Chapter 19

The Apocalypse Game I Created Became Reality Chapter 19

- Not yet. What’s up?

I sent a short reply.

A moment later, another message came.

- DemonKingLucifer: I was wondering what you think about the idea that the game is becoming reality.

“...?”

Confusion spread across my face.

Why ask something like that in a private message instead of the group chat?

I sent that exact question back.

- Why are you asking me in private?

- DemonKingLucifer: I told you. I’m curious what you think.

- What I think?

- DemonKingLucifer: Yeah.

My fingers stopped.

DemonKingLucifer.

Number one in combat power in the game.

The insane battle maniac who charged in saying he would beat Ghoul King to death by himself.

‘There’s no way to know what goes on inside this guy’s head.’

I sighed and gave a vague answer.

- Hard to say.

- DemonKingLucifer: You don’t have to overthink it. Just tell me honestly.

-...If I had to answer, half?

- DemonKingLucifer: So you half believe it?

- There’s still not enough evidence to believe it completely. But it’s too unsettling to dismiss either.

- DemonKingLucifer: Hmm... I see...

At this point, I couldn’t help asking too.

- But why did you want to know what I think?

Soon, an answer I never could have imagined came back.

- DemonKingLucifer: Aren’t you an employee from Last Pro?

“...!”

My eyes widened.

‘How?’

I had never told anyone my identity.

Not this guy, nor VegetableCracker or PeninsulaPrince.

I hadn’t even mentioned it at the real-life meetup.

To them, I was simply ‘OrdinaryHuman.’

Just another user who had enjoyed Last Protocol with them.

And yet.

- Why do you think that?

- DemonKingLucifer: We’ve played together for years. There were a lot of things that made me suspicious.

- Things that made you suspicious?

- DemonKingLucifer: First, the way you talk. Everyone else just says, ‘You can break through here like this.’ But you always said things like, ‘This section seems designed to guide players this way.’

- That’s because analyzing the developer’s intent makes strategies easier...

- DemonKingLucifer: You even called monsters by different names sometimes. You once called the Running One a Runner. And you called the Copycat a Mimic Ghoul before too.

I couldn’t reply for a while.

- DemonKingLucifer: There were a bunch of other suspicious things too... Want me to keep going?

At this point, I had no choice but to admit it.

This guy had a sharp side completely separate from his play style.

‘I thought he was the type to smash someone’s skull first if talking didn’t work.’

I sighed and asked honestly.

- Do you think the others noticed too?

- DemonKingLucifer: Hm? Not sure.

- DemonKingLucifer: As you know, they’re not as perceptive as I am haha

- DemonKingLucifer: If anything, they’re kind of slow.

- DemonKingLucifer: But judging by your reaction, I guess you really were a Last Pro employee.

- DemonKingLucifer: You weren’t an operator or something, right?

The one fortunate(?) thing was that he didn’t seem to know I had been Last Protocol’s lead planner.

‘If they found out I was the lead planner...’

How would they look at me?

Not now, but in the not-so-distant future.

If Last Protocol truly became reality.

At me, the person who created infected behavior patterns, designed kobold movement, structured the prologue events, and built the world where people would die.

‘Wouldn’t they think of me as humanity’s enemy?’

Honestly, even if they did, I wouldn’t have much to say.

Right afterward, I sent a more cautious reply.

- I was just a little involved.

- DemonKingLucifer: A little?

- You could say I was a kind of test user. I participated as a tester before the game officially launched, found bugs and things like that, and reported them to the company. Maybe that’s why I was more attached to the game than most people.

The excuse came out smoothly, as though my fingers had been greased.

- DemonKingLucifer: Ohhh, so that’s why whenever a new monster or scenario appeared, you always tried to dissect it from every angle. Unlike me, who just smashed its skull and moved on.

- Something like that.

- DemonKingLucifer: As expected, reliable haha

- DemonKingLucifer: I was actually worried. If the game becomes reality, I won’t be able to move around like I did in the game right away.

- DemonKingLucifer: If I’d known this would happen, maybe I should’ve gone to the meetup too?

His tone was still playful.

But the content itself was sincere.

- DemonKingLucifer: Human, if the world really ends, you can’t abandon me, okay?

-...All of a sudden?

- DemonKingLucifer: You know I’m useful!

- That confidence is the same in games and reality.

- DemonKingLucifer: It’s not confidence, it’s a fact haha

I snorted.

My heart had dropped a moment ago, but now I strangely felt relieved.

At least, unlike me, the other person didn’t seem to be lying.

‘Of course, I still can’t trust him completely.’

Then a new KakaoTalk message arrived.

- DemonKingLucifer: Anyway, thanks for telling me honestly.

I rubbed my chest, feeling strangely guilty.

- DemonKingLucifer: Sleep well, and next time let’s definitely meet.

- Yeah, you sleep well too.

After sending a short reply, I put my phone down.

‘Every day feels like walking on thin ice.’

Maybe this too was a precursor to the apocalypse.

____________

But the omens were only beginning.

Because the very next day, the news broke.

『<​Breaking News> One Soldier from a Military Unit Near Paju Deserts While Armed with a Firearm!』

Ordinary desertion and armed desertion carried completely different weight.

That was why the news was covering it so heavily as breaking news.

‘Looks like the military failed to cover it up.’

As a reservist who knew better than most how closed-off the military was, I sighed in frustration.

Then,

“...Hm?”

At some point, my hand stopped.

“Come to think of it, Paju is around here.”

Because my workshop was in Paju.

Of course, I had chosen the area deliberately.

After the apocalypse.

Whether the military units collapsed completely or some survived.

There was a chance weapons and equipment would remain amid the chaos.

“Let’s search for the details...”

As expected, Korea’s internet was incredibly fast.

Within just a few hours, related posts appeared across various online communities.

ㄴ Anyone see the article about the deserter in Paju?

ㄴ They said he left with a gun, damn.

ㄴ Armed desertion? Is that real?

ㄴ No way he took live ammunition too, right??

Up to this point, the comments were ordinary.

The problem came next.

ㄴ Someone inside the unit said the guy was completely insane.

ㄴ What, schizophrenia or something?

ㄴ No, apparently he’d been spouting nonsense for a while about some game becoming reality, then deserted.

ㄴ What kind of absolute bullshit is that?

ㄴ Was the game Last Protocol by any chance?

ㄴ You know about it??

ㄴ (YouTube link) It’s kind of trending online lately.

There was even a related video posted in the community.

“Hmm...”

It was a short clip, only about a minute long.

A shaky camera.

A dark alley.

In the distance, a man in military uniform was shouting over and over.

- You still don’t understand! The world of Last Protocol is coming! Bermuda! The Arctic! Animals are next! Everyone dies! I’m telling you, everyone dies!

- What kind of crazy shit are you talking about!?

- Hehehe, yeah, it sounds crazy now, doesn’t it? Go ahead and laugh. Then you’ll all become zombies together, and only then will you regret it so badly you’ll want to beat your heads against the ground. You fucking idiots...!

“...Crazy.”

The man in the video was completely worked up.

He was ranting in excitement as if he were some kind of prophet.

- I’m moving first! You think I’m going to stay trapped in the unit like an idiot and die? You people don’t know anything! I’m finding a way to survive!

Naturally, the comments on the post with the video exploded.

ㄴ Wow. Is this one of those doomers that are trending lately?

ㄴ So basically, he deserted because of one game?

ㄴ Calling it just one game is kind of unsettling at this point.

ㄴ For real, shouldn’t the game company make an official statement by now? This has become a social issue.

ㄴ The CEO himself should probably release an explanation. About how they predicted things that would happen in reality like some prophet.

Thump-thump-thump!

My heart sped up.

‘It finally happened.’

Someone who believed Last Protocol was becoming reality and actually acted on that belief.

And not just anyone, but an armed deserter whose every movement would draw attention.

Moreover,

‘It’s exactly like Last Pro.’

Even in the game, people started going insane before the world ended.

Not everyone calmly waited until D-Day.

People intoxicated by fear, people whose desire to survive spiraled out of control.

They were the first to shake the order.

Humans created the first cracks before the monsters even appeared.

『<​Breaking News> Military Authorities Tracking Missing Soldier』

『Nearby Residents Advised to Refrain from Going Outside』

『Claims of “Game Becoming Reality” Spread Online』

『Experts Warn Against “Excessive Conspiracy Theories”』

YouTube reacted quickly too.

『Deserted Because He Believed Last Protocol? Paju Military Incident Explained!』

『Game Prophecy Theory: How Much Should We Believe?』

『Young People Who Say the World Is Ending』

『Last Pro Reality Theory Causes First Social Incident』

The view counts were skyrocketing.

An armed soldier had deserted.

Residents were anxious.

The news covered it.

At that moment, the theory that Last Protocol was becoming reality was no longer just a topic within the gaming community.

‘Maybe I have far less time left than I thought.’

I looked out the window with a grave expression.

Paju.

Right around here.

The first bomb had gone off much closer than expected.

“I need to hide more, and prepare faster.”

The base, the information, and myself.

_____________

From that day onward, I accelerated my preparations for the end.

‘It’s about time to get a generator too. And prepare food in advance.’

Of course, even then, I spread out my deliveries across different times.

Just in case the neighbors found it strange.

‘The world isn’t collapsing right this second, but...’

People’s gazes were changing.

In all this confusion, what I needed to do was obvious.

‘Don’t waver. Calmly execute the plan.’

I didn’t stop VR training either.

Thanks to that, my experience points steadily accumulated.

Little by little, but surely.

“...Good.”

I looked at the plan posted on the wall.

D-146.

There was still time.

The problem was.

‘How long the world would hold together during that time.’

And the situation I had feared arrived much faster than I expected.

Bzzzt!

“...!”

The sudden vibration of my phone made my heart drop.

Because the person contacting me was that unexpected.

I had blocked most people from the company.

Except for one.

「Development Team Shin Ha-eun」

The youngest member of the Last Protocol development team.

I answered immediately.

“Ha-eun?”

The voice that came through the phone was low.

Cautious, and filled with deep tension.

- M-Manager Baek...

“What happened?”

-...

A brief silence.

Then, at the voice that followed, my heart sank.

- Something is strange at the company right now. Even some government officials showed up...