Parallel World Game Developer

Chapter 45: Chapter #45: It was at this moment that he knew...

"You are genuinely the most brilliant game developer I have ever seen," the blonde host said, taking a deliberate step closer to Ethan.

The live feed was being broadcast simultaneously to millions of viewers across the globe.

On screen, as the host stepped into his personal space, Ethan politely took a half-step back, maintaining a professional distance.

He looked seriously into the broadcast camera.

The stunning trophy assistants standing behind him watched Ethan with eyes full of absolute brilliance and admiration.

"Thank you. Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support you’ve shown me. I truly hope that in the days to come, Sprout Studio can continue to bring you masterpieces that you love," Ethan said, standing dead-center on the global stage.

His voice was steady, serious, and deeply firm.

"When you say you hope to bring us masterpieces in the days to come, for some reason, it honestly feels like you’re swearing at us," the host laughed softly, shaking her head.

She desperately wanted to push the absurd thought out of her mind.

But it was strangely impossible. The harder she tried to shake the feeling, the deeper the sensation took root in her brain.

It really felt like the young designer was threatening the global player base with psychological torture.

"If you don’t mind, can I ask you a personal question?" the host asked, her eyes shining with genuine curiosity.

"Of course."

"I really want to know what drives you to create one masterpiece after another," the girl said, looking at him expectantly.

She wanted to understand his core ideals and his burning ambition.

She hoped to learn exactly how he fundamentally understood the gaming medium, and what kind of vast, creative world existed inside his mind.

"Honestly, my core philosophy for making a game in the very beginning was incredibly simple."

"If possible, I just wanted to build a game... and earn the highest possible difficulty rating from the players," Ethan said, staring directly into the camera lens.

"That is my one and only wish."

"Huh?" The blonde host blinked, her brain momentarily short-circuiting.

Was his foundational ideal for game design really that insanely simple?

Ethan had swept a massive number of categories tonight.

The organizers couldn’t possibly let him walk up to the podium to give a full acceptance speech for every single award he won, but they also couldn’t just cut his mic and force him off the stage.

So, the production team had decided to consolidate all of his acceptance speeches into this single, extended segment.

The goal was to ask the questions the players actually cared about, and let the world get to know this legendary new designer.

The host listened carefully to a rapid set of instructions being fed into her earpiece by the backstage organizers.

She nodded subtly and gestured toward the massive multimedia LED wall behind her.

"We still have a good amount of time left in this segment. If it’s possible, we’d love to help you realize that wish right here on stage."

"I firmly believe that millions of players watching at home haven’t actually submitted their official user ratings yet. If possible, I hope everyone watching this live broadcast can help him achieve his dream tonight!" The moment the words left her mouth, the aggregate rating metrics for Sprout Studio’s titles flashed onto the massive screen.

"Based on the voting results we just saw, you are unequivocally the most beloved developer in the world right now. I’m certain the global community will be more than happy to help you fulfill your one wish."

"Players, are you ready?! Right now, open up your Steam review interface! We are going to count down from ten, and then I want everyone to submit the true answer in your hearts! Let’s help our favorite designer achieve his dream!" The blonde host spoke with blazing passion, raising her hands high into the air to rally the millions of viewers watching from home.

"Mr. Vale, please turn around and face away from the screen. If possible, I want this to be a massive surprise for you!" she smiled brightly at Ethan.

This entire impromptu segment was exactly what the showrunners had just relayed to her through her earpiece.

Ethan glanced at the massive, dark LED screen and eagerly turned his back to it, his heart pounding.

From the very beginning of his career until now, he had only ever received a single [Super Difficult] rating.

And that was only because he had managed to completely shatter the psychological defenses of a cute, incredibly emotional streamer through the grueling trauma of This War of Mine.

He honestly hadn’t expected the global player base to be this overwhelmingly stubborn.

But now, seeing the official TGA organizers actively rallying the entire world to rate his games and fulfill his ultimate dream?

Ethan’s entire body trembled with barely contained excitement.

"Ten! Nine! Eight!..."

The host’s energetic countdown echoed behind him, and Ethan held his breath.

There were tens of millions of active players currently tuned into the global broadcast.

It seemed incredibly likely that tonight, his system was going to trigger millions of milestone rewards all at once.

"Hit submit!" the host’s excited voice rang out through the auditorium, and Ethan couldn’t help but clench his fists in triumph.

"Let’s see exactly how many players helped our designer achieve his ultimate dream tonight! Let’s show him the highest possible rating: [Super Difficult]!"

Finally... Ethan let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief. He was finally going to complete the system’s impossible task.

Even if the players didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, they couldn’t possibly ignore a direct call to action from the TGA organizers, right?

Ethan smiled warmly. But then, he noticed something strange.

The polite, celebratory laughter echoing through the massive auditorium was rapidly dying out.

The energetic voice of the blonde host standing behind him was also growing noticeably quieter...

"Well, it looks like even though the global player base speaks dozens of different languages, they are absolutely united in one universal truth," Silver laughed hysterically, watching the live broadcast from his stream setup.

Ethan had his back turned to the stage, but the millions of viewers watching at home could clearly see the live data feed on the massive screen behind him.

The vote counter for the [Very Easy] rating was violently skyrocketing into the stratosphere.

The other two rating categories literally didn’t capture a single fraction of a percent.

The bright smile completely froze on the host’s face.

She whispered frantically into her earpiece, desperately trying to communicate with the backstage organizers to figure out what was happening.

The showrunners in the control booth were equally mortified.

They knew perfectly well that every single rating this developer had ever received was [Very Easy].

They had just assumed it was a vocal minority of stubborn trolls manipulating the system.

Especially after the developer had bared his soul and expressed his one true wish on a global stage, they assumed the community would rally together and give him the rating he wanted out of sheer respect.

They never expected that even with a live, global call to action, not a single human being on the planet would submit the [Super Difficult] rating.

"Should... should we manually inject a few votes ourselves?" one of the frantic organizers suggested, pacing wildly around the control booth.

"Are you insane? It would be infinitely more embarrassing if he only got five votes out of ten million viewers!"

"Just pull up the live chat logs! Route the player comments to the main screen! Let him see exactly what the community is saying..." the lead organizer ordered, aggressively wiping a thick layer of cold sweat from his forehead.

They honestly didn’t dare to imagine what kind of expression Ethan Vale was going to make when he finally turned around and saw the catastrophic results.

Standing on the stage, Ethan could already sense the suffocating, awkward silence blanketing the auditorium.

A dark, terrible premonition suddenly seized his heart.

It was at this moment that he knew... he’s fucked up.

Just as the dread set in, the blonde host stepped up beside him, offering an incredibly strained, apologetic smile.

"Ahem. Well, the player evaluations have officially been tallied."

"But before we look at the final numbers, let’s read some of the live comments from the community!" she announced, desperately trying to salvage the rapidly decaying atmosphere.

Ethan followed her gesture and finally turned around. He looked up at the massive LED screen.

The raw, unfiltered chat logs from the global broadcast were rapidly scrolling across the dark display.

[Gabriel_nic: Why the hell would we reward him?!]

[j_Hall: Tell Nova that everything else is negotiable, but this rating? Absolutely NOT!]

[kindred_josh: I literally only watch these shows to see the sadist get his psychological defenses broken!]

[some_guy: Let me make my stance on this matter absolutely clear. The games are—VERY EASY!]

One ruthless, mocking message after another flashed across the massive screen. Ethan just stood there, completely stunned.

Wanting to preserve the absolute surprise of the moment, he hadn’t even checked his internal system interface to track the [Super Difficult] growth metric.

Standing dead-center on the global stage, Ethan genuinely wanted to grab the microphone and scream exactly one word.

FUCK!

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