1: Levin Ganther
My life, it had become unbelievable one day.
Let's start with the introductions before we proceed to the main topic.
I am Levin Ganther.
An ordinary middle-aged man whose facial features are of common-born in this world. Black hair and eyes, average height and almost a skinny stature. Though, I am not your usual aged person whose liability is all about getting rich. Being wise for my future generation, and all of those crap that old people think about before departing from the world.
I am your useless kind of aged person whose sole life responsibility is, not the kind of being respected by my colleagues, but to hand out promotional flyers from our company's services to bypassers around the streets, I have fallen into this kind of responsibility - this damned low paying job - due to my background and educational grades.
I didn't get accepted to any proper jobs even though I have graduated from High School... Well, not really. Erm.
Yeah. I... I kind of understand them not wanting to hire a person who repeated the fourth year three times and took several Senior High liability exams and failing all of them left and right.
I still take pride in my knowledge capability though.
I can remember almost everything within a week with my unique memory. Hell, I could be someone who you could call one of the First-rate students that are capable of achieving ace in all subject fields- if it weren't for my naiveness that brought about my addiction to online gaming and other harmful media.
It just didn't get used in a proper way. My brain, that is.
Also, another factor of negativity added to my proper background esteem, and that is, being a rat.
I skipped almost all of the classes just for fun, believed in saying "Freedom is a good thing" and so on. Until that 'rat' disease worsened into something similar to that of a real... Rat.
The kind of person who jobs into somebody's houses or every people's pockets I pass by for something to sell. In order to attain currency for buying illegal recreational objects and continues forth until I got caught red-handed by 'Undercover' police and redeemed my habits inside both the Jail and Rehabilitation facility for almost eternity.
Blaah... Like it matters today! I learned my lesson in the past and I don't like going through the rehabilitation process again.
Let me tell you how I got up into this kind of a mess that is happening right now.
A messy ordeal that not even the talented scientists would dare to stick their noses into with valid theories and mathematics alone. Heck, I don't even know how to describe it!
I was transported to another world...
Yeah. That kind of setting is the only thing I know to describe this kind of experience. Though it wasn't another world I was expecting- or even you were expecting.
A paradise filled with beautiful angels plucking their harps while hovering through the clouds? Nope. A hellish place where every damned soul burn into cinders? Slightly correct, but actually it isn't.
It was more hellish than what dear Lord could imagine.
It is dry and hot as Hell. My foot is sinking into the ground due to the brittleness and soft texture of the surface of the dunes.
And my strength is like a shaved ice cream waiting for the sun to melt it down into nothing but gas.
Gaaah, how did this happen!?
Earlier this afternoon.
I'd go home after receiving my weekly payment from my 'generous' supervisor, who f***ing apparently did not record my days of presence in her record book and caused a reduction in my salary. My mind was out for a while because of how measly amount of pay she had given me.
Before I make sense of the reality, I was returned by an oddly nostalgic ambiance that this street is letting off.
I looked onto my left and saw a familiar building, although the building was renovated, the place and the memories I made here still packs a lot of nostalgia.
It was the usual game center that I used to play onto before I received my criminal record and my sole landmark indicating the wrong way to my neighborhood.
The feeling of nostalgia suddenly hit me hard, forcing me to remember all of the stupidity I made inside this building, and for that only reason, I entered the building and looked around the place. The arrangement of the consoles is still the same though. How cool.
Everything changed from the usual 90's arcade games to full graphics stations that features these... People with big glittering eyes that they call Anime or some sort of more humane version of Cartoon. It seems like the local youngsters have grown fond of these humane Cartoon people as they flock onto them needlessly.
There are still other old familiar arcade games left in the house but they were no longer in the center of the hotspot, they were moved to the corner for all I see.
Seeing them seemingly ignored and unnoticed just brought tears to my eyes. They were once a treasure to be hunted every single day but now, they are nothing but a husk of their true worth. Including the almost real FPS arcade that I usually play during the olden days. And funny as it is, my game name still tops the leaderboard rankings.
After all of these years, it seems like nobody had the talent to topple my seat off my 7 million scores!
Well, it is understandable as to how hard it is just to get 100,000 scores.
How did I know it was still me who tops the leaderboard? Well, the name that tops the first place is spelled 'LEVIN'! My first name. Hahaha, I was the real Ace at this game, even my friends who watched me play this game urged me to enlist in the army.
There was also the time when I was playing the game, the people next in line were legitimate members of the National Self-Defense Military force. They complimented me for my efficacy of handling guns. They were my rivals though and the first people to achieve near 4 million scores. They could've toppled my score off if it weren't for their daily duty schedule.
This FPS arcade game that features realistic gun handling is something that only experienced Military or Police officers could handle as it requires extensive knowledge of gun handling. Kids or people usually at my age back then never touched the game unless they are me, who is a maniac when it came to the gun...
Sounds.
Even though I yearn for the gun sounds back then, I am not much of a gun guy who identifies every firearm laid in front of him in a heartbeat.
Heck, I don't even know what kind of assault gun the guy in the game uses! I am only well versed in how to handle guns, but not identifying.
The sight of this familiar game just brought about the memories of the old days when I had so much fun.
The urge of wanting to play the game after a long time away sprang up within my palms - it itched for a decade-old replay. My hands were being subconsciously dragged by my mind to draw my wallet up the pocket.
But then, of course, I have gotten a grasp of myself before I became a damned spending spree maniac. Now's not the time to seek for entertainment. After all, the money I received is no more than 60 bucks. Mind you, this 60 buck is enough for a person to survive for 7 days with only one meal each day. Until I get my next pay next week which is, fortunately, the monthly payment that everyone is waiting for back at the company, I will be living my life like this.
Well...
The sentimental sounds that this arcade makes... Really pulls my heartstrings.
I really wanted to play this game...
Gah, screw it.
It wouldn't hurt to have fun once in a while right? Also, one day of not eating anything other than drinking water wouldn't kill you, right? Alright, with the decision steeled inside my mind, I went off to the ticket counter and exchanged 10 bucks worth of tokens.
The tokens were quite expensive nowadays with 1 token for each note ratio. Back then, you could get about twenty tokens for 10 bucks. But I guess it became 1:1 due to the recent taxes on recreational center imposed by the government in order to reduce the number of teenagers during their school time to visit such places.
Even though there are laws enacted, that minors are unable to play on arcade centers during weekdays morning, there are still persistent pests that disguise as an adult and play.
The tax imposition is quite effective. There aren't many young people or students here and there. Although it reduces the number of students, it is also a double-edged sword that reduces the number of customers such as regulars that couldn't afford a single token without working their ass off or making sacrifices.
Anyway, after having my tokens exchanged, I made my way towards the game when I stopped before an odd-looking futuristic capsule. It was so eye-catching, I had to stop to take a good look at its metallic body.
"Full-Dive VR Machine" Is what it says on top of its token deposit slot. Virtual Reality? A reality game? What the heck..?
And Vee... Are? What the heck does that mean? Pah, that doesn't concern me in the slightest.
I was about to walk away when the VR machine started acting up.
I wasn't sure if it was broken or... Heh?
And then suddenly, the futuristic capsule opened. "Pissh" The sound of a futuristic capsule opening rang and revealed a child beneath the iron veil. "Pa, pa~, pa~." The child sat up and stumbled out of the capsule with a happy grin written all over his face and went towards his mother who was standing idly nearby.
A short light talk crossed over themselves before they left while giving me a curious glance. It felt weird to be glanced at so I just gave them a wry smile after their last glance in return.
Right... After that. I gave the machine a good look. I'm not interested in futuristic things... But of course, it does not apply to everything and I'm quite curious about this machine.
How does one play without a joystick and while laying down? I doubt about playing good games while you are positioned like that... What kind of games does this one let you play?
I am seriously curious about it.
Hmm... The old arcade or this 'vee are' machine?
... Well... The decade-old replay with the old arcade could wait. It only costs about 5 tokens and furthermore, the cost to operate the 'vee are' machine is the same as the old arcade cost.
Alright, let's try it.