"Zerai? How long was I resting?"
"Not that long. It's been a few days. Warrior Cahhi has been knocking on my door persistently these past few days. Baby, I hope you can stay here and be by my side."
"...I can't do that. I have been pushing off my responsibility as an Emperor for far too long. I have to return to the capital planet and start working."
For some reason, even if it was Zerai's first time hearing some terms. He already knew what they meant. It was weird but he ignored it and focused on their discussion.
"I'll go with you. I can help you carry your burdens and we can still be together."
Leon had noticed that after Kayden took over for a bit, Zerai had become more intelligent and had wisdom that wasn't part of this planet. Leon would guess that Zerai's soul piece is already merging with the main consciousness. The two settled their discussion and Ronan had Yuvel stay with him as they returned to the capital planet as well. Zerai and Leon announced their relationship to the whole galaxy and Leon noticed signs of pregnancy after 2 months since their first time. Yuvel was so dense and timid with his emotions. Leon felt bad for Ronan who seemed to be sexually frustrated but refused to confess his feelings so they were stuck as really close best friends in this world. Leon gave birth to two kids in this lifetime and they grew up well even though they had a 10yr age gap.
Leon watched his close companions and family enjoy the picnic as he leaned on Zerai's chest. Zerai also watched them but 90% of it was just staring and admiring Leon. Leon giggles as he pretends to not notice Zerai's passionate eyes on himself since the beginning.
"Husband, are you still eating vinegar from yourself even now?"
"...no…"
Leon knew Zerai lied and he looked up to see Zerai's eyes were different colors on each side. Leon instantly knew Zerai and Kayden's soul connection is a lot stronger than back then. Now both, the main soul and the soul piece are almost one. Zerai watched Leon's eyes sparkle and light up when he kept looking between his two eyes. Then the other eye shifted and transformed to match the other eye, Leon gasping as he was mesmerized by the magical change. Zerai-Kayden smirked as he pulled Leon into a deep tongue twisting kiss. The others saw the love birds showing off dog food again and just ignored them and continued to chat while playing together. Leon could feel that his time in this world is done and so he prepared with everyone to leave together. He left the ruling of the empire to his two children and left to continue his world hopping journey.
.
.
.
Leon opened his eyes and his mind was blank…
"Shit! I'm late to work!!!"
Leon jumped out of his jank ass bed and hurriedly washed his face and brushed his teeth. He carelessly put on his clothes and grabbed his messenger bag as Leon rushed out of his micro-apartment. Leon was impatiently tapping his shoes as he waited for the crosswalk light to change so he could hurry to work. The light switched and people started crossing the streets as Leon cut through the crowd. He entered the cafe and the boss saw him.
"Leon? Why are you here today? It's your day off, remember?"
"Huh? It was?"
Leon frowned in confusion as he left work to walk back home. He felt weirdly off. Everything seemed far away. He was beginning to dissociate and have derealization. He felt he was looking through the windows of his eyes and was not mentally there. He heard the large screen on the advertising board of the skyscraper and looked up as a voice caught his hundred percent attention.
"So, today, we are having a quick short interview with the #1 hottest and most handsome, currently rising in popularity with females and even males! Now, before I start, I have to tell you my struggles to get this interview. You guys have to understand how hard it was to book an interview with this top celebrity. His schedule has been packed, just like his muscles haha, but I was able to fight my way into gaining an opportunity to speak with him here today. Let's welcome, Mr. Zaydis Dawnson!"
The cameraman turned the view to show both the interview lady and Zaydis, who was sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on top of each other, resting on his knee. The male looked at the camera and flashed a perfect model small smile and nodded to the screen in greeting.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honor to be able to sit here today."
"Haha, you're always so humble and nice! Okay, so this interview will be questions that would give your current fans something to know and get to understand you better."
Zaydis nodded.
"So the first most asked question is, are you single?"
"Haha, yes I am single but I don't plan on dating anyone."
"Oh? Do you have a crush?"
"Hmm, should I answer truthfully or tell a white lie to save my poor fan's heart."
"It depends, some want the truth and some don't want to know and be brokenhearted."
"Hmm, I do have a crush. A big one. But he only appears in my dreams and most of the time, I don't remember most of the dreams so it breaks my heart and I wake up crying."
Zaydis made a sad face and looked down at his lap. The interview woman overlapped her hands together, raised it to her chest. Feeling sentimental for Zaydis's experience. Zaydis laughed as he said he was just joking. He doesn't have a crush and is more focused on his occupation right now. The interview woman scoffed at being tricked by him.
"Next question, the fans want to know if you are really the special game character of the app, Chaos Harem."
"Yes, their first game wasn't popular and so they dropped it and asked me if I still want my game character added to the list of harem members for this current rising game. I didn't see any problem with it so I allowed them to. But I didn't let them change my background and character plotline settings which was decided from the previous game. So they agreed even if they were disappointed and didn't change anything. I'm surprised anyone would try to romance my game character. It's extremely difficult to even gacha-summon my shards and even when you do collect all the shards and summon me, my game settings are very basic with little emotional care. The game developers even begged me to let them change the game character settings because they saw that players had a difficult time successing to romance the game character to even 5%."
"Mr. Zaydis! I didn't realize you were such a cheeky mean bully! So did you let the game developers change your game character?"
"Haha, no. I refuse them every time they ask. They're always knocking on my door like obsessed fans, it's quite amusing to watch and experience."
"Then has any player completely romanced your game character?"
"For this game? Nope. But there was one player that achieved it in the previous game. I'm still amazed how they were able to complete such a feat. Since the choices to romance the character were very limited and you couldn't do so many actions like this improved game. Unfortunately, they suddenly stopped checking in and being active a few years ago, so maybe they were bored and moved to another game? I'll never know."
Zaydis shrugged.
"That's right! Why did the gaming company remove the app permanently? Now, you can't use real money to top up so what's the point of it still being available to play?"
"Oh, they did want to remove it but I told them I would buy all the rights to the game app. I don't know, I wanted to have it there for that one player who was able to romance my game character all the way to 100%. Even though it was a practically impossible goal to accomplish, that person did it. So I want it there so that the person can return and remember the journey they went through and have a good laugh at fond memories. It's like my offering of deep respect for that player."
"Wowww, I'm swooning. I might become a bigger fan of yours, Mr. Zaydis!"
"Haha, then I'll say this. To you and all my other sweet fans. Thank you for your support and I'm truly grateful."
"Haha, oops! It seems we are out of time so this will be the end of the interview. Thank you again for coming in to speak with us today, Mr. Zaydis."
"Yes, thank you as well for inviting me. Have a wonderful day everyone."
Zaydis did the same small model perfect smile and waved at the screen before it shifted to an advertisement. Leon was so fixated on watching the screen, he forgot the time.
"Where's my phone? I was sure I took it with me."
Leon searched his bag but couldn't find it so he just decided to check when he got home. Leon walked to the 11/11 mini convenience store and grabbed an instant cup-ramen off the shelf. He paid and sat at the window stools to eat while watching people pass. A few seats away, there was a group of female students and they were gossiping about the interview he had watched. Leon felt curious about topics related to Zaydis now so he couldn't help but listen in on their conversation.
"Zaydis is so handsome."
"Yeah, my heart gushed when he said he went out of his way to keep the dropped game in the app shop for that player he doesn't even know. Like that's so sweet of him."
"It's so thoughtful of him. Wow, if only my partner was that thoughtful to me as his girlfriend."
"Hahaha, you're silly. Someone with Zaydis's great qualities is rare."
The girls switched to another topic and Leon had finished his noodles. Leon got up and tossed his trash into the garbage before going back home. He reached his place and slumped onto the old yellow stained mattress.
"Oh, that's right. My phone is missing. Where did I place it?"
Searching for a while, he was finally able to find it stuck between the crack of the broken old bedside table and the wall.
"It's out of batteries…"
Leon reached over to the charger cord and laid on the edge of the bed to hold his phone while it charged. After waiting a few seconds, the phone powered on and went to check his emails.
"Huh? When did I play this game? I don't remember. Let's check it out."
Leon tapped on the game app and watched the loading graphics play.
[Ding. It seems there is a new data package to download before the player can enter and play the game…
Please do not leave the app to complete the installation.
Loading…10%...35%...60%...89%...93%...96%...99%...]
Leon waited awhile but the bar was stuck on 99%. He wondered if his model was even compatible with the new update…He debated on clicking out of the app and deleting it. When he was going to get out of the app, the loading bar reached 100% and the screen started moving.
[Welcome back, dear player! We noticed you had been inactive for 3 years 6 months and 9 days.
We are glad you decided to come back! You're summoned character(s) have been waiting for so so long, they missed you very very much!]
A message pop-up appeared and firework graphics were playing.
[Ding! You have a message from the game developers!
> We are grateful for your time and support throughout this journey. The truth is, the limited game character wasn't a real game character.
Our big boss investor had wanted to use it as a screening to find someone dear to him.
We have sent this message to 5 other players including you, who had summoned the special game character, to have a chat with the big boss investor. He also wanted to apologize for any inconveniences he had caused you this entire time you played this game.
Everything you have invested using real money will be refunded and he is giving you extra money to meet with him to have a conversation!
Please contact us as soon as you see this. We hope to see you soon!]
Leon looked at the timestamp and it was sent 24hrs after he stopped playing this game. There were other messages too and Leon read through them all.
[Ding! You have a message from the game developers!
> Dear player, we have received contact from almost all of you. If you have not reached out to us, please do! We are anxiously waiting to meet with you!]
[Ding! You have a message from the game developers!
> All but one player has yet to contact and meet with us.
Again, please reach out as soon as you read this.]
[Ding! You have a message from the game developers!
> Unfortunately, the big boss investor did not meet the person he was searching for. There is still one player that has yet to reach out to us. Once again, please contact us asap.]
[Ding! You have a message from the game developers!
> It is sad that this is the end. We have dropped the development of this game. The big boss investor decided to buy all the rights to keep this game up, in case that one last player feels like checking into the game and read's the old messages. Thank you and good bye.]
Leon read the last message and wondered why he stopped playing this game. He got out of the inbox and went through the game tabs. There was no character in any room.
"Did they remove them all? No, that's not right."
Leon saw the chat history receipts and started from the beginning. As he read his own chat bubbles he had send, he laughed at how silly he was.
"Huh, did I just randomly stop checking in one day? But the previous chat bubble that I sent seemed like I was still enjoying this game. I loved him so much, I even married him too."
Leon was confused on why he couldn't remember himself doing all of this. But when he reads what he did, his heart seems to remember the emotions and experience. While Leon was lost in his own thoughts, his attention returned to the phone screen when a static glitchy screen flickered before the screen returned to normal.
"Weird. Maybe my phone is too outdated. Oh, was this tab always here?"
Leon saw a tiny tab that was titled as Summoned Character's status and actions records. He was curious and tapped to see what was recorded.
[Loading…complete…
Welcome back, dear player! This is the backlog records of what your summoned character had done, thought, and felt while you were away.
Real world time,
4:00am
///Kayden woke up, left his cabin and did his usual tasks for the morning.
5:00am
///Kayden returned and was able to hunt food for himself. He placed them into the Player's inventory.
///Kayden washed up and changed into another outfit the player has gifted him.
///Kayden is in a pleasant mood while waiting for the Player to come.
6:00am
///Kayden went to the kitchen and sat down. His mood is still pleasant.
7:00am
*ding* Kayden's mood is down to yellow.
///Kayden wonder's if the player does not want to see him anymore. Kayden continued to sit and wait.
10:00pm
*ding* Kayden's mood is down to blue.
///Kayden wonder's if the player has abandoned him but still has hope the player would return. Kayden continues to sit and wait.]
"Why is he just sitting there?! He hasn't eaten all day, he's going to starve at this point!"
Leon continued to read the record. Kayden's mood remained blue as he continued to sit and wait for him.
[Summoned Character's status and actions records pg2:
*alert* Kayden's mental health is extremely low!
///Kayden finally accepted that he was abandoned by the player.
*alert* Kayden's mental health is near 0, mood red!!!
///Kayden stood up from his seat and gripped his head in pain.
///Kayden is under a negative spell and is having hallucinations and mania!!!
///Kayden willed himself to ignore the pain and spell. He is forcing himself to move and find any signs of the player.
///Kayden has left his domain.]
"That's it?! What happened to my husband?!"
Leon was sobbing as he pressed all the game actions and tabs but there was no more information. It was just an empty cabin. Leon cried all night and finally passed out from exhaustion.