[Congratulations, you have cleared all Erion Sectors.]
[You are in the top 1% to complete this scenario.]
[Rewards will be allocated soon.]
Damien stared at the monitor for a while.
He had already ended the stream, but he could still see some of the chat lingering on the screen.
{Dih234^: Bro, did you see Ada's ass? The developers knew what they were doing.}
{Catnip: Can't believe this guy's the only one with access to the game. I'm so freaking jealous.}
{Goon45: Hey man, it's cool. Be like me, I just stroke my shi to the baddies while he plays.}
Damien wasn't surprised by the comments; he was used to them.
The dim glow from the screen reflected on his face as he wrapped his lips around a lollipop, sucking on it intensely before pulling it out.
Pop!
"…So I'm done?"
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes shifting to the ceiling.
The room was dark, making it hard to tell exactly what he was looking at.
For some reason, gaming in the dark had always been a habit of his.
You could say it made him feel like he was the only one in the universe.
At 19 years old and a college dropout, Damien hasn't had the easiest life. Making friends or engaging in anything social felt like a chore.
His parents were always working overseas, so he rarely had the chance to talk to them about his struggles. Even if he did, they'd likely turn it into their own issue.
"Are you saying I'm not a good dad?"
"Go back to school. I don't want my colleagues thinking I raised a bad son."
It would probably end with them saying something like that. So why bother?
For the most part, Damien had carved out a life for himself playing games and streaming online. Funny how strangers he'd never met seemed to care about him more than the people around him.
He was doing well, earning about $10,000 a week, and had become one of the top streamers in Korea.
All this was thanks to a game he got from a stranger on the street one Friday evening.
Goodness of the Underworld: Pull and Save.
Though the name sounded lackluster at first, it turned out to be an incredible game.
The game followed a man trying to stop monsters from destroying cities while leading a group of captivating women alongside him.
It was a gacha game, letting players choose whether their main character was male or female.
If you chose male, your character would have three women vying for his affection throughout the game.
If you chose female, you'd play as a commander focused on keeping things under control.
Damien didn't take the game seriously at first, assuming it was just another adult-themed game where you'd level up through romantic encounters.
He was wrong.
As the story unfolded, he became immersed, eager to see what happened next. There was surprisingly little fan service, yet every female character was exceptionally well-designed.
Most would argue, but Damien preferred a well-written love interest over a one-dimensional character with no depth.
He grinded the game for days, streaming it and racking up views.
There was a reason for this too.
The game, *Goodness of the Underworld*, didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
Damien was the only one with a copy, which drove people to watch him play after they gave up trying to get the game for themselves.
And now, after months of relentless effort, Damien had completed the game.
"I ended the stream before the final boss. I don't want people knowing the game's already done. This isn't good. I shouldn't be this calm about it."
He leaned forward, fingers resting on the keyboard.
"If I don't figure something out soon, how will I keep people watching my streams? Everyone knows I'm boring as hell. No way they'll watch me play a random game for four hours."
Damien began scouring every nook and cranny of the game, searching for a hidden option or secret content.
It wasn't uncommon for games to include small campaigns for players to dive into after completing the main story.
Suddenly—
[Would you like to continue the story?]
[Yes] or [No.]
The prompt appeared on his monitor.
"What the? So there is a hidden campaign."
Damien moved the mouse and clicked "Yes."
Nothing happened for a moment. It felt like the game had frozen, no longer responding. Even moving the mouse did nothing.
Then, another notification popped up—
[You no longer have access to the game.]
[Congratulations on completing the tutorial.]
[The Gacha system welcomes you.]
"Is this a bug?"
He got his answer quickly as the ground beneath him opened up and swallowed him whole.
His screams grew faint as darkness enveloped his surroundings. The sound of his heartbeat was the only comfort he could cling to.
Damien's mind went blank. He could barely process what was happening as he was falling endlessly into a bottomless pit.
Whispers echoed from every corner of the darkness, swirling around him.
For what felt like an eternity, Damien kept falling and falling until—
There was light.
He was no longer falling. His feet pressed against a solid surface.
Wait—there was something else.
A sharp pain in his gut. He felt warm, as if something was embracing him from the inside.
Why were people screaming and shouting around him? Were they running and shooting? He could hear gunshots mixed with the sound of rapid footsteps shaking the ground.
Damien managed to open his eyes.
There he stood, in the middle of nowhere, with a gaping hole in his stomach.
He had already lost so much blood that he was barely bleeding anymore.
Civilians, mostly women, were running frantically in front of him.
"What the hell?" he whispered, catching sight of a monster racing past.
The creature looked humanoid, with several whip-like tendrils writhing at its back.
Damien couldn't make out the details clearly. He was dying.
Or perhaps already dead.
Taking one step forward, he collapsed to the ground, his body growing cold and unconscious.