Game Development: Starting by Healing the Players
Chapter 37: The Whole Truth
The person who died in the car accident was not Johnny, but his twin brother, Joey.
Likewise, Joey was never actually the name of their supposed grandfather. After Johnny's mother accidentally hit and killed Joey, she developed some psychological problems and began mistaking Johnny for Joey.
It was during this time that Johnny was given the beta-blocker.
Everything that had happened before finally had an explanation.
Why Johnny always slept in a double bed.
Why his mother called him Joey.
Even the comics Johnny liked to read and the pickled olives he liked to eat—all of them were things his brother Joey had liked.
After the accident, Johnny's mother, overwhelmed by grief, began raising Johnny as though he were Joey.
But there was still one mystery.
What about River?
Did Johnny's desire to go to the moon have anything to do with River?
As the game continued, the story eventually reached a point before Joey's death.
As the older brother, Joey cared deeply for his younger brother Johnny.
Once again, the two brothers took part in a competition at the carnival.
Joey won a little toy train, while Johnny only won a platypus toy.
Johnny said that he wanted one too, but their mother stopped him.
Joey, however, told him that they could play with the toy train together.
From this, it seemed that their mother favored Joey somewhat more.
Feeling down, Johnny quietly walked toward the hill behind the carnival, still holding the platypus toy he had won.
At this moment, Dong Zhen suddenly became alert.
Yes.
That platypus!
The platypus that belonged to River had actually been won by Johnny at the carnival.
Could this mean…
The scenes that followed confirmed what he had suspected.
After arriving at the hill, Johnny looked up at the star-filled sky. His gloomy mood seemed to improve as he found a good spot.
There was a wooden stump that looked almost like a bench. Sitting there gave him a perfect view of the stars in the distance.
And just then, a little girl appeared on the screen.
It was River as a child!
Dong Zhen's scalp tingled. In that instant, he felt as though he had suddenly figured everything out.
This was the first time Johnny had ever met River.
Not in high school, as they had previously believed!
When River arrived, Johnny happily greeted her, but River instinctively tried to leave.
Johnny called out to her.
After a brief conversation, he asked whether she wanted to stay and watch the stars with him.
Accompanied by gentle piano and violin music, Johnny and River sat together on the wooden stump beneath the starry sky, gazing into the distance.
The scene shifted to a close-up.
The green grass on the lush lawn swayed gently in the breeze.
"Look over there…"
"You know, there are countless little lights up in the sky!"
Johnny took the initiative to start a conversation.
"Mm."
River responded just as she had back in high school.
"Uh… yeah, me too." Johnny was a little flustered, but he continued trying to find something to talk about.
"You said this was your spot, right?"
"I only come here during the carnival."
"You don't like places with lots of people? …Yeah, me neither."
Johnny continued, "You haven't told me your name."
"I won't tell you. Everyone at school makes fun of me because of it."
"Why?"
"They say that hearing my name makes them want to go to the bathroom."
"Hmm, okay. But… let's put it this way. It can't possibly be worse than 'Johnny,' right? I mean, there are people named Johnny almost everywhere in the world."
"So what?"
"Huh?"
"So what if everyone has a common name? I just wish that, like the stars in the sky, even though they all look more or less the same from here, that wouldn't make them any less beautiful."
"Yeah, I think so too. So what do you think those stars are?"
"My dad says the stars are enormous balls of gas burning in the sky."
Johnny and River continued chatting. Then River asked, "Have you ever tried making an Easter Bunny out of the stars?"
"Like looking for constellations in the sky?"
"Yeah."
"I've looked for other things, but I've never looked for a bunny."
"Want to try?"
"Yeah! We'll find the best bunny constellation ever! Let's see who can find it first!"
After counting down—
"Three, two, one!"
River immediately shouted, "I found it!"
"Uh… where?"
Johnny was a little confused.
The camera slowly moved upward toward the sky, focusing on the full moon.
"Up there!"
"Where up there?"
"Think boldly. The others are all too big!"
"I can't find it… Wait… wait, I see it!"
"Tell me what you see!"
"Right there, isn't it? Those are its two ears and its head."
Johnny pointed toward the moon.
"And what else?"
"There… that's its two feet!"
"Exactly! What else?"
"There's… there's the moon! The moon is its big, round belly!"
Simple lines appeared across the sky, outlining the stars.
They formed a rabbit.
A rabbit with a yellow belly.
At that very moment, everything that had happened earlier in the game flashed through Dong Zhen's mind.
Why had River started obsessively folding paper rabbits after Johnny told her about the first time they met?
Why had River asked John, countless times throughout her life, what that yellow-bellied paper rabbit was?
Why had none of Johnny's answers ever been enough to satisfy River?
Now, Dong Zhen finally understood.
River had been using her own way to remind Johnny.
To remind him that many years ago, beneath the moon and the star-filled sky, that was where they had first met.
As Johnny continued talking with River, he learned from her that she had always believed the stars in the sky were lighthouses.
She believed those lighthouses wanted to communicate with others, but had no way of doing so. All they could do was continue shining their light upon others. That was the only thing they could do.
Everything finally made sense.
Why River cared so much about Anya.
Then came the scene that moved countless players to tears.
Hearing his mother calling for him, Johnny had to go home.
But before leaving, he gave his platypus toy to River.
"This is the prize I won. I'm giving it to you!"
That was how the platypus that stayed by River's side for the rest of her life came to be.
"Will you… come back next year?"
Holding the platypus, River asked Johnny.
"Of course! What about you?"
"I will."
"Same time? Same place?"
"Mm-hmm!"
Having received her answer, Johnny happily prepared to head home.
But then River asked, "But what if you get lost, or forget?"
"Then let's meet on the moon!"
With Johnny's words, countless players who were playing the game couldn't help but feel their eyes sting with tears.
The image on the screen suddenly became blurry.
All the questions.
All the mysteries.
Finally, they had their answers here.