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nA successful game that everyone knows is called a national game and a failed game is named as a failed national game.

nIn Korea, there is no national game but there is a failed national game.

nAbout 10 years ago, one game was launched.

nMobile RPG ‘Player Master High School’, also known as ‘PMH’.

nThe present world transformed due to colliding with outbreeds.

nA master school raised players with special talents.

nIt was a mobile RPG that had school as a background, and it was about controlling various characters to proceed with the story and clearing quests.

nBefore the opening, PMH would make headlines from the beginning. marking the highest development costs and marketing costs ever in the gaming industry.

nThe opening song was sung by a talented singer who ranked high on the music charts.

nThe commercial song which aired primetime on cable TV, comprehensive channels, and public channels.

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nPosters were attached to buses, bus stops, trains, and platform doors.

nBanner and video advertisements were located on search engines.

nIt wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that half of the citizens saw PMH’s advertisement.

n‘I’ve found the game of my life.’

nI thought that as I was one of the 3 million users who pre-registered.

nThe day after the College Entrance Exam, PMH began its service.

nSince I became free after the college entrance exam, I started the game with 3 million users from the first day of service.

nHowever, PMH became a failed game for life for many gamers.

nThe game balance was a mess, including its characters, skills, and items.

nThe bugs weren’t fixed, and the number increased day by day.

nThe controlling difficulty was so terrible and uncertain that it would drive users away from the game or piss them off.

nThere was little compensation with the repeating mundane routine that did not have an auto feature.

nNot to mention, there was a lack of a multiplayer feature other than ‘Request for help to other players’ where other features were for single players.

nThe store was bombarded with low ratings and comments were filled with criticism and curses.

nHowever, fans who were loyal to the game persisted.

nIt was full of faults, but the game had good features as well.

nBeautiful high-quality illustration.

nCharacter rendering that is similar to the illustration and in-game graphics.

nDetailed and attractive character plot.

nThe maniacs couldn’t let go of the game.

nHowever, that didn’t last long.

nA story plot with no hope destroyed the mania’s mentality.

nLet’s get a refund for this crappy game since its opening.

nI’m leaving as the character I raised, teachers, and all my friends all. If you managed to get a refund, please share your experience. I will reward you.

nI’m ready to leave this game as my characters were raided. You guys should leave as well. I understand, but I wish people who want refunds to die.

nI tried to quit the game and I received a notification to join the army. Is that a benefit?

nThe story plot is so lame. I feel like suffocating. Dropping!

nI’m not staying long. Quitting. I want to go back to before playing this game.

nDonating the manager position for this forum. If there is no application within 3 days, I will give it to someone randomly and will withdraw.

nAfter the story proceeded where the characters were slaughtered, a forum that shared unofficial information for PMH failed and the manias left the forum.

nAfterward, this incidence was named as the ‘Collapse of PMH Mania.’

nThere was a rumor present in the gaming community.

n‘You shouldn’t even encounter the maniacs of PMH.’

nPMH was a failed game that would be recorded in-game history.

nOnly the game producers and weirdos play the game and those two groups are dangerous so you shouldn’t encounter them.

nHowever, I was considered a geek and I repeatedly played and quit the game.

nAs the story was updated, playable characters and other people died miserably.

nThe characters who survived suffered from mental breakdowns.

nStill, I persisted to read the upcoming story.

n‘I will really stop if another character dies.’

nAt that moment, I really thought that.

nHowever, I couldn’t quit the game although dozens of characters died afterward.

nAfter some time, I wasn’t even quitting the game.

nEven after I joined the army, I continued to play in my free time where I was allowed to use my phone for 3 hours.

n“Hey man.”

n“Yes, Private Jo. Did you call me?”

n“What game do you play?”

n“…..It’s called Player Master High School.”

nThe dorm became silent all of sudden.

nSergeant Choi who was holding a remote control in one hand and a phone in another opened his mouth.

nSergeant Choi talked to me while looking at me as if I were diving my head into the ground.

n“Huh, what a pitiful guy.”

nI was treated as a pitiful guy until I was discharged.

nUntil Sergeant Choi was discharged, I was treated as, ‘Don’t bother to deal with the pitiful guy,’ so I had a relatively easy life in the army.

nAnnoying Corporal, I mean, Corporal Gye became Sergeant Gye and he consistently annoyed me until he was discharged.

nAfter a few years, I really became a pitiful person.

n“You are at the late stage for lung cancer.”

nI didn’t know what I was hearing just now.

nIt wasn’t something a gamer who couldn’t buy a cigarette would hear due to in-app purchases.

n“It’s rare, but there are cases where you wouldn’t experience any symptoms until the late stage.”

nThe doctor also commented, ‘There are many people who get lung cancer despite being a nonsmoker.’

nAfterward, the doctor added more comments.

nHalf of the comments that the doctor said flew out of my ears.

nThe conversation I managed to understand are as follows:

nAt the earliest, I may die in 6 months.

nIf I get treatment and become healthier, I may expect to live for more than 3 years.

nEven if insurance is applied, without a job, I cannot afford to pay for the hospital bills for a long period of time.

nI told the doctor that I’d think about it and never visited the hospital again.

nI graduated high school after losing my parents in middle school and stayed at relative’s house.

nI graduated from university after repeating many leaves of absence to earn money.

nI stayed out for 1 year without a job after surrendering a job opportunity which the professor provided to someone with a connection.

nLast month, I managed to successfully get a job after living as a part-timer.

nI took a medical examination because I needed documents for a job interview and I received a limited life sentence.

nAlthough there were hard times, the life that was worth living would end up soon.

nI became a crippled person addicted to games.

nBefore, I was an ordinary gamer who had a normal social life.

nHowever, now I quit all interpersonal activities and productive activities while looking at a smartphone with hollow eyes inside a small room.

nI became a person addicted to games.

n‘One of the reasons why I got cancer is due to this game.’

nI lamented that I had gotten cancer while playing PMH.

nBut then, even now while I’m dying from cancer, I’m still playing the game.

nRecently, the coughs became worse.

nI coughed blood about two or three times a day.

nSometimes, my body would experience so much pain that I couldn’t fall asleep.

nThe painkiller sold at the pharmacy didn’t help at all.

n‘Am I going to die soon?’

nIt was fine when I was playing the game but when there was maintenance, I only thought of death.

nI tried to refresh the page for game news to think about something else.

nThe main article changed.

nAnticipated update the final chapter of Mobile RPG PMH today!

nRegardless of death, an explicative came out.

nI pressed the article and left a comment.

njo2god111: Why is the update of this failed game on the main article? What successful game? If you have money to give to journalists, remove the bugs, and improve the game.

nWithin a few minutes, there was a comment below my comment.

nkye777ing: For real. The failing PMH game still hasn’t closed its services. I don’t hang out with those who play this game.

nIt was true that PMH was a failing game.

nHowever, I felt angry after hearing insults related to families.

nIf you are going to insult someone, you should insult only those who play the game.

nIf you had to insult someone, the person who plays the game should insult one of the rotten mindsets as a person addicted to games.

nI impulsively added a comment.

njo2god111: You are harsh. Are you criticizing after playing the game?

nThen, people were eating me up below my comment.

nzxYJ0008xz: What are you jo2god111, are you sick?

nkye777ing: Are you nuts? Read what you wrote again.

ndudtn90: Don’t pay attention to this weirdo.

nrkrehrl12: Let’s be careful with what we say (harsh curse). Mmm, there is no subject.

nIt was a comment that I made but it was crappy.

nSoon, the comments were filled with half of them insulting the game, and half of them criticizing me.

nI couldn’t give a proper rebuttal and I turned off the feed after the maintenance was over.

n‘I will die after seeing the ending……’

nI laid down in a small bed and turned the PMH app on to proceed with the update.

nWhile the update file was downloading, I took out the files and concept book.

nI printed out A4 papers of strategies and put them together as a file.

nIt was eight books of detailed concepts with more than 500 pages in each book.

nI put it under the bed so I could read it at any time.

nAs I was reading while lifting the concept book with comments for strategy, the update was completed.

n‘Is it over now?’

nThe 6 months which the doctor told me passed a long time ago.

nIn a situation where I don’t know when I will die, time and stamina were more valuable than gold.

nI was pouring all of that energy into the game.

nA fierce fight for hours was over.

n‘It’s over.’

nIt was such a bad ending with no hope and mercy.

nOverall, I couldn’t get anything and no one was saved.

n‘White Tiger’ was my best character until the final boss.

nHe lost everything due to an evil scenario writer and died cruelly.

n‘Those asshole scenario writers.’

nI thought it was fine to encounter any bad endings.

nInstead, I may feel jealous if there is a happy ending while I’m going to die soon.

nHowever, that was the wrong idea.

nI may have expected a happy ending.

nAs the story was hard to read, I dropped and rejoined repeatedly but it wasn’t because I was a masochist who enjoyed pain.

nIf I was, I wouldn’t feel miserable like this.

n‘I couldn’t let go of this game because I expected a happy ending.’

nAs I have a limited lifetime, I barely realized it after clearing this game.

nHowever, the game was over.

nAll the playable characters died miserably.

nAlso, I will die soon.

nI force closed the game and threw the phone to the side.

nRing!

nThen, I heard an alarm sound as if someone was complaining.

nIt was an alarm from PMH.

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n‘…Reward for clearing the final chapter?’

nPMH was criticized for managing the game crappily.

nThey didn’t even send advertisement or update notifications, so what was this all of sudden?

n‘It must be a crappy reward.’

nI didn’t expect it but I was curious.

nI should see it.

nIt was a mindset of a person with a game addiction under the control of gaming companies.

nWhile thinking like that, I opened the app while looking dead.

nHowever, as I opened the gift box on the main screen, the screen froze.

nNo matter how long I waited, the screen didn’t move.

nForce close didn’t work.

nI tried to turn off the phone but I couldn’t.

nSince the battery was installed inside, I couldn’t disconnect the battery either.

n‘Wow, another bug! Gosh, eww.”

nWhen I opened my mouth, a cough came out.

nThat was the end of the game which I played for almost 10 years.

nThere was a futile feeling due to the ending. It lacked seriousness.

nI had a long playtime and less stamina due to my illness.

nMy body started to deteriorate quickly.

nCough, puke, cough, cough……

nSoon, it sounded like shouts rather than coughs.

nIt sounded like shouting from a person right before death.

nI thought there was saliva and I wiped my mouth but my hands turned red.

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nBeyond…….what?

nI started to hear things.

nDangerous.

nIt must be really time for me to die.

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n“Hey Euishin, it’s Seongheon. Are you okay?”

nI heard Seongheon Cheon, who was in charge of managing the private rooms knocking on the door.

nDue to coughing sounds, other residents may have complained.

nThere must be many people like me, so from next week on, there would be a spot available at the hospice.

nIf I don’t die today, I may have to enter while laying down in front of a hospital room.

nIt will be a burden for Seongheon and other residents.

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nSeongheon, who was a junior in my university, used to hang out with me.

nAfter meeting as a manager and tenant in a private room, his attitude stayed the same.

nInstead of the food meals which I treated him to, he used to give me cough medicine and snacks.

nHe was an excessive person for someone who was about to die.

nI prepared things in case I died suddenly inside the room.

nIf the funeral is over, there was some leftover money and my last will.

nI wrote Seongheon’s name on the envelope.

n<8……7……>

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nI need to say I’m fine but I can’t.

nI kept hearing things and I was coughing out blood so it was a mess.

nAt least I tried to close my mouth to minimize the noise.

nHowever, as the coughs intensified, the sounds grew louder.

nCough, cough, cough, puke, cough!

nSeongheon knocked on the thin door.

n“Euishin, open the door!”

nSeongheon seemed to be looking for keys and I heard the noise of metal clinking a few times and the lock opened.

n<2……1……0>

nAs soon as the door opened, a white light came into my vision.

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