Chapter 0
I changed the name a bit to avoid the eyes of you-know-who lol. The original title is L u c k - B a S e d Ga M e r
<Prologue>
“Welcome to Fantasia! We pray that the Goddess of Fortune’s blessing be with you, and we have a small gift for the Warrior who has traveled a long way to be here.”
A Fairy, small enough to fit on one’s palm, smiled brightly and waved the Fairy Wand she was holding. Five small, white boxes appeared before my eyes.
“These five boxes contain a small gift. Would you like to choose one?”
The identically shaped gift boxes were tied with cute ribbons.
“Inside, you’ll find some simple bread and water to sate your hunger during your adventure, as well as some money for your journey. It’s not a large amount, but it should be helpful. And to add a little fun, the Goddess of Fortune has placed different amounts in each one!”
“Are there any duds?”
“No! You’re guaranteed to receive the basic gift, and if you’re lucky, you might get a little something extra. Oh! And one of the five boxes contains a ticket that lets you draw from the next level of boxes.”
“A ticket?”
“Would you like to take a look at the boxes?”
A holographic message floated above each box, reading [Common Lucky Box (Lv1)].
“Each grade goes up to Level 10, and if you draw a Lucky Ticket from a Level 10 box, your gift will be upgraded to a Premium Lucky Box. It’s a chance to test your Luck and see if you can become a Warrior blessed by the Goddess of Fortune!”
“Hmm. So I just have to pick any one of them, right?”
“Carefully…”
“They don’t look any different.”
“No, they don’t. On the outside, at least!”
They were five identical boxes, after all.
“For things like this, you just have to pick without thinking.”
So I was about to choose one at random when I saw a small, golden dot on the middle box.
“Hm?”
When I opened that box, fireworks shot out.
Bba-bam-!
Inside the box was a single white ticket.
“Ooh! Congratulations! That’s a Lucky Ticket.”
The ticket and the boxes evaporated, and five slightly larger boxes appeared.
[Common Lucky Box (Lv2)]
The Lucky Boxes were now Lv2.
“Can’t I see what’s inside?”
“No, the contents depend on your choice, so I can’t tell you beforehand.”
“Really? But are the odds for these really all the same?”
“Yes! Even I don’t know which box has the Lucky Ticket!”
Despite her words, I could see a golden dot on one of them, clear as day.
Pretending to think it over, I picked one, and once again, fireworks exploded.
Bba-bam-!
“Ah! Another ticket!”
Bba-bam-!
“Wow, Warrior! You’re really lucky!”
“I don’t think it’s luck.”
To confirm, I started opening boxes without thinking.
Bba-bam-!
Bba-bam-!
…
“U-Uwaaaaah!”
By the time the color of the boxes changed, the Fairy, who had been spacing out in a panic, let out a scream.
The Fairy, who had suddenly disappeared and reappeared, had a flushed expression.
“They said it’s normal! They said you’re just very lucky, Warrior!”
“What is?”
“The fact that you broke through a 20% chance a whopping 10 times in a row! Do you have any idea how incredible that is? You’re allowed to be a little more excited!”
Han Youngwoong scratched the back of his head.
“I guess I’m just feeling a bit lucky today, huh?”
“No, Warrior! This isn’t something you can just brush off as being ‘on a roll’! You have the luck of one in ten million people.”
“Really? But didn’t this game have over 100 million pre-registrations?”
“Out of countless people, you possess a level of luck that can be counted on one hand!”
Even as she spoke with great excitement, Han Youngwoong’s expression didn’t change.
“Does that make me money?”
“Pardon?”
“You said it doesn’t make much of a difference, the reward.”
“No, but the difference between Common and Premium is huge! Premium Lucky Boxes contain the Luck Stat.”
“A Stat?”
“The Luck Stat is a special stat. It’s not a basic stat like Strength, Agility, Stamina, or Mana, but! It’s a stat that influences effects related to luck on your adventure. The probability of acquiring good items, the probability of landing a critical hit, the probability of evading an attack, the probability of acquiring a Hidden Quest, and so on. You can think of it as a Hidden Stat that influences all those things.”
“Oh. But it doesn’t make money.”
“Ugh. In any case, just getting a Premium Lucky Box is a huge win for you, Warrior!”
“But it’s not Premium.”
“Pardon?”
He pointed at the boxes for the Fairy, who was lost in her passionate speech.
“I opened a few more while you were gone for a bit. It was a waste of time.”
“What? Eek!”
At Han Youngwoong’s gesture, the Fairy’s gaze turned to the boxes that had been left unattended.
Where the green boxes should have been, there was a single, large box.
A golden box that seemed to swallow the surrounding light.
The noble aura it radiated was breathtakingly beautiful.
The tiny, grain-sized golden dot that had been visible since the Lv1 box was now shining so brightly that it more than covered the entire box.
[Unique Lucky Box Lv36]
“Th-This is.”
“This is what happened when I kept opening them.”
“Just how many times did you do it?”
“I don’t know. About 30 or 40 times? It turned golden, and then it became this.”
“Wait a minute. Hiek! It’s a Unique grade!”
The Fairy circled the box with trembling hands.
“W-Warrior.”
“Yeah.”
“O-Open it.”
“Is it okay to just open it?”
“Yes. This box contains a gift from the Goddess of Fortune. There are no more boxes after this.”
Her tone was one of half-resignation.
But her eyes were wide with the determination not to miss a single moment.
Hearing that I could open it, I approached the box.
As I selected the box, a darkness that absorbed all light surged up, and then…
[Gift of Fortune (Unique)]
The entire world was dyed in a golden light.
“Wow!”
“What is this? It says it’s a Unique grade gift. Is this good?”
“It’s not just good! The Unique grade is the current final grade. It’s a total jackpot!”
“I got this?”
“Warrior, you are an incredibly lucky person!”
The Fairy’s words made me feel strange.
I had been keeping a straight face until now, but hearing this made me feel a little excited.
“Is it really that different?”
The only time ‘Luck’ had ever resulted in a positive outcome for me was just once in my entire life, but this was already the second time in Fantasia.
“Do you have any idea what kind of odds you just beat, Warrior?”
The Fairy muttered to herself for a long time.
“Even for a Premium Lucky Box, the probability is 0.00001024%. From Premium onward, the number of boxes increases to 10 and there are 5 levels… so for Rare, it’s 0.0000000001024%. That’s like one in a trillion.”
Seeing her incredulous reaction, I patted her small back and whispered.
“Ever heard of independent events?”
Words Han Youngwoong never thought he’d say in his life.
He was saying something he’d always wanted to say at some point.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
It felt good to see the Fairy tear at her hair and go berserk.
“Anyway, I’m busy, so send me on my way now.”
I didn’t have time to wait for her to calm down.
Fantasia.
I came here to play a Virtual Reality Game, but I’d been opening boxes for a solid 30 minutes.
My competitors were probably already in the game and far ahead of me.
I wanted to get out of here quickly.
“Ah! That’s right. It was a brief time, but it was such an honor to meet the first apostle of the Goddess of Fortune. I was happy to be your guide, and I pray that your future adventures will be filled with excitement and challenges.”
“Uh. Thanks.”
I let the Fairy’s earnest words flow in one ear and out the other.
“Then, I wish you luck, Warrior.”
With the Fairy who smiled sweetly, approached, and kissed the back of my hand.
The world darkened, and the surrounding scenery changed.
===
Bad luck is still luck.
That’s what Han Youngwoong had always thought as he lived his life.
“If you fail an Enhancement with a 1% chance, is that good luck? Or bad luck? Bad luck? No. It’s the probability of hitting that 1%, so it’s good luck.”
When he said things like this, his friends would laugh and curse at him.
He knew.
He knew it was ridiculous sophistry.
He also knew that the expression ‘to be lucky’ should be used when one benefits from low probability.
After all, you wouldn’t describe both ‘winning the lottery’ and ‘being struck by lightning three times in a row’ as being lucky.
The only thing that could be called good fortune was that Han Youngwoong was the only one in his family to have dodged a rare disease that was said to be nearly 100% hereditary.
No, could that even be called good fortune? It might have been better to have gotten sick.
Then he wouldn’t have had to experience such a uniquely unlucky life.
It was too much to bear, thinking that all the overlapping misfortunes were his fault, so this kind of mental victory was the only way to survive.
That’s why his usual misfortunes were no big deal.
Tripping lightly and breaking a bone, requiring hospitalization, or getting in any line only for it to be cut off right in front of him, forcing him to wait for ages before turning back—these were daily occurrences.
“I’m a lucky person. It’s just that the results turn out badly.”
He was just a victim of what people called ‘eokkka,’ or being unfairly targeted.
One day, this ‘luck’ that only ever hit low probabilities would bring about a good result.
Just like how he had dodged his genetics with a probability of less than 0.0001%.
That’s why he alone had called his misfortune ‘Luck’.
He believed in it and had worked hard.
For Han Youngwoong, who had only ever worked part-time jobs and manual labor to earn money, there had been no opportunities to make big money.
Nevertheless, he waited.
And then he discovered Fantasia.
– To think a virtual reality would come out in my lifetime.
– A true fantasy world perfectly created by AI, not humans. If it comes out as advertised, who needs S*O.
– There are over 100 million pre-registration accounts. At this point, isn’t this a real reality, not a game?
– I’m definitely going to make a living off Fantasia and buy a house.
The most anticipated title.
The first-ever Virtual Reality Game.
Even the demo footage, which showed hundreds, thousands of AIs playing as different Classes, was released as a teaser, and the vast world and perfect synchronization seen there couldn’t help but instill great expectations.
For users who purely enjoyed games.
And for users who wanted to make money from the game.
As interest grew, so did the investments.
Virtual reality had only just made contact with the field of gaming; there were endless ways to utilize it.
The movie industry, the advertising industry, the entertainment sector.
“Should I give it a try?”
Han Youngwoong saw it too.
His heart pounded.
He wanted to try it.
There were many videos and a lot of information, but what captivated him was Fantasia’s setting and its promotional slogan.
Fantasia, where the blessing of the Goddess of Fortune is with you. In all your choices, which are linked to your growth, effort, and talent, luck will follow. In Fantasia, these will become the foundation of your growth._
It felt as if it were calling to Han Youngwoong.
“Will it be different here?”
He knew it was just something they said for advertising.
He knew that the Main Deity of the Fantasia Continent was the Goddess of Fortune, and that they were using that setting to stimulate the desire for growth through various probabilities and utilize it for diverse content.
But the wide-open world, a different feeling from this one.
For some reason, he felt that his ‘Luck’ might lead to good things in Fantasia.
So he decided to test it.
[Account Pre-Registration Event!]
A prize event for all participants who sign up!
1 Winner: Top-of-the-line Virtual Reality Access Capsule_
※ Includes a pass for a Fantasia-Exclusive Capsule Room during the custom manufacturing period after user name and physical testing.
…
10,000 Winners: 720-hour free pass for a Fantasia-Exclusive Capsule Room_
He wasn’t asking for much.
10,000 people out of the millions who pre-registered in Korea.
A low probability of less than 1%.
He promised himself that if he could just get in on that, he would play the game with the hope that things would be truly different in the new world of the virtual reality called Fantasia.
[Congratulations. You have won the ‘Top-of-the-line Virtual Reality Access Capsule’.]
But the moment he won the first prize, given to only one person, not even the 10,000.
Han Youngwoong immediately started searching for Fantasia and gathering information.
It could be a superstition, or it could be him believing what he wanted to believe out of desperation, but an opportunity was an opportunity.
– Looks like it’s going to be the biggest money-making game ever? Big-name streamers, celebrities, and pro-gamers are all on standby.
– They say you can even take over a castle and have Siege Battles.
– Fantasia officials have already said they’ll make it so you can make a living in virtual reality lol
– Is that even possible in a game?
“Finally, my turn.”
Could it be that this useless ‘Luck’ of his was finally finding a place to shine?
Number 1 ranker, a Castle Lord, the Warrior who slays the Demon King.
He didn’t even dream of such grand things.
“I just hope this damn luck is useful for something.”
Let’s change my life with this ‘Luck’ that has plagued me my entire life.
It would be even better if I could make money with that luck.
After receiving the notification that his exclusive capsule had gone into production, he created his account, and on the day the game opened.
In the jam-packed Fantasia-Exclusive Capsule Room, he was assigned his own capsule, lay down, and launched the game.
Inside the plush capsule.
He put on the goggles and said.
“Fantasia, log in.”
And a new world unfolded.