The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 0: Prologue

The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Prologue

What are dreams?

The manifestation of our subconscious? A way to confirm the value of our greatest wishes? Not only that, it appears in many different forms.

But what if…

What if you continued to dream the same dream? What would that feel like?

You could ask everyone in the world this question but only one person can truly answer it.

“Why…”

That person, the sole person who can answer that question, is the now 25-year-old Kang Seol.

Seol grew up in an orphanage. He was quiet; a man of few words.

And he had been dreaming the same dream… for 17 years.

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Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

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Around the time Seol entered elementary school, he had a certain dream.

- Oh? Are you a newcomer? Come sit down over here, there’s an open seat.

In his dreams, Seol looked like a well-dressed adult. He was wearing a mask and clothes he had never seen before.

But Seol wasn’t the only one who was dressed like that, everyone in his dreams were too.

- Alright, it’s time to roll the dice.

- Hahaha! This is my favorite part!

- Pick your game pieces, everyone.

- I’m keeping it the same! I’ll go with the same piece, the Scarlet Butcher!

- Then I’m going to keep it the same too and go with the Wind Ranger.

- Uh… we… have a new player…

- Darn, then let’s let our friend make a new game piece.

- What… What should we call you?

It was a woman wearing a fox mask who had gently asked Seol that last question.

Seol was about to say his name, hesitated, then gave out a nickname instead.

“Snowman.”

- Snowman, huh? Great. Okay! Snowman, you’ll need to create the game piece that you’ll control now.

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Seol made a frost-attribute magician, half-assed the other details, then waited for his turn.

- We’re rolling the dice!

- 6! I got a 6!

- But it was a 20-sided die.

- No!

The people in his dream were enjoying the game.

They would roll the dice on the table and then choose between various options given.

- The Pointy Thorn Tribe’s Chieftain, Pointy Thorn, has appeared. Now, what do you do, ‘AnywayItsYourFault’?

[1. Run Away.

2. Fight Him.

3. [Required: Intelligence 15] Convince Him with Words.

4. [Required: Mechanical Engineering 1] Use a Smoke Screen.]

- 4! I’m going with option 4!

- Oh no! Unfortunately, you failed to properly deploy the smoke screen!

- Damn it! This is rigged!

The party was in danger of being wiped out.

But, it was now Seol’s magician’s turn.

“3. I’m going with option 3, ‘Use Frost Magic to Catch Pointy Thorn’s Feet.’.”

- The spell was effective! Pointy Thorn’s feet are frozen and he is defenseless for a moment.

A man wearing a bird mask, who sat next to Seol, shouted.

- Alright! It’s my turn now! Quickly!

- Yes, ‘CatTreeDestroyer’.

The man named ‘CatTreeDestroyer’, aimed for Pointy Thorn’s opening and successfully landed a cool attack. That attack was the starting point for the party to turn the tides.

In the end, the party was able to defeat Pointy Thorn and ended their Adventure a success.

- Today’s Adventure ends here. Did everyone enjoy the World of Eternity?

- Hahaha, what else needs to be said about it? Even though it’s the trial version, it’s super fun.

- Hey, Snowman. Do you want to play together tomorrow as well?

Seol nodded his head in response.

And just like that, Seol enjoyed the World of Eternity every night in his dreams with these mysterious people, changing up the party every once in a while.

One time, Seol tried to tell the younger children in the orphanage about his dreams, but…

Their response went something like this:

“Hyung, you’re weird… You’re saying weird stuff…”

“...What?”

“How could something like that be real?”

And it was an obvious response.

There probably wasn’t anyone who would believe that someone’s dreams could continue from one night to the next.

After that, Seol, even until after he turned 25, never spoke about his dreams to anyone else.

A part of the reason he had trouble talking to others was because living in an orphanage was difficult, another part was because he was scared he would never have the same dream again if he told his secret to someone else.

Eventually, Seol became an adult and a member of society.

But his dreams still continued.

Seol had been rolling dice with those mysterious people for 17 years.

It wasn’t like he wasn't curious about them either.

But he couldn’t ask them for the same reason that he didn’t tell other people about his dream.

‘I can’t ask who they are.’

We meet in the dream, we roll the dice.

And we laugh. That was it.

For a while, Seol thought that they were gods.

But soon, he stopped thinking about it.

He didn’t care if they were gods, monsters, or even demons.

The important thing for him was enjoying The World of Eternity.

That, and only that, was his sole interest.

- Snowman, didn’t you say you’d be playing with us today? …Or maybe not?

- What are you saying? Snowman said he’d be playing on the last day with us! …Or maybe not?

- Both of you, be quiet! Snowman’s going to be doing a Solo Adventure because it’s the Great Sage’s last adventure!

- Oh right! Then let’s watch that!

Snowman was an identity that Seol made up for his dreams.

But now, Snowman was practically an idol for those who enjoyed The World of Eternity.

It was because Snowman had created many legendary characters who blazed their own paths in The World of Eternity.

Snowman had created and played 30 characters. There were some amongst those game pieces who died in vain but the majority of Seol’s characters left their marks in the history of The World of Eternity.

The Grand Duke of Frost, the One-Armed Sword Saint, the Immortal, and even the Great Sage.

Snowman had played with various pieces over 17 years and smoothly reached the top.

He was obviously lucky at times with the dice but his wit when it came to seeing through the options was important too.

It was the result of his obsession with The World of Eternity as he even memorized the rulebook too.

‘It’s such a shame. I would’ve been able to see it if I had a bit more time.’

The Great Sage was the last character he was scheduled to play.

Through advancing various classes and many trial-and-error attempts, Seol crafted his own way of growing classes and strategies for them.

He planned on creating a final game piece that combined all of the information he learned but The World of Eternity was ending today.

- Our dreams are coming true tomorrow.

- It almost even feels a little late. It’s time to restore our Divinity now. It’s also time to get revenge on the insects who made us like this.

- Haha! I’m more interested in the latter option.

‘The World of Eternity’s trial version ends tomorrow, right?’

There was a notice that The World of Eternity’s trial version would end today and that the official version would start tomorrow.

Seol didn’t know what significant meaning the official version held but all of the others seemed to have a rough idea about what was going on.

Their conversation went in one ear and out of the other for Seol as he concentrated on what was in front of him.

The Great Sage was in the middle of the Final Adventure, Ascension.

‘Please… Please…’

Seol rolled his dice for the last time for his game piece, Milan the Great Sage.

Rattle.

Clatter.

Flinch!

Seol, after confirming the dice face, quietly closed his eyes.

It was a 1.

[Mana backflows during the Ascension process.]

[Milan takes massive damage from the mana rebound.]

[Milan fails to Ascend.]

“......”

- That’s a shame, Snowman.

- That’s too bad, Snowman.

- Cheer up!

Seol checked if Milan had any options left.

‘Again…?’

Among the 30 game pieces that Seol created, his 10 most recent pieces all had reached the Final Adventure, Ascension.

But none of them were able to clear it.

It was obviously difficult to ascend the heavens being born human but with the Great Sage’s failure, all 10 of his pieces failed to do it.

‘How are you even supposed to clear this…’

Seol silently watched his game piece and made a decision.

[[Would you like to give up on Milan’s Adventure?]

1. Yes.

2. No.]

When a player chose the first option, they were no longer able to control their game piece. Seol chose option 1.

[Adventurer Milan will now pioneer his own path and fate.]

[Though this heart racing Adventure is over, his life will still continue.]

As Seol looked at Milan with a blank expression, the others spoke to him.

- It’s alright Snowman. You did your best. Even reaching Ascension is…

- Yeah, it was only possible because it was you, Snowman.

There were a total of 10 game pieces who reached the Final Adventure.

And every single one of them were Seol’s pieces.

It was a massive achievement to those that enjoyed The World of Eternity but Seol only felt regretful.

“Fuuu…”

And just like that, The World of Eternity, the game that Seol had been enjoying for 17 years, closed its curtains.

But this ending was only the beginning of a new story.