"Scream all you want!"
Haru swung his thick rod.
"S-Sir, please hurry, the board members will be here soon!"
His secretary begged him to stop.
Haru requested. He was drenched in sweat despite all the ACs his lavish office had.
"Maya, just give me two more minutes, and I'll be done."
He didn't listen to her, instead, he went for the final blow.
Raising his VR sword prop controller, he made an arc in the air, slicing the enemy into two halves.
[Game Set!]
[You win!]
Seeing the winning message popping up in front of his eyes, a grin slowly formed on his face.
"Hell yeah!"
Haru took out his VR set and jumped into a victory pose.
Seeing his jump, Maya, his secretary, ran to his front.
"Haaah… Haaaahh… Sir," she panted, struggling to catch her breath.
"The board members will be here any minute. Would you mind playing play these games afterward instead?"
Haru grinned and replied.
"Then I'll let them join in too. I've got plenty of VRs in my locker."
"Sir, please take your responsibilities seriously," Maya scolded, adjusting her glasses. "Also, why do you even have VRs in your locker?"
"No reasons."
Haru wiped his face with a towel before flopping down into his chair.
Behind him, the giant logo of "Arcane Legacy" was carved into a wooden panel.
His desk was dominated by a massive curved display, beneath which sat the latest RS5 console with a controller resting on top. Beside it gleamed a metallic nameplate in golden font—
[Haru Tsukishiro — CEO]
At just 22, Haru was one of the youngest billionaires in the world. The creator of the globally beloved ARPG game
Money, fame, and talent. He has it all.
But the most amazing thing about him was…
"I'm a hardcore gamer."
That's what he always told Maya whenever she protested against his work ethic.
Gaming was his passion while developing games?
That was just his hobby.
Taking out the files from the stack, Maya slammed them on his desk.
"These things won't fix themselves with your so-called gaming skills."
Haru raised an eyebrow at the pile.
"What's it about?"
"Complaints regarding the latest version of Rebirth of the Fivefold Calamities," she replied, adjusting her glasses again.
Haru's eyebrows twitched.
"Bugs?"
"Yes, sir."
"And it hasn't been fixed yet?" Haru asked, smiling.
"That's why the files are on your table, sir," Maya answered, mirroring his smile.
Flipping open a file lazily, Haru sighed.
"Tsk, what's the bug about?"
"Oh, it's that third-rate villain character… Ummm… what's his name again?"
Haru answered instead.
"Leon Valentine."
"Ah, yes, that guy."
Maya nodded her head.
Leon Valentine, the third-rate villain he had designed specifically for newbie players to beat up.
In the game's early days, Leon had unexpectedly gained a cult following, earning the nickname "the punching bag prince."
But as more iconic villains were introduced, Leon's popularity plummeted.
Studying the bug report, Haru frowned.
"It's a rendering problem. What was the debugger team doing?"
Maya's eyes widened.
With only the report, he was able to point out the problem.
He really was a genius.
"I'll pass your feedback along, sir."
As she turned to leave, Haru stopped her.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
He was tapping on the desk while deep in thought.
Maya's eyes narrowed. Whenever he did this, it always meant trouble.
'What's he scheming now?'
Maya tried to guess.
Haru turned his gaze up to her, and with a thoughtful expression, he asked.
"What's Leon's current popularity?"
Maya blinked. "You mean in the forums?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"He ranked 341 out of 350 main characters."
Haru sneered. "That bad, huh?"
"Eh? What do you mean, sir?"
Standing up from his cushioned chair, Haru strolled to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Maya watched him with unease.
He was smiling.
Peering down from the 110th floor to the highway below, he declared.
"Maya, delete him."
"..."
She froze. "Wh-What do you mean, sir?"
"Yes," he continued, still gazing at the distant cars below.
"We have 350 other characters, spending our resources just to fix a third-rate character, who even ranked lower… It's a waste of my money."
"B-But sir, that's a stupi—I mean, that's a big decisi—"
Cutting her off, Haru glanced at her reflection.
"He served his purpose."
With over 3 billion active users worldwide, deleting a character, even a minor one, would normally require extensive board meetings.
"As you wish, sir. I'll schedule a meeting with the developer and marketing team this evening—"
"No need."
"Sorry?"
"I created that game. I decide who lives and dies there. Understood?"
Maya saw something terrifying in his gaze, she gulped.
"A-As you wish, sir. I'll contact Tony."
Haru nodded, simply pleased.
Collecting the files, Maya left the office quietly.
Haru sighed, leaning against the glass.
He was just standing there, looking outside the window.
From far away, a plane streaked across the sky, leaving a white trail in its wake.
"It's for the best," he muttered. "Just a character. What's the big deal?"
Despite being a hardcore gamer, he never felt attached to any of his creations. Not even those with the most tragic backstories.
"Maybe I need a vacation." He mused aloud.
"I'll book a flight to Bangkok."
But as he was about to turn around. He saw the same airplane heading towards his 110-story building.
Smoke was emitting from both of its engines.
Haru froze.
The cockpit was just a hand's distance away from his window.
"Hu—"
He never finished the word.
The impact was instantaneous.
His vision turned black. His senses vanished.
— — —
Lost in the eternal darkness, a distant banging sound with a soft murmur grew closer.
"Young master…"
"Young master, wake up."
'What is this voice?'
Haru wondered, struggling to gather his thoughts. His head pounded, as if someone was flattening his skull with a hammer.
'This pain!'
"Young master."
Amidst the calling, the pain suddenly vanished, before his eyes shot open.
"Ghaa—haaaa… haaaa..."
His breathing was rigid.
"I can… I can breathe."
"Huh? My voice?"
Haru gripped his throat in panic.
"Young master, Leon?"
He instantly turned towards the source of the voice.
What he found standing there was a beautiful girl with blonde hair and red eyes, frozen in a black and white maid uniform, staring at him.
She looked so young.
She stood there elegantly at the corner of his grand bed.
The maid stepped closer. "You're sweating, young master. Another nightmare?"
Seeing the maid closing in on him, he jerked back on his bed.
"Who—who are you?"
He was perplexed.
The last thing he recalled was an airplane hitting his office.
'Wait… did I die? Then, that means…'
Haru thought, There's only one possible explanation of his current situation.
Waking up in a new body after death?
He had read about it countless times in those overused isekai novels.
Haru's throat dried.
The maid narrowed her eyes, unimpressed.
"Is this another excuse to skip Princess Rinna's birthday? You can't keep running from what you did. This is your chance to apologize. Who knows, she might even accept your marriage proposal."
'What is she even saying? Wait—'
Haru blinked.
"What did you just say?"
The maid tilted her head.
"That you're using this as an excuse to skip Princess Rinna's birthday?"
"No, after that!"
"T-That she might accept your marriage proposal, Sir Leon." She answered.
His hand instinctively reached up to his face.
"L-Leon?"
But what he felt was unfamiliar, long, dark strands of hair falling over his eyes.
His heart sank.
'No. It can't be. I mean, what are the odds?'
He slowly looked towards his right, and there he saw a long mirror on the wall reflecting his posture on its surface.
Long, disheveled black hair. Sunken cheeks. Pair of Lifeless golden eyes.
He knew this face.
After all, he was the one who had created it.
"Leon Valentine…?"
The third-rate villain designed to be nothing more than a punching bag.
A character with the lowest stats imaginable.
A character who's destined to die.
'No. No. No. Anyone but him!'