WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 1: Bug (Not an Insect)
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“This fucking game is trash.”
There was this fucking trash game.
Flashy character designs, a solid story, a textbook fantasy setting.
It had everything a game needed to become popular.
And yet, there was a reason it had earned that particular description...
“Why are there so many bugs?”
A bug.
An error that occurs while a program is running.
They were common enough in other games, too.
They came in all sorts of varieties.
Wall clipping, item duplication, levitation, stage skips, and so on...
There were probably more kinds of bugs than there were games in the world.
As long as games existed, bugs were unavoidable.
So what was the problem?
‘Ranne & Grandia Academy: The Märchen.’
Ngme for short.
This game just had way too many bugs.
Every stage had at least a dozen lying around by default.
That was why I called Ngme a fucking trash game, despite everything good I’d mentioned.
“But... maybe that’s part of its charm now.”
It had that pleasantly familiar stench of shit.
Small bugs were everywhere, but none of them actually harmed players.
Most were funny, helpful, or otherwise stripped of anything annoying.
In short, it had blown past hilarity and ascended to a whole new level.
That became a viral hit in the community, and the game quickly rose to popularity.
The funny thing was, the developers seemed to realize it too. They declared that, in order to stay true to their roots, they would never fix the bugs.
‘It’s just a crazy game.’
I’d been a gamer for years, but I’d never seen a developer so proudly declare they were going to keep cashing in.
‘Well... that was four years ago now.’
Four years had passed since Ngme’s release.
The game had found its footing, and I’d played steadily for all four years.
I was fairly well-known.
Not because I was good at games in the usual sense, or because I’d taken first place on every server.
It was because I enjoyed this game in the strangest way possible.
[Nickname: IPlayGamesToFindBugs]
[Total Play Time: 14,032 Hours]
I deliberately went around looking for bugs.
I discovered bugs in the game, mastered them perfectly, and worked them into my gameplay.
Maybe because of that unusual playstyle, word got around about me in all sorts of ways.
[Who even is this person? Where do they keep finding this stuff??]
[Wow, they used a wall clipping bug to skip the entire stage.]
[They’re beyond hardcore, they’ve gone rotten. LOL.]
[This person is straight-up the god of bugs.]
[If the old generation had Fabre, master of bugs both insect and code, the new generation has BugFinderGame...]
The strategy guides I posted to the community drew a lot of attention.
Maybe because of that, famous streamers often invited me onto their shows.
[Breaking news) The Yesgyeong channel says it’ll try to invite master BugFinderGame for a guest spot.]
[For real? That channel with three million subscribers?]
[Will they finally show their face in real life?]
[Probably not. Car Camper Guy tried and failed.]
[Davin too. A lot of people have had their offers rejected.]
Naturally, I turned down every invitation.
I just wanted to relax and play games.
Having people make a fuss over me wasn’t my style.
Anyway, I was proficient with hundreds of bugs.
Starting with wall clipping, there was teleporting to specific coordinates, invincibility under certain conditions, guaranteed hits, damage manipulation, and more...
“At this point, I’m basically a living legend.”
It was a pointless mutter.
Today, too, I launched the game to upload another strategy guide.
‘Come to think of it, this is exactly my thousandth run.’
I’d finally reached one thousand playthroughs.
That meant I’d spent fourteen thousand hours doing this.
Not playing normally, either. Just hunting bugs.
“Ngme...”
(“Ranne & Grandia Academy: The Märchen,” it means. Sounds like “your mom,” though.)
It was a moment of boundless sentiment, an Unlimited Void of emotion.
Even after the sudden emptiness hit me, my hands kept clicking away.
I set up my playthrough.
[Difficulty: Impossible]
- You are challenging the highest difficulty.
[Additional Option: Hell Path]
- All spawned monsters remain in a berserk state.
- The difficulty of all hostile factions that appear increases by 300%.
- All of the player’s basic stats are fixed at E-rank.
[Story to Play: All]
- You must clear every character’s story to see the ending.
- The story “Alice’s Nightmare” is applied.
- The story “Carmilla’s Night” is applied.
- The story “Don Quixote’s Reverie” is applied.
- The story “Javert’s Iron and Justice” is applied.
Setup complete.
Let’s go.
Just as I moved my mouse...
Ding-!
[Hidden Achievement Acquired!]
[You are the first player to reach 1,000 playthroughs since the game’s release!]
[You have been ranked first, and a corresponding privilege will be awarded.]
A message appeared on the screen.
From what I could tell, I was getting some sort of privilege to commemorate my thousandth run.
My interest was piqued.
‘A privilege... Will they give me game currency? Or maybe a multiple-playthrough package?’
What veteran player wouldn’t get excited over content they’d never seen before?
After taking a screenshot of the achievement, I moved my mouse again.
Another choice appeared.
[Would you like to claim your privilege?]
Yes/No
Why even ask?
Obviously, I was taking it.
Click-.
Without thinking much of it, I clicked the button labeled [Yes].
Then, the next moment...
Flaaash-!
“Ugh...?”
A brilliant white light burst from the screen.
* * *
The price of that careless click came back to bite me.
“...”
An unfamiliar sky.
Without thinking, I muttered, “Fuck.”
I’d let my guard down.
I never thought it was setting me up to transmigrate into the game.
* * *
“Man... that was already a month ago.”
I let out a sigh.
It had already been a month since I fell into Ngme’s world.
“Crazy things really do happen.”
Tap, tap-.
I tapped the empty air.
A blue window appeared before my eyes.
It looked exactly like the game’s UI.
Ding-!
[Difficulty: Impossible]
- You are challenging the highest difficulty.
[Additional Option: Hell Path]
- All spawned monsters remain in a berserk state.
- The difficulty of all hostile factions that appear increases by 300%.
- All of the player’s basic stats are fixed at E-rank.
The status window showed the exact settings I’d chosen.
At first, I’d been completely thrown off.
Ding-!
[Basic Stat Information]
- Strength: E
- Stamina: E
- Agility: E
- Mana Sensitivity: E
On top of that, all my basic stats had been fixed at E-rank, which caused me no end of trouble.
I looked back on that short but intense month.
“Well... somehow, I’ve made it this far.”
What day was today?
It was the day the original story began.
The day the main characters, including the protagonist, entered the academy.
After enduring that long month, the day had finally arrived.
‘Though this is where it really begins.’
I rubbed the academy admission recommendation letter in my pocket.
Yeah. Now the real game began.
[Difficulty: Impossible]
- You are challenging the highest difficulty.
The difficulty of this world was Impossible.
You could probably tell from the name alone, but it was a brutally hard mode.
One wrong move, and the world would head straight for destruction.
‘I have to stop it.’
Impossible difficulty couldn’t be cleared unless you knew the strategy.
In other words, if I didn’t intervene, the world would end.
Helping anyone came second. I had to stop it to survive.
That was why I was trying to enter the academy.
‘First...’
There was somewhere I needed to visit.
A route I had to take before the academy entrance exam.
“This road’s pretty creepy.”
It was an isolated road.
The place where players spawned when they began their first playthrough.
It was also where the prologue took place.
‘I need to find Ranne, quickly.’
Ranne, the protagonist of this game.
On her way to the academy entrance exam, she found people in danger.
A carriage under attack by the Cult.
Being the righteous protagonist she was, she stepped in without hesitation to save them.
That was the prologue.
“Why can’t I see her anywhere? Did Ranne go another way?”
A thick forest. There was nothing around but dense undergrowth.
Only one road wide enough for a carriage ran through it.
The fog was so heavy that it was hard to see ahead.
The scenery was creepy as hell.
“Tch, if I can’t find her, I’m screwed.”
I walked along the road.
While grumbling and checking my surroundings, I suddenly spotted something.
“Oh.”
There it was.
In the distance, I saw several wavering silhouettes.
An overturned carriage, people standing beside it.
And something three times larger than the carriage.
A girl stood in front of the writhing creature.
“Bingo.”
I walked closer.
The silhouettes became clearer, and a voice reached my ears.
“Everyone, run! I’ll handle this somehow!”
Ranne Kihano.
The protagonist of this world, known by the epithet Don Quixote.
Like any aspiring knight, she wore full plate armor.
‘She looks exactly like the illustration.’
Golden hair, softly glowing violet eyes.
She was a beautiful girl who immediately drew the eye.
The only flaw was her deeply furrowed brow.
Well, it couldn’t be helped. Anyone would look the same with that thing standing in front of them.
‘So that’s the prologue boss.’
The gatekeeper of the prologue.
In a normal game, it would have been something like a slime or goblin. Impossible mode was different.
“Grrrrrr...”
It let out a grotesque cry. Hundreds of hands wriggled.
Each of those horrifying hands held a grimoire.
Its single head was covered by a robe.
Its bizarre appearance inspired fear.
‘That thing’s huge.’
It was easily ten meters tall.
Its body was larger than three carriages standing upright.
Ding-!
[Name: The Reader]
- Race: Ghost
- Description: This enemy cannot be defeated. Running away would be wise.
Its name was The Reader.
A ghost that reads lives and transcribes life.
Players called it the Bookworm.
It was one of the highest-ranking monsters among ghosts.
“Khk, haa...!”
Even faced with a monster like that, Ranne didn’t retreat.
How many times had she already clashed with it?
Her shoulder guard was broken, and she was covered in dirt and dust.
Still, the protagonist’s back remained turned toward the weak.
‘Now that’s a hero’s spirit.’
It was exactly like the cutscene I’d seen so many times in the prologue.
The protagonist stood proudly before trembling people, her spear aimed at the enemy.
How righteous.
‘Though she can’t beat it.’
At this point, Ranne could never defeat the Bookworm.
It wasn’t a simple matter of being weak or strong.
Victory had been made impossible from the start.
‘A gimmick boss.’
You know the type.
Boss monsters placed there specifically so you wouldn’t fight them.
The kind that could never be defeated for the sake of the story.
You could find cases like that in other games, too.
‘Nothing you do can beat it.’
In reality, the Bookworm didn’t have a scratch on it.
Ranne’s spear techniques were blocked every time.
It was the same in the original story.
The standard strategy was to evacuate the people and escape alive.
‘Of course, I’ll be using an exploit.’
I stepped forward.
Did I have the strength to defeat that thing?
Of course not.
Take another look at my status window before you ask.
[Basic Stat Information]
- Strength: E
- Stamina: E
- Agility: E
- Mana Sensitivity: E
With stats like these, even a passing farmer would give me a run for my money.
In short, I was a total scrub.
I didn’t have the power to beat it.
But I did have a way.
There was a weapon that could overcome the limits of stats.
‘Bugs.’
Things I’d memorized, memorized again, and memorized some more in my previous life.
They worked exactly the same way in this world.
I picked up a twig at my feet.
“Grrrrr...?”
The Bookworm looked my way, as though it had noticed my presence.
I ignored it and fiddled with the twig.
There was a bug that only worked on this boss.
‘It’s been a while.’
Its armor stat was set to infinity.
All physical attacks were nullified, as were all magic attacks.
It was an insane monster with no weakness at all.
But its base health was only one.
Since no one could break through its defense anyway, its health pool had been set low.
‘I just have to force my way through.’
The bug I was about to use took advantage of that mechanic.
I alternated the twig between my left and right hands.
Three times in my left hand, seven times in my right.
I repeated the process.
“Grrrrrrr!!”
In the meantime, the Bookworm designated me as its target.
It prioritized enemies with the lowest basic stats.
My average basic stat rank was E.
That made me the weakest thing around.
Flutterrr-.
Hundreds of books turned their pages.
Gloomy demonic energy swarmed through the area.
“You there! R-run away...!”
Ranne looked at me with a startled expression.
She looked ready to grab her shield and rush over at any moment.
Even so, I remained calm.
“Hmm.”
There was a very basic bug.
A bug that could inflict exactly three damage on any target.
It didn’t matter how thick its armor was, whether the element matched, or whether it was protected by a blessing.
As long as it was alive and had a health bar, it always worked.
‘Three damage means... it’d take a hundred hits to kill a single slime.’
It was easy to activate, but there weren’t many places to use it.
There was only one place where it was truly useful.
“Hey, Bookworm-kun.”
As I kept gripping and releasing the twig, something strange soon happened.
Shimmering distortions appeared around its smaller branches, as though the space around it were breaking.
The bug had activated.
“Grrraaaahhh!!”
The Bookworm let out a thunderous roar.
It looked ready to melt my flesh and bones away.
Just before demonic energy poured down over my head, I flicked a finger.
Tap-.
When I scratched at empty air, a fluttering leaf shot forward.
The surroundings warped like a glitching screen.
Crack-!
Fractures spread as though a mirror had shattered.
The world broke into countless pieces.
Beyond the cracks splitting open everywhere, there was only the void, where nothing existed.
It was an error born from twisting the laws of the world with a bug.
Space tore apart, shortening the distance. A leaf lightly touched the monster’s body.
“Got you.”
The moment I murmured those words, its shadow shattered into pieces.
The distortion around the twig spread like a spark falling into oil.
A single scream rang out.
“Grr, grrrraaaahhh...!”
Its body split into countless fragments.
It broke, broke, and broke again, until it had been divided beyond the point where the eye could follow.
The concept of nothingness devoured its existence, leaving only a blank white space behind.
Like graphite erased from a notebook page.
‘Erasure.’
The massive body vanished as though it had never been there.
The foul stench of demonic energy disappeared, and so did the thick fog.
“Phew...”
My vision brightened at once.
Sunlight shone through the dark clouds and illuminated the area around me.
It was an effect that only appeared under special conditions.
Ding-!
[You have achieved the impossible.]
- Prologue Boss “The Reader” Defeated
- Reward: Mask of the Evil God ×1, Robe of the Evil God ×1, Grimoire That Should Not Exist ×1
A perfect performance.
As I took a moment to admire myself, a voice came from behind me.
“What... was that...?”
Violet eyes stared blankly in my direction.
Golden hair sparkled in the sunlight.
Our protagonist was completely stunned.
“H-how...?”
Our eyes met.
First impressions were important in situations like this.
I smiled so I wouldn’t frighten her.
Whoooosh-.
A timely gust of wind sent my hair fluttering.
“Greetings.”
The remnants of the bug still lingered at my fingertips.
Shimmering distortions swarmed there, enough to warp the forest itself.
Even as the background cracked apart in layers, I simply stood there without a care.
The girl’s violet eyes trembled as if overwhelmed.
“I’m a traveler passing by.”
It was the most gentlemanly greeting in the world.
Footnotes:
- Ngme is a Korean abbreviation that also sounds like a crude “your mom” insult.
- “Boundless sentiment” is combined with the Korean name of Jujutsu Kaisen’s “Unlimited Void.”
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