Chapter 1

Chapter 1

RUMBLEEEEE-!

Inside the monitor, a massive mountain range of bones that had filled the entire screen was collapsing.

White skeletons shattered into tens of thousands of fragments and scattered in every direction. At their center, the heart of magical power that had been burning crimson faded to ash-gray. The entire spectacle was catharsis itself.

[You have defeated the Mythic-Grade Raid Boss, 'White Bone Dragon Calcifer'!]

[You are the first player to defeat it solo!]

[Your great achievement will be forever recorded in the history of the Rachenos Continent.]

[You have acquired the hidden title 'Lord of White Bones'.]

"...That actually worked?"

It was past midnight. Inside the desolate office of a game company, empty after everyone had gone home, I stared blankly at my monitor and muttered in disbelief.

On one of my dual monitors was a crude, mass-produced 3D monster model that I had to finish by tomorrow morning, but my eyes were fixed entirely on the main monitor.

All my teammates had gone home, leaving me to work overtime alone. Since I was already guaranteed to be pulling an all-nighter, I'd logged in as usual and started playing, telling myself I was gathering design references.

"And I actually killed it."

I let out an incredulous laugh as I looked at the equipment covering my character, 'Dogani', from head to toe.

'Who would've thought collecting every single bone fragment was actually the answer?'

There were 2,847 types of 'Bone Fragments' that everyone else threw away as useless junk that only took up inventory space.

I'd spent three years collecting every single one without exception.

The reason was simple. They were pretty.

No, seriously. For mere junk items, their designs were ridiculously intricate. How could I possibly resist collecting them?

As a result, I'd unlocked a hidden crafting quest. Who could have known that the bizarre equipment I obtained from it would turn out to be the key to overcoming the core mechanic of the White Bone Dragon's solo raid?

Unable to suppress the grin spreading across my face, I immediately uploaded the recorded gameplay footage to the community forum.

─────────────────────────

Title: [Breaking News] White Bone Dragon solo kill achieved. I did it.

─────────────────────────

The forum had practically become a ghost town, with only veteran players remaining, but the moment I hit refresh, comments poured in like a waterfall.

─────────────────────────

└ Bullshit. It's a 24-player raid.

└ Go watch the video. It's real.

└ Whoa, what the hell is that equipment?

└ Apparently, you can craft it if you collect all 2,847 types of Bone Fragments?

└ Holy shit hahaha I threw all those Bone Fragments away because they were trash, and they were actually crafting materials?

└ Bro Dogani's been obsessing over bones forever, and now he's finally gone and done something insane hahaha

└ You collected all of them? Are you even human?

└ The bone freak is actually for real.

─────────────────────────

'...Bone freak was supposed to be an insult, not a nickname.'

So why did it feel so heartwarming now?

I slowly scrolled through the comments. There were still quite a few guys glued to this game even at this hour. Most of the usernames were familiar.

─────────────────────────

└ Hahaha is that Lord of White Bones title for real? I'm crying.

└ Dogani, seriously, congratulations T_T That was the last hidden achievement.

└ Man lol but now there's really nothing left to do in this game.

└Dogani, what are you gonna do now? lol

─────────────────────────

My finger stopped at the last comment.

'Good question.'

I sank deep into the backrest of my chair.

I was happy, of course.

After all, I'd become the first person to accomplish a feat that players around the world had dismissed as impossible.

But that joy was short-lived. When I caught sight of my haggard face reflected in the monitor's glow, an overwhelming sense of emptiness washed over me.

'Is this the end?'

Every achievement that could be completed in this game had now been accomplished.

Veteran players like me, who had poured their lives into this game, had investigated every conceivable possibility. The only remaining unexplored territory was this solo kill of the White Bone Dragon.

Perhaps there were still other achievements that nobody had ever discovered.

But to be honest, I no longer felt like there was anything else worth doing.

'...'

As though trying to soothe my complicated feelings, I took a sip of cold coffee.

<​Dungeon and Empire>.

A game I'd poured my life into ever since my university days.

Its storyline was simple: fight alongside the Holy Empire of Rachenos to defeat the armies of the Demon Realm. But its attention to detail was downright obsessive.

A physics engine so sophisticated that rumors circulated about the developers torturing aliens to create it. An absurd level of detail that recreated every single joint in a monster's skeleton. A phenomenal game with an insane world where even the ecosystems functioned independently.

Perhaps because of that distinctive concept, creature geeks like me flocked to it, and it enjoyed a cult following worldwide.

Meanwhile, my real-world job was as a 3D character modeler at a company that mass-produced mobile games and cared about nothing but profitability.

Every day was a soulless cycle of copying and pasting. We'd take yesterday's monster, change its color to red, and slap some ridiculous modifier like 'Flame-' onto its name.

"Seungwoo, bone-type models eat up too many resources, so just fake the details with textures. Who's going to look at every single bone joint?"

I am. I'm going to look at them.

I pity you people who can't appreciate the majesty of a Bone Dragon spreading its wing bones.

Whenever my clueless team leader nagged me, this game was the only refuge that brought me comfort.

A masterpiece on an entirely different level from the mass-produced garbage our company churned out.

And so, under the pretext of gathering design references, I played this game more than our company's own games.

What's the advantage of working at a game company? You can play games during working hours and call it gathering references.

Just like how everything except studying becomes fun during exam season, I spent countless hours playing another company's game. Eventually, I reached the maximum level, collected all sorts of hidden titles, and climbed the rankings until I became a well-known top player.

But I suppose nothing lasts forever.

It had already been a year since the last update.

Even a masterpiece like this couldn't escape the ravages of time.

New players had completely dried up, and only wandering ghosts like me remained on the servers, touring the maps and reminiscing about old memories.

'These guys hanging around the community this late at night are all just like me.'

Looking at the familiar usernames congratulating me and expressing their astonishment at my achievement, I somehow felt sorrowful.

Simply admiring those incredible monster designs had been enough to satisfy me, but there probably wasn't much time left to enjoy even that. After all, the inevitable fate of an online game that had stopped receiving content was a sudden announcement of service termination.

"Haaah, another masterpiece is going down like this—"

I was just about to let out a sigh.

Ding-.

A golden mail icon flashed in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

It wasn't an ordinary announcement or guild mail. It was a system message reserved exclusively for the administrators.

"Huh?"

As though possessed, I moved my mouse over and clicked it.

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[Dungeon and Empire] Expansion Patch <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back> Beta Tester Invitation

Greetings. This is the <​Dungeon and Empire> Operations Team.

In recognition of your outstanding contributions to the game and your overwhelming gameplay record, Dogani, you have been selected as a top-priority beta tester for our final expansion patch, <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back>.

If you wish to participate, please click the [Accept] button below.

[Accept] [Decline]

─────────────────────────

I froze for five seconds, my hand still gripping the mouse.

'...Holy shit?'

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. It wasn't a hallucination.

'Th-there was something like this?!'

My heart began pounding like crazy.

Those crazy bastards had actually been working!

There had even been rumors that the development team had fled in the middle of the night, but it turned out they'd been secretly developing an expansion patch behind the scenes.

They could've announced it earlier. Those sadistic bastards really knew how to toy with people's emotions.

Adrenaline exploded through my veins.

I immediately clicked the invitation's [Accept] button and excitedly hammered out a post on the community forum.

Title: AN EXPANSION PATCH IS COMING!!! I GOT A BETA INVITATION!!!

But the community remained quiet, apart from the reactions to my solo-kill video from earlier.

'Looks like I'm the first one.'

My chest swelled with the pride of a veteran player, and my grin stretched from ear to ear.

Let's see. When does the beta test start?

I opened the invitation again. At the very bottom of the notice was a date written in small letters.

'Tomorrow at 00:00?'

In other words, midnight.

I checked the clock at the bottom of my monitor.

Current time: 23:56.

There were less than five minutes left until the server opened. Suddenly, reality struck me in the back of the head.

'I have a deadline to meet.'

I unconsciously glanced at the left monitor. The project file I had to submit by tomorrow morning was still open.

My entire body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds after several consecutive nights of working overtime, and my eyes felt like they were about to fall out. If I delayed going home any longer, I might end up on the news as a victim of death by overwork.

"..."

Nevertheless, with an almost reverent expression, I turned off the left monitor.

'Even if I die, I'm playing this first.'

Tomorrow's me might get my ass kicked by the team leader, but today's me had to conquer the Demon Realm!

[Connecting to beta client...]

[Loading <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back> data... 48%]

[Loading <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back> data... 65%]

My heart pounded with anticipation.

I knew absolutely nothing about the patch's contents. Since it was a beta test, it was only natural that there was no information available.

But that was fine.

The game I'd thought was finished was coming back to life.

[Loading <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back> data... 82%]

As the loading bar slowly filled, my eyelids grew heavy.

[Loading <​The Demon Realm Strikes Back> data... 99%]

That accursed final 1%.

As I glared at the magnificent illustration on the loading screen, my vision suddenly began to blur.

My head spun, and the extreme exhaustion that had accumulated over the past several days surged over me like a tidal wave. My eyelids grew unbearably heavy.

'Just a little longer... If I can just hold on a little longer...'

The whirring of the cooling fans faded into the distance, and my grip on the mouse loosened.

Before I knew it, I had lost consciousness, my head drooping forward in front of the monitor.

And then.

THWACK!

The moment I opened my eyes, someone's worn-out military boot slammed straight into my face.

The Skeleton Soldier Is Good at Replacing Bones

Author:

Metdoyo

Publisher:

Jakga Dabang

Publishing Registration:

No. 2025-000022

Address:

3rd Floor, 50-9 Myeongmul-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Telephone:

02-313-7388

Email:

info@jakgadabang.com

ISBN/UCI:

G720:N+A475-20261015075

Publication Date:

October 23, 2026

Copyright © Metdoyo.

This e-book is a copyrighted work protected under copyright law.

This e-book was published under a contract between the publisher and the author. Unauthorized reproduction, duplication, distribution, or sharing without the written consent of both parties is prohibited.