Chapter 2
“Whew…….”
Was I dreaming right now?
I pinched, rubbed, and even slapped my own face to make sure this was truly reality.
It hurt.
My once pale skin had reddened from how much I’d been pinching it.
Could it be… I really possessed that guy?
The Final Boss of <Become a Hero>?
As I stared blankly at the black laptop screen, it flickered before lighting up.
Whirrr—
【Status Window】
【Name: Yoo Sung-woo】
【Age: 17】
【Title: Hidden Player, A-Rank Villain Devil Knight】
【Stats】
【Strength: 32 Stamina: 40 Agility: 37】
【Intelligence: 11 Luck: 9 Magic Power: 32】
【Special Stat】
【Resistance: 72】
【Skills: Lamb (SS), Asura Divine Art 1-Star (S), Weapon Mastery (A)】
The familiar interface I had seen countless times over the past half year greeted me.
The only difference was that the information written within it belonged to the supporting character — and Final Boss — from <Become a Hero>.
No matter how I thought about it, this situation made no sense.
Yet the pain that wouldn’t subside without painkillers, and the heavy, stone-like sensation weighing down my limbs — they were all gone.
My body felt better than ever before. Perfect, even.
No—perfect wasn’t enough to describe it.
Even when I’d been healthy, I had never felt this light, as though I could soar with just a single movement.
It truly felt like I had been reborn.
Every vivid sensation screamed that this was reality.
I had possessed the Final Boss of the game.
But at the same time, I couldn’t simply be happy.
No, I could only despair.
Why, of all people!
Why! Out of all the countless characters, did it have to be this guy?!
I wasn’t asking to become one of the main Playable Characters like the Protagonist.
I would’ve been perfectly satisfied being a nameless background extra who didn’t even have a single appearance scene.
But why the Final Boss, of all things!
There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for my desperate wailing.
The body of this Final Boss — who was also a supporting character in <Become a Hero> — had the same fate as my real body: terminal illness.
To be precise, he became possessed by the Lord of the Archdemons, bringing the world to ruin and becoming the Final Boss, only to be brutally slain by the Player.
His body was stolen by the Archdemon, and his soul was defiled by demons.
A fate far more horrific than dying from a terminal disease.
At that moment, the laptop’s status window began to erase itself, and new text started appearing across the screen on its own.
【Would you like to inherit this character’s memories?】
“Memory inheritance?”
What the hell does that mean?
【For the Player’s safety, it is strongly recommended to accept the memory inheritance.】
If I understood correctly… it was saying it would give me this body’s memories?
No, wait — shouldn’t it first explain why I even got possessed in this game in the first place?
As if reading my thoughts, the haunted laptop began typing again on its own.
【The current situation was pre-announced and proceeds with the Player’s consent.】
【Would you like to inherit this character’s memories?】
【yes / no】
The haunted laptop blinked rapidly, as if urging me to hurry up and choose.
“It won’t do any harm to my body, right?”
【This system exists to support the Player.】
【It will not cause any harm to the Player’s life.】
【Would you like to inherit this character’s memories?】
【yes / no】
It was being awfully pushy.
I moved the mouse and clicked the “yes” button.
【Beginning memory inheritance.】
Beeeep—
A familiar ringing filled my ears as my head spun violently.
It was eerily similar to what I had felt right before I got possessed.
Before I could even process that thought, an overwhelming headache crashed down on me.
The excruciating pain robbed my body of strength, and I nearly collapsed.
Barely holding myself up by using the desk as a crutch, I gritted my teeth.
A tsunami of foreign memories surged through me — my body trembled uncontrollably, and drool spilled from my mouth.
Still, I endured.
Pain was something I was well accustomed to.
After what felt like an eternity, the bombardment of memories finally began to subside.
Struggling to move my uncooperative body, I staggered to the bathroom and threw up everything in my stomach.
“Uweeegh!”
Receiving the entire lifetime’s worth of another person’s memories in mere minutes was absolute madness.
Turning on the tap, I rinsed my mouth several times and splashed cold water over my face.
It was, without question, one of the most disgusting sensations I never wanted to experience again.
I returned to the desk and snapped at the laptop accusingly.
“You said it wouldn’t cause any harm!”
【We said no harm would come to your life. We never said it wouldn’t hurt.】
“Talking nonsense again……!”
【But surely, it must have been helpful to you, Player.】
“That’s……”
As irritating as that tone was, it wasn’t wrong.
Had I not inherited the memories, I would have definitely regretted it.
This inheritance didn’t simply grant information.
It was synchronization — sharing every ounce of experience the being I had possessed had accumulated throughout his life.
Before becoming the Final Boss of <Become a Hero>, the owner of this body had been a mid-ranking executive of Pandemonium, the organization of evil and one of the main hostile forces.
The experience and techniques of someone of that level weren’t something an ordinary terminally ill man like me could ever imitate, even if I had all the knowledge in the world.
Now that I had inherited those memories, all of his skills and experiences were mine.
At this moment, with just a single blade in hand, I felt as though I could wipe out an entire modern military company a walking killing machine.
Of course, the situation wasn’t all rosy.
After revisiting the inherited memories, I realized things were far more miserable than I thought.
Right now, I was not only a mid-level officer of the evil organization but also the sacrifice and medium meant to summon the Archdemon.
In other words, my future was already sealed.
I didn’t have many regrets about life.
I’d already been terminal anyway.
But that didn’t mean I was willing to have my body and soul stolen and suffer eternal torment in Hell.
Simply put, to avoid a Hell Ending, I needed to reach that long-desired Happy Ending.
I had to walk a perilous tightrope between the damned evil organization and the Protagonist’s party — with my life hanging in the balance.
This was a game that demanded a level of difficulty more insane than any Playable Character ever faced and worse, it wasn’t a choice. It was mandatory.
That was precisely why the haunted laptop had “recommended” I inherit the memories if I wanted to survive longer.
As I sat there lamenting this hopeless life, lost in frustration, I suddenly heard a faint melody.
Ring-ring, ring-ring, ring-ring.
Looking around for the source of the sound, I spotted a phone placed by the bedside.
I walked over, picked it up and on the screen, a “Restricted Number” flashed.
It couldn’t be a call from a doctor before my possession……
Could it be Pandemonium?
The most infamous criminal organization in <Become a Hero> — a group of demon-worshippers who sold their souls to the Archdemons.
The memories I’d inherited about them were full of atrocities so vile and repulsive they made my stomach churn.
Still, as a mid-level officer of Pandemonium, I couldn’t just ignore a call from them.
I slowly swiped the screen and answered.
The display flickered and a strikingly beautiful woman appeared.
Her long, dark crimson hair reminded me of a black rose alluring and dangerous.
Her sharp, displeased gaze fell upon me.
[To think you would dare keep me waiting. You must not value your life very much.]
Her voice was so cold and cutting it sent a chill down my spine, and my heart dropped like a stone.
I immediately recognized who she was.
That deadly beauty, that arrogant tone, that overwhelming presence that dominated others with just her voice.
She was one of the six absolute beings within Pandemonium.
The terror of even the most powerful Demons.
The Heavenly Demon.
As I remained silent, her brows furrowed even more.
A strange, suffocating pressure filled the air; every hair on my body stood on end.
My instincts screamed at me to run — that I was standing before death itself.
It felt as if an invisible blade hovered against my throat.
From here on, every word that left my mouth would determine whether I lived or died.
[Can you not hear my voice?]
Her eyes sank, cold and lethal.
It was dangerous to stay silent any longer. I had to say something — anything.
Driven by instinct, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“……My apologies. I was momentarily entranced by my Master’s overwhelming beauty.”
[…What?]
For a brief moment, surprise flickered in her voice.
Shit. I’m dead.
Of all the things to say, I’d just uttered that nonsense to my direct superior the same woman infamous among players for dismembering subordinates without hesitation.
Was I really going to die before the story even began?
And my last words would be, ‘I was mesmerized by my Master’s beauty’?
There couldn’t be a more pathetic death than that.
As I closed my eyes, awaiting the inevitable, her voice came again.
[So you’ve started spouting nonsense… Have you finally gone insane?]
Feeling no pain after several seconds, I cautiously opened my eyes and found her staring at me with a faintly pitying gaze.
Wait… she’s sparing me?
For some reason, she clicked her tongue and shook her head.
[To think you’d lose your mind in the brief time I looked away. This is why I detest being put in charge of the young ones.]
Did she… think I’d gone mad?
Well, staying alive was good but if Pandemonium started treating me like a lunatic, I’d be dead soon enough anyway.
I quickly opened my mouth to clarify.
“Master, I am not insane.”
[If you are sane, how could you call me beautiful?]
“……Pardon?”
Did I just hear that right?
Anyone who so much as caught a glimpse of her would agree she was stunning, beyond human comprehension.
Even in the game, her breathtaking illustration had spawned a fan café, despite her being a Villain.
Who in their right mind could not call her beautiful?
And yet she seemed completely oblivious to her own allure.
Determined to prove my sanity, I looked straight into her eyes and spoke.
“Master, you truly are beautiful. Even if one searched the entire world, there would be no being as elegant and radiant as you.”
[Enough! I’ve no time to waste on foolish words.]
Her expression twisted in clear displeasure as she dismissed my words outright and moved on.
[You’ve been assigned a mission. Retrieve the Heart of the Demon from the Seoul Artifact Museum.]
“The Seoul Artifact Museum, you said?”
[Can you no longer comprehend plain speech?]
“No, I understand. I was simply wondering… why the Heart of the Demon would be there.”
[How should I know that? I’ve said what I must. I’m ending this call now.]
Snapping irritably, she cut the connection without another word.
That was… abrupt.
Once I confirmed the call had ended, I slumped down into my chair, drained.
I’d seriously thought she was going to kill me.
Ten minutes of conversation had left me completely exhausted.
It truly felt like walking on the thinnest layer of ice before it cracked beneath me.
Still— the Heart of the Demon in the Seoul Artifact Museum, huh?
That was a name I recognized all too well after playing <Become a Hero> for nearly half a year.