Kael stood in front of his room. He looked at the damp floor that was littered with cup noodles and bottled beverages. Then, at his book shelf which was stacked with manga and manhwa. For a broke man, he sure had a lot of stuff.
He didn't turn on the light and just turned on his phone's flashlight. Then, dropped his jacket to the floor and lazily walked towards the kitchen. Grabbing another cup of noodles, he ran the faucet on it until it was almost filled to the brim. Though, he opened the microwave, he hesitated.
'Right, can't forget my nutrients.' he thought, glancing at his dishwasher then taking a wrinkled onion out of it. The onion was chopped into differing chunks because of his lack of culinary skills. Well, no one did teach him how to cook. The onions were dropped to the cup of noodles then the cup was shoved into the microwave.
Kael stared at the rotating cup for a moment before typing in the time. '3 minutes sounds about right. Heh' he chuckled but he didn't know why.
A heavy yawn escapes his lips and so he decided to go to his room for a while.
On his way he looked down at his sofa which was infested by a community of cockroaches crawling under it. He felt a sharp shiver if disgust but shrugged it off.
Kael dropped to his bed which was also littered with paper with scribbles of house plans and weird drawings.
Kael crossed his legs as he blankly stared at his ceiling, looking at the cobwebs and lizards living up his ceiling.
He glanced at his shelf which had two picture frames from his youth. One was of himself with his mother and sister eating pizza in a park. Kael smiled bittersweetly. He could still remember that day like it was yesterday.
Then, the other one was of himself in a creek he used to hang out in. But, next to him was a young boy who's face was scratched out. Kael gritted his teeth. Even, this memory, he could still remember it like it was yesterday.
Strangely the cold stung sharper tonight.
Not even his thickest blanket warmed him.
Kael wanted to shove all the mess away.
His low paying job.
His crippling dept that even a 5 year old knows about.
So, he pulled out his phone and opened his favourite app, Webtoon.
The place where he sees the weak turn to strong. The weak getting their wishes fulfilled by some godly system like being.
Like a cheat code to life. To murder his bullies. To be extremely successful, sorrounded by loves and companios.
Maybe with that, he'll be happy. But isn't a power fantasy.
Kael wished it was. But, then again, he didn't want to murder his bullies. He knows he doesn't deserve to be surrounded by love ones.
'Hell... How did shit get this bad' he chuckled.
He stared blankly at his favourite Webtoon, planning on reading it again. But, he didn't read it.
Instead, he just stared at it's book cover, looking at the protagonist who's face was covered in arrogance as a the female lead hooked her arms around the protagonist neck.
He used to draw himself like that when he was young.
'Shit. Too hungry to even read. Why is it so cold tonight? Ehh... My toes are so cold' He searched under his pillow and blanket for some pair of socks but they were nowhere to be found.
So, he glanced down at his floor to look for it.
But, his eyes caught on to something else, the disk. It dropped out of the jacket's pocket.
He raised a brow as he looked at it with curious eyes. 'Oh, right, that' he thought, standing up from his bed.
He picked it up, and felt the cold steel of the disk, feeling it's smooth surface. It was heavy and so Kael rolled his eyes.
'So much for games... It's just some steel disk' he thought as he planned to throw it aside.
Before he could, his insides suddenly thumped, his blood screamed, his bones rattled.
Ping!
He dropped the disk.
"The fuck..." his voice shook.
The disk suddenly blended with reality.
Warping into different strands of existence in the form of colours that made it look like a colorful black hole that ate a chunk of existence itself.
All of that happened in a single millisecond, as it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
Kael froze. Hands twitching. Heart beating even faster than before.
As what took place of the reality warping hole was a red hovering notification. It's letters painted in white. It's edges tipped with dark ink. As it said,
[ TRANSMISSION COMPLETE ]
Ping!
[ WELCOME, PLAYER 001 ]
Ping!
[ THE GODS ARE WATCHING ]
Ping!
[ THE SOULSTREAM HAS BEGUN ]