"Ah, I lost."
Once again, under the afternoon sunlight, the somewhat monotonous thirty-two-bit music in the office came to an end.
Maxim, who had been middle-aged for quite some time now, lay on the sofa, holding an old black-and-white handheld console in his hand and sighing helplessly.
The brave hero who had battled through countless hardships regretfully fell at the second-to-last stage, dying miserably beneath a swarm of venomous snakes. Though compared to the abstract hero, those snakes were little more than a few pixels, he was still completely absorbed, focused and earnest.
Amid the GAME OVER sound effect, he regretfully set the handheld console aside.
"Lately, I can never get past this part. Back then, I could at least make it to the final stage."
"Whoa, that's such an old model."
The guard reading a magazine beside him cast a curious glance his way. "Director, are you into retro stuff?"
"Because this was all there was when I was a kid, but I never got to play it... After I started working, I saved up and bought one, but it wasn't as easy as I imagined."
Maxim scratched his unshaven chin.
In the air-conditioned room, Maxim, who had only just finished a video conference, wore a stiff suit jacket on top and loose, breathable shorts below.
Every now and then, he scratched his leg.
The guard took the handheld and examined it carefully. "This model is so rare. I've only seen it in some big shot's archaeology column."
"You know about this? Do you know how to clear it?" Maxim asked curiously.
The guard immediately scratched his head. "That company went bankrupt ages ago, and so did the game. There aren't even any guides left... Why not try a newer handheld?"
As he spoke, the guard pulled out his