Prologue
Prologue
Black Nightmare.
Or 'Bluna' for short.
The greatest open-world action RPG ever created in Korea.
A masterpiece of an era that pushed aside and rose above the Chinese games that had occupied most of the subculture market.
A vast world, high degree of freedom, realistic NPCs powered by AI, user-friendly operations.
Truly, the greatest game that breathed hope into Korea.
...There was a time it was called that.
'If only the company hadn't changed hands... It would have been okay.'
The atmosphere changed in an instant after the company was acquired by a conglomerate.
The monthly feedback sessions were discontinued.
The aesthetic no longer fit the current trends.
The subculture-style characters vanished in an instant.
On top of that, all sorts of controversies.
The masterpiece of an era had turned into a disastrous flop.
"No! Fuck!"
I logged in to check the notice that had been posted after so long and immediately let out a scream.
"I waited for so long, and this is what I get?!"
I never quit, believing it would make a glorious comeback someday.
Even when I started other subculture games, I never stopped playing Black Nightmare.
Even when the gacha rates were a rip-off, I endured it and pulled every character.
I checked their performance, posted about it on the community, and even promoted the game to attract new players.
And the result was a service termination.
"I personally attended the feedback sessions and even organized users to send a protest truck, and they ignored it all, only to end up shutting down! Aaagh! These motherfuckers, for real!"
After reading the entire termination notice, I immediately sat down at my computer.
Unable to contain this rage, I unleashed a 57,000-character torrent of fury into an email to the director, an address I'd gotten during a feedback session, far exceeding the previous 5,700 characters.
How did I write 57,000 characters?
I just copy-pasted all the materials I had ever sent to the developers.
After sending the email, I finally let out a deep sigh, got up from my seat, and booted up the game one last time.
"Phew... This is the end. Just how much time and money did I invest in this?"
As the game I always logged into loaded, the same title screen and background music I'd seen for years appeared.
Next came the character selection screen.
My character 'Haim', who was practically my other self, was standing there.
I logged into the game and placed all the items I'd collected and my strategy guide into a storage box.
"I worked so damn hard to make that."
It was a book containing information on every region and boss in Black Nightmare.
A strategy guide that was the very essence of my knowledge.
Thinking I'd bury it along with my memories, I quit the game and even finished uninstalling it.
"To think it would end like this..."
Lying down on my bed with a sense of regret, my phone vibrated.
I wonder who it is.
I picked up my phone to check and saw it was a reply email from the director.
I hurriedly opened my mailbox to check the contents.
[ A gift for you, our always-valued Hero-nim ]
To. Hero-nim
We are deeply sorry to you, Hero-nim, who always sent us feedback and took the lead in promoting the game throughout these years of continued downturn.
We wanted to give you at least a small gift.
The file below is the CBT Version of Black Nightmare 2, currently in development.
It's not a completely new game but rather the original Black Nightmare repackaged into a standalone game format, so we believe you will adapt to it easily.
It is complete up to the ending, so we would be grateful if you enjoy playing it.
We look forward to your continued support.
From. Black Nightmare Director
Black Nightmare II CBT .Zip
The moment I read the email, I immediately rushed back to my computer and sat down.
I opened my mailbox and launched the CBT Version that was there.
"So it wasn't a complete failure after all! Yeah, that's more like it. There's no way a game that must have made trillions of won would just collapse like that."
The moment I finished downloading the sent file, the game launched.
The computer screen turned black.
And my vision turned black along with it.