Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Hisssssss—

Thunk.

“Ughhhh…”

Sometimes on Community, there are some people that say ‘There’s nothing easier in this world than playing video games as a job’, and those people have definitely never tried this job before. Unless it’s a really dangerous area, you can go just about anywhere, like a walk in the park, if you have a big gun. And the mutants in real life don’t infect you like the ones in the game.

“Huh? Hepburn? You’re out early.”

“Did you come out to eat? Just in time. Let’s eat together.”

He was stretching after crawling out of the game pod when Vex and Ian, who were sweating and breathing hard for whatever reason, greeted him on the couch. Seeing that the decompression chamber was whirring, they must have been working outside.

“Food? What food?”

“Lunch. I know there’s a meal feature in the game pod, but it’s not as filling as an actual meal outside.”

“Oh… lunch. It’s only about noon then.”

That was one of the biggest problems with playing GG. Time flows differently. After waking up in the morning, parting ways with Anaya, and walking to the church, it was about 2 pm in game. Then after all of the shenanigans with Senadis and talking with his new allies made it well after sundown. So if it was from about 6 am to 8 pm, that’s 14 hours, but since it’s a 1:5 ratio, while I went through all of that in game, only 2.8 hours passed in reality, just 2.8 hours.

“Hepburn? You look tired.”

“Ughhhhh—I’m dying over here. My body’s fine, but I’m mentally exhausted. You know, like when you’re tired and want to sleep at night, but you stay up until 5—6 am.”

“Oh, that. Of course, I know. I’ve had insomnia before.”

“Bulls***. Not being able to sleep at night just means you are lazy during the day. I’ve never had trouble sleeping for the 35 years I’ve been alive.”

“Don’t go outside and utter those words. You’re going to get yourself shot by the countless people in the Wastelands that have insomnia.”

“Kehehehe. Tell them to try if they can. I’m not scared of some lanky wimps that can’t even close their eyes and breathe right.”

His mindless chattering with these guys made the headache fade a bit. He could just sleep if he was tired, but it was a disgrace as a Wasteland survivor to sleep when the sun was still high. Doing something should make him feel better.

‘I’ll go right back in after I feel better. It’s not like there’s a cooldown anymore.’

Gyosu awkwardly twitched his thumb as he thought from his thumb to his ring finger. Aside from his pinky, his control over all of the other fingers were taken over by Hyde, so it was basically as if he lost a hand. This would have been an extremely big emergency if it had been before, but he didn’t feel in danger at all. It must be because Hyde is being cooperative.

‘Are you doing that on purpose?’

[I dunno. *shrug*]

He didn’t respond to my question and just quietly laughed—that creepy bastard. I don’t know who he learned that from.

[Do you like cursing at the mirror?]

‘F*** off Hyde. I’m a kind person, unlike you.’

His left hand started to squirm to that response, and the middle finger stuck straight up. He was joking around with this guy, but looking at this, he could feel that his situation was dangerous.

‘There’s no reason to rush, but I can’t relax either. If he takes over an entire arm, I might actually need to start negotiating with Hyde.’

[I can’t wait for that day to come. *snicker*]

Gyosu ignored Hyde’s ominous comment and stretched his hand toward the steaming calorie bar on the table that Koduro had just made. It’s sweet with a slightly crunchy texture. It’s sweet potato… And carrot? He took some care with it today.

It seemed like Vex liked it, but Ian wanted more than the calorie bar. After shoving the entire thing into his mouth, his expression darkened with every chew.

“Damn it. I can’t eat this.”

“Why? I like it.”

“Don’t you dare spit that out. How dare you judge the taste of these precious crops that I grew. Chew. And swallow.”

“Exactly. I can’t believe New Master insulted the crops me and Master took so much care to grow. Maybe he needs some education and experience about the hardships of being a farmer?”

Pzzzt-zzt!

“Um—Gyosu, I think your AI has a few screws loose.”

Under the threat of Koduro, who had taken out a small welder from his drone, and Gyosu, who was shifting his gaze between Ian and the fertilizer bin, Ian managed to finish his share of the calorie bar.

“Ughhh. How can you eat just grass for lunch, the most important meal of the day? Herbivore mother****ers.”

“Then what did you eat until now?”

“Me? Raptor’s military rations, or food I looted when I went to go do business. Even I eat potatoes.”

“[Loot] you got from [business]… Doesn’t something sound wrong there to you?”

Glug, glug—

Hahhhh.

Whatever. We’re rich now. I guess I can feed them meat now.

“Koduro, bring me two more glasses of water.”

“Yessir!”

Now that his stomach was full and he got some water to rinse it all down, he was finally starting to relax and regain his awareness of his surroundings. Seeing a little shade outside near the greenhouse area, he could assume what the two have been doing outside.

“Did the shelter materials already come?”

“Hm? Oh, that? Yeah. Delivery came a bit after you went in to work. It’s fun for the three of us to live here, but the place is indeed a little cramped. Your sofa is too small for me to sleep in. I’m having back pains every morning because of that.”

“We didn’t completely set it up yet; we just built up one of the walls to see where we should place it. Is that spot okay Hepburn?”

“Uhh… I’m not sure. We might need to make some calculations. And we need to consider the active defense range of the defense turrets too.”

“Aren’t we going to have a separate turret?”

“Exactly, so it’ll be a loss if the protected areas overlap. It’s a much better idea to expand the area if we’re not trying to make it a kill zone.”

It was another hour of scuffling about the location of the shelter. Time had no thought of passing when he used to be in this shelter alone, but seeing how fast time passed these days, he was a little surprised. Even with all the scuffles, he couldn’t deny that he depended on them.

‘I guess I can ask them since I depend on them and all.’

“Vex.”

“Huh? Yeah?”

“You said you were from Gong 3, right?”

“Yeah? The 3rd Airborne Division.”

“And Ian, you were obviously probably a soldier too.”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I was a mercenary. Since the start of the war was in North Korea, I came to Korea, where the battlefield was the hottest. Why, you wanna hear about it?”

“Uh… Next time. I have a little too much on my plate right now to listen to someone else’s backstory. Since everyone has experience in the army, you guys should know the basics of how a unit operates. If you guys survived until the end of the war, then you would have at least become a sub-lieutenant.”

“Mhm. Right. Just starting with me—”

“I’ve been promoted up to colonel before. Although it wasn’t during the war.”

What. Colonel? That maniac bomber jawhead?

“Wha–at?”

“I—Ian, you had a star? Wait, it’s more than one if you’re a colonel.”

“Kehehehe, do I look any different now? You little wimps. Go on, salute to me.”

“Q—quit that bulls***! You’re just old!”

“Y—Yeah! The higher ups were always getting cut out during the Great War! They probably put you there because they needed a placeholder! And ranks don’t even matter that much to me because I was in special ops!”

Even thinking that, Gyosu imagined Ian in a uniform with several medals on his chest. With black sunglasses and a cigar in his mouth he was snickering like he always does whilst pressing a red button. Damn it. He fits perfectly. It was like he was born for that position.

Anyway, that’s convenient. He should know better than me if he was a colonel.

“Okay. Then help me out will you?”

“Hm? With what?”

“It’s about the game. I have a thing where I need to operate a sort of… special ops forces, but there’s a bit of a problem.”

Ian seemed to have lost interest hearing the word game, but then regained his enthusiasm once he heard the word special ops.

“A special ops forces you say. How many soldiers, what type, and the objective?”

“There might be some adjustments since we didn’t start yet, but there are about ten people so far.”

“Ten plus alpha… Then it’s about a platoon. The objective?”

“Assassination of the enemy’s commander in chief.”

“Huh?”

Yeah, that’s exactly how you’re supposed to react.

Ian’s bewildered reaction to what Gyosu just said made Gyosu feel something deep inside him become satisfied. It’s always nice for someone to acknowledge your pain.

“I know it doesn’t logically make sense, but let’s just say that’s what’s happening. It’s a game, remember? We’re knights that are on a mission to defeat the big bad evil man, or woman.”

“Uhh, mmm…. Okay. Sure. I guess it would be possible if all ten of the members can each output the firepower of a company by themselves. So what type of troops are there?”

“Three infantry that can draw the enemy’s attention at the front and six wizards, or artillery capable of massive firepower projection.”

Ian, who grimaced at the word infantry, brightened when he heard that the rest of the troops were artillery.

“…That’s not bad. You said it isn’t an all-out battle, but an assassination. So you could use the three infantry to lure out the target, then make the artillery wait in the back and shoot the target by setting an estimated contact location. I don’t know about the other parts, but I’d call it a pass that you have artillery. Artillery is basically the god of the battlefield!”

This guy. He’s gotten brainwashed by the Korean guys that artillery is some kind of foolproof hand. I’ve thought up to that part too. But there’s a problem starting with the next point.

“The artillery is pretty useful, but they have a big flaw.”

“Flaw? What, they aren’t experienced?”

“Mmm… first of all, there’s a problem with the supply. These bastards are really picky eaters. So it’s going to be difficult to keep up their firepower up to the point where the commander in chief is.”

Ian just laughed at Gyosu’s explanation as if that was nothing.

“Aw, you made me think it was something serious. Starving them will solve it. Give them something to eat after starving them. They’ll scarf that all up then lick their fingers too.”

“No. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and they’ll rather starve to death than eat something else. It has to be fish or some kind of food that lives in water.”

“…Even if they die?”

“Yeah. And they lose their efficiency anywhere that’s dry.”

“What kind of bulls*** is that?”

Yep. I thought the same thing while I was trying to plan out this mission with these mages involved.

‘I need to pass through three captured cities with these guys. Do I really need to give them raw fish and seafood for each meal?’

Speed and stealth are key factors of an infiltration mission. They should be moving day and night at full speed and get by on hardtack at most, but no, they would have to find a body of water and fish for food. So if there’s no water, then they’ll have to starve. And that means the paths of infiltration are limited as well.

The moment you travel with mages, the entire group now has a limitation on their course of travel. Overall, mages are not fit for active missions like these.

“There’s another problem.”

“You already sound screwed but there’s more?”

“Yeah. One of the artilleries(mages) is a commander from the enemy side. A dark mage.”

“Uh… by commander, do you mean… they changed sides? Or were they captured and forcefully brought there?”

Let’s see. Usually, a dark mage captured by the Light’s Order is executed without any questions asked, but seeing that they attempted to reguide him, he didn’t commit a crime. It looks like he was captured because he was a dark mage. But there’s no way he could have learned dark magic alone, right? Maybe he has a connection with the ones associated with the mutation blood?

Gyosu thought for a moment, and then spoke again, shaking his head.

“It’s not confirmed yet, but they weren’t captured as the enemy. There’s a chance that they are a spy.”

“So the higher ups didn’t give you the information. Well you can infer from how the prisoner is treated. Does that guy have a bunch of riches and enjoying his life with some babes?”

“Uh… No? They forced him naked and shaved his hair saying that his mind needs to be cleansed.”

“What the fu**.”

Ian waved his hands as if there was nothing more to think about it.

“Why do you think they treat the prisoners of war so well? It’s so that they feel safe so that they’ll cooperate better. But what? They took off his clothes and shaved their head? If it was me, it would have betrayed them right away. Hey, the moment the mission starts, take them to a shady alleyway and just shoot them. Say that he went MIA. And they’re artillery too. If you leave them be, they’ll leave to snitch everything to their side after starting a fire in the gunpowder storage.”

“Mmm… I guess it is a little dangerous to take a dark mage with us…”

I’ll keep that one on hold then. I’m going to need to have a talk with him when I go back in.

“Then next problem.”

“Another one?”

“The rest aren’t that serious. Most of the troops are from Rodrick, and they’re pretty f***ing racist. And two of the troops are races that are discriminated.”

“My goodness? Discrimination too? Guys that need to depend their lives on each other on the battlefield?”

“And one of the two has a pretty low intelligence. They are trying their best to learn, but it’s going to be hard to put them into any complicated operation.”

“F*** it! I quit! Tell them you quit too! Normal civilians would be easier to command than this!”

When he mentioned the werewolf and Notum, Ian ultimately gave up on thinking altogether.

“This isn’t a proper mission! Are you in your right mind, accepting this thing? Tell them that you’re quitting right away!”

“I’ll die if I do.”

“The troops are in that state and they told you that they’ll kill you if you quit?”

“Damn. Hepburn. That’s rough buddy.”

Tss—Tssk—

Sighhh—

While Vex was patting Gyosu’s back, Ian lit a cigarette he got from his pocket.

“Yeah. That’s a rough situation you have there. I’m sorry I couldn’t help, but I seriously don’t see a way. Why don’t you try to start a coup with that group instead? I see a bit of hope in that scenario.”

“I agree. Even Sun Tzu would want to go back to his grave if he came back alive to this.”

“Pft! What’s that even supposed to mean.”

‘I didn’t really get an answer out of that, but I definitely do feel better.’

Gyosu laughed as he chugged the rest of the water in the glass before he spoke again.

“I didn’t really say this for an actual answer to be honest. I just needed to vent. Talking about it with other people makes the load a little lighter.”

“So, did it get lighter?”

“Nope. I learned how f***ing s***ty my situation is and got an even bigger headache.”

“Kehehehe. That’s just how the world rolls pal. Nothing in this world ever goes as planned. You just need to adapt to it one by one. You can do it on your own. From my experience, you’re somehow going to find a way no matter how bad the situation is.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Nothing’s gonna get solved if I just sit here all day.”

Gyosu sighed as he got up from the sofa. He ate and sort of cleared up his mind.

“Are you going back in?”

“I need to move quickly. He already took my thumb. It’s not mine anymore.”

“…Alright. Good luck. We’ll be looking in our own ways too. We might meet some people who know something about it while we do business.”

“Okay. I hope so. Are you guys doing anything else other than building the shelter today?”

“Yeah. We’re going to take a look around Area 47.”

“Don’t go around like you did in Area 43! You have the thing I gave you, right?”

To Gyosu’s exclamation, Ian took out a notepad from his pocket that was filled to the brim with notes.

“Don’t worry. I’ll read it every 10 minutes.”

“No, tell Vex to hold it. Vex, I don’t need to tell you right? Take care of them.”

“Do I look like some idiot that’ll lose a notepad?”

“No, not that. I was saying to take care of the man called Metal Jaw that seems to react with their holster faster than their brain.”

“…You little bastard.”

“Kehe. I’ll try my best. I’ll try.”

Gyosu tightly squeezed Vex’s hands as a meaning of thanks and then walked to the room with the game pod.

‘I’ll need to set my rest times from now too. I should at least play till sundown if I start in the morning. That should make it somewhat match up with the time outside too.’

And I should try not to rage quit next time. Don’t forget. You don’t have time, Gyosu Park.

[Hehehe. I think it’s fine if you take thing slowly.]

‘Shut up will you.’

Hisssssss—thunk.

After lying down in the pod, Gyosu closed his eyes.

‘First, I’ll figure out all of the limitations first. I can get a map to figure out the routes, and the enemy’s information… maybe they have that at the Moon Shadow?’

I’m already getting a headache and haven’t even started yet—this damn game. I can’t even complain because the game’s fun the more stressed I get.

Whoosh!

With the familiar loading sound, Gyosu’s consciousness faded once more.