It was Sunday morning. I woke up in my room and suddenly realized that I had forgotten something very important.
Startled, I jumped out of bed and hurried to my PC desk.
I had noticed that the dungeon was exactly the same as the one in the game “First Final,” with identical maze layouts and treasure chest placements. This meant that there were probably others who had noticed it too.
On the internet, there were a few “First Final” strategy sites, though not many. If this information spread, the game knowledge that only a few people like me had could quickly become widespread and lose its value.
I checked the strategy sites I had bookmarked. I had bookmarked several similar sites, but…
They were gone. All of them had disappeared.
What’s going on? What’s happening?
It’s impossible for all the strategy sites to vanish in just a few days.
Did some government organization request their removal, or did they forcibly delete them?
I decided to call a gaming buddy of mine. His name is Nakanishi, and he was a classmate of mine in middle school. We went to different high schools, but we still occasionally team up or compete in online games.
He’s not as hardcore as I am, but Nakanishi is a pretty good gamer. He was one of the few who made it to the mid-game of the notoriously difficult “First Final,” a game where 99% of players drop out early on.
(If you made it to the mid-game of “First Final,” you could definitely call yourself a pro.)
“Wait, what’s ‘First Final’? I’ve never heard of that game,” Nakanishi replied.
I was stunned.
Had the game been erased? Why was it still in my memory but not in Nakanishi’s? Was it because I had cleared the game, and he hadn’t? I had no idea what was going on.
“Ah, I see. Thanks.”
“You’re acting weird.”
“Alright, see you later.”
“Oh, and make sure to join ‘Gunshin’ during the event. We’re short on firepower without you.”
“Yeah… I’ll think about it. Later.”
With that, I hung up.
“Gunshin” is a large-scale multiplayer online RPG, and I used to be in the same clan as Nakanishi. I was really into it for a while, but I haven’t logged in for a long time.
Next, I tried to launch the game “First Final” on my PC.
“Huh?”
The shortcut icon to launch “First Final” was missing from my desktop.
“Did I move it somewhere without realizing?”
Just to be sure, I checked the folder where the game was installed.
It was gone…
The entire folder where the game was installed was missing. The game’s program itself was gone. The game had completely vanished from my PC. Of course, I had no memory of uninstalling it.
I checked the download site for “First Final.” The game wasn’t there. “First Final” wasn’t being sold.
I searched the internet for “First Final.”
Nothing came up. There were no search results indicating the existence of the game “First Final.” No matter how powerful the government is, this level of censorship should be impossible.
Had the game been erased from existence?
What on earth is going on?
