Retirement

"Even before the abyss of a black hole... we still have a choice."

Hmmm…

A little more.

"Humanity never conceals its desire to control the heavens, and I am no exception."

Good. And, to complete it all…

"Rules, are made to be broken."

And with this, he was done.

'It was a long journey.'

He worked since the early ages of his life.

He learned, he applied, he failed, and he learned from his failures.

There were setbacks, there were times when he just couldn't get up and start working again, he had faced difficulties throughout the last decade of his life, however, finally, on this day, he was done.

"Finally…"

An attractive apartment room, a bed on the left, a window on the other side. He sat on his desk with a holographic clock present beside him, facing his computer screen, listening to (Crow), a new song he accidentally stumbled upon and fell in love with, a warm smile of relief present on his face.

"Finally."

On his 360Hz screen, along with some quotes, some descriptions, and some epic narrations, the final page of his last book had ended with a happy ending.

His hand left the three-piece keyboard, the pencil and his tablet were turned off, and, he also stopped the timer playing on his simple holographic clock.

"Finally, I can retire now."

Money wasn't really a problem for him but he valued his independence above anything else.

He loved his freedom, he loved what he could do by being unrestricted, and he loved the way he concluded his last project.

"Haaa…"

He still remembered why he started working even though he had the option to just live a life of comfort. 

"I can finally rest as much as I want, mom."

He remembered why he got a part time food delivering job at the young age of fourteen. Or why he endured all the trouble, curses, pain, and pressure in all the jobs he had worked at.

He had no need to endure all the shit those pig bosses put him through. He was a worker at first, but he learned, he earned, he experienced the lives the common children experience, and with his own efforts, he first freed himself from the grunt life.

Then he earned more and got to higher positions.

He paid his school fees, he paid for his graduation, and he also paid for his diplomas.

He got away from the life of corporate slavery. Started a small business, expanded it, made it into something that brought profits, and then, with time, effort, and good decisions, he was able to become a business owner at the age of twenty.

And then, he found people that he trusted. Gave them the reins of his business, and went off to the creative side, and started following his passion.

He had always been more of a creative person than a technical one.

The things that he liked doing in his free time, since a young age, had included photography, videography, a little bit of drawing and a little bit of everything that was related to art.

He liked doing many things, actually. 

"Now that I think about it, ain't I kinda amazing?"

He was twenty four now. And, he was done 'working'.

"Not many retire at such an age, hun? I'm definitely pretty amazing then."

Young people at his age mostly run around in search of jobs or finish their higher studies. But after all that hard work of so many years… he was ready to retire now.

"I can stay in my room all day, play whatever game I want, order whatever I want, and finally, after all these years… I can finally just chill without doing anything, and there will be no one to tell me what to do.

Not even you, mom."

He liked games, but ever since he started working, he swore to abstain from the games until he had achieved his goal.

He wasn't able to do many things in these past few years. But that will end today.

"Alright then, first of all…"

============

(Search: — — —.)

============

-Tap. Tap. Tap.

-Click. Click.

-Tak.

He brought up the universal search bar and typed in the name of the website he had built over the past three years.

[Welcome, Master Elio.]

As soon as he logged in, a little white kitten greeted him with a heartwarming yawn. It was an adorable greeting.

His girlfriend made this cute AI for him— right, his girlfriend.

-Knock. Knock!

"Coming in~."

He heard the knock on the door and the one knocking barged in without receiving any permission with a cheerful smile.

"What's my gummy bear up to today~?"

He had natural light brown hair and pretty green eyes. His looks were attractive but they weren't extraordinary or anything.

He was wearing a normal oversized shirt, sitting on his throne-like chair, staring at his screen when two slender yet muscular hands wrapped around him from behind.

"Good timing, Twinkle. Look at this."

"Hmm? What does that- oh! Is that what I think it is?!"

He had three monitors if they added his tab, and two side by side without it.

So, while the screen with the novel ending was still present on the right one, both of them stared at the screen showing the website both of them had worked on for so long.

"Yup… I'm done."

She had longed to hear those words. 

"Yesssssssss~! Finally! Fkin finally!"

She was happier by this news than him for some reason…

Her long black hair shining under the afternoon light coming from the window tied behind her back, her comfortable white shirt that was twice her size, the black leggings covering her attractive legs, and her deep blue eyes covered by her round glasses gave her a simple yet elegant look.

She looked similar to him… not by physical appearance but by their vibes. 

Both of them were quite simple, approachable people that by the looks, seemed more introverted but simple individuals.

And, it was a fact that they looked good as they smiled at one another while looking at this particular PC screen.

"Twinkle…"

Grabbing her hand to calm her down, he gently pulled her closer to him, and even though no strength was used, she followed his lead, and sat down on his lap.

"Will you do the honors?"

This was as important to them as their friendship. 

This website was what brought them together, it was what gave him all the fame he had today as well, and now that it was time to close it down, he was giving her the chance to do it with him.

"Are you sure?"

She didn't mind doing it for him since she had dreamed of this day for months, even years. But she had to confirm just in case.

"I am. I'm sure that the one who wrote the first codes for this 'house' of ours, should also be the one to lock it down for good."

Yes this is a VRMMO novel and there will be a complete, full dive VR game, however, this moment was one of the most important moments of their journey.

"Alright then~!"

-Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! 

-Tap!

"MewMew~! Initiate master control~! Execute command XII-0~."

[Mew!]

[Master control initiated! Requesting execution keys!]

The kitten that had been sleepy all this time opened its red eyes and a special pink sphere was summoned right above its little head.

"Huuuu. I've been waiting for so long, man…"

She took out the necklace around her neck that contained a very small pendant. While he removed his bracelet that had a matching pendant that seemed like it would fit into the one she had.

"I'm sorry for being such a bad boyfriend, dear Twinkling star."

"I'll fucking chock you if you call me that one more time."

Sparkle was not a nickname or pet name. It was an embarrassing memory that he reminded her of every single fucking day…

"Ahem."

There was a unique mechanism attached to his monitor.

"Let's do the hot things later."

He gave her his part, and she combined both the key pieces before giving him a death glare.

"Naughty bastard."

It was a big day for them and here he was, playing jokes on her like this.

"Ughhh."

She questioned herself how the hell did she even fall for this guy.

But then she remembered the reason when she looked back at the screen that contained a record of all the things he had created in the past few years…

"You've worked hard."

"Thanks for waiting."

"It was worth it."

The moment she turned the key, the pink portal that had appeared above the cute white kitten spread all across the Home Screen and, in a matter of seconds, it devoured everything they could see on that website.

[Mew~!]

[Archiving is successful.]

Finally, only their white sleepy kitten remained in the corner of a blank screen on a single white sentence.

[The Rank-12 creator: Acheron#1233 has officially Retired!]

"It's done."

"You're free now."

She smiled at him, warmly.

"I'm free…"

And he smiled back.

"Then."

He already knew what her next words were going to be.

She wasn't an easy person to read generally, however for him, she was as transparent as the clear waters of oblivion.

"Shall we finally play, darling?"

He loved games but he hadn't played any games in a long, long time.

In the last decade, the VR technology had advanced considerably and there was a certain game- an otherworld- that had been the leading virtual reality game for the rest of the world.

"Yes…"

She was also a player. Someone that loved that world much more than this reality.

And she had wanted to play along with him for as long as she could remember…

"Let's finally play. Together."

He had achieved all that he wanted.

He was done slaving, he was done working, he was done with everything one needed to do to earn money— one of the most important resources in this modern era. 

He was done…

So, now, it was time to chill and play around in the 'second world'— in the <New Origin>.