Setting: SILICON VALLEY, CA

Date: February 14th, 2026. (2 Hours Since The Launch)

     Gregory Janssen stood there in the middle of his penthouse, watching the game through the many screens in his living room. He stood there and observed how the players were reacting to the message he had just sent them. They were all just told that they were trapped inside the game and they were never going to get out unless they completed several grueling dungeons that will take a very, very long time to defeat. The players were not taking the news very well, and that's exactly how Gregory wanted them to respond. He wanted the people playing the game to get the scare of their life, and then once they were nice and petrified... he would release them. Gregory had programmed the system to restore the logout in two days time. This was the ultimate prank, with real life consequences.

     This was Janssen's way of getting back at the corporation that is firing him from his own company. They buyout was the worst mistake of his life and Gregory knew that if he was going to lose control of his game, then he was going to take the game down first. After the players were released from their temporary lockout after two days, the players would never want to log back in. The company will claim it was his fault, but that players won't care. They'll blame the company for trying to push him out in the first place, saying their disrespect of the inventor and his product led to the incident. In a way it was true, but by then the damage will already be done. Players would be too scared to re-enter the game, and player participation and stock prices would plummet. He knew that many people will rage quit, and never give a dime to the game or the evil company that own it ever again. Gregory's plan was brilliant; the prefect act of revenge against the bastards that had tried to push him out of his own company.

     For the next hour or so, Gregory watched the screens and listened in as other players frantically kept looking for a way to log out, aware that they were never going to find it. While he felt bad for some of them, he wasn't concerned about their health or well being. A few hours before the launch, Gregory launched an unnecessary update that forced everyone to log out. This gave all the players a chance to hit the bathroom and even grab a snack before the server reset. So for the next two days, no one's health would be in jeopardy, and all everyone will get is a small scare before all went back to normal. He smiled at the thought of everyone at the corporation having to clean up this mess and the subsequent lawsuits and PR nightmare that came with it. They'll try to throw him under the bus obviously, Gregory thought to himself, but that won't matter. Fans and experts will say why would he do that? Then the corporation will be forced to reveal what they tried to keep so quiet, that Gregory was being dismissed. That revelation will make the fans even more upset, and that will be delicious.

     As he was watching the screens, he could hear his phone blowing up. He was getting man text messages and even a few phone calls, but he ignored it. Gregory wasn't taking any calls today, and he wasn't going to help anyone fix a damn thing. According to the corporate assholes that fired him, he was done when the expansion launched, which meant he no longer worked for them. That means he was under no obligation to take their damn calls, or lift a finger to do anything. He could only imagine what the people at the game's HQ was going through. The moment the new expansion launched, the entire game locked up. No one can log out, but also no one else could log in. Whoever was in when the trap was sprung were the only people that were going to experience his new zone. Only those who were logged in at the time of the launch will get to play in what will be his final contribution to the game. Right now people were likely complaining that they couldn't log in, and cause they all logged out before the launch, there were no GMs in the game to inform about players not being able to log out. This meant no one outside that game would likely would notice the problem for at least a few hours and by then, it would be too late.

     His phone continued to buzz and beep, as more and more messages and calls came in. Gregory knew it was only a matter of time before they sent someone to his place to speak to him in person. He didn't have to open the doors for them but he wasn't going to take any chances. He already locked down his computer. It would take even the most seasoned hacker more than two days to get in and by then his prank would be over. Gregory stood up from his desk and started to walk over to his balcony. He had bought this penthouse about two years after his game launched. That was over ten years ago, and he was so proud of himself the day he paid for it. Now the lush place was a reminder of his failure, and the loss of his company. As he walked out the door and onto the balcony, he took in the view of the city which was magnificent. There would be no talking him out of this plan he set forth cause he was never going to speak to those greedy bastards ever again. He use a chair and stepped up to the railing of his balcony, and took a deep breath.

     "Fuck'em." Gregory said to himself as he lurched forward, and jumped off his balcony.

     As Gregory plummeted down all fourteen stories to his death, he was unaware that his program's newest editions had some coding errors. Errors that might have been noticed and corrected if he had bothered to let someone check his work. He was afraid that a loyal programmer would rat him out and foil his plans so he coded everything himself, which was a mistake that others would pay for. Gregory's plan to release everyone after two days was going to fail, and the players were actually going to continue being locked in long after the two days expired. The data error would cause the log out button to never return, all those poor players were as trapped as Gregory's message to the players suggested. Any secrets that might have saved them perished with Gregory Janssen, who was now deader than Dillinger.

     Any hope the players had to get out early had just committed suicide. This also meant if any players wanted to get out, their only hope really was to do as Gregory had ordered. The players had to attack and triumph over the Dark Castle.