Earth, Café Neon light.
"Hahhh~ I am so exhausted! Thankfully it's about time to close the café or I would have fainted from overwork…"
The entire café was now empty, as it was near midnight and there were no more customers.
"Well, you have worked a full 12-hour shift today after all… it will obviously make you feel tired after such a long day…"
"What's the special day, Zephyr? You don't usually work for so long; is there something special today?"
Hearing his colleague's question, Zephyr smiled back slightly and spoke,
"Haha, yes yes!! Today is very special!"
'After all, today is the day I will die, so it's indeed very special…'
Hiding the pain and anxiety behind a fake smile, Zephyr spoke,
"Today I am bringing a girl on a date!"
'Of course that's not true; I have the type of face that only a mother can like at most. I am beyond cooked when it comes to dating!'
Zephyr was not handsome, not tall, not rich, and had no sense of humor either, and now he was going to die young, so there was no future either.
"Hoh! That's nice! Go on buddy! I am sure you will succeed!"
The unaware colleague patted Zephyr on the back, and just as he was about to ask questions about who the girl was, Zephyr's phone rang with a notification.
"Oh! They already sent my today's money... that's it! I gotta go now!"
After waving his hand at the colleague to say goodbye, Zephyr left the café in a hurry.
The moment he stepped outside, the fake smile from his face disappeared, and the usual 'exhausted' look appeared on his face once again.
After walking a short distance, Zephyr looked at the café one last time and shook his head.
'Sigh… I never thought that a day would come when I would kind of feel sad for leaving this sh*tty place too…'
The working hours were a nightmare, the salary was often not paid on time, and the boss was too overbearing.
Zephyr hated this place, yet he had no other choice but to force himself to work here, as he had no other source of income.
'Sigh, the job market is so bad these days that you can't even get an entry-level job… they are asking experience for an entry-level job but for that you need to have a job first...'
'Well, not like it matters anymore; I will be dead soon anyway… at least I will be free from this corporate hell…"
Shaking his head in helplessness, Zephyr made way to the bust stop.
"Even bus drivers don't work so late in the night… there are only a few buses coming and going…"
Zephyr waited for half an hour before a bus finally stopped for him.
Sitting on the last seat, he leaned his head against the window and stared outside blankly.
'When did it all go downhill I wonder… I once used to be decently good at studying… but after college… now I don't even have close friends anymore…'
Whatever friends he made in the college days were now all busy in their own separate lives. Of course, Zephyr still had contact with them, but the close friendship was no more.
Those days when the entire friend group would gather in the house of a single person and play games all day long during the weekdays were now long gone.
Some friends were now hustling in life just like him; some already succeeded while some were in an even worse situation than him.
Although Zephyr didn't manage to get a girlfriend and live the romance-filled life of a college student, his days back then were filled with less tension and stress as he laughed and joked with his friends.
'Now it's just dark…'
While Zephyr was busy questioning his life choices, the bus slowly reached his bus stop after about another half an hour.
As he got down from the bus, Zephyr found himself standing in front of a luxurious hotel.
"So, this is the most famous hotel of our city… looks quite nice… well, this is the last day of my life; might as well enjoy the best food and stay on a luxurious bed today…"
With hollow eyes and no hope left, Zephyr checked in and went straight to the canteen area.
He was feeling so empty today that he didn't even bother looking at the beautiful lady at the counter.
Walking into the canteen, Zephyr ordered quite a lot of expensive food that he wouldn't have dared to even think about eating on a normal day.
But today was special, so he was ready to splurge all of his money on enjoying.
"Ahhh~ Now this is life..."
Filling his stomach to the brim with the best food that he had eaten in his life, Zephyr made his way to his room.
Originally he was thinking of splurging the rest of the money that he had left on gacha games that he always liked to play, but today he didn't bother to do that and just bought himself many soft drinks that were his favorite.
Sitting on the balcony of his room, Zephyr looked at the city that was shining with lights everywhere.
The clear night sky was filled with countless stars, and the full moon illuminated the distant mountain range near the horizon, making the scenery look extremely beautiful.
Just when Zephyr was having the time of his life, his eyes fell on his wrist, which was now exposed as a button of his shirt's sleeve had come off.
There were various mysterious runes shining on his wrist in small characters.
Zephyr did not know that language, but for some reason he could understand the meaning of those words perfectly.
{Congratulations! You have been chosen as the next challenger for 'Obelisk Aperion!'}
{You will be summoned to the game in: 29 min: 45 sec.}
Seeing that timer, the cheerful and relaxed expression completely vanished from Zephyr's face.
"Sigh… so I only have 30 minutes left to live… telling me the time of my death beforehand… how cruel…"
As the approaching doom became more and more certain, Zephyr could feel his hands tremble a bit in frustration and helplessness.
The glass of juice simply could not reach his mouth, as he could not gather the strength to raise that glass again anymore.
Every human being is destined to die, but when you don't know the exact date and time of your death, you can live in peace.
The moment you become aware of your end, your entire life loses color, and you get more and more desperate as the time reaches its end.
"Sigh… I just hope that I will not die too embarrassingly…"
As there were only ten more minutes left, Zephyr took a deep breath, deleted his phone's history, and got up from his seat as he stared at the endless sky with helplessness.
"A player heh… more like a lab rat… the last guy got f*cked up live in front of the entire world..."
Obelisk Aperion, the horror game that descended upon this world out of nowhere, was nothing but a death sentence to a normal human like him.
But destiny seems to have decided to mess with him to the end; out of the billions of people, he was chosen as the next target to be transported inside that horrific game world.
"Ah… please don't send me to the Goblin cave like the last guy please… I don't want to end up like him, anything but that…"
As Zephyr prayed for his safety, the timer came to an end, and a cold, emotionless, machine-like voice rang out in his mind as his body froze in place.
{Congratulations! Zephyr Reid! You are about to start your great adventure!}
{Teleporting to the world of Obelisk Aperion!}
Seeing that message appear in his mind, Zephyr had only one thought in his mind.
'Ugh, I don't feel good about this…'
At that moment, a massive portal appeared below his feet, and he fell right into it without being able to resist.