It was 3 AM. Koji had been playing poker in this pisshole pub called The Smoke Lounge. Quite aptly named by the way, as most clients seemed to be smoking something. He was playing in the backroom, a private space that hosted a high-stakes poker ring game. Minimum Buy-in: US$ 100.000,00. Not a lot of money for most of the people that played here, most of them big shot crime lords, shady CEO's, high profile politicians and the like. But for this particular 25-year-old asian man, that was a lot of money. In fact, that was all the money he had in this world, after selling his inheritance house, his car and everything else he owned.
After playing all night, he had managed to increase that money to US$ 120.000,00. It was going pretty well. The dealer shuffled the deck and dealt the cards. Koji covertly flipped his 2 cards, careful not to reveal them by accident to anyone. Ace and King suited. A damn good hand. And the rest of the cards that flopped all turned out well for him as he held what he thought was the strongest hand. An Ace-King Full House. He went All-In. The guy playing against him, a scary Italian mobster, took off the sunglasses he was wearing and gave him a malicious smile.
“Koji, my boy. Overconfidence is an insidious killer. Remember that.” The mobster then took a few moments to size up Koji's bet. “I pay his All-In.”
Koji's Full House was a nice, strong hand, but the Mobster had lucked out and gotten a Four-of-a-kind out of his pocket pair. Koji was officially broke. He drank what was left of his whiskey, got up from his seat and started to walk out of the room. He wanted to scream and cry but the thought of showing the people in the room this disgusting sight made him swallow it up. As he was about to open the door, the mobster gave him a quick whistle. Koji turned around and the man threw a coin at him with a big smile on his face.
“You better get used to getting change boy. After tonight, you are likely to become a beggar. Hehehehe.”
All the sorrow Koji was holding in turned into uncontrollable rage, as he took a pocket knife out of his jacket. He then pounced on the mobster and attempted to stab him in the throat. The mobster managed to hold his wrist just in the nick of time, and then one of the bodyguard that were guarding the room shot him in the knee, making him drop the knife and fall on the ground, screaming.
“Are you fucking stupid Koji? You just threw your life away.” Said the security guard, an old acquaintance of Koji’s.
“That fucking asshole had it coming…” Koji mumbled.
“WOW now boy. You know, I never thought you’d be the sore loser type. But then, I guess losing all your money does that to a person. We have a problem now, though. You just tried to kill me, and I can’t have that happening to me, so I have to make an example out of you.”
The mobster extended his hand to the security guard. The guard understood the gesture and gave him the gun he was holding.
“See you on the other side, piece of shit!”
As the sound of gunshot started to echo on the room, Koji’s eyes rolled up like he was convulsing. A very loud bell ring blasted everyone’s ears and Koji passed out.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
He woke up in a completely white room. A weird duck-like creature was standing on two feet and staring at him. As he focused his attention on the strange thing, he realized it wasn’t a duck, but a platypus and that he was wearing a very neat black suit on top and had a black dress hat tilted to the left of his head.
“Welcome to Floor Zero, Koji! You have been selected to participate in the galaxy’s most watched reality show. I’m gonna explain everything to you later, please stand still while we run some tests on you.”
Koji did stood still. But not because of the creature’s request and more because he was completely shocked by this talking platypus. He tried gathering his thoughts and remembered that he was about to get shot in the head.
“I am dead right? Are you perhaps… the devil…?” Saying that to a creature like that felt strange. The platypus wasn’t intimidating at all. In fact, it had a sort of calm demeanor that made Koji feel at ease.
“Oh right… where are my manners? My name is Bill. I’ll be your Guide to the game. We will begin the tutorial as soon as this machine finishes calibrating the system to your mind. And to answer your first question. No, you are not dead. We… “relocated” your existence to this room.”
“Well good then… So… Bill. I’m not sure I wanna play this. What if I refuse to participate?”
“That is your right. Then we will relocate you where you were before… you know… about to get a bullet facial.”
“Hmm… yeah. I guess I’m playing after all.”
“Okey dokey! The system is calibrated now. Try opening up the Status board. Just think “Open Status”
As the words crossed Koji’s mind. A translucent but clearly visible board popped up in his vision field.
Status Window Name:Koji KawamuraRace:Human Attributes Strength:0.3Dexterity:0.4 Vitality:0.2Endurance:0.2 Perception:0.5Willpower:0.6 Mental Power:0.6
Skill List
Inventory Empty TP:0
“Wow… I gotta say… Those are some terrible numbers there. Even for a human. Did you even exercise? At least your mental attributes are average and you do have above average Willpower. I'll explain the meaning of each attribute on Level Zero."
“Anyway… as I explained before, you have been selected to be a part of Level X, a reality show that is broadcast all across the galaxies for ascended beings to enjoy. We select candidates from a race and make them compete against each other. On this season of the show, we decided to use humans. 300.000 humans have been relocated to this dimension and are currently being briefed themselves. The prize for the winners of the show is immortal life and immense riches. Now, let’s move on to Level 0 where I’ll be explaining exactly how you play this game. Now please, step into the portal.”
A square door-like object appeared in front of Koji. It was completely black, darker than anything Koji had ever seen before. Koji felt a bit mesmerized by that square gooey object. Staring into it one would feel a deep void, like gazing at the universe. As he stepped closer, he felt an intense force pulling him in. He tried to resist it but it was too strong and he was sucked into the portal.