Chapter 1: Founding Day - (1)

The camera slowly zoomed in on the knight’s back as he sobbed—

And then, the screen faded to black.

And then—

Ending - #100 /「Confidant 」

Cleared

“It’s finally over…!”

I threw my arms into the air with a triumphant yell.

I almost hurled my mouse across the room, but managed to hold back.

My stiff shoulders cracked loudly as I stretched.

Two long months—nearly 500 hours poured into this moment.

What I was playing was a character-raising simulation game called Empress Maker. Officially released in Korea as Raising the Empress.

A hot new indie game that dropped just two months ago.

Character-raising simulation.

Sure, the genre already had big names like Princess Maker, but still—

This game had carved out a cult following all its own.

The reason was simple.

The main character, the empress the player raises, could die in almost every imaginable way.

The core of the game is straightforward: Raise a young, inexperienced empress until she completes her coming-of-age ceremony and becomes a true ruler.

That’s it. But calling this a “raising sim” would be generous—It was more of a roguelike in disguise, hardcore to its very bones.

First off, there were 108 possible endings.

Of those, a staggering 100 were dead ends.

Assassinated by a cult.

Poisoned by a political rival.

Beheaded by rebels.

Burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft.

Stabbed through the heart by a trusted confidant.

Dying slowly from a plague.

You name it.

And the developers?

They added custom CGs for every single one of those death endings. It was madness—pure, glorious madness.

But thanks to that twisted level of detail, the game spread like wildfire. Word of mouth made it a hit.

That’s how I found it, too.

I dove in, drawn by the challenge and the beautifully nostalgic pixel art. And for two months, I gave it everything—skipping meals, losing sleep. I was completely obsessed.

And now, finally, I’d seen the final ending—

The infamous 100th Dead End.

In that final twist, the loyal knight who had stood by the empress all along… betrayed her.

A betrayal worthy of Raising the Empress.

I looked back at the screen.

The ending scroll—one I’d seen hundreds of times—was rolling again.

I held the Enter key to skip it.

As always, the simple main menu appeared:

Start New.

Continue.

Memories.

Set against the backdrop of the Imperial Palace.

Then—

Ding!

A new notification popped up.

[Achievement Unlocked - “100 Ways to Die”]

“Oh.”

My heart leapt again as I read the message.

I had officially seen every ending in Raising the Empress.

It was the ultimate reward for sacrificing my entire vacation.

“World’s first… probably not,” I muttered.

The stat screen said only 0.001% of players had unlocked this achievement.

Even so, I had to be one of the first.

I couldn’t help feeling proud.

I quickly took a screenshot, ready to post it in the game forum where I’d written walkthroughs before.

But then—another notification popped up as I clicked “Confirm.”

Ding!

[100% Achievement Rate Reached]

[New Game Mode “Death March” Unlocked]

“Huh?”

A new game mode?

That was news to me.

But then again, it was a brand new indie title.

Info was scarce.

Everyone was just stumbling through on their own.

“Is it some kind of bonus mode?”

Still, “Death March”...

What a name.

As if the game wasn’t already hard enough.

How much worse could it get?

Well, it must be brutal if it’s locked behind 100% completion.

“….”

I sighed and adjusted my posture.

At this point, there was no turning back.

Just seeing those words had reawakened the gamer spirit within me.

The forum post could wait.

The real flex would be clearing this next challenge.

I clicked the shimmering “Start New Game” button on the menu.

The difficulty selection now had a new, ominously red button labeled “Death March.”

Without hesitation, I clicked it and began the game—

Unaware of just how much I would come to regret that decision.

[Notification - Welcome to the world of ‘Raising the Empress’.]

With that line, the prologue began anew.

And at the same time, a deep, irresistible sleep pulled me under.

****

CLUNK.

A sudden jolt rocked my body, snapping me awake.

Half-conscious, I blinked heavily—

Dim lights swaying above came into view.

“...Huh?”

This wasn’t my room.

A place I didn’t recognize.

My mind was foggy.

I had just been sitting at my desk, starting a new run in Death March mode.

Then… sleep had hit me out of nowhere.

Was I dreaming?

Maybe I was just sleep-deprived and hallucinating.

I had been playing for two straight months…

I yawned and reached up to rub my eyes— and froze as something cold and metallic touched my face.

The icy shock instantly sobered me up.

“What the f—?”

When I looked down at my hands, I saw a platinum gauntlet—the kind you’d only see in a fantasy game.

Lowering my gaze further, I saw polished plate armor, gleaming under the light, stretching from shoulder guards down to the chest.

It didn’t take long to realize this armor was on my body.

My thoughts couldn’t keep up with reality.

Had someone dressed me up as a joke?

Just as that absurd idea crossed my mind, someone smacked me hard on the back.

“Hey, Freud. Falling asleep like that? That’s not like you.”

“Wh-What?”

“What’s with that look? Like you’ve seen a ghost. Did you have a nightmare or something?”

Sitting beside me was a hulking man, clad in armor just as massive as mine.

He wore a pointed helmet, and through the visor, sharp blue eyes gleamed.

A Westerner?

Why is there a Westerner here?

And what’s with his armor? No—what’s with mine?

Questions bubbled up one after another.

I shook my head in disbelief.

But that wasn’t the only thing wrong.

He wasn’t speaking Korean. Or English.

In fact, I’d never heard the language before in my life—

And yet, I understood every word as if it were my mother tongue.

As I mulled over that bizarre fact, I remembered something else.

The name he called me.

He had definitely said “Freud”.

Freud Escoval.

One of the royal guards in Raising the Empress.

No way I could’ve forgotten.

He was also the bastard who stabs his own liege in the heart at the very end of the game.

“…No way.”

With trembling hands, I reached up to touch my face.

I could feel sharp, angular features—

Ash-grey hair slid between my fingers as it fell across my brow.

I traced my lips and found a long scar running between them.

Everything matched the in-game sprite of Freud—the one I’d seen rendered in pixel-perfect 128-bit art.

“This can’t be real.”

I murmured, dumbfounded.

If my hypothesis was right…

I turned urgently to the giant beside me.

“Hey. Who am I? Where is this?”

“…Huh?”

He paused, as if trying to decipher what I was really asking, then let out a disbelieving chuckle.

“You really did have a weird dream, huh, Freud? That’s a first.”

He slapped a massive hand onto my shoulder and continued.

“Your name is Freud Escoval.

One of the Six Royal Guardians of the Empire.

And as you can see, we’re currently deployed as security detail for the Founding Day ceremony.”

His hand moved from my shoulder to the back of my head, giving it a friendly thump.

“Got it now? Snap out of your dream and focus on the mission.”

He pulled his hand away and pointed beyond the carriage wall.

I followed the gesture to a nearby window.

Through the glass, I saw a massive square teeming with people.

And just like that, I understood.

This wasn’t Earth.

Everyone was dressed in garments you’d only see in high-fantasy films.

The towering buildings in the distance were built in an architectural style that couldn’t possibly belong to any modern city.

Only then did I notice that we were sitting inside a gently rocking carriage.

“…Shit.”

There was no denying it now.

I had somehow become Freud— a character from Raising the Empress.

And I recognized that scene outside the carriage window.

I’d seen it before— through a monitor.

This exact vista was the prologue sequence I’d poured my heart and soul into over the past two months.

In Raising the Empress, the story begins with the Founding Day Festival.

An empire that had lasted for nearly a thousand years.

To celebrate its founding, a week-long festival was held in the capital city each year.

The celebration was grand.

After centuries of peace and prosperity, the empire had grown complacent.

On the fifth day of the Founding Day Festival, the Emperor took the stage to address the citizens— accompanied by only a handful of knights, and with no real security measures in place.

And then—

In that very moment—

An enormous explosion tore through the plaza, plunging the area into chaos.

It was a terrorist attack, orchestrated by the cult of the Evil God.

Later, reports would describe it as a bomb powerful enough to reduce the central square of the capital to rubble.

In the aftermath, the Emperor and the entire royal bloodline perished.

The royal guard was annihilated.

The Empire stood at the edge of collapse— teetering, one gust away from falling.

The sole survivor was a girl far removed from the line of succession:

The Fourth Imperial Princess, Lincia Airen.

Still a child, she would be forced to ascend the throne.

And the story of Raising the Empress unfolds as she struggles to survive until her coming-of-age ceremony, two years later.

“Wait a second.”

Right then, a chilling realization hit me—something I’d completely overlooked until now.

Prologue?

Founding Day?

Cult of the Evil God?

Terrorist attack?

That’s… happening right now, isn’t it?

***

――――KWA-BOOOOM!!

The carriage exploded into the air, and everything turned upside down.

-- The End OF The Chapter --

 

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