Birth of a New Cleaner

The date was May 19, 2238. A date around five years after the announcement of a certain technology that shook the whole world to its core, the World Net. For most people, it was more or less a normal day in their lives. For others though, it was a day that they won't be able to forget. A day that they would surely look back into while reminiscing in happiness.

Omni, Halus City Cluster, Section C6-D9-H118.

On a street where each and every house looked quite shabby, inside one of those houses, a young man was currently sleeping on a bed with a peaceful look on his face inside a room on the second floor of the house. A window was situated in front of the bed, allowing the sun's rays to shine down on the young man's bed. Those rays made the young man toss and turn in his bed for a bit, but ultimately, it did not interrupt his sleep that much.

Ring! Ring!

After an unknown amount of time, a somewhat annoying ringing sound started to resound throughout the room where the young man was sleeping. In response to this, the young man subconsciously made an irritated expression on his face while turning his body away from the origin of the sound with a pillow covering his ears. Although that suppressed the amount of sound the young man could hear, it did not stop the ringing sound from continuing.

"Ring! Ring! Ring! Wake up, sleepyhead!" The ringing sound originated from an alarm clock that was situated near his bed. Although the alarm clock the young man had was quite old, it had multiple versatile functions like telling the person that it's waking up about the time and date of the current day, as well as telling the person relevant news…with a voice that hung on a fine line between gentle and intensely annoying.

"The time right now is 8:01 a.m. The date today is May 19, 2238, an incredibly pleasant Saturday," the alarm clock continued to speak in its annoying voice, not caring as to whether the person it was waking up was actually waking up or not. "The latest news circulating around the world is related to the World Net, created by Omni, the world's sole ruler. The company has announced that they shall be introducing a new version of the World Net, bringing along multiple features to add to the World Net. The company has called this version the 'Immersion Update' of the World Net, telling people that the Immersion Update would let them feel that the World Net was more of a game rather than work."

"According to the company, the update shall be uploaded to the World Net's servers on Monday, May 21, 2238. With that being said, the company recommends everyone to log out of the World Net before the update arri—" Just before the alarm clock could finish its words, the young man turned around in his bed to face the alarm clock…before hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock, abruptly stopping the alarm clock's announcements.

Since the young man was more or less half asleep, after snoozing the alarm clock, he went back to sleeping soundly, this time with a light smile on his face.

…

It was only after a couple of hours did the young man wake up, gradually opening his eyes to adapt to the amount of sunlight that was piercing through his room's window. After that, he got out of his bed and tidied it up, before doing some light stretching while using his voice to command the television to turn itself on, tuning in on the news channel.

"I wonder what's happening in the world nowadays," the young man muttered to himself as he finished his stretching, sitting on the bed while looking at the television, slightly eager to listen to the news. "I do hope that the news today is related to the World Net though."

With that thought in mind, he could not help but lightly laugh before continuing, "Then again, mom and dad won't let me enter the World Net anyway."

"Well…not yet."

"Our top story for today is about Omni's announcement of a new version of the World Net," a reporter started going over through the multiple articles it has collected, bringing everyone who was watching multiple pieces of relevant information. As for the young man, after hearing that the news being relayed today was related to the World Net, he could not help but perk up his ears, not wanting to miss a single word.

"The company has just announced that in a few days, the World Net will undergo a major update, termed as the 'Immersion Update'," the reporter said while looking at the script he was holding. "The company told everyone that the Immersion Update would allow users to not feel like the World Net was a place to work, but a place to relax. They also reminded everyone that their ultimate goal was to turn the World Net into a RPG that did not lose out to the immensely popular True Immersive MMORPGs (TIMMORPGs) out there such as Blade of the Gods and World's End. They said this due to the massive amount of complaints they obtained from having their work turn into a game."

"Seriously? They're complaining that the World Net would feel more like a game than work after the update?" the young man could not help but scoff at those that complained. "Wouldn't having fun with work be better for the mental state?"

Just as the young man was about to listen to more articles, a surprised look appeared on his face as the reporter said after finishing the current article, "Before we continue on with the next article, the time right now is 10:37 a.m. I repeat, the time right now is 10:37 a.m."

"Eh…?" The young man could not believe the time said by the reporter. At this point in time, multiple thoughts were going through his head as he commanded the television to turn itself off before looking at the alarm clock that was near his bed. An appalled look fully covered his face after seeing the time on the alarm clock.

It was the same time.

"Ah shit! I'm gonna be late for school!" he shouted without hesitation as he bolted towards the door of his room, hastily making his way down the stairs since he was going to prepare to go to school. But then, just as he was making his way down the stairs, he could hear three distinct voices resounding throughout the first floor of their house. It was at this point that the young man slowed down his descent through the stairs as he thought about something.

'Eh? Why do I hear Jason talking with mom and dad? Surely, if it's a school day, Jason wouldn't be here in the house right now. Unless…'

It only took a few seconds for the thoughts in the young man's mind to converge as one, coming to a conclusion as he let out a sigh of relief while muttering, "It's the weekends."

Step. Step. Step.

About half a minute later, the young man had finally gotten down the stairs, allowing him to see the entirety of the first floor with one glance. Around a few meters away were three people that were happily eating breakfast on the house's dining room table while talking with one another about multiple topics. These three people were people that the young man knew very well.

While the young man was still near the stairs, one of the three people could not help but glance towards the young man's direction before saying, "Ah. Big brother finally woke up."

"Ahaha." In response, the young man awkwardly laughed while scratching his head. "Good morning everyone."

After saying that, he then walked closer towards the three while the person who talked a while ago continued to talk amidst their laughter. "I'm definitely sure that big brother thought that today was a school day. If not, he wouldn't have hastily walked down the stairs."

"Shut up, Jason," the young man said before taking a seat to have some breakfast as well. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

"Either way, if you were actually late for school, it'd be better for you to just stay at home," the young man's younger brother named Jason, replied back. "You'd still be marked absent for the whole day anyway."

"That's true," a mature yet beautiful woman laughed while responding to Jason's words. "It would definitely be better for you to stay at home so you could help me with house work, son."

"Mom…" the young man could not help but look at her mother while answering back. "Not you as well…"

"I don't see the problem with staying at home." Not long after, a slightly handsome middle-aged man responded as well to the young man's words, a light smile on his face as he continued to take a bite every so often. "Hm…hm…gulp. Don't you want to spend time with your mom and dad?"

"It's not that I don't want to…" the young man responded back while looking at the three people that were looking at him. On his left was his younger brother, Jason. Jason resembled their mother quite a lot, but in terms of height, he took on their father, being decently tall. Not only that, due to him being in the karate club in school, although he was a few years younger than the young man, some of the muscles on his body were already slightly bulging.

As for the one in front of him, it was the young man's mother, whose name was Jane. Although she was in her late forties, she still had the appearance of someone in their early thirties, making a few people turn their heads every time she was outside the house due to her beauty.

Last but not the least, the one seated on his very right was his father, John. He was at his early fifties, yet the build of his body was akin to that of someone at their prime who always went out to the gym, his body having streamlined yet not overtly noticeable muscles. Pair that with his chiseled jaw that made girls slightly swoon and his considerably tall height, it wasn't weird for their mother to marry their father at all if they only considered appearances.

After looking at them for a while, the young man finally decided to grab some food from the plate in front of him before continuing to speak, "It's because I don't want my perfect attendance streak to be broken. I wanted to maintain that at the very least."

"What's the matter if you miss out on a day of classes?" Jason asked in response. "You're already a student with consistently high grades in school, with some even nicknaming you as the 'Genius That Never Sleeps'. You got to at least save the perfect attendance award for others!"

From the conversation that was occuring between the young man and Jason, their mother and father could not help but lightly smile as John decided to stop the conversation from escalating into a full-on fight by saying, "Alright, alright, save those matters for later. We don't want to waste your mother's delicious cooking now, do we?"

And with that, the two had no choice but to keep silent as all of them ate their breakfast.

…

After washing the dishes, the young man went towards the restroom to take a shower since it was a habit of his to take a shower every day. While he was grabbing some clothes from his room to change into after he finished showering, he could not help but overhear a few words from his younger brother and his mother while he made his way towards the restroom.

"Wouldn't big brother be mad?"

"Knowing him very well, I'm sure he wouldn't."

"I must be dreaming." The young man didn't ponder any further to the words of the two, entering the restroom before closing the door behind him and taking off his clothes. He then placed the clothes he wore into a laundry basket before looking at the mirror in front of him.

On it was the face of a young man that resembled his father, John, quite a bit. Pitch black irises, dark brown hair that went down near his shoulders, and a slightly chiseled jaw. If it were not for the fact that his body was on the thin side, many people would definitely say that this young man was a spitting image of his father when he was younger.

Beep!

"Person entering the shower: Jean Darke. Adjusting water temperature to the person's tastes." Just as he entered the shower, a monotonous voice resounded throughout the restroom before water started to flow out of the shower head, allowing the young man to take a comfortable shower.

…

It only took a few minutes for Jean to finish his shower, getting out of the restroom while he was drying off his hair with a towel. Just as he was about to go up to the second floor, he noticed that his mother, father, and younger brother were standing in a line near the dining room table with smiles on their faces.

Feeling that something was off, Jean could not help but ask the three, "What's going on? Why are all of you smiling?"

"I'm surprised he doesn't remember what day it is today." John could not help but laugh.

"Leave him be. The more oblivious he is, the better." Jane let out a laugh as well.

"Bro. You seriously don't know what's happening?" Jason asked Jean with a small grin on his face.

In response to his younger brother's question, he shook his head before asking, "Seriously, what's going on?"

It was then.

Bang!

Jason brought out a party popper for Jean to see before confetti scattered all over the dining room table as the three of them happily shouted, "Jean! Happy 17th birthday!"

"…" At first, Jean was having a hard time processing what was happening. It only clicked in his mind after hearing what the three had said, letting out a wry smile as he said, "I seriously forgot about that. It's not something you should prepare for anyway."

"What do you mean by that, brother?" Jason frowned as he responded to Jean's words. "Are you telling us that birthdays aren't important?"

"I'm not saying they're not," Jean continued to have a smile on his face as he answered. "I just think it's a waste for people to give gifts. I'm all in for food, but gifts could be forgotten, you know?"

"You're so pessimistic, brother." In response, Jason laughed loudly before looking at their mom and dad beside him, nodding their heads simultaneously. He then said, "Sure, it may be a waste to give gifts, especially in the living state we're currently in, but this gift we're giving you is something you'll be using for a very long time."

Soon after, his father stepped forward before rummaging something out of his pocket and letting Jean see clearly what he brought out. It took no less than an instant for Jean to realize what his father was holding. It was a black bracelet that had a neon green groove in the middle. It was something that Jean yearned to have for quite some time now.

"Is that…" Jean could not believe what his father was holding. "…a Net Actualizer?"

"Mhm." John nodded in response. He then gave it to Jean before saying, "Happy birthday son."