1 Reincarnation: A Manly Baby Dies

*MC POV*

I stared at the white ceiling while holding back the tears that were starting to form in my eyes.

I just got home from my daily nine to five work shift and was about to delve into my favorite hobby.

Little did I know that I was in for a shock.

I knew that this day would come eventually.

I was expecting it.

All the obvious signs were pointing towards it.

The decreasing population.

The lackluster events.

Low frequency of updates.

I wished, hoped, even prayed it was a dream or an illusion, that the thing I saw in front of me was either fake or a joke.

I took a deep breath and braced myself before lowering my head and looking back at the monitor.

[Announcement: Shut Down of Game Servers]

"DAMMIT!"

I didn't even read the rest of the words on the screen before screaming out of frustration.

It was the only thing I could do to hold back the tears that were getting closer and closer to breaking the flood gates.

If I continued to read, I had no doubt that I would die from dehydration due to all the liquids in my body flowing out of my eyes.

But I had to do it.

A game I played daily for nearly two decades, where I met friends and family, where I had a life that was just as important as my offline one.

I had to read this, not only to confirm my worst fears, but to possibly give closure to a big part of my life.

With new found conviction, I looked at my monitor for the third time to read the developer's announcement.

*drip*

As a man, I didn't cry when I got my vaccination injection.

*drop*

As a man, I didn't cry when I was bullied throughout my high school life.

*drip*

As a man, I didn't cry when my girlfriend broke up with me for not paying enough attention to her.

*drop*

As a man, I didn't even cry at my parents' funeral.

*drip drop*

But one sentence.

[We are sad to say that due to lacking player population, we are forced to shut down the game servers.]

It only took one sentence from the announcement for me to lose control, and the tears that I was desperately holding back were finally released.

After not being used for nearly twenty years, I expected my tear ducts to have dried up.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Like how wrong I was when I thought that this game wouldn't die before I do.

I continued to read the game server shut down announcement and I must say, I didn't feel like a man at all.

No, I felt like a baby.

A baby whose candy was just taken from him.

I could only let the tears flow endlessly while clenching my teeth to not let out baby noises from my mouth.

I may be a baby, but I was a manly baby.

The reason the game was shutting down was explained in the announcement.

After the release of game capsules which allowed players to full dive and immerse themselves into the game of their choice, older games like this one which ran on older systems and consoles slowly lost popularity.

I bought and tried using a game capsule before and it was… alright. A whole new gaming experience, like stepping into a whole new world.

There was almost no sense of incongruity between reality and virtual reality which oddly irked me while using it.

Let me tell you, the game capsule is a magnificent piece of technology that almost one hundred percent emulates reality.

I played a basic RPG where the first quest was to kill some goblins.

At first I thought 'Easy enough. How cliché.'

But when I stabbed the first goblin with the beginner starter knife… the feeling of skin and flesh being torn was captured and portrayed very realistically as expected of the 'Next Generation Console.'

Suffice to say, I was traumatized.

I threw up for 10 minutes.

What's worse is that if you throw up in the game, you throw up in real life.

I logged out and woke up in an enclosed capsule covered in puke and vomit.

I threw up for another 10 minutes before crawling out of that shit.

I later found out that only few other people around the world had the same experience as me.

We were super rare cases apparently.

Special individuals who can connect with the game capsule system so well, too well, that virtual becomes reality.

Imagine what would have happened if I died in a game while playing…

With that thought, after doing my best to clean up, I resold that thing at a discounted price and NEVER touched another one again.

Sadly, my online friends slowly moved on to games using those game capsules, while I stuck to old reliable mouse and keyboard.

After reading the closing apology of the game developers and confirming the end of the line I…

Despite expecting this to happen, I couldn't help it anymore and I…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

… let out manly baby noises.

(Scene Break)

I woke up feeling like shit.

Recalling what happened before I passed out, I started feeling worse.

I had cried myself to sleep after learning about the end of my favorite game.

I hadn't even maxed out my recent character too.

My mood gradually fell into depression.

It's normal to be depressed when your favorite game is shut down right?

"I think so. A game where you pour your time, heart, and soul into, so much that it is practically a second life, losing it is equivalent to death."

Exactly!

I had a life in that game, all the characters and NPCs were my family.

I bonded with each and every one of them.

Doing missions, leveling up each character, progressing through the story, getting stronger, gaining achievements…

Playing that game was the only thing I looked forward to after waking up every day.

"Even if you completed everything solo, it was still enjoyable right?"

Right! I nodded in agreement.

I can't say I was the best or the strongest in the game, maybe I was in the top ten percent of players.

But that was before game capsules were released.

I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I was the best remaining player before the server shut down.

Remembering all the fond memories I made in the game like I did before passing out and knowing that it's all over, I was on the verge of becoming a manly baby again.

"So, if a 'game capsule' version of the game came out, would you play it again despite having to start over from level 0 and have the risk of dying?"

Dying in the game?

I'm practically dead without it.

Life would have no meaning.

Starting over?

Please, I've created hundreds of accounts during events so that I could get extra rewards for my main account.

Leveling up is my drug, my addiction.

Without a second thought, I shouted.

"OF COURSE I WOULD!"

…

…

…

Wait, who am I shouting to and who is speaking to me?

Have I developed a split personality due to the shock of the game shut down?

"Ha! You thought it was a split personality, but it was me, Dio!"

I turned towards the voice that was saying some sort of reference that I did not understand.

I didn't see anyone.

I only saw the light coming from my computer monitor and the things illuminated by it.

Did I forget to turn it off?

I got up from my bed with a weird feeling like I left something behind and went closer to my monitor.

On it, I saw lines of text which upon reading, seemed to be a script of my thoughts and dialogue.

As I'm thinking, the words are appearing.

"Ehem! I see you did not get that reference. Shame… Well anyways, as I said, I am Dio or better known as… God!"

I heard the voice again and saw the words appear on the monitor.

Has my computer gained sentience and took on the personality of an eighth grade mind reader or something?

I may have treated my computer like a sacred object, but for it to suddenly gain a personality with a god complex…

How disappointing…

"How rude!" Dio said after reading my thoughts.

Uh, maybe I'm just dreaming?

I tried pinching myself hard on the thigh, and felt a whole lot of nothing.

Yup, that confirms it. I'm just dreaming.

"Not the reaction I was expecting… Well anyways, unfortunately you are not dreaming. You are not feeling any pain because you… are dead."

"… what?"

The words on the monitor and the accompanying voice from Dio made me pause and raise my left eyebrow.

"Yeah, just take a look behind you on your bed. You will see your dead body."

I slowly turned my head around in doubt, like I was in a shitty horror movie where I just realized that the ghost is behind me.

But in this case, I'm the ghost.

Because there, on my bed I saw myself in fetal position, hugging my pillow with a disturbed expression.

In disbelief, I slowly walked over and as I stood over my "dead" body, I observed that the pillow and bed were drenched.

Is this me? No way… Why is everything soaked? Did I piss myself in my sleep?

For the second time, I was hoping that the thing in front of me was a joke.

"You died from dehydration. Too much liquids from your body came out while you cried during your sleep." Dio stated.

When I heard that, it was then that everything clicked.

"I KNEW IT! WHY DID I READ THAT ANNOUNCEMENT AND CRY?! REAL MEN DON'T CRY! WE BOTTLE UP OUR EMOTIONS AND KEEP THEM HIDDEN TO NOT SHOW ANY WEAKNESS! I SHOULD HAVE SUCKED IT UP AND SWALLOWED IT DOWN LIKE A MAN!"

I screamed in realization and unwillingness.

"You know, when you put it like that, it sounds kind of sus-"

"Shut up!" I yelled at Dio, not thinking about the consequences of doing such an action to a supposed God.

I knew that one day I would die, and I would have accepted my own death too it if it wasn't this… pathetic!

I mean, my life was pathetic enough but even my death?!

I was expecting a heart attack or cancer or even by meeting with Truck-kun!

"Alright, alright. I get it. Calm down. Too many things happened that left you mentally and emotionally unstable, not to mention physically dead. But your train of thought is going in the right direction."

I glared at the monitor where I assumed Dio was.

"Let's get back on topic. Remember my last question? Since you know about Truck-kun, this should be a lot easier."

I tried to calm down and recall to distract myself from this realistic dream, no this nightmare.

"… Game… game capsule… start over… God… Truck-kun…"

I recalled the backstories of some games I played that were based on novels.

Putting the pieces together, my depression slowly lessened and like seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, I started feeling hope.

"Looks like you figured it out. Good, because I can feel Death Gods starting to look for your soul. Greedy bastards won't even leave some scraps for us lesser Gods...."

Dio said confirming my thoughts.

I ignored the second part of what he said because of my excitement.

"I'm going to get reincarnated?!"

"Yup, you got it."

"Why me?"

I asked while trying and failing at reeling in my excitement and asked.

Why would someone like me get chosen to reincarnate?

"Woah, get over yourself. Everyone gets to reincarnate not just you. You aren't some special snowflake."

Oof.

Dio's words hit me like how I wished Truck-kun hit me.

"Gods exist. Although some are exactly like how your religions and mythologies portray them to be, others, like me, are not known at all. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Dio and I am the Video Game God! Because of the way you lived and died, your soul fell under my jurisdiction to reincarnate!"

"Um. That's a lot to take in. First of all, Video Game God? Really? What type of-"

"Wait! Don't ask any questions. We don't have time. Death Gods have started a search party to look for you. They are like the garbage collectors for souls. With the massive number of living beings dying, most Gods don't have time to reincarnate all the ones that fall under their jurisdiction. Majority of souls are collected by Death Gods because of their domain. However, they recycle souls instead of reincarnating them."

What's the difference between recycling and reincarnating?

What is a domain?

I have so many questions to ask and I want to ask them so bad, but I found myself unable to talk.

Probably due to some godly power restricting me or something.

"You are the first soul I acquired in a while so it would be a shame for you to be recycled and end up as a lesser being like a bug or plant. If I wasn't lazing around and watching anime with the Anime God earlier, I would have probably missed you and those Death Gods would have gotten you."

… Okay, that answers one of my questions. But now I have a whole lot more.

"So let's get this over with. [Reincarnation Wheel]."

Chapter End