Sword Art Online. The full-dive VRMMO turned death game.

I cannot log out. When you die in the game, you'll die in real life. It was due to the invasive program in the Nervgear that would fry your brain, the moment your health reaches zero.

That's stupid.

Games are meant to be played for fun. Those who take games too seriously are nutjobs.

I won't put up with this bullshit. Besides, I've been wanting to die for the longest time. I hate this life and online games are just a temporary escape from reality.

I knew both of them are different. Trying to change one into the other just left a bad aftertaste. Even with the fun MMORPG System instead of the boring desk work—it made no difference if I really had to put my life on the line instead of just fucking around.

At least in my work, there's no threat of being killed at any moment.

I can't deal with this world at all.

When everyone else was in shock and uproar from the GM's words, I escaped from the city and jumped off a nearby cliff.

The moment my body hit the bottom, I saw my life plummeting to zero...and I closed my eyes as my body was reduced into data fragments.

Goodbye...shitty game world.

...

I woke up in my room.

There's still the Nervgear on my head.

Strange I could take it off easily; in the game, I couldn't do so forcibly.

I wondered why I'm still alive.

It takes me back for the first time I brought the Nervgear. Since the original edition was expensive, I went to a random gaming store and brought a 'derivative' version.

Checking my own Nervgear, on the back, was written...

'Made in China.'

Sigh...I guess my death had to be postponed 'cuz I'm a cheapskate.

It would eventually come soon. I just have to be patient.

Since nobody in my work knew I was playing SAO, and I wasn't logged in for long—I'll just remain silent.

For the first time in my life, I felt like sleeping early. I'm really tired of this.

...

On the next day, I go to work as usual.

...but none of my colleagues were working. They're just stared at the TV in the office; eyes glued to the news about Sword Art Online.

Not everyone was present. Some were stuck in the 'Death Game'.

'If I knew this would happen, I would've joined as well.'

'Thank goodness, I didn't play online games.'

They were divided in opinions, despite the incident being of a grave matter.

Though I was really concerned about how the government approved of such device with hidden lethality.

Did Kayaba, or whoever his name is—bribed the government so the device would be on the white list?

Before the game was released—why did none of those tech experts able to identify such function? The only reviews were only hyping it up.

Maybe, this Kayaba person was such a genius. No one besides him would understand the hidden mechanism.

I wasn't a particularly popular employee. It's easy enough for me to blend in the background without anyone paying me attention.

Although—some news flash made me jump.

'The First batch of SAO survivors.'

Those who used bootleg Nervgears were able to log out the game after they died inside it.

Although, the moment they tried to login back—the device just wouldn't connect.

In any case, people kept on raving about the SAO incident until the Boss came in, ushering us to get back to the job.

Due to the missing people, the amount of work had multiplied...

I began to hate this life and especially my job again. But today's experience made me realize something.

...

Due to the missing people and the sudden demand for employees, I managed to land myself a new job. It had much better terms and environment than my previous.

Even if the survivors had the chance to go on rehab and get a few days of rest—not sure I wanna do it.

I'd prefer spending my days in freedom. If my Nervgear was found out, I'll just say I forgot to play. Since by the time I went home, I was tired as hell and slept the entire night.

Let's just go with that.