Yuujin Yamaguchi, a young genius who managed to conquer various VRMMORPGs that developed at that age, was suddenly reported dead in America. The cause of his reported death remained a mystery.

[Crazy! Yuujin Yamaguchi is reported dead!]

[Are you serious? It’s most likely fake news again.]

[You don’t believe me? Check the news!]

[I’ve read it, was it really suicide?]

[Wow, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually suicide!]

[No way! Who are you trying to fool?]

The sudden death of the legendary professional player shocked the virtual world. From public forums to dark websites, everyone that had been following the man’s journey was talking about the news of his death.

Losing their mainstay professional player, Yamaguchi’s agency, E-nfinity, was dealt a heavy blow as various sponsors withdrew all the facilities they provided to the agency. This included special amenities, and one of them was a luxury apartment in Tokyo which had been the residence of his younger brother, Hiro Yamaguchi.

…

“Fuck! Shit! Damn it!”

A young man was ruffling his black hair on the side of the road like a madman. Near his feet sat a large cardboard box whose lid couldn’t completely close due to the large number of contents.

Three days after his brother’s death was reported, Hiro was kicked out of the apartment he had been living in without any compensation from the agency where his brother worked before his death.

There was no clear information about the cause of his brother’s death, neither from the media nor the E-nfinity agency. Moreover, Yuujin’s body was currently still under further investigation, so it would take some time if he wanted to see his brother’s body.

Three days had passed, and Hiro’s life felt like hell.

There was nothing left for him, not even Yuujin’s credit card that he used to use as it had been frozen by the agency. Now, Hiro could only rely on his meager savings.

“My life really is over. It’s all because of that idiot! Arghhhh! How could he just die like that!?

“If you want to die, just die on your own! Why do you have to make things difficult for me too!? Did you forget that you still have a brother?!”

Thump!

Hiro harshly kicked a lamppost by the roadside, causing an electric current to sting his leg.

“Ouch! That hurts, damn it!” he cursed as he patted his trembling leg.

Hiro had been standing in the same place for nearly two hours. Before he knew it, the bright sky had turned dark.

“I know you did it on purpose. You’re tired of taking care of me, aren’t you!? That death of yours, you must’ve faked it on purpose! I know how you play, Yuujin. That’s really smart of you. Cunning, even. In America, aren’t many people already faking their deaths!?”

He spat on the ground. “Tch, if only I had enough money to come see you there.”

Hiro clenched his fists, feeling angry, annoyed, and disappointed at the same time. The turbulent emotions raged within him, and after a moment, his heart felt as if it was shrouded in darkness.

“Why is my life so miserable?” He took a deep breath and looked up at the dark sky.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light startled him.

BANG!

Lightning struck the sky he was looking at, completing his suffering that day as heavy rain came pouring down his body.

“Fuck! Why am I so unlucky!?”

The rain poured like a storm. Left with no other option, Hiro immediately rushed to find shelter after he grabbed the cardboard box filled with his belongings. Fortunately, a bus stop was nearby.

“Where am I supposed to stay tonight?” he muttered to himself.

Hiro touched the black android bracelet wrapped around his left hand, and it projected a smartphone interface on the skin of his arm. This was a technology that had become a must-have item for people living in the year 2028. Getting a little wet from the rain was fine as the technology was completely waterproof.

He had been hoping to see a notification from the only remaining family member he had now, Aunt Yuma, but the woman ignored all of his calls and messages these past few days.

“Looks like I’m really alone now,” Hiro sighed somberly. He lowered his head, his eyes staring blankly at the screen.

Ding!

[Incoming message has been received.]

[Advertisement: Find a comfortable and inexpensive place to stay near Kami-Itabashi Station, 1R apartments starting from 40,000 yen/month in limited quantity! Call +81 3 5xxxx to order!]

Even though it was not the message he was expecting, seeing the dirt-cheap housing price and its location only three blocks away from his current location, Hiro desperately ran in the rain to get there.

And after running for a while, he finally managed to find the apartment he was looking for; an old building with five floors. He shook the water off his body a little before entering. He met the owner, a fat old lady with a friendly look to her, to bargain the price. The reason for this was that Hiro only had 25,000 yen left.

Even so, he still decided to come to this place while hoping luck would be on his side. And fortunately, luck was indeed on his side that night.

After some persuasion, Hiro managed to get an amazing price of 20,000 yen per month for a one-room apartment. The old lady was even kind enough to allow him to pay the rent in two installments, upfront and at the end of the month.

Therefore, he immediately paid the first 10,000 yen using his android bracelet. The transaction was done with only a swipe, very fast and easy.

Technology made various things in life easier.

Afterward, Hiro swiftly rushed to his room located at the very corner of the highest floor, room number 501.

Upon entering, he was immediately greeted by a room with an area of ​​28 square meters complete with a bed, a small room for the kitchen, and an en-suite bathroom that was only separated by thin wooden partitions. It honestly made Hiro think back to his old life.

After standing at the door for a while, he walked in and placed the cardboard box in his hand on the table beside the bed.

“Ah, damn it! Now I really have no money. Seriously, Yuujin, why didn’t you give me anything for a situation like this? Haa… looks like I have to find a job to survive tomorrow,” Hiro annoyedly muttered before checking his savings balance.

“I don’t even have enough money to pay for university enrollment. What’s the point of being accepted by three top universities if I can’t even pay for it? Damn it! Everything I did went to waste!”

Thud!

He kicked the nearby table in anger, causing the box to fall.

Hiro lowered his gaze and silently looked at the fallen box before a sigh escaped his lips. Regretting his actions, he immediately saved the box and re-crammed the fallen belongings scattered on the dusty floor.

His hand suddenly stopped moving when it came into contact with a small metal box tucked between his pile of clothes. As he took it out, he found that the box was a memory cube, a device that allowed one to store pictures or photos that were usually used for an album of memories.

He pressed the activation button on the box, and a bitter smile appeared on his face as the box projected some old, unforgettable photos.

The first photo was a photo of Hiro when he was 6 years old. It was his first time going to school accompanied by his older brother, not long from the fateful day of their parents’ accident.

The second photo was a photo of the two of them, the older brother holding the international gaming championship trophy while hugging his younger brother’s shoulders tightly. Both of them looked very happy with very similar smiles on their faces.

Hiro suddenly remembered the words his brother wrote at the bottom.

‘You can do it too Hiro, believe me!’

Hiro gasped as something dripped from his eyes. Realizing what had just happened, he immediately rubbed his eyes and turned off the memory cube.

“Why is this room so dusty?”

Since it had been a really tiring day, he decided not to do anything else and jump into bed early.

…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The loud banging on the door made Hiro jolt up from his bed, completely awakened from his deep sleep.

Annoyed, Hiro forced himself to get off his bed and lazily walked toward the door.

Slam!

Hiro almost broke the hinge of his bedroom door by violently opening it. He was ready to throw some curses at the person who had disturbed his sleep, but…

No one was there.

And it was still dark. Completely dark, in fact.

When he glanced at the clock on his android bracelet, it showed 03:00 AM.

“Fuck!!” he cursed while leaning out and turning his head around to check if there really wasn’t anyone there.

Thud!

His foot accidentally kicked something heavy on the floor in front of him.

A large cardboard box was left in front of Hiro’s door.

“For me?” Hiro checked the piece of paper stuck on top of the box. Written in Times New Roman was a short, but concise message.

‘Happy Birthday, Hiro! I’m sure you’ll like my present. – Your brother, Yuujin.’

Hiro stared at the piece of paper wide-eyed.

“…”

“Happy birthday, my ass! My birthday was last month!

“International couriers are really bad these days. How is it that I only received your present after you died, Yuujin?

“Besides, are you from an ancient civilization or something? Who sends birthday messages like this these days?”

Hiro frowned as he studied the box once more. Looking at the large size and the expensive-looking cardboard material, Hiro’s gloomy feelings gradually turned bright.

‘Is this the inheritance money that he prepared for me?’

He immediately took the box into his room and brutally unsealed it, and inside it was…

“A set of next-generation full-dive VR machines!?”

Hiro was astonished to see what he found in the box. He inspected the machine very carefully, afraid of accidentally scratching it. After all, this thing was expensive. Like, super expensive!

The latest generation of full-dive VR technology was much smaller than the previous generation’s. It had a bulky appearance and felt very light, and its shape resembled a helmet with comfortable padding on the inside. Furthermore, the package was complete with a smartring that functioned as data storage and could easily be connected to an android bracelet.

Without further ado, Hiro put the ring on his finger.

[Ding! A smartring has been detected. Would you like to download it?]

“Yes.”

[Downloading, please wait…]

[Download successful]

[Program Name: LAST SHELTER ONLINE]

[Type: VRMMORPG]

[Smartring is now safe to remove.]

“Last Shelter Online?”

He had heard about the game several years ago, but no further information about the game was released since then. It was as if it just disappeared and everyone started to forget.

That is, until today when it once again rose to the surface.

Why so suddenly, though?

Curious about the reason, Hiro immediately opened the MetaGoozle search engine to find out more.

[Last Shelter Online: The game’s official website suddenly opened three days ago!]

[A highly anticipated game, Last Shelter Online, shocked the world with its sudden release!]

The entire first page of the keyword search was filled with the basically same news.

Hiro immediately read more from the official website of LSO, a game that had been eagerly awaited since years ago produced by the world’s largest game company, Ninecent.

[The soft launching of the LSO game is scheduled for December 8, 2028. Starting from today, the latest generation of VR machines specifically for LSO has been sold on the internet in limited quantities per day. For the first day of sale, a total of 200,000 VRs were sold out in one second!]

There was also a release event that would last for a month starting from the game’s release date. A total prize of 10,000LSC would be awarded to players who manage to rank in the top 1,000 in the game.

Meanwhile, for players who were ranked in the top 100, an additional 50,000LSC would be awarded on the same day, with the total prize of the release event amounting to 15 million LSC.

LSC, or Last Shelter Coin, was listed as an official cryptocurrency currently occupying the number two position in the world, just below Botcoin (BTC).

10,000LSC was currently equivalent to 10,000USD.

‘This means…’

“An opening ceremony event with a total prize money of 60,000 USD!?”

‘I can pay for my university enrollment, tuition, apartment rent, or my life for several years with that money!’

“This isn’t a hoax, is it?”

Hiro’s spirit was rekindled after seeing the nominal value of this present. The present could save his life!

Besides, getting a rank in the top 1,000 wasn’t difficult for him. Although he had not reached the legendary extent his brother managed to, he was also a professional gamer. In order to live, he decided to target the top 100 to get that 60,000USD for himself.

He could no longer wait and wanted to try the game and compete. And because he already had a VR machine complete with the game, he wanted to try the machine first.

‘Let’s try it out.’

Hiro attached the VR machine to his head. A moment after it was properly put on, the hundreds of sensitive sensors embedded in the VR machine started working to capture his brainwaves before downloading them and converting them to digital form.

[Checking connection…]

[Synchronizing player information, please wait…]

[All set]

[System linked]

[Welcome to Last Shelter Online: Closed Beta Test Version]