Chapter 2
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
“Now this is a game.”
Dreaming of a happy future with a pretty girl, even if only in virtual reality, I stepped out of the room and found a knight waiting for me.
“Follow me.”
Not far away, a spacious training ground came into view.
To think there was a place like this inside the temple.
In the training ground, which was nearly the size of a sports field, knights in armor diligently trained as they swung their swords.
The knight led me to a corner, right in front of a standing scarecrow.
“The first test is to defeat this scarecrow.”
“Huh?”
“You must defeat this scarecrow with the Goddess’s weapon possessed by you, the Lucky Hero.”
“Ah!”
A little embarrassed to carry it around, I took out the Boing Hammer I had stored in my inventory.
“With this?”
“Yes. The test is passed once the scarecrow falls.”
With those words, the knight disappeared somewhere.
Standing alone in front of the scarecrow, reality hit me hard.
“This thing? With this?”
The Boing Hammer was one thing, but the standing scarecrow didn’t look all that sturdy either.
If you had to name the most worn-out and shabby thing in this magnificent, grand temple, you could confidently point to that scarecrow. It was filthy all over, old, and not even fixed in place properly, leaning slightly to one side.
It looked so unstable that it seemed like it would topple over not just from a Boing Hammer, but from a simple kick.
So I tried kicking it.
Thud—
I kicked the old wooden support with all my might.
“Ugh!”
The recoil from that rough kick shot right back through my foot.
I screamed and fell flat on my back.
It wasn’t that virtual reality let me feel much pain. I had cried out in shock because my Health had dropped by more than half in an instant.
“What the hell.”
Unlike its appearance, the scarecrow hadn’t budged an inch.
Even the Health bar above it hadn’t decreased at all.
“……”
I had a feeling this Quest was going to be difficult.
I did as the knight said and picked up the Boing Hammer.
What was this thing even supposed to do?
Boing!
I swung it lightly and tapped the scarecrow on the head.
As expected, there was no reaction.
“Of course it won’t work with an attack power of 1.”
I had a rough idea of how I was supposed to clear this Quest.
I probably had to knock it down by dealing massive damage with the ‘Lucky Strike’ effect attached to the ‘Hammer of Fortune.’
“‘????’… I wonder if I can even tell how much damage it does.”
A 1% chance might sound low, but if I could hit this stationary scarecrow as much as I wanted, it wasn’t all that low.
Besides, when it came to low probabilities, Han Youngwoong was confident.
Normally, you would have to hit it a hundred times for it to trigger maybe once.
“Maybe ten hits will do it?”
The Boing Hammer, swung with a confidence charged to the brim, cheerfully struck the scarecrow’s head.
Boing!
Along with the sound, a brilliant golden light burst from the point of impact.
Crack—!
[Lucky Strike!]
The sturdy scarecrow split clean in half and collapsed as if it had been crushed.
—
“Whoa.”
A thrilling sensation traveled up my hand.
At the tremendous sound and the sight of the collapsing scarecrow, the gazes in the training ground all turned toward me.
“That’s insane.”
My hands trembled with the feeling that I could smash anything.
[Quest Complete!]
Along with the completion message, I received 1 Gold and a Skill.
[Learned Skill ‘Lucky Attack (Unique)’]
“Yes!”
[Lucky Attack (Unique)]
The Lucky Hero’s passive Skill.
● 50% chance for 1 additional attack
● 1% chance for ‘????’ additional attacks
‘Lucky Attack’ was a good Skill to use together with the Hammer of Fortune.
“It’s really all about luck.”
I liked both the Boing Hammer and the Skill.
A method of inflating damage through luck.
It fit well with the concept of the Goddess of Fortune, and above all, it felt like a perfect match for Han Youngwoong.
“Can I step out for a moment?”
“We are still preparing, so you may, as long as you return within an hour.”
After getting permission, I left the temple.
Looking at the 2 Gold that had gone into my silk pouch, I headed for the Exchange.
The streets were bustling with energetic users.
This was the vitality of a new game.
“I wonder how much it’ll be.”
Fantasia used a system where microtransactions were circulated directly within the game.
Rather than users violating the terms of service through outside cash trading, the game company had created an official system to mediate transactions while taking a fee. Aside from the fee, it was a very convenient way to trade, so users who wanted to spend money had no choice but to use this place.
“Better to do it their way than get my account suspended for external trading over a fee.”
As expected of Koreans, a lot of people had already gathered at the Exchange even though the game had just opened.
There were users who looked like streamers, talking to empty air about how much they had charged.
There were also people in the same position as Han Youngwoong—so-called gold farmers—checking the value of the 10 Copper they had received at the start.
I didn’t feel intimidated among them.
“Huhu.”
The single gold coin taken from the golden silk pouch was probably the largest amount of money present here right now.
[Currency Exchange]
● 1 Gold : 1,541,000 Won
When I opened the Exchange, the conversion rate appeared.
“Whoa!”
The amount was so staggering that I covered my mouth and checked again and again to make sure I hadn’t misread it.
“1.54 million won?”
Of course, there were no Gold items listed for sale.
The price had been calculated based on the listed currency, which was Copper, or at best around 1 Silver.
Even so, since Fantasia was the first virtual reality game and so many people had pre-registered and started playing, even Copper was being traded, and that seemed to be maintaining this price level.
“Sell it immediately.”
There was no reason to hesitate.
In no game does the cash value of currency ever rise above what it is at launch.
[You have listed 2 Gold for trade.]
Even while listing it, I didn’t think it would actually sell.
Would anyone really spend over 3 million won right after starting a game they knew nothing about?
The price would obviously fall once countless users started producing Silver and Gold.
[2 Gold trade complete]
There was.
“Excuse me?”
What’s more, it sold the instant I listed the 2 Gold on the Exchange.
[2,970,000 Won withdrawal complete]
“Haha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
I had thought I’d be lucky if I made enough to cover food by playing nonstop for the first month.
I had even planned to quit cleanly afterward if I couldn’t make more than that.
But now, less than an hour after logging into the game, I had already made nearly 3 million won.
And since there were no Gold items listed, I had put it up for 1.65 million won instead of 1.54 million, thinking, ‘It won’t sell anyway.’
“The fee is…”
That dizzying 10% fee hurt, but I decided not to dwell on what couldn’t be helped.
Besides, this wasn’t the end.
“1.65 million won every time I clear a tutorial?”
I recalled the Gold offered by the Quest.
If Hero Trial (1) wasn’t the end, then wouldn’t Gold be offered again as a reward?
“……”
This was no time to stand around.
I checked the time.
Worried I might be late, I headed straight back to the temple.
—
After waiting, the knight led me somewhere else again.
“You have passed the test to become the Lucky Hero. A baptism awaits to officially recognize you as the Lucky Hero.”
“Are there no more tests?”
“There are not.”
“No, that can’t be.”
My hopes, which had been swelling at the thought of taking another test and receiving 1 Gold, vanished.
In a grand hall filled with gold, several priest NPCs and an old man with [High Priest] written above his head approached, placed a hand on my head, said something, and then suddenly took out a platinum coin and pressed it against Han Youngwoong’s forehead.
Then he removed it, stood before a large statue of the Goddess, and said,
“Oh, Goddess of Fortune, please tell us whether this foreign Hero is truly the Lucky Hero you have chosen.”
He tossed the platinum coin in his palm—one side bearing the number 100, the other bearing the image of the Goddess—high into the air.
The spinning coin fell back into the High Priest’s palm.
Smack!
“I shall test your final qualification.”
“With that?”
I thought I had misheard.
In this solemn atmosphere, inside this sacred cathedral, the final test for selecting a Hero was nothing less than a coin toss.
[Class Change Quest]
● Grade: Unique (Hidden)
● Pass the final stage of the Hero Trial, the Coin Toss. The Goddess’s image must land face up to pass.
※ The 100 Platinum coin has a very low probability of landing on the image.
● Reward: Class Change to Lucky Hero (Unique), Hero-Exclusive Beginner Armor Set (Common~Mythic)
※ Failure will result in the loss of the Lucky Hero qualification, and all related rewards will disappear. (Title ‘Lucky Hero’, Item ‘Hammer of Fortune’, Skill ‘Lucky Attack’)
“What?”
I had been inwardly scoffing at the idea of choosing a Hero with a coin toss, but the moment I saw the penalty, my expression hardened and I dashed forward.
“No!”
It was an instinctive action.
There was no way I had become attached to the Lucky Hero in such a short time.
But I had become greedy.
A true Hidden Class, and the highest Unique grade at that!
I had earned 2 Gold from just two Quests. That was 3 million won in cash.
How could I let a chance I had worked so hard for slip away over a single coin?
Thinking of the 3 million won from the Exchange sitting in my pouch, I supposed I could have accepted it as a nice fleeting dream.
It was a lot of money, but I hadn’t started this game just to earn that much and call it a day.
Considering the endless rewards I could receive after changing my Class, leaving my fate in someone else’s hands was out of the question.
“I’ll, I’ll do it!”
“This is the will of the gods, so step aside, Hero candidate.”
The hall fell silent.
The commotion in front of the Goddess’s statue made the atmosphere heavy and cold.
The benevolent High Priest, now wearing a stern expression, looked frightening enough to make me tremble.
“S-So, I mean, I’ll toss it! I’ll prove with my own hands whether I have the qualification.”
But I couldn’t back down.
The High Priest stared intently at Han Youngwoong for a moment, then nodded.
“Since you are a foreigner chosen by the Goddess herself, proving your own qualification must also be the will of the gods. So be it.”
Haha.
With a laugh, the oppressive atmosphere lightened.
Everyone sat down, and the High Priest’s tightly closed hand opened.
“Wow.”
The number 100 was showing.
My heart sank.
If I had just stood there blankly, I would have lost everything I had gained.
The High Priest stepped aside.
I stood before the Goddess’s statue and placed the coin on my palm.
100 Platinum.
Considering that 1 Platinum was equivalent to 1,000 Gold in Fantasia, this single coin was worth 1.5 trillion won.
Should I just grab it and run?
If I could just get it out of the temple and to the Exchange…
“Please.”
I cast aside that impossible fantasy and prayed while holding the coin.
With the Goddess’s face up, I tossed it high into the air with all my might.
Fwoosh—
The coin spun as it rose.
I watched it with strained eyes.
I had to snatch it out of the air.
At the moment the coin reached its highest point and started to fall under gravity—
“Huh?”
A golden light began flashing on and off from the coin.
When I looked up at it from below, the golden light flashed whenever the numbered side was visible, and vanished whenever the side with the Goddess’s image was visible.
“Ah!”
I saw the answer.
I just had to catch it the instant the golden light disappeared.
“……”
But was that even possible?
A coin flashing in intervals of a tenth of a second…
“Hyaat!”
There was no time to think deeply.
The coin, which had gone up so high, fell quickly, and the moment I snatched the coin that entered my field of vision, the breath I had been holding burst out.
“Hoo.”
My vision, which had been focused solely on the coin, relaxed, and only then did I realize all the priests in the hall were watching me.
Sweat trickled down my palm.
Honestly, I didn’t know.
“Did I get it?”
I thought I had caught it while timing the light, but whether my body had actually followed my thoughts was something I could only know once I opened my hand.
“Open it.”
The High Priest approached with a benevolent smile, his face full of anxious curiosity.
There was nothing to gain by dragging it out.
I stretched my hand out toward the Goddess’s statue and removed the hand covering it.
Then, as my palm opened, golden light poured out from between my fingers.
“Oh, Goddess.”
“The Hero has descended!”
“At last, the prophecy of 30,000 years!”
[Quest Complete!]
[You have changed your Class to the Hidden Class ‘Lucky Hero (Unique)’.]
[You have acquired the Hero-Exclusive Beginner Armor Set (Common~Mythic).]
“Huaah.”
The tension left my body, and I collapsed to my knees.