[Congratulations! You have achieved 100% completion!]
[You've mastered every challenge, uncovered every secret, perfectly completed every route, and reached the end of the journey.]
[Thank you for playing All Routes Lead To Death!]
Staring at my phone, I tilted my head in confusion.
This game took ten years out of my life, and all I got after completing it was a simple "Thank you for playing?"
"What bullshit..."
I tossed my phone to the other side of my bed and abruptly stood up. Stomping toward the bathroom, I couldn't help but curse out the developers.
They released this game ten years ago, and I was one of the first people to pick it up. However, within just a few months, the game lost its entire player base.
Why? Well, it was too hard.
There were five main routes, which then branched out into hundreds of others depending on the choices a player would make.
If the choice wasn't perfect, the player would fail and then be forced to replay hours of content just to reach the same area.
In short, it was a bullshit, terribly developed game that only managed to sustain me because I'm rich and bored.
As I got out of the shower and brushed my teeth, I was prepared to order some food and maybe a couple of beers.
However, when I glanced at my bed, I realized the sheets had caught on fire, my phone, a raging inferno.
"Shit!"
I immediately ran up to my bed, and after grabbing the sheets as well as the phone, I tossed them out through the window and into the pool.
For a moment, I exhaled a relieved breath, but then a look of anger appeared on my face.
Not only did this game take ten years of my life, it also cost me five grand.
As the embers fizzled out on my bed, I was about to just go back to sleep without a single care in the world. However, I suddenly spotted something glowing on my desk, right by the computer.
It was my phone... which I had just thrown out. Yet it was back, and it wasn't on fire anymore.
I warily approached it, and when I saw where the glow was coming from, a look of confusion appeared on my face.
[All Routes Lead To Death!]
[Initializing...]
[59%]
[69%]
[74%]
It was going up really fast. Though, I also had no clue what it was loading.
'I'm already done with the game, so what else do they want? Maybe a trophy...? No way.'
Although confused, I sat down and spun on my chair as I waited for the game to load up.
But when it reached 99%, it suddenly stopped and displayed another message, or rather, a question.
[All Routes Lead To Death]
[99%]
[Who was the character you believe did not deserve the fate they were given?]
"Huh... a survey..."
I could just write down whatever.
But for some reason, hearing fate and all that fancy jazz immediately reminded me of one character.
Amon Everness.
The final villain of the game.
When he was young, a demon had taken over his body and killed his entire family. The priests eventually arrived and purified him, as well as the demon that was inside him.
But the damage had already been done. His family was dead, and everyone who had heard about the incident had a negative outlook on Amon.
Within a week, he was all alone. Naturally, he was a kind-hearted kid, but when every single person he met called him a demon spawn and a murderer... yeah. He eventually became what they called him.
And in the end, he was responsible for every single end-game route failure, when in reality, he was just someone who was misunderstood.
Shaking my head in displeasure, I typed in his name.
[...]
[Amon Everness]
[Ding!]
[Are you sure?]
[Y/N]
Not hesitating for a second, I pressed "Yes," and then my phone screen turned dark.
I tried turning my phone on, but it didn't react.
Feeling as if this was the final "fuck you" by the developers, I hurled my phone through my window.
'I'm never touching a shitty mobile game again. It's about time I go searching around for a wife as well. Maybe a hot Asian? Latina? Hmm... I need to buy a new phone.'
But it seemed like that wouldn't be possible once again.
A breeze came from the window.
When I turned toward it, my eyes widened.
My phone, which I had just thrown out, was floating in midair.
The game I had also just played was on the main screen.
Yet before I could even process what was happening, my body suddenly felt weak.
I tried to stand, but I tumbled instead.
My breath turned ragged, and I felt drowsy.
A throbbing pain spread throughout my chest, and right as I took one last breath, my vision turned dark.
I felt nothing.
It was... strangely soothing.
But it also reminded me of something.
It had been nearly two weeks since I last took my heart medication... which meant that I likely just died of a heart attack.
I had no more family left.
No friends or a girlfriend either.
'At least there's no one I'll upset by dying. Though... I hate that I died after playing that terrible game. Why couldn't I have died in a more fancy way? Maybe while jumping out of a helicopter or dying in a zombie apocalypse?'
That would've been much more fun...
Suddenly, a jolt of pain spread throughout my body once again.
Though... didn't I just die?
Slowly, I felt like my consciousness was being drawn to something.
A light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind of situation, maybe?
It definitely felt like it, because I soon regained feeling over my body.
My emotions came back with it, though they felt slightly more dulled than before.
And finally, as the pain vanished, I weakly opened my eyes to the feeling of water.
But it wasn't an ocean.
Instead, it was a dirty puddle of water.
More importantly...
The reflection wasn't mine.
I didn't have black hair.
My eyes weren't white either.
But the face I was seeing was way too familiar.
How could I not remember it?
It belonged to the person whose routes had taken months to complete.
Amon Everness.
When that thought settled into place and I weakly raised my head, then banged it into the puddle, drawing blood.
As the blood mixed with the dirty water, a shiver ran down my spine... no, Amon's spine.
But when I glanced around, one thing became clear.
I wasn't in my body anymore. Instead, I was in the body of Amon Everness.
And clearly, when a glowing blue screen appeared in front of him, I realized that wasn't the last of the surprises.
•—Amon Everness—•
Level 7 [High-Grade 0]
▷Stats
[Strength 2]
[Stamina 1]
[Speed 6]
[Perception 10]
[Vitality 15]
▷Inherent Gift
★Telekinesis [Beginner] (Lv.1)
▷General Abilities
☆Sprint (Lv.5)
☆Pain Tolerance (Lv.9)
☆First Aid (Lv.12)
•——•
[Ding!]
[You have been transported into the game All Routes Lead To Death!]
[Current Timeline...]
[3 months before the academy's entrance exam.]
[Current Objective: Pass the entrance exam, and be within the top 100 of all examinees]
[Reward: +25 Free Stat Points]
[Additional Reward if within top 10 of all examinees: ???'s Core]
"..."
"What the fuck is happening?"
And before I could even begin to catch a break, footsteps resounded from behind me.