(MC’s POV)

“What is this?”

I froze and widened my eyes at the computer screen.

“No way, no way, no way! This can’t be the end, right?”

My game character was there, standing above a mountain of corpses. The problem is, it wasn’t just corpses of monsters.

With shaking hands, I used the cursor to move the screen and looked at the pained faces of my dead allies. From the crushed body of the sword saint, the bloodied mess of what I assume was once the archer, the hero, and the allied force. Everyone lay there, unmoving.

And not just them. I moved the screen worldwide and let out a hollow laugh. From the protagonist’s hometown to the demon continent, everyone was dead.

Everyone I loved, the people of this world who helped me went through the difficulties in life. They looked at me through the screen with dead eyes as if blaming me, the player, for leading them to this conclusion.

“No… There was a mistake. There must be.”

With trembling hands, I typed on the keyboard to check my game log. I froze momentarily, staring at the still images from the campaign, tracing the faces of the allies who had come to feel like friends.

What would have happened if I had done better? In the first place, could I even save them where all others had failed? Was their death something that I could even change?

‘No, I did everything I could. I’m certain there was nothing else I could do better in-game.’

It was the end. Everything really was over. Even the last screen congratulated me for reaching this true ending, which no player had ever reached, as if to confirm that this was how the game was supposed to end.

‘Surely, it was a perfect run. Of all the thousands of playthroughs I did over 10 years, this is the best.’

The #1 game that was called the world’s absolute hardest strategy game, [Isekai Defense]. I became the only player to defeat the notorious final boss and achieved 100% completion with this game. It should be a happy day for me, and yet–

“The true end? This?”

It was the moment my patience snapped.

“Are you kidding me!?” I slammed the table. “Why…? I did everything I could. So why…?”

I clenched my chest. It was painful.

“Why…? Why is everyone dying…?”

And then, silence. To be honest, I expected this result. The enemies were strong, and the death flags were many. Even the allies’ behavior was unpredictable due to the hyper-realistic AI.

But even then, for there to be no single good end. Was this world doomed from the start? Was it too much to ask for a perfect happy ending for these people?

Some people mocked me for being too immersed in the game, but they didn’t understand. To me, who grew up lonely, was bullied, and was saved by [Isekai Defense], this was not just a game. It was my reason to live.

“I feel sick.”

My gaze met the protagonist. But the grief I saw in his eyes was like a mirror of mine.

“Yeah, you suffered a lot too. We worked so hard together.”

It was a truly long fight.

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“You have done your part… Now it’s my turn to act.”

I posted my clear video on the forum and opened the browser to email the game developer. If I can do nothing in-game, I can do something on this side.

“Alright. I sent it.”

I looked at the ceiling, wondering what else I could do. A ping from the forums caught my attention. Players were already analyzing every detail of my clear, unaware of what lies beyond the final cutscene. Their praise felt hollow now.

‘I need to do more. Maybe I should come directly to the company’s address and protest.’

It seemed like a good idea, so I nodded and began preparing. But something happened when I was about to turn off the PC.

“Hm?”

I heard a ping. Was it the forum again? I checked, but besides the raving praise from players who saw my clear record post, I don’t think there was anything special.

Then, I heard it again. It was from the game window that I forgot to close.

What was it? I opened it and saw the protagonist talking to me.

“Huh…?”

I rubbed my eyes in a daze. I didn’t see or hear anything wrong. Raon Eva was talking to me, the player. As I listened to his desperate plea, I realized he remembered all the playthroughs we went through, not just the playthrough in this timeline.

“Please…” he said.

It was a plea that only harmed the player. Before I could answer, an email from the developer caught my eye.

[“We want to help you, but… we can’t change the ending. However, you can. If you have reached the true end, then you can do it. The protagonist should have told you what to do if you want a happy ending. Take the final boss’s core he offered you and transmigrate into the world. Please accept it and save the world in our stead.”]

I crushed the plastic cup in my grip. Did the developer want me to just accept this? Did they want me to uproot my life based on a game entirely? Why don’t they do it themselves?

It was unreasonable. This was madness itself. Furthermore, what I learned from the developer and the protagonist was absurd.

Higher dimension? Transmigration to another world? Really?

Then again, if what they said was true, everything makes sense. No wonder the AI was so life-like, damn it.

I leaned back on my chair, doubt and uncertainty swirled in my mind. This was too big a choice to make.

However, as I watched the clock strike midnight, I knew time was running out for all of us. It seemed the only way to find answers was to step through the screen and into the world that awaited me beyond. A while later, I came to a decision and steeled my resolve.

“Fine.”

It was the moment I decided to throw away the world I live in for the otherworld. It’s not like I have anything to live for in this world anyway.

“I’ll do it.”

We sealed the deal. The final boss’s core in the protagonist’s hand shone brightly along with the computer screen as if to swallow everything between us, including the fourth wall separating our world.

Then, the light swallowed me. I stood face-to-face with the protagonist in a world of light where everything else was gone.

“Thank you.”

He said before slowly disappearing into particles of light. I widened my eyes at that.

‘Wait, does me transmigrating mean he will cease to exist?’

I clenched my fists as I watched the particles of light that were the protagonist slowly fade from sight.

‘How could he ask this of me, knowing he would cease to exist? To sacrifice himself and expect me to take his place in that world? Doesn’t he know that he is the person I want to save the most?’

My breathing grew ragged as the weight of this choice truly settled on me. What about everything we had been through? Am I the only one who believed our bond was special?

“You idiot!” I yelled. “Just because you usually don’t die, does it make sense to do that!? Why do you keep sacrificing yourself like that?! Answer me, Raon!”

I clenched my fists as tears blurred my vision. The pain in my chest felt like it would swallow me whole. But he only smiled as he received my feelings.

“As I thought, you are the most sincere of us all,” Raon laughed. “I leave the rest to you, my friend.”

“No, hold it, you bastard! Wait!”

I reached out desperately, but my hands grasped only empty air. The protagonist was gone, completely gone. A piece of my soul went with him into the unknown.

“Raon!” I cried, falling to my knees as I watched his form continue fading.

Tears blurred my vision. Until the end, he was an incorrigible bastard.

I replayed his last words in the silent world. Like he said, the rest was up to me now. I have to make sure his sacrifice was not in vain.

I stood up and gritted my teeth. Right. I couldn’t fall here. I had to step into the very world that had brought us together and fight to build the future we never saw in the game—a future where the world was saved, where everyone could live happily ever after without having to experience that mountain of corpses ever again.

As I stepped forward, the world crashed, and my consciousness turned black. That was the moment I transmigrated to the otherworld.

***