Broken Character.
To explain: it refers to a character so absurdly overpowered in competitive gas that they disrupt ga balance.
The consensus is that broken characters first erged centuries ago, when the Queen’s rules were formalized in chess. But if you rewind a bit further, you could trace their origins to the 2D fighting gas that dominated arcade cabinets decades ago.
What defines a broken character is this: everyone wants to play them.
“People like things that are easy and strong. You ever use a gun called the TRG?”
“No.”
“See? No one uses that gun.”
“I only know it’s used in Europe.”
“But it’s not mainstream, is it? It’s niche, right?”
“I’ll give you that.”
“The TRG is a niche firearm that only gun maniacs or professionals would know. But once upon a ti, in South Korea, it was hailed as the world’s strongest sniper rifle. Hm? Hit soone in the body? Half HP. Headshot? Instant death.”
Isn’t that obvious?
Even Skelton would die from a bullet to the head.
Unlike my indifferent response, Foxgas—his ego inflated from recent successes—spread his arms wide in exaggerated gestures, trying to broadcast his ideas with passion.
“That gun got famous because it was broken!”
“...Broken?”
“Yeah! It had busted stats in the ga, so players just assud—‘Oh, this must be the strongest gun in the world.’”
“...”
“Sa with characters, right?”
“?”
“Think about it. There’s this character in-ga who’s so strong it practically glitches the system. People go, ‘Whoa, this character’s insane,’ and everyone starts picking them. But user experience—UX—doesn’t just exist in the mont. It oxidizes over ti, like a peeled apple slowly turning brown. The color changes, the tone changes.”
Foxgas paused to catch his breath.
It looked like what ca next was the real point.
“Okay! So Skelton’s a broken character. No—a completely busted one. Now think: how do players who use Skelton see Skelton? Hm?”
I feel a gaze.
Particularly, Hong Da-jeong is staring at like she’s burning a hole through my skull.
I’ve long grown numb to such stares.
Even if they’re laced with hostility or suspicion, I walk my own road, unshaken.
“...Uh. Skelton’s strong?”
“Exactly! These days, there’s this vague mob ntality, like crabs in a bamboo basket yanking down the one trying to climb out. That’s what’s happening to Skelton right now!”
“...”
“If this ga hits big, there’s no question. People will see the monstrous performance of broken Skelton and start to reevaluate. ‘Damn, this guy isn’t just strong—he’s been steadily wiping out humanity’s worst monsters without even having Jeon Si-hoon’s abilities.’”
“...I see.”
The stares intensify again, but what can I do?
Foxgas is speaking with the wisdom of experience.
They say so people eat their years through their ass, but age still brings valuable perspective.
I think Foxgas just laid down so truth.
Besides, the man did beco a corporate executive.
He knows how to persuade people.
“Now, here’s the original ga mode based on Skill Attack chanics: the ‘Skelton Attack’ mode.”
Foxgas switched the screen.
Up to now, everything had been a rehash of the old-school “Sudan Attack,” but the new mode—clearly still in developnt—was packed with his ambition.
“This is the Monster Hunting Mode.”
He wanted to recreate what us Hunters do when we take down monsters.
“This here is a monster. Still in early developnt, so we just upscaled a humanoid NPC and painted it gray, but check this out.”
Foxgas clicked his laser pointer.
The frozen image on screen began to move.
Boom!
“What’s that?”
A wave.
The monster-in-developnt copied a real monster’s shockwave attack.
That wasn’t all.
Bang! Tatatatang!
When a player character opened fire, the monster emitted a wave and deployed a reflective barrier, returning the bullets straight back to the attacker.
“Even a reflection field?”
I reacted, and Foxgas nodded, pleased.
“Yep. It’s still in developnt, so the visuals need work, but it’s a perfect monster. Like in real life, it forces the monster to waste shockwaves through intimidation tactics, then the player sneaks in for close quarters combat, just outside reflection range.”
“Hmm.”
Honestly? Not bad.
Still, one question rose in my mind.
“So in this setup, how exactly am I a broken character?”
Foxgas pointed at again.
“Look closely, Skelton.”
He clicked another button.
A chart popped up.
< Character: “Skelton” — Unique Traits >
Exclusive weapon: “Dual Axes (Tentative Na)”
Dual Axes: 250% damage modifier against monsters, 30% critical hit rate
Unique active skill: “Skelton’s Wrath” — 75% lee attack speed, 15 attack power, removes all debuffs and status effects
Passive skill: “Skelton Step” — 30% movent speed over other characters when engaging in lee
Contains hidden modifiers not displayed in-ga tooltips
Cheon Young-jae, staring at the giant table of stats, suddenly said:
“...That’s a gorilla.”
Strong as a gorilla, huh?
I usually have good control over my expression, but learning that the character nad after was as strong as a gorilla made crack a little smile.
Of course, I kept it off my face—discipline and habit.
All eyes turned to .
Hong Da-jeong and M9 stared with clear, unmistakable concern.
Right on cue.
“Skelton, this might be overboard.”
“I think so too.”
They questioned it imdiately.
And honestly, I didn’t get it.
“?”
What’s the issue?
I think it suits a myth-level nad character like Skelton just fine.
I only have one complaint.
“Foxgas.”
He folded his arms and nodded smugly.
“It’s all great, but—”
“Skelton. That’s too much, man.”
“People are gonna talk.”
So mutters rose beside , but I ignored them.
“Can we change the face a little?”
Foxgas grinned.
“That’s easy.”
Like he’d been waiting, he pulled up a list of character models that could replace Skelton’s face.
“These are celebrity models. We did a bunch of collabs. Pick one you like, I’ll swap the visual for you.”
The graphics were janky—fitting for a 20-year-old ga—but the models still showed effort, sculpted with limited resources.
Most were generically handso or beautiful, but one really caught my eye.
“What’s that one?”
I pointed at a model in the lower left.
“Oh? That? That’s Jeon Un-woo. Don’t know him? Officially the most handso man in Korea.”
“...Hmm.”
Looking closely, he kind of resembles .
Facial structure, overall vibe—it’s there.
Then Hong Da-jeong chid in.
“Don’t you dare.”
Maybe because I’d ignored her too many tis, her face now looked like the one she made when drone-striking soone.
“Hey, Park Gyu. Even for you, this is crossing a serious line.”
Even M9 joined in, so I figured it was ti to show so social ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) grace and back off a little.
Suppressing my regret, I turned to Foxgas and said lightly,
“Could you tweak this one to resemble instead?”
“You an Jeon Un-woo?”
Foxgas grinned.
I nodded.
Different generations, different values, different styles—but in that mont, we saw eye to eye.
Foxgas wanted my feedback on ga lore, and he wanted to use my na in the title.
He once told that in his student days, the best gas were often nad after legends—WWII pilots like Chuck Yeager, military writers like Tom Clancy, or devs like Sid ier.
In an age where everything’s decaying, going retro is a kind of tribute to a past that’s never coming back.
“To , it’s an honor.”
And just like that, the title of Foxgas’ ambitious first project under Fox Gaming World was finalized:
[ Skelton’s Monster Battle ]
It’s a clunky title, sure—but a ga doesn’t need to be fancy or pretentious.
In fact, I find it refreshing—intuitively honest.
“I’ll go over the main ga content again. This is the co-op part—Monster Battle mode. Just think of yourself as a tester and tell everything, no filter.”
I didn’t really care.
I don’t like gas, and I’m not good at them.
As I said, if sothing’s inaccurate, I’ll just point it out.
From here on out, it was Hong Da-jeong, Cheon Young-jae, and M9’s ti.
I crossed my arms and waited for the Q&A to wrap.
“You guys really worked hard today. Seriously. For a creator like , sincere feedback is invaluable. I’ll reflect everything I can! Till next ti!”
And the eting ended in success.
Personally? I was satisfied.
It’s nice to have my na on what might beco a national sensation—but more than that, having a character nad after dominate the ga with broken stats... I won’t lie, it stirred sothing.
Still, these people...
Why are they so grumpy?
"Doesn't it seem kind of half-assed to you?"
"They're saying Monster Battle is the main content, but that part's the most janky. The monsters look like placeholders, and that so-called reflection field is just embarrassingly crude."
"I know people are starved for gas these days, but this feels too outdated. The polish is awful. Sure, they might grab at it if there's nothing else to play, but as soon as a competitor shows up, it'll get tossed."
It was nothing but harsh criticism.
Especially toward Monster Battle Mode—the part where I’m the lead—they were outright hostile.
"Skelton, what do you think?"
Hong Da-jeong ca over directly, breaking her earlier cold silence.
"What do I think about what?"
"That ga. The ga."
"Well, considering the tis, it doesn’t seem all that bad."
"That’s not what I’m asking. Skelton, are you really okay with lending your na and face to so half-baked ga like that? Okay, not your face, but still."
Before I could answer, M9 butted in.
"Yo. Skelton. This really ain't it."
"Be specific. Is the ga just not fun?"
"You already know."
"I think it looks fun."
Then ca Cheon Young-jae.
"Senpai."
"Don’t tell you think it’s not fun too?"
"No, it’s not about whether it’s fun or not."
"Okay."
"Your character. It’s broken, right?"
"I don’t know the details, but that’s what they say."
"Just because you’re broken doesn’t an people who hated you will suddenly praise you. I don’t think it works like that."
"That’s a fair opinion."
"To , being a broken character is a double-edged sword. It might just an you’ll get flad even harder."
"I’d rather get hate comnts than none at all."
That’s enough talk.
I’d collected enough opinions.
It’s just a ga.
If public opinion turns around because of it, great. If it doesn’t, whatever.
Personally, I think it’s going to boost my image.
After that, I had a one-on-one with Foxgas, free from all the background noise.
Foxgas.
He lacks technical skill, but he has a good sense for things.
"My dream is to recreate every one of Skelton’s battles. So of it’s been drawn in Filkrum’s comics, but that’s not enough. I’m planning to include as many monster types as possible, and even make up a few for dramatic scenes."
And just like that, a week passed in a flash.
The beta test for Skelton’s Monster Battle went live.
True to all the viral marketing and forum hype, it exploded. People flooded the Dead Internet trying to play it.
It was so bad, the entire regional network briefly crashed.
That’s Foxgas for you.
I an, he did use my na—so maybe it’s not that surprising.
Getting attention is the hardest part of anything in this world.
But once you’ve got it? You can do anything.
Foxgas’ new title had it from the start.
That’s all that matters, isn’t it?
Still, it’d be rude not to check in on the online reaction.
Thinking that, I headed over to the Skelton’s Monster Battle forum.
Contrary to Cheon Young-jae’s concerns, the response wasn’t bad.
Sure, the ga’s old-school and a little clunky, but most people felt it struck a decent balance given today’s tech and constraints.
Unfortunately, there was no info yet about the “broken” character Skelton.
Apparently, it’s not included in the beta—still in developnt.
The one original feature Foxgas poured his heart into—Monster Battle—was getting panned, just as we expected.
That’s Foxgas for you. All passion, no execution.
Still, that beta test brought unexpected luck.
"Oh! Hunter Park!"
Jeon Si-hoon contacted first.
"I heard you're in that new ga? Totally caught off guard!"
He may be hiding his claws, but Jeon Si-hoon is destined to be the king of Seoul.
Reaching out to him myself would’ve been awkward—but if he contacts first? That’s an opportunity.
It ans I can ask him for help without groveling. No damage to my pride.
"Ah, seriously? They implented Intimidating and even Skelping? That’s insane. I’ve only heard about it, never actually seen it in action. Wow. I didn’t expect much since it’s such an old ga, but to see classic Hunter technique brought back like that—it got my blood pumping!"
I steered the conversation exactly where I wanted it.
"Paju Rift?"
Thanks to info gathered through a soldier tied to Defender, I’d learned that Yoo Yang-seo’s faction was obsessively policing the area around the Rift.
Apparently, 80% of the surveillance equipnt near the Rift was aid not at monsters—but at people.
That alone showed her hostility.
She had no intention of letting anyone near it.
aning: contrary to my plan, I couldn’t go in alone.
So I’d have to change tactics.
And the easiest, safest option?
Call in a powerful friend.
"Yeah. Ms. Yoo Yang-seo’s guarding it right now—but she’s not inside it or anything. Oh... Are you interested in what’s in there?"
Teaming up with Jeon Si-hoon is distasteful, but realistically, it’s the best option.
Foxgas’ new ga pulled off sothing big.
If Jeon hadn’t reached out first, I would’ve had to approach him—and that probably would’ve led to so pretty unfavorable terms.
We set a eting.
Details could wait till we spoke face-to-face.
“...”
After the call ended, a bitter taste lingered in my mouth, impossible to explain.
I stared into space, hollow.
Not sure how much ti passed.
Then—hurried footsteps in the hall.
Cheon Young-jae.
“Senpai! It’s bad!”
Of course.
With a faint sigh of relief, I smiled weakly and asked the junior I could always count on,
“What is it?”
“Check this out.”
He shoved his phone screen in front of .
I looked.
“...What is this?”
News of a new ga release.
Not from Foxgas—a third-party developer.
“You’re making too big a deal out of this.”
“Look at the quality! It makes that crap ga look like garbage!”
I stared at the screen in silence.
Looking closely, I had to admit...
It’s lacking.
No—it's just not enough.
“...”
But here we are.
Only one thing left to say.
“...Hmph. Is it really that bad?”
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