Totoy, that's what they call me, but I am Tonyo Santos, a purebred Filipino from a third-world country, the Philippines. My mom married very young, running away from my grandparents, or as we say in Filipino terms, they "Tanan," and that's how I was born. Something like this seems normal in our country.

And as I was born, I obtained a sister the next year, and a brother the following year, and so on. As of present, I have 10 siblings, and another child is about to be born. Being the oldest, this is the worst; I need to take care of all of them.

Yup, that is also normal in this country. How did we even survive this? Well, it's a good thing my father is a hardworking construction worker and does a lot of jobs just to take care of us. My mother sometimes does laundry for some extra money. As for me, I do some side hustles by collecting plastic bottles and other recyclable items for extra money for school.

Indeed, it's fortunate that my parents place a high value on education and consistently provide for us, despite our impoverished circumstances. Despite the challenges we face, I still harbor immense love and gratitude towards them.

Playing outside, engaging in games like patintero, tagutaguan, and habulan, was common for us. However, owning phones is something everyone will experience in their life. In our house, we only have two phones. We are poor, and these phones are barely good at all. Their sole purpose is for communication—one for my father and one for my mother.

I sometimes use my mother's phone to use Facebook. This phone only has one game, Candy Crush. It was the most popular game of 2012 and 2013, but as years passed, it became a game mostly played by mothers, aunties, and older people in our country, and my mother is one of them. She is an avid player of this game; it's a game mothers love to play maybe we can call it mother's game of century. But since it's the only game this phone has, I play it a lot too.

There are a lot of popular games like POBG, Mobul Legendz, or Rules Of Survival. But I don't know how to play them, and I don't have a device to use nor a wifi to use internet. Well, I could go to a computer shop, but that's not how I was raised. I dont want to waste money I make sure to be thrifty with my money.

But my normal life changed when the world of Candy Crush became reality... I thought I was hallucinating because I played the game a lot, but it seems I am not...

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A woman materialized in a shimmering holographic form before me.

"Welcome to The World of Games," she declared, her voice resonating with an otherworldly echo.

"This is the place where dreams and imagination will intertwine. The reality from which you've escaped no longer exists, and now, you've arrived at your most cherished game of all. This will become your new life, where dreams will be forged, and memories will be created, alongside your fellow gamers. Here, this will be your reality."

"The Admin will grant you access to all the Game World Systems of Candy Crush. Simply command 'SYSTEM' to activate the system. To connect with fellow gamers and explore other game worlds, say 'WORLD SYSTEM.'

Blah blah blah blah, the women explained, but to summarize all of it, Candy Crush is my new reality... But why this GAME?????

Yes, I played this game a lot not because I love it, but because it's the only available game I can play. I tried other games, and while they are indeed fun, it's hard to understand them, especially since I can't play them always, while Candy Crush is indeed easy.

I don't want to waste my money just for playing games, but now our reality is playing games, and yet, of all of the games, only Candy Crush????

Oh well I have no choice so let's play the game! "System!" And the game materialize just like that. I have 5 hearts, just like how it is in the game, and the map looks just like it does in the game. In the past, we reached about level 1234. We truly went far, with all the hard work of my mother and me but now, back to level 1.

In playing this game, candies became one-to-one, meaning candies are as big as me. In order for candies to move, I need to command them to move and magically they move.

I need to create a 3 by 3 match or bigger than that to win the game. If I try to move candies that don't match, I won't lose a move, and they will go back to their original place.

Just like how the game Candy Crush works.

I tried to go near the candies and touch them, and yes, they are real candies. Maybe I can eat them, but maybe that's dangerous. As I try to touch them, I accidentally push them out of their box, and then, like normal moves, they move, which creates a 3 by 3 match.

Wow, that's crazy! Matching 3 by 3 is interesting because the candies explode, emitting an aromatic candy smell as they explode. Good thing I quickly got out of the box of candy; who knows what might happen to me if I stay there.

This is amazing, a true absolute realism. But before everything else let's first clear this game, and obviously, the level is easy, super easy. Instant 3 stars and 100 game points are given to me.

Wait, game points? What's that?