Fired Characters from an Idle Game

1. Releasing the Calamities – (1)

“Nam Jooyeon! You just don’t have any tenacity! Huh?! Look at those celebrities on TV! You think they suddenly rose to the top? It’s all thanks to blood, sweat, and tears, and a tenacity that wouldn’t let go…”

Lacking in tenacity.

Words the convenience store owner spewed every time he laid eyes on me.

There were other choice phrases too.

That a youth should work hard, even if their body broke a little. That I should be grateful he hired me for such a wage. That I had no idea how hard things were at other places.

And so on.

“Fucking b*stard. Go suck a fat one.”

I sighed and collapsed onto my bed in the one-room apartment.

“No tenacity, huh….”

Actually, it was true. I couldn’t stick to anything. Not studies, not jobs, not even relationships.

How much tenacity could a freeloader have, eking out a living with part-time work?

It wasn’t as if I possessed no persistence at all. I was rather inclined to dedicate considerable time to things that brought me joy.

Games, for instance.

Lying prone on my bed, I twisted around to retrieve my phone from my pocket.

Unlocking it, I deleted a swarm of promotional messages before tapping on an icon.

[Disaster Order]

After a modest loading screen, the game’s main menu appeared.

*Ting!*

*Ti-ring!*

[Welcome to the world of Disaster Order.]

[The following occurred in your territory while you were away, Overlord:]

[5★ Miriene, Tempest of the Northern Sea, has returned from expedition.]

[Reward: 150Exp / 3☆ Tidal Shard]

[5★ Selene, the Scorched Saint, has completed a Disaster Synthesis.]

[Reward: 75Exp / 2★ Albert, the Errant Knight]

[…]

I swiped past the barrage of notifications.

Nothing of particular interest.

My fingers moved mechanically. I dispatched expeditions again, then disassembled the newly collected equipment.

Just then, a sound effect chimed.

*Ting!*

[5★ Asteria, the Star-Devouring Queen, gifts you treasure, Overlord.]

[Reward: 1050Exp / 4☆ Amethyst Heart]

“Ah, just more junk.”

With a sigh, I dismantled the gifted item.

As such, this game was both a collection and an idle game.

Disaster Order.

A commonplace idle character-collecting game where you gather characters known as Disasters, develop your base, send expeditions, and create and synthesize equipment to enhance them.

It had already been five years since I started playing, and even I couldn’t fathom how this game sustained itself with its revenue structure.

There was absolutely no pay-to-win aspect, nor did it contain a single advertisement. And yet, the servers functioned flawlessly for years without crashing. Updates were slow, but new characters were consistently added every year.

“Well, I guess the developers must have deep pockets.”

I began this game during my preparations for the university entrance exams.

It wasn’t fun. The system was obtuse, and despite being an idle game, it demanded a surprising amount of attention. The story wasn’t particularly remarkable, nor were the character illustrations particularly appealing.

Even trying to find information in the community proved futile; so few people played it that it was all but impossible.

Any normal gamer would have scoffed, “Bah, what a piece of junk!” and abandoned it.

Yet, I stuck with this game for a whole five years.

There was no real reason.

Just sheer stubbornness.

Even I, who lacked tenacity in most things, possessed it in abundance when it came to games. This modest game’s conclusion sparked my persistent urge to see it to the end, the hallmark of a jobless recluse. This, coupled with an innate competitive spirit, propelled me into the deepest abyss of the game.

Ultimately, I played this game for five years. Being an idle game, it didn’t require much active input. It also wasn’t a pay-to-win game; with enough time invested, anyone could obtain 5-star characters.

The problem was that “enough time” stretched into years. But, conveniently, I had plenty of time.

And so, I collected almost every character that existed in the game. After five years, my domain was overflowing with four 5-star characters, countless 4-star characters, and equipment of various rarities.

“There’s nothing left to do now.”

I could try to collect the remaining 5-star characters, but that would mean being shackled to this game for over a decade.

Since there was likely no one else who had consistently played this flawed game for five years, I’d probably be declared the top player across all servers.

It did give me a strange sense of accomplishment, to be sure.

“Haaah…”

I sighed deeply enough to make the ground sink.

But what good was it? Who would even care if I were the world’s number one in a game that no one played?

Furthermore, I was planning to quit this game for good, starting today.

“It’s time to move on.”

The convenience store owner wasn’t wrong about anything.

Nam Juyeon. Twenty-nine years old. An orphan with no parents. A high school graduate. Barely scraping by with part-time work, a bottom-of-the-barrel life, in other words.

It was time for a change.

Quitting the game was the first step in that direction.

“…It was fun. …Or, was it?”

I smiled wryly and went into the formation management window.

There, I selected all four of my 5-star characters and unlocked their lock icons.

Then, I pressed the “Dismiss” button.

*Ding!*

[Dismiss 5★ Mirien, the Storm of the Northern Sea?]

[Unleash Queen Asteria, Devourer of Five Stars – Dismiss?]

[Unleash Karne, Mother of Ill Omens, Wielder of Five Stars – Dismiss?]

[Unleash Selene, the Scorched Saint, Bearer of Five Stars – Dismiss?]

[Y / N]

A sight that would horrify anyone who knew this game.

There was a madman, gleefully dismantling more than half the available five-star characters.

That madman was me.

“…Hmm.”

I hesitated a moment, then shook my head. If I left any room for doubt, I might install it again. I couldn’t let that happen.

I pressed the Dismiss button firmly.

Red letters flashed across the black screen.

[Calamity is unleashed. Their power is immense, capable of obliterating other worlds. This decision is irreversible!]

[Y / N]

“Bit dramatic for a warning message, isn’t it?”

I chuckled.

A grandiose warning even appears when you dismiss five-star characters, huh?

Finding a twisted kind of amusement in it, I moved my finger towards the Y button. But just before pressing it, I glanced at the character portraits and my eyes widened.

“They could make *that* expression?”

The characters on screen were staring directly at me, their eyes wide with shock. Their lips were trembling, like they were reeling from a blow.

Especially Selene, the Scorched Saint, who had curled into herself, her arms wrapped around her shoulders. Selene was the first five-star character I’d ever gotten. I thought I knew everything about her, yet this was a motion I’d never seen before.

The other characters were the same. Though the details differed, they all wore expressions and gestures of profound shock.

I never imagined this garbage game would invest in such elaborate animations. Then again, who dismisses the five-star characters they’ve painstakingly leveled up? Even pouring effort into such a pointless thing felt like something this terrible game would do.

“A shame, but what can you do…”

*Ding!* I pressed the button.

The characters on the screen dissolved into particles and slowly vanished.

A pang of regret touched me, but I shook it off. I wouldn’t have time to play games anymore anyway.

My resolve hardened, I dismissed all the remaining characters and then uninstalled the app.

“Starting tomorrow, I’m a dedicated civil service exam student.”

The next day, the world pretty much went to hell.

*

Even waking and preparing to leave, it was just another ordinary day.

The only difference being, I wasn’t booting up Disaster Order this morning.

But the instant I stepped out of my studio apartment, I was taken aback.

“Young man! ”

The landlady came running towards me, drenched in cold sweat, shouting my way.

It wasn’t like her to be so loud; usually she was so friendly. I was bewildered, and blurted out,

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“Why aren’t you evacuating!?”

“Evacuate? Why all of a sudden? I have a part-time job to get to….”

*Smack!* The landlady slapped me on the back.

“Goodness, young man! How can you not know yet! War broke out, war!”

“W-war?”

“That’s what I’m saying! Fighter jets flew overhead a while ago; it was chaos! So you get going and evacuate too! There’s an air raid shelter nearby, so hurry!”

“….”

I couldn’t quite believe what the landlady was saying, so I pinched my cheek.

It hurt.

Not a dream.

Reality.

“…Damn.”

If a war broke out in 21st-century South Korea, there was only one possibility that came to mind.

No way… did North Korea invade?

In that case, as a second-year reservist, I’d be dragged right into it.

I only decided to start a new life yesterday, so why was this kind of hardship already upon me?

All sorts of irrelevant thoughts flashed through my head.

“…N-no, that’s not it. First… evacuate.”

No time for this.

I had to evacuate, just like the landlady said. I hurriedly grabbed my phone and strode down the building’s stairs.

But the instant I stepped out of the building and onto the main road, I was taken aback once again.

*Ding!*

A semi-transparent window popped up in front of me.

It wasn’t just that, the message displayed in the window was all too familiar.

[Welcome to the World of Disaster Order.]

“Disaster… Order?”

The game I’d deleted just yesterday.

Why was that game’s welcome message appearing before my eyes?

It wasn’t just me either. Everyone on the street stared blankly ahead. It seemed they all had the same notification window as I did.

Silence reigned for a moment, then the window elongated vertically.

*Tring!*

[The Calamities of Disaster Order seek you out.]

[Subjugate the Calamities, dominate them, and become the absolute ruler who reigns over the world.]

[This is your story.]

“…No way.”

Slowly, I raised my head.

And gazed upon the enormous rift that had appeared in the sky, my mouth agape.

A swirling rift, shaped just like the summoning screen from Disaster Order.

That meant…

[Mirienne, the Storm of the Northern Sea, dreams of reversing fate. The Tower Ascends.]

[Asteria, the Queen Who Devoured Stars, whispers of destiny. The Void Beckons.]

[Karne, the Mother of Ill Omens, sings of destruction. Fear the Night.]

[Selene, the Scorched Saintess, scatters the fires of damnation. The Abyss Opens.]

In a single morning, the world had changed.

That garbage game had become reality.