Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha! - P.M.U Chapter 310: Epilogue 3. Earth (Part 1)

“Yes, patient. Just sign these related documents here.”

The information desk on the first floor of a large hospital.

She signed her name on the documents the nurse handed over.

“Since you were hospitalized due to overwork, you need to get proper rest. Please take care of your health and don’t overdo it for the time being. Understood?”

“…Yes.”

She answered weakly.

In the eco-bag in her right hand were the items she had used in the hospital room.

A small laptop and a charger. A couple of self-improvement books.

“Confirmed! The discharge process is complete. You’re free to head home now!”

The nurse smiled and waved her hand.

She bowed politely to the nurse, then exited the hospital lobby on the first floor.

‘I’ve hardly ever been hospitalized before.’

As she stepped out through the glass door, the chilly early autumn wind brushed her cheek.

Three days of hospitalization. It was an unfamiliar experience for her, who’d had little to do with hospitals.

‘Pick Me Up.’

That was the name of the game she had been playing just before she fainted.

According to her mother, who found her collapsed, she had been holding her phone tightly in her hand without letting go.

‘Overwork… was it?’

There was nothing particularly wrong with her body.

She had just briefly lost consciousness. The doctor diagnosed it as “overwork,” and under her mother’s semi-forced pressure, she was only discharged after three days.

Sigh.

A sigh escaped her once more.

She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out an old smartphone. Right in the center of the app screen was an icon labeled “Pick Me Up!”

[Thank you for loving Pick Me Up!]

[Over the past two years, we at Möbius have been happy to share this time with all of you, the Masters…]

A few seconds after she tapped the icon, an announcement popped up on the middle of the login screen.

A message she had seen dozens, hundreds of times.

Full of flowery words, but the meaning was simple.

[“Pick Me Up!” will terminate service on XXXX, XX, 201X.]

[Refund period information…]

“What the heck is this?”

They said it was a global game.

Just six months ago, the company was being spotlighted as one of the world’s leading game developers.

But Pick Me Up and the company Möbius collapsed in an instant.

She immediately went into Pick Me Up’s official community cafe.

The message boards were flooded with user posts and comments, a mess filled with all kinds of swearing and criticism.

Same with other sites. Gaming communities were constantly posting articles criticizing Pick Me Up, and there were even special reports on TV investigating the truth about Möbius.

‘A shell company?’

The CEO and most of the executives were hospitalized.

They denied ever founding such a company.

As if they had been brainwashed by something.

On top of that, several high-ranking players of Pick Me Up fell into brain-dead states, and with a series of issues like poor accident response and negligent server management—

It was simple to define:

“It flopped.”

The game that had once made noise for hitting 100 million downloads—Pick Me Up—had failed.

The game she once considered her “life game,” the one she had wanted to treasure forever as a cherished memory until death—ended just like that.

“This can’t be right.”

She muttered blankly.

‘I’d finally found my life game…’

The servers had stopped.

Her account was suspended.

The fate of the hero she had raised with such care was unknown.

Honk!

A taxi came to a halt right in front of her as she stood still.

The door opened, and a boy in a high school uniform looked up at her from the seat.

“What are you doing? Not even answering your phone. I came all the way to pick you up.”

“…”

“Just get in. Auntie’s probably waiting at home, staring at the door.”

The boy scooted over to make space.

She got into the taxi.

With the two of them inside, the taxi quietly drove down the road.

“Jinho.”

Suddenly, as she sat still, she spoke.

“What?”

“What happened to Pick Me Up?”

The boy, called Jinho, scowled.

“That failed game?”

“…Yeah.”

“I was just starting to get into it again, and then it just dug its own grave. It’s a dead game for sure. That company is garbage. I even dumped all my allowance into it.”

Jinho didn’t bother hiding his displeasure.

“They didn’t even put in voice acting. No costume system. Total RNG mess, and the server ops were trash. If I ever play a mobile game again, I’ll burn my own hand. Pfft.”

“Didn’t it feel… alive?”

“Alive?”

Jinho turned and looked at her with a firm gaze.

“What was alive? Don’t tell me you’re talking about those heroes in the game or whatever?”

She nodded.

“Sigh… I told you to chill with the games. That’s why you got hospitalized. If Auntie finds out you collapsed from gaming addiction, she’s gonna smack your back a hundred times, minimum. You know that, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

She instinctively hunched over.

She’d been hit enough times in childhood to know the power of her mom’s backhand slap.

“Well, yeah, I’ll admit the AI system was well-made.”

“R-Really, right?”

“Why are you so happy? You still hung up on it?”

Jinho’s eyes filled with suspicion.

She quickly shook her head.

‘I don’t wanna get hit by Mom’s backhand.’

She was an adult now, working at a company.

“When you get home, Auntie’s got dinner ready, so make sure to eat properly. You’re going back to work starting tomorrow, don’t forget. The company counted it as sick leave.”

“Okay, got it.”

“I’m saying this again—get your life together! Play games in moderation. I’m not saying don’t play at all, just don’t do it day and night. Auntie’s really worried.”

“…Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m not scolding you.”

Jinho turned his gaze away, gruffly.

But she could feel that he was genuinely concerned for her.

“By the way, when I visited you two days ago, there was some weird guy in a suit standing outside. What’s your relationship with him?”

“Huh?”

“You’re not dating a guy like that, right? With your looks, if you just dress up a little, guys would be all over you.”

“N-No! He’s nobody. Nothing like that.”

Jinho stared at her suspiciously, then shrugged.

“If you don’t wanna say, fine.”

“H-He was just spouting weird stuff. I think he was a scammer. I sent him away.”

She glanced at the eco-bag beside her.

Inside it was a paper envelope handed to her by the strange man.

‘Was it 3 billion won?’

And a Gangnam officetel, a luxury imported car,

and land deeds in some district in Seoul.

‘He said someone gifted it to me?’

That’s what the man in the suit said.

The assets had been transferred to her name, so he asked her to confirm them.

Gulp.

She swallowed hard.

The related documents were sealed in a luxurious envelope.

She thought about checking them but gave up after going back and forth several times.

‘Even if it’s real…’

It felt like something she shouldn’t accept.

There must be a rightful owner.

‘If I don’t return it…’

She’d have to think this through for a while.

“We’ve arrived, ma’am!”

Hyung_Otaku

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

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