000 – Subsistence Kidnapper
“Thank you… I owe you my life…”
“Hmm…”
…
“In that free-for-all… How did you manage to save me?..”
“Umm…”
…
“..Couldn’t you… spare me?”
“Uhmm…”
I’m a subsistence kidnapper, you see.
But… people seem to look at me a little differently.
001 – Give Me Back My Daughter
—
[FUCKING KIDNAPPER b*stard]
That piece of shit Mikhail, kidnapped our daughter.
(Photo)
The letter said if I send 40,000 Schilling, he’ll release her without a fuss.
But FUCK, where am I supposed to send the money!!
I’ll give you the money!! Take the money!!!!
Just give me back my daughter;
I miss you, Hayoon ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Your father misses you so, so much ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Comments]
– This b*stard got kidnapped too.
– Ahahaha. This is a total train wreck.
ㄴ (Original Poster): Bro, please, just tell me where to send the money ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴ Dunno? That idiot’s such a blockhead, he kidnapped her himself and doesn’t even know where he wants the money sent.
– I have no idea what Mikhail’s deal is, honestly. Seriously, he has guards on him 24/7 but he vanishes the moment you turn your back?
– Hayoon, heh, Hayoon. Ah… Jinah ㅠㅠㅠ It’s already been 7 hours since I last saw my daughter ㅠㅠㅠ Please come back ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴ Ahahaha, this guy got kidnapped too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Found a fellow sufferer while looking for information ㅋㅋㅋ
– (Original Poster): Just tell me where to send it, dammit, instead of laughing. I raised my daughter with such care, just so she could go to the Academy.
ㄴ One day, a mysterious video gets delivered to your doorstep…
ㄴ (Original Poster): Ah… Aah… aaah!!!!! aaah
ㄴ It’s just a game. Calm down.
ㄴ (Original Poster): Hayoon ㅠㅠㅠㅠ My Hayoon ㅠㅠ She said she’d marry me when she grew up… That’s why I raised her with so much love ㅜㅜㅜㅜ
ㄴ ? Don’t you dare call Mikhail that.
—
Arcane Campus.
A game where a player chose a character, becoming the parent who sends their child off to the Academy.
Initially, many viewed it negatively, asking if they really needed to raise children even in a game. But then came…
Overwhelming graphics.
Overwhelming immersion.
Thrilling character relationships.
Beautiful and handsome characters.
The possibility of earning real money through the auction system…
And even… adult scenes with characters other than your child.
Since all of this could be enjoyed ‘for free,’ Arcane Campus was destined to become a god-tier game.
Of course.
Such games, as is customary, needed a villain to obstruct the protagonist.
And among those countless villainous NPCs.
The NPC that people hated, loathed, and detested the most was…
“Uh…”
Mikhail.
The infamous “Idiot Kidnapper.”
“What…?”
No player knew what he looked like.
No one knew where he lived.
No one knew how old he was.
Whether he was male, female, or even human.
Even the veterans who had thoroughly攻略(gonglyak, capture in context) the game had ultimately failed to uncover Mikhail’s identity.
Thus, the being that everyone hated and detested.
Even the NPCs detested, was the “Idiot Kidnapper.”
“…Mikhail…?”
Standing before me, as I stared into the mirror…
—
Mikhail (22)
[Kidnap] – Inactive
—
A blue hologram bearing the name Mikhail hovered there.
“…Is this a dream?”
Let’s retrace my last memories.
I had been wandering through the Arcane Campus gallery, gathering information to reclaim my kidnapped daughter.
Reading hundreds of posts written by users in a similar predicament.
Searching for the identity of Mikhail, whom even the veterans couldn’t find…
“…Why am I Mikhail?”
The me in the mirror had become Mikhail.
“No, wait… no. No way.”
No.
This must be a dream.
Unbelievable.
The shock of losing my daughter must be conjuring up this absurd dream.
…
Two days.
Assuming this isn’t a dream.
For two days now, I’ve been lying in bed, doing nothing.
Gurgle…
“…”
The bread on the table was already gone, devoured this morning.
It was evening now, and I’d been starving all day, my stomach aching with emptiness.
“…Hungry.”
I’d been killing time, clinging to the belief that this whole illusion was just a dream…
“…I should at least look for some money.”
Shouldn’t I do *something*?
If this damn hallucination turned out to be reality…
Starving to death was too pathetic an end for my life, so I rummaged through the dilapidated house.
Searching for any forgotten cash.
…
“Hungry… I should have just stayed in bed… Just laid there, doing nothing…”
Thirty minutes of energetic searching had only made my hunger worse.
Amazingly, there wasn’t a single bill, not even a penny, to be found in this wretched hovel…
All that remained for me now was starvation…
“…”
Sad.
Pathetic.
I didn’t even *want* to come to this world, so why must I starve to death?
As if agreeing with my injustice, my stomach rumbled again.
“Sob…”
Clutching my aching belly, I collapsed onto the floor.
“…What to do?”
A situation devoid of dreams and hope.
What could I possibly do in this situation?
“…I’ll have to beg.”
Like those people panhandling in the subway station.
To fill my gnawing hunger, I decided to go out into the street and beg.
…
“Oh…”
I hadn’t seen anyone for two days, so I hadn’t noticed.
—
Aleksandro Sedric (56)
[KIDNAP] – ACTIVE
—
Baltazar Drake (38)
[KIDNAP] – ACTIVE
—
Serena Adeline (28)
[KIDNAP] – ACTIVE
—
Each time I scanned the streets for someone to beg from,
a blue-hued hologram bloomed, displaying their information.
“…”
Having played Arcane Campus before, it was obvious that this blue window was incredibly similar to the status window players used.
And the fact that I could toggle it on and off at will was rather…intriguing, to say the least.
But what truly bothered me was, of course…
‘That b*stard…’
The row that read ‘[KIDNAP] – ACTIVE’.
‘Kidnapping…is magic?’
This world was one where magic existed, true, but
mages who could wield the magic we knew were precious, incredibly rare – one in a thousand.
EP. Ether Points.
What one might commonly call mana or magical power was here called Ether.
But unlike those mana and magical powers, Ether wasn’t an energy easily converted into magic.
And so, all the people living in the Arcane Magocracy, the NPCs as it were,
used the Ether within them to strengthen their bodies or enhance the weapons they wielded…
‘That cowardly b*stard…! No wonder people can’t find him.’
That cowardly Mikhail.
He uses magic, no less.
And of all the magic to use, it’s ‘Kidnap’.
“Uwaaah!”
The memory of my daughter being kidnapped by that b*stard surged up, momentarily overwhelming me with frustration.
“…That’s me. Huh…”
In the end, realizing that the person I was cursing was myself…
Words failed me, and I listlessly resumed begging.
“A copper, please… I’m hungry…”
No one passed by, but
overcome with grief, I talked to myself while weathering the biting night wind.
Then, in the distance, I saw a luxurious carriage approaching.
“Please… please let that carriage stop in front of me…”
Gazing at the carriage…
I began to fantasize that perhaps the noble lady within the carriage might bestow alms upon me.
Hunger gnawed so fiercely, I wondered if I might have to resort to desperate measures, to steal for survival.
*Neigh!*
As if conjured from my very thoughts.
The carriage abruptly halted right before me.
“!”
The carriage stilled.
*Whizz!*
From within, a crust of bread and a couple of coins were tossed my way.
“Thank you! This kindness… I swear I will repay it!”
“There’s no need to repay any kindness. It was merely bread I no longer wished to eat, and coins that felt bothersome to carry.”
“Amen…”
“…? You’re a peculiar one. Now, onward.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Her voice, as beautiful as the heart that must reside within her.
I resolved to believe, without a shadow of doubt, that she must be an angel in mortal form.
I swiftly shoved the bread into my mouth and began to gather the fallen coins.
‘Six shillings!’
One five-shilling piece and a one-shilling piece. A total of six shillings earned.
A thrill coursed through me, the sheer joy of earning money for the first time in this world. But it was fleeting.
As I watched the carriage disappear into the distance, debating whether to offer a deep bow…
*CRASH!*
“…Huh?”
From above, where the carriage had been, a colossal boom reverberated, and I saw the clock tower toppling directly towards the carriage.
“…!!”
In five seconds, that carriage would be crushed beneath the weight of that clock tower.
Which meant… the woman who had given me bread would surely perish.
She seemed to understand the situation as well, for she immediately flung open the carriage door, attempting to leap free.
The fleeting relief that, with my aether-enhanced body, she might have a chance to escape being crushed, was cut short…
“Madness…!”
The butler, leaping from the driver’s seat, bodily blocked the carriage door, preventing the young lady’s escape.
That instant.
“Kidnap! Kidnap!”
—
Ella Eloise (21)
[Kidnap] – Active
—
Without hesitation, seeing the status screen, I cried out “Kidnap!” repeatedly.
The moment the word “Kidnap” escaped my lips…
*CRASH!!!!*
The carriage, crushed beneath the colossal clock tower, vanished without a trace.
Before me lay the young woman who had been riding inside.
“…! I saved her!”
The joy of saving her life was fleeting.
“…Kidnapping?”
Whether she heard my words or not, the way she repeated “kidnapping,” glaring at me with fierce eyes…
A certain truth crashed into my mind.
“…Ah, could it be?”
In the Arcane Magocracy, Mikhail was notorious as a kidnapper.
The setting where a huge Imperial reward awaited anyone who brought him in…
“The favor… is repaid.”
Desperate to escape this situation, I blurted out anything that came to mind.
Without looking back, I bolted, sprinting to get away.
‘Ugh…!’
No way.
I came out here to beg for survival, I can’t die here…!
“Stop!”
Just look at the rage in that voice.
No way. If I stop here, I’m really dead…!