I knew I could count on you to bring reasonability

. The way I see it is extremely simple, During Acting Lesson, He started working on an idea of how cool it will be to show the College Years of MC. or the main character could have been Liam

. The inspiration was simply the
Dik fraternity. And very early HE decide to scratch off the idea to have any connection to AL. Probably for the reasons you just said, what would be the point of it if you know how the story end. So, new Main Character, nothing to do with AL.
The basic
"outline" was
life in a fraternity. And this is the part that has not change. and With the New MC, who has no restriction, because he has no connection to the previous Game. Everything is different, including the possible endings.
so in short, this is not the Hobbit, to the Lord of the Rings

.