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[Chapter 1] – Snow White Princess

Since I was young, I’ve loved simulation games. There are countless game genres in the world, so why did I particularly like simulation games? Well, there wasn’t a big reason. I just enjoyed seeing characters grow through my hands.

So, when it came to simulation games, I didn’t discriminate by genre. From the egg-shaped games sold at stationery stores to the latest ones, I tried them all. Before I knew it, as someone who had dabbled in various games since childhood, I had become an unbeatable enthusiast of simulation games.

However, the simulation game genre wasn’t very popular, and perhaps because I had been playing the same genre for so long, even the occasional new releases began to feel stale and tiresome.

Just as I started to think that maybe I should move away from the simulation genre and try other games, in that moment, a quietly released indie game captured my attention.

[Snow White Princess]

Literally translated, just “Snow White”

This new game with gameplay reminiscent of the pioneering “Princess Maker” in the simulation game genre was a “child-rearing simulation game” developed by an overseas indie game company.

The early story of the game was simple. Set in a medieval fantasy world based on the fairy tale “Snow White,” the player takes on the role of a “king who lost his queen,” raising the “young princess” left alone.

Naturally, there was no Korean language support, and after its release, the word about it didn’t spread much, as there were no domestic sites where information could be found.

I was bothered by the fact that the game’s reviews were “generally negative,” but considering the game’s affordable price and cute illustrations, I thought, “Why not give it a try?”

With a casual mindset of “If it’s not fun, I’ll just get a refund,” I clicked the purchase button.

And so, I inexplicably became engrossed in this game.

*

“Ah… This is driving me crazy. No wonder the game reviews are negative…”

[BAD END]

I scratched my head in frustration as I stared at the red letters floating on the monitor. How many times had I seen that “[BAD END]” message?

[Snow White Princess]

This game, “Snow White,” was, in many ways, a tormenting game. Typically, “parenting simulation games” involve raising a young daughter, teaching her to study, working part-time jobs, going on adventures together, and experiencing various “events” while nurturing your daughter.

Depending on how the player raises their daughter, she could become an outstanding person, an ordinary individual, or even a villain. Finding healing through witnessing the growth of one’s daughter is the usual experience in a “parenting simulation game.”

I also expected that when I played Snow White, but… this darn “Snow White” was entirely different. It wasn’t a parenting simulation game; it was a roguelike game disguised as a parenting simulation game. And not just any roguelike game, but one that mercilessly tormented the player.

“…I died again.”

True to its name, “Snow White” featured a well-known antagonist. A deranged woman who spoke to the mirror, consumed by jealousy of the young princess’s beauty. She was Snow White’s stepmother, known in the story as the Mirror Witch.

“Vivian Lirienne Sol.”

She was the culprit turning this parenting simulation game into a roguelike. The fact that there was an ending where the child dies in a parenting simulation game was shocking enough, but there wasn’t just one such ending. Sometimes she would ingest poison and die, other times she would fall under a curse and die, and sometimes she would be sleeping only to be killed by a knife. Just from what I’ve seen, there were over twenty basic endings where the child dies.

Ordinary people might have deleted the game after seeing a few bad endings or left lengthy criticisms on gaming sites, but I was a bit different. By some stroke of luck, I chanced upon a single happy ending that made it impossible for me to escape from this game. Having witnessed my daughter overcome all sorts of hardships and glimpsed her happy future, I made a pledge to collect all the happy endings.

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The nurturing in this game wasn’t solely based on my daughter’s ability parameters. It involved an extreme luck factor. Without the heavens’ help, a happy future for my daughter was nearly impossible.

And luck alone wasn’t enough. A single wrong choice led to my painstakingly raised daughter dying after dozens of hours. This game required thorough management of choices.

Moreover, in a game without a save function, the sheer malevolence of it was evident by the number of times my daughter died, displayed at the edge of the screen. Each time that number increased, I cursed the developer’s cruelty.

The number at the edge of the screen indicated 120.

I had only seen the happy ending a mere 5 times. Feeling unable to endure any longer, I abandoned my pride and searched for strategies online.

However, true to its nature as an unpopular foreign indie game, there was no information about this game on Korean websites. Even if something did show up in search results, it was just a bunch of posts where disgruntled players vented their anger at the developer.

The number of overseas users wasn’t substantial either. While various endings were documented on foreign wikis, they were mainly spoiler-heavy posts for those who had given up without seeing the endings.

Believing that a happy ending for my daughter held no meaning unless witnessed firsthand, I stopped searching for strategies from that point on.

The number at the edge of the screen indicated 210.

The count of happy endings seen had increased to 15. Up until the middle part, my daughter managed to survive, but as we progressed to the latter half, the witch’s restraint became even more severe.

Sometimes, feeling exasperated after witnessing a bad ending, I thought I didn’t want to continue, but upon seeing the empty “True Ending Achievement” slot in the achievements section, I resumed parenting once more.

While it might be unrealistic to witness all the happy endings, shouldn’t I at least see the true ending?

“This morning, send the kitchen part-time job to build stamina, fill the gap left by kitchen work with classes… and to prevent early adolescence, give a day off on the 5th… Okay.”

The deeper I delved, the more enjoyable it became. Numerous characters and various occupations. Not just childcare, but also farming, cooking, fishing, horseback riding, racing, combat, and so on… There were quite entertaining daily life contents as well.

If only there were no witches in this game, it would have received high praise. The more I played, the more it properly displayed the aspects of a “childcare simulation game.”

“Sigh….”

And so, at the edge of the screen, the number 340 was displayed.

[True Ending]

Wearing a golden crown, Snow White ascends to the throne.

Seated on the throne, Snow White looks down with a triumphant smile. How could she not smile? The witch who had tormented her all this time is now writhing in agony below her.

Thud! Clap! Thud!

The witch laughs.

She laughs while shedding tears, writhing in agony. Wearing iron shoes scorched by fire, the witch gracefully dances at the new queen’s succession ceremony. Beautiful and elegant until the very end. With that beautiful dance, the witch decorates the succession ceremony and ends her life.

“Sigh…”

The Snow White I raised becomes the queen.

That was the true ending of this game. Well, I had expected it, and I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t a bad ending considering the hardships I’ve been through. How much I struggled to see this ending. A childcare simulation game mixed with roguelike elements. Will there ever be another game like this in my life?

As the true ending concludes, a small system window pops up below the screen. [Queen Ending]. Along with the system alert confirming that I’ve seen the true ending, I clicked on that small system window.

[Queen Ending].

Obtained by only 0.1% of all players.

“I knew it would be like this…”

0.1%. I don’t know how many players there are in total, but it certainly isn’t a large number. Most probably tasted the bitterness of the early witch and gave up.

Feeling satisfied, I closed the game window and, after a long time, searched for a strategy guide. I’ve seen the true ending. Since I’m tired, it should be fine to casually spoil the other endings.

“Academy teacher ending… seen it, chef ending… seen it, marrying the horseman’s son ending… seen it.”

I scrolled through various endings written in English on the overseas wiki. Are there so many because of that? Most of them were endings I had already seen.

With a sullen expression, as I continued to scroll down, having spent over a thousand hours playing this game, I was able to discover an ending I hadn’t seen before.

“Witch ending… A witch ending?”

Unconsciously, I tilted my head.

A witch ending? Does that mean there’s an ending where the princess becomes a witch? Since I’ve never associated with witches, I had never even thought about such an ending existing.

What kind of ending could this possibly be? My curiosity didn’t wane. No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of story this ending would entail.

As I was about to click on the post out of curiosity, for some reason, I felt a slight blow to my pride.

I’m the one who has seen the true ending of this trashy game, yet am I really resorting to depending on this overseas wiki just because I haven’t seen a few other endings? No, absolutely not.

The fact that it’s written on the wiki means that someone else saw the witch ending and wrote about it here. If that’s the case, there was no reason for me not to see that ending.

A pointless sense of competition ignited within me.

Having seen the true ending, there was nothing left for me to fear. In fact, I felt like I should achieve every accomplishment possible from now on.

“…Let’s sleep on it for now. It’s already 3 in the morning, after all.”

Thinking that I might end up staying up all night at this rate, I quickly turned off the computer and lay down in bed. As enjoyable as the game may be, it wasn’t worth skipping work for.

“…If it’s the witch ending, I should actively approach the witch, right…? But then, how am I supposed to approach a witch who’s trying to kill me…?”

Thinking about how to approach the witch ending, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into the embrace of sleep, thinking that if I just make it through tomorrow’s workday, I can spend the weekend immersed in the game.

Little did I know that would be my last experience with a man.