There was such a dystopian game.
One where suffering and pain in a corporate world was the norm.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
"When are they going to create a first-person game for Project Moon?"
The turn-based game was boring and dull. I wasn't the type to read all of those gibberish details of unbreakable coins and dice or keypages.
I liked the story.
However, the gameplay was just too repetitive. I'd much prefer PvP or PvE gameplay with Project Moon so I could create my own original character for the purpose of roleplaying in the City.
I tucked my phone under my warm blanket and laid my head on the pillow with an exhausted look.
Staring at the gloomy weather outside. The snowfall from the sky and the white-out in the distance. It felt isolating, like I was the only person in this world.
Yes, I was a shut-in. I worked in my room and ate a meal once a day. Either way, I was fine.
No family, no friends. I had nothing left so I didn't really care if I was going to be alone for life.
It wouldn't be so bad to die in my bed, staring at the sky through the window.
Welp. I was still young anyway. Tomorrow was a holiday so it wouldn't be an issue for me to sleep all the way through the night and morning.
When I woke up, it was still dark.
The sky seemed bleak as usual. No stars to see, only snow.
When I stood up to grab some noodles, I stubbed my toe on the table.
"YEOWCHHH!!! AGH!—"
However, that was cut short as I clamped my mouth shut with gritted teeth. I felt my veins bulging.
Inhale… exhale…
As I breathed through my nose and exhaled through my mouth, I sat down at my monitor desk and turned on my computer.
I played a few rounds of several fanmade Project Moon games and checked Discord.
TheMiddleBoss: Guys! Take a look at this! [Image]
It was an image of Limbus Company and Arknights with an X in between. As if to say, they're working together.
"Eh? Arknights?" I wasn't familiar with the game so I searched it up.
"Not bad. Cat girls and donkey-eared girls? This game seems interesting."
As I was about to download the game...
Knock.
I heard a tap at the door.
"Huh?" I felt goosebumps as I stood up, my breathing starting to quicken. This neighborhood was isolated and comprised mostly of old people.
But why was there someone knocking on my door? I approached the door carefully and looked through the peephole, but there was nothing.
"Must be the wind." As I was about to turn back...
"Haa…" my OCD started to act up again.
"Just to make sure." I unlocked it and turned the door-knob.
I stepped outside, pressing my feet onto the cold doormat. The wind was strong and freezing.
I looked around. There was certainly nothing noteworthy. Except—
For a small box sitting just next to the door, as if struggling in the wind.
"What the… what is this? I don't remember ordering a delivery."
I looked around warily, but no one was outside except for the frozen road and trees.
It was really starting to get cold out here.
I carefully tapped the box with my foot and, sensing that it wasn't a bomb from some serial killer, I took it quickly before closing the door, locking it tightly.
To make sure it was truly locked, I opened and locked it again.
I turned the heater up a bit higher, feeling that the air was starting to get cool enough to give me chills.
I glanced at the ordinary-looking box. It had a label. It was similar to the Project Moon symbol in the game.
"This is weird. Did I somehow become the top fan? I know that I've spent like 500,000 US Dollars on it, but would that be enough to warrant a mysterious gift?"
Plus, my credentials had always remained hidden, including my location, which I've spent a lot of time hiding with a premium VPN and various other security measures.
When I checked my CCTV, the box had somehow appeared mysteriously, carried by the strong blizzard wind in the night.
"What…? Is this why there was a tap sound?" It was strange. It gave me goosebumps.
Why were there no other details in this box? Did somebody drop it while driving their car?
I was cautious about most things, but I wasn't afraid to take a risk if my curiosity acted up.
So I opened the box and inside was a strange-looking object. A key with various intricate outlines, as if each line had a complex binary system.
It looked alien as well.
"Is this some sort of prank?"
Though, I did like the design. It looked cool and the aesthetics looked oddly similar to what the City in Project Moon would actually produce.
So I placed it in my pocket and went back to my computer. I was going to ignore the fact that the box seemed too coincidental.
Upon seeing the monitor, Arknights had finished downloading. As I placed my phone on the desk and turned on Limbus Company...
My pocket started to shine.
"What the heck?!" Somehow, my hand instinctively pulled my short-pants down as I quickly jumped up like a frightened cat.
"Fuck! Is that a bomb—?!"
The light continued to dazzle the entire room from that shining short-pants until it blinded me, so I ran like crazy for the exit of my room.
However, as I was about to get out, I stubbed my toe again on the table, and then everything went white as I tried to scream in pain.
Everything had turned silent.
——
"… I shouldn't have grabbed that key."
As the wind rustled in the gloomy atmosphere.
I sat on the stairs of a decrepit, ruined building, as if an apocalypse had already ended.
As sweepers continued to walk through the Ruined City while ignoring me, I realized.
I had transmigrated to the world when the City had only begun.
As the Head.
"FUCK!!!!"