is that really important right now!?” Choi Seo-yeon interrupted, her professional instinct kicking in as she separated the two arguing developers.

“If this game follows the way we designed it… it’s incredibly dangerous!” Choi Seo-yeon pointed out.

Indeed, Mana Sword was initially designed as a console game, and its difficulty was notoriously brutal. Kim Iseo was the only one to have cleared more than ten out of thirty episodes, even including beta testers. A famous anecdote was about a tester who, having spent an entire week and night on Episode 10, mistakenly thought the game was finished and called in.

“This is ridiculously hard…” Huh Won-moo muttered, stunned.

“Who said the controls were easy?” Ji Ho-tae reminded Huh Won-moo, who had previously claimed that easy controls made the game ideal.

Huh Won-moo had given up after failing to get past Episode 7 himself.

“Hey, the controls are easy, man!”

“So what? You can’t even clear it!”

“Hold on, hold on!”

Choi Seo-yeon broke up the bickering developers and turned to Kim Iseo. “Team leader, you’ve cleared it, right?”

“Yeah, the console version,” Kim Iseo replied.

“That’s the much harder version!” Choi Seo-yeon said.

The developers’ expressions brightened with hope.

Huh Won-moo even hugged Kim Iseo in excitement. “I knew I could count on you, Iseo-kun!”

Kim Iseo pushed Huh Won-moo away and tried to calm the team down. “Let’s sort out the situation. It’s almost certain that the game has come out into reality, right?”

It was evident to everyone that the game had indeed come out into the real world, but Kim Iseo needed to affirm it. Such a hard fact was not easy to accept.

“Yes, it seems like it…” Choi Seo-yeon said.

“Considering the short sword materialized and the status window is visible, we can’t deny it,” Kim Iseo concluded.

The team agreed that the game had indeed come into the real world.

“Then, let’s review what each of us can do. As Seo-yeon said, this game is dangerous.”

Kim Iseo took a deep breath and recalled each developer’s responsibilities.

“Ho-tae, you handled the Mana Sword evolution, right?”

“Yes… I did, though the planning was yours,” Ji Ho-tae confirmed. As a five-year veteran developer, he had been responsible for the critical balance of the Mana Sword’s evolution.

“The game’s outcome depends on how the weapon evolves,” Kim Iseo said.

“Next, Hae-won. You handled the field monster implementation.”

Lee Hae-won nodded quietly.

“Yes. But… I might not remember everything…”

Hae-won looked uncertain, clearly uncomfortable about being asked for detailed monster information.

Kim Iseo considered this. Knowing monster weaknesses was crucial for game efficiency, and if the game continued in reality, this knowledge was essential.

“Don’t worry. I’ve cleared most of it and remember a lot. You download all monster-related data from the computer to your phone. I already have the planning notes on my phone. Also, transfer all the necessary data from the cloud to your phone so we can access it offline!”

Despite being the creators of the game, human memory was unreliable. Kim Iseo intended to extract and transfer all relevant data.

“Move quickly!! If this is like the prologue…”

At that moment, a thunderous crack interrupted Kim Iseo’s instructions.

“…the building will collapse,” Kim Iseo said, realizing the danger.

The shaking intensified, with another tremor echoing through the building.

“Ah… that’s right.”

The developers exchanged worried glances, all thinking the same thing.

“Queen.”

“The Queen.”

The footsteps signaled the appearance of the prologue episode boss monster.

“Hurry and get everything moved!!”

“Yes!!”

The team quickly mobilized, using external hard drives and other tools to download data from the cloud.

[Warning! A ‘Queen’ is roaming nearby. Players cannot face it. Please avoid it and complete quests as best as you can.]