A Lucky Day
"If I had to tag this girl's life... it'd be Hated Potion, I guess."
"Like a love potion?"
"Kinda. But way more vicious and horrific."
Hated Potion, Zara. The second apocalypse of Endless—the one that drives players who avoided the Suicide Witch ending straight into despair.
"Zara... is hated by the world. People, beasts, plagues, fate... everything is merciless to her."
"So she destroys the world? Out of hatred for its cruelty?"
"No."
"Pardon?"
"The world hates Zara, but Zara loves the world. If you named the kindest person in this world, it'd be her."
"...How could someone like that be hated?"
"That's the vicious part of the Hated Potion genre. Good people get hit with baseless hatred and loathing."
Zara is kind. Gentle. Friendly. Positive. Overflowing with consideration, she enjoys helping others. No matter what you do to her, Zara forgives. She's the kind of girl you just can't hate.
That's why most players who first meet her try to help the poor girl getting flak for no reason. Why would they treat her harshly themselves?
Zara quickly opens her heart to the player—the one person treating her kindly.
And then.
The world ends.
"......Pardon?"
"Zara's the girl who shoulders all this world's misfortune. Biblically speaking... she's a scapegoat. A pitiful sacrifice bearing others' suffering."
"......"
"The moment she finds happiness, the misfortunes she's endured are released. Some are minor, but others are horrific enough to doom the world."
At first, the released misfortunes seem manageable. The player spares no effort for this innocent scapegoat, trying to contain the unleashed sins—plagues, accidents, fights, all of it.
But how could one Abraham alone stop the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah?
In the end, the world perishes.
For the sole reason that one girl finally found a scrap of happiness.
"That's... too cruel."
"Yeah. It is."
Zara can't be saved. Realizing this, players start avoiding her. They keep their distance to prevent raising her affection from the start.
But misfortune always tails fortune like a shadow.
No matter what, the player ends up encountering Zara.
And if they don't treat her harshly, she develops affection for them anyway—just for not being cruel.
Like fate.
"Can you imagine what happens next?"
"Something horrific, I bet."
In the end, the player turns into just another hater like everyone else. They torment, insult, and abuse her without reason. To avert doom, the innocent girl must suffer endlessly.
And the executors of that punishment? The player included among all us sinners.
"Well, it'd be nice if that actually prevented the end... but there's more trouble after."
The player torments the innocent girl. Up to that point... it's dirty business, sure, but understandable if it stops the apocalypse.
But this world doesn't work that way.
The snowball of one averted doom rolls on, inevitably leading to another.
Like a righteous hero who refuses to forgive the 'sinners who tormented the innocent girl' and dooms the world in the process.
"Anyway, what a garbage game."
Endless is a garbage game. Packed from one to ten with elements designed to torment the player.
Making you grow attached to an NPC, then forcing you to abuse them yourself? The devs have no heart. Or they're too human.
"Only masochists who love suffering would enjoy a game like this."
"Shall I whip you?"
"Shut it unless you wanna see Gigachad in a garter belt with a whip."
"Yes, sir."
What a truly beautiful day. Birds chirped, flowers bloomed, and the sunlight blazed so brightly.
Perfect weather for getting run over by a carriage.
Crash!
The horse pulling the carriage kicked the girl's body.
Blinded by the sudden glare on this fine day, the coachman hadn't spotted the girl walking along the road.
"Tch! Damn. What rotten luck."
Spotting the girl too late, the coachman just clicked his tongue and drove on.
Stopping for a mere beggar would've wasted the time of his noble passenger.
And so, the girl was left abandoned in the street.
Onlookers murmured in condemnation.
"Tch tch. Where were her eyes?"
"Ow, move it! Lying in the road like a damn beggar brat."
"Gonna have to haul a corpse now. What a hassle."
The blame was utterly unjust. The girl was clearly the victim; it was the coachman's fault for not watching the road.
But no one took her side. No citizen extends a hand to a beggar.
A cultured citizen wouldn't waste time on such trifles.
Moments later, the girl struck by the carriage stood up. She brushed the dirt off her clothes and murmured to herself with a bright smile.
"Heh heh, didn't get hurt too bad today...?"
Getting hit by carriages or caught in sudden accidents was routine for her.
Today was actually pretty lucky. At least she could still walk.
Not getting crushed with her bones shattered? That was fortune enough.
"See? I'm so lucky..."
The girl—Zara—praised herself like that, stood tall, and resumed walking.
Soon after, crossing a bridge over the village river, she spotted kids playing.
Balancing precariously on the narrow railing, arms outstretched—it looked dangerous.
And then.
The child's body wobbled unsteadily. Losing balance, the kid flailed wildly and began plummeting toward the river below.
"Kid! Danger!"
Zara threw herself at the child. Hopping the railing, she grabbed it with one hand and snatched the kid with the other.
With strength unbelievable for such a small girl, she yanked the child to safety.
She tossed the kid onto the bridge and reached to climb back—
But the flung child bit down hard on the hand gripping the railing.
"Eek?!"
Zara lost her grip and plunged into the river.
Splash! The river reeked horribly, carrying the city's filth and sewage. If there was a place festering with grime and plague, it'd be this one.
Soaked and drenched, Zara barely swam to shore.
"Gack, cough. Heh, heh heh. Glad I saved the kid. See? I'm lucky..."
After that, the girl faced more trials. She extinguished a shop fire with her body, threw herself at a mercenary swinging a sword to save an elder.
Burns scorched her, a blade pierced her and drew blood.
All for helping others—but her kindness went unrewarded.
"You pushed my kid and hurt them? How dare a filthy beggar—"
The mother of the child she'd saved from the bridge slapped her cheek.
"You spilled sewage and ruined my goods!"
The shop owner whose fire she'd nearly stopped lashed her with a whip.
"Tch, next time I see you, you're dead."
Beaten, insulted, ignored.
But Zara thought herself lucky.
"Heh, heh heh... At least I can still walk..."
After her wretched day, Zara trudged toward "home." It wasn't a proper house—just rotten planks barely blocking the wind. Homeless was more accurate.
Lying on the hard ground, Zara suddenly reflected on the day.
Staring at the ceiling planks, she muttered to herself.
As if explaining to someone.
"Today was lucky. Got hit by a carriage, but not too bad. So I could help that kid about to fall off the bridge. If I'd been hurt worse and couldn't walk, the kid would've died... Lucky."
She reeked of sewage.
"Falling in the river soaked my clothes, so I could put out the fire. That was lucky too. If it'd spread, everyone would've been in danger."
Her burned arm throbbed.
"I'm a really lucky person."
She was the most unlucky person alive.
"Even now, messed up as it is, I can sleep under these planks. Morning dew won't matter much. Relieving."
No sooner had she finished than the rotten planks collapsed.
A falling board struck her face dead-on, like it had eyes.
She groaned, staring at the now-open sky.
"Whoa... The stars are so pretty. Almost slept under gloomy planks instead of this beautiful night sky."
Gazing at the stars for a while, Zara suddenly shivered from the cold.
Probably from the gaping hole in the roof.
"...Still, it'd be nice if people treated me a bit kinder. Being alone is lonely."
And then.
Before her murmuring eyes.
A muscular macho man appeared.
Like a ghost, out of nowhere.
— "Zarling, don't fear loneliness. That's for pussies."
"Eek?! W-who are you?!"
Startled, Zara swung her hand at the man.
But it passed harmlessly through his body.
— "I'm Gigachad. Your inner self. Your potential."
"...Ah, so I've finally lost it?"
Zara accepted the sight surprisingly calmly. She'd been so unlucky.
Suddenly going mad and hallucinating? Pretty routine for her.
Eating poisonous mushrooms, getting hit by a mad mage's spell... stuff like that.
She was even a little glad.
"Maybe I went crazy at a good time. I was feeling lonely talking to myself. Heh heh, today's lucky after all."
"...How is she still alive with that kind of luck? Shouldn't she be dead by now?"
"Zara has a Heavenly Martial Body."
"Pardon?"
"Not just that. Demon king bloodline, Demon Spirit Jade, Heavenly Murder Star... She has every talent for killing people."
"......"
"For a gentle girl who won't kill anyone, talents for slaughter are just another horrific misfortune."