Earth Server Shutdown
What happens to a game addict when you take away the game? Yeah, just the addict remains.
A few days after my life—Last Day—ended, I was living like a total shut-in.
"Ah... nothing to do."
Like Teacher An Jung-geun, who supposedly got thorns in his mouth if he didn't read a book for even a day. I was the type who couldn't forget this pathetic life if I didn't play games daily. Comparing myself to a great independence activist pricked even my nonexistent conscience, but hey, I had no family to mourn me if I died, no convictions, no patriotism—doesn't that make me even more pitiful?
"Ugh, what kinda bullshit is this."
Spouting crap like that proved my state was seriously dire. Couldn't be helped—life's key element was gone. You ask if games were the most important thing in my life? Duh, obviously.
"Sob sob... it's just a game, but still a game."
Thinking of Last Day abandoning me brought tears to my eyes. Was this how a master felt when their sect was wiped out? At least they had enemies like demonic cults or blood sects to avenge. I was a hundred times more pathetic with nothing at all.
"...Ah, they really shut it down."
On a whim, I logged into Last Day. But all that loaded was a black screen and lonely wind sounds. The server, bereft of players, sobbed alone. Sob sob. Sob sob... Hic sob.
It felt like the end of the world for real, which bummed me out. No need to go this far just because it was an Earth-destruction game.
"Hm? A message?"
Then a small link popped up at the bottom. What was this? A note from the devs? I've always been the curious type. If a gangster wore a wig right in front of me, I'd yank it off to check if he was really bald. Insatiable like that.
I clicked it immediately, and a site loaded.
Earth Server is Shutting Down
The site was pitch black like the game. Just one short sentence and some meaningless numbers. Any normal person would've shrugged it off as creepy and moved on. But Last Day players knew better.
"It's the game prologue scene."
Specifically, one frame from the opening cinematic when you first boot up. Last Day was a zombie apocalypse world. It starts with scenes of civilization crumbling bit by bit. And this screen? The very first sign of doom.
A mysterious site pops up online, heralding the end. Which meant...
The exact same apocalypse omen from the game had appeared in real life.
"......"
Of course, no one would seriously think "Earth's doomed" seeing this. At most, "Server shut down, now prepping part two?" But why, then...?
The gut instinct that kept me alive all these years screamed: danger.
"...What if the world really ends?"
No evidence, just instinct. But if this was the real start of the end? Like in the game?
If shit really hits the fan, better prep early.
Doomsday preppers. Folks convinced the world's gonna end someday. Rare in cramped Korea, but common abroad like in America. Even there, they're mostly seen as weirdos. COVID, Ukraine war—they hyped it up, but it all fizzled. My "evidence"? One game site. Was I really joining their ranks?
"Server ends one game, world ends? Proper crazy talk."
My debate didn't last long.
"Fine, let's do it."
Apocalypse? Sure. My life's been meaningless anyway. Might as well bet on this. Truth be told, it didn't matter either way.
...Honestly, I don't give a damn what the truth is.
Game's gone, nothing left to do. Humans need goals, will to live. That ominous message gave me that. Even if they finger-point and call me nuts.
This is how I roll. Who knows—maybe my "crazy" is sane, and the "sane" world's the mad one.
Explaining how the Earth Server bites it in the game is pretty fun. Not our Earth, mind you—just how it goes down in Last Day.
Most games slap together nukes, zombie plagues, or alien invasions. But Last Day kicks off spectacularly.
First, every gun and explosive on Earth vanishes. No reason given. Purple aliens snap their fingers? Guns and gunpowder turn to dust.
Next, global EMP fries all comms and internet.
Then zombie and monster raids. No weapons, no contact. Zombies munch civilians. Periodic monsters chomp humans and surplus food.
Disaster? Sure, but devs wanted more for extinction. Meteors rain from the sky. Even philosophers planting apple trees would've GG'd.
Meteors hit key cities and bases precisely. Like Blue House, National Assembly, 1st Corps, Daejeon’s Seongsimdang. George Marshall reincarnated couldn't bomb that well.
Would've ended there... nah, not really good, but anyway. Devs kept going.
Still not enough? "Fuck it, nuke China!" Meteors pummel China, one hitting a secret fentanyl factory. Yeah, zombie drug stuff.
Somehow mixes with meteor virus into real zombie plague. Biology? Who knows. Universe grants desperate wishes? Some asshole prayed hard for zombies. Earth's admin's a dick for fulfilling it.
Zombie virus spreads worldwide. Not everyone turns—maybe 30% by constitution. But zombies don't chill, so population halves.
Insane. Guns gone. Monsters everywhere. Leaders and bases ash. Zombie virus. Wa, sands! 4.6 billion years of planet history? Plausible extinction.
Earth Server: terminated. Somewhere, I hear "lol it's not Earth that's fucked, it's you humans lmao."
Storm in a teacup's still a disaster to the folk inside. Humanity's fucked. Our hard-won conclusion.
We're fucked. But... can't just die. Server's down, but gotta live. Unless you croak peacefully in sleep. Humans thrash till the end. With just survival will, we're the nastiest critters.
Han River divers abound, though. Can't stop 'em. World's too harsh; death might beat worse fates. Fear overtakes hope.
World ain't kind enough to save everyone anymore. More deaths than I think—maybe most. Even survivors? Not all hopeful. Backstabbed anytime by anyone.
That's the cruel, now-doomed world around us.
But not me. I'll survive this shit somehow.
...Huh? My narration sounds off? Like recounting past events from the future?
Yeah... why do I talk like it really happened?
World's unchanged, ticking on same as ever.
Except for that one persistent message on the unvanishing site.
Earth Server is Shutting Down
......Hm.