Chapter 37: Ending

Chapter 37: Ending

Every story has an end.

So did the story of the girl and the butterfly.

It began in a cave somewhere on the initial beach, where they encountered the Hell of Heretics

Then came the Hell of Pleasure followed by the Hell of Decay and Hell of Destruction. Finally, they returned to this place.

The girl and the butterfly had overcome countless perils and now found themselves at a golden door, welcoming the moonlight that erased the bleakness of the sky.

The butterfly spoke.

"Well, you can go beyond this."

"What's there?"

"Somewhere better than here."

The girl hesitated in front of the golden door, and after a moment, she managed to utter a word.

"And you?"

The lingering question was the reason for her hesitation. From what I could discern, the girl wanted to stay with the butterfly. She didn't want to part with it in any other way.

But there was one unfortunate thing for the girl. The butterfly's intentions were different from hers.

"I can't. There are many things I must do."

The butterfly's intention was firm. It was a harsh notification that erased all the encouragement, support, and encouragement it had provided so far.

If the butterfly had taken such a resolute attitude, the girl would have no choice but to nod her head. The girl who knew nothing would have willingly gone beyond the door.

However...

"I don't want to."

The girl didn't. She was expressionless as before, with no fluctuations in her voice, no change in her behaviour.

But there was one thing she revealed: a strong will.

The butterfly's wings trembled in surprise.

After stammering in apparent confusion for a moment, the butterfly gently landed on the girl's forehead, folding its wings as if embracing her.

"...You have to go. I'm begging you."

It pleaded with a pleading tone.

The girl's head hung low. Only her trembling hand represented her emotions.

Non-verbal affirmation. Only after receiving an answer did the butterfly take flight again.

"Go beyond the door."

Her voice was calm.

The girl responded.

"...Yes."

And so, the girl left. Beyond the door, leading to an unknown destination, as the butterfly had said, to a place where she could be happier than others.

But also a place they might never meet again.

Swoosh...

The waves washed over the sandy shore, and the door the girl had left through blurred.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

The butterfly stood there for a long time.

Until then, I had thought.

What was the journey of these two people, leaving only questions behind? Why did the girl leave hell, and what was the butterfly's purpose?

The hell they had been in before meeting each other had been quite terrible, making their newfound tranquillity all the more awkward.

It was a moment like that.

Swoosh...

With the waves surging again, the butterfly's form changed once more.

For me, it was a breath taking sight because the turquoise-colored shimmering butterfly had, for the first time, taken on the form of a human, a form that was very familiar to me.

'...!'

She was a woman in a white dress, with long golden hair flowing gently, and sorrowful blue eyes that shone brightly. She gave off the impression that any girl would grow up to be just like her.

And with a sad smile, she said, "Farewell."

Suddenly, a crash, as if lightning had struck, fiercely disrupted my thoughts.

The entire journey flashed back before me, leading me to a single deduction.

"Ah."

It was only then that I understood the meaning behind all the scenes of hell and the girl's journey.

It had been strange all along.

Why did hell show the girl's life, which she couldn't possibly have lived? Why did the butterfly guide her escape from hell and not reveal any reasons to her? Why was the girl considered guilty just for being born?

The answer was surprisingly simple.

All the disconnected puzzle pieces fell into place when you swapped the main characters – from the girl to the butterfly, from the butterfly's form to that of a woman.

In other words, the girl's mother.

"Do you want to die?"

"..."

Fire sparked in her eyes.

In her attempt to force a happy ending, I was reminded of something that had happened recently.

"Crying while watching a drama? Honestly, isn't that just forced tears? It's all a made-up story. How can you immerse yourself when you know it's a lie? I just don't understand people who cry while watching a drama."

She had commented on the topic, and now her pupils were rolling.

She had become like this just from hearing a single story, not even a drama.

What a contradictory being, one whose words and actions didn't align.

Anyway...

"Let's move on."

"What? How can we move on?"

"We need to discuss our business. There's something I want to add to the ending."

"Huh?"

Han Seorim's forehead narrowed.

Hmm, it seemed she had completely forgotten about my call to discuss something.

"As I mentioned before. There's something you need to do."

"What is it?"

"I need you to create one more boss."

"Isn't Chapter 4 already concluding with a boss?"

"I had originally planned that way, but I've had a change of heart. It feels a bit underwhelming."

While the narrative is crucial in Hellic 2, the essence of this medium is still a game. Considering the pressure players would feel when confronting the final boss from a gameplay perspective, the boss in Chapter 4 seemed a bit lacking.

After all, even though the narrative was important, it ultimately was a game.

If players were to face the final boss from a gameplay perspective, they needed to feel that pressure. The background should be the beach, the root cause of the story.

"Let's call it the end by introducing another boss from a different hell, with its unique personality. Otherwise, it might feel like the knots are left untied after all we've built up."

Indeed, it might be challenging to set a separate final boss battle in the beach other than the one in Chapter 4. There didn't seem to be many other options.

"In a narrative sense, it's an issue. We've hidden the identity of the butterfly within the game. Even if we reveal that identity in the ending, players won't have enough time to deeply immerse themselves in the perspective of the butterfly. Emotional understanding will be lacking. After all, this entire game has revolved around this one ending, and if that falls short, it's an error."

"Still, that's true, but..."

Suddenly, Han Seorim tilted her head.

"How are you going to make them immerse themselves? If it's the final boss battle, Alice should still be in the middle of playing. With the butterfly's identity not revealed, won't there be no time for immersion?"

"It's not that Alice will defeat the final boss."

"Huh?"

"The backdrop for the final boss battle is right after Alice crosses the door, just as the door gradually fades away."

Originally, it was the scene where the butterfly returned in human form, turned into dust, and revealed its identity to the player—a process to make the player realize the butterfly's true identity.

However, that alone was not enough.

There had to be an execution that encapsulated everything. The remorse of the woman who resented her child enough to lead her to the Hell of Resentment, her resolve to accept her own demise, and the woman's entire life, tracing a single trajectory, had to be depicted. And this was the answer.

"The butterfly will transform into her mother just before the door disappears and engage in the final boss battle to protect the door."

"Wait, what?"

"After all, shouldn't she avoid the boss crossing over and finding Alice?"

This was the superficial reason. But in fact, some calculations beyond the game itself had contributed to this decision.

It was a solution to the chronic issue of the Hellic game IP—the absence of common settings.

It was simple. I could utilize the accumulated settings of the various hells.

"The butterfly's life has been downhill all along. From her suicide alongside Alice to her self-destruction to rescue her daughter from hell, it was all downhill."

"That's... true?"

"Doesn't it fit well as a boss? A life marked by self-destruction."

At that moment, Han Seorim's eyes widened.

And soon, she found the answer.

"Is it... the protagonist from the previous game?"

"That's right."

The warden from Hellic 1, the overseer of the self-destructive souls in hell, the ruthless expert torturer with blue skin and black tattoos.

He could be the one pursuing the butterfly to the beach, aiming to capture both the butterfly and Alice.

"The final bossification of the previous game's protagonist. It's a concept only possible in a series."

In the end, that was the idea.

"A mother's story to save her daughter. Her opponent will be the previous game's protagonist, in other words, the most powerful character in the universe. That's the theme for the final boss battle."

A poignant and spine-chilling concept.

A way to deliver a significant blow to the players.