I used to be healthy. A normal teen living a normal life
I liked sports and often play in tournaments but my grades never falter since I am academically blessed too
Maybe because I am too successful fate played pranks on me
Suddenly I developed a terminal Illness
There was no cure because it was said I was the only one who had it
They even let me name it
What did I call it again
Ahh... ligma
Anyway after that news
My life revolved around the beeping of machines and the smell of disinfectant. The hospital became my entire world — white walls, white sheets, white skies outside the window.
When it rained, I'd count the droplets sliding down the glass, pretending they were racing each other. That was the closest thing I had to excitement.
I learned early that people eventually stop visiting.
At first, classmates would come. Then fewer. Then none.
Pity gets heavy over time — for them and for you.
Even my parents stopped coming as often. They always looked so tired… and I couldn't blame them. Having a son who couldn't even walk outside without coughing blood — that must've been exhausting.
The only one who kept coming was my older brother.
He wasn't much of a talker. He'd just drop by after school, bring me something random — a comic, a snack, sometimes just silence.
"You look bored," he'd say with a grin that never reached his eyes.
"Here. I found this for you."
One day, what he brought wasn't a book.
It was a game.
"You can't move around out there," he said, "so move around in here instead."
That's how I first touched it.
They called it E.F.O — Eternal Fate Online.
A game that reshaped the world of entertainment.
A game that blurred the line between fiction and reality.
It wasn't the most realistic full-dive experience — the combat was clunky, the interface messy.
But it had something no other game had: a world that remembered you.
Every decision left a scar.
Every lie, betrayal, or sacrifice — carved into the story forever.
And if you failed… the world simply moved on without you.
I still remember the day my brother handed me the disc.
He said, "Try it. Might help you forget about the hospital for a while."
I smiled weakly, not knowing it'd soon become my only world.
At first, I treated it like any other RPG — grind, loot, level up, repeat.
But that changed when I met them —
the ones players online called The Hopeless Characters.
NPCs with no happy endings, no matter what you did.
You could clear their quests, max out affection, even rewrite flags — and still, the system always found a way to kill them.
I don't know why, but I wanted to give them a happy ending.
Maybe I saw a bit of myself in them.
---
[New Game — Playthrough #573]
The cursor blinked mockingly on the screen.
I pressed Continue.
And there she was again — Clare, the Icebound Witch.
Half-human, half-elemental. Beautiful, brilliant, and doomed to die.
Among all the hopeless characters, she was the one I found the most endearing.
I had spent weeks, months, years trying to save her.
Every theory posted on the forums, every hidden flag, every line of dialogue — I knew them all by heart.
My room was dark except for the flickering blue light of the monitor.
The final cutscene began.
Clare lay in the snow, frost creeping up her body.
Her trembling hands reached toward my in-game avatar — my custom swordsman, Nam.
"Nam… don't blame yourself."
"I'm fine."
Her voice was fragile, barely audible.
"If only… I trusted you sooner…"
Her right arm turned to ice, fracturing like glass.
"Stop talking," I muttered under my breath. "You're going to be okay. Please…"
"I'm sorry," she smiled faintly,
"but I'm grateful. You stayed with me until the end."
The frost consumed her face, leaving only her fading voice behind.
"Don't… blame yourself…"
The screen dimmed.
[GAME OVER]
---
I slammed the desk.
"F*ck!"
The monitor shook. The cup beside me fell, spilling cold coffee across my notes.
"I did everything right!" I shouted. "I tried every route — why does it always end like this?!"
I stared at the frozen image of Clare on the screen — her last smile, hauntingly beautiful.
It felt too real. Too cruel to be fiction.
"Damn it… why can't anyone in this world be happy?"
Then — a faint ding.
A notification appeared.
[System Notice]
You have witnessed every Bad Ending in Eternal Fate Online.
However, not a single Good Ending was achieved.
Would you like to challenge fate one last time?
A special privilege will be granted for your next playthrough.
Would you like to retry?
"That's dumb. I was planning to retry anyway," I muttered.
I clicked YES.
The screen went black.
Data reloaded. My custom character appeared — Nam.
But something was different this time.
The loading bar didn't fill.
Instead, the world on the screen began melting.
Like ink dissolving into water.
The background, the characters, even the system UI — swallowed by shadows.
"What the—?"
The monitor flashed.
A voice echoed from the speakers.
[Then… let us begin your final playthrough.]
The world turned dark.
A sharp pain rose from my chest
My consciousness blurred.
---
✦ End of Prologue.