After the launch of the game, the entire internet was buzzing.
Every forum, social media feed, and tech blog was talking about how huge it was and how many of the players who were playing the game were all bombarding the website with five-star reviews.
It was the first of its kind, after all. A fully immersive VRMMO that felt indistinguishable from reality.
With the coming of the game, a large revenue stream was instantly poured into the company, making them even far richer than the likes of established AI companies and tech giants.
To everyone who played and watched as the game launched to the entire world, they were certain it was going to be the first new thing to break the entire gaming industry and usher in a new era.
Little did they know, the company itself was facing a catastrophic issue of its own.
The co-founder of the company, Joshua, was seated on the plush leather couch in his high-rise office. His arms were folded tightly across his chest, a serious, vein-popping look on his face.
Right beside him was his female secretary, a woman with rather beautiful long legs clad in sheer stockings, wearing a crisp white shirt and a very tight black pencil skirt that left little to the imagination.
The other side of the room was surrounded by other employees, people who were important and played a key role in the game's production.
The sound engineer, the lead artist, the head programmer, and even the individual controlling the AI meant to play the voice actress for most of the NPCs in the game were all present.
Well... they were the creators of the game that was soon about to end in less than a few months of its launch.
"What do you mean we have to shut down the game?" Joshua asked.
The panic on his face was evident despite the fact he was trying his hardest to keep a confident front up. His voice trembled slightly with suppressed rage.
To his question, the secretary replied, her hands shaking as she picked up the tablet in her hand to read what was written inside.
"According to what the programmer told me... the entire team, no less... there is a growing virus in the game. It is slowly trying to separate itself from the mechanics of the game. If we are not careful, there is a chance it could spread through the world via the internet, and we have no idea how much damage it would cause."
None of the workers chose to speak on the matter because they knew how aggressive Joshua could be. That said, even they were worried about the current situation. Sweat beaded on their foreheads.
"I have never heard of a virus capable of doing something like that. And if that's the case, just get rid of the virus! Isn't that what I am paying them for?" Joshua frowned deeply, his face turning red.
"S-Sir, they also mentioned that the virus was living and not run by regular codes. They tried to shut down a particular phone the virus had gotten into via an extraction attempt, and, to their surprise, it forced the phone back on even with no battery."
A collective gasp echoed from the room. The employees then began to whisper amongst one another, fear evident in their eyes.
Joshua, on the other hand, seemed even far angrier now, especially since such an absurd story was about to put him out of business.
Reaching for the side of his neck to massage a throbbing knot of tension, he clenched his teeth.
The thought of slapping his secretary to vent his anger did cross his mind, but there were too many people around for him to try that. Especially since it was clear he would need them now more than ever.
"What are the programmers doing about it right now? Are they saying nothing can be done?" he demanded.
"They are currently able to hold it back. If you give them the permission, they said they can sabotage the server, causing the virus to die. But the game would be gone for good as well. And also... it needed to be done while the virus is distracted, meaning players still needed to be on the game during that moment."
Baam!
Joshua slammed his hand against the desk, a frustrated look on his face.
"Are you trying to mess with me right now? Why on earth would I shut down what I worked so hard to build? Uhn?!"
Suddenly, one of the main programmers who was in the room with them yelled at the top of his voice.
"Holy shit! Guys, I just saw something!"
Joshua and everyone looked towards the teenage programmer. The grin on his face showed he must have just found gold—or something related.
"It better be something that would help me out of this mess," Joshua barked.
"It is."
The programmer stood up from where he was and strode towards his boss.
Once he was near, he pointed the screen of his laptop towards Joshua, showing him a large room with beautiful lights on the wall, and even more significantly, a dark, mist-like figure standing at the center of the room and looking directly at them.
At first, Joshua was frightened since he never asked for any of the programmers to make any character do such a thing, but it all made sense when the programmer decided to explain.
"You're seeing this, right? I saw a forum of players complaining about a certain Boss in Zone X. We and the team decided to check it out just in case it had to be some kind of bug stopping the newbies from advancing."
He continued, tapping a key.
"I tried to scan the entire place for the bug. And this particular Boss reacted to it, looking directly at me. And even worse, I can't find its code anywhere in the system, not even in the private sector. That said, that isn't what shocked me the most."
The teenager opened another section on the PC, a place where it seemed like events happening in the game were being recorded.
"Take a look at this."
He began to show clips of where the 'Shadow of Victims' would sit down on his chair and then do some weird hand movements for no reason.
It happened so many times that he could not ignore it.
At first, he assumed the Boss was just bored and tapping the air since it was abnormal to begin with. It would be crazy to look at it from a logical standpoint.
But then, someone in the team mentioned how most of the hand movements he was doing were something linked to hand signs used by professionals in language arts—specifically sign language.
And when they ran it through translation software, they all communicated one thing.
"Run, the virus is coming; you can't stop it."
Joshua read the translation out loud, the shock on his face evident as the words settled in the room.