Chapter 57

~ The Man Behind It All ~

SW/SW/SW

They said there would always be a limit to everything, be that studying, sports, or even eating. Too much eating would make you fat, too much exercising without regards to resting was hazardous to health. True, there’d always be a limit to everything, however, Johan believed there was no limit to effort.

He believed that effort symbolized determination to achieve something, thus he worked hard, harder than anyone. This earned him isolation during his teenager days. Worse, he was labeled as eccentric by his colleagues just because he was always ahead of them, rarely coming out from library to hang out. Why on earth would he mingle with them and wasting his time laughing like a fool? Oh, no.

What was wrong with working so hard? It wasn’t like he was hurting anyone. He worked, failed, and succeeded—all alone. He saw friends as nothing but disposable tools. Nothing more, nothing less.

He, then, took an interest in game industry. At first he was developing a game by himself, a simple puzzle game, but it was not successful. He tried another, trying to figure it out why it did not sell. Same things happened. His second game was not welcomed. Finally Johan understood that puzzle games were not his strong suit.

Tired, he rested his weary mind in a fast food shop. There, he overheard a bunch of high school boys talking about Last Fantasy. From their discussion, it seemed to be a game’s title.

That event led him to take a second chance in RPG.

…and Johan was really grateful to be in that place, for he was now the lead GeaOnline programmer.

If there was a wish Johan dreamed of achieving, that would be…

…to be able live inside the world of game.

Having no fear of old age and diseases, living forever in a fantasy world where magic and sword met… what more could a gamer like him asked for?! Real world was a hive of scum, pollution, and evils, with reality waiting to crush hopes in every corner.

He, a mere normal human, was hopeless against the cruelty of life. Fates had not been as kind to him as of late and he was forced to accept the reality that was shoved to him. Thus he agreed to join Project Utopia, in which the goal was to create a habitable virtual world where senses were as real as in the real world with the help of Reality Render.

Reality Render was a machine that reflected codes into what they were written by tweaking nerves. It was also capable of detecting basic emotions, categorizing, and displaying them as codes. They could modify these codes to produce myriad of human emotions, which in turn help him accomplish his life goal.

However, Reality Render had a fatal weakness. Although the user might experience pain, it was nothing more than the result of complicated codes. He might have eaten in-game, but that did not mean his real world self would feel satiated. That was the only fault the Reality Render had. It dealt with nerves, not body. GeaOnline visor was based on this concept, although it was clearly a downgraded version of the real Reality Render.

Johan was not quite satisfied with it and wanted more. He wanted to see Reality Render self-nourish the user as long as he was in the world of game. That way, the dream of living in the world of game forever would come true!

0000

“Updating the Project U!” one programmer spoke aloud. Another beside her announced, “Momentarily disabling the Reality Render! Inputting sweet script!”

Johan smirked to himself as he looked at the big screen before him.

It wouldn’t be long…

…yes, it wouldn’t be long…