The Legendary Programming Mage

"Fucking hell, just die already!"

The rapid clicking of my keyboard echoed through my neat apartment in the most expensive house in Seoul.

Tsk!

"That bastard Allen just had to die before I caught him, and now this Allen doesn't want to die."

Those words slipped from my lips as I slammed the keys harder.

Snap!

My finger cracked against the keys, but I couldn't care less.

Allen Park.

The one the world now knew as the legendary programmer.

I'd known him as a kid—the kind oppa who bought food and shared it with the other slum kids. That was until he vanished.

Back then, I thought he had been kidnapped or sold.

So I became an FBJ agent, climbed the ranks, solved many cases, but even then I couldn't find him.

The oppa who was kind to me, and the person who had saved me many times.

So, I gave up.

Not on my feelings, but on the chase.

Maybe the heavens saw my pain and brought something to fill that gap.

The Night_Hawks.

The greatest criminal group to ever walk the face of the Earth.

Every single detective and cop tried to catch them, but to no avail.

Nine crazy-talented people with no particular goal.

But the one who was undoubtedly at the center of their team—and the reason why no one could catch them—was their hacker.

Soon enough, I discovered that the kind oppa I had been searching for was that very hacker.

But I still had a job to do.

Yet…

"Damn geezers making deals with a criminal."

I had loved our chase, and the fluttering feelings they gave me.

Times when he would lure me to the roof and jump from it, only for a helicopter to catch him.

When he would treat me like a little brat he had to protect.

But he was still the same oppa I knew.

The same tech-obsessed kid.

Until the old men ruined everything.

They bribed one of the Night_Hawks members to rat them out.

In less than a day, the group was captured.

And although it worked, they failed to capture the main villain, Allen Park.

And just like he always did, he left the world with a bang.

Even now, after two years, the world hadn't recovered from what he had caused.

Because of one man, the Third World War had begun, and countless lives were lost.

And me?

I lost my job and had to become a gamer.

Over the years, I rose through the ranks in Battle of Heaven and Earth, the number-one ranked game in the world.

It was a role-playing game with diverse characters, a unique plot, and a central protagonist and villain.

In this world, there were two forces: humans and demons.

And at the center of them, the plot happened at Apex and Nadir Academy.

According to rumors, it was a popular web novel called Demon Hunter, which was turned into a game, though the author had altered the story.

But I didn't care about the author's changes.

I only cared about the main villain of the game.

Well, in all honesty, most girls who played the game did so because of him.

The handsome villain who could steal hearts even through the screen.

Allen Vanderbilt.

The one known as the Devil of the Arctic, and the final boss who wiped out over 70% of the population.

A being no gamer could ever defeat.

He was the central figure at Apex Academy.

The main force opposing the demons at the heart of the plot.

In this world, where demons wanted peace and humans subjugated them, he was at the forefront of this force.

But that wasn't what made him the fated villain.

Even when he fought against the demons, he did so as a hunter trying to stop the invasion of his world.

However, everything changed in the middle of the game after someone dear to Allen died.

This incident made him turn his back on humans, becoming an enemy of both races.

But he had too much aura to die.

And became an absolute menace.

The villain who fought against the hero Jake Kim.

The man whose existence caused both demonkind and humans to coexist.

This plot point drew me to his character.

Because not only did he share the same name as the man I knew, but also his aura.

The thought had crossed my mind once:

What if the game's Allen was him?

Haaaah!

I exhaled heavily. "You're just as stubborn as the real Allen."

On the screen was a man wielding a sword of red light, standing over the corpse of a blond-haired man.

I slid out of my chair and stretched. "Let me touch some grass."

As I reached to switch off the screen, a message popped up.

[It's infuriating, right?]

"Huh?"

[So why don't you witness it firsthand?]

"What kind of spam…"

My world spun as my voice trailed off.

In the next instant, voices began echoing in my ears.

"Why don't we work together, everyone?"

"If we work together, we can clear this illusion without issue."

A sharp pain struck my head as the nauseating smell of blood wafted into my nose.

I blinked once, and the world around me shifted.

A rather handsome man stood in front of me, smiling.

"What do you think, Lady Sylvia?"

Huh? Lady what?

Everything was unfamiliar.

I was sure I had just been about to turn off my computer.

Then—

'The message?'

I had read enough plots, played enough games, and seen enough novels to recognize this progression.

My gaze immediately swept around the white tunnel, and when I turned back, my eyes locked on a particular man.

He was familiar, eerily so.

The same face I had seen a thousand times.

The same impossibly handsome face that had slaughtered all my avatars.

Even though he looked younger than he had on the screen moments ago, I couldn't mistake him.

Allen Vanderbilt.

The Devil of the Arctic.

'Then does that mean…?'

I quickly looked away, clinging to my last shred of reason.

"I'll pass."

I answered, wanting to get away from this madness.

I had to move.

I had to gather my thoughts.

I didn't understand what was happening, but it was best not to get involved.

I turned away from the smiling young man and moved toward the tunnel wall.

Even though the game followed the lens of Jake Kim, I knew where and when this was.

A white tunnel, a mountain of corpses, and an impossibly handsome man.

'I'm screwed.'

I had been reincarnated into the world of my game.

As a female lead.

Not just any lead, but someone close to the villain of the story.

Sylvia Draven.

Before I could fully gather my thoughts, murmurs reached me.

"Hey, is that Red Chains?"

"Is that even an elemental affinity?"

'What the hell is the bastard doing now?'

Distorted Red Chains.

The Devil of the Arctic's second most used spell.

Even though I didn't know how it worked—since the game never showed his POV—I did know how broken it was.

My breath came out in ragged gasps again.

Not only did I feel out of place in my own skin, but I was now facing the very power that could destroy the world.

Those chains, that same suffocating composure.

A light chuckle escaped my lips. "At least make me an extra."

I could have taken that with my whole chest.

But no, the world decided to slam that in my face and say, "Why don't you become the villain's companion and die?"

I had to stop him.

Not just to survive, but to prevent Allen from turning evil.

Perhaps it was because he shared that name and characteristics of that person.

Either way, I was screwed if I didn't act.

Knowing the future was useful, but making sure Allen didn't turn evil was more important.

If not?

Death.

Just like before, each ending had Jake Kim killing me and anyone Allen cared about.

If I really wanted to change my fate, then I had to find a way to get close to Allen.

Protect both him and the one he loved the most.

And grow strong enough to survive the plot.