Chapter 1: Prologue - The First Bad Ending

[You have successfully completed the game. The ending will begin shortly.]

“It’s over...” I muttered, staring at the enormous Wormhole in the middle of the red sky. Ten years ago, the world had turned into a video game.

We had become “players” of the game who were assigned quests by the Game Masters, or the GMs, to proceed with the story. The game was obviously not for our own enjoyment.

It was for the distant beings living beyond the skies, or “the gods,” for whom we were forced to play this game. The gods chose which of the games to run by the countless GMs to participate in and enjoy. Some only watched, while others played the games themselves by designating their favorite player as their Avatar.

As a result, humanity went extinct.

I thought to myself, What a shitty game.

Of the countless games I had played, no game had been as atrocious as this one. What video game rewards your hard work with an apocalypse?

A bitter smile lingered on my face. I hoped to at least screw over those bastards. I stared into the black Wormhole. I could have entered the Wormhole if I had obtained divinity, but I was only given someone else’s Avatar. An Avatar could never acquire divinity because it was a borrowed identity. In other words, I had to live on by myself in this abandoned world.

I wondered what my god—the god that had made me their Avatar—would think of me. Would they make fun of me? Would they pity me? Or perhaps they would blame me for the final outcome?

[You have reached a Bad Ending: A lonely world.]

Instead of the gods blaming me, I heard the familiar voice of the system.

“A Bad Ending, you say…?”

It had a point; my current state was nothing but a bad ending. In hindsight, I might not have faced such an ending had I made a few different decisions as a player. But it’s no use crying over spilled milk.

[We commend you for clearing all quests alone!] All playthroughs will end shortly. Good game.]

So, this is it.

I held up my sword upon hearing the voice ringing in my ear. Now that I had been told, “Good game,” I must have had little left to do. There was no need to explain what had happened to a character whose service had ended. There was only one remaining answer. I neither wanted to nor was able to live alone in this world as the sole surviving human. Having reached my conclusion, I pointed the sword at myself.

Just when I was about to pierce my chest with the sword, an unexpected message appeared in the air.

[You have reached the end of your single-player playthrough. The DLC store is now available.]

“Huh...?” I was puzzled.

A DLC store? What's DLC?

The term was familiar to me, a former fan of console games. DLC stands for Downloadable Content, which refers to additional features you can download for use in the games. But why, all of a sudden? Curious, I quickly swiped open the window for more details. The explanation about the DLC store was extremely simple.

[You may use the available points to purchase DLCs that help you in the games.]

I could only afford to buy one piece of DLC at the moment—that’s right. Just one.

But the moment I found out what it was, my heart skipped a beat.

[Second playthrough package: You may start the game over. Several special bonuses will be unlocked. Price: 1,000,000 points]

[Other DLCs are not available at this time. They will be unlocked upon starting the second playthrough. Current balance: 1,700,000 points]

“A second playthrough package?”

A common feature in console games, it allows you to start the game over in order to acquire items you had not in the first playthrough or use a variety of special bonuses.

I pondered whether the gods were aware of this. If they had been, surely they wouldn't have allowed me to continue. Had the gods known, they would have opted for total oblivion of humanity rather than leave a final survivor alive. But then, I wondered why I had been given such a chance.

Wait…

In the beginning of “the game,” I had been given a property called “Single Player.” I had not taken this mode particularly seriously because it had come with no explanation or special benefits.

“Was this what they meant by single player?” This must be the case.

A joke feature that only works after you clear all rounds? Are you kidding me?

I grimaced and even wondered if I was seeing things. However, if I wasn’t being delusional, and if what I was seeing was true, one thing was clear: I could change this game.

I lifted my index finger and purchased the package from the DLC store without hesitation. The package cost 1 million points, and I had saved 1.7 million points throughout the game. I had a lot of unused points because I hadn’t used much in the late-game.

[You have purchased a second playthrough package. Special bonuses will be applied accordingly.]

[You may purchase more products at the DLC store once the second playthrough begins.]

The messages flickered in front of me, and my mind went blank.

“Please.”

I hoped the messages were true. If I could really start over, I would be able to undo my errors and change this garbage ending.

Just then, I felt my body float up and my consciousness fade away.

[Try to aim for a new ending in your second playthrough. Enjoy your game.]

With that, my first playthrough came to an end.