Arrogant Saga was a turn-based adventure game that embraced the nostalgic essence of JRPGs from the 80s and 90s. 

Despite its simple storyline of the hero, Luciena Estel, and her party members defeating the demon king who wished for the world’s end, the game managed to captivate a dedicated fanbase. 

The familiarity of its narrative, combined with the intrinsic fun of the gameplay, garnered a fair amount of popularity.

Yet, it wasn’t merely a straightforward homage to the past era’s charm. 

Luciena, true to the passionate and somewhat arrogant protagonists of that time in Japanese anime and games, stood out by being a female lead. 

Moreover, the game featured a unique affection system among party members, which intriguingly extended across genders.

Another distinctive aspect was the option for players to choose the final party member. 

The default hero’s party consisted of Luciena, the shield knight Reinhold, the mage Tigra, the elf archer Naidrian, and the martial artist saintess Arsil. 

While Arsil joined automatically as the story progressed, the last member was a choice between two characters.

One option was a female thief, capable of finding hidden items on the map, detecting traps, and debuffing enemies in battle. 

She could also steal items from foes, including rare consumables. 

The other option was a porter, essentially providing an expanded inventory space, useful for temporarily storing items during combat.

However, as players neared the game’s end, consumable items became less critical due to the design, which allowed for significant power-ups. 

The thief’s ability to pilfer crucial items from enemies made her invaluable, especially against the overwhelmingly strong final boss, the demon king. 

The porter, being a non-combatant, couldn’t assist in battles, thus rendering his extra inventory space futile during critical fights. 

This led to a peculiar challenge among players: clearing the game with the porter, which only one person worldwide had accomplished. 

Due to this feat, that unique player found himself reincarnated as the very porter he once controlled, now facing harsh trials in this new life. 

The memories of his previous life were hazy, save for his knowledge of the game and his identity as a man surnamed Lee from South Korea. 

“This is completely screwed,” he muttered, realizing his predicament. 

It was not a mere possession but a full reincarnation. 

His memories only returned midway through the game’s early stages.

“Hello! I have joined as the porter…” he began.

“Enough. Except for Reinhold, I don’t want to see any other male faces in the party, so wear this mask,” Luciena had curtly ordered him on his first day joining the hero’s party.

It was strange. 

The porter had fewer lines and interactions in the game than even the thief, but he was never outright ignored.

Yet, he felt disregarded now. 

How it happened would unfold later, but for now, the porter, Lin, was struggling to carry an injured hero while being swept away by a river.

“This is strange. We should have reached the shore by now,” he thought, concerned as time passed and Luciena remained unconscious, her lips pale.

To prevent her from swallowing water, he kept her on his chest in a backstroke position, making it hard to see ahead. 

Realizing they would soon be in dire straits, Lin frantically looked around.

“There!” he exclaimed.

With all his strength, he spotted a patch of land leading into a forest and swam towards it, finally reaching a log that blocked the waterway like a dam. 

“Ouch!” he cried out, hitting his head against the log, but the pain was worth it as they halted.

Grimacing, he managed to get them both to shore. 

The water was icy cold, but he carried Luciena into the forest. 

Feeling it was safe enough, he set her down and pulled out a scroll from the porter’s pouch.

“Common: Embrace of Warmth,” he incanted, spreading various bedding materials and laying her down.

The scroll enveloped her in a warm glow, drying her wet hair. 

Lin then gathered dry twigs and lit a fire with his fire starter.

“Special: Presence Detection (Lv. Max),” he activated another scroll, this time a top-tier one.

Since they had recently escaped from traitors, he used the highest-level skill to detect any hostile presence. 

This skill would alert him mentally if any enemies came within range.

Lin hung his soaked clothes by the fire. 

Staying wet would only worsen his condition, and he had plenty of spare clothes in the porter’s pouch.

Despite the cold, he knew he had to conserve his skills and scrolls, using them mainly for Luciena. 

Considering their destination, it was crucial to save survival-related scrolls.

After changing, Lin removed his mask to wipe his face, feeling the odd sense of freedom from not wearing it for the first time in a long while.

His appearance, as revealed, was quite ordinary. 

His eyes, just slightly drooping at the corners, were framed by black hair and black eyebrows. 

His eyes were neither large nor small, and his nose neither high nor low. 

It was no wonder that Lucy, with her high aesthetic standards, had asked him to wear a mask.

A breeze carrying the scent of greenery brushed against his face. 

It was cool for a moment but quickly turned cold. 

Lin, who had been wiping his face with a thin cloth, glanced at the mask lying on the floor and found himself in deep thought.

“It’s ironic,” he muttered.

Since joining the hero party, Lin had always worn a mask. 

As the fame of the hero party grew, people quickly identified him as the party’s baggage carrier by his mask. 

This meant that if Lin were to remove his mask and go about his business, it would be exceedingly rare for someone to recognize him as the baggage carrier.

For this reason, Lin spoke the words “It’s ironic.” But no one was there to hear him. 

As there was never anyone to listen, he had developed a habit of talking to himself now and then.

Regardless, after resolving his dilemma, he picked up the mask and placed it in the baggage carrier’s pouch.

“Well, this wasn’t part of the plan.”

Sitting on the flat ground, he repeated the words he had spoken while escaping with Lucy. 

Was it surprising that he had saved a betrayed hero? 

It wasn’t. 

In the original game, after defeating the Demon King and savoring victory on the cliff, the game ends. 

However, in the released DLC, as seen, the hero party betrays the hero. 

And among the party members, only one stands by the hero’s side and fights hard for her.

Which character takes this role is determined solely by the affection points accumulated during the original game. 

Naturally, if all the party members’ affection points fall below a certain threshold, no one will side with Lucy, leading to a bad ending. 

Even if the mage, archer, and saint join in, their mana and divine power are at zero due to exhaustion from the battle with the Demon King, and they are affected by an exhaustion debuff. 

Moreover, their assistance arrives too late, so by the time they notice and join the fight, at least two of the hero’s limbs would have been lost, starting the battle with the hero in a critical state. 

In other words, it’s still a bad ending.

If the thief route is taken, the hero is saved immediately. 

However, due to a forced event, the thief dies instead and pushes the hero off the cliff. 

The hero, now alone and washed away into the valley below, relies on a 1% chance to survive. 

But what good is that when they have no limbs? 

When the hero regains consciousness by the riverbank, they can do nothing and either die of exposure or hypothermia. 

Again, it’s a bad ending.

So, what about the main figure of betrayal, the shield knight, Linfold?

Congratulations to you, who made Linfold your favorite! 

You can restart the game. 

Linfold, regardless of affection points, leads the betrayal. 

He is initially set up as an unfaithful fiancé who doesn’t love Lucy. 

Because of this, a famous incident occurred where a female player who cried “Linfold Only You” ended up punching a hole in her monitor.

Players were thrown into chaos. 

They had been told it was a DLC, but couldn’t even complete Chapter 1’s intro. 

Regardless of the character used, the outcome was the same. 

What, then, was the purpose of all the effort so far? 

What meaning did the playtime have?

It was easy for loyal fans to turn into fervent anti-fans. 

They sent so many threats to the developers that it was enough to make them dance.

And at that point, a video of clearing Chapter 1’s intro was released online. 

Specifically, it was a video from achieving the Demon King defeat ending in the original game to clearing Chapter 1’s intro in the DLC.

For those who had caught on, the key was the baggage carrier. 

The reincarnate, who played as the baggage carrier with a perverted level of dedication, managed to clear the Demon King defeat with a close margin, even managing to clear the DLC.

The unfolding of events in the DLC, which was prepared for the first bad ending, was quite different from what had been seen online. 

The party betrays, and the hero’s limbs are severed—this was expected. 

However, at the moment when Linfold delivers the final blow and the hero is completely incapacitated, the baggage carrier pours out all the items stored in his pouch and saves the hero, falling off the cliff together. 

The chapter ends with them coming to the forest, lighting a fire.

The internet exploded. 

Fans who had turned dark repented, blaming themselves for not conquering all the content of the original game. 

Countless inquiries and requests for handshakes poured in for the reincarnate. 

Did they know? 

The reincarnate was already editing the next video, having cleared the DLC.

Given the lack of subsequent memories, it seemed that the reincarnate had passed away soon after, unable to upload the video due to some reason. 

Therefore, the only true lifeline for the betrayed hero, Luciena Estel, was the reincarnate who had saved her and knew everything that would happen next.

Yet, Lin, the baggage carrier, felt utterly helpless. 

After all, “I don’t even have affection points with the hero.”

Not just lacking, but at a deficit so deep it felt like it had gone through the floor. 

The protagonist, the one who actively raised affection points, was Lucy. 

But Lin, as the baggage carrier, had been disregarded from the first encounter, so there were no affection points.

Indeed. 

The DLC began with new adventures alongside a character who had raised affection points, but Lucy had no affection points for the baggage carrier.

“This is a big problem.”

Despite the tone of his dismay, Lin’s expression remained serene.