Mutagen

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After the title defense, the main event of Mark's third year in college, the lives of the students returned to normal. Of course, it was only the case if the stress the students had because of their thesis was not mentioned.

Their thesis, after all, was the most important requirement for these students to graduate.

And to say, it would not be an easy task.

It was already fortunate that Mark managed to chase away that guest panel. If not, things might have gotten worse.

The best thing, however... Since Mark's thesis proposal was approved, everyone in the group was interested in working on it. After all, the three proposals that Mark's group had were things the group discussed and agreed on before passing the documents.

It was also a bad thing for Mark, however. Mark's family did not have a computer at home. In fact, everything that Mark had to do in school was all made inside internet cafes. Worst, Mark had to use his own allowance, neglecting his lunch and only consuming water for the most part. Every single day, Mark was only eating twice a day, with his breakfast being nothing but a cup of instant coffee and a few pieces of pandesal, which was the only food intake he had for the day until dinner.

In a sense, it was amazing that Mark could go on with that kind of lifestyle.

Now that they had their thesis, Mark had to spend more time in front of a computer. However, there was no way to do that without spending too much money.

And among Mark's group, the only one with the computer that could run the game engine properly was Carren. And she was also the person with the furthest house out of the four.

Mark had no money to support commuting to Carren's house. Although the four of them gathered money, that money was all going towards the thesis and would probably still be short of how much they needed in the end. As such, during weekends and their free days, Mark would walk several kilometers towards Carren's house, to and fro.

No matter who was asked, they would definitely say that Mark's lifestyle was worrying. Unfortunately, it seemed his family did not even know a tiny bit of his circumstances.

Mark sure was doing better. However, he did not change that much. He was still someone that would rather stay away from people, including his family.

The only thing that the others could see was how Mark sure was happy doing this thesis. Unlike the others, who were struggling, Mark's group was still smooth-sailing in comparison. It was because they were working on something they liked, and not just some last-minute, final resort thesis.

Time passed further. Mark entered his fourth year as a college student.

Unfortunately, the four-man group they had for their thesis was reduced to three. Saime, their close friend and fourth member, dropped out of school. She hooked up with a man and got pregnant. Because of the circumstances, Saime's parents decided to stop supporting her studies.

Even so, Mark's group would still hang out at Saime's house. It was just a couple of blocks away from school, after all.

Aside from the three, their circle actually had gotten bigger. Gathering the participants of the cosplay event during the Acquaintance Party, a group in school was created. It was amazing that it was a circle of the most popular people in the school, even though it was actually nothing but a gathering of like-minded people.

It was actually proposed to become an actual club in the school. Unfortunately, the management would be left to the younger members since Mark's group of three, the oldest of the group, had their thesis and graduation to worry about.

At the end of the first semester of the fourth year, the game Mark worked on reached a releasable degree. It was not a full game. After all, there was no way they would be able to do as such in just a few months.

Instead, Mark divided the entire story he had in mind into several episodes, with the thesis scoping the first and second episodes of the game.

As a first step, Mark uploaded a short trailer on social media. Of course, they did not expect much from it.

A month after the trailer was posted, Mark released the game on a certain platform for free.

The game did not garner much attention after being released. It was not a surprising thing. It was a game released without much publicity, not to mention it was made by students.

Still, Mark's life as a student continued. They also had to work on the documentation and other parts of the thesis. It was already good that the downloads reached a few hundred. And since it was stated at the start of the game that it was a thesis project and there would be a survey at the end of the game, many people gladly complied and left a review on the game on the platform. Of course, not everyone was kind enough to do so. Nonetheless, the turnout was quite rather good.

The reviewing of gathered surveys and reviews of the game was divided by Mark, Carren, and Markron. And the reviews turned out to be mostly positive.

Mark really felt relieved. Who would not be? After all, what if the players did not like it? It was his first game.

But then, after three weeks of being released...

Mark's email became overflowing with reviews. It was to the point that there were a few hundred to more than a thousand reviews in a single day.

And at school, the news came from Carren. A popular internet icon played the game they made and was watched by thousands of people. And the result was the current events. It was to the point that even the instructors of the school learned about it.

The thesis of Mark's group was a success. With this, as long as they did the documentation properly and succeeded in the final thesis defense, their graduation was set in stone.

Of course, Mark could only shrug when the reviews of the game were mostly asking for the next episode. Darn, as if that would be easy.

***

The end of Mark's college years arrived.

A graduation ceremony in a certain expensive resort.

Mark graduated with a few special awards. Unfortunately, he was unable to step onto the stage as a Cum Laude and above. After all, Mark had a rather bad record during his first year and half of the second year.

Even so, he had the loudest claps when he received his diploma, even louder than those who received higher honors and awards than his.

It was such an honor.

Mark graduated. His parents gave him a smartphone as a congratulatory gift. It was just a cheap one compared to what his classmates had. But it was a phone, nonetheless.

At this time, Mark's family had already left the private land they were taking care of. The land was finally bought and was up for development. As for his family, they were given half a million pesos as an incentive. After all, it was more than a decade since my father received his last salary as the land's caretaker. And because of that, they had some rights over the land. The new owner needed to pay them to leave.

With that money, they managed to find a new place to call home. They even managed to afford a computer of their own.

That computer became Mark's workstation as he worked on the continuation of the game he started.

Mark just graduated, and he already had a distinct path to follow. He also kept a close connection with his friends, especially Elsa and Charmaine, who he treated as his own younger sisters. Perhaps, even more than his actual sister.

Rough events happened within the group of Elsa and Charmaine. The two even left the group in the end. Nonetheless, Mark did not leave their side.

***

Years passed.

Mark was now well known in the game industry as an indie game developer. He even managed to afford to rent his own office. Elsa and Charmaine became his assistants and even voice actors for the games he made. From time to time, Carren, Markron, and Carlo would visit the three and join the fray.

Along the way, Mark also accepted some animation vocational courses after a government-funded vocational school opened nearby. Mark had new friends, and some became contributors to his mini-game studio.

***

From time to time, Mark was receiving emails from foreign game companies. Some were trying to recruit him, while others wanted to hire his studio to develop games.

However, Mark declined the offers. He had his own plans for his business.

***

Sometimes, Mark would go to conventions with his friends.

There was even one time that Mark was invited to be a guest in a video game convention. It was not surprising. At the current time, his studio was the most successful video game developer in the country among the independent studios.

Mark was successful. It was something that no one would be able to deny. The games he directed and developed gained a rather hefty amount of fame internationally.

In fact, his success was the word of his alma mater even after several years. He was also invited several times as a seminar speaker for the new students.

Mark, who had already overcome his introverted personality, was having a good life.

And he was still young.

***

After graduating and being self-employed, there were very few events to take note of Mark's life. Well, there were some weird things, however.

Once, he met a little girl, which called him Papa, for no reason. It caused the girls' parents to feel flustered.

When Mark managed to save money and tried to buy a car, he could not help but stare at the wife of the owner of the store. It was an awkward encounter.

There was also one night when he was walking home. He stared at the sky for no reason, as if he was waiting for something, but nothing happened.

***

A few more years passed. Mark's studio had gotten bigger. He reached the point where he did not have to do anything and leave the things to his employees.

And here, Mark started a new but unexpected business. It was creating and selling cosplay props. After all, creating things was one of the things Mark loved the most.

Using his savings from his first business, Mark managed to invest in better tools and equipment for the second one.

First was the video game industry. Next was the Otaku industry.

Who would have thought that the famous Mark would go and sell handmade props despite his current status?

***

One day, Mark was on his way home after meeting with one of his clients. He was running late and had passed the last ride he was supposed to ride on to get home. He had no choice but to walk home, taking a shortcut.

On the way, he passed by a construction site on a road that was pretty much devoid of people.

It was when Mark noticed a strange event. A van suspiciously stopped in front of the site.

Mark could not help but feel that it was something that he should not see. Things became worse when he saw the men come out of the van. They were all armed with guns and were carrying an unconscious girl.

As Mark was not a hero, he tried to avoid a confrontation. Slowly and sneakily, Mark tried to leave, walking around the site. After leaving the area, only would he try to contact the police.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

A lookout on the construction site saw Mark before he could leave.

By the time that Mark knew, sounds of gunshots entered his ears. Pain enveloped his body as he fell on the grass-covered soil.

Mark stared at the night sky as his sight grew dimmer than the darkness of the night.

"It was a good life."

Mark muttered with a smile.

As Mark closed his eyes, his body began to feel cold.

And it was when he uttered the words.

"This is the end, right?"

The dead Mark spoke, opening his eyes once more to see a black-dressed woman standing beside his dead body.