[ENDING 99. Possibility]
[Hidden Difficulty Unlocked.]
“I finally beat it…! …What, what?!”
After reaching the ending of the game he had been so obsessed with that he had practically given up his daily life, Hyomin froze on the spot.
It had already been three years since he got hooked on a game that had once been popular among enthusiasts.
Graphics that perfectly captured its grim dark-fantasy atmosphere, and a provocative story overflowing with blood, flesh, and betrayal.
Countless interactions with NPCs so full of personality that they seemed somewhere beyond insane.
An unusual system where the objective was to inherit a cursed domain and somehow save it.
[New Achievement Unlocked! <Proof of a Lord’s Qualifications, Cleared all endings in Hard Mode.>]
It was quite an appealing game, but its popularity lasted only a fleeting moment.
Between its deranged presentation and the countless elements that all interacted with one another, the difficulty was simply too high.
On top of that, every ending available on the lower difficulties was a bad ending.
[TIP! The higher the difficulty, the more types of endings become available.]
At least this message, which appeared after reaching an ending, had made the game somewhat popular at first.
After all, determined Korean gamers had all challenged the higher difficulties with high expectations.
But in the end, everyone crashed into the wall of its insane difficulty, and not a single person managed to see a new ending in Hard Mode.
“Wh-what, that’s it? At least give me the next part of the story!”
That was exactly why Hyomin felt so wronged.
He had just cleared Hard Mode in that insane game, yet all he got was a black screen with three characters on it.
[Possibility]
That was all, and the game immediately returned to the main screen.
He had cleared Hard Mode, which he had thought was the final difficulty, so why in the world did he have to see that message about there being more types of endings again?!
“So what happened to my domain?!”
In the end, there was nothing else to show for it. That message really was the end.
Staring at the game screen that had anticlimactically returned to the initial main menu, Hyomin slapped a hand to his forehead.
Hard Mode was definitely supposed to be the end, yet as if to spite him, a new mode had blatantly appeared.
[NEW! Carcosa Mode]
What shameless developers.
It was fitting for a game studio that had vanished after making this insane game its first and last release.
Hyomin immediately headed to the game community to vent his disbelief.
[Anyone remember Darkness Dominion? I cleared Hard Mode. Can I post spoilers?]
└ What game is that?
└ Holy shit, you cleared that?
└ Oh, you’re that guy who said he passed 1,700 hours before.
The replies came quickly, fitting for a game that had once been popular.
It was not even that big a deal, yet Hyomin could not help feeling a little smug at the comment recognizing him.
└ So what happened? Did you break the curse?
└ Someone actually managed to clear this thing LOL
└ What’s the ending? I am kind of curious.
└ Nobody but you can see it anyway. Go ahead and spoil it.
Besides, there was no one in the world who disliked the attention they got after accomplishing something.
The problem was that there was not actually anything in the ending worth bragging about.
Thinking about it again, the absurdity was enough to make him angry all over again.
[Playtime : 2,083 hours]
Frankly, at this point, he had more than earned the right to be furious.
Hyomin let out a deep sigh and launched the game again.
I got the ending, but it just showed some crap like [Possibility] and kicked me back to the main screen!
After drawing everyone’s attention with a post like that, it would have been ridiculous to end things with only that.
[NEW! Carcosa Mode]
The newly added difficulty was highlighted on the game’s main screen.
Carcosa. That was the name of the cursed domain in the game.
Could entering this mode continue the story?
Hyomin decided to start the game again.
[Alex Goldenwood: …Is that Carcosa?]
The game opened with Alex’s monologue as he entered the domain.
His family had once possessed as much gold as there were trees in a forest, enough that they bore the surname Goldenwood.
But all of that was now a thing of the past.
Alex’s great-grandfather had made the mistake of meddling with something he absolutely should not have and spectacularly ruined the domain.
He had fallen into some bizarre cult of unknown origin, erected altars throughout the domain, and spread a curse across the land.
[Mother and Father tried to free me from that fate.]
Afterward, Alex’s father left the domain behind, traveled to the continent, and raised Alex outside Carcosa.
However, even after leaving the domain, the curse followed House Goldenwood like a tag they could never shake.
[The fact that I was born in a cursed land always held me back.]
[Even though I became a Paladin to overcome it, God… did not save me.]
[In the end, this was the only place for me.]
Along with the solemnly framed back of the protagonist came a view of the domain’s miserable state.
As Alex’s monologue suggested, those born in the cursed land faced discrimination on the continent.
For that reason, the people of the cursed domain could not easily flee either.
A land that could never empty, where those who had somehow endured kept living only because they had failed to die.
Carcosa.
Even stagecoaches were reluctant to enter the domain, so despite being its lord, the protagonist was walking into the city alone.
“It’s just… the same?”
The opening was no different from any of the lower difficulties he had played so far, leaving Hyomin somewhat deflated.
For all that he might call it a trash game, the truth was that this game was far too well-constructed and did not even have bugs.
Countless strategies, all kinds of events, even interactions between NPCs. Hyomin had never seen another game where everything was connected this intricately.
That was why he still could not abandon his faith in the game.
‘It’s a hidden mode, after all… There’s got to be something different, right?!’
Holding onto that faint expectation, Hyomin opened various system windows.
***
Domain : Carcosa
Domain Funds : 50G
Loyalty : 1%
Military Strength : (Locked)
Economic Activity : Agriculture (Active), Commerce (Inactive), Mining (Locked)
Incursion Risk : Magical Beasts 90%, Barbarians 50%, (Locked)
***
“…This is in terrible shape.”
There was not a single thing in proper order from the very beginning.
Half the categories being locked was one thing, but what kind of domain had only 50G to its name?
The only thing this domain had in abundance was Magical Beasts.
Even Hard Mode, notorious for its brutal difficulty, had started in a far better state than this.
Especially with things like Loyalty and Funds, hitting zero would expose him to assassination attempts from every direction….
“This….”
If either one dropped even a little, his head would be the next thing to go.
The difficulty was somewhat absurd and far worse than he had imagined, but that only stirred his competitive spirit.
After all, had he not cleared the infamous Hard Mode?
If he sank another thousand hours into it, he would probably clear this too.
Hyomin immediately switched over to the Lord Status window.
***
Name : Alex Goldenwood
Title : Count
Class : Paladin
Epithet : Outsider Lord
Skills : Radiant Light Lv.1, Holy Sword Lv.1
Synchronization : 0%
Coins : 100
***
“Synchronization? Coins?”
Those were categories that had never existed in the modes he had played before.
Unlike domain management, which had merely gotten harder, the Lord system window contained actual changes, and that caught his interest.
When Hyomin selected Synchronization, a system window appeared.
[Empty.]
Maybe something will show up as I progress?
Thinking little of it, Hyomin selected Coins next.
[Carcosa Mode Bonus!]
[Try the Hidden Shop.]
[Hidden Shop Location]
[Lord’s Bedroom (00:10:00)]
“Oh…?”
Now this was a new element that actually piqued his interest.
Hyomin immediately took a screenshot of the new feature and noticed that the timer beside the location labeled Lord’s Bedroom was moving.
The timer started at ten minutes and was counting down.
Watching the seconds rapidly tick away, Hyomin found himself getting sucked back into the game without even realizing it.
He was far too curious about what exactly this new Hidden Shop would sell.
‘Skip, skip….’
Impatient as ever, Hyomin rapidly clicked through the familiar opening script.
The lord’s castle was desolate, with practically nothing left but dust.
Without exaggeration, Hyomin had seen this opening scene hundreds of times, and he sped through it.
He ran straight to the Lord’s Bedroom, a place he felt he could find with his eyes closed, and approached the conspicuously glittering effect in the corner.
[Hidden Shop (00:01:42)]
[Ominous Compass : 100 Coins]
A single item was on sale, priced at exactly the number of Coins he possessed.
In situations like this, it was usually a tutorial item the game gave you enough currency to buy at the beginning.
He wanted to check the detailed description to see what kind of item it was, but unfortunately, this game was not that kind.
With no real time to hesitate, Hyomin promptly purchased it.
[The location of the next Hidden Shop will be revealed once enough Coins have been accumulated.]
Once the shop’s item was sold out, the system window displayed that notice.
The appearance of a new element in a game he already knew inside and out filled Hyomin with excitement.
Planning to settle in and start playing in earnest, Hyomin hurriedly stood up to grab some snacks.
But a sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and his legs buckled and swayed.
‘Ah, orthostatic hypotension….’
That was what he thought, but his vision, which normally would have cleared within moments, instead receded completely into the distance.
***
What is this, a brain hemorrhage or something?
Hyomin, who had lost consciousness, jolted awake and shot upright in alarm.
But when he raised a body that felt strangely light, the scenery before him was familiar.
“…!”
That was the problem.
Everything around him was familiar in a way he desperately wanted to deny.
It was the lord’s room from the game he had been playing just moments ago.
The scenery was exactly the same.
Praying that it was a dream, Hyomin immediately climbed out of bed.
Feeling something strange about his subtly higher eye level and lighter movements, Hyomin ran straight to the window and threw it open.
“….”
The smell of burning firewood and dirt.
The simple murmur of people filled the air, and beyond it lay an exceptionally filthy street.
Swarms of flies buzzed through a medieval scene where the very concept of sanitation seemed nonexistent.
It was the dark-fantasy backdrop he had grown sick of staring at through a monitor for well over two thousand hours.
That exact sight from the game, a sight that would be a very serious problem if it were reality, filled his entire vision!
With his mind on the verge of breaking, Hyomin whispered quietly to test the hypothesis now filling his head.
“…Sy-system…?”
The fact that the voice coming from his mouth belonged to a completely unfamiliar stranger only made the situation more maddening.
On top of that, a system window with the familiar UI appeared right before his eyes as if to prove the point.
Name : Alex Goldenwood
Class : Paladin
Epithet : Outsider Lord
Skills : Radiant Light Lv.1, Holy Sword Lv.1
Synchronization : 100%
Coins : 0
Exactly two changes stood out.
Synchronization and Coins, the two newly added elements.
[Synchronization 100%]
[A new soul union has been confirmed.]
Ah, so that Synchronization stat was where I came in?
So I really have ended up possessing a game character or something?
“Ha, hahaha….”
A dry, hollow laugh escaped Hyomin before he even realized it.
He did not know whether he should accept the fact that he was no longer Hyomin, but Alex.
Had he finally lost his mind from playing an insane game?
If he had to possess someone, there were countless dating sims and beautiful, relaxing games in the world, so why did it have to be this one…!
Bemoaning the situation only made it begin to feel more real.
‘This isn’t the time for this….’
Alex quickly regained his rational thinking and began making more productive judgments.
First, judging from the status window, the trace of the Coins he had spent at the end still remained.
Then where did the result go?
[Ominous Compass]
[Detects ill omens and indicates the direction and time an incident will occur.]
As if it had peered straight into Alex’s thoughts, a new golden system window abruptly appeared.
Along with the brief item description appeared an odd-looking compass.
It did not merely display a direction. A ring surrounding it showed a time in red.
[Time Remaining : 72 : 00 : 00]
[The compass is currently pointing northwest.]
The moment it appeared, the time began counting down, and Alex furrowed his brow.
The information was extremely brief, but he understood the situation itself.
More precisely, he understood because Alex was a veteran of this game.
“Ha….”
After letting out something closer to a sigh, he clenched his teeth.
Far beyond the window, spray kicked up by a Magical Beast in the harbor scattered violently through the air.
At the same time, a bizarre cry that made his spine prickle echoed through the distance.
He could no longer refuse to accept that this ridiculous situation was reality.
“…I’m f*cked.”