A Sweet Day of Rest

Tuesday, March 29th, was a honey-sweet day of rest I hadn't had in a really long time.

I had worked myself to death for half a year in Dusk City, a place overflowing with evil corporations where the only days off you could hope for in a year were public holidays, and even that handful of public holidays wasn't respected.

And so, taking a rest all day like this without a single thought in my head made my body feel like it was melting away.

The fact that this rest wasn't obtained through normal means, but rather because the shop had been ruined by a terrorist attack, weighed on my mind a little... but whatever.

I wasn't the culprit behind the terrorism, nor was I a terrorist. I had even done my best to stop it.

I had the right to rest.

Originally, I had planned to lounge around and rest for both yesterday and today. If only it hadn't been for the Chairman's summons from Headquarters.

I hoped I wouldn't be called in like that again in the future. Just the thought of being summoned again was already making my stomach churn.

I received a gift from the Chairman, who was satisfied with my story and cooking, so the result itself wasn't bad... but the process was the problem.

Like a true Black Company, they really pushed people to their absolute limits.

I felt like my lifespan had shortened by a few months because of that interview with the Chairman yesterday, and preparing the dinner table.

Wish or no wish, even if they gave me hundreds of thousands of City Dollars, I intended to just hole up in my house and rest all day today.

I would rest well and recharge for a day, meet with Dragon President and the other bartenders tomorrow to settle the discussion we needed to have, and then return to work mode and clock in the day after that.

I made that resolution as soon as I woke up from a nightmare about the laboratory that I couldn't quite remember.

And that was exactly the problem.

Resting.

I didn't know resting was such a difficult thing to do. It wasn't easy.

Resting also required a knack and experience, and it was all because my body and mind had been completely conditioned into a corporate slave over the past few months, forgetting how to rest.

Before I knew it, my mind and body had been trained into a state where working was more comfortable than resting!

When I was working hard, I wanted to rest so badly, but when I was actually given a vacation, I had absolutely no idea what to do.

Lying down and doing nothing made my body tremble with anxiety. My pupils darted around busily, as if searching for any kind of work to do.

I unconsciously kept turning my watch device on and off repeatedly, until I felt like I was going to get a mental illness at this rate, so I had no choice but to open the cocktail manual I received from Dragon President.

Cramming the recipes of the cocktails I hadn't fully reviewed yet into my head finally put my mind at ease. My trembling fingertips also found stability.

With my mind as calm as a lake, as I practiced with the cocktail tools I had saved up money to buy, a sudden wave of disillusionment hit me along with a bitter aftertaste.

To think I couldn't rest because I was too anxious even when I tried, and that I could only find composure by doing something work-related.

I was the very picture of an excellent corporate slave, a workaholic. I was never this kind of person originally.

The harsh past environment, where I couldn't even rest freely on my days off and had to study and practice things related to the restaurant, had made me like this.

"This won't do."

I muttered as I set down the jigger I was holding, a measuring tool for cocktail mixing.

It was a rare day off, and I couldn't take such a half-baked rest. What was this? It wasn't working, but it wasn't resting either.

Rest is also a part of work, and resting well is an ability.

I needed to let go of the obsession that I had to do something and just rest.

A way to completely break free from thoughts of work and solely focus on resting and playing...

After pondering for a moment, I came up with the answer.

Right, there was that.

* * *

[It's been a while, Masked Asian.]

The man wearing a pure white mask greeted me while scanning me with a laser sensor.

Was it the employee I saw back then? That guy who recited a Buddhist scripture verse?

Unfortunately, I didn't bring a wooden moktak bell with me.

"...I don't think it's been long enough to say it's been a while. Hasn't it been three days at most?"

When I replied dubiously, the employee chuckled heartily.

[Is that so? Now that I hear it, I suppose it is. Working at a game center paralyzes your sense of time, you see. Watching the exact same humans get sucked into the exact same games and wither away under the gloomy Darklight illumination every day, it almost feels like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Because of that, even a customer visiting in three days feels incredibly fresh...]

I let the game center employee's excessive talking go in one ear and out the other. Was this guy always this talkative?

And how did he know about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber anyway? By this world's standards, wasn't Dragon Ball a manga from almost 100 years ago?

[...Anyway, you're here to play those boring classic online games today too without fail, right?]

When I nodded, the employee clicked his tongue and pulled back the thick curtain.

[Alright, follow me.]

After that was the familiar repertoire.

I passed through the factory for unconscious addicts wearing HMD (Head Mounted Display) units on their heads and entered deep into the Kabuki Game Center.

The employee stopped guiding me in front of a room.

[Then I'll be off. Oh, and... nice clothes. They suit you.]

He said that while pointing at the neat black stripe three-piece suit I was wearing.

I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or giving a genuine compliment, so I just nodded.

I smiled bitterly as I watched the back of the center employee returning to his post.

A suit in a game center. It certainly was a bizarre fashion choice unsuited for the location.

I had debated wearing something else, but I figured this would be the best option after all.

Shrugging my shoulders, I stroked the fabric applied with nanotechnology up and down, and the clothes stretched and shrank back as if they were alive.

It offered a fit perfectly tailored to my body, and a lightness that made the carbon fiber feel like it was one with my skin.

...It really was overkill. It felt like I had dressed up in a combat uniform just to go to the neighborhood PC cafe.

But there was no harm in being fully prepared.

Leaving behind the discarded bodies that twitched like dead fish or zombies as if reacting to external stimuli every time I passed by, I turned on the game console in the darkroom and gripped the controller.

What game should I play today...

My brain started spinning again.

I fiercely began to ponder which of the various niche online games had the most advantageous structure for me to raise my rank score to the target value.

What game would be best to properly utilize the Super Concentration I had somehow become able to use freely—an ability along the lines of Slow Motion or Bullet Time that made time seem to slow down.

True to the name Bullet Time, maybe an FPS (First-Person Shooter)?

It would be convenient for dodging enemy shots, and it seems like it would be good for aiming too.

Or maybe a one-on-one fighting game wouldn't be bad either. There would be no cheat code quite like this for cramming in a combo attack or a counter at the exact right time...

I formulated a meticulous plan in my head, evaluated and reviewed that plan, and ended up running my Happiness Circuit, thinking, 'If I do this right, achieving the target rank score might not just be a dream, right?'

I even thought about what would happen if I achieved the achievements of the Original Game, before I soon slapped my own masked cheeks.

Smack.

"Let's get a grip. You came here to play. Not to work."

Before I knew it, I was looking at the game with a thoroughly business-like, analytical, and calculating mindset again.

At this point, it was a severe case.

Of course, it was true that I came here with the goal of raising my Rank Score and achieving achievements, but more than that, it was for the purpose of purely enjoying the game and forgetting about work—that was why I even broke my promise to myself to lounge around at home all day and came all the way here.

There were few mediums you could immerse yourself in as easily as games, falling into them without caring about real-world matters.

Though in Dusk City, that degree of immersion had become so severe it reached the level of VR electronic drugs, causing people to not just forget reality but abandon it entirely, turning games into a serious social problem.

Anyway, that was why I came to the game center: to just play games to my heart's content, mess around, and rest.

"Let's just think about enjoying it. Just enjoying it."

I stopped myself from having thoughts like, 'Couldn't I utilize the chip's Cyberdive ability again? It should be possible to dive to the very bottom of the online server and change my rank.' by committing self-harm and slapping my cheeks again.

Smack!

I shoved my stinging, reddened cheeks into the helmet-type headset.

Moving the controller, I gradually began to focus on the game.

"..."

And how much time had passed?

I had picked a Hyper FPS type of game that suited my tastes the best, and was in the middle of playing it with proper immersion.

Whether the Realm of Super Concentration definitely had an effect, or if I was just exceptionally lucky, I ended up raising my Rank Score by nearly 50 points.

'Maybe I... had the makings of a pro gamer as well as a chef? If I had known this, maybe I should have given it a serious try in my Original World. Or since it's still not too late, maybe I should change my career path to a niche online game pro or a streamer...'

The game was going so well that I even harbored such foolish thoughts.

The crosshairs stuck perfectly to the enemies' bodies; the opponents' movements were plainly read... It was to the point where I wondered if the God of Gaming had descended upon me.

At this rate, there really wasn't much left until the target score.

Just as I was grinning at the thought that I would easily win this game too, the lights suddenly went out.

Wooooong.

My vision went dark. The game screen floating on the helmet monitor blacked out completely.

No, my score!!!

I hurriedly took off the headset and looked at the game console; the power was off.

It wasn't just the game console, but everything around me as well.

The extinguished lights flickered, and the surroundings were filled with the shouts of humans who had been dragged back to reality while enjoying Virtual Pleasure.

Only then did the seriousness of the situation register.

'A power outage? Or could it be an EMP?'

That was the first thought that instinctively came to mind.

The group that came to mind when thinking of an EMP caused a sense of crisis that sent a tingling chill down my spine, making me wonder if the Luddite Gang had somehow found out my location and launched an attack to avenge Ned Ludd.

Something so unusual was happening.

The ceiling above my head shook and unidentified powder rained down, and my ears rang dizzily with the shrieks and screams of the Zombie Derelicts crazed by games.

I faintly heard a certain sound from above.

...DCPD, open up!!!

That noise was caught by my astonishingly sharpened senses as I entered a State of Concentration.

As soon as I heard it, my face turned pale white.

This... seemed even worse than the Luddite Gang.