An Unexpected 30 Minutes
Game? What the hell is that??
Countless mutants lurked in the dark web.
Among them, Marina—the administrator of the largest site, the Gallery—stared at her screen with cold eyes.
There was only one reason she was watching so intently.
A file a user had just sent her.
“A game…”
She’d heard the word before. Compared to other mutants, Marina had always been unusually interested in old relics.
The distant past, long since vanished.
Even so, she didn’t know the details. Unlike movies, dramas, or songs—media that had at least left behind some usable records—information about games was nonexistent. It was as if the culture itself had been deliberately erased.
“…Well, I’ll find out once I try it.”
Even if something suspicious was hidden inside, she had nothing to worry about. With her hacking skills, she could neutralize any virus.
With that thought, Marina downloaded the file.
Filename: Make me a Hero!
Download complete.
“…?”
She was briefly thrown off by the odd filename, but soon launched the game she’d downloaded.
> Tap Space Bar
The screen wasn’t filled with the dazzling holographics she was used to seeing on the streets. Instead, it displayed hand-crafted dot graphics.
“…What the heck is this?”
Marina tilted her head. To someone raised on hyper-realistic holograms, these crude pixels felt strangely fresh.
‘…I should add this technique to the database.’
She wondered what to call this unfamiliar art style, then absentmindedly pressed the space bar.
『Yahoo! Hello!』
“…?”
An illustration appeared on screen, and a girl spoke to her.
“Some kind of AI?”
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t. It was just a simple command that spat out pre-written lines. Even so, the mere fact that something with a human shape was responding felt novel.
She kept tapping the space bar. The script continued.
“Hmm, I see.”
The story itself was straightforward and inoffensive—at least to her. A protagonist who dreamed of becoming a hero saving people sets off on a journey to rescue his childhood friend, kidnapped by the Demon King.
“Hmmm…”
It was a plot she’d seen a few times in the classic literature she’d researched. A person who steps forward even when it isn’t their problem—selfless for reasons she couldn’t quite grasp. Maybe this creator was also interested in old stories, just like her.
Curiosity stirred in Marina’s chest.
Once the prologue ended, enemies appeared before her eyes.
[Space Bar : Jump]
[←→ : Move]
[A : attack 1]
[B : attack 2]
The controls were displayed behind the screen.
“Ah, like this?”
The moment she saw them, Marina instinctively understood. This was how she would properly experience the game.
“Hup!”
-Whoosh!
When she pressed A, the hero swung his sword up and down. An orc struck by the blade collapsed to the floor. It lay still for a moment before flickering and vanishing.
“Huh…”
Marina stared, entranced, then walked forward. Another orc stood in her path. This time she pressed S.
-Shiiing!
The hero spun in a full circle—completely different from the previous attack. It was a simple action, yet strangely addictive.
Excited, Marina mashed the buttons at random.
-Shiiing! Whirrr! Shing!
The hero followed up the spinning slash by leaping into the air and bringing his sword down in a powerful strike. ASAA. A combo attack triggered by a special command.
“Whoa…!!”
Marina’s eyes sparkled. How much time had passed while she played in a trance?
[Fin]
{Thank you for playing}
“…It’s over?”
Already? Without thinking, she glanced at the clock.
Thirty minutes. A full half hour had slipped by.
…When had time passed so quickly?
Snapping back to reality, Marina hurriedly logged into her dark web.
“Haa…”
Seeing the gallery flooded with trash posts after she’d been away for less than an hour made irritation bubble up inside her for the first time in a while.
Of course, no matter how many posts appeared, handling them was never a problem for her.
“Delete all.”
She had her supercomputer and its built-in AI, after all.
In less than a minute, every single garbage post vanished without a trace.
“Haa…”
Finally able to breathe, Marina opened the gallery’s inquiry tab. There was only one person she was looking for right now.
GM.
The creator of this game. She needed to reply quickly to anyone who submitted a distribution request.
‘I’d love to talk about other things too, but…’
She couldn’t. An administrator had to remain impartial at all times. Even if she didn’t manage every detail, the city government—neutral and unaffiliated with any corporation—proved that principle.
With that thought, Marina quickly sent a private message.
How much time had passed since she sent the game to the administrator?
Staring at the laptop screen with a pounding heart, roughly thirty minutes later, the long-awaited review result finally arrived.
“Ugh, this is stressful.”
Reliving the feeling of submitting a rating request brought back an unpleasant memory. It was like being reminded of a taste she’d forgotten.
Still, it was fortunate that the standards here were far more reasonable than the old committee’s. Instead of incomprehensible rejections, most decisions came with logical reasons. In a world where ordinary people acted like machines—except for mutants—and even the mutants had relatively faint emotions and desires, such fairness was possible. In the past, no matter what laws were made, weirdos always slipped through. It was ironic that only in this kind of society could everyone compete fairly.
“Oh.”
She’d known this would happen since she hadn’t made anything weird, but actually receiving approval felt pretty good.
The reply took a while, as if the other person was thinking.
What was that supposed to mean?
Question marks popped up above her head as the next messages followed.
…That much?
She’d expected a positive reaction. The character designs were solid and the story followed a classic, safe formula. But was it really worthy of this level of praise? It seemed a bit much compared to her own expectations.
‘Like me?’
Did this person also know about the old civilization?
She asked.
This was completely new information.
So there were still people like this around.
She sent the reply with that thought. Well, she was an actual native of that era, so she probably knew more than any scholar… but there was no need to say that. Who knew who this person really was?
A normal person wouldn’t believe her anyway, and even if they did, she had no idea how they’d react.
She hadn’t expected that. Having the administrator help with preservation would definitely be beneficial.
‘But why would she offer?’
There was no such thing as kindness without reason. While the offer was clearly a good thing, it somehow made her uneasy.
“…That’s true.”
Just because someone made a good game didn’t mean it gave them any real advantage in surviving here. It probably didn’t matter.
Under the Ju-ttak’s leadership, the game she had created spread throughout the entire Gallery.