>---ONE WEEK EARLIER---

Gerald Stone set a mug under his coffee machine. He listened to the sound of that sweet nectar percolating and almost smiled. Three months. It had been three months since they had put the last of 100 beta testers into the game to prove, once and for all, that their baby was foolproof. Well, 99 testers since they had ejected that plant from CC Games or Cut Corner Games, as the staff liked to call them. Gerald chuckled, just another reason he’d rather be just ‘one of the staff.’ He was pulled from his stupor by a loud knock on his door. He looked up to see one of the interns, Chris something – a nice boy who liked games more than work, panting heavily at the door. The boy’s almost panicked expression told Gerald that this couldn’t wait. Gerald looked back at his only just filling mug of coffee.

‘God I hope the studio is on fire. At least then I could wait.’

Gerald rubbed the ever-present sleep from his eyes and gestured for the boy to speak.

“Boss! He’s done it! He’s beaten the game!” Gerald snapped up to look at the boy, his coffee ignored if not forgotten.

“That’s impossible.”

“He did it! Tanaka Hiro beat the demon lord.”

“Well the game isn’t over when you beat the demon lord but…” Gerald rested his chin on his hand. “It’s only been three months. The first horseman shouldn’t unlock for another two months at the least. Is he a hacker?”

“Nope.” The kid was nearly bouncing up and down now, like a kid with a new toy who just couldn’t wait to show everyone. “He took the boneyard in reverse and went through the royal escape tunnel to cut straight to the throne room. He never even opened the gate!”

Gerald frowned. The escape tunnel? Only three characters in the game even know about that tunnel. How did he find it? Gerald glanced once again at the boy. As if reading his mind, the intern bobbed his head excitedly.

“He interrogated the butler when he was getting groceries. Bought a house nearby just for it too. It’s ingenious!”

“But the game still isn’t over?” Gerald raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Hiro’s party have all been raised to S class adventurers and the NPC’s are calling them heroes, but they still don’t know about the Colossal One.” The intern calmed down a bit and walked toward the coffee machine. Gerald pulled his mug from it and nodded.

“The only one who found out was the usurper, right?”

The intern despaired at seeing no more coffee mugs neaby before nodding. “Yugi Smith. Changed his last name in-game but kept the first.”

“I’m not surprised.” Gerald huffed into his mug. The most entertaining part of the company betting pool was the fact that they had famous volunteers from all over. Yugi was a member of an anti-establishment movement that was gaining traction recently, said he was volunteering in order to show his support for companies that go ‘against the grain.’ Gerald lifted a corner of his lips. Yugi had also said that he’d back out of the full year of playing after a day or two in order to get back to his movement; he must have found something he liked in RDK.

“Yeah Boss, it was a bit unexpected. We might have to patch the turbulence when we transfer to NG+ though.”

Gerald’s smile fell. “Turbulence?” The intern shrugged.

“Yeah Boss, the testers reported like a quake or something when Hiro beat the demon lord and the game moved into NG+.”

That can’t be right. NG+ stood for new game+. The idea is that the game becomes more difficult every time it was beaten and restarted. Rise of the Demon King was different. NG+ happened not when the game ended, but whenever the demon lord was beaten. Every time that happened, it should make some slight changes to the world like spawning harder enemies or opening more difficult areas. There should be no global effects on the world of RDK that would interrupt the immersion of the players.

“Bring the medical analyst and Tom to the viewing hall immediately. Tell them I will meet them there. Also tell your lead that I want his team’s report on my desk by noon. Now son.” Gerald set down his coffee and turned a hard eye on the boy. It was something he’d learned from his father and it had served him well in this business every day he’d been in it. You never know when that extra bit of urgency might count.