Dong—! Dong—! Dong—!

  The majestic tolling of a massive bell began to resonate through the colosseum where I stood.

  Flashy fanfares and golden petals, enough to obscure my vision, fluttered through the air, adding to the festive atmosphere of victory. From the stands packing the circular arena, a roar of cheers broke out, loud enough to make the ground itself cave in.

  [Server Opening Commemorative Tournament PK: Sincere Congratulations on your Final Victory!]

  "And there it is! Finally, the bell announcing the end of this long event resounds!!! Player [You Suck] has actually done it—he’s taken the championship! Absolutely incredible!!"

  "You’re right! If there’s just one thing that’s a shame, it’s that he participated as an 'Anonymous' user!! If it were me, I never would have stayed hidden!! This was a golden opportunity to perfectly engrave his name into the minds of hundreds of thousands of viewers!! Ah, what a waste!!"

  [Victory Prize: 1,000,000 Lumina and 'Fragment of Destiny Distortion' have been distributed.]

  ‘One, ten, a hundred, a thousand... a million Lumina.’

  Ten million won in cold, hard cash. There was a world of difference between just thinking about it in my head and actually seeing that massive number stamped right in front of my eyes. My heart hammered in my ears, the rhythm of pure adrenaline.

  But the real shocker was something else. It was the mysterious victory reward that had been labeled only as a [????] Legendary-grade prize throughout the entire tournament.

  "No way...!"

  A gasp escaped me, a mix of disbelief and awe.

  I hastily opened my inventory to check the detailed information of this insane item.

  【 Item Information 】

  『 Fragment of Destiny Distortion 』

  Grade: Legendary

  Category: Probability Amplification Item / Single-use Consumable

  Description: A fragment of fate left behind by the Constellations. Upon use, the flow of destiny briefly twists in favor of the user.

  Effect: Upon use, the probability of the next ‘Constellation Egg’ pull increases significantly.

  Base Probability: 0.000001% ? Applied Rate: 0.1%

  ——————

  The 'Constellation Pet'—a creature that can only be obtained through a literal miracle.

  This grand-sounding consumable only boosted the success rate to one in a thousand. And it was limited to a single shot.

  A deep sense of disappointment washed over me. After all that hellish struggle, my reward was just 'one 0.1% chance at a gacha pull.'

  However, looking at the radiant million Lumina sitting in my balance, I managed to keep my temper in check.

  ‘I should have known. As if these game devs would give away a top-tier prize easily...’

  I exited the event map, leaving the fierce cheers and my own lingering futility behind.

  Meanwhile, the aftermath of the finals, which had captured the attention of hundreds of thousands, defied imagination.

  My provocative fake nickname, the anonymous user [You Suck], instantly became the hottest topic in Liberty Online.

  Perhaps because I had crushed an executive of the Toxic Guild—those notorious thugs known for their lockdowns and indiscriminate PKs—and claimed victory,

  posts praising me flooded the official community like a tidal wave.

  Furthermore, players were obsessively trying to figure out who the 'main body' of that monster archer was,

  summoning unrelated rankers through their own half-baked theories as endless attention poured in.

  Kangyu, Ian, Succubus, Jude... Intense congratulations poured in from our guild members.

  Even though I had changed my appearance and hid behind the anonymity of [You Suck], I couldn't fool the sharp eyes of my friends who were intimately familiar with my skill tree and combat style.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The fact that the winner of this massive, server-wide event was me.

  Even if it was humble, the fact that there were people to share that thrilling secret and sincerely celebrate with gave me a surge of pride and satisfaction as a gamer from the depths of my soul.

  Psssssh—!

  Along with the sound of the capsule door opening, I pulled myself up and sat on the edge of my bed.

  ‘If I win, I’m throwing my resignation letter immediately.’

  The vow I had been keeping in my heart.

  I firmly resolved to put that satisfying plan into action the moment I walked into work tomorrow morning.

  A light hum escaped me with every step.

  The dreary factory office that used to make me sigh in despair every morning just thinking about going in.

  To think such a gloomy building could feel as welcome as the entrance to a theme park.

  I couldn't stop the grin spreading across my face.

  I opened the office door with a heart as fluttery as a child on a field trip.

  "Oh, you're here?"

  The obnoxious voice hit my ears the second I stepped in. It was Vice President Kim Su-cheol, still scanning me up and down.

  "Yeees, good morning~"

  Seeing his face made the dog-like memories that had eaten away at me surge up.

  But the anger was brief; thinking of the solid million Lumina (ten million won) in my possession, my mind instantly found peace.

  There was no need to get into a mudfight with trash.

  "Hey, you're gonna have to pull a full night shift starting today. And you, man, is that the only outfit you have? It’s smelly, stop wearing the same thing every damn day."

  Here we go again.

  That malicious habit of picking a fight with anyone just because he’s in a bad mood.

  The bastard was blabbering away, not having a clue that the employee he was messing with today wasn't the usual 'pushover Jae-geon'.

  "Hey, why don't you relax your eyes a bit? And why the hell should I change my clothes every single day when I'm coming to a dust-pit of a factory? Am I putting on a fashion show here or something?"

  I wanted to end things on a good note, but.

  Once I realized this was someone I'd never have to see again, the words I’d been suppressing in my chest burst out like a broken dam.

  "Have you ever actually done field work here, Vice President? If a guy who doesn't know a damn thing snatched a VP position through nepotism just because he has a good brother-in-law, you should at least have some consideration for the people actually doing the work."

  "Y-You... how dare you...!"

  "Ugh, whatever. I'm quitting as of today, so make sure you settle my wages and severance pay from yesterday down to the last won. You can do that much math, right? Mr. Vice. Pres. Ident."

  "Hey!!! Have you truly lost your mind?! If you leave like this, don't expect to ever find a job in this industry again!! I'll mark you as AWOL right now and make sure you don't get a single dime of severance!!!"

  "By 'this industry,' do you mean this factory floor?"

  Seeing him throw a fit with bulging veins made a snort escape me naturally.

  "Don't worry, I have no intention of ever working in a place like this again. Make sure you deposit the money on your own before you get dragged to the Labor Board and end up embarrassed. I'll be checking my account strictly on payday."

  Spitting out those last words, I looked down at the bastard exactly the way he used to look at me.

  Leaving that look of contempt as if I were looking at a bug, I turned away without a single regret.

  "Hey! Park Jae-geon!! Get back here right now?!"

  The voice screaming in a rage, unable to contain his fury.

  I lightly ignored his petty tantrum and slammed the office door behind me with all my might.

  SLAM—!!!

  Escaping the stale factory smell that pierced my lungs, I looked up at the clear sky and stretched refreshingly.

  In the parking lot, my bane of a mid-sized sedan—with 3 years left on its 5-year installment plan—sat quietly.

  Normally, I would have felt suffocated thinking about the remaining period, but today’s sense of liberation made me forget all of that.

  With a heart lighter than ever, I got into the driver’s seat and headed home, humming a tune.

  Lying in the capsule and logging back into Liberty, I stared at the 'Fragment of Destiny Distortion' radiating its light in my inventory, lost in deep thought.

  0.1 percent.

  Should I take this miracle-like gamble right now?

  Or should I sharpen my timing by grinding up all the duplicate Common, Advanced, and Rare pets I’d accumulated while trying to pull the 'Griffon' as fusion fodder?

  An internal conflict began to swirl madly ahead of the gacha pull of a lifetime.

  A lingering ominous premonition rose from the pit of my stomach.

  That specific gamer's gut feeling that if I pressed the button right now, it would 100% go pop and fail struck my mind.

  'Right, I bled for this opportunity, I can't just throw it away anywhere. Let's find a lucky spot where the energy feels right, and then slowly find the angle.'

  I opened the Premium Shop, purchased the [Constellation Egg Package] whose purchase limit had just reset with the turn of the month, and mounted my Griffon without delay.

  Flap!

  Soaring into the sky with a massive wingbeat, I began to scout for a gacha 'holy ground' with the eyes of a hawk.

  It wasn't long before a solitary, dilapidated wooden shack sitting right in the middle of a dense forest caught my eye.

  A derelict house abandoned in the center of the woods.

  The moment I saw its eerie and alien appearance, a strong intuition struck my mind that this was the perfect lucky spot where a tremendous 'flow of fortune' gathered.

  'That's the place.'

  I immediately lowered the Griffon's altitude and landed in the front yard of the shack.

  Then, I unhesitatingly pushed open the old door that stood its ground with an eerie vibe.

  Creeeeeak—

  The interior was revealed along with a spine-chilling friction sound. Inside, an old table and chair, and a hearth scattered with the ashes of burnt firewood, came into view.

  'Huh? Does someone live here...?'

  But such a trivial question wasn't important to me right now.

  Because the 'Constellation Eggs' in my inventory were vibrating madly, screaming for me to crack them open.

  Kneeling reverently in the center of the dusty shack, I looked up at the ceiling and offered a desperate prayer to a God I didn't even usually believe in.

  'I will live a good life, being grateful for everything from now on. Please, hear the prayer of this weak and insignificant lamb. Amen.'

  I snapped my eyes open after the short, desperate prayer.

  Taking a long, deep breath, I threw open the inventory of destiny.

  Soon, four 'Constellation Eggs'—pulsating with a bizarre yet radiant red light like a heart—revealed their heavy presence in my two hands.