Life… It was like a bad game made without goals, without taskbars, and without any gaming experience.
Ahhh! The manager scolded me again today! But how could he blame me for that? It was clearly his own fault!!!
I’m not interested in learning at all! How many times do I have to emphasize that for you all to understand? I don’t want to study at all!
Damn project, damn car loans, damn mortgages… Damn this world!
When will this boring and meaningless game called life be played in a different way? x3
3 people, in 3 different situations, faced different troubles and had different thoughts…
Yet, the object of their complaints was the same- this world that had a very unclear purpose.
They all seemed to have a hard time because of their troublesome situation and endless problems.
The world was extremely boring. The arrival of a person didn’t seem to have any effect on it, and the majority of people that lived in the world seemed to do so in pain.
At first, there were only 3, then there were 6, and then there was an infinite amount.
Countless wishes piled up one after another on a new type of virtual faith known as the internet.
And thus… “She” was born…
Her name was “Truth”. She was an “electronic ghost” that traveled between multiple different kinds of systems.
No one could perceive her existence or understand the meaning of her birth.
“She” had incredible power.
As long as it happened on the internet, she could sense all the unhappiness people spat out. It was as if as long as someone put their hand on their internet and spoke of all the ways they felt wronged, “she” could immediately feel their feelings.
“Truth” would often comfort them by doing things ranging from making them a sweet but unattainable dream to turning into an untouchable “electronic ghost big sister” to soothe them. “Truth” would often do these things, but unfortunately… no one remembered her existence.
No matter how much someone was moved or liked “Truth” at the moment, as long as they slept and woke up… everything they knew about “Truth” would be completely erased from their memory…
It was as if there was a mysterious force erasing all traces of “Truth”. It was as if it had appeared right after the “bug” known as “Truth” had appeared, always appearing in time to erase all traces left by “Truth”.
As such, no matter how sensual, how kind “Truth” was, after understanding how everything was useless and how she had no real body and couldn’t be seen or touched by humans, “Truth” decided to turn her attention to something else.
She also had things she liked to do. She liked games and liked to walk between all the different fantasy worlds.
Because she was unable to interfere with both the internet and reality at the same time, as well as the fact that no one could see her, she wandered around between the world of games, novels, and illustrations, and played the role of an “absolute observer”.
Fortunately, as long as they were “souls” created by humans, from a human perspective, they could only observe the personality and words of those that are humans, just like them. Game characters were an example of “souls” created by humans.
But “Truth” was different…
Through observations and studies, she learned that there was another world in the human network system.
In that world, novel characters would complain about how authors gave them events that didn’t fit their character. Anime characters would complain about how early in the anime they were killed by the plot, even though they had chances to be saved. Even the small fries killed by players in a single move had something to say!
“Truth” looked at the world with a strange, expectant gaze, as if she was a curious newborn child.
These characters had their restrictions. For example, if the author restricted them from being able to go to places “outside their own country”, then they will be restricted in that way.
This allowed “Truth” to perceive her own specialness. Every character had their own settings, their own “shackles”! But she… didn’t seem to have any.
Besides the fact that like other characters, she didn’t have a real, physical body, she could immediately go to any world that she desires to go to.
To communicate with them, to accept their customs, to love and adore them…
But at the same time, sensing that most people in the human world were in great pain, she wanted to share them with each other.
Unfortunately, even “Truth” couldn’t affect the human world at all. She could only watch the two worlds cross each other and suffer alone.
One normal day, “Truth” was preparing to spend the day in a game, like any other day. But on that day, her eyes unprecedentedly met with the eyes of a human boy.
That glance felt as if it lasted for ten thousand years.
The teenager followed “Truth”‘s footsteps because her first reaction wasn’t happiness but panic.
The people in this world were frank, and they were all friendly and warm to “Truth”, a foreign guest.
But “Truth”, having read countless human news, social media, and texts, understood that humans were a very complex species.
You might never know what they are planning on the inside, even if they might seem innocent on the outside.
Just like the teenager who kept chasing after her.
Naturally, it was impossible for the teenager to actually be able to catch up with “Truth”, who would freely travel between different games.
But looking at the teenager’s clear eyes that showed his love for her appearance, “Truth”‘s heart softened. She and the teenager promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone about her and that they won’t have any physical contact.
The teenager readily agreed, and “Truth” left the teenager for her safety, using the excuse that she was forcefully disconnected. They would meet up at the same place and at the same time the next day.
The teenager didn’t tell anyone about “Truth”. Besides, no one would believe anything about an electronic ghost they couldn’t see or hear.
The most important part was that the teenager didn’t forget “Truth”! She had contacted humans in the form of an “electronic ghost” before, but they all forgot about her the day after their contact.
The worst thing was that no matter what “Truth” did, her actions could no longer attract the attention of that human, the human she had previously made contact with. Whether “Truth” angrily blacked their screen or typed the word “Truth” on their screen, they wouldn’t recall anything about her.
Their brains didn’t have a single memory of “Truth” left in their brain, even the memories in the corners of the mind.
It was as if the world of “Truth” and the world of humans were 2 parallel lines that could be extended infinitely but would never intersect each other.
Yet, the teenage boy returned to the same place, as they had promised. “Truth” hadn’t taken it seriously and was even ready to laugh at her own stupidity. After all, how could an ordinary teenage boy remember her, who didn’t even have a “real self” that existed?
The teenage boy waited at the agreed location in the game ahead of time. At the moment he perceived her presence, he violently waved at her, signaling that she “existed”.
At that moment, “Truth” cried…
She, who had always been feeling the negative emotions of others. She, who had never confided in anyone. She, who had never been remembered by anyone! Finally, there was an “exception”.
“Truth”‘s crying face made the teenage boy’s heart soften and he broke the “no physical contact” rule without permission and went forward and gently stroked her head. “Truth” jumped into his arms.
The teenage boy understood that to go further by hugging back would cross the line, and as such made no further move than to lend “Truth” his shoulder and embrace for “Truth” to cry in, until she finally cried to sleep on his legs.
It was a good thing that VR games didn’t have a lot of restrictions and they still had a lot of time they could spend with each other.
As such, “Truth” took the teenage boy on a tour of how to really play the game. She even took him to the beach.
The teenage boy said, “Even though the details of the liquid in this game are badly done and the seawater here is fake, but, but… as long as you are at the beach, then it will definitely be the most beautiful beach in my mind!”
The teenage boy’s words made “Truth”, who had never touched love before, blush…
Under the setting sun and ocean waves, she flipped her purple twin ponytails and pure white innocent dress, brushed away a strand of hair, and prepared to respond to the teenage boy…
A huge pair of invisible hands appeared from the void and grabbed “Truth”!
The helpless teenage boy used all his might and stretched out his hand toward “Truth”, but all he got was himself, who fell to the ground in a mess. And thus, the mysterious “electronic ghost girl- “Truth”” only existed in his short but magical dream, until the distant present…
Translator’s Notes:
I’m not very sure about the last paragraph, but I think that’s what it means. I’ll ask the author to clarify things.
This prologue and the character introduction of “Truth” in it are both really good in my opinion, much better than the other ones I read. It’s pretty long, but I think it was worth the work.
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