1 The Gamer

Keeping a job wasn't fun...

It was tiring and lifeless, but maybe that's because I wasn't doing what I'd aspired to do early in life...

And that was anything related to gaming!

Unfortunately, I could only consider myself a type of 'pseudo-gamer' thanks to having no consoles.

Being able to play games weren't in my stars...

I had to be content with talking about them online or with a friend, but never enjoying its wonders.

And THAT was truly heart-wrenching...

It made me think of that nostalgic past.

The time me and my siblings used to always have fun together playing games. It was better back then. Perhaps... the happiest moments of my entire life. When gaming wasn't so 'lonely' in concept.

I'm not sure why I felt that way to be honest.

There WAS fun in playing 2D beat-em-ups and fighting games, but it felt empty on the inside.

It was to the point I sold all my consoles.

Sometimes, I tried overcoming that hurdle by playing MMORPGs, but that wouldn't always work.

Mostly because it asked too much of my time.

Killing 10000 monsters for one level up wasn't good design or gameplay... It was just tedious.

Gaming itself became such a chore!

I already had to do a lot of work while doing my warehousing job. 'Jobs' on top of that were lame!

Since when did playing for fun mean having to listen to the game itself telling me what to do?

This thought eventually caused me to put down my passion for gaming for a long time afterwards.

That was... until I got a contacted by my sister.

{Hi! :) Are you doing well?} She texted, since we were still in-touch after 'that incident' in the past.

A lot happened between us, but I still wanted our relationship to stay the same as it used to be.

Like when we used to idiotically make excuses to prove our closeness. Saying absurd things like:

["You like toast too? We are SOO similar~!"]

That kind of dumb logic.

We were practically two peas in a pod, even now. I smiled happily when seeing a new text from her.

{Good. So what about you?} I texted her back. We were both the type to write in full sentences.

{Taking care of my cutie~} She sent a picture of her daughter. She was still young and cute as a doll.

I'm hoping that 'charm' she had wouldn't wear off.

{Don't get me wrong: I like when we talk, but I'm guessing you didn't randomly choose to text me.}

{Isn't my little brother such a smart guy~?]

{Sis...!}

[Alright alright... Actually, I was wondering if you plan on playing games again.} She got to the point.

{No.} I replied to her instantly.

It was after a few moments she asked: {Why not?}

{They're not fun played alone.}

{Don't worry~ I promise to play with you as well.}

{Don't you have your daughter to take care of...?}

{It's a Full Immersion Type Role-playing Game!}

{You didn't answer my question.}

{But I did though...?} She sent a confused Emoji.

It was only then did I remember that video games nowadays altered in-game time with immersion level. Depending on how deep you 'dived' into a virtual reality game, the more setting unlocked.

{I don't have 'Immersion Gear'.} They were outside what I could afford on top of bills and eating food.

{I've already sent you some.} As soon as I read this text, a man rang my doorbell pretty coincidentally.

It looked like a normal delivery man.

"Excuse me, can you sign this please?" I wrote my signature and brought in the big box by myself.

There was no one at home to help me...

{So you're giving me your old one? Didn't you say you liked it? I thought we were BOTH gonna play.}

{We are!}

{But you won't be able to access your account without the gear. Your items won't be there too.}

{That's fine. You can use them instead.}

{Thank you! You're the best Sis ever!}

{I know~} A rare laugh left my lips when I heard her say that. What kind of luck was I this anyway?

Looking at the Immersion Gear, I could tell that she carefully cleaned it up before sending it to me.

It was a little nostalgic... I remember how she became addicted to this a certain game ten years ago. It was when she was 18, she used the hack of studying in-game to get through university exams.

I wanted to do the same thing when my time finally came, but our mom banned games for me later on.

So this 'life hack' she had went unused...

{Is the game really hard?}

{It's like hell-mode difficulty.}

{No wonder you like it...} Sis was always the type to overwork herself, even when it came to hobbies.

I vividly remembers my high school days when I saw her doing Art at home. Such attention to detail and fine-tuned brushstrokes weren't something you got overnight, and she wasn't even passionate of becoming any sort of designer or anything!

My sister majored in biology, not art. So what was the point of working so hard for a good grade?

Maybe it was our parents pressuring her...

They always wanted her to be 'perfect'.

{I'm sure you'll like it.}

{But I don't like hard games.} I played every game I'd ever gotten my hands on in easy mode.

I'd NEVER boosted my stats...

{That's fine. I'll be there with you.}

{But 'full dive' immersion means I'll feel pain...}

{So you don't want to play with me?} This was a hard question, because it wasn't I didn't want to.

It's just... the difficulty was too high.

{I want to know more about the game.}

{Since when did you need a manual? Just play it.}

{...You're hiding something from me.} I quickly looked through the box and found that the console already had the game attached to it. There was no way for me to know what it was without playing.

And my memory was bad... It would be hard to specifically remember what game she'd played.

It was because I'd lost interest and never asked.

Probably should've at least known the name in retrospect. However, I wouldn't be beaten here!

There was great controversy online when this game first came out years ago, so I looked it up.

Eventually, I found what I'd been looking for.

{I'm not.} She tried to deny it, but I texted back:

{Shadow Quest Hero Saga.} These words made her stop texting for some time. Mostly due to its rating.

'Adults Only 18+' was the rating for this flopped game that had been reduced to ashes by the controversy. I hear that it had too much realism and detail when it came to gore, among other thing...

It had the Bad Language, Online, Fear, Discrimination, Sexual Content, Drugs, Gambling, with the most obvious being the Violence tag. The only one missing was the In-Game Purchase tag.

It was considered a 'Dark Fantasy' rather than a regular one. It subverted the tropes quite well.

But no one cared about the story when actually playing the game was too hard, causing the deaths of hundreds of high-tier players who even did gaming professionally. That's what one article said.

I was curious enough to want to read more, but held myself back. That's not the 'right' way...

I'd rather Sis just told me herself.

{Bro...} My sister finally texted back to me.

{Yeah?}

{Are you thinking of ever getting married?}

{You know I don't want to anymore... After 'that incident', do you think I can trust strangers?}

{You can't live life this...}

{Don't change the subject. You know the only reason Mum didn't know what you were playing was because they're game inept. If they were even a little better with technology, we'd be done for.}

I wasn't really surprised my 'goody-goody' sister played something like this. Though she was an angel on the outside and in, she had the most edgiest tastes sometimes. Like a 'closet goth'...?

Nah, I think I'm misusing that phrase...

{...You scared of a challenge?}

{Oh, bring it on then!} If she was going to twist it like that, then come on and bring out the heat!

I wasn't scared of any challenge. Bring it!!!

{There's something else too...}

{Which is?}

{I got permission from Mum to introduce you to some people your age. You need to get married.}

{Can't you stop that?}

{Stop what?}

{Saying 'need' what it's just what others want.}

{Bro...}

{Yeah?} This instant-response text was written unconsciously. I was too much of a 'Little Bro'...

{Do you have any friends?} Her words hit me harsh... I wasn't sure what to say to her.

{I do...}

{You don't.}

{How are you so sure...?}

{I know you best. You're so caught up in the past that you refuse to get close to your colleagues.}

{I DO talk to them...}

{That isn't the same as trusting them.}

{Why do I need to trust them? Anyway, I don't even know how to make 'friends' anymore. I'm too old...}

{I'll promise you this: You'll be able to make friends if you play this game with me. I swear on my life.}

{Really...?} I wasn't sure if it was my heart talking.

It's not like I was content with my current loner status. Getting friends... would actually be nice.

{And those girls you want to introduce me to will also be playing this game? So they're gamers too?}

{Kinda... Not everyone is the same.}

{And you're telling me someone as strict as our mum is allowing this...? That sounds a bit shady.}

{They don't know what game we're gonna play.}

{Oh, now it makes sense.}

{Wanna play?} I didn't answer immediately.

Instead, there was something I was curious about.

{Didn't I tell you to get it fixed? There's still a crack on this Immersion Gear. What if I'm blocked out?}

{You'll totally be fine. I fixed it up myself!}

{You...?} Since when was SHE a tech wiz?

{Alright, fine. I'll give it a go, but you can't force me into continuing I don't want to actually play it.}

{That's fair. Thanks~!}

{You're welcome. I'll start the game at eight. Make sure you also enter the game at the same time.}

With that, we idly talked about random things afterwards before I chose to turn off my phone.

I went to get something to eat.

The house was silent as usual. It didn't make me feel particularly lonely, but I didn't like this feeling.

There was an old title I searched up that we used to play. When I saw the cover, my hand traced it.

The game was pretty retro and old school. It was a turn-based RPG with interesting characters and plot. Not particularly deep story or anything, but it was the first game me and my siblings had played.

My old brother liked choosing the bombastic Mage with many spells, Big Sis like the Healer that doubled as a Summoner, I chose the Thief of a main character, and my little sisters had the rest.

It was fun seeing how our characters did many things on the screen. Even if it was real pixilated.

But what made me remember the game was how it brought the family together. It unified us briefly...

Now, my Sis wanted me to play a game with her. It was the first time I'd been invited in a while.

This also wasn't the same kind of game as before.

Nothing was similar to that old console RPG...

The only thing the same was that both were games we could play. I hadn't even played Virtual Reality type games before... It was all due to Big Sis hogging the console and not giving me a turn.

What am I complaining like a child for...?

I looked through the contacts on my phone and saw that there was only five numbers saved on it.

My brother, my little sister, my mum, Sis, and the number used to call the office at where I worked.

There was no one else in my contacts...

I sighed and held my head.

For her to be introducing me some 'potential partners' in a nearly empty MMORPG was a first.

I'd heard that some bad people still play it, but I wasn't sure what was the point in listening to her.

Meh, I'll just drop it if it's boring...

When the time came, I turned on the console and put on the Immersion Gear while lying down.

My consciousness started to become hazy...