Chapter Text
That day, he hadn't planned on doing anything reckless.
He had finally gained some stability in his life, and he had no intention of ruining it.
He was simply going through his usual delivery route, moving from house to house without any issues. Some customers received their packages in person, while others required him to leave them on the porch.
Then, after his last delivery, he decided to take a shortcut through a series of quiet streets. That's when, through the window of his van, he spotted a familiar building.
It was like catching sight of an acquaintance in a crowd. He could have ignored it and kept driving, but... he didn't.
He pulled the van over and parked by the curb, both hands resting on the steering wheel.
Memories of loneliness and frustration returned to him after all these years, as if they had been hidden beneath a rug, waiting for the chance to crawl back out and bother him.
He wanted... to exorcise them somehow.
Against his better judgment as an employee, he stepped out of the van and crossed the street toward the building.
The worn-down walls looked exactly as he remembered them, perhaps even more covered in graffiti than before. The evening sun filtered through the dusty windows, staining the gray walls and floor with warm orange light.
Naturally, visiting an abandoned place should have felt creepy. But not to him.
To him, it was simply proof that time had passed.
A long time ago, he had once found refuge here. Not for very long, but long enough to think about what he wanted to do with his life.
He walked through one of the many doorways, only to immediately stop and take a step back at what he found inside.
It was a simple office.
The furniture was scattered around haphazardly, dust and wear accumulated in every corner, but there, resting atop a desk, sat a computer.
It was old, far too small and bulky, and beside the keyboard rested an equally outdated VR headset.
His curiosity immediately drew him toward the machine.
If he remembered correctly... he had once tried turning it on in hopes of accessing the internet, only to find himself staring at the menu of some colorful game instead.
He had put on the headset, his vision had gone black, and then nothing happened. Since he couldn't play the game or even quit it, he'd eventually given up and shut the computer off.
He stared at his reflection in the dark monitor.
Could he still turn it on?
Slowly, he reached for the power button on the tower.
And just when he thought it would be impossible, there was no way the building still had electricity, the tower hummed to life.
He blinked in surprise before turning on the monitor.
The exact same menu from years ago appeared, and the Exit button still didn't work.
He clicked his tongue.
This time, he pressed the Options button.
The screen changed, displaying brightness controls and volume settings. Nothing useful.
A notification from his phone, tucked into the back pocket of his uniform, interrupted his battle against a game from the '90s.
It was his coworker asking whether he had finished his route and if he was bringing the van back.
He quickly typed out a reply, claiming he had stopped to grab a snack.
Yes, he lied. Arrest him.
Determined to give up if the game proved disappointing, he clicked Play.
To his surprise, the screen zoomed into the circus tent, transitioning through an animation of curtains opening before revealing several colorful, oddly-shaped characters interacting in a wide shot.
He stared at the screen in surprise.
That hadn't happened before.
The characters' voices were faint and slightly distorted.
"Hello?" he called out uncertainly, squinting at the screen.
He wasn't sure whether he was watching an animated sequence or actual users.
Then he realized the voices were coming through the headphones resting beside the headset.
He put them on.
This time, he could hear the characters clearly.
"...My favorite part was discovering the lost relics."
"I didn't know archaeology could be so much fun."
"Next time, we should go look for fossils."
"Eh, I don't know. I'm not really a dinosaur fan."
"You know what would be fun? Riding a T-Rex."
"Oh, that sounds cool!"
He frowned.
Weren't these supposed to be simple characters with prerecorded voices?
They sounded like real people online.
"Hey, can you hear me?" he tried again.
No response.
They couldn't hear him.
Then his eyes drifted toward the VR headset.
He hesitated.
He was already late returning the van, but...
It would just be a quick look.
Maybe he could scare them a little and then log out. Simple as that.
With that in mind, he placed the headset over his head, and darkness swallowed his vision.
He blinked once.
And suddenly, everything became bright and colorful.