Chapter 87: Reality (2)


    Its been a while since I had this deep of a sleep.


    Since Ive only been sleeping while I was connected to <Circuit>tely, it has been a very long time since I slept in reality.


    Before I went to sleep, thinking about the first death I experienced in <Circuit> and about Khea which I left behind seemed to act as a sleeping pill.


    Of course, I had to suffer through the bitter andplicated emotions when I opened my eyes this morning.


    This morning felt even more awkward because I had not been connected to <Circuit> for half a day.


    This meant that a day and a half had already passed In the world of <Circuit>.


    After a light stretching, I continuously moved my chin around to rx my muscles.


    Then I went outside.


    Climbing up the high hill behind the building I lived in, there was a small mountain.


    I decided that would be my running course for the day.


    After finishing all preparations to leave, I finally opened the phone.


    I checked thest text message again.


    It''s a thought thates to mind every time I see it, but it was a text message that really made me feel a lot of emotions.


    I frantically ran through the mountain while listening to the new songs from famous idols.


    The bare ridge stretched out over the frozen ground in this chilly weather felt very unfamiliar.


    The scenery of reality without the bizarre-looking flowers and nts that I saw so many times in <Circuit> felt really awkward.


    If there was another awkward point aside from that, it was my physical strength.


    In the <Circuit>, I possessed the body of a superhuman who had surpassed the physical ability of an average human.


    Even going for a light run would put me at a speed that made the surroundingndscape around me look hazy.


    Lately, I''ve been skipping exercise and haven''t logged out for a long time so the feeling of disparity overtook my whole body.


    My two feet climbing up the mountain seemed too slow, and the surroundingndscape seemed to stay still like a photograph.


    Then I gradually began to adapt to the feeling of my feet hitting the ground and the speed of my running, and the awkward sense of disparity that I had just felt before began to melt away like snow.


    That was when I started to run with my hoodie on and the earphones plugged in.


    At first, I wanted to go for a light jog, but by the end of the session, I ended up going for a full-power dash.


    The earphone cord stuck to my face like a tick, and dark gray stains began to appear here and there on the hoodie as if it had been there since it was made.


    Huff! Huff!


    In an instant, the sound of heavy breathing and the beating of my heart knocking my eardrums began to flow through my body.


    This was a very rare situation for Mose to go through in <Circuit>.


    Well, I guess the heartbeat sound effect that starts ying when the characters HP is low could also count for that.


    Before I went back into my room, I bought the most expensive packed meal I could find in the convenience store.


    This was me being extravagantpared to the state I was in before.


    As I climbed the high stairs, I suddenly began to have strange and erotic thoughts.


    What if I opened the door to my room, and was greeted by Khea...?


    I imagined a scene where Khea was wearing a little oversized sweatshirt and hot pants, instead of the armors and linen shirts that she always wore.


    Hahah...


    A very dumb-soundingugh leaked out of my mouth without realizing it.


    I never thought Id have anything to do with a woman in my life.


    Even though it was a virtual reality, her scent, and the conversations I had with her as I looked into her eyes felt too real.


    To the point, Id naturally imagine thoughts like this.


    But that kind of imagination also made me go back to the memories before I died in <Circuit>, and in the end, the pleasant daydreaming session ended in bitterness.


    ***


    I went back into my room and put the food I bought from the store in the microwave after I took a shower.


    It felt like I was back to the life I had before starting to y <Circuit>.


    Of course, many things have changed now.


    But I guess I still had some habits left in my body since I ced a towel on top of my head while I ate the heated food on top of my connector as I turned on the TV channel on myptop.


    The channel I connected to was, of course, Circuit TV.


    I was just in time for the broadcast introducing restaurants in Asparagan.


    I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Asaparagan on the screen.


    Then a thought came to my mind that maybe, Circuit TV was made for people who died in Circuit.


    How could I put this, it was like a channel for people who felt cyber homesick.


    The streets I had walked on, the signs I had seen, and the shops I had entered. Everything felt so familiar to me.


    It almost made me feel nostalgic, like watching an old show called My Hometown at 7 o''clock.


    [The third secret is this Darmasa Sauce!]


    The famousedian raised a ss bottle of ck liquid with a friendly expression.


    There was nothing awkward about the leather jacket that was perfect for hisrge size, the huge metal ne hanging around his neck, and the chain armor nking in it.


    [Here in the Dagumas Tree, you are served with 3 different sauces, which allows you the chance to taste three vors in one dish.]


    Then theedian''s skillful wit continued.


    [Of course, I cant be satisfied with just one serving, so I have to try all the vors with 3 servings~.


    [Hey, Woah! Were gonna get scolded by our producer again.]


    The femaleedian who was next to him replied in wit.


    Jokingly ignoring her words, theedian immediately raised his hand and called for the waitress. After a while, a beastkin with a very pretty face came with food.


    Then a subtitle written in a veryrge font appeared on the bottom of the screen.


    [Another reason to visit this restaurant.]


    The camera zoomed into the beastkin.


    She had smooth skin like a human, unlike other beastkins, with huge ears protruding through her hair. Her cheeks were turning red in embarrassment.


    It seemed that she was born with more human genes than her beast side.


    As soon as theedian received food from the girl, I opened up my lunch without realizing it.


    It was only then that I found out that the name of the lunch box I bought was very unusual.


    On the packaging of the box, Lunch on Mount Kukan was written, with an advertisement stating that <Circuit> food was reproduced, and itsbel had a very familiar brand printed on it.


    [Alright, let me show you what this Darmasa sauce is like.]


    The ck sauce was poured into the steaming dish with theedian''s confident voice, and after a while, the liquid sauce that should have fallen on the food was sucked into the food, scorching it with smoke.


    [Wow, its be smoked with just a sauce!]


    Theedian began to make a triumphant expression as he heard the femaleedian eximing beside him.


    And after a moment, he began his luscious mukbang.


    I hurriedly started digging into my lunch as I watched him having his supper in the corner of my sight.


    It had a more average taste than I thought, but it was still entertaining to eat because of its unique appearance.


    And by the time I finished my lunch, the broadcast ended with the staff on camera buying the Rune Bread which is called the specialty of Asparagan.


    Theedian on the broadcast was the person that was brutally murdered by Lidornn.


    It was a relief to see him smiling like that and doing the show again.


    I was about to get up to put away the lunchbox I ate, but the atmosphere of the live broadcast that was still on suddenly started to change.


    Circuit news aired directly without advertisements.


    As soon as the Circuit News logo disappeared, the screen showed two anchors looking straight ahead with serious expressions.


    [Good afternoon, this is Kim YongGeon,]


    [And this is Park JinSeo from the Circuit News.]


    [First story. We will continue to deliver the emergency news from yesterday. we''ll connect to the correspondent first.]


    Immediately, the TV screen changed to the heavily bearded man in chain armor appearing under the dark night sky with a crystal ball by his mouth.


    [Correspondent Jung EungSu. How is the situation there?]


    [Yes, as you can see, here in Lundebarun, the fire that broke out in the White Tower is still not extinguished and is left as it was yesterday.]


    When the camera turned to the White Tower, a white sh overwhelmed the entire screen for a moment.


    [Correspondent Jung EungSu, is the thing appearing on the screen exactly mes?]


    [Negative. It cannot be defined precisely, but at first nce, it looks like something close to a sh of light.]


    [It was reported that the entire area of Lundebaruns sky had turned dark, does this


    [Yes, though it is not possible to find a direct corrtion to this situatio...]


    Even before the correspondent could finish speaking, the screen began to shake like crazy.


    Soon, screams from a number of people began to be heard from the TV.


    [Correspondent Jung EungSu! What is happening? Are you okay?]


    [I am fine! Curr... Currently!]


    The correspondent pointed his finger toward the White Tower in a hurry, directing the camera to move.


    The white tower that immediately appeared on the screen contained a huge sh of light that could not bepared to the one before.


    [There seems to have been a sudden small earthquake at the site. Oh, and as you can see, the sh from the White Tower is more intense than before.]


    The situation in Lundebarun seemed direr than I thought.


    I was especially interested in this news because it was something I couldnt pay attention to because I was confronting the sudden betrayal of the Master and Sworders of Lowsvan.


    There was a considerable amount of possibility that Sharan and that wizard yer, Kellion were involved in this.


    Soon, the TV screen turned back to the anchors.


    [Now, then. Today we have invited an expert to exin this phenomenon in detail. A pleasure to have you here.]


    [Its a pleasure for me too. Hello, I am Dr. Kim JaeCheol. I specialize in physics.]


    After a second, a profile appeared below the middle-aged man who appeared on the TV.


    [Lv. 52]


    [Chairman of the yer Alchemist Association in <Circuit>]


    [The Founding Master of the Alchemist Guild]


    [The first yer to be the National Alchemist of Asparagan]


    [Presented a theory of transcendental physics in the virtual reality game of <Circuit>]


    The man who had his hair pushed back was filled with intelligence on his face.


    [What do you think is the identity of that sh from the White Tower right now?]


    [For now... The cause of that sh cannot be precisely defined, but it is currently most likely that it is a supernatural phenomenon caused by a magic tool.]


    [Is this incident also caused by the yers? If this happened because of the yers, I think the anti-yer forces that exist in Circuit will take a radical move.]


    [Until now... There are very few yers who have the wizard ss, and among them, the most well-known one is Kellion, and Rona and Maae after him... And no other yers would use a magic tool that would create that much sh. The possibility of the yers being involved in this incident is very... unlikely.]


    [I see. This time, I have to ask you a question about the darkened sky. Suddenly, the skies across Lundebarun became as dark as night. Do you think this is also directly rted to the sh from the White Tower?


    A momentter, the camera zoomed up into the experts face.


    His expression was stiff like a rock, without even a slight movement.


    [To put it simply, arge scale portal will open up very soon. I don''t know where it will appear. Its exact size is also unknown. It is unknown whether it will spawn in one area or appear distributed in several ces.]


    With that story, the interview ended in an instant and the next news began.


    The news was that the price of Ormachon tokens had fluctuated significantly because of what happened in the White Tower.


    At the same time, there was an interview with a person who strongly criticized the game as the worldsrgest game and yet doesnt even have an official website.


    Like the person being interviewed said, this game called <Circuit> did not have any information on events, future updates, or any bug fixes. It didnt even have an official website that could distribute a wallpaper.


    The only thing that manyizens and media outlets found was the fact that there were many factories making connectors, and that even <Circuit>, which appeared in the stock market, was veiled due to the intervention of various countries.


    In other words, it is a game in which the yer had to experience everything to learn the game.


    In spite of such inconvenience, the heat of the game continued to rise vertically to the extent that the wave of the graph of the game had not even started yet.


    I carefully put away the empty lunch box and looked through thetest articles on <Circuit>.


    Since the advent of the virtual reality game <Circuit>, the so-called Quitting-Work Generation had exploded in number. The QW gen will soon turn into the Circuit generation.


    Is the price surge of the new high-value virtual currency Ormachon token really positive?


    A new opportunity? Gamers in the past craved magic items, now they crave tokens.


    The explosive growth in numbers of full time working gamer poptions


    A specialw was passed to put a limit on an individual''s daily token trading volume, but it is known that the limit will be gradually reduced in the future.


    Do you know the Effect Syndrome? The disease of the people who y <Circuit>, you are not safe from it either.


    People who have experienced death within <Circuit>in of strong depression and seque, and it is urgent to take action on it.


    Several countries are independently considering patches that reduce the realism of virtual reality game <Circuit>.


    Despite the concerns of many, <Circuit> overwhelms with 91.7% of the overall game market share.


    People who overcame incurable diseases with Circuit


    Despite all the concerns from the world, the games incredible realism makes people ignore everything.


    Middle-aged people live a second life in Circuit. Marriage with a new partner is trending in <Circuit>.


    The real world feels more like virtual reality, I want to escape from it. Reasonableints from young people.


    Numerous opinions and debates about Circuit, people who disagree or disagree, were mixed on the Inte, putting forth all kinds of opinions.


    The voices of the people in the real world about a fantasy world full of new things seemed cold, direct, and calcted.


    Many people criticized it, yet many people had praised the inexhaustible contents of <Circuit>, gathering many more people into it.


    I also had many thoughts while reading many articles, but one thought that became clear to me was,


    That Circuit is already the biggest part of my life.