November 29, 2025 – 11:59 p.m. Seoul time
Somewhere that is no longer Earth
Last thing that Lee Hyun-woo remember was him wishing something he shouldn't have then a blinding flash.
Lee Hyun-woo found himself standing barefoot on cold white marble that stretched in every direction like an infinite airport terminal.
No walls. No sky. Only pillars of light and the deafening roar of two hundred voices shouting at once.
"OI, WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY CLOTHES?!"
"Mod! GM! I paid for VIP, give me elf waifus now!"
"Ersten Reich wird wieder auferstehen, mark my words!"
"Any Koreans here? Group up, group up!"
"Bro, I literally just wanted to sleep, why am I naked in a lobby?"
Hyun-woo looked down.
He was wearing nothing but black boxer briefs.
Everyone else was the same: two hundred men and women of every nationality, age 18–45, all stripped to underwear, all screaming or laughing or crying.
A perfect circle of golden text floated ten meters above the chaos.
[Welcome, Players 1–200]
[Game: Civilization — Reality Patch 1.0]
[Victory Condition: Classified]
[Defeat Condition: Zero Believers Remaining]
[You now have 10 minutes to customize your starting package.]
A holographic wheel appeared in front of every player:
- Race (Human / Elf / Dwarf / Orc / Halfling)
- Starting Terrain (18 options)
- Leader Personality (12 archetypes)
- One Unique Starting Bonus (list of 50)
The lobby turned into a stock exchange on crack.
"Elves for life, cope and seethe!"
"Dwarves + mountain = free forges, GG ez"
"I took Desert + Nomad bonus, I'm literally Genghis Khan now"
"Human balanced start is for cowards—oh wait, #1 Eternal Throne guy is taking Human Plains, lmao"
Hyun-woo tuned out the noise.
He had theory-crafted this exact scenario in his head a thousand times.
Race → Human (highest fertility, fastest adaptation)
Terrain → Great Plains with eastern mountain range (best farming + future copper/tin)
Leader → "Pragmatic Administrator" archetype
Unique Bonus → "Enhanced Learning Speed +15 %" (because education snowballs harder than any resource)
Confirm.
A calm, genderless voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Everyone shut up instantly.
[Moderator: Entity-Ω]
[Attention. Starting territories are now being randomized. Previous selections are suggestions only. The world is real. Your choices have permanent consequences. There is no reset button. There is no ban appeal. There is no leaving.]
Dead silence.
[You have 30 seconds to finalize or forfeit.]
Half the lobby started panic-changing their picks.
Someone actually forfeited and vanished in a puff of ash.
Hyun-woo didn't move.
He trusted the math.
[Randomization complete.]
A pillar of light slammedhed Hyun-woo alone.
Entity-Ω's voice now spoke only to him, almost gently.
[Player Valdria1. Lee Hyun-woo. Rank 1 Eternal Throne IV, 38 months undefeated.
Your wish has been weighed and found… acceptable.
You will receive exactly what you asked for: a game where every decision is irreversible and every life is real.
Good luck. You will need it more than the others.]
The marble floor opened beneath his feet.
He fell upward into a bronze-colored sky.
The last thing he heard before the lobby vanished was two hundred voices screaming as they, too, were hurled into the world.