Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 1: The true Ending

Chapter 1: The true Ending

Kai had lost track of time a long time ago. The only light in his small, messy apartment came from the computer monitor in front of him. It painted the walls in soft blue and white. Empty cups from instant noodles sat all over his desk like little towers. Crushed cans of energy drinks covered the floor near his chair. He had been playing for so many hours that his back hurt and his eyes burned.

His phone lit up and buzzed again. It was the fifteenth time.

Mom Calling...

Kai looked at it for a second but did not pick it up. He turned back to the screen. "Just five more minutes," he whispered. His eyes were red and tired, but he could not stop now.

On the screen, his game character stood strong. The warrior wore shiny black armor and held a huge greatsword on one shoulder. In front of him was the biggest creature Kai had ever seen in any game — the Origin Dragon, Níðhöggr. Its wings spread so wide they covered most of the sky. Dark clouds moved around it. This was not the normal final boss of Eternal Genesis. This was the secret hidden boss, the one almost no one had ever reached.

Kai was one of the lucky few who found it after years of trying.

"Come on..." His fingers moved quickly over the keyboard. He knew every move by heart.

The dragon opened its giant mouth. A beam of black fire shot out, burning everything in its path. It looked like it could destroy whole mountains. Kai quickly moved his character to the side and rolled at the last second.

[MISS]

"Yes!" Kai pumped his fist once, but he stayed focused. There was no time to cheer.

The ground under them cracked and broke apart. Pieces of land floated in the air like giant stepping stones. The dragon entered its next phase. Its voice boomed out from the game speakers, deep and powerful.

"Mortal... why do you persist?"

Kai gave a small smile. "Because I’m stubborn."

He jumped forward with his character. The greatsword swung hard and hit the dragon’s scales. Bright numbers flashed on the screen showing the damage.

CRITICAL HIT!

-18,274,991

The dragon roared loud enough to shake the whole battlefield. The sound made Kai’s speakers vibrate. Even after playing this game for thousands of hours, he still loved how good it looked. The way the dragon moved felt real. The floating islands had nice details. The music made his heart beat faster. The game had deep stories hidden in old ruins and books you could find if you looked hard enough.

Eternal Genesis was not just a game to him anymore. It felt like a real world.

But the people who made it were tough. They hid things so well that it took years to find them. Special weapons needed weeks of hard work. Secret stories sat inside other secret stories. And this true ending? Players had looked for it for six years. Kai had spent almost three full years on it. He read old game lore, solved hard puzzles, translated strange writing, and followed every small clue. The developers once said only one truly worthy player would ever see it.

He was not going to give up when he was this close.

The dragon’s health bar dropped lower and lower. It went under ten percent. Then something strange happened. The exciting music stopped completely. The whole battlefield froze. The dragon stopped moving too.

A message appeared on the screen.

[Warning. Final Judgment commencing.]

Kai blinked hard. "I have never seen this part."

The dragon slowly lifted its head. Its red eyes looked straight through the screen. It did not feel like it was looking at the game character. It felt like it was looking right at Kai in his chair.

Kai laughed a little, but it sounded nervous. "Okay, that’s creepy."

The dragon spoke again. This time the voice did not come from subtitles or a box. It filled the whole room like it was really there.

"Have you enjoyed our world?"

Kai’s smile disappeared. "...What?"

He knew every line in this game. Every boss speech. Every hidden talk. This was not part of it.

The dragon kept talking. "Tell me, traveler. If given another chance... would you save them?"

Faces started flashing fast across the screen. Heroes who died bravely. Bad guys who had their reasons. Kings, regular people, everyone. Many of them had died in sad ways that always bothered Kai when he played. There was the good saint who got killed for something he did not do. The dragon prince who gave his life to close a dangerous hole between worlds. The assassin who got betrayed by his own friends. The demon king who never wanted the big war in the first place.

One face stayed on the screen longer than the others. A young man with messy white hair. His face had deep ugly scars. One eye looked cloudy and white. His features were twisted in a way that made him look scary to most people.

Kai Valerius.

He was a small character in the game, so unimportant that most players forgot he existed. He died in the very first hour of the story, accused of something bad with no real proof. Just taken away and killed to show how unfair the kingdom could be.

Kai remembered finding extra information about him once during a special game event. The real story was sad. Kai Valerius had not done the crime. He was just an easy person to blame. His death was only there to make the world feel dark and broken.

"A wasted character..." Kai said softly.

The dragon’s voice came again, low and serious. "Would you save them?"

This time Kai answered right away. "If I could... yeah. I’d save every last one of them."

Everything went quiet. Then the big dragon lowered its head and smiled for the first time. Its huge body started to break apart into thousands of bright golden pieces. They floated up into the sky like shining stars.

The battlefield disappeared. The screen went completely black.

[Congratulations, Player Kai. You have cleared the True Ending of Eternal Genesis.]

The message stayed there for a while.

Kai leaned all the way back in his chair. He let out a long, tired breath. "Finally."

Three whole years. He had really done it. The hidden ending that many people said was not even real. His hands shook a little from being so tired. He reached for the last energy drink. It was empty too. He tossed the can onto the pile on the floor.

Then a new message appeared. This one was different. The box was bright gold, like it was made of warm sunlight. The letters looked special.

[Hidden Requirement Fulfilled.]

Kai sat up. "What hidden requirement?"

He had finished every part of the game. Every secret place. Every hard task. Every story path. He knew this game better than most people who worked on it. But he had never seen this message before.

Another line came.

[Candidate Confirmed.]

"...Candidate?"

Kai rubbed his tired eyes. "I’m definitely seeing things now."

He tried to move his mouse. Nothing happened. He hit a few keys on the keyboard. Still nothing. The computer seemed stuck.

"Don’t tell me it froze right now," he said.

The gold message slowly faded away. New words started to appear, one by one.

[Searching...]

[Suitable Vessel Located.]

Kai stared at the screen. "What vessel?"

Before he could say anything else, the room went completely silent. Too silent. The fan in his computer stopped humming. The refrigerator in the kitchen made no sound. Even the cars outside on the street went quiet. It felt like someone had pressed pause on the whole world.

A cold feeling ran down Kai’s back.

"Kai..." he said, just to hear his own voice.

No answer came.

The monitor changed. The game screen turned into a perfect mirror. Kai saw himself — messy black hair, dark circles under his eyes, and the big hoodie he always wore. Then his reflection smiled. But Kai was not smiling.

Every hair on his arms stood up. "What the..."

The reflection raised one hand and pressed it against the inside of the screen. The glass started to move and ripple like water. Bright white cracks spread across it fast. One crack. Then two. Then ten. Soon there were hundreds.

The whole monitor exploded with bright light.

Kai quickly put his arms over his face. "Ah!"

The light did not stop. It poured out like a river and filled the room. It covered his desk, his chair, the noodle cups, and then it took him too.

The feeling was very strange. His body felt like it was being pulled apart into tiny pieces and then put back together again. There was no pain, but he felt light, like he was floating. He could not hear anything. He could not breathe normally. He did not even know if his eyes were open or closed. Time did not seem to exist anymore.

Then, suddenly —

Thud.

His back hit something hard and cold. Stone floor.

Kai groaned loudly. "My..."

His voice sounded a bit different, like it echoed in a big empty space.

He opened his eyes slowly. Above him was a cracked ceiling with old wooden beams. Spider webs hung everywhere. Soft morning light came through small windows, showing dust floating in the air. The room smelled like old wet wood and dust.

This was not his apartment. It was not a hospital either.

Kai pushed himself up to sit. His head started hurting badly. A flood of memories that were not his own rushed into his mind. He saw a lonely little boy in a big house. Servants talking behind his back. Other kids throwing stones at him. Adults looking away when he came near. Banquets where people made fun of him.

"Monster..."

"Hide your face."

"Don’t come near us."

"Even beasts look better than him."

The memories kept coming, one after another. They mixed with his own memories until it was hard to tell what was real. Kai held his head tight with both hands.

"Stop... please stop..."

It felt like it lasted forever, but after many long minutes the pain finally started to go away. He was breathing hard. His new clothes were wet with cold sweat.

He looked around the room more carefully now. Old furniture that looked worn out. Faded curtains on the windows. A noble family symbol carved above the fireplace. He knew this place. He had seen it in the game many times, even if it only showed up for a short time before the owner got killed.

"No..." Kai whispered. "No, no, no..."

He stood up fast on shaky legs and almost ran to the other side of the room. In one dark corner was an old mirror covered in thick dust. His hands shook as he wiped the dirt away.

The face that looked back at him made his stomach drop. Messy white hair that looked uncombed. A face with many scars that made it look twisted and uneven. One eye was cloudy and did not see clearly. It was so bad that even he stepped back without thinking.

Kai’s legs could not hold him anymore. He fell down onto the wooden floor. His mind felt completely empty for a moment.

"...Kai... Valerius."

He was now the ugliest noble in the whole game. The character nobody cared about. The one who was supposed to die right at the start of the story, before the real hero even began his big adventure.

More memories came. Not from his old life, but from this new body. Tomorrow morning — which was actually today — the Royal Knights would break down the doors of this old house. They would accuse him of taking the Duke’s daughter. There would be no real proof. No time to explain. No fair hearing. By noon, his head would be on a spike in the town square for everyone to see.

Kai’s face turned white. His hands felt cold.

"I... I’m going to die."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the air right in front of him started to shine and move. A see-through blue window appeared, just like the ones from Eternal Genesis.

[Unique Conditions Satisfied.]

A second window opened right after.

[Installing Hidden Authority...]

10%

27%

53%

79%

99%

100%

A soft, pleasant chime sounded in the room.

Then the last message appeared.

[Welcome, Host. The Husband Collection System has successfully activated.]

Kai stared at the floating blue box for a full ten seconds. He pointed at his own chest with one finger.

"...Excuse me?"

Almost right away, another message popped up.

[Beginner Reward Available. Would you like to claim the exclusive Starter Pack: Beautification Beyond Measure?]