'The meaning of life is freedom.'

---

A young man takes a deep breath as he enters his apartment, lifelessly shutting the door behind him. The air is stagnant and cold. There’s barely any furniture or decoration, like it’s been abandoned for years. Of course, he's been living here ever since he was old enough to rent his own apartment.

He walks past the unused, small kitchen on his left, ignoring the grumbling of his stomach. Another night without cooked food won't really do much to someone like him - he's survived far worse, and he didn't especially feel like cooking something.

‘I’ll just order takeout again.’

The lazy, unmotivated thought saunters through his mind. He found that he was thinking that a lot, these days. And good food was one of the few things that he actually used to enjoy...

He also passes the empty living room on his right, not even bothering to acknowledge it. He didn't even have a television in there. What use was a living room when he didn't even live in it?

His target, as always, was his bedroom.

The dusty photos on the wall are ignored by him, like always. Photos he was forced to take in school that he found himself putting up, for some reason. For the nostalgia of being in school, maybe? Despite everything else in his life, it had been a unique experience.

He ignores the fact that his home phone’s base is glowing red in the dark, indicating a ton of missing messages piling up. It was probably just the guys from work, trying to get him to go out for drinks again, or trying to pull him to some kind of hang-out with their female co-workers. 

They were honestly good guys, but he didn't really find any of it necessary.

‘Another damn long day of work.'

That was the only thought on his mind when it came to work. But he ended up spilling even deeper thoughts aloud, for nobody but him to hear. 

“Seriously, why do I even do this again…? Just to get money to eat, sleep, and survive? This shit is draining me more and more.” He thought to say more, but at this point, he’d had this conversation with himself over and over again.

It was just how life was. He’d get up, go to work, then come back home. He'd occasionally do other things that hit his whim, like hitting up small arcades still in business, going out to eat by himself, watching a movie alone, that sort of thing.

But increasingly, day-by-day, life outside of his house was becoming more and more dull. The weight that bore down on him everytime he had to leave was almost unbearable, by now. 

Still, there was just one thing he could look forward to. A slight hint of freedom, even in this world that had given him none of it.

“I'm finally back.” He entered his bedroom and slowly dialed up the dimmer switch, slowly bringing a warm light into the room. While he had looked nearly emotionless before, in the light of his room, a bright smile could finally be seen spreading over his face.

That brightness was also enough to show that he truly was living frugally. He had no decorative belongings around his room, no posters on his walls, nothing besides bare-bones furniture.

A bed, a personal computer (with some insanely top-of-the-line specs), and a television with a few gaming consoles scattered in front of it. 

That, plus the few items outside his room, were all he owned...and he was completely fine with it.

It wasn't like he was broke. He didn't have much of anyone or anything to spend that money on, besides rent, food, and his occasional extra expense. Most of his pay just sat, building up.

"Finally back, finally back!" He practically sang to himself, while entering the room. He shined far brighter than the dim lighting that was barely outlining everyting in the room.

'Back to the one thing I actually enjoy doing these days...'

He tossed his work briefcase to the side, and slowly approached his computer, sliding into the familiar comfort of the office chair. He sat there for a while, letting out a long sigh as he decided to momentarily look around his room.

‘Empty. Empty, like usual. But that doesn't matter.'

He chuckled, then turned back to his computer screen. It booted up quickly and quietly, but, still a little impatient, he followed his usual ritual, tapping on the keys with silent joy. 

And soon, that beloved title screen appeared, signifying yet another exciting night of unimaginable freedom.

Treasure Quest!

A very generic name for a game, even if it was anything but.

To put it simply, Treasure quest was a game that separated itself from others by hard-focusing on one aspect, developing a world around that.

Firstly, things like [Systems], [Levels], and other such things were not unique to the Player character. In the world of Treasure Quest, everyone had that potential, even the most simple of NPCs. 

However, stats were negligible in this game. Skills were a little more important, and inborn Traits just boosted your potential.

What really mattered...was [Treasure].

Ancient artifacts, cursed objects, divine relics, teachings of old masters, as long as you could imagine it being found, there was a treasure that matched it. The developers were extremely thorough with the variety and amount of Treasure items, considering that it was the entire reason their game even existed.

[Treasure] wasn’t just random loot found in chests. It wasn’t categorized as Equipment or Accessories. Treasure was something meant for everyone who was someone. While everyone had a System, Traits, Stats, and Levels, not everyone had access to a Treasure.

Having a Treasure meant that you were a part of an elite class. A powerful class. Your Treasure was, essentially, you reputation, and your lifeblood.

“Continue? No, that last run was a bad one. All I got were weak strength-boosting Treasures, and I was going for a genius noble swordsman character." He sighed, shaking his head. "Let’s just start over. I really liked that character, though…ahh.”

Your treasure was made for you and you alone. Even the heroines of the game had their own sets of treasures that were randomized from a premade list between runs.

Ah, yeah, the heroines...

Treasure Quest was indeed a lifelike game...with romance elements on the side. Just thinking about it, the young man couldn't help but groan. He had avoided those parts of the game as much as possible - though learning information about the Heroines and sub-Heroines was still important.

Your character, the characters you allied with (or dated, not that he’d know much of that part of the game), and your enemies could change treasures every run. It made for a unique experience, that wasn’t too random. Just predictable enough to form strategies. 

This young man had endlessly played this game for months by now, nearing a year. And he was about to play it again, tossing aside a beloved run that had ended near the conclusion because of a bad roll on the character’s Treasures.

He gave a little bow of his head, shaking it as the cursor of his mouse hovered over the delete button.

“Sorry, Alan. We had a good game together, but the RNG just wasn’t in our favor. Didn’t get to beat the last boss again, but I’m sure your successor will handle it. Rest well.”

He clicked the delete button, watching while the game processed the command. There weren't any waterworks or signs of frustration Throwing away yet another character he spent an ungodly amount of effort and hours on to try reaching the end - this had become a routine for him by now.

“Time to make our next character, then…” 

And like a practiced harmony, he went straight to New Game, and began the character creation process.

Name? Randomized.

Gender? Male, of course.

Class? All-Rounder, his favorite. If he was lucky, maybe he could create an All-Round genius, this time?

He clicked off option after option, until eventually reaching the ‘Character Questionnaire’ section. It wasn’t much, just a fun little set of questions that expanded on your character’s background. It was used to set certain stats and personality traits that changed your character’s dialogue and actions slightly, at least when you weren’t directly controlling those things.

While most would mindlessly click, he stopped to seriously consider his character’s personality with each choice. 

This character, Thomas, wouldn’t be from a noble family like his last. He would have the hardest Background start, as a hick from a backwater village. He wouldn’t have any inherent traits that made him more well-equipped as a hero, which allowed more points to pour back into his stats. 

As always, he’d rely on his [Treasure] to make up for a lack of Traits and unique Perks. That was how good [Treasure] could be, if you had the time, patience, and information to find them...and the luck, of course.

But, as he neared the end of the Questionnaire, he saw one question that made him stop for a solid moment.

“Huh?”

The words on the screen read: ‘If you were to have a choice, would you go somewhere else? Somewhere exciting, new, and different, even at the cost of your current life?’

It was a weird question. Really weird. He’d never seen this come up in the questionnaire no matter how many times he played, and he always meticulously paid attention to it, as a diehard roleplayer.

‘I mean, it’d be a huge waste to not pay attention in a game this detailed. If it wasn’t for the restricted storylines, it’d be more like an open world sim than an RPG…’

So why now? He had never even defeated the final boss, despite reaching him so many times, so this couldn’t be some ultra secret congratulatory hidden content for him…and god forbid the ‘Dating Sim’ part of things, which he usually entirely neglected.

“You know what, though…this question kind of resonates with me. No need to get too freaked out over it. Let’s just answer honestly.” 

He answered, ‘Yes.’, without thinking too much about it.

As soon as the choice was made, his screen suddenly lit up, blinding him. It was bright, bright enough to make his entire room seem like someone had flashbanged him, or like he was looking directly into floodlights. No, like the sun was outside his window!

“Shit! What the hell?!” The young man covered his face with his hands, uselessly bracing against the sudden light that entirely engulfed him. Even his ears rang, like he’d been simultaneously blasted with sound.

Did his beast of a computer explode or something? Over a simple 2D rpg game like ‘Treasure Quest’?

That would’ve been funny, if it wasn’t so damn expensive. He didn’t need a $2,000+ joke right now. 

He was seriously worried, and tried moving a little to catch his bearings…until he realized that he couldn't feel his arms or legs, either. He couldn’t even speak, though he tried yelling. It was like he was in an endless, white void…

‘What the hell…? Did I just die or something? Passed out?’

While endless thoughts raced through his head, they all stopped the moment something appeared in front of his “eyes”, or at least, wherever his vision was. 

‘Wait, wait, wait, what, what, what?! What the hell is going on? No, I mean, it’s pretty obvious what’s going on. Unless I’m dreaming, I probably got knocked the fuck out, and now I’m seeing a classic ‘System’ message in front of me?! And it’s clearly trying to synchronize me to my character?! It’s easy to understand, but holy shit, I didn't know I'd get to experience something like this today! Or any day, ever!'

It was more shock than anger, despair, or loss that coursed through his body. And as that shock faded, it was replaced by a quickly growing excitement.

'Is this it?! The fabled transmigration-isekai-reincarnation...whatever?!'

His thoughts were jumping a mile a minute, but none of them were concerned about the fact that he may just be hallucinating. He was so desperate for this to be real, so ready - he didn't even care if this was just him finally started to go crazy.

No extra time came to organize those thoughts.

‘...wait, what?’

His inner excitement had calmed down considerably. That message...couldn't be right, could it?

As his consciousness began to fade, the young man felt one last thought going through his head.

‘Just my shitty luck.’

---

Later regarding this event in his life, the young man would only have one thing to say - "The meaning of life is freedom...but god, that System put me through hell to get there."