CH 1

Let me start from the beginning. 

That game was the cause of everything.

[The Last Kingmaker:

A greater thing than to ascend the throne, is to make someone who ascends the throne become a great ruler.

Will you finally become the kingmaker who would save the empire?]

‘The Last Kingmaker’ is a strategy game in which we become a strategist and make the chosen prince an emperor, as we save the empire from monsters.’

The interesting setting also drew attention, but what attracted the most support was the high-quality illustrations.

The characters in the drawing, which are given in the game introduction, not only the princes but also the powerful men of the empire who would be on their side, were attractive. This must be the artist’s masterpiece.

“This is interesting.”

Jiwon looked at the game’s rating with a serious face.

“……1.2?”

Jiwon’s eyebrows raised at the absurd score.

Was this a possible score?

Jiwon calmly scrolled down and scanned the review section.

[Is this a legendary game that has a clear rate of 0%?]

[Does this game even make sense? How can it be this hard?]

[This is crazy. What kind of game is this? If anyone could clear it, come out seriously. I’ve been playing it for a month and it’s never cleared.]

[No, what’s up with this? There is no reason for this to be so hard. This is the 7th time I played.]

[I put 2 points because of a reason. It’s fun, but I can’t clear it. Is there something wrong with the system?]

[The crazy Asmun became a tyrant. But I’ll cut him some slack because he’s handsome.]

[How do you kill Hagelti? I just want to kill him.]

[You can do it when you reached max level.]

[What happens at max level?]

[The crazy–]

[★For our game makers★ Please don’t spoil the game.]

“……”

Jiwon knew that her ominous premonition was true once again when she read the forum that was full of bad reviews.

A sigh escaped her mouth.

No matter how high-quality the illustrations are, it is an atrocious game that should never be touched.

“…….”

‘I knew it well, but humans are really strange. My competitive spirit is burning.’

She didn’t know why those reviews stimulated her desire to clear it. And she was really drawn to the subject of becoming a kingmaker.

“Clear rate of 0%……”

Jiwon looked at the thumbnails of the game, then immediately clicked download.

If no one has cleared it…

“I’ll do it.”

Jiwon was strangely excited and soon after the download was complete, she clicked the icon that was created on her desktop.

After clearing it, she will definitely feel satisfied and proud.

“Ugh, this game really…….”

That ambitious aspiration came to an end in exactly six hours.

Jiwon had already failed the ninth time, and in the tenth play, she was watching the empire ruined because of Hagelti.

[The empire was destroyed by the rampage of the Archmage Hagelti.]

“……”

What?

Jiwon gently bit her lips.

The basic rules of the game were as follows.

The setting is the Hesmoro Empire, where the successor has not yet been decided.

The player must choose one of the three princes, the 1st, 2nd, or the 3rd prince, and make the chosen prince an emperor. We need to raise him and give the empire peace of mind.

It looks like a really simple rule, but the conditions attached to that simple rule are terrifying.

“We must win the battle of the princes.”

Jiwon slowly reflected on the conditions for clearing.

“It means that we have to stop Archmage Hagelti and find a Silver Stone to conquer the monsters.”

But aside from Silverstone, it was extremely difficult to convince Hagelti.

Jiwon realized for herself why the game was filled with so many bad reviews. This was a game that could not be cleared at all.

“……”

Realizing the fact, it was wise to stop here.

However, the human heart does not move rationally.

“Just one more round, let’s try one more time.”

Jiwon gritted her teeth and pressed restart.

Then the starting screen appeared again.

The first thing she had to do was to choose a prince to make the emperor.

The 1st Prince Kiris Deckland is the most powerful candidate as he had strong backings and support.

The 2nd prince, Patrian Deckland, has the same mother as the 1st prince, who is the current Empress.

And the 3rd prince, Asmun Deckland is the 2nd empress’ son, who died after giving birth to him. He wasn’t an ideal candidate.

Jiwon stopped when she tried to click on the 1st prince as usual.

Suddenly, her gaze turned to Asmun.

“……”

Unlike the 1st and 2nd princes, who had blonde hair, Asmun is a character with black hair and red eyes.

Surprisingly, Asmun’s character looked much more handsome than the gorgeous blonde princes.

Jiwon once again thought of the reviews.

[Asmun is handsome, I’ll give the game 1 more point.]

[What should I do with Asmun?]

[He’s a tyrant, that’s hot.]

However, this game was not an otome game. It was a strategy game. 

In other words, their appearance doesn’t matter.

Each of the princes had their own abilities and peculiarities, but even so, the 3rd prince, Asmun, who was not in a good situation, had a fatal peculiarity.

There was a 90% chance of him becoming a tyrant.

She didn’t even give Asmun a glance after reading this, but when she was stuck, a conflict arose in Jiwon’s mind.

The 1st Prince was in the easiest position as he was the closest person to the right of succession, however, there was a part where it was too easy because of that, but still she failed.

“Are they doing this to make him a three-dimensional character? But the 1st prince setting is too one-dimensional…”

Just by looking at the introduction, it seemed clear that the 2nd and 3rd princes had slightly better brains than the 1st prince.

“Shall we help the 2nd prince with ease?”

Jiwon’s fingers wandered between the 2nd Prince Patrian and the 3rd Prince Asmun.

90% tyrant chance.

Jiwon, who had been repeating the words that bothered her, immediately raised an eyebrow.

“……Should I try it?”

Jiwon’s eyes twinkled with subtle excitement.

Yes. If she’s going to do it, she needs to clear the high difficulty level to be thrilled.

Jiwon made up her mind and chose Asmun. Then the next option was opened.

The next thing was to become the kingmaker of the prince and choose a character who would make him emperor.

So far, the ones she has chosen have mainly been characters who are in a position to help the prince easily and naturally, such as a prestigious scholar, a talented mage, or a powerful duke.

“I usually chose easy characters, but…….”

Still, since scholars have high intelligence, should she choose a scholar again this time?

No, a mage might be better to stop Hagelti… 

Jiwon, who was worried, frowned while scanning the screen. At the bottom, there was a character that had never been seen before.

“What is this?”

“[?] Hidden Character.”

There was a question mark next to it, and even the illustration was merely a shadow.

It was the first time she had seen it, so Jiwon got up.

“A hidden character? Did they have something like this?”

Jiwon’s eyes twinkled again.

After all, there is always a way to clear any game. 

Perhaps some of her past plays must have met the conditions for unlocking this hidden character.

“Ha, look at this!”

Jiwon smiled happily and clicked on the hidden character without hesitation.

“Do you really want to play as a hidden character? When playing as a hidden character, you will be logged out of your account and logged in with a new account.

<Yes/No>

Jiwon burst into laughter when a confirmation window popped up.

Do they need to do this?

Jiwon smiled and clicked ‘Yes’.

“Absolutely. It’s going to be exciting.”

And that was the beginning of it all.