He had achieved the impossible.
The mont he had dread of since the very first day he started playing the ga had finally arrived.
Yet—
contrary to his expectations—
he didn’t scream.
He didn’t explode with joy.
Instead, what washed over him was a tangled mix of emotions best described as...
emptiness.
A deep.
Endless emptiness.
"Did I really... finish it?"
He couldn’t bring himself to believe it.
After spending tens of thousands of hours imrsed in its world, Ethan had thought it would never end.
But every beginning has an end.
And the failure who had never accomplished anything in life—
had achieved what hundreds of millions could not.
"I did it..."
Ethan sat there, numb—still trying to process it all.
Unlike his viewers, who had gone completely insane.
Viewers he had forgotten for a mont—
before finally rembering them and glancing at the chat.
Viewers: 10,900
For a mont, Ethan was stunned by the number.
And it kept climbing.
anwhile, the familiar group that had stayed with him all this ti was there—as always.
VenusPanties:
You did it! I can’t believe it! You actually did it!! You finished the ga!!!
MrTrashKim:
Congratulations!! You achieved what no one before you ever did! You’re the GOAT!! There is no better player in this world!!
BlackRose:
I can’t believe this mont finally ca... I’m about to cry. Congratulations.
SquareDick:
Hurry, guys— Share the stream everywhere! The whole world needs to know!
Post the link everywhere—now!
...
Congratulations poured in nonstop.
More and more spectators flooded the stream .. unable to believe that soone had truly finished Ordeal.
Thousands invaded the broadcast—
and Ethan found himself unable to say a single word.
The praise was overwhelming.
Yet it arrived silently—
in the form of words.
Among the thousands of ssages, Ethan’s eyes followed only a handful—
lines written by a small group of loyal viewers, their usernas glowing in a different color.
Four years. Three months.
That was how long it had taken Ethan to finish the ga.
And throughout all that ti ..
they had stayed with him, supporting him until the very end.
They were the true companions who had walked this journey beside him.
A journey that had finally reached its end.
"Thank you... all of you.
Thank you for everything.
Thank you for walking this path with —
for staying with until the end.
I did it, guys.
I conquered Ordeal."
With a gentle smile, Ethan thanked his viewers ..
sincerely.
There was no exaggerated reaction.
No flashy celebration.
Just honest words ..
from a man they had spent countless hours watching.
The number of viewers in the stream rose at an alarming rate, and major pages had already begun talking about what had happened.
At so point, Ethan could no longer keep up with the speed or volu of the ssages.
So he gave up—
and let his eyes rest on the ga screen.
[NIGHTMARE SLAIN]
He had defeated the Night Lord after an epic battle that lasted a full hour.
Ethan felt genuinely satisfied with what he had achieved.
Yet sowhere deep inside him, there was a faint trace of regret.
Because even though he had won ..
every character who had accompanied him throughout the ga had died in the end.
"I suppose everything has a price... doesn’t it?"
That was the price of his great victory.
After staring at the screen for a long while, Ethan eventually shifted his attention back to the chat window.
The viewers were extrely active, and so of them had begun urging Ethan to try and claim the reward.
"Haha... I don’t think the reward is real, guys. The developer disappeared a long ti ago."
Ishizaki had vanished the mont he released his cursed ga.
There was no hope of ever finding him.
And thankfully, the ga itself hadn’t been shut down or erased completely.
"Still... getting all that money would be pretty amazing."
Money was tempting—but Ethan had invested all those hours for the achievent itself.
Even so, he couldn’t help but wonder where Ishizaki had gone...
and how he had even managed to create a mad ga like Ordeal.
A living ga ..
one that had made Ethan feel like he truly belonged.
So while the viewers speculated wildly and sent ssages nonstop,
Ethan focused instead on the ga’s final scene, quietly savoring the mont.
A profound sense of satisfaction filled him—born from completing the ga—
mixed with a strange feeling of accomplishnt he had long been deprived of,
and a faint emptiness now that everything was over.
Then...
at that exact mont ..
a notification struck out of nowhere, freezing Ethan and thousands of viewers in place.
On the main ga screen, a ssage appeared .. written in golden letters.
A ssage whose content made everyone’s minds grind to a halt for a brief second.
— Hello, MOON YOU. I am the ga’s developer, Ishizaki.
That single, simple line caused the chat room to explode harder than ever before.
VenusPanties:
No way!!! Is this real!?
MrTrashKim:
WTF?!
BlackRose:
Is that really the developer?
SquareDick:
Maybe Moon’s system got hacked...
...
Ethan was genuinely shocked by the developer’s sudden notification.
He had never expected sothing like this.
And how could he?
The man who had disappeared for years had suddenly reappeared ..
sending him an exclusive ssage through the ga interface itself.
No matter how he looked at it, Ethan beca convinced that the person on the other side of that ssage was truly Ishizaki.
And that he had chosen to finally break his silence—
after soone had completed his ga four years after its release.
— I want to thank you. Honestly... I had given up so ti ago. I never believed anyone would actually do it.
The developer’s ssages continued to flow as everyone read along with Ethan.
— But you did. And I can’t begin to tell you how happy that makes . Truly... thank you.
"Ah... um... there’s no need to thank ..."
Ethan replied awkwardly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassnt.
He didn’t even know whether Ishizaki was watching the stream at all, since his ssages were coming through the ga interface.
But the developer’s next response erased all doubt.
— No. I should be thanking you. You proved that the impossible can beco possible for those who refuse to give up. I am truly grateful.
"Hahaha... you’re embarrassing ."
Whether this was really the developer or not, Ethan found the whole thing incredible.
He had never imagined that soone would feel this grateful to him ..
just for finishing a ga.
But the next line from Ishizaki made him tense up even more.
— Your victory gave hope... that we still have a chance to survive.
"A chance...? What are you talking about?"
Ethan tried to grasp the aning behind those words.
He rembered how the developer’s studio had taken a devastating hit after Ordeal—
to the point where its shares had plumted dramatically.
’Is he trying to use as a gateway to rise again?’
After all, players had long accused Ishizaki of creating an unfair, impossible ga.
But Ethan had proven them wrong.
anwhile, the viewers were practically exploding ..
desperately urging Ethan to talk about the reward Ishizaki had promised in the past.
He had clearly stated that he would give all of his shares to whoever finished the ga.
After Ordeal, those shares had lost much of their value—
but they were still more than enough for Ethan to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Ethan himself had already intended to bring it up the mont the developer appeared.
So it didn’t take long before he spoke.
"Um... Ishizaki-san," Ethan said with a half-smile,
"I think it’s ti we talked about the reward, don’t you?"
The viewers let out a collective sigh of relief.
The developer replied almost imdiately.
— Yes. You have proven your worth and your capabilities. You deserve this opportunity without question. Co—and show the entire world that you are the strongest player.
"An opportunity...? What are you talking about?" Ethan replied, confused.
He had so many questions.
So many things he wanted to discuss with the ga’s developer.
Questions about Ordeal ..
about its strange secrets.
But suddenly ..
the world began to spin.
"Huh...?"
Unable to see clearly, Ethan staggered, clutching his head.
"Is this dizziness from playing for too long? Co to think of it... I haven’t eaten or drunk anything in a while... haha..."
He laughed foolishly as he tried to steady himself.
But the dizziness worsened ..
turning into a full collapse as his breathing grew heavier.
His alarming appearance sparked fear among the viewers.
Yet in that state, Ethan could no longer read the ssages flooding the chat.
The glow of the screens beca unbearably bright.
The collapse intensified.
"Could it be... the illness? Really... now of all tis?"
Slipping from his chair, Ethan fell to the floor as his consciousness began to drift away.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen—
barely able to make out what was displayed.
Gasping for air, he laughed at himself.
"It’s fine... if anything happens to , the viewers will definitely call ergency services... I’ll probably wake up later in a hospital."
Little by little, darkness crept in ..
stealing Ethan’s vision as he continued speaking incoherently.
"I need to stop playing for so many hours... I’m not young anymore... the illness could kill at any mont."
"I need to be careful... take better care of myself."
"I finished Ordeal... my life will get so much better from now on."
"I did it... I won."
"I... proved it... to all of them..."
Slowly ..
Ethan’s consciousness faded away.
The world around him darkened completely.
A suffocating silence swallowed the room.
The dark chamber from which he had stread his gas for years returned to its familiar stillness.
As always, the gaming screen remained the only source of light.
And on that thin, glowing screen ..
one final ssage appeared.
Written as a farewell from the developer.
— Thank you, Ethan.
And welco... to Ordeal.
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