Chapter 3 - Change (2)
Change (2)
Translator : Elizabeth
Looking back, I had played Legend Frontier every single day for the past three years without fail. It was the only way, and the only place, that could satisfy my desperate longing to walk.
Like people struggling in poverty who head to the gambling dens with the heart of one grasping at straws, I dove into the battlefields of Legend Frontier every day. And there, I raced through the wind to my heart’s content. I thrust my sword to strike down enemies, shattered fortresses, and seized victory.
I played for as little as four hours a day to as many as eighteen. I had become so accustomed to the bright red warning screens of the VR headgear advising rest that they felt like old friends.
But if you were to ask if I had become a game-addicted wreck who couldn't distinguish between reality and virtuality, the answer was an absolute no. My mind and thoughts were still sound and healthy, and I could clearly distinguish between reality and the virtual world.
In reality, my body was a paraplegic mess, unable to even go out on my own; in the virtual world, my body was a silver-haired girl capable of moving faster than anyone else. How could I possibly confuse the two?
Whenever I took off the headgear and saw my shriveled legs, the crushing weight of a hellish reality, which I couldn't feel in the game, would press down heavily on my shoulders. When I went out sitting in my wheelchair, the sense of dissonance with the 'Gale' who roamed the battlefield was so great that I had no choice but to recognize where the reality truly lay.
Therefore, even if I were to play Legend Frontier for another ten or twenty years, there was no way I would ever confuse reality with the virtual world.
"Huh...?"
...Which is why I couldn't help but feel an immense sense of confusion at the phenomenon currently unfolding before me. Despite having clearly logged out, I had sensation in my lower body. A feeling that should never have been felt in reality was being transmitted to me with startling clarity.
“…….”
Between the folds of the blanket, pale white toes were wiggling. Unlike my original, unsightly legs, these were well-proportioned legs with fair, smooth skin.
What is this?
At first, I thought I was dreaming. I was momentarily terrified that these pale legs belonged to someone else—that someone had broken into my home. But as soon as I confirmed that those toes moved exactly according to my will, following the commands I sent from my brain, I was plunged into even greater chaos.
"What is this... Uh...?"
The moment I blankly muttered to myself, unable to believe the fact that I not only had sensation in my lower body but that its appearance had changed into the smooth legs of a girl—
"Wait... My voice...?"
My expression froze once more as I heard the voice flowing from my mouth. Instead of my original mid-to-low-range voice, a clear, resonant, high-pitched voice was ringing out.
"What... is happening..."
Recognizing one or two things that had changed caused other things to immediately come into view.
My two arms had become as white and smooth as my lower body; my Adam’s apple had vanished, replaced by two budding breasts. And finally, the complete lack of any sensation in my groin.
It was as if my entire body had transformed into that of a woman.
“…….”
As if possessed, I pushed my upper body up. Then, I slowly set my new lower body, now filled with sensation, onto the floor of my studio apartment.
"Ah..."
That sensation and feeling I could only experience within the game. Even amidst the confusion, I felt something welling up within me at the stimulus I was feeling again in reality for the first time in nearly twenty years.
Since it had been so long since I had walked in reality, I wobbled toward the bathroom like a newborn calf. It was a subtly different feeling from the artificial sensations provided by virtual reality, so it was difficult to adjust.
“…….”
Stepping carefully and preciously with every stride, I finally reached the bathroom. Without hesitation, I looked straight into the mirror above the sink.
"Uh..."
Standing there was a girl—one who was incredibly beautiful, yet simultaneously, incredibly familiar.
Silver hair cascaded down to her waist. The neatly arranged strands possessed a brilliant luster. Below that were those characteristic emerald-green eyes. Because they were partially closed as if she were sleepy, they gave off a cold, emotionless impression.
She was roughly in the low-to-mid 150cm range. Her skin was so pale and smooth that it looked like a celebrity’s skin in a TV commercial. No, she might have possessed looks that surpassed any celebrity. Come to think of it, it was only natural for her to look that way.
The girl before my eyes was the one I had painstakingly crafted, born directly from my own hands.
"Ah..."
No matter how many times I looked, the girl with the dazed expression in the mirror was my playable character from the virtual reality AOS game, Legend Frontier—the character commonly known as the Speed Swordswoman, Gale.
Impossible.
Those words echoed and surged within my chest.
I had simply played the game and logged out, yet I had become my character, and the sensation had returned to my paralyzed legs. What kind of dream-like situation was this?
No, it really could be a dream. Or perhaps I had simply gone insane.
Slap!
To clarify whether this was a dream or reality, I raised my palm and slapped my own cheek. A stinging pain followed, and my pale cheek began to turn red.
But the stimulus wasn't enough. I needed a greater stimulus, a sharper pain to tell me that this wasn't a dream, but reality—that I hadn't gone mad.
“…….”
So this time, I clenched my fist tightly and threw a straight punch into my own cheekbone.
"Gah!"
A groan escaped automatically at the sincere punch, followed by a heavy thud of pain. The left side of my face turned even redder.
...It seemed it really wasn't a dream.
02.
[I woke up and I’ve turned into my character][Author: ㅇㅇ(118.236)]
[I logged out and I'm my character. What is this situation? What am I supposed to do? Should I go to a hospital? If I go, where should I go? Orthopedics?]
- Sigh- I think you should head to the psychiatry department, sir.
"Hmm..."
I scoured the internet and wrote posts on community forums to look into this unidentified phenomenon, but not only did nothing come up, I was simply treated like a mental patient. Even the occasional similar posts were nothing but gibberish. I had spent five hours roaming the internet with zero results.
I suppose it’s because I’m the first to experience such a thing. This wasn't a movie; supernatural phenomena like this didn't just happen to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
"A hospital..."
I stared intently at the number '119' I had typed into my phone. If it were a hospital, an emergency room, or doctors—would they be able to clearly explain this phenomenon? Or if I inquired directly with the game developer or the VR headgear company, would they know something?
"...No."
But I soon shook my head and put my phone down. The risk of telling someone about my situation was too great.
Since this was an unprecedented situation, informing anyone would surely lead to me being plastered across the news and becoming a research subject for scholars. There was a high probability I’d have my blood drawn every day and be treated more like a lab rat than a patient.
Most importantly, if I were to receive 'treatment' that returned me to my original body—back to being a paraplegic...
"...I don't want that."
I wasn't inclined at all.
I didn't know the reason or the cause, but right now, I was standing on the ground with my own two legs for the first time in twenty years. I could walk.
I didn't want to lose such a precious opportunity, nor did I want to intentionally get rid of it. What did it matter if I had turned into a game character? What did it matter if I had become a woman?
I simply wanted to feel this sensation—this fluttering feeling I could only experience in virtual reality—a little longer. No, I wanted to feel it in reality for the rest of my life.
"Whew."
With a short sigh, I closed my laptop. Further searching seemed meaningless. Because the fact that I could walk again in reality was what truly mattered, I lost the will to search for the cause itself.
"...The sun is up."
The long dawn had passed, and daybreak was already beginning outside the window. A new day was starting, one where everything would be different.
"Should I... go out?"
I had obtained a new body and legs; I couldn't let them rot while just staring at the internet. I decided to try going out, walking with my own two feet.
...I had things to buy anyway, so a quick trip to the convenience store in front of the building wouldn't be bad.
“…….”
Leaving the cursed wheelchair I always used tossed into a corner of the room, I put on a loose hoodie and slippers. For the first time in twenty years, I stepped out onto the ground of the outside world with my own two feet.