"GOOD ENDING"
Seeing the bright splash screen with those words made you smile. It didn't matter how many times you had played this same route, how many times you aimed for the same ending. Seeing the characters you had grown to love deeply have their happy ending was so pleasing for you. This go-round, you had decided to revisit Seven's route. His was one of the most emotional ones, and even though it pained you at times, you knew that at the end he would finally be happy. Even if this virtual little goofball didn't realize it, you were sure that you would choose the best for him. The poor guy deserved happiness after all, whether he was real or not.
After skimming through a few of the photos in the game, you were finding yourself eager to start again. "Hmmm, maybe this time I can try Zen's route again. I could try agreeing to more of his selections. I didn't do so hot the first time..." you found yourself muttering into the dull hum of the early evening as you sat in your living room. His was one of the first routes you had ever done, and it held a certain touch of nostalgia from when you had first discovered the game. Everything was new, you weren't sure if your choices were right or not, and it was overall pretty exciting. You smiled at the thought and made your way over to the Settings icon, and soon enough, you were in the "Accounts" tab with the "Start Over" button right in your face. You never liked completely resetting the game like this, almost feeing like you were retconning the entire storyline, but with no more save slots to help you out, you had no choice.
"Welp, Seven...thanks again for showing me a good time in this silly little world. I'll see you again..."
As was a little tradition of yours, you said a final farewell to the character of your current route before you proceeded to reset the game. You never cared that it was essentially saying goodbye to nothing, it felt important to you and that's all that mattered. Your thumb was mere seconds away from pressing the button when suddenly the background music skipped, and a brief white flash filled the screen before returning to normal. The jazzy music that once filled the atmosphere in the menu was now gone, replaced with silence. Figuring it was a glitch, one that didn't feel too out of place considering how buggy the game could get at times, it didn't phase you much at all. It was what happened immediately afterwards that made you pause.
A familiar ding filled the air, made more prominent from the lack of music, and you saw a text message box pop up in the middle of the screen. There was no icon indicating who had sent it, but nevertheless there was a message.
"Wait! Please...please don't reset!"
In that fleeting speck of a moment, you felt your heart drop as far as it could go. You weren't sure if this was fear, curiosity, happiness, or even a combination of all the above, but your hands froze in their pose. The thumb that was once hovering over the "Start Over" button was now making its way to the "Back" arrow, and in a frantic rush you felt yourself racing to the messages. You saw the little red "1", confirming your suspicions. There was indeed a new message waiting for you, despite the game already being finished. It was then that it finally hit you...
...you shouldn't even be on this screen at this point.
Your game was over. The route was finished. Good endings all around. There was literally nothing left in the story that you could do. At this point you should've been knocked back to the main menu and ready to start a new route.
...yet here you were, sitting in the Messages menu and looking at the text in full now. It didn't say anything else other than what you had already seen, but witnessing it there in its complete form made you uneasy. Was this an easter egg of sorts? You knew there were a TON of moments in the game where the 4th Wall was broken, mostly by Seven and sometimes even by Jumin, but this wasn't ever mentioned in anything you saw online. Did the creators add new content to the game in order to change things up? The game hadn't been updated lately, and in terms of DLC, this was nothing you'd ever seen before. If this was indeed part of their plan, you admitted that this was pretty good. It honestly and completely shook you up.
You selected the message in question and saw it flash you to whoever had sent it. You looked at the past messages from the route you had just played, and quickly you realized who had sent this text.
"Of course, Seven..."
You looked down and saw that the "Answer" button was highlighted for you to reply. Intrigued, you wondered if you had somehow obtained access to another 'secret ending' of sorts. It didn't make any sense to you at the time, but it was all you had to go on. You clicked on the "Answer" button and looked to see what your options were.
Surprisingly, the two options you had were "..." and "_". Neither one made any sort of sense to you, especially considering the situation. Out of sheer curiosity, you selected the latter of the two, since you had never seen it before. Expecting the chat bubble to appear as a reply, instead you saw your keyboard scroll up, ready for your input. It was acting as though it was regular text messaging, and you had the option to put whatever your little heart desired. Still in shock, you racked your brain for what you could say to the void of a finished game. Would it even matter what you put? It's not like it was a real person behind all of this...right? After some time, your fingers typed the only reply you could muster.
"...how are you speaking to me right now?"
You hit "Done" on your texting keyboard, and just like that, it popped up in the message conversation as if it was always meant to be there. You set the phone down on the couch you were sitting on, still trying to take in this new development as the quiet whirring of your fridge played on in the background. You looked away from your phone, wondering if this was all from being on the little device for far too long. It would figure...every character in the game warned you not to play games for too long, but here you were most likely hallucinating from excessive screen time. A glutton for punishment, you spoke into the night.
You chuckled lightly to yourself as you rubbed your eyes, suddenly feeling the need for something to drink. Normally a light wine of sorts would be your method of choice, but considering the situation, you decided to play it safe and just have some iced tea. You poured yourself a glass, occasionally glancing over at your phone and wondering if anything else would happen. Nothing seemed to pop up as you finished up in the kitchen, and as you made your way back to the couch, drink in hand, you saw the screen flash on, and you paused in your tracks. Suddenly the all-too-familiar ringtone of the game blared into the silence, and even though you weren't near the phone yet, you could see Seven's profile picture fill up the screen. It was his default picture, and not the one from the end of his route with you and him together.
Nah, this has GOT to be a hidden ending. It can't be anything else... you convinced yourself, finally approaching the phone and answering the call, ready for a cute little exchange from the red-haired hacker. "Can't wait to see what this is about." you casually muttered aloud, taking a sip of your tea.
"He-...ca...hea...is?" was all you could make out at first. The audio was fuzzy and crackling, nothing like how the audio normally was in this game. You took another sip of your tea as you waited to see if the quality would improve.
"...hello? Can you hear this?" you heard after a moment. It was definitely Seven's voice, that's for sure. He was too recognizable. "...I saw that you replied to my message and I tried everything to get in touch with you. I'm as much in the dark about this as you, honestly. Hehe." His words made you freeze in place, your drink standing by in your other hand as you gripped the phone a little tighter in slight anxiety. "...but uh, to officially answer your question, I have no clue how I am speaking to you right now. This is a first for me. Normally my messages never get through after the game ends, and everything around me turns out being reset before my eyes. You didn't...do anything different in particular, did you MC?...MC?"
You waited desperately for the choices to pop up. Something. ANYTHING. All you needed was for something to show on your screen so that you could be comforted in the fact that this was all part of the game. The choices didn't even have to make sense at all. They just needed to show. After a moment or two of nothing, you shook your head.
"There's no way..."
"...yeah, you're reading my mind, MC. I can't believe it either!" Seven replied, chuckling in disbelief.
However, hearing him reply to your words directly startled you, and you yelped as your one hand reflexively shot open, your iced tea starting on its way down to the floor. Instantly you went to grab it, but in the process the glass flipped around, the contents of it violently splashing around and ending up all over your shirt. Now a dripping mess, you hurried to put the iced tea on the coffee table, the phone still in your other hand.
"Uh...is everything okay? Did you get hurt?!" you heard Seven ask, worry starting to appear in his voice. Over the initial shock, you decided to play along. This is some new age simulation technology shit going on here... you thought. That's the only explanation you had for yourself, the only explanation that was keeping you sane right now.
"Ah...well...I'm alright, but I um...spilled my drink. I'm currently wearing it, actually." you admitted, running to the kitchen for some paper towels, phone in hand. You heard Seven stifle a laugh.
"Oh, is that all? I thought it was something serious. That is...unless it's Ph.D. Pepper that you spilled! That is next to impossible to get rid of the stains! You might as well kiss your clothes goodbye if that's the case!" he said, almost sounding the slightest bit flirty with that last line. You rolled your eyes, figuring he'd try to sneak something like that in there.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very smooth there, dude. It was just iced tea. I think my clothes will live to see another day." you retorted as you cleaned up the spill in the living room to the best of the paper towel's absorbency. It wasn't picking up that much, even with an abundance of pieces. You made a mental note to look for some better paper towels next time you went grocery shopping.
"Oh, well then my work here is done. GOD SEVEN, DEFENDER OF JUSTICE! PROTECTOR OF LADY'S GARMENTS AND TIDINESS!" he shouted, and you could practically see him jousting his arms in the air as he did so.
"Tidiness? This coming from someone who has piles of Honey Buddha Chip bags and cans of your precious Ph.D. Pepper lying all around your home. I've seen pictures. I know the truth." you teased, finding yourself starting to have fun with this banter. Fake or not, it was very amusing.
"Hmph, fine. You know my true surroundings, I'll give you that." he mused, seeming to accept the fact that you remembered this tidbit about him.
"...well, in any case, this lady's garments thank you for your genuine godly concern." you said through a smile, and you heard Seven sigh slightly in what seemed like relief. From what you could tell, he seemed just as confused and nervous as you were. It was comforting, considering he was only a character from a game.
"So...at this point I have no idea what we're supposed to do here. This is all new exploration for me. I haven't travelled to this realm of space before. It's most interesting!" he said, seeming to go through different screens on his computer by the sounds of typing and clicking you could hear.
"I have a question...indulge me, if you will." you suddenly asked, and all at once the typing and clicking stopped on his end, and all you heard was the slight sound of his breath as he waited for your question. "...are you the only one who knows about the reset? I've heard rumors that you and Jumin know about the game itself, but since I'm literally talking to you, I figured I'd ask directly." you waited a moment as he seemed to think about what to say.
"Ehh...those rumors are true, kinda. I'm pretty sure he knows, but I've never asked him. I guess since he and I are part of this 'Deep Story' thing the game has us in, we're safe from the reset-brainwashing. We must get our own little safehouse in this virtual world, so hooray for us!" he explained, cheering up by the end.
"That's got to be sad though...isn't it?"
"Well...considering what I first texted you, you can imagine. It's no fun. Buuuuut I'm not interested in the depressing things. While we're like this, let's find out the REAL MC, and not the game one that's programmed to say only so much. I'm much more interested in her. That is unless you'd rather spend your time cleaning your iced-tea-ridden-outfit in solitude. I won't judge." he quipped, and you scoffed at the still-fresh memory of your inherent clumsiness.
Needless to say, this night was going much different than you had planned.
Looks like I'm not gonna be replaying Zen's route after all.