"I deleted it, I wiped it from the database of our company."
"This is absurd Mr. Chairman!"
The executives were furious at Art's decision to back down as chairman.
"Don't worry guys, Ramiel will take over my position since she knows how to manage things."
"Does she know that you made her the new chairman now?"
"...."
"...."
No one talked, all of them were just staring at the chairman.
"So Ramiel is now the chairman of the company, she'll manage (somehow) the storyline since I gave her the entire story of the game. It contains about 10-20 years' worth of story if you guys manage to use it properly."
"But Chairman, you didn't leave the company legally. You can't just burn the contracts and make yourself resign! There's a whole process for that."
"Regarding that, it has been legally approved 2 days ago so I should have no legal troubles in leaving the company."
The executives could do nothing but stare at Art in disbelief, soon Art left the building and went back to his house, he received a total of 203 Million Dollars when he was managing the game for a few years, he hopped into his car and started moving, as he drives he grips the steering wheel in anger but decided to hold it for now since he was driving.
Art arrives at his new house which looked fancy and high quality, with luxurious products displayed on the walls with huge walls that cover his private mansion, expensive cars, and jewelry he keeps for himself.
Art opens the door violently and slams the wall, he breaks everything expensive in his house and was screaming as he throws his valuable worldly possessions on the ground.
"..Why. Why. Why. Why. Why! Why! Why! Why!?"
His voice echoed the entire mansion, he destroyed everything that was once expensive now into a pile of rubbish. He hated his life. He lost his purpose and motivation and it became nothing more of a chore than enjoying what he once did. Art kneeled on the floor and started crying.
"I didn't want this!"
Art got the highest position in the company, and he earned riches that he could never once have even dreamed of having. He earned the fame and attention of millions of people across the globe, he indirectly helped people enjoy their lives now, but what about him? Did he have any fun?
"Enough! I've had enough! Let me be in peace!"
Art cried even more, covering the ground below him with his tears. Expectations, jealousy, and hate from the public made his mental health degrade over time, he could not bare the burden of those who are waiting for his downfall. Accusations of people trying to get him to be arrested were normal, sexual harassment, stealing funds from the company, and exploiting employees. He started to become wary of people, developed social anxiety, and lost his confidence. The confidence he shows this time is just an imitation of what he originally was, hiding behind a mask to make himself feel better and to lessen the pain.
Art clenched his fist and continuously punched the floor to the point of his fist bleeding, he had enough, he wanted to rest, he wanted to just have fun, we wanted to be himself again, he was tired.
After a few minutes of punching the ground he eventually stopped and rose from the ground and headed outside and watched the clouds above while he leaves a trail of droplets of blood from his fists that stained the grassy ground.
"..Was this the right choice?" Art asked himself while he stares at the sky.
'Maybe it is' Art thought to himself.
Art calmed a bit down from observing the birds chirp and move freely. He reached out his bleeding fists and reached for the sky and covered the sun with his hand as he tries to grab it.
"Maybe this time, is going to be different."
He knows that what happened to him in the past will still haunt him every one, he knows that it left a huge scar on Art's psyche. Even with all of those he smiled at the sky, he has decided to move on.
A few weeks later he sold the house and its properties and officially announced to the world that he resigns his position as the chairman.
He returned back to his original house which he enjoyed the most, even if they are odd memories to him, he treasures them in his heart.
Art continued playing games in his room, his windows were closed and the only thing he could hear is the sound of his air conditioner, the aggressive typing of his keyboard, the sound of clicking from his house, the sound and music of the game and the sound of the PC's CPU running.
Though Art may be bored, he still enjoyed what he was doing.
"If only my friends are still here.."
During Art's anxiety he purposefully pushed himself away from his friends to make himself feel safe, he deeply regrets it but could not bring them back due to his fear of being judged.
While he was playing the game closed him out and returned him to the game.
"The game is currently being updated, we apologize for the inconvenience."
"Why now..."
Art waited for the game to complete the update, feeling impatient he decides to try another game.
"Speaking of which, I heard Last Resort is a spectacular hit in the PC gaming industry."
Art thought about playing the game he once originally developed and wanted to play it from a normal player's perspective.
"Should I download the game.. would it be unfair to play it since I know most of the game's secrets?" Art ponders whether or not to play the game.
"Ehh.. I'm not the chairman anymore, so it's probably fair."
Art headed to the official website for 'Last Resort' to download the game.
"Game downloading, please wait (Time Remaining: 1 second / 60 minutes)" The game showed a bar slowly moving in its loading screen.
"Why is the game taking longer than I expected?"
Art leaned on his chair when unexpectedly he got a phone call from a person. Art picked up the phone and waited for the person to talk first.
"Hello."
"Who is this?"
"It's me, your secret admirer~"
"Who?"
"It's me Ramiel~"
Art smiled a little when the phone caller said she was Ramiel, he stopped watching the game download and headed to the kitchen to grab a cold beverage.
"How's development Ramiel? or should I say Ms. Chairman?"
"No-no!"
Art can hear that Ramiel was flustered on the phone.
"It's been hard ever since you left the company, it's been even harder since you made me the chairman without consent from me!"
Art laughed it out.
"Sorry~ Ms. Chairman."
"Stop teasing me!"
Art returned back to his room and sat on the bed while opening a carbonated drink, he chugs it down and places it on his side.
"So what did you call me for Ramiel?"
"Right, I am going off-topic. I'm arriving at your old house, see ya~"
"Wait what?"
The sound of a doorbell was heard at the door, Art went to see the person whether or not it was Ramiel. The door opens and sees a medium-sized package box on the front door, he took the box and inspected it.
"It seems Ramiel has not arrived yet, I wonder who gave me this package."
"Boo!"
Ramiel appears from the side of the door, Art was shocked for a bit before returning to his poker face.
"Hehe~"
Ramiel wore a parka coat, a white plain shirt, and jeans as it was snowing. Ramiel grabbed Art's shoulder and was amused by Art's reaction.
"Interesting! Very amusing!" Ramiel claps her hands in amusement.
"Very funny, Ramiel."
"Ehhh~ You didn't sound happy at all!"
Art is very happy that Ramiel visited him since he has not talked to anyone for days, although he is trying to hide his happiness from his face.
"No, I am happy to see you."
"How sweet of you!"
Ramiel lets herself in his house, she sat on a sofa near his PC. Ramiel notices that the PC is showing the download loading screen for 'Last Resort'.
"You're planning on playing your own game?"
Art hesitantly nods to her question.
"Didn't expect you to play your own game, are you really that bored?"
Art sits next to Ramiel on the sofa and puts his chin on his hand.
"I guess, why are you even here? Aren't you quite busy nowadays? I heard you were going to the United States for a business meeting?"
Ramiel lies on the sofa, she yawned and her eyes were starting to close.
"You're quite attentive to the news, are you? Miss me?"
"Yeah, I actually do miss you."
Ramiel's face was starting to turn red, she somewhat kept her cool but her cheeks were a bit red.
"Quite the sweet talker are you?"
"Maybe."
Ramiel shows a surprised expression and snaps her fingers, she points to the package Art was carrying.
"The main reason I came here was to give you this package."
Art holds and shakes the box trying to find out what the content of the package is.
"Should I open it?"
"Yeah, you should."
Art tears the cover of the package and opens it fully, the content of the box was a big book.
"What's this Ramiel?"
"I don't know~"
Ramiel taps the book 3 times with her index finger.
"You'll know once you read it!"
Ramiel strongly recommends to Art that he should read it with great enthusiasm. Art opens the coverage and reads the first page of the book.
"This is.."
Art was in awe of the contents of the book, he did not expect Ramiel to do such a thing for him.
"It took me so hard to compile everything in order y'know?"
The book contained the lore of Art's story of the game on 'Last Resort', 10 years' worth of story is packed into a book. On top of that, the book seemed to be heavily protected from damage as the papers seemed to be quite flexible and sturdy, the cover of the book had the color of a darker shade of gold.
"The eeeennnttiiirreeeee book was encased with waterproofing agents and some hard titanium metal for the design and overall protection of the book. I even added some golden 'thorny" design to the book, it might be painful but look at those thorns that surround the book, pretty neat if I do say so myself."
"By the way what's this yellow stone on the middle of the cover?"
"It seemed pretty neat so I added it, I bought it from a jewelry store."
"How much did you pay for this?"
"Let's see... the design was rather expensive, and the tools to protect the book were rather overpriced since the supply was scarce, and the content of the book itself took 4 months to make. It's around 10 thousand dollars, it was definitely worth it."
Art stared down at the book he was holding, tears began dripping on the cover of the book as he smiled.
"Thank you, Ramiel."
"It's okay, it's just a gift." Ramiel smiled at Art as he continues tearing up.
Art stands up and removes his tears with his arm, and went to the toilet.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going wash my face, I'll be right back."
Art heads to the bathroom and washes his face from the faucet, he cleans his wet face with a white towel and returns to his room.
"Where's Ramiel?"
Ramiel was in the kitchen, currently talking with someone on the phone regarding the business trip.
"Guess she's busy, time to see the progress of the installation of the game."
Art notices the installation process of the game was nowhere to be found, his PC's screen was pitch black, his CPU was running and the conditions are fine.
"Did Ramiel interfere with the PC?"
'No, she will never interfere with something unless it's absolute'
While art was looking at the computer, a notification pop-up appeared.
"What is this-"
A yellow transparent colored pop-up appeared on his computer with weird rune symbols that cannot be understood, along with a checkmark and an X button.
"Is this a bug? surely the management of the game can't be this bad."
Ramiel enters the room as she was done talking.
"Whatcha' doin'?"
"Ramiel did you tamper with the computer?"
"What? No, I did not."
"Then is this a bug?"
"What bug?"
Ramiel looks at the computer and sees the odd loading screen.
"That's weird, we didn't implement this."
"Then what is this?"
"I don't know."
Ramiel grabs the mouse off the PC and tried clicking the checkmark and x, but nothing happened.
"Art, maybe your PC is just bugged or glitched?"
"I don't think so."
Art took the mouse from Ramiel's hands and hovered about the symbols, nothing happened. However, when Art clicked the checkmark icon something happened.
A transparent blue screen appears beyond the screens of the computers, inviting him to enter.
[Contract has been made.]
"What..."
Art was confused by the appearance of a transparent panel in front of him, he could not process what was happening.
Ramiel fell to the ground as she witness something that is not possible, she starts to panic from the bizarre situation.
"A-A-A-Ar-Art.. What i-s th-h-at!?"
"I honestly don't know."
Art was quite cautious about the floating screen in front of him, he tried touching it. It felt like touching an extremely light glass, it was too smooth and was bright.
Art suddenly could hear his own heartbeat, he felt like time moved slower than originally, and he could feel the pain, he fell to the ground flat on the hard tile.
His vision was slowly fading away as his eyes were being closed by force, he could not control what was happening, loud ringing in his ears is all he heard.
"Art!"
Art could faintly hear Ramiel's voice as she tried to check Art's condition, his heartbeat started slowing down. He sees his life flash before his eyes, his suffering, love, enjoyment, hatred, and desire flash in mere seconds.
He could no longer feel or hear anything, he cannot see anymore as his eyes were staring into nothingness.
He could not do anything but observe what was in front of him.
In an instant, a blue screen appeared in front of him as the only source of light.
[You have accepted the contract, the arrival of the last creation will commence.]