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Route 0 - Prelude

ISABELLA RED

“Madamé everything is all set for the launching of our latest romance, choice-based game.” my assistant Sheryl said which instantly made all the anger from my system dissolve into thin air and of course, I let out a smile. Finally, after four months of crafting the new game, we are finally on the last step, which is the launching of the product. Luckily, I no longer need to be angry for everything to be settled.

“Also, the pre-order sales of the game exceeded our target sales. It also exceeded the sales of the top-ranking mobile game we developed seven months ago. And based from the charts right now, those who pre-ordered the game are usually teenagers or women that are single.” she continued and I can’t help but to feel this extreme happiness in my heart. Honestly, it feels like my heart is about to explode because of how happy I am feeling right now.

The reason for this extreme happiness although I am already in the field of game development is because I did not expect that the game will exceed the target pre-order sales the finance team anticipated and of course, I’ve approved. Other than that, I thought that the game will not actually catch the attention of the target audience so I expected less and less.

But although my expectations are low, I still got a little bit worried because if the game failed to attract people then we will have to start from the beginning and all the funds that we put on that game will be turned into dust. Thinking of that possibility made me anxious and of course, angry.

But right now, I admit that I was wrong and I indeed underestimated myself, the teams that worked hard to put together the concept and the whole company.

“You did a good job Sheryl, and also tell everyone that they are free to do what they like this afternoon and tomorrow. And also, tell everyone that they should prepare their best attires already because I may able to find a resort for us to have a good week” I said with still a smile plastered on my face, and Sheryl smiled at me as well. While she is smiling, I cannot almost see her eyes and maybe it is because of the fact that she has this Chinese blood running through her veins.

“Thank you so much madamè! I will now share the good news to the employees! “ she exclaimed and as if on cue she dashed towards the door. I guess she is also excited to share to her office mates what I have said. And I don’t really see what she did as something disrespectful. It’s been five years since Sheryl started working in my company and I am already used to her being like that, I am the one who actually told her to be less formal when we are the only ones in a room, since I already consider her as a trustworthy friend.

I put my hand under my chin and rested it on top of the table as my gaze shifted to the frame on my right side.

The frame holds the last picture I had with my parents and my two older brothers before they died in an accident ten years ago.

“We did it again” I whispered as I caress the frame using my left hand. Every time the company successfully made a new game and is patronized by the customers, I always offer that success to them because in the first place this is the dream that my two older brothers want. I am just continuing what they wished to do.

Finally the day had ended and since the game has finally been released then it is about time that I head home. I am about to turn on my car when my phone started to ring.

“[Isabella Red Johnson! Are you sure that you are not going to attend tonight’s reunion? Everyone is really expecting you since you have already become the most successful game developer woman in the world!]” - my acquaintance exclaimed over the phone. I cannot help but heave a sigh because I just put my phone on my ears and the first thing that I am going to hear is her loud voice.

She really has always been so loud but again, we are not close. I don’t even consider her as a friend because we aren’t, we only exchange a few ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’ nothing more and nothing less. And based from what she said, the reason why she called me is because once again she is trying to persuade me to attend the college reunion party they prepared.

“I’m sorry Eve, but I am really quite busy today since we just launched the new game. So I have to monitor the players concern or difficulties so I can automatically fix them. Don’t worry, when everything is settled, I’ll be the one to call you and set up a date for us to get together and chat.” I said as I tried my best to sound as genuine as I could be. Because what I just said is not the truth - the truth is that I don’t really feel like attending any social gatherings and that attitude started ever since my family passed away. I tend to use my work as a reason to escape it, just like what I am doing right now.

“[Alright alright! Just call me whenever you are free!]” she replied and I can sense that she is quite disappointed. Well, this is the third or even the fourth time I rejected her offer attending the college reunion so I guess it is only natural for her to he disappointed that I will still not attend this year as well.

“Thanks Eve. Promise, I’ll set up a date” - I added and when I hear her say ‘okay’ I finally got to end the call.

I am really an extreme liar. Although I said that, I know for a fact that it will be long before it could really happen. I placed my phone on the phone holder located on my left side near the steering wheel of my car. Then, I started my car and pushed forward the gear and my car finally moved.

After a few minutes of driving on the highway, I stepped on the brake since the stoplight turned red. And from the looks of it, the traffic is quite heavy today. Maybe it is because it’s Friday and a lot of people wants to have fun outside after a long week of working.

“It looks like it is going to take a little time before the traffic moves” that is what I whispered to myself as grab my phone, opened it using my fingerprint and without thinking twice I clicked the application of the game that my company just launched.

And the title of the game is Arcana Twilight: Love Prevails. The title page of the game opened and a note appeared - and honestly, I don’t know how this game works because this is the first time that I am opening this ever since everything was already settled.

The game will be downloading additional resources. Rest assured that this will not consume much of your data cap. Would you like to proceed?

Additional resources? No one mentioned to me that there will be additional resources downloaded which means that this will consume much storage on the player’s device. Honestly, this is not a good thing but on the other hand, I have a feeling that it’s the cache that the development team mentioned that every player needs to download to prevent the game from crashing and lagging. And of course, I clicked the ‘yes’ button, as if on cue a bar appeared on the lower portion of the screen, which symbolizes the downloading status.

After a few minutes, the traffic finally started to move but the game is still downloading it’s additional resources. Like seriously? It shouldn’t be this long, if only I knew sooner then this should have already been fixed. Anyways I will have to talk to the different teams about this tomorrow or maybe I’ll mail them when I got home.

I shifted my gaze to the highway and just then it was my turn to move. I pushed the gear forward and my car started moving again, then I stepped on the gas and my car accelerated. I continuously give a second look on my phone on my peripheral vision so that I monitor the game and every time I do so, I end up disappointed because I always see that it is still on the process of downloading the additional resources..

“Shit” I cussed when I suddenly saw that the car in-front of me suddenly stopped which made me step on the brake immediately. Seriously, the police officers should be able to at least check if the one who is driving is really a license driver. Some drivers nowadays are so stupid.

I am about to step on the gas for my car to start moving again and so that I will be able to overtake ahead of the car that is right in front of me when suddenly I heard loud beeping sound and when I turn to look on my left window, my eyes widened when I saw a truck coming towards my direction. My foot never left the gas and I continued pushing my feet so that I could leave the position that I am in however for some reason, it feels like I am already stuck and in just a split second I just felt my whole body being crushed into pieces and everything is going circles.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and everything is already blurry. My vision has always been 20:20 however right now, it is a different case, I feel like I am partially blind because I cannot see things clearly. Additionally, I can no longer feel my body and because of that, I realized that my bones are already shattered into bits.

I also can hear different voices but I cannot decipher what they are saying. I tried to look around just by moving my eyes but I am to tried - so I just stayed put but then I saw my phone, surprisingly it is not crushed but it has cracks on its screen. And although my eye sight is already blurry, I can see that the game has already finished downloading all its additional resources.

I tried to focus my eyesight even more - trying to read the opening note that just appeared - the opening note that I made myself and I cannot help but to smile on my mind because I can no longer lift my lips.

Are you ready to experience a love story you never knew existed in this world?

With four guys as your male lead, who would you choose to become your husband and lifelong partner?

Now that it finally opened, I guess I will not have to mail my employees to fix the game anymore. Well, even if it didn’t open I will no longer be able to send them an email anyways. I mentally sighed and I slowly closed my eyes because the strength that I have left is rapidly disappearing from my body but in the end I am happy.

I guess this is also the end for me. This is the perfect ending, dying the same way family died. I just hope that the company I built will not crumble into pieces, and the recent game will be successful and surpass the other games.

I tried my best to lift my lips to form a little smile, but before I could even succeed my consciousness drifted away and everything turned black/.

SYSTEM

“Player Isabella Red. Status Deceased. Age Thirty. Occupation. The Creator. Reading Destiny”

“Destiny has been analyzed. Death Error. Processing Compensation. Compensation has been processed. Extracting the soul of Isabella Red. Deleting Memories. -

“Error In Deleting Memories. Note will retain memories of Isabella Red. Search Compatible body. Body has been found. Processing synchronization. Synchronization complete”

“Player Isabella Red is now Scarlet Aubrielle Elvoi. Enjoy your new life”

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