Scenario 101

I picked up my phone.

A reply.

Finally.

I unlocked the screen.

And immediately regretted having hope.

『SwordSaint 《Lmao.》』

That was it.

One word.

Two letters of effort.

Humanity had achieved countless technological miracles, yet somehow the greatest accomplishment of my life received the same reaction as someone announcing they bought a sandwich.

I stared at the message.

Then another appeared.

『MageKing 《Fake.》』

I raised an eyebrow.

Fake?

After one hundred scenarios?

I opened my mouth slightly.

Then laughed.

Of course.

The internet had to do what the internet did best.

Doubt everything.

In this day and age, if it wasn't AI, then it wasn't real.

『ArcherQueen 《No way. Nobody has 100%.》』

Yeah. But I do.

『DarkKnight 《Scenario 14 alone took me three months.》』

"Not everyone is as bad as you." I muttered. 

『MageKing 《Unless @NK somehow hacked the game.》』

I sighed.

There it was.

The accusation.

The sacred tradition of online communities.

Someone accomplishes something impressive and the first instinct isn't celebration.

It's conspiracy.

I walked back to my chair and sat down.

My fingers moved across the keyboard.

Click. 

Click.

I took pictures of the screen.

『Rei: Hacking? Seriously?』

『Noctivar: I know I would 👍』

I attached the pictures.

The achievement page.

The completion statistics.

The inventory.

The impossible collection of items gathered from years of playing.

Then I attached the one thing nobody could argue with.

The final achievement.

『Hero Chronicle』

WORLD COMPLETIONIST

Requirements: Complete every scenario.

Status: Completed.

The chat went silent.

For exactly seven seconds.

Then...

『SwordSaint 《Wait.》』

『MageKing 《Hold on.》』

"Get it now?"

『ArcherQueen 《That's real?》』

I smiled.

A small one.

Not because I wanted to brag.

Okay.

Maybe a little because I wanted to brag.

Everyone who played Hero Chronicle understood.

This wasn't just a game.

It was a mountain of a hundred roads.

And I had climbed it.

『DarkKnight 《How?》. 』

『MageKing. 《Seriously. How did you clear the whole game. And even acquire all items!》

I leaned back.

My hunger suddenly became less important.

Food had lost against gaming.

『Rei: 《A lot of patience.》』

I typed.

Then deleted it.

It was too humble.

Nobody believed humble gamers anyway.

『Rei: 《A lot of suffering.》』

That was closer.

The chat exploded.

Messages flew faster than I could read.

Then...

A new notification appeared.

A different colour.

A different name.

In fact, it was instantly pinned. 

『Moderator 《Everyone, calm down.》』

The flood of messages slowed.

『Moderator 《We've checked the achievement data.》』

A pause.

Then another message.

『Moderator 《It's legitimate.》』

The chat froze.

『Player: MageKing 《Wait what?¡』

『SwordSaint 《A mod confirmed it?》』

『Moderator 《Yes.》

Another pause.

『Moderator 《@Rei.》』

My eyes narrowed.

Why did that feel strangely serious?

『Rei: 《Yeah?》』

The response came almost immediately.

『Moderator «Check your private messages.»』

I frowned.

Private messages?

I opened them.

One new message.

『Hero Chronicle Development Team』

For a moment, I just stared.

A developer?

Me?

I looked around my room.

The same small apartment.

The same old chair.

The same empty food wrappers sitting beside my desk like evidence of poor life choices.

And now a developer from one of the biggest fantasy games in the world was messaging me.

I opened it.

『Developer 《Congratulations, Rei. We've been monitoring your progress for some time.》』

I blinked.

Monitoring?

『《Is this some kind of official congratulations message?》』

The reply came quickly.

『Developer 《Something like that.》』

I waited.

The typing indicator appeared.

Disappeared.

Appeared again.

Then...

『Developer 《May I ask you something?》』

I leaned closer.

『《Sure.》』

A few seconds passed.

Then:

『Developer 《How much do you love Hero Chronicle?》』

I stared at the question.

That was...

Unexpected.

Love?

It was a strong word.

I had expected some other types of questions, not:

"How did you complete it?"

Not:

"Can we interview you?"

Not:

"Would you like some exclusive merchandise?"

Just...

How much do you love it?

I smiled.

My fingers rested on the keyboard.

Because that question was easy.

Too easy.

『Rei《A lot.》』

I paused.

Then continued.

『Rei 《More than I probably should.》』

A reply appeared.

『Developer «Why?»』

I looked toward the monitor.

The credits were still rolling.

The final scene played silently.

The hero standing before the restored kingdom.

The companions smiling.

The world finally at peace.

A world I had spent hundreds of hours inside.

『Rei 《Because it made me feel like I was actually there.》

I typed slowly.

『Rei 《Because every character felt alive.》』

『Rei 《Because every victory mattered.》』

『Rei 《Because even after knowing every secret...》』

I smiled.

『Rei 《I still wanted to see what happened next. This game. It's become my world. I've completed all scenarios and saved it a hundred times. And I'd do it all over again.》』

The typing indicator appeared.

This time...

It stayed longer.

Then:

『Developer 《Perfect.》』

My smile faded slightly.

"Perfect?"

『Developer 《Then you are exactly who we were waiting for.》』

I sat up.

『Rei 《Waiting for?》』

No answer.

Instead...

My monitor flickered.

I looked up.

The credits stopped.

The screen went black.

"Seriously?"

I tapped the keyboard.

Nothing.

Then...

A sound.

A familiar one.

The sound that played every time Hero Chronicle started.

The title music.

Words appeared.

Slowly.

One by one.

【CONGRATULATIONS, PLAYER.】

【ALL KNOWN SCENARIOS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED.】

I held my breath.

A second line appeared.

【NEW SCENARIO DETECTED.】

My fingers tightened around the mouse.

"Impossible."

The game had ended.

I had seen the ending.

I had completed everything.

All one hundred created scenarios. It's not possible, I completed all scenarios, how?

Then the final message appeared.

Bigger.

Brighter.

Impossible.

【SCENARIO 101】

【DIFFICULTY: REALITY】

The room became silent.

My phone buzzed.

One final message.

From the developer.

『Developer 《Let's see if you can complete the next one.》』

【BEGIN?】

「Y/N」

My heart skipped a beat. "A new scenario? Specially made for me? To save Chronix for the 101st time? Always."

I jumped over to the computer. I choose 'yes'.

But......the screen went blank. "What? A crash? What was that all-"

The room flickered.

My desk bent.

The walls rippled like reflections on water.

My heartbeat thundered.

"What...?"

Every light in the apartment went out.

The monitor became the only thing left.

White.

Blindingly white.

Then...

Darkness took me.