episode_0003

There is something called the Mandela Effect.

Nelson Mandela, a black South African president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

He was known to have died while imprisoned during the democratic movement.

…or so it was believed, but in fact, he lived until the age of 95.

What’s surprising is that the majority of American citizens knew about his death as common knowledge.

Clearly, a person who was alive and well.

However, many people believed he had died based solely on news and other people’s words.

This led to the revelation of Mandela’s illness.

People were shocked, asking if he hadn’t already died.

Misconceptions sometimes make someone appear “dead.”

If everyone says I am dead.

But in reality, if I am alive and well.

Am I alive or am I dead?

Is it up to me to judge, or is it the people who believe so?

****

[The Earth Server is shutting down]

The speed at which this site’s existence became known was slower than expected.

It was quite some time after that I discovered the post.

At that time, I was busy building a bomb shelter in preparation for the apocalypse.

There was more work than I thought, and preparations were difficult, especially gathering information.

So, I frequently visited an internet forum where people preparing for the apocalypse gathered.

Here, Korean doomsday enthusiasts shared various stories.

Of course, there didn’t seem to be anyone as serious as me who truly believed in the impending doom.

Perhaps they just saw it as entertainment?

It felt similar to enjoying a survival experience in a perfectly safe environment.

Still, collective intelligence is truly remarkable.

Some of the information proved to be incredibly helpful to me.

While I was preparing for the impending doom like that.

Suddenly, a new post appeared on the forum.

[Title]

Does anyone know what this is?

[Body]

(Picture)

It was just an ordinary screenshot.

A site address on a black background.

And in the center, a mechanical and chilling sentence.

[The Earth Server is shutting down]

“…Hmm.”

It was the site I checked several times a day.

Sipping my coffee, I refreshed the page while examining this intriguing post.

Perhaps “Last Day” wasn’t popular enough.

In a place with great interest in destruction, most people didn’t know what this was.

[Comments]

-What is this, an event?

-Seems like someone made it just for fun, not to provoke.

-If you look at overseas sites, there are probably dozens of these, lol.

-It’s a bit eerie. They made it with a good vibe.

I felt a little disappointed because there was no talk about the game no matter how long I waited.

But while I was gloomily reading the comments.

[Comments]

-Isn’t this ‘Last Day’?

“Oh, wow.”

Still, the internet is a sea of information after all.

Seeing that there are people who remember such a failed game.

[Comments]

-Yeah, Last Day.

┕What’s that, you loser?

┕It’s a failed game that came out a long time ago and died due to lack of players.

-What is it then? Just a game event, I guess.

-Employee, you shouldn’t promote here.

┕Hahaha

Well, the internet is a place where various things happen.

Especially game companies, they’re hungry for money and attention.

If you look around the world, there must be at least one game doing similar marketing.

So most people just considered it as a simple game event.

While on the other side of the Earth, there’s a coup d’état and people are being shot, and here we have a game.

It seemed like a momentary diversion for those Gates-like people with nothing to do.

Until another post comes up.

[Title]

Is Last Day a real game?

[Body]

I like survival games, so I searched for it, but nothing comes up?

If it was a game that was in service, there should at least be some records or images.

There’s really nothing.

[Comments]

-It’s a failed game, so there’s probably little data to begin with.

-What? There’s really nothing coming up?

-If it doesn’t show up in a Google search, then it’s probably just non-existent, right?

-Can a whole game just disappear?

-Actually, it was a bait within a bait.

┕That’s not true. I’ve played this game before. Couldn’t even get past the tutorial and quit.

But those who are active on the Destruction Board would be like that.

Most of the people here are those who go crazy over destruction or conspiracy theories.

Many people started biting into this bait eagerly.

[Comments]

-This is a bit chilling, isn’t it? A game that actually had players disappeared completely, and only this site remains?

“Even a single post is not found on other sites, wow.

Isn’t it physically impossible though?

Hahaha, these idiots suddenly started boasting again. Of course, it’s marketing, you morons.

Where can you find a game company that deletes all their previous game records and does marketing?

That’s right. From the game company’s perspective, what kind of work they released is really important. There’s no reason to deliberately erase all of that and do marketing.

No, but isn’t it impossible from the start? How can a game company delete posts that users uploaded on other sites?

But it doesn’t exist, damn bastard.

Wasn’t it because the post itself was scarce due to its lack of popularity?

No, there were definitely people who knew about the game, but the existence of the game itself disappeared?

The comments section quickly turned into chaos.

Various speculations were made, and arguments ensued.

Among them, there were even people provocatively asking if ‘Last Day’ really existed.

“Well, now there’s no way to prove it.”

Along with that website, all the records about the game disappeared.

The game itself and the records I had.

The bulletin board where I lived like a ghost.

And all the images and writings related to it.

There was never any promotion to begin with, and it was a boring game with no posts.

As if this game never existed.

All visible records were gone.

This became one of the reasons why I seriously believed in its destruction.

What remained for people were memories.

And only the paper documents I wrote down while recalling them.

“But this is personal content, so it can’t be proven.”

Still, as a hardcore gamer, this story itself was quite interesting.

Perhaps there might be others who prepare for destruction besides me.

As a person, I would feel quite pleased if there were others like me.

While thinking that, a new post suddenly appeared.

[Title]

This is the prologue to Last Day…

[Body]

Even in Last Day, it starts with a site like this appearing on the internet.

Could it be that it’s really like a game, facing destruction?

[Comments]

“Damn, it would be better if you said Kim Jong-un got high on drugs and pressed the nuclear button. Hahaha.”

“Look at them getting emotionally involved in a game. Haha.”

“Is this at the level of an online forum? That’s why we need to suppress distribution.”

“These guys know how to do marketing properly. Haha.”

“Oh, there’s someone who remembers this.”

It’s not easy to remember since it only briefly passed in the prologue.

To recall it just by looking at the site.

It means they either really liked the game or had a good eye for it.

On the other hand, despite stating the facts, this user was being ridiculed.

I pressed the recommend button with a mix of joy and sympathy.

Still, I didn’t leave a comment.

“I might get into trouble if I act like I know things here for no reason.”

Of course, I’m an expert user of ‘Last Day.’

If I unravel the story, I can solve it in a few months.

If true destruction occurs, my information will be extremely valuable.

But what comes next?

It’s better not to end up being a Cassandra of Korea and getting kidnapped somewhere.

I’m just an ordinary human who dies with a bang when shot.

There’s no need to take unnecessary risks.

“The best thing is that it’s all just my delusion.”

Anyway, the breadcrumbs of ‘Last Day’ quickly went stale.

The site was still there, but to put it differently, that was all.

Honestly, those who seriously discuss destruction based on this are crazy.

Still, perhaps because it’s an interesting topic, bits of ‘Last Day’ stories started to emerge.

Many gather here to discuss theories of destruction and survival.

As mentioned, most don’t go beyond the realm of a hobby.

Most people simply saw this as someone’s amusing prank.

Then, a post appeared and received numerous recommendations.

[Title]

Could it be that such a game itself didn’t exist?

[Body]

I’ve heard stories about games like that being so common, you know?

Even the title ‘Last Day’ is similar if it’s an apocalypse.

Could it be that there was never such a game, but everyone mistakenly believes I’ve played it?

[Comments]

– Wow, that’s creepy if it’s true. LOL

– It sounds plausible, though.

– But if there’s no game information left at all, then this doesn’t make sense, right?

– Only a tiny fraction of people claim there’s a game called ‘Last Game.’

– Mass delusion, wow.

“….”

There are clearly people talking about it, but no traces of the game.

In other words, it’s now a ‘non-existent’ game.

Thus, this incident seemed to end as a slightly eerie social phenomenon, destined to be forgotten.

[Title]

The following is the translation of the content you provided:

“The level of those who advocate the theory of doom these days is just disappointing. That is, until one provocative post appears on the real-time best list.”