I opened the front door of my home, cold air seeping out around me.
“Phew, it’s colder inside than it is outside.” Goosebumps raised on my arms as I stepped into the chill air, stopping in the entranceway to brush off the snow on my shoulders and head and put on my comfy slippers. The bag in my hand went onto the sofa, a nice hamburger lunch box, and a cider bottle from 8-Eleven within, as I went to turn on the heater. Content with the hot air beginning to circulate around my home as if to banish the cold, I let myself fall on the sofa next to my food.
Time to relax. I fumbled around for my phone on its charging base, pulling it free once my hand had found its target. A couple seconds later and I was greeted by a familiar home screen, and one fingerprint scan after that I was in. I already knew what I was looking for, I just gotta click the app in the center of the screen.
<Pick Me Up!>
The mobile game was released two years ago by the developer Mobius. Nowadays, it was a popular game with nearly 100 million downloads worldwide. After a quick loading screen, I was greeted by the title.
<Welcome to Pick Me Up!>
<Touch to start!>
A rapid tap, and then I was greeted by an office’s familiar scene that served as the game’s waiting room. Sitting in this office was a well-dressed and incredibly handsome man with blonde hair and green eyes. This was the Grand Knight Siris, the leader of my main party, and my first (and last) 4-star hero. He was my only super rare character, and as such, I could recall exactly when I had summoned him. At the time, I was quite upset after having to cash out five million won and summoning not even a single 4-star, let alone an ultra-rare 5-star. So, when the fanfare first rang out, indicating I had a rare hero, I was so happy I cried. I spent all the useful items I could to level him up.
As I looked at this waiting screen with this handsome green-eyed man, I could hear heartfelt laughter coming from the phone and this hero within it. Although he wasn’t a 5-star, ultra-rare summon by birth, he had become a superhero much better than any of those 5-star characters. I went ahead and pressed the X in the upper right screen to close this illustration and look at my other heroes who were spread about the facilities in the waiting room.
First, I had the heroes going hard in the training camp. Most of them were 1 and 2-stars obtained through the free draw. It was doubtful for these heroes that they would surpass the limit of their summoned rank and reach beyond the 5-star level. After all, even in this world of mobile games, some were born with silver spoons, and others were not. The most likely result would be that these heroes of less than 3-stars would become materials for advanced heroes, although it made me a little sad to do so.
Second, I checked in on the heroes who had successfully completed the training course. It wasn’t worth it to use them as the main focus in the smaller missions with less than five people, but they were great for use in large parties. They were useful, but not the main stars of the show.
That was up next. Among the numerous heroes, only those with high aptitude were selected and gathered. All of those chosen had now reached beyond the 5-star level to 6-stars. Heck, even a week ago this elite team had broken through the 88th floor for the first time in Korea. These were heroes that would not be mistaken anywhere. This was a game that didn’t only care about the stats in the status window. The unseen skills were more important than the visible ones, which is how these heroes were able to shine. I still remembered the hardship of leveling up these heroes to reach 5th in the world rankings. ‘
I worked like a dog.’
The subtitle of Pick Me Up is Hyper Roguelike Summoning RPG. It means luck-based. The luck of the draw, the luck of having the ability, and the luck needed to win battles. Although basic orders can be issued beforehand, the heroes take care of it once the action begins. They fight by themselves, using their own skills without the need for the player to take charge. Because of this, there are many cases where combat is impossible to win for unknowable reasons. As I considered this, an old memory started to resurface.
‘No.’
It was an old memory of a time before I knew anything about Pick Me Up.
There are clearly some areas of the game that could be covered by some know-how and skill. That was, after all, what I had witnessed. I, the player with no luck despite drawing thousands of times. Even if each hero is unique, even if the probability of a 5-star was 0.1%, and a 4-star was less than 1%, wasn’t it just too much? Well, anyway, even if Pick Me Up was a game that was determined only by the rating of the heroes and pure luck, I would have never reached the ranking I did. You could surpass your luck with skill, that was only the advantage I had.
Enough reminiscing, time to play the game. Today was Friday, I had to check the waiting room’s status and give instructions to the heroes. There were too many of them to control one by one, so I had to give group orders. After that, it was time to check the announcements.
[Pick Me Up has over 100 million downloads!]
[With the support of players from all over the world, Pick Me Up has surpassed 100 million downloads! Special events will be held in celebration, please check the details below.]
‘Wow, it’s already gotten that many players? Time to check out the details and hope there’s an Advent Dungeon.’
Gems and gold weren’t bad, but they were easy enough to get, especially now that I had a group of heroes running missions all the time. The summon tickets also didn’t really matter, given my run of luck at summoning. What I needed was a hero awakening—a chance to level up one of my heroes even beyond the power of a 5-star. I looked at the notice with anticipating welling inside me.
<Event Details>
[1. 100 Gems will be distributed each day from January 27 to February 5, 20XX, for a chance to receive a total of 1,000 Gems! Players must log in each day to receive the reward.]
[2. All players who log in during this time will receive 1 Advanced Hero Summon Ticket, which is guaranteed to summon a hero of at least 3-stars.]
[3. The Transcendence Dungeon will be open for the event!]
After re-reading the post to confirm what I had seen, I let out a cry of joy. It was an Advent Dungeon! And it would open in three months. It was time to get to work. In the main waiting room, I chose the ‘Gap of Space’ option in the bottom left of the menu, a list of dungeons appearing as the graphic of a blue summoning gate expanded in the background.
There it was, the Advent Dungeon of Transcendence was open. I swallowed as a sense of joy, excitement, and tension crossed me all at once.
‘The book of Yeokcheon.’
The thought crossed my mind, enticing me. It was the critical ingredient to leveling your hero past 5-stars, the other materials I had already gathered a while back. The rumor was that you could create a top-notch hero, a 7-star hero. There were less than five in the world, and you could only get one with the book of Yeokcheon, which was a super rare drop from the unique Advent Dungeon. With a 7-star, you could aim for being the world’s number one player, not just settle for fifth.
I opened up my hero menu and started assembling a team. It didn’t take me too long, I already had some in mind to form a party that would have a good shot at the dungeon boss but wouldn’t be missed too much if they lost. They would be my starting team, the recon if you will. Pick Me Up was founded on a pretty nasty system that meant once a hero died, they were gone for good. Hardcore is what everyone called it. Even a hero that someone spent thousands of won and hundreds of hours with would be gone with just one mistake, or one little run of bad luck. Plenty of the die-hard fans loved it, but I could take it or leave it personally.
Although even I had to admit that it was a bit thrilling to have such a realistic system despite it being a mobile game. After all, if the heroes could live to fight in the dungeon forever, it wouldn’t be so intense. That fear of not knowing when or where your heroes would die, the satisfaction of the AI of each hero working in tandem. The joy of training a hero and the frustration of them failing. Then, finally, the feeling of relief when a floor was cleared. That was the essence of this game called Pick Me Up.
I hit send and watched my scouting party enter the advent dungeon. I didn’t know what type of boss would appear, what level it would be, or what skills it would be able to use. This was the advance team that would allow me to analyze how the boss worked.
[Entering the Advent Dungeon!]
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
A red message appeared on screen as soon as my party had entered the dungeon, warning me of a strong enemy. The field type was dark, a map filled with pitch-black spreading out before me on the phone screen. It wasn’t a too uncommon type of dungeon; I had seen it several times before. Given that this was also an advent dungeon, my party had been thrust into the boss battle as soon as they entered. A message immediately started flashing on the right side of the screen, indicating changes in the heroes’ stats.
[Diora (★★★★★★)’ is in fear! All stats are reduced by 30%.]
[Nicholas (★★★★★)’ is in fear! All stats are reduced by 30%.]
[Gent (★★★★★)’ is in fear! All stats are reduced by 30%.]
[Akelta (★★★★★)’ is in fear! All stats are reduced by 30%.]
[Melky (★★★★★)’ feels fear! All stats are reduced by 30%.]
‘Stat reduction? Already? The boss hasn’t even appeared yet.’
A few more moments passed before Diora, the hero that was the party leader and my main tank, submitted a tactic for my approval.
[Leader of 38 Party – Diora (★★★★★★)’ proposes a retreat. Will you issue the order?]
[Yes / No]
Without hesitation, I pressed the ‘No’ option. I hadn’t received enough intel yet.
[Diora (★★★★★★)’ panic!” All stats are 50%… … .]
[Nicholas (★★★★★)’… … .]
[Gent (★★★★★) ‘… … .]
‘What is going on?’
I had six heroes here, all leveled up past 5-stars, and yet they were falling into a panic. That was a condition that new heroes would sometimes have in their first few battles, why were these guys suffering from it? There was only one option.
‘This boss has a horror skill.’
The thought came swiftly, followed by a list of items and skills that increase fear resistance scrolling through my head. It might be necessary to make a second advance party if this kept up. With the sound of rushing air, a form materialized through the dark field on the screen, accompanied by a name on top.
[SS▩SH 黑⊙∈※ Lv.999]
“What is this?” Was this a bug? It was just a jumble of icons, and the appearance of the monster was even more of a mess. I couldn’t tell if it was even humanoid, the whole thing looked like it was covered in a mosaic.
[Diora (★★★★★★)’ is in despair! All stats are 80%… … .]
[Nicholas (★★★★★)’… … .]
[Gent (★★★★★) ‘… … .]
A desperate laugh left me unbidden. Even the level of this boss was messed up. 999? It could only be a system error. Thanks for the bug, Pick Me Up. Ever since the game launched two years ago, there have never been any confirmed glitch reports. Still, I supposed that streak was ending today. I went ahead and took a pic of my screen to report it, and then settled in to wait for my advance team to reach their end. I wanted to do something, but now that I had entered the battle, I couldn’t turn back.
Diora moved sluggishly, the stat decrease of 80% hitting her hard, and pressed forward with her shield. Nicholas and Ghent followed behind, and the support characters Akelta and Melky stayed in the rear. A basic but solid formation. Not that it mattered much. The boss moved forward, a dark purple ushering forth. The heroes were unable to resist, Diora being taken down before she could even fight back. After his frontline fell, the rest were quick to join. It was impossible to even tell what skill the boss was using, given the screwed-up graphics—no point in trying to use a potion and push on.
[Diora (★★★★★★)’ has returned to the goddess’ arms. Her determination will be remembered forever.]
[Nicholas (★★★★★)’… … .]
[Gent (★★★★★) ‘… … .]
[You Lose.]
The familiar seven letters appeared in the center of my screen. The boss fight hadn’t even gone on for ten seconds, and my entire party had been wiped out. I wasn’t surprised that the party died, but this was really the end result? No information? Nothing?
“I work like a dog to beat those with luck.” I don’t think I would recover those heroes even if I sent in a ticket reporting the bug to customer support. I tapped the screen of the phone, ready to move on. However…
“Why isn’t it working?” The screen wasn’t going back to the waiting room, the words ‘You Lose’ still plastered over the screen with the boss looming behind them.
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“Why are you bugged out all of a sudden?” I pressed the power button to just turn the phone off, frustration welling inside me. I would have to complain at the company now instead of just sending in a ticket for a bug.
“Why won’t it turn off?” Now even my phone wouldn’t shut down. The words ‘You Lose’ still present on the screen. The mosaiced boss still standing there, as if it were looking at me. As if…it was whispering…