Demon Lord, Does Even a Crap Game Have an Ending? - Chapter 1

“Crazy.”

 

[Chat] Shutting down less than a week after launch lol

 

[Chat] This is an unprecedented final boss in Korean history lol

 

<Aliento Saga>, a highly anticipated game developed with tens of billions of won in investment. Its beginning was grand, but its end was utterly tragic.

 

It became a hot topic as a highly anticipated game, despite being an open-world adventure game, because players could invite others into their own worlds to hunt or live together. Fractal Soft, the developer of <Aliento Saga>, was a small venture company according to corporate information lookup sites, which sparked reactions of half doubt and half surprise that such a small company could create a game of such vast volume. However, as if to quell those doubts.

 

[Company IN] Fractal Soft, ‘Implementing a system to reduce the amount of data directly managed by developing a high-intelligence AI algorithm’

 

—they quickly published an interview in a game magazine.

 

It was a unique game, different from the K-mass-produced game structure, and its corporate growth potential was recognized, leading major investment firms to invest one after another. Despite being a venture company, they were able to secure investments of a staggering scale.

 

However, from the very first day of its launch, it began to suffer from minor bugs.

 

[Chat] How can fixing it only lead to more bizarre bugs?

 

[Chat] Just don’t fix it. Please, I’m begging you.

 

And so it went for a week, until finally, what was bound to happen, happened.

 

[Must Read] [Notice] Hello. This is Aliento Saga.

 

[Emergency Maintenance]

 

Hello.

 

This is Aliento Saga, writing the final journey with our adventurers.

 

This is the developer’s official statement regarding the issue where the main story cannot be progressed due to the boss ‘Viscra ‘ having an abnormally high stat that does not match the recommended combat power.

 

While no data issues have been confirmed, it has been confirmed that the high-intelligence AI algorithm has rapidly learned user behavior. The responsible parties are investigating this from various angles.

 

We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our users. We will find the cause and resolve it as quickly as possible.

 

————-(Added 2021.2.22)

 

We, Fractal Soft, have determined that it is not feasible to continue the regular service of <Aliento Saga> and have decided to suspend service.

 

We will resume service as soon as the critical defects are resolved.

 

Thank you to all the adventurers who have shown great interest in <Aliento Saga> during this short time.

 

-Maintenance Period: 2021. 2. 22 ~ Until further notice (Revised 2021.2.22)

 

The official website’s bulletin board was, as expected, on fire.

 

[Chat] Three legendary swords appeared, and it’s an indefinite maintenance, that’s legendary.

 

[Chat] They said they were writing the final journey, and it was truly the final one.

 

[Chat] Hey, Poop-tal Soft, do you even want to make games?

 

Usually, these were mostly angry user complaints, but rumors also began to circulate.

 

[Chat] Current internal situation at Fractal Soft.txt

 

My friend works at Fractal Soft, and even their programmers can’t handle it, so they’re all writing incident reports and in chaos. Yes

 

[Comments/Expand]

 

Isn’t Fractal Soft a shell company? I went to their office last time, and Fractal Soft wasn’t in that building. Prove your friend works there.

 

Just saw your baseless speculation.

 

This is so hopeless lol They took the investment money and ran.

 

Shouldn’t we report them now and get the investment money back? D D

 

Do you think that’ll work?

 

‘Better yet, good.’

 

In a critical situation like this, they would desperately need to supplement their staff, and if I could even prove I’m someone who has actually played the game, I could at least get to the first interview.

 

…I am a jobless person in urgent need of employment.

 

The company I left, almost as if I was kicked out, by the person I once believed to be my soulmate. My severance pay was almost gone, so I desperately needed a job. I spun my mouse and immediately clicked the [Resume View Status] button on ‘GameIN’, a job site specializing in the game industry. The mascot of the GameIN site smiled brightly and pointed to the list below.

 

Resume status submitted by ‘Yoo Ja-hyun’.

 

-Fractal Soft | System Planner | Submitted 2020.12.26.

 

[Viewed Resume 2021.1.1] [Delete Application X]

 

It was the first game that made my heart race just from the teaser. Before the launch of Aliento Saga, I found the job posting and quickly organized my portfolio and uploaded it. After they viewed it, there was no further news.

 

‘What, if I’m rejected, shouldn’t they at least tell me?’

 

‘Is there an insider?’

 

‘Are they just posting the announcement and pretending to hire?’

 

As a job seeker, I was sensitive, but I started to understand that they couldn’t respond due to the arduous launch preparations and bug fixes.

 

‘Let’s add a proposal to my portfolio!’

 

Creating a proposal that praises the game and humbly suggests how to improve its current issues would be a good appeal. The company might not accept this idea 100%, or they might even think it’s presumptuous, but if it aligns with the company’s development direction, it would surely be seen positively as proof of my keen interest in Aliento Saga. Naturally, it’s much better for a company to hire someone with a high understanding of their own game.

 

‘Wait, the game is shut down, how can I gather points for improvement?’

 

Idiot! I spent the entire week it was serviced without much thought, only to realize it belatedly. Who would have expected such a sudden shutdown? I tried to recall my memories from playing it for that week, but I discarded it, knowing that writing unclear information based on memory could be a disadvantage.

 

‘Should I refer to what others posted on the bug report board?’

 

I accessed the official website again. Let’s see if there’s anything useful. Like not being able to hold a weapon after using the Spinning Kick skill, or how the equipped weapon would also fly away if you picked up and threw an object.

 

‘…Even after thinking about it, it’s a strange bug.’

 

Even after scrolling through hundreds of pages, I couldn’t find what I was looking for, only minor bugs and a barrage of insults directed at the developer.

 

‘It seems playing it myself is the best option.’

 

Getting impatient, I tapped the mouse with my fingernail, making a clicking sound. With no other recourse, I just scrolled through the thread titles.

 

[Chat] Alpha Server ☜ Click | Views 0

 

A post with 0 views caught my eye. It seems it has some traction, even attracting random spam. Naturally, people wouldn’t want to click on such an obvious title, so the 0 views accurately reflected people’s psychology, making it seem pathetic. I thought it would have been better to use a more provocative sentence to grab attention.

 

‘If only I could actually access the internal development server, the Alpha Server.’

 

There was a 99.9% chance it was spam, but I clicked it with the desperation of someone grasping at straws.

 

[Chat] Alpha Server ☜ Click

 

♠How to connect Alpha Sever♠

 

0 AlientoSaga(Alpha).exe [Download]

 

‘…There’s a ridiculously suspicious file here.’

 

A faint chuckle escaped me. Even if I ran the executable, it would probably be crude spam, but curiosity, like an unwelcome guest, suddenly appeared. Even though I would normally ignore such content, the unsolvable situation seemed to be pushing me towards this impulse. I downloaded and ran the file while taking a long gulp of cheap coffee I bought from a convenience store.

 

‘Come to think of it, it could be ransomware? Am I screwed?’

 

Contrary to a fleeting worry, a bright light slowly spread, revealing the back of a figure gazing at a sunset horizon, and the familiar main screen of Aliento Saga appeared.

 

“Phew….”

 

I let out a long sigh of relief. Rather than an Alpha Server, did they create a private server? Usually, when a game is shut down, domestic users who can no longer play it extract the source code and resources from the client, build their own server, and operate it, which is called a ‘private server’. Since they declared a temporary service suspension, I wondered if they had quickly set one up. However, extracting the client or building and operating a server as an individual is clearly a criminal act of stealing copyrighted material.

 

“Tsk tsk. They’ve got some nerve.”

 

They were probably trying to lure users to their server with this bait, but it seems it didn’t get much attention because it smelled so overtly like spam.

 

‘But what should I do about this?’

 

I knew it was an illegal act, but I had a strong desire to check just a few things. I wanted to gather information by actually playing it.

 

‘Developers, I’m sorry. I’ll just look a little.’

 

Apologizing profusely in my heart, I clicked the [LOGIN] button. Normally, the figure looking at the horizon would zoom in, then turn to face the player, leading to the customization UI.

 

─Bang!

 

“Huh?”

 

A popping sound came from what I assumed was the monitor or the PC tower. I guess I’m being punished for having bad intentions. The monitor went dark in the silent stillness, only its power lamp blinking.

 

“What if all my meticulously collected data and portfolio are gone? I’m going to lose it!”

 

More than anything, I was worried about my data. Soon, with a tick sound, the monitor turned back on, but instead of being welcomed, something felt wrong. A murky, iridescent light, like oil mixed with water, filled the screen and rippled with an unpleasant motion.

 

“What’s wrong? How do I turn it off?”

 

If I unplugged it, I felt like it would really break, and even pressing the force shutdown key yielded no response. After staring at it for a long time, I felt nauseous and my head throbbed. Was it stress, or drinking coffee on an empty stomach? I never got motion sickness even playing first-person games, but I felt strangely nauseous and weak. I decided to get up, thinking I needed to clear my head by drinking some cold water.

 

“Wait, am I really feeling unwell?”

 

The moment I moved away from my desk and put my foot down, my vision spun as if the world had flipped upside down. As the floor and my vision rapidly approached, I heard a dull thud as my head hit the ground. However, my entire body’s nerves seemed to shut down, my vision went black, and I felt no pain.

 

＊＊＊

 

A musty, strange smell pricked my nostrils, unlike anything I had ever smelled before. Was my body slowly regaining its senses?

 

‘What was I doing that I fell asleep? Right I fainted.’

 

Lately, I haven’t been eating enough due to lack of money, to the point of malnutrition, but could it be because of that? I struggled to open my eyelids, which felt as if they had glue on them, wondering how long I had been unconscious. I wanted to fall back asleep just like this, but if I had a concussion from falling, it would be a big problem, so I needed to check my condition.

 

‘Huh?’

 

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a metal chandelier with blue flames flickering directly in front of me. There’s no way I have something like that in my house. Who would be foolish enough to put a giant chandelier in a studio apartment where I can barely fit my body? Come to think of it, the cozy, earthy-toned floor and the floral wallpaper, which were a testament to the landlord’s taste, were nowhere to be seen, only bleak gray bricks.

 

It looks…

 

‘Like the Demon King’s Castle in Aliento Saga?’

 

I hadn’t gone to play it myself, but I had seen such scenery in promotional videos. While the ‘Demon King’ in RPGs is often depicted with red or green color schemes, Aliento Saga’s demon faction had blue as its key color, which was impressive. The cold sensation on my palm naturally drew my gaze downward.

 

“A skull?!”

 

Upon closer inspection, it was a skull-shaped ornament embedded with blue gems. I had clearly fallen, but I was sitting in a strange chair. Moreover, my hands, which came into view belatedly, looked incredibly pale.

 

‘Could it be that I’m dead?’

 

Although cases of lonely deaths among young adults in their 20s and 30s have increased recently, I never thought I’d be the subject of such news. As I moved my arms around, chains attached to my clothes jingled. I was wearing a satin shirt with multiple layers of fabric and something like a coat. They say people usually remain as they were when they died, but my clothes were too elaborate for someone who had just died. A sense of unease washed over me, and I wanted to check my appearance.

 

I thought a well-polished metal plate on the wall could serve as a mirror, so I rushed towards it.

 

“…Unbelievable.”

 

It wasn’t the me I knew. A stranger’s face was looking back at me. A man with piercing, bright yellow eyes and white, pointed ears.

 

I had seen this appearance before.

 

—Not anywhere else, but in the promotional video for Aliento Saga.

 

“This… this is the Demon King.”