“What you aren’t logging on to school today? Again!” Lee Jun’s mom wore a worried expression on her face. It was the fourth month running that her son refused to log into a VR system. “You promised me you would go to school this week! Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened Mom!” Lee Jun, sighed as he pushed his mom’s hands away from his forehead. She was checking his temperature. He really didn’t understand why was it bothering his mother so much. If the world didn’t have a problem with him not logging onto VR then why should his mom? “As long as I am submitting my homework and assignments, its ok!” he said as he hurriedly tried to get away from the breakfast table.
“Something happened!” His mom snapped in between. He always had the same retort no matter what she asked. It was one the difficulties she had to bear with for raising such a child. He was most skillful with analyzing an argument and finding weaknesses in them. Though that did not mean he was proficient at debating, he lacked clearly lacked the charisma and diplomatic common sense of ensnaring his opponent in battle of wits.
It was true that his teachers were to a degree concerned that he failed to turn up for class but since Lee Jun always posted in his homework his academics wasn’t really suffering. Given the society they lived in, as long as Lee Jun didn’t suffer academically the school didn’t regard it as a problem. However, his mom thought otherwise. She had been from a generation where students would go to school rather than attend VR classes. She like many her age had apprehensions of a VR classroom however when the government mandated a phase-wise switch over to VR classrooms, everyone just had to accept the changes.
She had been taking it easy so far and letting Lee Jun go through his emotional struggles by himself. However, the struggle had been going on for far too long!
“NOTHING HAPPENED!” Lee Jun shouted back. It was frustrating for him to be surrounded by people who didn’t understand him. Then again, he never did explain to his mother what happened. Nor did he ever explain his side of the argument step by step. By simply being frustrated and losing his cool, he only earned his mother’s wrath.
*SMACK*
Lee Jun held his left cheek with his hand. That was a first.
His mom’s hands were trembling as she pulled her hand back. For a moment she hesitated but then mustered her courage and repeated her question. “Don’t raise your voice with me. I am asking one more time, what happened?”
Lee Jun’s cheek was glowing red and his face went hot. He had never seen this side of his mom before. It didn’t matter whether he was a genius or not, a scolding from an angry parent can make any child cry. Tears began rolling down Lee Jun’s cheeks.
“Talk to me.” She implored him. His mom kneeled down and hugged him. It was difficult on her too. “If you don’t say anything how am I ever going to understand you.” His mom too had tears in her eyes.
He hugged her back tightly and wailed out, “I am afraid of diving.”
He finally said it after keeping quiet about it for half a year. He was too afraid to dive into virtual reality. Initially, it was just about diving back into a game. But as time passed by he found it difficult to dive into VR altogether. It was an irrational fear that no matter how well he analysed he had no answer to it.
Unlike the past where people would order large capsules, with dramatic improvements in technology (like Nerve Gear), a simple head gear with cybernetics sensors to read and manipulate brainwaves would be more than sufficient to enter into the VR world.
The very feeling of his consciousness falling momentarily would resonate with some fear that deepily resided within him. It would cause his heart rate to spike and the VR gear would automatically eject him back into reality. This was done so as part of a health and safety standard in VR consoles.
Once in the VR game, this feature would only be activated depending upon the VR environment and the level of exhilaration permitted by the user. This even applied to the circumstances when Shadow made his debut, some of the players who were too scared, triggered the safety measure and were logged out automatically from the VR world.
However it is most important for users to maintain a clam and steady heartbeat during the dive into VR as it would serve as the initial base benchmark. Without being able to dive, entering the VR system was close to impossible.
Lee Jun tearfully explained his experiences to his mother. How he could initially dive but would soon become unstable and be logged out again. It was as if he became afraid of the VR world. Normally one would be unable to distinguish between VR and reality, however, those with keen senses would always know which is which even if they don’t understand what’s different. Unfortunately for Lee Jun, he had keen senses. Though he could not consciously distinguish between the two, he always knew subconsciously. Then again he had never been drugged and tested. Maybe the very fact that he knew he was diving created a distinction in his mind.
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Lee Jun’s mom hugged him tightly. She had no idea his condition was so severe. She had a hunch that her son was avoiding VR but she had no clue that he had developed a phobia of diving itself. There do exist all sorts of people in the VR world. There are some who are too afraid of the falling sensation that a dive induces however rather than overcoming that fear it is usually more convenient to use an older generation VR gear. Given the vast technological improvements that take place between every generation of VR console it could at best be summarized that using older generations of VR consoles wasn’t as fulfilling as using the latest generation. The difference could better be emphasized using gaming consoles like PS4 and Sega.
It would have not been as bad if the problem was the one described above. From what Lee Jun described he was embedded with something far more psychologically deeper. It wasn’t just the dive but the VR world itself that his mind was rejecting. In today’s society where nearly every activity is VR based, the small non existential minority who are afraid or reject VR on the grounds of heresy are treated like outcasts. Lee Jun’s mother hugged her son and repeatedly whispered to him that everything would be alright but deep within she was very much worried. The only cure for such a phobia was therapy. She wanted her child to have the best possible life but therapy was going to significantly expensive. She just didn’t have a clue where she would get all that money from.
Tears kept rolling down Lee Jun’s cheek and along his mother’s neckline as he came to terms with his own unsettling phobia. The last six months had been suffocating for him and by now sharing his troubles with his mother, he felt like a deep burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His muscles relaxed and he founding himself exhausted. The constant mental battle of trying to handle his problem on his own had been wearing him out mentally. Whether it was psychological fatigue or something else, Lee Jun found himself drowsy with each passing moment. As he tightly held on to his mother as he struggled to stay awake….
Before he noticed, Lee Jun was fast asleep while hugging his mother. She picked him up and took him to his room. She gently tucked him away in bed and sat beside him. She stroked her son’s head. His long unkempt black hair and frown reminded her the first time she met him at the orphanage.
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Authors Note:
1. So starting Vol 6, I wanted to focus a little more on the characters and the world the MC lives in.
2. To one of my readers, who said I dug a deep hole. Well The first step in getting out of a deep hole is to examine it. This is examining the hole, i didn't make it any more deeper.
3. Hopefully, some of you may have noticed the poetic changes to my writing. Let me know if its an improvement.
4. Small chapter, but I am no longer focusing on length. I am edging more towards story. Smaller chapters only means more chapters (or Vols).
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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