A regular-sized coffee mug hit the office desk.
But the man's hand didn't stop there, it moved past the mug to reach the digital clock hidden behind the large monitor screen, trying to get a better look at it.
His tired, lifeless eyes squinted to check the time.
"3:45 a.m., huh."
_Sigh..._
It was indeed late.
Instead of this bitter coffee, tonight he was supposed to be drinking, dancing, and celebrating the success of his game.
But fate has a funny way of working.
Just when you think something is certain, when you feel like your hard work will finally pay off-
That's when life reminds you why people call fate a bitch.
The game he had poured his soul into turned out to be a disaster.
A failure in both the international and local markets.
He wasn't exactly frustrated. Deep down, he knew nothing in life is guaranteed. And he had given it everything he had.
When no sponsors or producers were ready to invest, he found creative ways to approach and convince them. He worked day and night with full dedication to build trust.
He formed a team of freshers because of the tight budget. That meant he had to do his part and cover the gaps they left too.
It had been a tiring two-year journey, and the only thing that kept him going was hope.
A belief in his heart...
That it would work.
The MMORPG gacha game he poured his life into, After Horizon.
It was different from the usual RPG gacha games flooding the market.
In today's gaming scene, whether it's gacha or FPS, there's one thing they all seem to share: overly sexualized female characters. These days, even male characters are being sexualized.
What began as a unique appeal in some games eventually became their main selling point.
Innovation in the gaming industry hit a wall. All that's left are smut games, filled with the same recycled ideas, teasing, fanservice, and harem journeys.
But the sad part was even after all these years, the demand for such games hadn't dropped.
After Horizon was a game created with a vision. A vision to break that trend, to bring back the innovation and passion that had been lost in the gaming industry.
But it didn't mean After Horizon, followed some strict stoic philosophy, nor was it filled with only muscular male characters.
The game had all kinds of characters.
And one of its unique features, something that made it stand out from today's games was how real those characters were made to be.
They were designed with real personalities in mind. Their physiques were actually humanly possible. And most importantly, the female characters weren't dumb tsunderes or yanderes chasing the hero for no reason at all.
No, each character was written to feel real, so the player could connect with them, understand their unique backstories, and explore the world of After Horizon like it was a second home.
That was the vision he had.
As someone from a now dying gaming community, he had wanted to revive those days, those times when games were made with passion, when they inspired creativity.
But ironically, what made After Horizon flop was another one of its key features, the flawed characters.
Every character obtainable in the game's gacha had their own strengths, skills, and yes, even flaws.
None of them were perfect.
And that was intentional. Players were supposed to use their own strategies, to think and cover those weaknesses while completing missions and quests.
The whole idea was to make the game more interactive, make player use their creativity to birth unconventional and varied outcomes.
But maybe expecting that was the game's downfall.
Today's gaming community didn't seem to have that same creative spark anymore. The intelligence and patience once found in players had faded.
Most players now didn't want to think.
To them, anything that asked for effort, anything that made them use their hands and brain for something other than stroking their meat to a 2D character, just wasn't worth it.
So no, the man wasn't angry over his wasted efforts. He had given everything.
Instead...
he felt disappointed.
He knew he was talented. He knew he'd eventually pay off his debts and build a decent life.
But...
The passion would never be there again.
*Sighing...*
The man took a sip of coffee and as the hot liquid sparked his tongue, an old memory resurfaced.
A conversation he once had with a friend, back when After Horizon was still just a dream.
"Arthur, there's no such thing as an ideal life. You're not a god, and neither is anyone you interact with. We're just humans, walking through this life without knowing what comes next. All we can do is what we believe is right—follow a path we think leads to some greater good. But the outcome? That's never in our hands. That's the essence of living."
That was the last conversation he ever had with that friend.
"Does not being able to guarantee an outcome or not knowing what comes after, makes ones life meaningless? I don't know what conclusion you reached, Arc... But I don't believe so."
His friend had taken his own life days after that talk.
Arthur emptied his coffee mug, picked up his coat, and tugged on the back of his chair. It was a cold night. Without the coat, the walk to his apartment would be tough.
He put it on, adjusted the sleeves, and lit a cigarette. A bold No Smoking, sign glared back at him, but he didn't care.
This was his office.
And the team had already disbanded.
He switched off the lights and walked through the dim corridors toward the lift.
{Malfunctioning! Malfunctioning!}
{Lifts Under Maintenance!}
_Puff..._
Noticing the lift was already on his floor, his eyes ignoring any other details, locked in, straight rushing a few steps to catch it before someone else could call it away.
He pressed the button for the parking floor, but the lift didn't move.
Irritated, he slammed the panel and jabbed another button to close the doors.
This time, it worked. The doors shut. The lift began to descend normally.
Until it hit the fifth floor.
That's when,
Sparks shot out from the buttons. The lights started flickering on and off. Before his brain could react, the lift dropped, fast.
Fifth... fourth... third... second... first... underground...
In a matter of seconds, the entire lift crashed into the second basement level.
Like a crushed soda can.
"I just wanted After Horizon to succeed..."
[Ding!]
[Processing request...]
[Creating After Horizon Gacha System!]
[...]