Then the screen flashed. A terminal window opened, displaying green text: “V-Ray 2.0 successfully installed. May the samples be ever in your favor.”

“Of course it is,” Leo whispered, downloading the missing DLL from a site hosted on a GeoCities server.

But he knew. Next week, there’d be another plugin. Another impossible quest. And he’d already bookmarked the forum thread.

Leo closed his Mac, poured a whiskey, and whispered to the empty room: “Never again.”