"Hmm…?"
I saw a strange window flickering within my field of vision when I woke up from my sleep. It appeared like the GUI of a Windows folder. Seeing such an odd thing, it made me feel as if I was still lurking inside some dream.
However, it wasn't a dream after all. The pain I felt from pinching my cheeks was too realistic to call it otherwise. There was nothing different about the room I was living in. Everything was the same as usual and there was no particular change visible in my room that unfortunately came with a cramped bathroom.
The strange window appearing in my field of vision was about the only thing that could be called unusual. I rubbed my eyes and also washed my face in the bathroom thinking I might be seeing things, but no matter what I did that flickering window showed no signs of disappearing.
"Is there something wrong with me?" I wondered to myself. "Could it be that keeping myself shut inside the room influenced my nervous system in some sort of negative way and I started seeing hallucinations? Is something causing stress to my optic nerve?"
It's times like this when a person should look up the internet. I got up from the bed and pressed on the power switch of my PC. However, don't know why but the PC didn't boot up. Guessing that some kind of malfunctioning within the CPU could be the root of the problem, I opened it up and checked the internal parts inside but didn't find anything noticeable. I had no idea what exactly was the issue as it was working fine till yesterday.
I started feeling a bit irritated and decided to put this matter aside for now as I picked up my smartphone. But it was also of no help as it wasn't able to connect to internet.
"How about this?" I thought as I placed my laptop that had been left for charging on the floor onto my lap and pressed on the power button.
The outcome made me abandon all hope. It didn't show any signs of booting up either.
I was baffled to find out that the PC and laptop that were working all-fine till yesterday suddenly malfunctioned at the same time. In a state of utter confusion I again tapped at the screen of the smartphone I'd been holding in my left hand. I was curious to know whether it's just me experiencing such a strange phenomena, so I tapped my friend's phone number and waited for him to receive the call. However, I wasn't able to get through to him in the end. I cursed in anger and frustration as I started randomly calling my acquaintances. But the outcome was no different, as I wasn't able to even reach my parents. For some reason, I didn't hear the ringing sound even once despite my several attempts at calling others.
"All these things happening with me right now seems to be somehow related with the issue of being unable to get connected to internet. Who knows, this world might be facing its long-awaited end." I rushed outside as the thought crossed my mind, but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The people walking around the place looked as ordinary as usual too.
I got back to my place and sat on the bed as I decided to confront reality. The window I'd been seeing since I woke up this morning was still flickering before my eyes. When all is said and done, the window most likely had something to with everything happening to me today. I already speculated as much but still wished for it to turn out to be wrong, nevertheless it was a fact I could no longer avert my eyes from.
I stared at the small window before my eyes but it didn't show any response at all, so I tried tapping on the window before my eyes.
To my surprise, two messages appeared in front of my eyes. The message windows appeared in the same fashion as the window of a program opens on a laptop. There were words clearly inscribed on the semitransparent windows.
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[Status]. [Item] | | [Save]. [Load]
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"…?"
It felt so unrealistic to me that I lost all sense of reality in an instant. However, when I again pinched and slapped my cheeks I realized that I wasn't dreaming after all. The sensation of pain transmitting to my brain was real without the slightest doubt.
"An unreal yet real phenomena?" I thought trying to understand the situation. No matter how you looked at it, things like "Status", "Items", and " Save", "Load" could only belong to the world of games.
"I've got no idea what they actually mean, but I would possibly get to know something if I press on them." While pondering over the purpose of the game-like things I tapped on [Status].
The semitransparent window was at once replaced by another window.
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Hasegawa Ryo
Age: 25
Job: NEET
Level: 1
Physical Strength: 55
Charm: 12
Money in Possession: 44089 USD
EXP: 0
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My personal information was listed on the newly appeared window. I was really 25, and the information about my name and job was also accurate. Although, I didn't get the meaning of 'level' and 'physical strength', but the information it displayed about the money I had at the moment was admittedly quite accurate. It was true that I was a NEET but I'd saved $4400 by doing part-time jobs before which I invested on the shares and made some profit off them. As a result, that initial amount of $4400 I used for investment had turned into $44000 by the time I sold the shares.
Of course, it wasn't like I had a great sense of share market investments that helped me increase my money. It'd be better to say that an in-game friend provided me some information that helped me make that sort of profit. That was all there was it.
Judging by the fact that my entire wealth was so precisely and openly displayed on the transparent [Status] window, the whole thing really did feel like a game.
"In that case, is it true for [Save] and [Load] too?"
A message appeared when I tapped on [Save].
[Would you like to save?]
I tapped the save button and the progress bar below the message started to fill up. When the bar filled up to 100% a new message titled May 2, 10:30 popped out. From the looks of it, there was only one slot available to save progress,which would mean that unlike other games, it seemed impossible to create several save points.
That calls for careful use of this thing. If I were to save at a wrong place or time, it might get myself thrown into an endless loop.
I pressed on [Load] to try out the ability of this 'save-and-load' thing. A new window with May 2, 10:30, the time when I created the 'save point' written on it popped out in response to my action.
[Would you like to load?]
A message appeared again asking for my confirmation.
I checked the current time which was 10:33 at the moment and immediately tapped on the message. There was an urgent need to do a trial run so as to make sure of things. Suddenly everything turned white before my eyes and right after that I found myself back in reality. I at once looked at the clock which was precisely showing 10:30:22 on it.
I'd returned to the past. To the time exactly three minutes ago. This was all real. I was really inside a game. I broke out in a cold sweat realizing the absurdness of my present situation. I couldn't find words to express my feelings as emotions of excitement and surprise occupied my mind. "Wouldn't it be rather interesting if my reality truly turned into a game?" I somewhere thought within my heart.
"If this is a game, I should be able to return to the world I came from once I clear it. At the very least, there must be some reason behind me getting inside a game." As I considered the possibilities, I felt the need to do some more in-depth analysis of the game window before my eyes.
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Hasegawa Ryo
Age: 25
Job: NEET
Level: 1
Physical Strength: 55
Charm: 12
Money in Possession: 43209 USD
EXP: 0
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I re-loaded the [Status] window and noticed that my money had decreased by 880 USD. "So does this mean that it cost money to 'save and 'load'? That's the only possible explanation for the amount to decrease after I made use of the ability. Well, it is an incredible ability to return to the past after all. It won't feel right if there was no compensation required to make use of it."
After coming into an agreement with the way the ability worked, I directed my attention at other parameters.
"What does this 'level' really mean? Would I get to increase my physical strength and charm if I raise the level? If that's the case, it makes sense that I'm only level 1 right now as I got inside this game just a while ago. I've no idea how I'm supposed to level up though."
There's nothing more difficult than a game without a manual. I'd no clue as to where I was supposed to make use of physical strength and charm? Even the values were kind of ambiguous.
"How much is 55? Is it a good or bad value? I already have 55 physical strength at level 1 which should mean that 100 isn't the maximum value for this parameter."
EXP was the value needed to level up and could be seen in majority of RPGs.
"If I earn more EXP, I'd be able to raise my level. And if I raise the level, it'd quite possibly increase my physical strength and charm."
The more I looked at the stuff displayed on the window, the more I felt like playing a game. However, it didn't seem like I'd be able to get any more information about my current situation.
I gave up on finding anything else and chose to explore [Items] next. Two similarly opaque windows appeared when I tapped on it.
——————— ————————————
[Items Shop] | | [Items in possession]
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A new message appeared when I tapped on [Items in possession].
[You don't have any item right now.]
That was so obvious. What could I expect to find in there when I just got inside the game? I went back to the selection point and tapped on [Items Shop] this time. Several items appeared on the newly opened window. Considering the fact that the concept of 'level' did exist in this game, perhaps the variety of items available in the shop would also increase as I continue to level up. It was sort of an unwritten rule of games to be able to get more and better items at a higher level after all.
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[Lv.1 Scouter 880 USD]
[Sleep-inducing Spray 2200 USD]
[Omnipotent Key 5280 USD]
[Camera 880 USD]
[Foreign Car 440000 USD]
[Domestic Car 70400 USD]
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I decided to tap on every item to find some explanation about it. First of all, I tapped on the topmost item- Scouter.
[Lv.1 Scouter: Would you like to purchase it with 880 USD?]
A message asking my consent appeared. There was simply no information about the item itself. Apparently, not only we wouldn't be getting a manual, even an explanation about the items was too much to ask of it; talk about an unfriendly game. And to top it off, the price of "items" was absurdly high for some reason. I felt dizzy just looking at those crazy prices. Especially, "foreign car" and "domestic car" were priced as high as it cost to buy an apartment or a house. Just how amazing were these items supposed to be? Of course, it was nigh impossible for me to buy them in the first place considering the money I had at the moment.
In any case, looking at the items before me I felt the desire to purchase something from the shop. It might also help me discover more about this game I'd gotten inside. I first focused my attention on [Lv.1 Scouter]. As the topmost and one of the cheapest items in the shop, it was the most suitable item to me for a trial purchase; it goes without saying that I cursed the shamelessness of the shop for pricing even its cheapest item stupidly high at 880 USD. When I tapped on [Items in possession] after making the purchase, [Lv.1 Scouter] was already being displayed as an item within it. Next, I tapped on [Lv.1 Scouter] and a detailed explanation popped out all of a sudden.
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[Lv.1 Scouter]:
[If you gaze at the female target while using the scouter, essential information related to conquering her would appear before you.]
[The higher the level of scouter, the more detailed information would appear.]
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Although there was no explanation about it before the purchase, now we're finally getting some explanation after I bought it. "Is this game for real?" I thought. The explanation about [Lv.1 Scouter] gave an important clue in connection with the game.
The part of the explanation about getting essential information related to conquest of female targets was what made the important disclosure.
I noticed the deep meaning in there and came to a conclusion. "So in other words, this is a game where I need to conquer females to clear it? Umm, is this game similar to one of those dating sims or what?"