*
There’s a game called [Night Heart], which is exactly 10 years old, also known as [Knight Heart] in English.
A classic fantasy RPG.
With elegant prose, unique characters, and an interesting setting where the hero and demon king are not the same person. It was really popular. Even I, who didn’t really care for games, played it for three days straight.
When I first defeated the demon king, I was overjoyed.
To be honest, this story might sound outdated to people these days.
A human male who falls in love with a cursed dragon. A hero and a mage who evolve from childhood friends to lovers. It’s such a cliché game.
But I actually liked that about it.
The characters in the game would unknowingly gaze at each other’s faces or emphasize their uniqueness by calling each other by nicknames, matching their outfits to each other’s hair or eye colors.
I loved the tingling descriptions of emotions growing little by little.
I had never experienced love, but I memorized every successful romance route in the game.
My favorite character was the Nameless Saintess.
An NPC who endlessly cheered on the player with a bright smile.
Her signature heh heh laugh and cheerful demeanor.
People often said her name was a hint for a sequel.
Given that the game company loved easter eggs, it was a convincing thought.
A player found an ending that was incorporated into the main route, after all.
She was a saintess with wolf ears and a tail, as pure as a blank canvas.
In the game community, she was nicknamed “Saintess, the Platinum Wolf.”
Another title, “Blue Rose,” was given because of the text that said she had a fondness for the rich aroma of roses and the flower language of blue roses.
Back in the days when floppy disks and CDs were common.
That one game was my only refuge in life.
Looking back now, maybe nostalgia really is a thing.
[We will be releasing a sequel for everyone who enjoyed Night Heart!]
Yeah, I was happy until that came out.
“…Fuck.”
A pamphlet with [Black Heart] written on it.
A bitter taste filled my mouth. What were they thinking, deviating from the drift?
Most sequels are worse than their predecessors, and my favorite game was not spared from that rule.
My sight blurred. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have bought it. A solid brick system, a new character who barely breathes, a love story that turned into a mess.
I was completely baited. This must be how a fish flops around on the deck.
[Thanks to everyone’s support, our Fantasia game company was able to succeed! ( ˘ᗜ˘ ]
Don’t use emoticons. Where did the original creator go? I heard rumors they were stuck in the game company’s warehouse.
[The data you played in the previous work will be carried over!]
On top of that, they advertised something called [Inheritance System], claiming that the endings depend on which route you took in the previous work. A sequel starring the hero and mage couple.
They ended up getting married after being childhood friends. My heart raced. I could see those characters I loved again.
I recalled the illustration of the saintess imagining a wedding dress in the first part. She dreamed of being a pure white bride. It was adorable when her sleep talk turned into text.
[You wanted to see the afterstories of the original characters, right? (｡•̀ᴗ-✧]
I was tempted and bought it. Naturally, I inherited the save file from the original that had taken the saintess route.
When I was just a step away from the ending, a forced event occurred.
Suddenly, a crazed mage showed up and slaughtered the characters from the previous work in the CG.
[The hero and mage fled from the battle.]
[They believed their love was weak, and that was why they did so.]
[As a result, the party, having lost their strongest members, was annihilated.]
[They couldn’t even erect a gravestone. They couldn’t recover even one corpse.]
[Among them, the ‘Nameless’ saintess was a person who could not be listed on the list of the deceased.]
I squeezed my eyes shut. The malicious text was clearly intentional.
The text had been more provocative after the brutality had been softened to evade censorship.
This was definitely the work of a twisted creator. Killing off characters from the previous game just to highlight those from the sequel.
Ah, but thinking back, it wasn’t all of them. The hero and mage had eloped.
They seemed to have the thought, “If we kill a popular character, players will get mad at the villains!” as they cleanedly wiped them out.
I liked the original characters more than anyone else. The day I played the sequel, I couldn’t even drink water properly, yet I kept challenging it.
And I did it.
[Player Lee Soo-hyun has become the first in the world to defeat ‘Demon King of Truth Magic Hat’!]
“I finally did it!! Uh..? Why is this happening..?”
The event scene was the same.
Nothing was changing.
Forced death sentences popped up again, and the cruel text appeared once more.
This was already the 24th time I had seen this text. Just seeing it made my head hurt as I leaned my body against the backrest.
I sent an email complaint. I demanded to know why a different story was coming out when I had defeated the boss monster.
How long had it passed? The speakers rang with a ding—the notification sound came.
The game company replied.
[This is the creator of [Black Heart].]
[Yes, it is true that the ‘Grand Route’ achievement you inquired about is currently unimplemented!]
[How did you manage to defeat a boss we designed as impossible to conquer?!]
Was it? I sighed. All this game’s creator does is torture the users. I couldn’t quit since all my money was invested in the game.
[At this rate, we have no choice but to unveil what we’ve been preparing!]
Yeah, hurry up and give me the happy saintess after story. You’re really good at hiding easter eggs, for real.
[Thus, we will publicly unveil the final installment of the [Night Heart Trilogy]!]
Not that! When did it get longer again? With such sloppy work, is that why the story turned out like this?
[So to appreciate your hard work, we’d like to invite you to be a beta tester for our third installment. How does that sound?]
Just give me the ending. Is it another damn sequel? Absolutely not. How long did I suffer through the second part?
[Is it the saintess? If there’s a chance to save her this time?]
I froze. Even after twisting my body and enduring great hardship, I couldn’t save her. Is it really possible?
..No. That can’t be true. They’re the type to say, “We’ve put in an instant-death pattern!” if the boss gets defeated too quickly.
Get a grip.
[Thanks to you, Lee Soo-hyun, our Fantasia was able to distribute this game safely! It would have been impossible without you!]
Last time they gave out items. The first clear of the boss undoubtedly has its merits, but.. no, this must be a trap too.
[I never expected anyone would push through this just with controls!]
I’d rather trust the neighbor’s mutt than you.
[This work is a prequel to the original, focusing on the ‘past,’ not the future! You know that the protagonists of the original and sequel are from the same school, right?]
Not a sequel, but a past segment, a prequel?
[The subtitle of the third part is [Grand Hertz Academy]! How about it? Does it ring a bell?]
I blinked in disbelief.
This game creator might actually be more sincere about the original than I thought?
[It’s important to see if the inherited data functions well in that romantic fantasy academy as well.]
Then why is this still unimplemented?
[We can’t have any contradictions in the ‘story’ of the original and sequel, can we?]
[So, if you could perfectly replicate all the love you saw in parts one and two.]
[We’ll create an ending just for the saintess. And it’ll be the official ‘Grand Route Ending’!]
[What do you think? Aren’t you tempted? You’ve been ignoring everything except for the saintess route~]
..You perverts. How did you find out? Next time, I’m posting anonymously.
[Additionally, we’ll provide you with the global first-kill rewards! Congratulations!]
I scrolled down.
There was a game key consisting of letters and numbers and illustrations of in-game screenshots.
A photo of someone smiling with petals flying around, a photo of the protagonists of the original and sequel meeting.
And,
There was a picture of the saintess in a pure white dress, happily smiling.
Her eyes were slightly red, as if she had shed tears of joy.
Beside it, there was a small line that read, “This time, I will make you believe in love.”
The short catchphrase “Finally, the Grand Route Ending has been implemented!” followed immediately.
I swallowed hard. Is there any player who can resist something like this?
For starters, I certainly couldn’t.
─ For her happiness, please protect all the love that exists.
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