By 10 a.m., Dave sat at a small corner restaurant—the one he usually stopped by for breakfast when work kept him from eating at home.
The meeting had gone well. Really well. The client had praised his design, his pitch, the clarity of his work. His department manager had even grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.
Everything was good.
Until it wasn't.
Until the client, all smiles, leaned in and said:
"By the way, you will play New World Online, right? You should log in with us tonight."
Dave blinked, caught off guard. Before he could respond, his manager chimed in, just as hyped:
"Seriously, man. You'd love it. I've already preloaded it—just waiting to dive in."
Dave forced a polite smile, nodding like it wasn't the first time he'd heard of the game.
But it didn't stop there.
As he left the office and walked through the streets, he started noticing it more.
Everywhere.
"Hey, when are you playing New World Online?"
"You get the helmet yet? If not, I can lend you the cash—let's log in together!"
"Did you hear? The government made the in-game currency tradable for real money."
"I know, right? Smartest move ever. My parents bought helmets for everyone."
"Yours too? Same! My grandma's got a guild lined up already."
Young people, old people, shopkeepers, office workers—everyone had that same name in their mouth. New World Online. Like it had always been there. Like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Dave had never seen this much hype over a game before.
But that wasn't what bothered him.
What really got under his skin was the question he couldn't shake:
'Where the hell was this game yesterday?'
There hadn't been a single mention of it. Not at work. Not online. Not even in passing.
And now?
It was everywhere.
Billboards. Ads. Conversations. Like the whole world had shifted overnight and no one noticed but him.
'What the hell is going on...?'
His fingers twitched as he reached for his phone.
Maybe a quick check of his web novel app would help him settle.
Just as Dave was about to check if the novel series he'd been following had finally updated, his phone rang.
The name on the screen made him pause.
Security Guard - James.
He frowned. 'Why's he calling me?' Still, he answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello, yes—it's me, James," came the familiar voice. "About the thing you asked me to check…"
Dave sat up straighter. "Yeah? What happened?"
"Well… you were right," James said, a little hesitant. "Your neighbor's apartment? The stove was left on. Gas has filled the place completely."
Dave froze.
The dream—what little he could remember of it—suddenly surged to the surface.
Most of it was gone, fuzzy and fading like mist in the morning sun. But one thing stood out.
He died.
In an explosion.
From a gas leak.
His hand moved slowly across the table. He felt the cool marble under his fingertips. Solid. Real.
"But… I'm alive," he whispered to himself.
"Sir?" James's voice cut back in, confused.
"Ah—yeah, sorry," Dave said, shaking his head. "So, what now? Are you clearing the gas?"
"Yes, sir," James replied. "The emergency team's on it, but it'll take time. The building secretary asked me to call everyone and tell them to stay outside tonight."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "All night? Can't they finish it before evening?"
James sighed. "Unfortunately, no, sir. The moment I opened the door, the gas spread through the hallways. It's going to take hours to fully ventilate and make the building safe again."
Dave exhaled slowly. He didn't like it—but he understood.
"I see. Alright. Thanks for letting me know."
"Thank you for understanding, sir. Please take care."
Dave nodded instinctively, then added with a faint smile, "You too. And hey—don't light a cigarette or anything. You'll go boom."
James laughed. "Don't worry, sir. I'll keep that in mind."
Saying so, James ended the call.
Dave stared at his phone screen for a moment, blinking.
'What was I doing again?'
'Oh yeah—the latest chapter. Let's see...'
He opened the Novel app and navigated to his library to check for new updates. But—he froze.
He just… stared at the screen.
He didn't know what to think.
It was gone.
The novel was gone.
And not just that one—the other one too. The two he'd been following religiously, supporting for months—both had vanished.
'What the hell? Did they get dropped? But why?'
His heart sank. It felt like something heavy was pressing down on his chest… or his throat. He couldn't tell which. But it hurt. It wasn't just disappointment. It was wrong. Off.
He quickly opened the social page linked to the novel—to see if the author had left a message.
But there was nothing. Not even the author page existed anymore.
'What… the fuck?'
His brow furrowed deeper.
It's one thing to drop a series. It happens. Authors burn out, lose interest, get busy. But to delete everything? The story, the socials, even the fan comments?
That was unheard of.
And the author—he wasn't just some nobody. He was popular. Trending, even. People quoted his lines like gospel in the community.
He looked up at the New World Online billboard again, looming over the city like some digital god watching from above. Something about it made his skin crawl.
This game… it wasn't just a commercial release. It was sponsored by the governments of the entire world. Not one nation, not a tech conglomerate—every country had contributed to its development. A global effort. A united front.
And that? That was weird.
Dave didn't know what to make of it. He wasn't a conspiracy theorist, but even he could tell something felt off. In the kinds of web novels he used to read—the ones set in VRMMO worlds—whenever a game had international, state-level investment, it always meant one thing:
Something was coming.
Something bad.
Maybe a looming global disaster. Maybe an escape plan disguised as entertainment. Or maybe… the game itself was the disaster.
He shook his head, unease curling in his gut.
'Wait.'
But suddenly..... he thought of something.
He suddenly reopened the novel app and searched for VR game novels—just to see.
The results came up… and his frown deepened.
The genre was still there, sure. "Full Dive VR," "Sci-fi RPG," "MMORPG Life." But something was different.
All the titles—none of them were about world-merging, sudden regression, or blurred lines between game and reality. Not even a hint of it. Every single story was just… a normal game story.
No plot twists. No secret government experiments. No "trapped in the game" tropes.
Just games.
It was like the entire subgenre had been erased.
And the novels he used to follow? Both were about reality merging with virtual worlds.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
'This… this isn't normal.'
Something inside him clicked. Or maybe snapped.
'This isn't my world.'
'It looked the same. Smelled the same. Felt the same.'
'But it wasn't. It couldn't be.'
And then—like a whisper in his mind, a remnant from the fading dream—came a single word.
'Status.'
He didn't say it out loud.
He only thought it.
And in that moment—
A soft chime rang in his ears.
A translucent blue screen flickered into existence in front of his eyes, hovering silently in the air.
[ Status:
Name: Dave Miller
Age: 26
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1(0/100)
HP(Health Points): 100%
PS(Physical Stamina): 100%
MP(Mana Points): 99%
MS(Mental Stamina):95%
Stats: F rank
Strength: 6
Agility: 5
Endurance: 6
Intelligence: 5
Willpower: 4
Free points: 2
Skill Points: 2
Skills: Cooking Lvl.3, Cleaning Lvl.4, Designing Lvl.6, Driving Lvl.5....]
He looked at the screen that had suddenly emerged before him...
And for a moment—just a moment—
The world lost its color.
The sound vanished.
The faint chatter of the restaurant, the clinking of plates, even the soft music playing from the ceiling speakers—all of it fell away into silence.
There was only the screen.
Floating. Blue. Translucent.
Simple text written in clean, glowing letters.
It wasn't possible. Not in the real world.
This… this belonged in fiction.
In games. In the kind of web novels and light novels he used to read on sleepless nights.
Not here. Not in reality. Not to him.
Yet—
It was there.