Chapter 104
The advantage and disadvantage of text games are that even ordinary users, not just developers, can enter debugging mode and manipulate flag values, meaning the data within the game.
I never expected that would work here, too.
‘This isn’t even a text game, so what kind of data security allows users to manipulate parameter values? And during gameplay!’
If this became known, everyone would use cheats, making normal gameplay impossible.
Of course, randomly manipulating values often causes data errors that render the game completely unplayable, so precise understanding of what values affect what is needed before adjustments can be made—meaning “ordinary users” still can’t manipulate values.
I wouldn’t have tried to control values directly without testing if my life hadn’t been hanging in the balance.
‘Still, it doesn’t seem to be causing any errors…’
I observed Marvis’s condition. He was still looking at me with a confused expression, as if struggling to understand what had happened.
‘It seems that swapping affection and bomb D-day values doesn’t affect gameplay.’
I slowly slid my hips out from under Marvis. This time, he didn’t try to hold me back.
I fixed my disheveled clothes while maintaining a safe distance. Fortunately, nothing was torn.
“So it really was you.”
“Huh?”
“The true savior. No…”
He seemed a bit tense, pressing his lips together before taking a deep breath and speaking again.
“God.”
The Divine Master is a vessel containing a god, so it’s not wrong… but he didn’t seem to be referring to the game setting.
To Marvis, my manipulation of data values to relieve his murderous impulses must have felt like performing a miracle with divine power.
In reality, I only did the flag check, and it was Marvis himself who adjusted the values, so it wasn’t entirely my power.
“Shin Joo-ah. Those strange numbers, you created them, right?”
“Huh? No! I didn’t create them!”
“It took me a long time to figure out what those strange letters meant, but you found them instantly.”
That’s because I can see the status window.
If you only see source code, it’s impossible to understand what values affect what unless you’re a developer. But if you can compare with in-game data, it’s not difficult to figure out.
For example, just looking at code [TIME] with values 0 or 1 doesn’t tell you which is day and which is night, but if you check flags during daytime and see [!TIME] (meaning no value), you can deduce that 0 is day and 1 is night. Or vice versa if there is a value.
Actually, if 90 or 2 had appeared in multiple flag values, I would have been confused too… fortunately, there were no duplicate values, so I could find them quickly.
“So, Marvis, have you always been able to see those strange letters?”
“No. Only since meeting you.”
Marvis shook his head.
“It doesn’t always work, just occasionally.”
He concentrated again and stared into empty space, but no more letters appeared. It seems this isn’t an ability he can use every time.
Well, if source code appeared every time you thought about it, there wouldn’t be a more broken game. Since they didn’t discover this before release, it probably only manifests under specific conditions.
‘I thought the Tower of Valhalla, where Cedric stays, was the hub for saving data, but could Marvis be the medium for storing flag data?’
Perhaps Hexion or Kaint also have abilities to manipulate game data. It’s like they’re personifications of settings panels from a tycoon game rather than romance characters.
‘…Wait?’
A vague memory from the past surfaced with a familiar feeling, but quickly disappeared. What was that?
“Joo-ah. You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“How to escape this world where destruction keeps repeating.”
“Uh, what?”
“Someone from outside, no, something is controlling this world. Even my emotions.”
“Cough!”
I instinctively turned my head, feeling a chill. My heart pounded. Marvis’s reaction was too serious to dismiss this as just a meta statement.
“Why would you think that?”
“This isn’t an ordinary world.”
He speaks as if he’s experienced the world outside this one.
“You’re right. There’s no reason for demons and humans to be in conflict. I thought it was strange to repeat long wars just because temperaments don’t match.”
“Well… couldn’t that happen? Conflicts arise for all sorts of reasons in the world. Wars don’t always start because of some grand cause or belief. The world is more complicated than it appears.”
“Do you think such a complicated world can regain peace just by you seducing a few men?”
Sharp guy. But I wish he wouldn’t ask me about such contradictory worldbuilding since I’m not the one who created it.
“I didn’t know before. Everyone seemed the same to me. I didn’t think it was strange that even I moved according to what was predetermined. But…”
Marvis grabbed my hand. Even though he didn’t grip tightly, my body flinched. He brought his face closer to mine as I stared with wide eyes, and continued.
“You alone were different.”
“M-me? What did I…”
“You’re not someone who lives according to what’s predetermined.”
Wasn’t he treating me like a reckless teenager who strayed from the temple out of boredom? I wish he’d just see me that way.
Feeling like a human whose disguise has been discovered while living among AI zombies, I averted my gaze and shrank back.
I tried to subtly pull my hand away, but Marvis wouldn’t let go.
“Joo-ah, help me. You can do it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can prevent this world from being destroyed.”
The Divine Master is the savior, and as long as I don’t see a bad ending, this place won’t be destroyed. Isn’t that why I’m working so hard on building a harem now?
Though I almost got eaten alive by the man before me, whose eyes had gone wild with jealousy.
“Um… well, I’m trying to do that…”
“Achieving peace isn’t everything.”
“Huh?”
“If you leave, this world will end. Don’t you know that?”
“Uh…?”
“Joo-ah, I…”
Marvis squeezed my hand tightly.
Even though he was gripping painfully, I didn’t feel the urge to run away like before. Strangely, Marvis didn’t seem frightening.
He was clearly a man large enough to tear me apart and kill me if he wanted to, yet at the same time, he seemed so fragile, as if he would crumble at the slightest touch.
“I want to live.”
“….”
My heart churned. The moment I met his pleading red eyes, my heart understood before my mind did.
Marvis isn’t worried about the world being destroyed in a bad ending.
This is a game.
When I, the player, leave, the game ends.
Not just with a bad ending, but even with a happy one.
The world after the ending doesn’t exist.
The moment a satisfied user completes the happy ending and epilogue and ends the game, the world inside the game is erased.
A world not observed by the player has no reason to exist in the game.
‘If I see the harem ending… what happens?’
If I log out right before the ending, I return to reality. Even after seeing a bad ending, the game forcibly terminates and logs me out. A happy ending would be no different.
The moment I end the game, this world I know disappears. While during gameplay you can create save points and restart from the middle, data doesn’t accumulate after the ending.
The Divine Master is the savior who prevents the world from being destroyed.
Whether that Divine Master is happy or unhappy, if she completes the game and logs out, the world ends anyway.
Unless I quit playing the game, there is no world that doesn’t face its end.
“Stay with me, Joo-ah.”
“….”
“I told you I like you. Live with me.”
Stay by my side. Be with me.
It wasn’t just a simple confession line.
It was a plea not to let this game end and the world within it disappear.
‘So to maintain this world… does that mean I can’t log out?’
It felt like lightning had struck my head.
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