Asteria Online (2)
Everyone has some life lesson they've learned from their own experiences. It doesn't matter what it is. Even something small and trivial, like "only eat three pieces of candy a day" or "never miss a dental checkup every six months."
The origin of the lesson doesn't matter. Naturally, I had one too. The insight I gained from my turbulent life was that most things come without any warning.
Sudden possession, the shock of my first kill, abrupt brushes with death, reaching transcendent realms, flashes of enlightenment like lightning, and the message that reappeared at the story's end...
The world isn't that kind to humans. There's no time to prepare or compose yourself beforehand.
I realized that once again, staring at the screen on my monitor.
Discover a new world unlike reality!
The world I'd lived in. The one I'd poured my heart and soul into racing through was existing on Earth as a game.
Three days passed since then. Time on Earth flew by in a frenzy in every way. Truth be told, I'd wanted to take it easy at first, but unfortunately, there was no room for that.
There were too many things demanding immediate attention. For example—
Checking my bank balance, family relations, educational background, and other identity-related matters.
Especially the identity stuff was tricky since I had no idea how my current identity had been formed. Had it been created from nothing, suddenly becoming "Lee Yuri"? Or did "Lee Yuri" have a past I didn't know about?
The former would be convenient, but if it was the latter, there'd be a ton more things to handle.
What if "Lee Yuri" had family I didn't know about? Or was currently enrolled in high school? What then? I'd have to dash to the teacher's office and submit a withdrawal form right away.
No way was I going back to school at this age.
Anyway. There were a few more things besides that. Legal guardian issues, confirming property ownership here, rummaging through the house for hidden items...
...Listing them out like this, I suddenly regretted coming back to Earth. Why were there so many chores? Way more annoying than I'd thought. All essential, so I couldn't skip any.
"......"
But even so, the most important thing was separate.
Released about 3 years and 6 months ago by game company Moira under the title "World's First Virtual Reality."
Roughly 3 years and 6 months ago. It was a game released by Moira with the tagline of world's first virtual reality. In 2050, even with rapidly advancing tech, the consensus was that true full-dive VR was still impossible.
So, a game from an unknown company swept the world with massive shockwaves.
And now, 3 years and 6 months after Asteria Online—or AsOn for short—was released.
With unimaginable popularity and records defying common sense.
The world's first VR game had swallowed humanity whole.
'...Are these even real numbers?'
I rubbed my tired eyes with my fingers. Still unbelievable, no matter how many times I looked. At first, I thought an extra zero was tacked on by mistake.
Even so, it was absurd. Sure, a VR game, but this level of popularity defied reality. Made me worry if society was even functioning normally.
Average concurrent players at 1.12 billion? Had humanity fallen into mass hypnosis while I was gone?
......
But that wasn't the point.
If it was just an extremely popular VR game, I wouldn't have this headache right now.
...Because.
The stage beyond the illusion of a virtual reality game wasn't the world I knew.
Dimension: Asteria. The world I'd possessed into was there.
So, I spent a full day immersed in researching AsOn. Wrestling with the still-awkward keyboard, Hangul, and my hazy memories.
After an all-nighter of internet surfing, I gathered a rough outline of the AsOn world lore.
There was a lot of info, but picking out the key points:
1. 20 years had passed in the time since I left.
2. Records of my existence and deeds were clearly preserved.
3. The game's main story involved the continent's downfall.
That about summed it up. Staring at the notes on the blank notepad, my face naturally scrunched up.
"...What the hell do I do?"
I pressed my furrowed brow with two fingers to smooth it out. My head throbbed.
The idea that the world I'd lived in was actually virtual reality... was a pretty intriguing hypothesis. I vaguely remember a movie with a similar plot from way back, though I forget the title.
Early in my possession, I often thought something like that myself. Not VR, but maybe I was dreaming?
...No, not a delusion—a wish, perhaps? Anyway.
That possibility was zero. I could state it definitively. No need to explain why.
My very existence was the clearest proof it wasn't some illusion.
So, the hypothesis left was that some transcendent being created a game using a real existing world for some purpose...
'What kind of bastard is it?'
Transcendents from the previous dimension realm. Outer gods ruling other dimensions, demon king-level transcendents dominating the higher demon world, and various others I didn't know.
In a flash, candidates capable of this flashed through my mind.
If not them...
Return to Earth?
"......"
An unknown message flitted through my mind. No, I couldn't be sure. Was it that 'system,' a deity's doing, or some lowly demon's prank?
Too early to judge rashly.
"Urgh......"
What a pain. This wasn't why I'd returned to Earth. My plan was to spend my remaining days peacefully at home, swinging a sword to my heart's content.
But now that I knew, I couldn't ignore something so nagging.
Especially.
3. The game's main story involved the continent's downfall.
As someone once called the world's savior, I couldn't turn a blind eye to that.
'But......'
I couldn't help the rising anger. How long ago did I save the world through hellish ordeals, and now another crisis? At this point, maybe it was fated to perish from the start—a reasonable suspicion.
"Haa......"
I sighed deeply, tapping the keyboard. Thinking I'd try playing it once, at least.
Then, a hypothesis popped up.
What if the creator of Asteria Online was the 'system' itself, and it sent me back to Earth to make me play it?
If that guess was true, what was the purpose? To make me save the world again? Wasn't once, body and all, enough?
No, the reason for possessing me in the first place...
-Tap.
I stopped thinking there. No point in further speculation. Even if right, it wouldn't change my actions.
The 'system' had some intent to guide me? So what? It was my chosen path. My walked path.
Even if some unknown force interfered, the karma I'd built was purely mine.
That never changes.
And so.
"......"
My thoughts shifted back to the screen.
I'd decided to play AsOn, but not right now. It was a VR game, after all.
I needed VR gear. A capsule.
...But damn, it's expensive.