Episode 1.5: To Another World (1)
Just a little, just a little rewind of time. And let's take a look at the player.
"Tch."
Oldman, who had arrived at the cave, sat down in a suitable spot and waited for something. He interacted with the campfire to light it, wandered around here and there, and even struck the innocent wall with his sword, hoping for something to happen.
Is this not the place?
But no matter how long he waited, there was no change in the quest window.
[Wait for Aiden Oliver.]
Or something like [Search the cave.] popping up wouldn't have been strange at all.
As Oldman pondered whether he'd struck out or where to go next, that's when it happened.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound of footsteps crunching through snow. And then.
[Talk to Aiden Oliver.]
The updated quest window appeared.
Ha, finally decided to show up. I almost left.
Oldman wanted to grab anyone and complain that the NPC handing out quests was too damn late, but since he'd come to the right place after all, he decided to focus on the quest. He canceled his sit interaction, then approached Aiden to speak to him.
But the event didn't start with the player talking to the NPC.
Instead, it began with the NPC talking to the player.
"Who are you? What are your intentions?"
The man who entered the cave was none other than Aiden Oliver, an NPC. His appearance showed no particular changes—just the look of an ordinary NPC.
While sizing up Aiden, Oldman weighed two options.
His goal when starting the game for the first time had been a speedrun, after all.
Kill him or spare him?
To get a usable weapon from the prologue all the way to the end, he absolutely had to kill Aiden. But the new story that had just triggered started with Aiden's behavior changing drastically.
If Aiden died here, wouldn't it just revert to the normal quest?
Screw it, maybe skip it this time and check out the quest.
Here, Oldman chose to see a bit more variety in the story. Aiden's weapon was certainly valuable, but there were alternatives.
Games were meant to be enjoyed. He couldn't miss new experiences just because he'd farmed the same items a bunch of times already.
With that in mind, the player checked the choices for Aiden's question.
[Answer that you were looking for Aiden.]
[Ask for help retrieving your stolen item.]
More interesting choices than expected. Fitting for a brand-new route—pretty fresh. Especially the second one.
The item stolen from the protagonist by bandits in the prologue was never revealed throughout the entire game.
Protagonist... what was he again? Been ignoring the story so long I can't remember.
He didn't exactly remember the protagonist's precise identity or backstory, but as far as Oldman recalled, he was set up as pretty wealthy. Anyway, the game started with him passing through the area in fancy gear that didn't match his skills, getting ambushed by bandits, and losing everything.
So the second choice might hint at a new story about retrieving the protagonist's stolen item.
Not really appealing, though?
But if asked whether it particularly piqued his interest, no. It was just some item lost to bandits in an early quest—probably not great performance anyway.
So Oldman picked the first choice.
"I was looking for you."
"Why, exactly?"
Because that was the question Oldman wanted.
Option 1 clearly led to important follow-up choices no matter how you sliced it.
Picking the second might have revealed one of the game's unrevealed backstory bits directly.
But choosing the second would've ended it there. Aiden would've sized up the protagonist's appearance, guessed the situation, and offered help.
He needed something more enticing than a mere item grab.
[To cooperate in subjugating the bandit gang.]
[To steal Aiden's weapon.]
[To retrieve the stolen item.]
[To request an escort.]
Uncharacteristically straightforward for such an unfriendly game—the choices blatantly revealed what would happen next. Usually, it'd toss three vague affinity-building options that all looked the same.
The bottom ones overlap with the previous choices.
Player Oldman put the third and fourth on hold. They were identical to the prior ones.
So the real choices were one and two, and their outcomes were obvious.
Progress the main story with Aiden Oliver? Or turn him fully hostile?
Maybe a route where Aiden becomes a companion, or turns enemy and branches into something else.
Aiden Oliver: ordinary mercenary. Mildly good-aligned character. In the game, a standard NPC who gave decent-reward subquests, helped in the prologue as an ally, then vanished from the main story. Negligible presence.
Even when you teamed up for his quests, his strength wasn't impressive. The only NPC using some ancient magic or whatever—no chants, no fixed form, but nothing special.
Might be better if he just attacked the protagonist.
Aiden wouldn't do evil in front of the protagonist—good character. But his conscience was just "toss a thousand-won bill to a homeless guy on the street" level. Very human.
In danger, he'd prioritize "his people" and relax once they were safe.
So if this NPC, who only had ally plotlines, turned hostile against the protagonist?
Better than the worn-out, illogical, unfinished original story, right?
How fun would that story be? As a player, Oldman was already itching with curiosity.
"Your weapon is my goal."
He betrayed Aiden Oliver once again.
"It's nothing special. Is it really worth it?"
True enough. Oldman knew Aiden the NPC's weapon wasn't anything amazing.
It was just the quickest usable weapon available, that's all.
The new choice prompt phrased it that way, that's all.
And players didn't need reasons beyond that.
About four years ago by the calendar, a fantastic game was released into the world.
It was an era rife with games scamming via ads, so it faced massive pre-release skepticism from players.
But fortunately, it earned rave reviews and was named the best game of that year.
The release year or game name? Pull them out when needed.
What matters now is that this game was one people would remember even years later.
Not a cash-grab VR MMO that could shake the world.
Just a game from one famous dev among many—destined to become a fond "Oh yeah, that masterpiece" memory after a decade.
This story stems from such an ordinary game.
Towers revealing the map, quests and collectibles plastered across it, low-level repetitive tasks, characters equalized downward in looks and smarts.
From one utterly commonplace game packed with all that.
"Not a dream, though..."
Oldman, the man who died in the game, returned to reality without understanding why.
Fortunately, his real world was grounded enough that dying in-game didn't kill him for real.
Game over screen, choice to restart from checkpoint—that was normal.
"Why won't the damn game even launch again."
What he meant was: the game shutting down the instant the protagonist died was not normal.
And it refusing to run at all? Even less so.
At least the recording's fine.
Separate from the forced game shutdown, the footage he'd been recording was flawless.
It just ended with the game—nearly 2GB of seamless, error-free play.
"What a bullshit bug level..."
Setting aside the broken game for now, the player uploaded the unedited footage.
His goal? Just good reactions from other players.
But predictably, other players didn't react as hoped. His video and post became a target for backlash.
The long post titled 'New Prologue Route Discovered' sparked endless comment wars that wouldn't die down, eventually requiring admin intervention.
For days.
The original whistleblower, Oldman—who'd faced the clueless Aiden Oliver—could only feel frustrated at how no one believed him easily.
Sharing his recording and racking up views was fine, but people refused his story outright.
"Their speech... yeah, that's how they talk."
A new route undiscovered in a three-year-old game. Questionable story logic with the protagonist waking alone in the snowy field. And above all, the absurd claim that dying broke the save file, making replay impossible.
Other players dismissed the new route as fake, piecing it all together.
I get it's hard to believe...
Oldman sighed amid the disbelief, but inwardly understood their reactions.
Even to him and everyone, the "new route" footage had flaws.
Aiden Oliver—supposed to try talking first even in combat—reacted cynically. An AI that shouldn't dodge did so perfectly.
It contradicted the story completely from the start.
Ah, if not for that, I wouldn't have died.
Aiden dodging the attack perfectly—that was the issue.
In this game, player attacks got blocked by shields at worst, not dodged with minor movements.
Some humanoid bosses had dodge patterns, but turned NPCs never dodged.
...Whatever. No point caring if they don't believe me.
After much thought, Oldman gave up convincing others.
Any action now would just paint him as an attention-seeker.
Quietly delete the post, stay off the community for a few days till the bait sank—that was it.
But one post caught his eye amid it all.
Oldman was taken aback. In a situation where everyone had deemed it fake, someone defending him?
Suspicious of clickbait title leading to weird content, but the subtle like/dislike ratio suggested otherwise.
It meant one thing: Oldman wasn't the only one encountering new story.
The post, starting in the community's signature rough, provocative tone, spilled details of what its author had seen in-game.
The two players' experiences were nearly identical. Processes differed in detail, but both ended in combat with Aiden.
The short post with attached photos ended there.
And as expected, comments were a shitstorm.
Most opinion held that the first poster had made alts to back himself up, souring the mood even more.
No one took their stories seriously now—mockery and hate intensified.
The community bait starting from player Oldman showed no signs of dying down.
"Sigh, it's over."
Oldman finally set down his phone and collapsed onto the bed.
Mentally exhausted from long play and community flamewars.
He didn't resist his eyelids growing heavy the moment he lay down.
But his thoughts didn't stop.
...What if.
The first player connected to the game world, Oldman—his actions changed everything.
If he'd normally asked Aiden for help or approached friendly, maybe peace would've continued unbroken.
So perhaps.
What if I'd picked a different choice and cooperated with Aiden?
But Oldman knew nothing.
He had no clue what he'd gotten dragged into.
Just a regular player enjoying his favorite game.
