“……It’s over now.”
I set the mouse down and let out a deep sigh.
[Lucian Bellos – Black Screen Root Cleared]
[Last Save File Deleted]
[Thank you for playing this game.]
I glanced at the wall clock.
9:00 AM.
I had stayed up all night, holding onto the game until the very end, right up until the server shutdown.
I rubbed my weary brows and stared at the monitor with half-closed eyes.
The game I loved most was disappearing completely as of today.
It was a game I had been quite obsessively devoted to for an entire year.
To think it would vanish today.
A feeling, unsure whether it was emptiness or loneliness, swirled within my hollow heart.
The realization that something had truly ended began to creep in.
As if to soothe that feeling, I rolled the mouse wheel once.
Click-clack.
With the resistance hitting my fingertips, only an empty save slot remained.
Resting above it was [Crown Maker].
I would never see this title again.
Leaning deep into my chair, I recalled the first time I played Crown Maker.
It wasn’t fun from the start.
To begin with, it was a “failed game” without even a guide. It claimed to be a BL-oriented dating sim, but it was filled with tedious narratives and long-winded text.
In a game where love should have been the focus, complex political simulations and extreme combat difficulty cut the interest in half.
The main story development was predictable, and the character narratives were flimsy.
The love interests were nothing more than sidekicks meant to make the “main shou” shine.
Even with its excellent graphics, it couldn’t drive any commercial success.
Honestly, I hadn’t planned on playing this game seriously at first.
I wasn’t interested in dating sims—let alone the BL genre—and for someone like me who primarily played RPGs or FPS games, a game where combat wasn’t the main focus was the ultimate turn-off.
Back then, I couldn’t even imagine that I would end up digging into this game until the very end.
But—a scene I saw by chance changed everything.
It was an action sequence, far too spectacular for a failed game, with a weighty sense of impact.
Fast movements and intricately crafted skill motions.
Every time swords clashed, intense effects streaked across the screen.
Everything was perfect. It wasn’t even the main story.
It was just a combat mode that was a mere appendix, a sub-event level of content.
Yet, the direction was so realistic it felt like watching an actual sword duel.
The hit detection was precise, and the combo system was intricately linked.
In that moment, I thought:
[What caused earth fail?]
It was simple curiosity.
That curiosity was what led me to start the game.
The beginning of the game was simple.
The player chooses a “gong” (love interest) to assist the main shou, helps him grow, and carves out the desired route.
Through choices, you have to guide the gong to fall in love with the main shou.
The chosen main shou was the Empire’s 3rd Prince, Brigel Epon Crown.
He was a character who had to eliminate political rivals to become Emperor and survive amidst countless conspiracies.
And the gongs existed solely to make him Emperor. Like the title of the game, to put a ‘crown’ on him.
But this system itself might have been the decisive factor that ruined the game.
Most female users empathize with the ‘shou’ character, but this game had a structure where you chose and raised the ‘gong’ instead.
It was far from mainstream taste.
In the end, it couldn’t properly capture the target user base.
…Or perhaps, the bigger problem was that the gongs had no charm to begin with.
These gongs were thoroughly just sidekicks to make the main shou shine.
What kind of charm could you find in beings that only exist to support the protagonist?
Maybe the cause of the failure was that the gongs lacked any proper individuality.
I mindlessly opened the game site and scanned the character information once more.
Then, a post caught my eye.
[Crown Maker Gallery]
[[Chat] Don’t pick Lucian, holy shit. What kind of bastard is Lucian? Don’t pick this guy. No, seriously, he has no intention of helping the main shou in any route and actually plans to kill him. I picked him because of his face, but he did whatever he wanted, so I forced-quit and reset. ^^ Don’t waste your time.]
└ But his face is perfect, though…….
└ His face is my type, so I’m tearing up.
└ What kind of character is he? Why are the other gongs acting all submissive to him?
└ [Comment Deleted]
└ And I’m the master, but he doesn’t listen to me and doesn’t follow the choices.
[[Chat] Has anyone seen Lucian’s ending? No, there’s no guide, what am I supposed to do?]
└ Looooooooool not having a guide is the guide.
└ With Lucian, you don’t conquer; you just try to survive.
└ He doesn’t give a damn about the main shou, is he even a gong?
[[Chat] Wait, why is the game banner color different for the Lucian route? It was all pink, but suddenly it turned blood-red, so I screamed because it was so creepy. What is this?]
└ I really didn’t think about it and just picked him, but the screen flashed and the BGM changed lololol
└ I picked him out of curiosity and it turned into a horror game, yup.
[[Chat] Why does this bastard Lucian keep following me around?]
[[Chat] I didn’t do anything and left it as an idle game, but I suddenly entered his route.]
[[Chat] Lucian is so scary, seriously? He suddenly came to find me in the middle of the night saying, “Master, have you forgotten me?” like, ugh… what is he saying?]
└ There’s definitely something about him. It’s not in any of the guides. Is his narrative deleted?
└ It’s not deleted, it’s hidden.
└ Why???
└ [Comment Deleted]
└ There’s a rumor that the developer couldn’t handle him and scrapped him.
[[Chat] What is this Lucian guy? When the main shou is in danger, other gongs go to save him, but Lucian just watches. But he smiles at me so softly?]
└ Wait, so is this a gong?
└ It’s creepy how he kills monsters while calling me Master.
└ Eh really? He ignores me even when I call him a lot.
└ └ What did you do?
└ I chose all the options focused on the main shou to try and pair them up.
└ └ That must be why. I just left him with freedom. But as I played, it got scary, so I force-quit and deleted the data.
└ Why? Isn’t it great?
[[Chat] Lucian is seriously so scary. Is he really the gong I raised? Isn’t he the behind-the-scenes villain? I’m force-quitting and getting the ending too, haha.]
└ Is this a gong or a villain?
└ If the gong is the villain, is that a “Gong-Villain”? (Serious)
└ Then Lucian isn’t a gong, he’s just a villain?
└ Ah, shit, he’s seriously scary, don’t do it lolololol
Then I discovered a post that had particularly active comments.
[[BEST][Chat] Lucian killed me (999+)]
I was playing after picking Lucian, and every time I pressed a choice, he ignored me or played with his sword, but I just forced my way through. But one day when I logged in…… the choices wouldn’t press, and Lucian was just walking around freely. I kept clicking the screen and Lucian was looking down at me. With that quiet expression. It turned out he had killed me, so I couldn’t press the choices ㄷㄷ…… And then the screen slowly flickered? It was honestly so epic and creepy, I developed a trauma. Don’t do Lucian. Even if I try to play a different character, I end up curious and pick Lucian again. But every time I see him, it’s ominous, so I end up deleting the data and starting over.]
└ Crazy;;; He killed the player?????
└ Wow, holy shit, so that’s why he was scrapped.
└ Isn’t this a bug?
└ If it were a bug, they would have patched it. This game is super weird.
└ Wait, but what’s with him calling you ‘Master’ lololol so creepy.
└ Seriously, it would have been a disaster if ‘Crown Maker’ had become a hit.
‘Lucian Bellos,’ a name on the users’ lips. I became interested.
Was it because he possessed an exceptionally radiant appearance, as one comment said, or because I wanted to complete him—a character who was scrapped without reaching a conclusion?
