A Workaholic, Tricked into Lying Flat Among the Zerg

[This is a fictional setting unrelated to reality. Please don’t apply it to real life.] Wes was a workaholic. He loved working himself to the bone. Then one day, he received a beta-testing invitation for the full-dive game "An Invitation from the Zerg". The System issued a preliminary task: [Please try to repair the mental world of the male Zerg, Victor.] Wes set to work repairing the male Zerg’s mental world, which had shattered into 169 pieces. After an entire afternoon, the System announced: [Victor’s mental world is now 60% complete. You performed excellently in the test and have been rated a Grade B male.] Wes: = =### Wes: “I’ve never done a job only 60% of the way!” From then on, he neglected sleep and meals, spending all his time eating, drinking, and sleeping in the full-dive game. At last, he maxed out his mental-repair skill and brought Victor’s mental world to 100%. He even maxed out Victor’s affection for him along the way. Then he encountered the legendary plot-driven death. To save the male Zerg he had worked so hard to repair, Wes heroically sacrificed himself, unlocking the first bad ending. [You could have become the new sun of the Zerg, but you burned yourself away for a male Zerg and left him in eternal darkness.] When Wes logged back into the game to reload and start over, he found that the plot had long since gone off the rails, transformed beyond recognition. Victor had become the final boss. And Wes was a precious gift about to be presented to him. * Victor Holt, the strongest male Zerg, named for victory. He was said to be antisocial, cold, and defiant. He disobeyed orders in battle and refused to accept punishment afterward. He had escaped from the mental-power traps of more than a dozen Grade A males and defected. The authorities had hunted him with every resource they had, but he had never been captured. Until one day, everyone discovered that he was obediently following a Grade B male of unknown origins, doing whatever he was told. Male Zerg A: “Why? Is it because His Excellency Wes is different, especially devoted?” Male Zerg B: “No. I heard His Excellency sets aside time every week to meet different male Zerg, and calls it ‘one day on, six days off.’” Male Zerg A: “What! Victor hasn’t beaten him to death?” Male Zerg B: “Nope. He’s crazy about him.” Reading notes: 1. One-on-one from the gong’s perspective: Wes is the gong, Victor the shou; 2. The gong meets male Zerg to help regulate their mental power. Other male Zerg will have one-sided crushes on him; 3. More notes may be added whenever something comes to mind. Theme: Happiness comes from working hard without giving up, and from accepting yourself, flaws and all.