Game no Naka ni Iru! - Ch. 12 - In the Game!

[cyclopropene]

Now that 24 hours have passed, I think it's about time I spill the beans.

As some of you figured out, yes, this is the actual end of the manga. This chapter was released back in June, and since then there have been no signs of it ever updating. It is in fact pulled from the 'currently serializing' list in the Magapoke website, which means it's considered officially finished. I read it when it was still being serialized, and when I finished reading this particular chapter I also didn't believe it and thought it was a fake-out. Then weeks passed and I realized this was really the end.
At first I felt horrible I actually had nightmares. Then I thought I should spread this feeling to as many people as possible. Hence the TLs. Sorry about that.
Magapoke is kind of a bitch to get raws from, I found out afterwards. I really have to thank those /a/nons who helped me get these raws. I figured Halloween would be a good time to post this sucker punch of an ending, and that I would release a chapter daily to keep the reader count from falling too much. I got these raws back in August, but because of real life stuff my TLing got delayed and delayed, and I actually finished the last chapter only around the time I had already posted half of the series here. So really I wasn't sitting back on already-finished TLs just to troll you guys. Still, sorry about that again.

Now for the serious part. I am kind of scared about the mangaka. Ever since he released the last chapter he went missing. I remember that while it was still in chapter 8 or so he was still constantly updating his Pixiv and Twitter with Game no Naka ni Iru art and other stuff, because I liked his art so I found his accounts through googling his name. But after this, he deleted all his tweets past February, all his Pixiv posts past 2015, and went completely silent. Weirdly enough he still haven't deleted his Tumblr, in which his latest art was in May. And going through his archive it turned out he planned this manga since May last year.

What I think happened was that he was excited about doing all this stuff but the manga was too unpopular. The manga got cancelled and he probably got so mad he made this disaster of an ending and purged all the manga-related stuff, then decided to leave the manga scene altogether since people will be pestering him about this ending over and over. At least that's what I hope happened. I don't really like thinking about the worst-case scenario, but that fact that his Twitter posts AND likes end in February is really ominous. I really hope he comes back because otherwise there's a chance that he, well, killed himself and I just TLed a bunch of somebody's last works just to screw around with a bunch of foreigners. Or maybe I'm remembering things wrong and he hasn't actually used his Pixiv. I don't know, I'm just so confused I'm doubting myself.

This didn't go as well as I would have liked. I'm really sorry.

 

[Liar]

@cyclopropene, dude. Mad props for pulling this off.

 

[Perriwinkles]

@cyclopropene

Thanks for that update about the manga, and your efforts translating this! This was on my mind so much I could barely sleep yesterday; an impressive Halloween trick.

It seems like the author either burnt out or the series got canned, and then he frustratedly put out this ending. However, looking through his old accounts, he really did care for his characters. The way they were written off is very easily reversible too in the future, if the author wants to (and is able to) come back to them. As this is probably not how he wanted to end this, I'm not gonna consider this the canon end so I can sleep easier (unless he lost the rights to them as part of his serialization contract, or stopped caring for them; in which case, our protagonists have truly met their end). Following the author's accounts just in case something changes someday; I feel guilty for not supporting his work when it mattered.

 

[neorasp]

@cyclopropene
nah man. if he killed himself and you tl his stuff justto screw us over you are probably doing what he wanted - getting his manga exposure AND spreading his 'screw you' shout to the world. it might make you uneasy to carry his will from beyond the grave, but i think his ghost would be pleased.

 

[Syapaaye]

@cyclopropene mad props for pulling this off and translating this manga!

Man, it IS even darker behind the manga. Hope the mangaka is still relatively okay.

 

[Atit729]

@cyclopropene Mad props for this translation!
I hope mangaka is ok. I actually kind of hope that the ending was his plan. Imagine if there is gag manga that suddenly come to erupted dark ending then went silent for months and then came back as new series (something like drama/comedy base on what happend after/during the ending) it would think i actually be really creative way to get people attention or to feel.
But then again, manga industry in japan can be real harsh so your speculation was highly likely too. Either way i think i should spread the work about this manga, it need more attention. It probably not gonna help either case much but that was the best i can hope.

Also i agree with @Perriwinkles . From what i check his tumblr, i feel like he really do care for his character. He probably have a reason to pulled this ending and not just troll us.

 

[zdarkbrz_816]

So, I started reading manga around the time this TL was being released, even before I got to know MangaDex. I was there, in an aggregator site reading and, though I don't remember why, I stopped reading it Midway and forgot it ever since.

Today, I read "Hitorigurashi no OL wo Egakimashita" and, through it's comment thread, got here. And what a end, wow.

I just read all those comments and, after some time, decided to comment on the particular choice of getting further from the screen. Just to make it darker, yes, I actually think it's horrified Mikan getting further away from the screen, like going one step backwards and then another... which no one commented.

That's it, I'll go have my nightmares now. Thanks for the translation, by the way, and to any future reader, update on the author's condition are welcome.

 

[Zizhou]

For what it's worth, I rather enjoyed this ending, as much of a tonal whiplash as it was. There always was a slightly dark element to their antics (rampant arson, "operation IJAGSIF" etc) that was always played off for laughs, so this doesn't feel as completely out of left-field for me. If the author really was forced to do an abrupt ending, I think this really was the best outcome out of a bad situation.

 

[greatninja3]

well that's depressing

 

[humbleoverlord]

holy shit, that's depressing shit... why the fuck do i read this damn story...? even the story about the author is depressing... fuck shit...

 

[starlessworld]

WOAH SHIT WENT ZERO TO A HUNDRED REAL QUICK

 

[CalamityCallout]

OH MY FUCKING GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOO OH MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[markus2134]

Good premise but with a downer end,probably that readers Don't like it.

 

[TioAlxen]

nono no no no

 

[Taran_p]

Mangaka posted on his pixiv. Thank god, it was a huge relief for me to know that he's alive.

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/84859790

 

[cyclopropene]

@Taran_p
Christ that's a relief

 

[ngkn92]

Welp, this got me good.

Hope the author is ok.

 

[nanashitokumei]

Thanks for the tl, but that was really depressing

 

[Ominous]

Holy shit, that ending. Thanks for the translation.

At first I felt horrible I actually had nightmares. Then I thought I should spread this feeling to as many people as possible. Hence the TLs. Sorry about that.

Borderline evil right here.