"Another day," sighed David as he got out of bed.
He had beaten the alarm he set on his phone. He always wondered why his body was so eager to start the day when he absolutely dreaded waking up. It's not so much that he hates his life, in fact, he lives quite comfortably. David goes to a good school and lives in his own apartment. His mother pays for his tuition and gives him a monthly allowance. He has no need for a part-time job, so he has plenty of time to spend on his hobbies. He lives a better life than most — and he knows this — yet he just can't seem to find any meaning in it.
"If only life were like my dreams," thought David as he got ready for his classes.
David dreamt last night that he was a great warrior in another world. He fought against the Demon Lord's army and led his people to salvation. He forged unbreakable bonds with his comrades and fulfilled a prophecy written by the gods. He was a hero, adored by all, and he changed the course of history.
David knows that such a life is only possible in his dreams — the real world is, in reality, much more absurd. In this world, there is no Demon Lord, and David is not some mythical hero that people rely on — yet this world makes even less sense.
In this world, David is simply an ordinary boy who has no clue what he wants to do with his life. There is no grand adventure waiting for him, no specific goal that relies on him, and no divine plan. There is no prophecy to be fulfilled, no proof of gods or higher beings. Nothing truly happens for a reason, it simply happens because it can and it did. David does not know, nor does he think that he will ever know if there even is a higher meaning for his existence. He only knows that this world is undoubtedly absurd.
To him, life is simply living. David lives simply for the sake of living.
He quickly ate a bowl of cereal, put on his favorite black hoodie, grabbed his backpack, and headed to class.
He attends the Eden Institute for Higher Education, the top university in his city. David himself came from a small school in the countryside where he was the top student. He studied hard every day and put in the effort to ensure his application was as good as it could be. He spent so much time studying that his social life suffered as a result. David didn't care for it much — he was set on going to Eden. He was extremely happy to get into the college of his dreams, though his feelings have definitely changed since then.
In Eden, David was introduced to a harsh reality: this world is not a fair one. David learned that hard work does not ensure success. In his first year, he quickly realized that he was the minority. His classmates were all geniuses or prodigies in the respective fields. They put in a fraction of the effort that he put in, yet they always came out on top. Because of this, he felt like an outcast, much slower, and less gifted than all of his peers.
David slowly began to lose motivation, and by the end of his first year, life had already become purposeless to him. He put in the bare minimum amount of effort to pass his classes and nothing more.
And so David lived his wholly uneventful life in solitude. He spent most of his time in his apartment playing video games, reading comics, or watching anime. There was nothing wrong with this kind of life, he would tell himself, and so he actively tried to keep it this way. He avoided interaction and preferred to stay in the background, away from any attention. By the end of finals week, if no one knew he was even their classmate, then he would have succeeded in protecting his quiet, yet meaningless, existence.
David challenged the meaning of life and was left thoroughly confused.