I Became The Academy’s Pure Love Dark Knight - Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Beta Test – Beta Tester Invitation.

—–CROW—–

There’s a game called <Knight Heart>, which has been out for exactly 10 years.

A classic fantasy RPG.

It was really popular, with its elegant writing style, unique characters, and the interesting premise that there wasn’t just one hero or demon king.

Even I, someone who doesn’t really like games, played it for three days and nights straight.

I was so happy when I defeated the Demon King for the first time.

Actually, by today’s standards, it’s a story that could be considered quite old-fashioned.

A human man who falls in love with a cursed dragon. A hero and a mage who develop from childhood friends to lovers after defeating the Demon King. That kind of common game.

But I liked that.

I liked the subtle depictions of growing feelings, like how the characters in the game would unknowingly glance at each other’s faces.

How they would call each other by nicknames to emphasize their special bond, or match their clothes to each other’s hair or eye color.

I’d never been in a relationship, but I had memorized all the successful romance routes in the game.

My favorite character was the Nameless Saint.

An NPC who endlessly and cheerfully encouraged the player.

Her characteristic, “Hee hee,” laugh and bright smile.

People often said that her lack of a name was foreshadowing for the sequel.

Given that it was a game company that loved Easter eggs, it was a persuasive argument.

A hidden ending discovered by a user had been incorporated into the official routes before.

This saint, a blank slate, had wolf ears and a tail.

In the game community, she was nicknamed the ” ” Saint, the Platinum Wolf.

Her other nickname, Blue Rose, came from the in-game text mentioning her strong rose scent and the fact that she liked the meaning of blue roses.

Back in the days when floppy disks and CDs were familiar to people,

that game was my only refuge.

Looking back now, maybe it’s just nostalgia.

[We will be releasing a sequel for all of you who enjoyed Knight Heart!]

Yes, I was happy until that came out.

“…Fuck.”

A pamphlet titled <Black Heart>.

A bitter taste filled my mouth. What were they thinking when they made this sharp turn?

Sequels are mostly worse than their predecessors, and the game I loved wasn’t an exception to this rule.

I felt dizzy. If I had known, I wouldn’t have bought it. The stiff, blocky text, the half-baked new characters, the messy romance story.

I was completely fooled. This must be how a fish flopping on the deck of a ship feels.

[Thanks to your support, our Fantasia Game Company has been able to succeed! ( ˘ᗜ˘ )]

Don’t use emoticons. Where’s the original creator? There were rumors going around that they were locked up in the game company’s warehouse.

[Your data from the previous game will be carried over!]

And they advertised a “Succession System,” where the ending would change depending on which route you took in the previous game. A sequel starring the hero and mage couple.

Those two, who were only childhood friends, were now married. My heart pounded. I could see my favorite characters again.

I remembered the illustration of the Saint imagining herself in a wedding dress in the first game. She dreamed of being a bride in pure white. It was cute how her sleep-talking appeared as text.

[You wanted to see what happened to the original characters, right? (｡•̀ᴗ-✧)]

I bought it, tempted by those words. Of course, I carried over the save file from the original game where I had followed the Saint’s route.

When I was one step away from the ending, a forced event occurred.

A CG of a crazy magician suddenly appearing and slaughtering all the characters from the previous game.

[The Hero and the Mage fled the battle.]

[The reason was that they believed their love was weak.]

[Thus, the party, having lost its strongest members, was annihilated.]

[They couldn’t even erect tombstones. No one could even recover their bodies.]

[Among them, the ‘Nameless’ Saint was someone who couldn’t even be listed among the dead.]

I squeezed my eyes shut. The text seemed deliberately malicious.

The censored text, devoid of explicit gore, felt even more disturbing.

The developers were clearly malicious. Killing off all the characters from the previous game just to promote the characters in the sequel.

Oh, wait, not all of them. The Hero and the Mage ran away together.

As if thinking, ‘If we kill off popular characters, players will be angry at the game’s villain!’ they killed them off cleanly.

I loved the original characters more than anyone. I couldn’t even drink water properly the day I played the sequel, but I kept trying.

And I did it.

[Player Lee Suhyun has become the first in the world to defeat the ‘True Demon King Magic Hat’!]

“I finally beat it!! Uh…? What’s going on..?”

The event scene was the same.

Nothing changed.

Everyone was forcibly declared dead, and the cruel text appeared again.

This was the 24th time I’d seen this text. Just looking at it gave me a headache, so I leaned back against the chair.

I sent an inquiry email. I asked why a different story played out even though I defeated the boss monster.

After some time, a notification sound, *ding*, rang from the speaker.

A reply from the game company had arrived.

[This is the developer of <Black Heart>.]

[The ‘Grand Route’ achievement that player Lee Suhyun inquired about is currently not implemented!]

[How did you manage to defeat a boss that was designed to be unbeatable?!]

Really? I sighed. All this damn developer does is torment the players. I can’t even quit the game because I’ve poured all my money into it.

[In that case, we have no choice but to reveal what we’ve prepared..]

Yeah, just give me the happy Saint’s epilogue. They’re really good at hiding Easter eggs. Just…

[Therefore, we will be releasing the final installment of the 3-part <Knight Heart Trilogy> to the world!]

Not that. When did it even become a trilogy? That’s why the story is such a mess, because they’re rushing it.

[And in recognition of your hard work, we’d like to invite you to be a beta tester for part 3. What do you think?]

Give me the ending. Is it another shitty sequel? I’m definitely not playing it. I suffered enough with part 2.

[The Saint? What if you could save her this time?]

My breath hitched. I twisted and turned and struggled so much, but it didn’t work. Can I really save her?

..No. That’s impossible. These are the kind of guys who’d add an ‘instant death pattern’ just because the boss was defeated too quickly.

Get a grip.

[Thanks to Lee Suhyun, we at Fantasia were able to safely distribute this game! It wouldn’t have been possible without you!]

Last time they distributed items. The first boss clear does have that kind of effect… No, this is a trap too.

[We didn’t expect anyone to clear this with just controls!]

I’d rather trust the… the yellow dog… next door… than you guys…

[This game is a prequel to the original, a story of the ‘past’, not the future! You know that the protagonists of the original and the sequel went to the same school, right?]

Not a sequel, but a prequel, a story of the past?

[The subtitle of part 3 is, <Grand Hearts Academia>! How is it? Does it ring a bell?]

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This game developer, maybe they’re more serious about the original than I thought?

[We need to see if the inherited data works properly in that romance fantasy academy setting.]

Then why isn’t it implemented here?

[There can’t be any contradictions in the ‘story’ between the original and the sequel, right?]

[So, if you can recreate all the love you saw in parts 1 and 2…]

[We’ll create an ending for the Saint. And it will be the official ‘Grand Route Ending’!]

[How about it? Aren’t you tempted? You don’t look at anything other than the Saint’s route~]

..Perverts. How did they know? I need to post anonymously next time.

[In addition, we’ll give you the Global First Kill special reward! Congratulations!]