Chapter 111

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Is this Moondae? Is it Moondae?”

Park Moondae’s fansite master muttered to herself unknowingly while touching the screen. Because the characteristics of the appearance were similar to the comeback trailer, she couldn’t help but suspect it.

As the dialogue passed, the name of the character that was displayed as ‘??’ was introduced.

And it wasn’t ‘Park Moondae’.

[?? : …Yeah.]

[B11 : I’m… called B11. That’s enough.]

And as a teammate addition cutscene began, a boy in a black hoodie rotating a glowing drone entered as a playable character.

‘Ah, then did Moondae copy this character conversely?’

Because she had seen several advertisements with such a concept, she tried to pass it over reasonably, but her over-immersed head began to spin rapidly and analyze the situation.

‘Wait a minute. Moondae’s baseball uniform back number was 11 during the high-five event. Then if I think that B was taken from the surname ‘Park’…!?’

At the inference that seemed roughly correct, the college student gulped.

‘An-Anyway, let’s continue playing…!’

While being surprised by the unimaginable bait, the college student continued playing.

Furthermore, this game was quite fun even without that.

The game was completely first-person, starting with the protagonist falling into a sinkhole while going out and moving to a half-ruined Seoul in a parallel world.

[It’s strange. You clearly went out early in the morning, but the sky visible outside the sinkhole is red and dark.]

[It seems like someone’s crying and moaning can be heard from up there, but it’s not certain.]

[You were very flustered, but you are also worried that the sinkhole might collapse further if you stay like this. What will you do?]

-Look for a way to go up.
-Wait for rescue.
-Shout to request rescue.
-Listen more carefully to the sound.

It was a somewhat bleak atmosphere, but it was interesting and fun thanks to the fun of adventuring and exploring a well-constructed worldview for the first time, and the abundant options.

While it revolved around text, it wasn’t boring because they inserted graphics or illustrations that caught the eye for each battle and choice. And it was full of tension as it required a combination of moderate luck and strategy.

‘Hmm, I keep doing it. I’m curious about what happens next, too.’

However, they hadn’t given a large weight in the story to this companion character presumed to be Moondae, or other characters similar to TeStar who continued to join.

So conversely, she came to think if the character stories wouldn’t come out one by one in the future.

‘Ah, by any chance, will the bait for TeStar’s worldview come out too?’

There would be people who would swear, asking if they were making them play even a game, but from the position of a person who had decided to continue the game for now, it was a heart-fluttering thing.

The game continued, and the character moved by the college student reached a subway station that was half-collapsed and encroached by a strange red mass.

[The station is pitch dark and only the emergency lights are flickering. It also seems like a strange fishy smell is rising. It seems the subway is not operating, but an announcement that the train is entering continues to flow.]

[B11 : …Shall I search?]

-Accept.
-Refuse.
-Rebuke.
-Enter together.

“Let’s go together! We have to go together!”

The college student completely over-immersed and enjoyed the game excitedly.

It was then.

[Sudden vibrations began to ring all around!]

[The huge red mass stuck in the basement glinted ominously, and strange things began to surge from the mass with a terrible noise…….]

A battle was forced.

And all companions were killed by something terrible that came out of the red mass.

The last one remaining was B11, who resembled Park Moondae.

[B11 : ……You, live.]

A cutscene where Park Moondae pushed the protagonist hard was inserted.

With the vibration of the smartphone, the screen turned black.

…Again, the narration appeared.

[…And when you regained consciousness, you realized that you became alone.]

[What remained was only the luggage left by the companions and a heavy life.]

[Now you must push through this ruined Seoul, , alone.]

And only then did the game opening screen appear. The logo rose on a dark screen, with a biohazard sign as the background.

“……??”

The college student stared at her smartphone blankly for a while, unable to accept what had just happened.

After the short opening ended, a short tip was displayed on the loading screen.

[※Companions who died in battle do not return. Forever.]

“……?!”

Only then was the college student horrified.

“What is this, wh-what is this?”

Something was definitely wrong.

‘What kind of game kills all companions as soon as it starts!?’

The moment she finally regained her mental state was in the middle of the cutscene that started after the loading ended.

[You eventually admit that you cannot do everything alone.]

[Companions are needed. Whether it’s a strategic ally or a temporary alliance.]

‘Right, there’s no way it ends like this!’

The college student recalled the complaints she had heard from her game-maniac acquaintances.

‘I heard there are many guys who connect all game progress to making you draw characters with real money!’

If that was the case, she was willing to spend money while crying, even while swearing, ‘Are you treating me like an ATM? Isn’t the intention to take out money too wicked?’.

‘Only Moondae, only draw Moondae…….’

However, after the cutscene ended, precautions were attached to the character draw that finally appeared as a pop-up.

[※The characters you welcomed as companions do not appear again.]

“Hey!!”

She couldn’t understand why these crazy people wouldn’t let her spend money even though she had it.

She hurriedly turned on the internet.

‘By any chance, I might have died because I chose the wrong option…!’

If so, couldn’t she just proceed properly after looking at the strategy this time! She accessed SNS with a bit of hope.

And she saw fans rolling in a pit of fire.

-Eueueueueue
-What should I do, what is this? Why does Moondae die?ㅠㅠㅠ
-Feelings of playing 127 Section: The developer is as much of a devil as the Idol Inc. production team
-No, Sejin in a gownㅠㅠ he died while telling me to liveㅠㅠ But why can’t I save him, isn’t this strange? It’s strange, why does everyone die no matter what I chooseㅠㅠ
-I organized it… The 7 companions received in the tutorial… Those friends similar to TeStar who appeared in the trailer all get slaughtered no matter what you do once Chapter 1 ends…
But it seems the character with the highest favorability dies last…. Damn, is this a game?ㅠㅠEueueongㅠㅠ

“…….”

The college student’s mind became distant.

And the college student was not the only one whose mind was dazed.

In the latest comments of TeStar’s trailer video, Korean comments already began to be posted at a scary speed.

-ㅠㅠㅠㅠOh my, guysㅠㅠ
-Now that I know the ending of these kids… I can’t watch the trailer like before at all… Save me… Take my money and give the kids backㅠㅠ
-Is this why they said they wouldn’t die in the lyrics?ㅠㅠ No, looking at it again, they’re saying they’ll save me, it’s crazy
-By any chance, is this why ‘Supplement’ is the title? Is it TeStar’s big picture to reduce the impact by taking it out as a side story? But this weak-hearted fan is already a wreck.. Come back to life!ㅜㅜ

People who tried to stop them or fought with them, saying not to spoil the game, were occasionally seen, but most were swept away by the pouring comments.

Fortunately, the fans regained their reason after not long and began to worry about target posts like ‘Nuisance caused by TeStar fans to a new game’.

So, mostly comments that were only crying or screaming were posted.

And foreigners who didn’t know the situation were flustered, leaving words like ‘What happened?’, ‘Someone tell me why’.

The funny and sad thing was that in the meantime, people who continued the game even while pouring out curses because it was fun broke out one after another.

Furthermore, elements attracting them also popped up abruptly.

It was the costume shop that was added around the middle of Chapter 2.

[Present a new look to your companions!]

When clicking this pop-up, costumes currently available for special purchase would appear.

And now, the costumes sold in the game launch season were… exactly the costumes of the companions who disappeared miserably in Chapter 1.

Although the dead fixed companions couldn’t be drawn from the character draw, they made it so that their appearance could be overlaid.

Moreover, such an explanation phrase was attached.

[Purple Drone Boy Costume]
[: Someone’s costume that evokes faint memories. Once, he protected you.]

Thanks to that, people who drew characters with similar stats and personality scripts and overlaid the costumes to play broke out one after another.

For reference, this symptom occurred identically to game enthusiasts as well.

However, they were a bit more calm. It was because they had already suffered it in the previous work.

-The persistence of Ruined Factory that they cannot give up backstabbing even with a large corporation attached
-It wasn’t even a day or two, I rather expected it
-These guys must have been happy after getting cursed at by the God-star influx. Were you in a good mood after preventing refund runs by releasing costumes, you bastards
└They must have been thrilled. It’s 1st place in Play Store sales
└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋDamn, ah, it’s annoying, bring B11 back to life~
└I opened a beer after watching the God-star trailer. Damn, I really liked the sniper, do I have to buy a male character costume, you factory bastards
-When 2 years pass and the game becomes a has-been, they will 100% give the initial companion draw. Aren’t they going to take all the management know-how of the big corporation and empty the black cows’ pockets until the end?
└Isn’t it better to do it now while they can get the God-star hype?
└That’s a correct word. But since they are already making a sweet profit with costumes, there’s no way they would
└They became a long-term cash black cow model

And as they expected, Ruined Factory did not open the initial companion character draw despite the pouring inquiries.

It was the developer’s persistence that they would not artificially give a companion who breaks the story flow because it was a time when users should be more immersed in the game’s worldview.

At the same time, it was also because sales were already coming out crazily well even if that wasn’t the case.

-Successfully restored characters with identical stats and similar personalities for all 7 people. Now we are together forever… (Game screenshot)
└My goodness
└How much did you spend…?
└Whatever you imagine, I spent more than that. But I am satisfied.

Such things happened frequently. Some fans of TeStar and game enthusiasts who were completely immersed in the game increased sales steadily.

And in this process, most of the 127 Section game players came to feel a sense of closeness to TeStar.

-I’m glad they are living well as idols even in 3D
└Isn’t something strange..? Isn’t it usually the opposite..?
└What do you mean, these kids died in 2D and were reincarnated
└Wow, this guy is for real
-B11’s name in this life is Moondae? No wonder he gave a codename like B11. Even then, his real name must have been lame
└There’s an Easter egg if you go to Myeong-dong Cathedral. I recommend checking it out once per play-through
└Oh, thanks

Because small baits about the initial companions could be found occasionally even in later chapters of the game, this interest continued for quite a long time.

And one of TeStar’s contents that was unexpected was suddenly announced.

[TeStar ‘BETTER ME’ Official Music Video]

The music video for TeStar’s sub-track of this activity, BETTER ME, came out.

And the beginning of this music video was… the last scene of the game collaboration trailer.