Episode 1: The Beginning.

Clicking sounds of my fingers hitting the keyboard in the middle of the night. Looking for a guide on the internet for the game I'm playing. A quest that needs a lot of attention from the NPC's conversation that I accidentally skipped. While I'm busy reading the guide, my phone vibrates. I pick up my phone to check who messaged me late at night, turns out it's an order to drive a customer. I'm clicking my tongue.

"At this hour?! Are you kidding me?!"

I wash my face and go downstairs while wearing my uniform. Locking the front door of my house while unlocking the shiny black luxury car in my garage. I get inside the car, start the engine and go to the meeting point.

I sit inside the car and waiting for the customer. I'm looking at the building beside me. A famous video game publisher that has always released great games for the past decades. Then a young man is walking towards my car. I get out and walk to the passenger door and open the door.

"Good evening, sir."

A pale skin kid wearing a beanie and parachute jacket smiles at me.

"Good evening to you too. I apologize for disturbing your resting time."

I smile.

"It's my job so you don't have to apologize."

He nods and sits on the backseat. I go to the driver's seat and start the engine.

"Is your destination according to the map, sir?"

He's checking his bag and then looks at me and leans forward to see the map.

"Ah yes! That's my house!"

I smile and shake my head.

"You don't have to tell me the details, sir. It's dangerous to tell anyone where you live especially to some stranger in the middle of the night like me."

He smiles.

"It's fine. I won't be living there soon."

I scoff and shake my head with disbelief.

On my way to the destination, I'm driving carefully since most of the traffic lights in this area are already flashing yellow at this hour. I'm looking back through the mirror and he's still searching for something in his bag and then he grabs something. It's a gaming console and he immediately turns it on. The light from the console makes me able to see his expression and he looks so happy like a child who just got a new game and couldn't wait to play it. Then I hear a familiar BGM from his console. That's the game I was playing earlier. I'm looking at him.

"You have a good taste for game, sir."

He smiles and looks at me.

"Thank you. I just played this game a week ago and I'm about to get the Bloody Crown, all I need to do is talk to the NPC."

I'm shocked and turns my head.

"Bloody Crown?! That's the hardest headgear to create on that game at the moment! How did you obtain all the required items?! And you just played that game for a week!"

He laughs.

"When I saw the game and the latest update and saw that headgear, I immediately installed the game and grinding for the items. Well, some of them I bought it from auction a few days ago. I got the last rare drop item from the 22nd boss this morning, so I'm all set to make the headgear."

I'm staring at him.

"Don't play with me, sir. Even if you do that, you still need to be an end-game player with the help from the top 3 guilds raid teams to be able to kill the 22nd boss for the last item!"

He smiles.

"But I'm already an end-game player. It only took me three days. I paid the raid teams to help me defeat the 22nd boss."

I choked.

"What?! I played this game for a month and I haven't reached the end game!"

He laughs and I'm just shaking my head.

We continue talking about it and turns out he's a game creator and he was invited by the game publisher from earlier. Someone this young to be able to make his own game and got invited by a big company, that's really a big achievement. This kid doesn't seem to be so hyped about it. He keeps talking about how he made that game and I'm starting to know him more. This kid is really nice and looks so innocent by the way he talks.

We have arrived at the destination. I can't believe what I'm seeing. A big mansion with tall pillars surrounding the house. His parents must be some big shot. I look back.

"We are here, sir."

He looks at the window and puts his game console on his bag.

"Thank you!"

I open his door and he gets out of the car. I smile.

"Thank you for using our service and have a good night, sir."

He smiles and nods.

"You too!"

I'm so tired and thinking about having a nice hot coffee since it's already late and I don't think I'm going to get some sleep. When I'm about to enter my car and then he comes back.

"Ah, Mister!"

I peek my head on top of the car and look at him.

"Yes, sir? Is there anything that you forgot in the car?"

I'm looking at the backseat and use my phone's flashlight to check. He approaches me.

"No. I want to invite you to my house. I know it's weird but I would like to treat you to a cup of coffee. I have new coffee beans that just arrived this morning and I haven't tried them yet. It's a premium kind of coffee bean so it must be good. So I would like to have someone else's opinion about it."

I scratch my head and look at the time. It's 2 A.M., but I really do need a cup of coffee, and it seems that he really wants me to accept his offer. I sigh.

"If it's okay with you, sir. Then I'll gladly accept it."

He smiles and claps his hands. He runs towards the entrance gate and uses a remote to open it. He waves.

"Let's park your car inside. You can park anywhere."

I sigh and still can't believe I'm going to do this.

I park my car near the huge fountain. I'm looking around and amazed at how massive this mansion is. He chuckles.

"Welcome. Let's get inside."

He put his fingerprint on the scanner and the door immediately make a clacking sound. He opens the door.

"Come in."

I walk in and am immediately mesmerized by the interiors. I gulp and look at him.

"You live here alone, sir?"

He closes the door.

"Yes, my parents are living abroad. So I'm on my own. Well, there are dozens of maids and servants here, but they're in a different building right now because that's where they all sleep.'

He walks towards the stairs.

"Let's go. The kitchen is upstairs in my room."

Kitchen on the second floor? and in his room? My brain stops working.

I follow him upstairs. He opens the door and it's like a studio apartment. The kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom are all in here. I see stairs to the second floor. My brain is still processing what I'm seeing. He runs towards the kitchen and immediately brews the coffee. I'm wandering around to see the rest of the room. I see a glass door and take a peek inside. It looks like a capsule bed and there are 10 of them in there. He looks at me.

"Those are new gaming consoles."

I turn around and look at him.

"Gaming consoles?"

He nods with a big smile on his face.

"Yes, I made a game and that's the console you need to have to play the game. It's a VRMMORPG with 99.9% similarity of real life, so you can do anything you want in there without limitation."

I tilt my head.

"Why only 99.9%? What about the 0.1%?"

He chuckles.

"Well, you can't respawn when you die in real life. That's what makes the game only have 99.9% similarity with real life. Of course that 0.1% is the system."

I'm humming with understanding.

"Right..."

He approaches me with two cups of coffee. He offers one to me and I grab it from his hand. He puts his hand on the scanner and the door slide open. I follow him inside and he sits on the desk at the back of the room. He turns on the PC.

"Please have a seat here."

I sit beside him and watch him using the computer. He's operating something that I don't have any idea what is he doing. I sip my coffee and realize how good the coffee bean is. He's typing on the command-line while sipping the coffee. Then the capsule beds are turns on. He stands up and stands beside one of the beds.

"Come here."

I approach him. He takes the helmet inside the capsule bed and puts it on. Then he's lying inside the capsule bed.

"You should go to the other console and put the helmet on. We are going to play!"

I go to the capsule bed beside his and put on the helmet then lying inside it.

"Is this a new VR device?"

He laughs quietly.

"Yes. I made this device. So it's not the same as the others VR devices. To tell you the truth, you're the first person ever to use this device other than me."

I lift my body and take a peek at his capsule bed to see his face.

"Really? Wow, it's an honor."

He chuckles.

"It's an honor to have you play with me."

He peeks his head and points at the button on my right side of the capsule bed.

"Press that button to start the device."

I look at the button and look at him. He's already lying on the capsule bed. I also lay down and wait for his command. He raises his arm.

"Let's play!"

I pressed the button and felt a bit dizzy. I fell asleep immediately.