The Last Player: When the Game Became Reality

The Player Who Was Missing

For several seconds, Ethan couldn't speak.

He kept staring at the document.

SUBJECT: ETHAN VALE

STATUS: MISSING

LAST LOCATION: FLOOR 1000

DATE: 1998

The room suddenly felt too small.

Mina took the paper from his hands.

"This has to be fake."

Leonard shook his head.

"We thought so too."

Ethan finally looked up.

"Who made this?"

"We don't know."

"Then where did you get it?"

"From the same place where we found the Tower records."

"What records?"

Leonard pointed toward the wall.

A large screen turned on.

Old photographs appeared.

Buildings.

Laboratories.

People wearing protective equipment.

And behind them—

the Tower.

Ethan stepped closer.

"When were these taken?"

Leonard answered quietly.

"Twenty-eight years ago."

Ethan's expression hardened.

"That's impossible."

"We know."

"No. The Tower didn't exist twenty-eight years ago."

"According to the game."

Leonard changed the screen.

A timeline appeared.

1998 — First Tower Observation

2001 — Second Observation

2008 — Tower Disappearance

2011 — Game Development Begins

2014 — Eternal Ascension of Tower Released

Ethan stared at the timeline.

The game had been released in 2014.

He remembered that.

But the Tower—

had supposedly appeared sixteen years earlier.

Leonard continued.

"The developers claimed they invented everything."

Ethan looked at him.

"They didn't?"

"We don't think so."

Another photograph appeared.

A group of scientists stood around a strange crystal.

Ethan recognized the symbol carved into it.

The same symbol from his grandfather's key.

His stomach tightened.

"My grandfather."

Leonard looked surprised.

"Your grandfather?"

"He had one of these."

Leonard walked closer.

"Are you sure?"

Ethan pulled the key from his pocket.

The room went silent.

Everyone stared.

One of the women stood.

"Where did you get that?"

"My grandfather."

The woman approached slowly.

"Do you know what it is?"

"No."

She looked at Leonard.

"We need to leave."

Leonard nodded.

Ethan frowned.

"Why?"

The woman looked toward the window.

"Because if that thing is real..."

She swallowed.

"...someone already knows you have it."

The lights suddenly flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Then every screen in the room turned blue.

Ethan's status appeared.

But it wasn't visible only to him.

Everyone saw it.

[PLAYER DETECTED.]

The room went completely silent.

Then another message appeared.

[WELCOME BACK, ETHAN VALE.]

Mina stepped backward.

"That's impossible."

Ethan stared at the screen.

The message changed.

[TOWER CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.]

Leonard shouted:

"Turn it off!"

Someone tried.

Nothing happened.

The screen remained blue.

Then a final message appeared.

[FLOOR 1 ACCESS: AVAILABLE.]

Ethan's heart began pounding.

A doorway appeared in the middle of the room.

Not a hologram.

Not a screen.

A real doorway.

Black stone.

Ancient.

The same structure Ethan had seen in the forest.

The same symbol was carved across the entrance.

Nobody moved.

Leonard whispered:

"That's not supposed to happen."

Ethan looked at the doorway.

He knew that entrance.

He had seen thousands like it during his years playing the game.

But this one felt different.

It wasn't inviting him.

It was waiting for him.

Ethan stepped closer.

Mina grabbed his arm.

"Don't."

He stopped.

"You're not going in."

"I wasn't planning to."

"Good."

Ethan stared at the doorway.

Something inside him wanted to enter.

Not curiosity.

Recognition.

A feeling he couldn't explain.

Like coming home.

That frightened him more than anything else.

He stepped away.

The doorway disappeared.

The screens returned to normal.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Finally Leonard said:

"That's enough."

Ethan turned.

"Enough what?"

"We're leaving."

"Why?"

"Because this isn't a normal awakening."

Leonard looked directly at him.

"You're not just another player."

Ethan remained silent.

Leonard continued.

"Something is using you as a connection."

"Who?"

"We don't know."

"The Tower?"

"Maybe."

Ethan clenched his fist.

"Then I'll find out."

Leonard shook his head.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

They left the building through a back entrance.

The streets were nearly empty.

Mina walked beside Ethan.

Neither spoke.

After several minutes, she finally asked:

"Are you really going to investigate?"

"Yes."

"Even after what happened?"

"Especially after what happened."

She sighed.

"I knew you'd say that."

Ethan smiled.

"You don't have to come."

Mina stopped walking.

"Don't say that."

He turned.

"You have your own life."

"And you're part of it."

Ethan didn't answer.

Mina stepped closer.

"You've spent fifteen years playing that game alone."

"I had guildmates."

"That's not what I mean."

She looked directly at him.

"You don't have to do everything alone anymore."

Ethan looked away.

For years, he had believed strength meant depending on nobody.

But Mina had been beside him since childhood.

She had helped him when his parents became sick.

Her family had helped pay their bills.

She had stayed when everyone else left.

And now—

she was standing beside him again.

Ethan nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"I won't do it alone."

Mina smiled.

"Good."

The next morning, Ethan returned to hunting.

Nothing changed.

He still fought weak monsters.

Still trained.

Still studied.

He didn't suddenly become stronger because of what he had discovered.

If anything, he became more careful.

He reached Level 10.

Then Level 11.

Mina reached Level 15.

Their progress remained slow.

Other players were already breaking through Level 20.

The difference became obvious.

Some players mocked Ethan.

"Isn't he the guy from the broken crystal?"

"Yeah."

"Still only Level 11?"

"Maybe the system really hates him."

Ethan ignored them.

But one person didn't.

A young Hunter approached him after a hunt.

He wore an expensive set of armor.

"You're Ethan Vale, right?"

"Yes."

"I've heard about you."

Ethan waited.

The man smiled.

"You were apparently the number one player in the old game."

"Apparently."

"Then why are you so weak?"

Ethan looked at him.

"I started over."

The man laughed.

"Then you should hurry."

He walked away.

Ethan watched him leave.

Mina smiled.

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"No."

"Not even a little?"

Ethan picked up his weapon.

"No."

He looked at the forest.

"Being weak doesn't bother me."

He paused.

"Staying weak would."

That night, Ethan opened his status.

Level: 11

He looked at the hidden potential.

Analysis Progress: 7%

It hadn't increased since his memory returned.

That meant simply remembering wasn't enough.

He needed something else.

A condition.

A challenge.

Maybe a choice.

Ethan stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

[NEW CONDITION DISCOVERED.]

His eyes widened.

[HIDDEN POTENTIAL REQUIREMENT]

Reach Level 20.

Complete a dungeon alone.

Do not use a class.

Ethan read it twice.

A solo dungeon.

Without a class.

At Level 20.

That was difficult.

But not impossible.

He smiled.

Finally—

something he understood.

Three days later, Ethan found the entrance.

A small dungeon had appeared beneath an abandoned subway station.

The Hunter Association classified it as E-rank.

Safe enough for beginners.

Mina wanted to join him.

Ethan refused.

"Why?"

"The condition says alone."

"You could die."

"I know."

She frowned.

"That's not reassuring."

"I'll be careful."

Mina stared at him.

Then she sighed.

"Come back."

"I will."

Ethan entered the dungeon.

The entrance closed behind him.

Darkness surrounded him.

A blue message appeared.

[DUNGEON ENTERED.]

Then another.

[SOLO CONDITION CONFIRMED.]

Ethan tightened his grip.

For the first time since the world changed, he felt something he hadn't felt in years.

Excitement.

Not because he was strong.

Because he wasn't.

He had to climb from the bottom again.

One step at a time.

One mistake at a time.

And somewhere deep inside the dungeon—

something was already waiting.

A voice echoed through the darkness.

Not a monster.

Not the system.

A voice Ethan recognized from the memory he couldn't explain.

"Welcome back, Player One."

Ethan stopped walking.

His eyes narrowed.

"Who said that?"

A pair of red eyes opened in the darkness.

Then another.

And another.

Dozens of them appeared.

Ethan slowly raised his weapon.

The system appeared.

[WARNING.]

[DUNGEON DIFFICULTY HAS CHANGED.]

[E-RANK → UNKNOWN]

Ethan smiled despite himself.

"Of course."

The dungeon doors behind him locked.

CLANG.

There was nowhere to run.

The first monster stepped out of the darkness.

And Ethan realized—

this wasn't a dungeon designed for beginners.

It had been designed specifically for him.