Chapter 8 Unable To Get It Out Of His Head
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Loading Screen:
The main world of Nightlife exists primarily in the city of Lux where you, [Lukas], begins your life. The world of elitism and eternal nightly pleasure is available in the job as Bartender. Depending on certain factors of time, busyness–you might be able to encounter the cold beauty Serena Weisse at the bar. Be careful, out of the three women, she's the hardest to impress and your first encounter with her is crucial in the relationship-building aspect.
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"Vintage Youth. 18 years old. Athlete, born in 20–what the hell." Lukas muttered underneath his breath as he nearly dropped the blood bag.
A part of him was still preoccupied with the dead body he found at the end of the freezer, but then again… all of this was just a game.
Chelsea was out getting orders and he was the one preparing them.
"The Game Devs wanted to add deep lore. That's nice, but I'm only after here for fun and games, so I can ignore those aspects." is what Lukas wanted to say and yet those words would be taken right out of his mouth.
He may have not needed to pee or take a dump, but Lukas couldn't go much of a day away from his phone. There were things he needed to do besides play games so it was time for him to logout.
And yet something flashed in his vision.
[Warning: Serena Weisse Has Entered The Club]
[Best Option: Save Your Files In Cloud Before Interaction]
Lukas' eyes widened and for a moment, he became jealous of those who were in the initial testing of the game. At least those beta-testers got paid to play, but here was Lukas, spending his time relaxing before working.
"Alright, Save File and Exit." Lukas reluctantly said, but didn't get a response. His reflection was still visible in front of the vial of blood. "That's weird…"
He tried again, this time by manually looking for the save button in his wrist-watch system. The button hovered temptingly above him and he pressed it:
[Save]
He took a deep breath.
[Did Not Save Successfully]
Seriously?! That was it! Lukas reached for his head, the real one this time, although he couldn't exactly feel it anymore due to the VR's super realistic ability.
This time, he was going to force-escape himself by manually ejecting himself out of the game.
He clicked his tongue.
Lukas was already in a foul mood due to the lack of a save file. It meant that unless he was willing to spend days in the game–it was pretty useless for him to have bought such a game.
"What kind of buggy game is this? I'll have to return it–"
Lukas yanked hard and yet suddenly felt a ground.
[Attempts To Remove Headgear or Leave VR Pod will be tantamount to quitting the game and cheating]
"What!?! I just need to take a break–oh fuck it." Lukas rubbed his face. "You know it really doesn't matter–"
"Are you done, Lukas?" Chelsea stepped inside of the room. She wound up seeing him seething in the corner. "Lukas?"
"What if everything is a simulation?" Lukas asked all of a sudden and gauged Chelsea's expression. He didn't know why he asked such a question, but it was a thing when it came to VR games, wasn't it?
Most video game characters, except for those capable of breaking the fourth wall, took it less seriously.
"Huh, what an odd question." Chelsea tilted her head and smiled. "You're weird. But if everything is unreal… I would want to wake up, yes?"
What a neat and orderly response.
That was exactly what Lukas' thoughts were—and it was why it was so cumbersome for him to feel stuck. He wanted to get out and eject himself from the VR Capsule regardless of the consequences, and this was what led to him passing out all of a sudden.
Chelsea watched Lukas suddenly grab for his head and then collapse on the ground.
Most VR Games were designed to protect the User regardless of them simply yanking off the VR Controller/Headset/Capsule or whatever. However, unexpectedly to Lukas, it didn't occur to him.
[Forceful Ejection Causes Damage to Psyche]
Unfortunately, Lukas was not awake to hear that.
And for Chelsea—no, for the one who pretended to be Chelsea, it gave them such a panic. Lukas suddenly writhed in the ground as if some caterpillar.
"What? What? How could he do something like this—are you alright?"
"Chelsea" ran over to Lukas side and rested on top of him to check his pulse.
It was hard to detect vital signs, but he was still alive.
The woman's heart pounded as her lips parted.
When Lukas finally opened his eyes, it was to the sight of Chelsea's face hovering over his and with fat tears pouring down all over her face.
"What... what's the matter?" he asked, head still a bit sore after his sudden drop.
"You're fired, that's what." A gruff and disappointed voice sounded.
Lukas looked over to his right and saw "Daddy Jones" with a frown all over his face.
Vampire Alistair Jones shook his head and stepped up from the chair and sauntered up to him. "If it weren't for Chelsea over here taking care of both serving and making the drinks, we would have embarrassed ourselves to our guests. You're unreliable."
"I... I see." That was all Lukas could say at the moment.
He wanted to wake up in his own body—it didn't matter if he had a slight pouch and wasn't as hot as his current build—that was still him, but life continued to give him trouble and he wasn't sure if attempting to logout wouldn't result in the same thing.
It was strange that he wasn't panicking already, but somehow, it almost seemed like that wasn't the most important thing.
His mind must have still been shocked.
Instead of acknowledging what was happening–he chose to distract himself.
"I missed the chance to meet her too." Lukas whispered underneath his breath and tried to feel another wave of disappointment come over him. It was barely there, but he still managed to tap into it.
He hadn't been able to meet any of the official girlfriends.
So far, the two women he met were attractive but they were not the selling mark of the game and were more of bonus characters.
Alas, it was time for him to find a new job.
After he apologized and bid Chelsea goodbye.
He chose not to log out.
Instead, he went for the last and final job that he didn't actually want for himself, but it was something he needed to do.
"I hate desk jobs." Lukas said to himself. There were times where he was tempted to blow his brain to blitz with how much weight it meant to be a burden to a family but he had no intention of doing that anymore.
Finally, he arrived at the building and he'd come across a much nicer person in general–and she was a breath of fresh air.