Prologue: Goodbye World

Here I am, a humble man in his twenties. I even managed to graduate school and land a job in the field I wanted. Sounds nice right-BULLSHIT! My life is crap, you don’t believe me just look at this!

“You got to be kidding me, what was she thinking when she designed this?”

I look over my computer, only to see the feeble and lifeless bodies of my co-workers. I don’t blame them, in a situation like ours anyone would act like a recluse. I stare over at my friend Taichi microwaving his food for lunch, Ha! That was a nice joke, we don’t even have lunch breaks! The poor guy has to eat his curry while working, not to mention he’s on book keeping duty now since the last guy quit. I look over at Hana who’s holding her head due to the fact that she’s our team’s only translator now. Then there’s Mado, poor Mado, the guy hasn’t been home in days. Look at that poor bastard, he fell asleep with his face on the printer again. God do I hate it here, why am I still working here?

That said, you’re probably wondering what my so-called nightmare job is. I’m a game developer, *sigh* is what I wish I could say. You see, once I graduated school I joined a small indie game development company. It was good at first, and I wasn’t alone. My fellow classmates Hana and Tai came with me, we shared the same aspiration. To create our own world one day, but before that we needed to make names for ourselves. We weathered the storms that came with being fresh meat, Mado acted as our mentor at first and taught us everything we needed to know. Eventually we were able to stand on our own, Tai and I would use our coding skill to keep the worlds we made running. Hana surprisingly made use of her hobby of learning new languages and became a member of the translation team. Thanks to the efforts of everyone in the company, our brand grew. Sadly egos began to grow as well.

The boss who was once a lover of games and the like started to become consumed by greed. He started skimming funds, and using them for himself and his family. He made sure to give his cronies a taste of the gold too, when everyone’s paychecks took a hit that’s when we knew something was wrong. We confronted him, which led to him threatening us and telling us that if we tried anything we’d go down with him. Those words were the ramblings of a madman, but his conviction in those words was what scared us. So we continued to work for this tyrant.

Things only got worse from there, the lunatic began making promises he couldn’t keep. Better games, higher graphics, more exploration! Sounds nice on paper, right? However, the idiots failed to notice one thing. All these things took time, he wanted us to produce results like this in no time at all. Games that needed at least two years before release, were sent into the world in just six months. Needless to say people were pissed, which led to us getting roasted online. Due to the stress on all sides, people began to quit resulting in the boss badmouthing them to potential hires. Even if he didn’t, considering our lackluster performance as of late, who would want someone from our brand in their group. Sheesh, what did we do to deserve this?

Now the office is a barren wasteland. The remaining workers look like zombies, most of our “overtime” goes unpaid, and the boss downsized our old luxury location to a cramped office space. We don’t even have a break room or two bathrooms, and all this just so he could pocket more funds for him.

“This is bullshit! What is that guy, some demon king or something. Maybe the hero should usurp his ass, that’ll serve him right.”

Crap, let me keep it down, I don’t want anyone to hear me. Not that anyone cares, after all the scepter isn’t here right now. Then again, I’m lucky to still be here. When the boss berated our recent sales and reviews I did something crazy, I spoke up against him. Big mistake, I was suspended from the project I was working on. Not to mention that my wages got garnished, and I got delegated to a bug tester position. It might not sound bad at first, but compared to the other jobs here being a bug tester is easy. Thanks to that I became a symbol of ridicule in the office, and gained the title of “Crap Cleaner”. Funny thing about being a bug tester, it’s not an easy job when the game in question is crap. These products aren’t games, their torture contraptions! And guess who’s the sole guy who has to check them, this guy!

I guess this is the only way for me to help the players, the least I can do is brave this hell and make sure they at least get something playable. That is, if the guys sleeping at those desks put in the work to fix these problems. Just like that, the door fly open and in came the king’s scepter. She walked in wearing her red blouse top, a designer black skirt and leggings, and her main brand high heels. I already can guess what this bitch is gonna tell me, but I got to say something.

“Suzune, you’ve gotta do something about this dungeon layout! The players won’t even be able to use the stairs to get to the next floor, meaning they can’t-”

“Sounds like a “you” problem, now then get to it Crap Cleaner.”

*Tch* I swear to god, I hate this woman. As stated before, we called Suzune the king’s scepter. The reason should be obvious, she’s an extension of the boss. It all started when the boss got stress due to the lower sales and money in his pockets. That’s when his goddess appeared, just like Nike the goddess of victory, Suzune came and injected hope back into his eyes. Rather, she injected it into his pants. Suzune is a gold digger, she doesn’t even know this job. She got in because she’s the niece of one of the bosses' cronies. If I had to take a guess her uncle put her up to this in order for him to take over the company. Despite being a pawn, she still flaunts her assets around like some kind of queen.

What’s worse is how that bitch ruined my friend's life. I looked over to see Hana struggling, she was such a bright girl too. Believe it or not, the boss had the hot’s for Hana but she wasn’t interested. Suzune took this as a challenge, so using the boss’ influence she made her life a living hell. What’s worse, due to Suzune’s pressure, the translation department became what it is today. In the end, Hana stopped smiling and became a victim like the rest of us. I swear, if I had any power I’d-

“Don’t make that face, you’ll get frown lines.”

“Tai, why do you always do that?”

Taichi, or as I like to call him Tai, showed up to my desk and pressed a can of cold brew on my head. These cans of cold coffee have slowly become my lifeline. Still why is Tai here, he has work to do?

“Tai you shouldn’t be here, if Suzune spots you-”

“Fuck Suzune, right now I wanna talk to my bud. Besides you and I both know she’s not coming outta her room.”

Despite being the leader of stage development, Suzune never guides her team and instead leaves them with no direction. I can’t help but sigh as I crack open the can and start sipping the coffee. I then turn to Tai and ask him his thoughts on this.

“Tai, what do you think?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you think we’ll ever make that world we dreamed of?”

Tai stared at me for a moment and then looked away with a distant gaze. He then looked back and answered.

“I’m honestly not too sure anymore.”

“Yeah, same here buddy.”

“Maybe if we pray a hero will come save us.”

“Yeah, one with bikini armor and huge tits. Just the way you like em’, right Tai!”

“Heh, you always know how to bug me. Don’t you!”

We shared our first real laugh in months, and with that Tai waltz back to his desk and got back to work. I missed moments like that. I wanted to be with them so badly, but because of my situation I told him and Hana to stay away. What I wouldn’t give to go back in time and stop myself from making that decision. Shit, I’d stop myself from joining this shitty game company. Maybe Tai was right, maybe if I pray with all Otaku heart something good will happen.

“Shenron, if you can hear me, please let something amazing happen!”

I whispered that to myself like a prayer, then I chuckled. As if something like that would cause something to shift in this crumbling and rundown place called an offi-

*SNAP*

“Huh?”

When I looked up something fell and hit my head, next thing I knew I felt a burning sensation enter my body. It was strange, I blinked and next thing I knew I was on the floor with Tai standing over me. Hana was telling people to call an ambulance and Suzune screamed in horror. I looked at Tai’s face covered in tears, hey buddy what are you doing. It’s not cool to cry, you gotta be strong for Hana…promise me that okay.

“I swear…you better…make…her…”

“*Sob* HEY! DON’T DO THIS DAMMIT! STILL WITH US!”

Sorry Taichi and you too Hana, I feel my life slipping away. God if you’re real, please take care of them. I’ll accept any fate as long as they get a better chance at life. Mom…Dad…Sorry, looks like you son is going first…I guess I’ll never make my world come true…