PDS Prologue

My senior was someone who shined brilliantly.

I had liked him ever since middle school. No, from the very first moment I saw him, I had instinctively known, as if it were the natural order of the world—like fate had already decided it would be so.

At the time, the middle school I attended was right next to a high school with the same name, only with a wall between them. Every day, I would see him beyond that boundary, walking across the school grounds, kicking a ball around the field. And day by day, I found myself more and more captivated by his light.

As my feelings for him grew, I eventually followed him into that very high school. I lacked the courage to speak to him properly even once, but being closer than before, occasionally crossing paths in the hallways, was enough to make me happy.

Then one night, by some twist of fate, we ended up trapped in the school together.

And that was when my senior told me something strange.

“Hey. I… I’ve been possessed.”

“…Possessed? Are you saying you’re haunted by a ghost?”

“Shit, no. It’s not a ghost. But… my soul isn’t the senior you knew. I’m someone else.”

Senior… wasn’t the senior I knew?

Unable to comprehend his words, I asked again,

“What are you talking about?”

“This is a game. You’re a game character. And I… got hit by a truck and ended up possessing someone in this game.”

A game? A character?

I couldn’t process anything he had just said. 

But one thing stuck in my mind like a ringing bell—he had been hit by a truck.

In a panic, I forgot all sense of personal space and immediately reached out to check his body.

“H-Hit by a truck…? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay right now?”

With a slightly exasperated expression, he pushed me away.

“I wasn’t hit here. It happened outside… Ha, how the hell am I supposed to explain this?”

Frustrated, he muttered a curse under his breath and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up.

I still didn’t understand a word of what he was saying, but I was relieved he was okay.

I took a step back, staring at him, entranced. Even when he was irritated, he still looked amazing.

Then suddenly, his exasperated expression disappeared, replaced by a serious look as he turned to me.

“Anyway… what I’m trying to say is, I need your help.”

At his words, my heart, already pounding from being near him, began to race even faster.

My senior was asking me for help.

I could be of use to him.

I was so overwhelmed with joy that I froze in place.

Maybe misinterpreting my stunned silence, he hesitated slightly before repeating himself, this time looking slightly impatient.

“I can’t beat this game. No matter how many times I try, I can’t do it. It’s impossible to clear this level alone.”

“…You can’t… do it alone?”

“Yeah. So help me out, okay? I mean, in the game’s setting, you’re supposed to like me, right?”

My eyes widened at the words that he had casually blurted out.

I stammered, completely caught off guard.

“I-I… You knew that I liked you?”

“Uh… No?”

“No… I mean, no, it’s not that, it’s true.”

He had found out. The feelings I had kept hidden were completely exposed.

But he didn’t seem to dislike it or show any discomfort. Feeling relieved, I couldn’t help but fall for him all over again.

Even knowing that someone like me liked him, he didn’t mind.

As expected, senior was kind and generous.

“If I help you… and you clear the game, what happens then?”

I still didn’t fully understand the situation, but if it was something he wanted, I was willing to do anything.

As long as he stayed in my sight. As long as he remained in a place where I could always watch over him, I was ready to stake everything I had and do whatever it took.

“Well… I guess this place will become peaceful, and I’ll go back to my original world.”

“…….”

“…?”

“Is that so?”

And so, I killed my senior.

Even though I was the one who did it, watching him die hurt so much that tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

“You’re my whole world, senior. Where do you think you’re going?”

Senior coughed up blood in violent bursts, his trembling eyes locked onto mine.

My own hands, stained with his blood, shook as I spoke.

“Just die… Please, die, senior.”

With what little strength I had left, I raised my hand once more and swung it down with all my might.

The world faded to black afterwards.

<BAD END: A Foolish Confession>

 

• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

 

I woke up at the most recently saved save point.

Shit. So this was a bad ending route.

I shouldn’t have said anything. I got myself killed again for nothing. Damn it…

“…….”

I was possessed in a game. And not just any game, but the worst kind of horror game, where most endings resulted in death.

Have you ever heard of Tsukkur games?

The term refers to games made using Tsukkur Maker, most commonly known as RPG Maker. These games typically feature a top-down perspective of a limited map area, where you control pixelated characters.

Because of their simple graphics and limited production value, they often compensate with dark, emotionally intense storylines.

Like many others, I had enjoyed playing various games from a young age. As I grew older, I gravitated toward more grand and visually impressive titles, but every now and then, I would go back and play some highly acclaimed Tsukkur games.

In other words, I have a fair amount of experience with these types of genres.

But the game I had been possessed into was unlike anything I had ever played before… it was brutally difficult.

The strangest part? The setting was my old high school.

Even though years had passed since graduation, I woke up wearing my school uniform, inside the very same campus. At first, I thought I had simply traveled back in time after getting hit by a truck.

But after wandering around aimlessly, I died a few times and finally understood the situation.

There were no system messages, no option menus, nothing, but the flow of events was so eerily familiar that I knew, without a doubt, that this was a game.

And when I realized that, I had a thought:

If I reach the true ending, just the true ending, I can get out of here and return to reality.

But as I experienced countless deaths, that small hope slowly eroded away.

Reaching an ending itself wasn’t difficult.

The problem was that most of them were dead ends where I, the player, died.

Fortunately, I don’t feel pain when I die. Normally, everything felt completely real, every sense was intact, until I entered an ending sequence.

Once that happened, I would lose control of my body, my sense of pain would shut off, and I could do nothing but watch as the scene played out like reading a game script.

But even if it didn’t hurt, the helplessness and terror before death never got easier to handle, no matter how many times I experienced it.

Out of sheer desperation, I eventually confessed my possession to an NPC, an in-game character who wasn’t even supposed to have self-awareness.

I had no idea that doing so would trigger a bad ending.

Until now, I had been caught in all kinds of traps, killed by ghosts, murdered by creatures, but this was the first time I had ever been murdered by a perfectly normal human.

And to make matters worse, he was none other than an NPC who was supposed to help me.

Yeon Suho.

He appeared early in the game, giving out small hints about the story. If the player progressed far enough, he would reappear at key moments to serve as a save point.

With messy black hair that almost covered his eyes, pale skin, and large, anxious-looking eyes, he seemed a little gloomy.

But the more you looked at him, the more his features had a certain subtle charm—if this were a game released in the real world, his character would probably have a decent fan following.

Beyond that, I didn’t know much about him.

Well… except for one thing.

‘Judging by the way he calls me ‘senior,’ he must be younger than the game’s protagonist. And he probably has a crush on him, right?’

I mean, isn’t it obvious?

His dialogue was always overly friendly, he would blush at the smallest things, and more importantly, he was the only normal human in the entire game besides the protagonist.

In other words, despite being a guy, he was the game’s one and only heroine.

‘So the original protagonist must have been a girl.’

Even though I had been possessed into the game, my appearance remained the same.

I had no idea why I was the one playing this role, but true to the setting, Yeon Suho still acted affectionately toward me, a man, following the pre-programmed script, helping me in ways that felt essential.

But the moment I told him I was possessed, he snapped.

He suddenly pulled out a pair of scissors from who-knows-where and stabbed them straight into my throat without hesitation.

Up until that point, we hadn’t had any particularly significant interactions. And yet, I had never doubted that he was on my side, considering him an ally. Maybe that’s why, having been brutally betrayed by someone I trusted, it felt so much worse.

As I lay dying, my gaze, already beyond my control, fixed on him, I could do nothing but tremble in silent rage.

“…Fuck….”

And now—

I was standing right in front of him again.

I had no choice.

He was the save point, the one who saved my progress in time and location. Inevitably, the only place I could return to was in front of him.

The point I returned to was right before I confessed my possession to Yeon Suho and died.

Having just been brutally murdered by this bastard, I couldn’t look at him kindly, so I glared at him even though he had no idea what had happened.

But strangely, Yeon Suho, who usually remained silent like an object blended into the map unless I approached and interacted with him, spoke first and asked a question.

“Senior… Do you want to leave this place?”

“…What?”

[Do you want to leave this place?]

▶ Yes.

▶ No.

If I were playing this on a device, a selection screen like this would probably pop up.

No, that wasn’t the important thing right now. It was his question that I needed to focus on.

‘Could it be, this guy… remembers what happened before the save load?’

He hadn’t shown any indication of it until now. No matter how many times I reloaded the same section and repeated it, he would react the same way, reciting the same lines mechanically, without a single deviation.

Moreover, it was important to note that this choice hadn’t been available before. Perhaps dying at his hands was a condition for unlocking a new route.

Whether it led to the route for a true ending or was just a hidden easter egg remained unclear, but still…

There was no guarantee this choice would be available if I reloaded again, so I had to answer carefully.

‘What should I say?’

What exactly did he mean by “this place”? The school? Or this game itself?

‘There’s no way this event is meaningless. It must affect the game’s progression somehow… So, instead of thinking of it as breaking the fourth wall, it’s probably better to answer in a way that fits the game’s story.’

If he was asking whether I wanted to leave this creepy-ass school, then obviously, the answer was yes.

“Yes.”

But as soon as he heard my answer, his eyes took on that unnerving glow once again.

“I knew it. In that case… please, just die, Senior.”

“…What?”

Ah, fuck.

<BAD END: The Price of Ignorance>

 

• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

 

And so, I died at his hands again. I had chosen the wrong option.

“AAAAAGHH!”

Screw this, I’m just going to avoid that bastard from now on! 

Save point, helper, ally, whatever! I don’t need him!

I’ll beat this goddamn broken game and escape on my own!