Chapter 14

The Apocalypse Game I Created Became Reality Chapter 14

I arrived ten minutes before the agreed time.

It was a habit of mine.

I was the same in games.

Arrive early, look around, detect potential dangers.

“...”

Standing in front of the restaurant, I looked around for a moment.

People on their way home from work, couples, office workers out for drinks, the smell of meat, laughter, the sound of cars passing by.

‘...It’s so normal.’

The world was this perfectly fine.

And yet, in about 150 days, the world would end.

I still couldn’t believe it.

Right then.

“OrdinaryHuman?”

“...!”

An unfamiliar voice pierced my ears.

But strangely, the way of speaking was familiar.

“Hmm.”

I turned my head.

Two men were standing where I looked.

The moment I saw them, I knew exactly who they were.

VegetableCracker and PeninsulaPrince.

But,

‘What the.’

They both looked far more normal than I expected.

“...”

I stared blankly at the two of them for a moment.

The first to speak was a man with a beard.

A black hoodie, an old leather jacket, and the faint scent of nicotine drifting from him.

His eyes were sharp, and his expression looked somewhat indifferent.

And yet, there was something about him that strangely put people at ease.

“Who are you?”

“VegetableCracker.”

“Seriously?”

“Why, shocked because I’m way more handsome than you expected?”

“No, handsome is...”

I naturally turned to the man beside him.

The guy receiving my gaze snorted.

As if he were used to people looking at him like that.

“I’m PeninsulaPrince.”

He held out one hand with a pleased expression.

‘He really lives up to his username.’

This guy was simply handsome.

Since he openly used the word prince in his username, I thought he was just someone deeply committed to the bit.

But no.

His face actually backed up the concept.

A neat shirt, tidy hair, pale skin, and striking features that would make anyone turn around for another look.

“What the. You both look way too normal...”

“I don’t know exactly what you mean by that, but this is the part where I’m supposed to be offended, right?”

“...It was a compliment.”

At this point, I was curious.

About what they thought of me too.

“But you’re more handsome than I expected too.”

“This is unexpected.”

At VegetableCracker’s words, PeninsulaPrince nodded as if he agreed.

“Pfft!”

Seeing their reactions made me laugh without meaning to.

It was strange.

They were clearly people I was meeting for the first time.

And yet, they didn’t feel like strangers at all.

“Let’s go inside first.”

We naturally headed into the restaurant.

“Should we introduce ourselves properly first? We can’t keep calling each other by cringeworthy game usernames in real life.”

VegetableCracker said that and introduced himself.

“I’m Kang Woo-jin. Thirty this year.”

“...Baek Yi-hyeon. I’m thirty too.”

“What? I was born in ’96 too. My name’s Han Ga-in.”

“...?”

For a moment, both our gazes turned toward PeninsulaPrince.

“What did you say your name was?”

“I knew I’d get this reaction again.”

PeninsulaPrince shrugged.

“Want to just call me Prince?”

“I’ll call you by your name, Mr. Han Ga-in.”

“You shouldn’t make fun of someone’s name. My parents gave it to me.”

“You’re pulling the Tallulah card here?”

VegetableCracker looked dumbfounded.

“But what about Lucifer?”

At my question, VegetableCracker checked his phone.

“Still hasn’t even read it.”

“Leaving us on unread kind of hurts. Maybe he’s shy?”

“That crazy combat fanatic?”

VegetableCracker scoffed at PeninsulaPrince’s question.

“If that guy’s shy, then Ghoul King is a vegetarian.”

“Well, forget the person who didn’t come. Let’s eat first.”

Soon, we ordered meat.

Pork belly, pork neck, pork skin, and even beer.

Honestly, I had barely touched alcohol lately.

There was no room to get drunk in my life these days.

But today was different.

‘It’s a special day in its own way.’

Yeah.

A few beers on a day like today should be fine.

“So, what have you guys been doing since the game shut down?”

After that, we talked about trivial things.

We talked about what we had been up to lately.

And reminisced about our memories from the game.

Then naturally, the topic shifted to Last Protocol.

“But did you guys hear about that?”

“Hear about what?”

“The story about the Last Protocol prologue events becoming reality.”

Flinch.

The atmosphere at the table stopped for the briefest moment.

Even VegetableCracker’s expression changed when he brought it up.

At this moment, even his eyes became unusually clear.

Sizzle.

I silently flipped the meat.

Oil splattered.

VegetableCracker continued.

“Bermuda?”

Immediately afterward, PeninsulaPrince picked it up.

“And the Arctic glaciers too.”

“Even the order matches.”

“To call it a coincidence.”

“It’s too exact?”

I looked back and forth between the two of them, who were perfectly in sync.

“What do you two think?”

“...”

A brief silence settled over us.

“Honestly, it makes you wonder what kind of coincidence this is.”

“It’s not like the game company is Nostradamus.”

“But the timing is strange. The prologue events start becoming reality as soon as the game dies.”

“Apparently, some Last Pro players are actually preparing too.”

What?

They were already preparing?

“Look at this.”

Immediately afterward, I looked at the phone VegetableCracker held out.

『 (Doomer Warning) Apocalypse Game Becomes Reality! 』

The view count was extremely low.

Maybe only a few hundred at most?

ㄴ You really put effort into talking nonsense lololololol

ㄴ There’s all kinds of bullshit out there.

ㄴ You have no talent. Quit YouTube.

Even the few comments were nothing but ridicule.

But.

“It feels too unsettling to dismiss as coincidence.”

As expected, these two seemed to think differently.

“Honestly, I’m of the opinion that we should make at least some minimal preparations.”

VegetableCracker, Kang Woo-jin, scratched his beard as he spoke.

“So you’re saying you believe this nonsense?”

“And you, PeninsulaPrince, no, Mr. Han Ga-in.”

“Pick one. It’s distracting.”

“Fine, Mr. Han Ga-in. You don’t believe any of this crap at all?”

“...Fifty-fifty.”

“What kind of vague answer is that? It’s not half seasoned, half fried chicken.”

“Honestly, building an air-raid shelter and preparing for the end because you believe this is too much.”

At this point, their opinions clashed.

And then,

“Human, what do you think?”

Naturally, the baton passed to me.

“I...”

After thinking for a moment, I sighed.

“I’m also on the side that thinks we should make at least minimal preparations.”

“Oh?”

VegetableCracker reacted with admiration, while PeninsulaPrince looked surprised.

“You never know.”

“Hmm...”

Once even I responded that we should prepare, PeninsulaPrince finally furrowed his brow.

“The reason I brought this up is that I thought maybe we should at least set up some kind of emergency contact network among ourselves.”

“An emergency contact network?”

“So if something actually happens, at least we can gather together immediately.”

At VegetableCracker’s continued words, I quietly looked down at my glass.

The foam on the beer was gradually disappearing.

‘Survive alone.’

Up until now, that had been my basic strategy.

Trust no one, hide my base, monopolize information, and steadily prepare for survival.

I thought that was the safest way.

But.

‘I can’t live alone forever.’

After all, there was a reason people called humans social animals.

Still, despite that,

‘...There’s one thing.’

For that to happen, there was one major obstacle I had to overcome.

‘I met these people for the first time today.’

Human beings show their true nature in a crisis.

So no matter what, I wanted to properly understand what kind of people they were before making a decision.

“...I agree that we should gather eventually, but I think individual play is the right choice in the beginning.”

“Hmm?”

I calmly continued toward VegetableCracker, who looked puzzled.

“Don’t you remember Last Protocol’s early-game structure?”

PeninsulaPrince immediately responded.

“Resource shortage?”

“Right. Securing supplies itself is brutal in the beginning. On top of that.”

I rubbed the rim of my glass with my finger.

From the start, I hadn’t designed Last Pro so that ‘grouping up early’ was the correct answer.

“Especially early on, the more people there are, the more dangerous it becomes.”

Only then did VegetableCracker’s gaze change slightly.

Being quick-witted, he seemed to understand immediately.

“Noise and smell?”

I nodded.

“Water runs out faster, food runs out faster, and the traces of daily life get bigger.”

Compared to the mid- and late-game, early-stage infected are weak.

Slow, dull, and with narrow fields of vision.

But in exchange, they were excessively sensitive to environmental stimuli.

You could say their hearing and sense of smell were much more developed than their vision.

‘I already finished testing that with a real precursor entity.’

On top of that.

“More importantly, the most dangerous thing in the early stages of Last Pro isn’t the infected themselves.”

“Then what?”

“Humans.”

“...!”

At my words, the two slowly nodded.

Almost at the same time, PeninsulaPrince let out a snort.

“But aren’t we being way too serious?”

“Why? You still don’t believe it?”

“More than that, it’s just funny that this is our first time meeting, and we’re having such a serious conversation about this.”

“Hmm, I guess that’s true. Should we just drink for now?”

“Let’s drink moderately and go somewhere else for round two. First round’s on me.”

“Oh, Prince, so cool.”

That day, I had a relaxed drinking session with the two of them for the first time in a long while.

But even then, the article about the Arctic glaciers kept lingering in my mind.

‘...The second event is over, so the third will come next.’

And when that happens, even more people will start to suspect something.

____________

By the time I returned to the workshop, it was close to midnight.

「Last Protocol Guild Open Group Chat」

Despite having spent all that time hanging out, I wondered what else a bunch of guys could possibly still have to say.

There were already more than a dozen notifications piled up.

Leaning back in my chair, I picked up my phone.

- DemonKingLucifer: Ah, I had something going on, so I only just checked KakaoTalk. Sry sry.

- PeninsulaPrince: You really didn’t check because you were busy, right?

- DemonKingLucifer: Yeah.

- VegetableCracker: Next time, you’re definitely coming, okay? At the second meetup.

- DemonKingLucifer: I’ll think about it haha

- PeninsulaPrince: Playing hard to get like hell. Anyone would think we were trying to pick you up.

- DemonKingLucifer: If this were a pickup, I wouldn’t even reply to you guys haha

- PeninsulaPrince:?

- DemonKingLucifer: I don’t even look at anyone unless he’s a handsome oppa.

- PeninsulaPrince: Handsome oppa my ass.

- VegetableCracker: Barf.

I snorted at the KakaoTalk conversation.

The chat continued.

- DemonKingLucifer: So, what did you talk about when you met today?

- PeninsulaPrince: Last Pro becoming reality?

- DemonKingLucifer: Huh? You actually believe that?

- VegetableCracker: Whether we believe it or not, it’s pretty unsettling that Arctic microorganisms showed up after Bermuda.

- DemonKingLucifer: That’s true.

Up to this point, it was simply an extension of the conversation we had earlier.

But.

- VegetableCracker: So, you know how the system gives you one random ability when you create a character in Last Pro?

- VegetableCracker: If the game becomes reality, would we actually be able to use abilities like that in real life too?

At that point, my finger stopped.

‘Come to think of it...’

In the game I created, characters randomly awaken an ability upon creation.

The problem was,

‘...Wait.’

I furrowed my brow.

That way of speaking, that reaction.

‘He’s asking like someone who still doesn’t know anything.’

The truth was, I still suspected the two of them.

That maybe they already took it as a given that the game was becoming reality and were subtly probing me.

After all, hadn’t I already seen something like a status window and even leveled up?

But.

‘Am I the only one who can see it?’

Experience points, leveling up, skill scrolls, and so on.

What if all of that wasn’t because I had awakened an ability.

‘Was I the only one who got them early? Like some kind of planner privilege?’

Or maybe it was a benefit granted to players who defeated precursor entities.

“...”

For a moment, the seriousness of the situation hit me hard.

It was possible.

I was both the lead developer and a player.

‘But Shin Ha-eun didn’t show any sign of anything like that...’

She was also an employee of the same game company as me.

And on the same planning team.

But even when I mentioned the prologue events, Shin Ha-eun hadn’t reacted in any unusual way.

‘Leaving that aside for now...’

Anyway, if players really awakened abilities, that would also be a problem.

The social chaos alone went without saying.

“...This is driving me crazy.”

I scratched my head without realizing it.

Because in an apocalypse, the thing you had to be even more careful of than infected was none other than ‘humans.’

The world would probably descend into chaos even if the law disappeared for just one day.

And yet the abilities humans awakened were truly bizarre.

There had been plenty of players who used abilities in ways so absurd that even I, who had developed the game, was impressed.

‘I have to deal with that stress again? In reality this time?’

If veteran players were spears, then I was a kind of shield.

Players pierced through the systems I created, and I constantly blocked them by adjusting the difficulty.

- DemonKingLucifer: If I really get an ability in real life, I hope it’s combat-related like in the game. I’d start by cracking open the skull of our department head who’s always glaring around like a creep.

I stared blankly at the screen for a long time.

‘If we really do awaken abilities... I hope mine is something decent too.’

I knew I shouldn’t, but deep down, I felt a little excited.

‘...No, you idiot, you shouldn’t be excited.’

Eventually, I put down the phone and sighed.

‘Because that day will be the day the world ends.’

『 D-150 』

My gaze naturally turned toward the calendar.

Even at this very moment, time was moving quickly.