1 Boredom, not curiosity, kills the cat
Jun Kim was your stereotypical youth: he spent his days scrolling through social media, envying the good lives of others; watching, liking and commenting on YT videos; playing a vast amount of video games; and most importantly, reading and watching endless amounts of TV shows, cartoons, movies, manga, anime, and light novels. He often just did all these things simultaneously. He realized in high school his absolute desire for comfort and laziness, preferring to procrastinate and slack off rather than working hard like his peers. This came with a tremendous amount of guilt about losing opportunities and disappointing those around, which he just drowned with more of his NEET lifestyle. Although he was more intelligent than most, it just seemed like a curse that persistently reminded him that the only real reason for his failures was his own self, not a lack of talent or resources. It, however, allowed him to barely pass through the next phases of his life with mediocrity. After graduating high school--his half-decent grades being the result of hellish parenting--, he got accepted at a good university where he continued slacking off. This was all that led up to his present mediocre existence.
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After years of slacking off and living vicariously through fictional characters, he reached a plateau of entertainment: he spent more time waiting and searching for more content than actually playing, reading or watching anything. Sure, there were millions of other novels, animes, TV shows and more, but Jun had a high standard and taste for entertainment. He had the general attitude that if he was going to waste his life, he would not want to waste it on shitty shows and such. The constant wait and search just left him more and more bitter about his situation.
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The first breakthrough in the longest time was just today, where he heard from his friends of a new mobile game called Revelation, boasted by his friends to be the best MMORPG games of all time. Going to its app page, he read over the game's description, details, and screenshots and was shocked as how perfect the game was. Purporting a non-P2W (play-to-win) model with hyper-realistic game elements, the game was more of a simulator than an actual game. Despite only being released a couple of days prior, it boasted over a million active players and its player count constantly rose with each passing minute. Oddly enough, the game came from nowhere: there were no trailers, no pre-sales, no Alpha testing, and no press releases. Revelation was just added to the market out of the blue, on what seemed to be a casual whim of its creator, Empire Studios. There was equally nothing about Empyrean Studios as well, lacking any description or information about it other than being written as the creator of the game.
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Regardless of the unknown origins of the game, it seemed to be the missing excitement and spark that Jun desperately desired and needed. Just as he was about to download the game, something caught the corner of his eye. Under the suggested games category, there was only a single app:
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True Revelation
Empyrean Studios
0 Stars
1 Player
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The icon for True Revelation was a shining cross of greenish yellow light with the roman numeral for one (I) behind it. Jun eyed the icon with immense greed, as he knew that although it was too late to become one of the top players in the Revelation game, he could easily become one of the top ten of this new game. Immediately clicking on the icon, he quickly installed the game and as he waited, dreamed of the endless possibilities of living without any further cares or worries, resolving a lifetime of problems.
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Although he doubted that he would feel any real fulfillment, he would at least not have to worry about money ever again. From what he heard from his friends, the rich players on the leaderboard of Revelation were currently buying equipment for ridiculous prices, due to the lack of Cash Shops and any means of P2W from the creators, creating a huge black market and treasure trove for gaming studios. If Jun could become one of the best players in this new True Revelation game, he could easily earn enough to become rich. As a stream of excitement, hope, and greed passed through his mind, the download finally finished and Jun immediately lost consciousness.
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In his room, his body vanished from his chair and his phone dropped to the ground. Even though Jun's phone case was one of the best on the market, the screen immediately cracked, leaving a huge spider-web of cracks all over the screen that made its contents barely readable. The notification for the download of True Revelation was erased and the screen displayed the same store page for the True Revelation game, which Jun failed to read:
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True Revelation
Made by: Empyrean Studios
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Description:
By downloading True Revelation, the user agrees to the following:
- Ownership of user's soul until contract is fulfilled
- Transportation of user to different realm to fulfill contract
- Completion of contract
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Reviews:
( 1 out of 1 reviews )
God
0 / 5 Stars
To all potential players: there have already been millions of users before you and unfortunately, their souls have been destroyed into nothingness by failing to complete their contracts. Thus, they have been unable to actually leave a review. On behalf of these millions of users, I will give a self-rating of 0 / 5, due to my obligation to be honest as God.
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After a few moments, the screen flickered before it became more and more distorted and corrupted. Just as the screen's display was corrupted into pure static, a quick glimpse revealed the player count for the game increasing to 2 and in the background of the icon's shining cross, a single pixel turned into a dim white.
