Chapter 13

The Apocalypse Game I Created Became Reality Chapter 13

- Come on, what kind of meetup?

I played hard to get for no reason.

I knew well enough that they were trustworthy people after spending quite a lot of time with them.

‘But still.’

Meeting people from a game in real life.

‘I’ve never done anything like that before.’

More importantly, this wasn’t an ordinary situation right now.

If I was going to prepare for the end, every minute and second was precious.

And yet, an offline meetup?

‘Is it really okay for me to be doing this right now?’

It was only natural that I would think that way.

And there was another important problem.

‘Because an apocalypse can make even people you already know completely change.’

Bzzzt.

The notifications kept coming.

「Last Protocol Guild Open Group Chat」

- VegetableCracker: What, so we’re just ending our relationship like this?

- PeninsulaPrince: Yeah! Let’s have a meetup.

- VegetableCracker: Human, is it because you’re ugly? It’s okay. Hyung will understand even if Human is hideous.

- PeninsulaPrince: lololololol

I let out a hollow laugh for no reason.

- What are you talking about? No one’s ever called me ugly anywhere.

- VegetableCracker: So that means you’re not handsome either?

- PeninsulaPrince: You’re basically Human’s personal bully lololol

- I should just stop talking.

- VegetableCracker: Come on, just show up. There’s a good barbecue place around Hapjeong. How about there? You all said you live in Seoul.

- PeninsulaPrince: Since we’re at it, how about this weekend?

- VegetableCracker: I’m in.

- Why is this moving so fast...

- VegetableCracker: Because if we put it off, we probably won’t do it at all?

That was true.

- PeninsulaPrince: But why has Lucifer been quiet this whole time?

- VegetableCracker: Probably sleeping or something. He’ll see it later and come if he wants?

- PeninsulaPrince: I’ll assume the time is after work?

- VegetableCracker: Okay.

And just like that, our first meetup was suddenly decided.

___________

Bzzzt!

Not long after the group chat notifications stopped, my phone rang again.

“Huh?”

It was a number I knew.

「(Company) Development Team Assistant Manager Shin Ha-eun」

One of the few numbers I hadn’t blocked.

“Hmm...”

After thinking for a moment, I pressed the call button.

“Hello.”

- Manager Baek!

Soon, a familiar woman’s voice came through the phone.

“Ha-eun.”

Shin Ha-eun.

The youngest planner on our team.

The person who had worked on the same team as me until the very end when I was still at the company.

She was much younger than me, and someone who could barely get a word out during meetings.

‘She was diligent, like you’d expect from the youngest member.’

I had a good impression of Shin Ha-eun.

She was an employee who stayed up all night organizing data, fixed tool errors, and followed the structure I gave her for planning documents all the way through.

“What’s with the sudden call?”

- Well, I don’t know if you heard, but our team was disbanded this time.

Of course, it was something I had fully expected.

‘The game shut down.’

There was naturally no reason for the team to remain.

Still, actually hearing it made me feel strange.

- It’s just... now that everything’s over, I kept thinking about you, Manager Baek. So I called even though I knew it might be rude.

“...You were thinking about me?”

- Yes. Because I know better than anyone just how much of yourself you poured into that game.

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

‘That’s kind of touching...’

I quickly composed my expression and spoke.

“Ha-eun, it’s late, but you really worked hard.”

-...

The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.

-...That’s what I should be saying. Thank you sincerely for helping me so much. And I’m sorry. I should have contacted you sooner...

“It’s okay. It’s not like I left under good circumstances. More importantly, you must have been overwhelmed all this time too.”

- That’s true, but...

“No matter what team you go to from now on, you’ll do well, Ha-eun.”

- Manager Baek...

For a moment, Shin Ha-eun’s voice trembled slightly.

- Could you... tell me?

“Tell you what?”

- Something happened between you and the CEO, didn’t it?

“...”

My expression hardened on its own.

- Even if the game was declining, it was strange that they suddenly blamed you like that, Manager Baek. The atmosphere was strange too. And most importantly...

After a brief silence.

Bzzzt!

A KakaoTalk notification arrived on my phone.

It was a link from Shin Ha-eun.

- First, take a look at this.

I switched to speakerphone and immediately opened the link.

It was Blind×, an anonymous community used by office workers.

But the post the link led to seemed strangely familiar.

『 What’s wrong with MZs these days? feat. Story about a game company manager who confronted the CEO and quit. 』

“...”

Just from the title, I could instinctively tell who it was targeting and who had written it.

‘Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jeong?’

The post was crude, and the malice was obvious.

An employee who quit to avoid responsibility for a failed project.

Someone who might leak internal company information outside.

A person who emotionally confronted the CEO and stormed out.

It even described me, the sum total of all those things, as someone pretending to be a victim.

There was no real name, but it was written so that anyone who knew the situation could figure it out.

‘Did she make the first move because she felt guilty?’

She probably struck first because she was worried I might do something.

- Manager Baek.

Shin Ha-eun’s cautious voice came through.

- I know. You’re not the kind of person who would do this.

I silently looked down at the screen.

Even then, comments kept appearing.

ㄴ MZs these days are seriously legendary lololol

ㄴ Usually people like that think they’re the only victim.

ㄴ Didn’t he just run away after the project failed?

ㄴ I feel sorry for the CEO who hired that employee.

I quietly exhaled.

“Ha-eun, first, thank you for thinking well of me.”

-...Because it’s true.

“And...”

I thought for a moment.

Should I say this?

Would it be better not to?

But Shin Ha-eun had been an employee on our team.

‘She called because she was worried. At the very least, I should warn her.’

Eventually, I made up my mind.

“Ha-eun, do you remember the Last Protocol prologue events?”

- Huh? The prologue events? Hmm... not exactly. I mainly handled the mid- to late-game balance tables...

“Read through them carefully once.”

-...The prologue events?

“Yes.”

- Why all of a sudden...?

“Don’t ask why. They’ll definitely help you later.”

I could hear her confused breathing continuing over the phone.

- Manager Baek, nothing happened to you, right?

“Not yet.”

Not yet.

For some reason, my breathing felt heavy as I said those words.

Honestly, with the world about to end, how important could my reputation possibly be?

Still,

“And... I’ll handle that post myself.”

With the world ending, there was no reason to worry about what came afterward either.

- Are you really going to be okay?

“Yes.”

- If you need my help, please tell me anytime. If it’s something I can help with, I’ll do anything!

“Thank you.”

I roughly finished saying goodbye and ended the call.

“...”

Then I stared at the screen for a while.

A crude post.

Malicious insinuations.

A cowardly first strike.

“...Fine.”

I immediately opened the Blind× app.

I had an account.

I had created it while working at the company and barely used it.

Click.

I pressed the write-post button.

First, the title.

『(Link) Hello. I’m the person being targeted in this post.』

I didn’t write emotionally.

That would be the wrong way to handle it.

When responding to crude writing like that, reason had to come before anger.

I calmly continued writing.

- It’s true that the game failed.

- Last Protocol was a commercial failure.

- I am not free from responsibility for that either.

- However, I did not quit because of the game’s failure.

- Before resigning, I witnessed an inappropriate relationship between the CEO and an employee from the accounting team.

- After that, the CEO subjected me to abnormal work pressure and effectively pushed me to resign.

- Afterward, I was contacted by someone connected to the company who brought up confidentiality and defamation.

- I have never posted anything on Blind, but since a post targeting me in an identifiable way was uploaded first, I am leaving the facts here.

I read through the post again.

I removed as much emotion as possible.

But I included everything that needed to be included.

The CEO, the accounting team, inappropriate relationship, pressure to resign, threats about confidentiality, intimidation about defamation.

‘I recorded my call with Assistant Manager Lee Hye-jeong because I expected something like this might happen.’

If necessary, I was willing to release that recording too, but this was enough for now.

“...Posting.”

Click.

The post I uploaded quickly drew reactions.

ㄴ Wow, this is actually real??

ㄴ I can’t believe I’m seeing something in real life that sounds like it belongs in some erotic novel lolololol

ㄴ The CEO and accounting? I’ve heard that happens all the time at shitty small companies.

ㄴ But if it were me, I’d be furious. OP is writing this insanely calmly.

ㄴ Who wrote the earlier post lololol

ㄴ Obviously the accountant, right? Looks like she wrote it because she felt guilty.

ㄴ This is why when your intelligence is low...

ㄴ So what company is this?

ㄴ Can’t rule out the possibility that a ‘new company’ post is fabricated...

ㄴ Fake, fake, fake.

I didn’t read any more comments.

I simply put my phone down.

It wasn’t worth responding any further.

But a few minutes later.

Bzzzt!

Calls started coming in from an unknown number.

Naturally, I didn’t answer.

Bzzzt!

Then another number called.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

When I didn’t answer that one either, next came the company’s main number.

Team extensions, operations team, accounting team, it didn’t matter.

Instead of the personal numbers I had blocked, company numbers started calling like crazy.

“...”

I calmly opened the settings.

Block incoming calls.

Block.

Block again.

Every company-related number, blocked.

“Hmm.”

After blocking the final number, the workshop became quiet.

And with that, I felt just a little more relieved inside.

______________

A few days later.

A new notice was posted on the official Last Protocol website.

『Notice of Last Protocol Website Service Termination』

“...”

I stared at the title for a while.

The game servers had shut down, and now even the website was about to close.

‘The users’ final means of communication...’

Even after the service ended, people still occasionally came here to leave comments.

Comments continued under the notice too.

ㄴ Ah, this trash game. Now that it actually shut down, I’m bored.

ㄴ For real, I keep coming back and looking at the website for no reason.

ㄴ Coming here to curse at the dead game was content too.

ㄴ If they shut down the website too, then it’s really over. T_T

ㄴ Even our final memories...

Other comments below them also caught my eye.

ㄴ But won’t the game company regret this like crazy if Last Pro becomes reality?

ㄴ There are still people having fantasies like this.

ㄴ It feels like about a month has passed since Bermuda. Isn’t it about time for the next event?

ㄴ Arctic glacier microorganisms?

ㄴ If that shows up, I’ll believe it lololol

ㄴ But what if it doesn’t?

ㄴ Like that’s going to happen ah lololololol

And the day before the meetup.

The world quietly shook once again.

『Unidentified Microorganisms Never Before Discovered Detected Inside Arctic Glaciers.』

It was morning news.

Just a small article tucked away in the international section.

Polar research team, ice core, unidentified microorganisms...

“Ah.”

The moment I saw those words in the article, my hand stopped unconsciously.

「Day -151」

Because the second event I had feared had finally occurred.