The Arts and Culture Preservation Program

The Arts and Culture Preservation Program “…What the hell is this?”

I muttered without thinking as I stared at the status window floating in midair.

Acceptance came quickly.

Avatar. Constellation. Both words were far too familiar to someone who had lived through the 21st century.

Constellations—transcendent beings from myth and legend.

And avatars, those who receive their support.

The exact details might differ from story to story, but the basic framework was always the same.

“Ah, um… hello?”

The moment the thought occurred to me, I carefully offered a greeting toward the empty air.

Constellations existed in a realm far above. In the worst case, if they suddenly took offense, a single flick of their fingers might blow my head clean off.

Before long, another message appeared in the air.

At the same time, a single piece of information was transmitted directly into my mind with a sharp jolt.

“Muse… the goddess of the arts…?”

The Muses, or Mousai. The nine goddesses of the arts from Greek mythology, born to the Titan of memory Mnemosyne and Zeus.

I wasn’t sure about their standing within the myths themselves, but I knew they were fairly well-known deities in the modern era…

‘What on earth are they doing here?’

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could roughly guess the reason.

‘Didn’t it mention something about art preservation earlier?’

Even if the world claimed otherwise, the concept of art still existed here. However, it was nothing more than a relic of the past. Thanks to advanced technology, the ideology of scientific supremacy had spread, and anything related to rest or art was branded inefficient. Like the Red Army of the old continent, they had launched a full-scale campaign to eradicate culture.

‘Even if they say there’s no problem, this still feels wrong to watch.’

The memory of the old continent’s self-inflicted cultural destruction and the resulting nuisance flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t help but frown.

Anyway, in this world too, all art and culture had vanished. From the perspective of the goddess who governed the arts, it was more than enough to cause a headache.

Laurel Wreath's Art God. She was probably Kleio, the Muse of history. After all, the laurel wreath was her symbol.

Well, anyway.

“…So, what exactly do you want me to do?”

Drawing on my past experience in corporate life, I adopted the most professional posture I could manage.

One of the constellations immediately stepped forward, but…

“Hmm, I’m sorry. I already have a story I want to write.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t accept the offer.

‘I have my own story I want to create.’

Logically speaking, receiving help from the goddess of the arts would be best for crafting a story that everyone would praise. But did I really have to go that route?

Seeing my reaction, one quick-witted constellation asked.

“Ah, what I want to make?”

A game I wanted to create.

Gacha games that could squeeze money out of players with terrifying efficiency, or MMORPGs like MapleStory or Niris that ruthlessly drained wallets—those would be fine too, but…

“…I was thinking of just making a simple indie game.”

Suddenly, the indie game I had made in the past came to mind. The kind you could buy cheap on Steam and play. It had received decent reviews back then.

‘That was quite the memory…’

That experience had made me decide to become a game developer, but…

Reality had been a gutter.

Anyway, for that reason, I wanted to return to my roots for the first time in a while and heal my wounded soul a little.

Fortunately, the constellations seemed to understand my intentions to some degree… Though, to be honest, it was probably because I was the only usable avatar left in this world. If there had been another option, they would have gone looking for someone else.

Even if that hypothesis was wrong, the most important thing was that I had been given another chance to try something again.

“Of course there is…… Ah.”

A sudden realization hit me.

This was a cold, steel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world that pursued only societal progress while discarding all personal emotions and entertainment. In this frigid world, there was no game development program like the one I used to rely on.

“……Is there anyone here who knows how to use a computer?”

Well, this is screwed.

A cyberpunk world where technology ruled everything.

Of course, computers existed here as well. After all, operating technology and machinery required devices like computers.

‘The problem is that those damn computers have specs so absurdly specialized that they’ve fallen straight into the abyss.’

Indeed, the computers in this world were designed with only one purpose in mind: “task processing.” They could handle trillions of pieces of information from the vast internet in less than a second, but in the end, the only things that ran on them were internet and work-related ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠services—typical office computers.

In other words, there were no programs for making games, and no computers capable of playing them.

‘This is completely messed up…’

Well, strictly speaking, such computers did exist. The issue was where they existed—somewhat… no, in a very dark place.

The dark web. Shadowy sites operated in secret, beyond the government’s reach.

No matter how indifferent the government was to the world’s affairs, they were famous for throwing a fit and slapping every possible regulation on anything they didn’t like. And computers not meant for work were one of the biggest prohibited items on their list.

‘This isn’t some red dictatorship or anything…’

Well, the national power was on a completely different level, making comparison meaningless, but the way the country was run was roughly similar, so it wasn’t entirely wrong. There weren’t people starving to death like in those countries, but the wealth gap was no joke.

…Whether upper class or lower class, the food they ate was the same. These guys were worse than the English.

“Anyway, what am I supposed to do about this…”

While I was worrying about the lack of basic development tools, a message appeared in the air as if it had been waiting.

“…Huh?”

When I looked up at the air without thinking, countless messages followed.

Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed the constellations had pooled together whatever money they had—whether they had any or not—and sent it over.

So what should I do at this point?

“Thank you so much.”

I immediately climbed onto the bed and bowed my head flat against it.

Constellations or not, as a matter of basic human decency, showing this much sincerity to gods who had emptied their own pockets to help me was only proper.

“So, how do I apply this…”

-Flash!

The moment I thought that, a light burst from the air and shot toward the work laptop sitting on my desk.

“Oh…”

At the same time, the laptop emitted a brilliant light.

Another line of text appeared in the air.

“Helpful? Of course it was.”

I had been worried about not having a development program, and now they had provided support like this. Since it was a program received through the constellations’ assistance, I wondered if it might be different from an ordinary creation tool.

Well, even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter. There wouldn’t be any issues with the company either, because that laptop had been mine to begin with.

For someone working at a corporation, a laptop or computer was more essential than a phone, so it was only natural.

All I had to do was organize the work-related files later and send them over.

“First, I need to quit my job.”

I was going to leave this ice-cold, rigid company right away.