That 296: Hidden Event

Mish, mishimishimishi, bakk!

A sound like that came from within my palm.

At the same moment, something unprecedented in my entire life occurred.

The Xbox controller, renowned for being used even by U.S. Navy nuclear submarines, shattered into pieces under the force of my fingers.

With a loud crack, the colorful A, B, X, and Y buttons flew into the air.

"Aaaaaaah!"

"Ghhhhhhhhhh!"

I wasn't the only one screaming. Almost at the same moment, the "Gambling Master"'s controller also shattered into pieces.

At the same time, the pig characters we were controlling each froze up, like robots whose switches had been cut.

"………………"

"………………"

An awkward silence.

The pig characters suddenly lowered their heads, as if they'd spontaneously decided, "Let's stop fighting."

In response to their demeanor, we exchanged wry smiles.

"Should we call this… a draw?"

"Kinda ruins the punchline, though… Nah, we can still wrap it up—just show a picture of this broken controller at the end of the video."

…Honestly, I just hope that old plan ends up being nothing more than a half-baked idea.

Relieved deep inside that I’ve finally escaped this cursed game,

"Idiot."

Migoto stands up, frowning, and hands her controller over.

"Wha—"

"I stuck with you this far. Show me the ending properly."

"Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh?"

To my surprise, Tamachan is also handing her controller to the "Gambling Master."

"Half-measures won’t do. We’ll definitely end up fighting later."

I never thought I’d be lectured by two younger ones like this.

Reluctantly, we took the controllers and plugged them into our respective USB ports.

Instantly, the little pigs sprang to life again, as if the switch had been flipped once more.

Just as we readied our weapons once more—then it happened.

Genbu: "How can I possibly endure... marrying such repulsive pigs with such vile hearts... I can’t take it anymore!"

The last imprisoned princess, nearly forgotten—Genbu suddenly plunged a short dagger into her own throat.

"Ge…"

"What…?"

"Hm?"

"Mu…"

Watching in silence, Genbu in the cell quietly passed away, sending her soul on its journey to join her sisters.

Yellow Pig: "No…!"

Red Pig: "You idiot…!"

Ah… so this was the kind of scene it was.

Given the game creator's mischievous personality, this ending was fairly reasonable.

But it didn't seem that way to the "Gambler" guy.

"What the heck is this, amazing—hidden event or something?!"

"Huh?"

"Is time passing a trigger? Or maybe everyone giving up control...? Yeah, that kind of mechanic would totally be the fat guy's style."

I furrowed my brow sharply at that,

"Hey, 'Gambler' guy."

"What?"

"Why exactly do you know this is a hidden event…?"

Then, just as expected,

her petite shoulders visibly "jolted" in a very obvious way.

"It's… um… intuition. Intuition."

"A weak excuse. From the way you're saying it, it sounds like you've already played this game once before."

"That's… well… I mean…"

"You did say yourself, this game is a 'complete first playthrough,' right?"

"Guh…"

I've been feeling suspicious all along.

The Dungeon Master, Nakamichi En, had described *Porkman's Quest* as "the most difficult challenge."

And yet, throughout our journey so far, we hadn't faced any major struggles, advancing smoothly and swiftly.

That must mean she secretly pre-studied effective strategies, as our leader.

"I've heard something like this before. In this kind of game commentary, pretending to be seeing it for the first time is actually the most disliked thing?"

Apparently, every reaction from the commentator just feels completely fake.

In terms of TV show jargon, it's closest to something like "staged" or "fixed match."

My comment caused the "Gambler" to visibly flustered.

And rightly so.

As she said, the secret to popularity lies in "winning"—but that's only because it's "winning" within predetermined rules.

"About the handheld game console thing too—how the heck do you remember stuff like that...?"

I let out a soft huff and replied,

"Of course, the internet."