Pick Me Up!

Shay transformed into particles of light and scattered away.

Clunk.

The door leading to the plaza opened.

[This is how heroes become stronger through synthesis.]

[Master, believe in your bond with the hero. The future of the world is in the Master’s hands!]

[The tutorial has ended.]

[Tips from Iselle will always help you. Don’t miss out on the valuable information to become a powerful Master!]

[For more detailed strategies, please check the official forum.]

[You will receive rewards. Please always check your mailbox.]

[Welcome to the world of Pick Me Up!]

[Bapabam!]

With a loud sound effect, the holographic window disappeared.

Standing in the plaza for a while, I shouted loudly.

“Iselle, are you there? Answer me!”

“Why are you calling me? It’s so annoying!”

Iselle appeared in the empty space.

She folded her wings and landed on the ground, waving her arms up and down in rage.

“What an idiot! Synthesizing a 4-star with a 1-star? Are you brainless? I told you to use favorites! Tips, I told you about the tips! Read the tips! Arghhh, I’m going crazy, I’m going crazy!”

“…”

So, that’s what happened.

The reason I survived was simple. The method of hero synthesis involved dragging and dropping the hero to be sacrificed. He inadvertently touched and accepted the sacrifice without realizing it.

A bitter laugh escaped me. I survived with just a stroke of luck. On the other hand, Shay died due to a simple control mistake.

[Master, would you like to log out?]

[Yes (Selected) / No]

[Goodbye then!]

A message announcing the game’s end appeared.

Iselle, who had been fidgeting, wiped away a tear from her eye.

“Damn it, it finally started and it ends like this…”

“Tell me about the situation. I’m curious and about to go crazy. Where is this place? How did I get here, and how do I go back?”

“Hmph, why should I?”

Iselle stomped the ground and then stuck out her tongue.

Her figure gradually became blurry.

“If you want to know, climb the tower. The answers are there. Goodbye then!”

“Hey, wait!”

I waved my hand where Iselle had been, but nothing was caught.

She had escaped.

“…”

I was left alone in the plaza.

Both the cheeky fairy and the knight had disappeared.

Both of them knew things I didn’t. If I had known that, I should have asked Shay.

Leaving the empty plaza behind, I returned to the room.

The room still resembled a luxurious residence. When I opened the closet on the dressing table, there were instant noodles inside.

With a gloomy feeling, I took out a pot and boiled water.

Electricity, water, and gas were all functioning. While the water was boiling, I searched for an exit but couldn’t find one. The building itself was an enigma, with no clue about its origins.

I gulped down the noodles.

The ramen, eaten after a long time, tasted incredibly delicious.

Without even cleaning up, I crawled into bed.

Only then did I fully realize what had just happened up until this moment.

Screech.

The goblin’s cry that sounded like boiling phlegm. Their sinister. The Burning houses and the fleeing people. The sound of a sword slicing through the air as it approached me. The sensation of life being extinguished at my fingertips.

‘I wasn’t chosen. That’s all.’

Shay’s bitter voice echoed in my mind.

You weren’t the one who wasn’t chosen. You were just unlucky. In the first place, it should have been me, the ordinary hero who was supposed to disappear. I remembered Shay, enveloped in light, vanishing.

“It doesn’t make sense.”

I had entered the world of the game.

Could such a thing really happen?

If everything turned out to be a dream when I woke up, it would be laughable.

There was even a part of me that wanted to applaud the ridiculous dream of me entering the game world.

That I could have such a realistic dream.

But if it wasn’t a dream.

If everything remained the same when I woke up.

If this mineral-like room and the empty plaza outside still existed.

What If I had really entered the game world as a hero, not as the Master…

I flipped the blanket over and thought.

Who I was in Pick Me Up.

Rank 5 out of 100 million Masters worldwide.

There was no user who knew more about this game than me.

I knew almost all the crafting recipes for skills and items, efficient strategies and tactics, hero development methods, and hidden elements.

People referred to me as the Master of Masters.

That’s who I was.

If, when I woke up, everything remained the same.

“If that happens.”

I couldn’t help but remember the moment just before I crossed over to this world.

A level 999 bug monster with an unknown identity.

Without a doubt, it was mocking me.

It was him. He was the one who had brought me here.

I clenched my teeth.

“You messed with the wrong person.”