＜ 25. End of all journeys (complete) ＞
Something whitish appeared before my eyes.
My vision was blurry, so I couldn’t see what it was. Andrea consciously blinked. The blurry letters gradually became clearer and soon became legible.
[You have cleared the challenge ‘End of All Journeys’. (Condition: Clear all other tasks and see the true ending)]
[Challenge progress: 287 / 287 (100%)]
[Congratulations! You have cleared all challenges!]
Those few letters in front were the reward for thousands of hours of hard work. For some reason, Andrea couldn’t help but burst into a small, empty laugh.
“Hey, are you awake, Mr. Andrea?”
Someone who stutters. It was a voice I had never heard before. When I turned my head, a haggard face caught my eye.
You can be aware of your existence, and seeing that developer come into your eyes, it seems that the world in this game has not disappeared.
“…Are you successful?”
“Yes Yes. The data backed up at the point the manager was deleted was executed right away!”
“under······.”
My body spread languidly in relief, and I sighed involuntarily. I struggled so hard to survive somehow, but it would have been unfair if the ending was all deleted along with the manager.
‘…but what will happen to this world if the manager disappears?’
Previously, when Andrea asked what would happen to the world if the manager disappeared, David replied:
‘And, what happens after the manager disappears… well… to be honest… this world will disappear with it.’
Andrea frowned and opened her mouth as if it were absurd.
People from other realities should be prevented from being copied by the ‘Manager’ like themselves, but it was questionable whether that was worth the sacrifice of this world disappearing.
‘Then can’t we get rid of the manager?’
‘Oh no! There’s a method I’ve come up with that will allow you to get rid of only the Administrators while keeping the world still.’
‘What, did you say that before…’
However, the method David came up with was a bit difficult to understand.
Once I heard the explanation, it was said that the data in this world was backed up at the point right before the administrator was deleted, and the backup data was executed immediately with the administrator being deleted as a trigger.
‘…But if you back up the data right before it is deleted, isn’t the administrator also restored when you run the backed up data?’
‘That’s not true. Because deletion, which is triggered by inflicting infinite damage, is a way to permanently destroy the algorithm itself, it is impossible to restore it in any way other than the artificial intelligence called ‘Manager’.’
After all, the manager cannot be recovered, but the data of the world destroyed with the manager can be recovered.
However, looking at it like this, another concern was whether David could design all of this perfectly. A dangerous plan that could destroy this world without even a single minor error.
Besides, since David was also included in this world, there was no opportunity to see and correct any errors that had occurred.
‘…can you do it without mistakes, Mr. David?’
Andrea remembers David’s first expression of trust.
‘If facing the manager is Andrea’s fight, this is mine.’
And David successfully succeeded in his plan.
Andrea stretched out once. I finally felt that everything was over. When I was in the dungeon, even when I was taking a break, there was an indescribable tension in my heart, but it felt like it had finally been cut off.
When I later checked where it was, it was David’s room that I had entered before. Andrea put her arms up on the old sofa and leaned her back so that her whole body was buried in it.
“So… what will happen from now on?”
“Um, uh, what do you mean?”
“For now, what will become of this world? I thought dungeons would disappear, is that correct?”
“ah! Yes. Dungeons will disappear as they have no reason to exist in this world anymore. All the challengers and NPCs in the dungeon will go outside and return to their original time.”
While listening in silence, Andrea raised her eyes towards the end.
“Well? So, are Trisha and Emilia going back to their original time zone?”
They were living together casually, but Emilia was actually a person from 100 years ago, and Trisha was a person from 8 years later. If we go back to the original time, parting with them will be inevitable.
However, David shook his head.
“Mu, of course it could be, but… I contacted them while Andrea was away and asked them separately. They said they would go at the same time as Andrea. I can take that kind of action.”
Andrea, who knew the background settings of Trisha and Emilia, already knew that they had no regrets in the time period they originally lived in. However, I couldn’t help but feel grateful to him for willingly agreeing to go with me.
“Couldn’t it be that they’re all sent to different places at the same time?”
“Oh, that can’t be! Of course we will send them all to the same location!”
David hurriedly waved his hand as if he had no idea. Andrea nodded slowly and asked the next question.
“By the way… is David taking on the role of manager in this world now?”
David was startled and waved his hand again. The words could be misunderstood, so Andrea added an explanation.
“Oh, of course I don’t mean to do something outrageous like the Administrator, it’s just a question of whether I’ll take on the role of managing this world.”
“Well, I am not that kind of vessel. Well, if there are any errors in this world, I will fix them… and if there are areas that have not been implemented, I will just do a little tweaking and patching. This, this world… will be left to the five gods from now on.”
If you set your mind to it, you should be able to enjoy God-like prestige, but how many people would be willing to decline that position and resign humbly? David was, in Andrea’s opinion, quite a marvelous man.
However, as time passes, people can change as much as they like. Andrea warned David in case anything went wrong.
“If you decide to do something strange later, I will come back and take care of it no matter what, so you know that.”
“No, that won’t happen!”
Common sense dictates that there’s no way the developer can get their hands on it, but David gulps down really nervously. Because Andrea has shown herself beyond common sense on several occasions.
I belatedly apologized and said it was a joke, but David never seemed to take it as a joke. I couldn’t help but just leave it as is.
“Oh, that, by the way, Mr. Andrea. Is there anything you want when you go to the world outside the dungeon? Decks, cards, and artifacts can only be used in dungeons, so you can’t take them with you… but I can give you any amount of gold or equipment. Or at all… I can make you a being comparable to the five gods.”
Hearing the proposal, Andrea fell into a short thought. However, it was just a really short worry. Andrea shook her head before long.
“No, that sounds so boring. Just keep the equipment and abilities I currently have.”
When you can cheat and get everything you want, the game becomes terribly boring. Andrea was satisfied enough with what she had achieved now.
There was only one thing I wished for.
“Hmm…but can Marco be revived?”
“Ah, yes, yes! Ma, Mr. Marco’s data is preserved, so you should be able to bring it back immediately.”
“Ha… that’s enough. Enough.”
It was a moment of satisfaction rather than relief. The thought of reuniting with Marco and allowing him to meet Tricia made a part of his heart tingle. It was a dungeon that had given him countless pains, but the bond he had gained there was infinitely more precious.
David was also making a proud expression, and suddenly asked a question as if he was curious.
“Well, then… Andrea, what are you going to do once you go out into the world?”
“Well, I can go on adventures, and I can travel aimlessly… but first, I’ll try to find a way to regain the power of ‘Shadow’s Breath’ myself. It was something Archbishop Gregory asked for even at the cost of his own life.”
A deceased person is accustomed to finding and setting a goal for himself and moving forward. Although the stage has changed, Andrea’s nature has not changed. David nodded his head in understanding.
Read from noble mtl dot com
Now was the moment to leave. Andrea asked her colleagues to send them. David said he would send it right away, but then, as if something had just flashed on his mind, he suddenly stepped back and searched the drawers.
“Right, Mr. Andrea. Hey, take this.”
“…now what?”
What he took out of the drawer was a round orb that looked like a crystal ball.
Upon closer inspection, some familiar images were revealed. These were the sights the Administrator saw as he fell into the molten hole. Andrea opened her eyes wide.
“Moreover, this is a file recorded by the administrator of Mr. Andrea’s adventures in the dungeon. I think I was going to use it as a cinematic material… It’s a bit difficult to erase, and it would be nice if Andrea had it.”
“···All right. Let me have it.”
“Oh, and! I need to set a separate file name to run it, but what should I name the file?”
Andrea was deeply troubled. It was a record of his entire journey, so he couldn’t make it roughly. However, my naming sense isn’t very good, so I didn’t get offended by anything that came to my mind.
Then, I decided to just name it with a friendly and intuitive name.
“Please name it ‘Goin Inmul is too good at mangkae’.”
“yes? Wh, what does that mean?”
“There is, something like that.”
It would not be easy to understand even if it was a language that could be used in the country where I originally lived, so I just glossed over it. David tilted his head with a puzzled look on his face, but later said he would.
“All right. Then, now, Andrea-san, I will send you to the location where you first found the entrance to the dungeon and entered!”
A magic circle was drawn on the floor, and a green light enveloped Andrea. Andrea calmly closed her eyes and waited for the move.
However, in the meantime, one fact suddenly came to my mind.
‘yes? Wait, if it’s where I found the entrance to the dungeon…’
“Hey, wait a minute!”
It was a belated cry. David was startled, but couldn’t stop the magic. The light also came from the magic circle, and Andrea’s body was completely covered in green light.
When the light faded and the room became dark again, Andrea was no longer there.
* * *
Junghyun opened his eyes. In fact, I couldn’t fall asleep halfway through last night. It was because of the excitement of a child on the eve of a picnic.
As soon as I woke up, I opened my phone to check the time. 5:59. I woke up just a minute before the alarm went off. Normally, after waking up, he would have to lie on the blanket for about 10 minutes, but Jung-hyeon kicked off his seat and stood up at once.
Today is finally the official release day of the game he has been enjoying for thousands of hours through early access.
I sat down in front of my desk and immediately turned on the computer. The boot-up time felt unusually long. Jeong-hyeon wiggles his fingers and loosens his hands. There was not much time left before work, so it would have been only to enjoy a game.
It was a lot of fun thinking about what content would have been added and what character to try. No, maybe even a lot of new characters were created.
‘Then, I’ll put aside breaking Andrea like a beggar for now… I’ll have to try a new character.’
When I thought of the day before yesterday when I killed a goblin on the 8th floor as Andrea, my fever ran high. However, since it was a good day, Jeong-hyeon calms down quickly and opens ‘Stem’. Even waiting for the update to complete was just as exciting and thrilling.
However, after pressing the ‘Dungeon of Infinity’ launch button, Jung-hyeon’s face immediately distorted like a demon.
“No, what the f*ck?”
‘An unexpected error occurred and the application was terminated. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please report this problem to the developer.’
This means that an unexpected error occurred and the program was terminated. But it wasn’t that serious yet.
Errors of this magnitude do not occur very infrequently. Just reinstalling will usually make it work. Jeong-hyeon calmed down and completely deleted the game files, then reinstalled and tried again.
But the result was the same.
“No, what the hell is the problem!”
The plan to enjoy the new ‘Dungeon of Infinity’ and start the day fresh was on the verge of ruin. Jung-hyeon decided to turn on the Internet to see if there was anyone like him and if there was a solution.
However, the moment he turned off the error window and lowered the game information window of Stem, Jung-hyeon felt a sense of incongruity. I felt like I saw something strange. He reopened Stem and checked the game’s information window.
‘Dungeon of Infinity’
‘Play time: 7140.1 hours’
‘Achievements: 287/287’
Overnight playtime increased by 1500 hours.
“what is this···?”
That was odd enough, but even weirder was the challenge. Jeong-hyeon clicked on the achievement item to look at the details.
·······.
[You have cleared the challenge ‘Skilled Challenger, Andrea’. (Condition: Clear the 100th floor of the dungeon in level 25 of the ordeal as Andrea)]
[You have cleared the challenge ‘End of All Journeys’. (Condition: Clear all other tasks and see the true ending)]
[Challenge progress: 287 / 287 (100%)]
Jeong-hyeon blankly stares at the screen. Silence continued for a long time.
I felt strange. Challenges that he could not overcome even after hundreds of hours of hard work were easily cleared to the point of futility.
Somehow, while feeling relieved, I couldn’t help but wonder who the hell was able to clear this challenge.
‘Hmm… no matter how much I think about it, it seems like there’s a bug… but if, really, if this isn’t a bug…’
It must have been done by some really old person, Jeong-hyeon thought.
– Goinmul is too good at mangkae (complete) –
Author’s words
Finally, the main story is over…!
A short epilogue will be uploaded for free this evening or tomorrow morning.
It’s the first time I’ve ever finished writing, so I feel very strange…
I will leave a review through a separate notice after the epilogue.
Thank you so much to those who have followed and watched so far.
