I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend

Time passed.

The game was over.
I had finished reading an entire book.
I had watched a movie to the end.

And sometimes, I would think about it—
What happens to the people inside after the story ends?

I had seen a sad movie once.
The protagonist died a heroic death, and the extras were left behind, waiting endlessly.
It left me so overwhelmed that I sat in silence for a long time, lost in the lingering emotions.

I wondered how they kept on living after that.
Now that I was in their position, I think I understood a little.

"Welcome..."

"That’s right. Just greet them like that."

Lena had recommended the job, so I got a part-time position at a café.

"...I should smile brightly, right?"

"Yeah."

I had to survive.
I wasn’t dead, so I had to live.
I didn’t use the drugs meant for suicide.
The ones I used before—I could still get them, through various means.
They were dangerous, yet more widely available than I had expected.
But I tried to use them less, and by making an effort, I actually could.
Maybe the right way wasn’t to quit all at once but to cut back little by little.

It had been half a year since Shihu disappeared.

The world was more peaceful than I had expected.
To say that Awakened no longer fought would be a lie, but there were no longer the large-scale battles of the past.

Honestly, I wanted to die every day.
If I went to a doctor, I’d probably be diagnosed with severe depression.

One day, as I curled up in my room, a thought came to me—I had to pay off my debt.
I had to be ready to return the money I owed Shihu.
That thought stuck with me.

So I went outside again.
The moment I stepped out, I was hit with the realization of how utterly useless I was.
But at the same time, in a world where the Awakened had lost their powers, others had become just as powerless.
Maybe this world was one I could actually live in.

Of course, I still wanted to die.
So first, I cut my long hair.
I went back to the hairstyle Shihu seemed to like.

And that just made me want to die even more.

The black pills.
The ones that ended the game.
The logout button.

But maybe—just maybe—there was still hope.
I believed Shihu would come back.

So I decided to become a more decent person.
I decided to quit drugs as much as possible.
I started making money.