Chapter 2: This Plot is a Hoax!
March 05, 2022.
For many, it was just an ordinary day of no importance at all.
Nonetheless, for Harlan Jiro, a 22 y/old, young man from Italy streets, today was a really special day.
After all, today was the day it would turn eight months since he started dating his beloved girlfriend, Diana Junei.
Trinn! Trinn! Trinn!
''....''
A young man with slightly long dark brown hair gradually opened his eyes to the sound of his alarm beeping over and over.
Sunlight bathed his tired face, illuminating the entire room through the cracks in the yellow curtain that covered the boy's room monstrous window.
Yawning, he lazily pushed the white covers away from his body.
"What time is it?" Harlan blurted out as he stretched out on the comfortable bed.
His vision slowly cleared and the limbs of his body, which had been painful, now responded to his commands gently.
He looked at the clock that had been ringing non-stop before and was surprised by what he saw — ''Nine thirty-two in the morning?!'', he pronounced, choking at the same moment.
His black eyes glued to the cracked screen of the clock above the old, stained desk, leaving him stunned.
''Shit, I had to be at the diner at ten past eight! I'm already too late!''
Desperate, as he realized that could ruin their entire relationship, Harlan jumped out of bed and ran towards his bedroom door after dressing at superhuman speed.
That, impressively, didn't even cost him three minutes — surely, if Harlan were an Olympic runner competing for his girlfriend, his country could declare itself the winner of the endurance and time trials, beforehand.
'I have to run and give that present at the restaurant!', He thought, as he ran down the street like a lunatic.
If it weren't for his bottom which indicated he was a college student at the renowned 100 AJR college, he could have been mistaken for a man recently evicted from his home.
Several people sneered in the boy's direction; this one who didn't seem to mind, as he fixed his appearance with his free hand. He couldn't afford to jeopardize their relationship over one more mistake he'd made.
Those years had been the best years of Harlan's life; his happy time, so to speak.
After the tragical death of his mother and the incident with his brother, the only thing that brought him genuine happiness was Diana's sweet smile.
Her soft voice was also a regenerative factor that cured Harlan's tiredness whenever he returned from exhausting classes at the difficult, stressful university.
But frankly, Diana was the complete opposite of Harlan.
To begin with, she was a shy girl addicted to books and ridiculous otome games, who chose to lock herself in her house instead of hanging out with her peers and friends.
Many even used to call her 'Otome Bitch' or simply 'Bookworm', insulting the innocent girl behind her back and spreading rumors that she was crazy all over campus.
Despite that, Harlan was very fond of her — loved her with all his heart, in fact — and her cute little burst of sweetness whenever she talked about her favorite game with animation.
Unlike the others, Harlan tolerantly listened to her animated conversation every time she mentioned her favorite game.
Out of consideration, he even started trying out her beloved game, the unpopular and dusty [Wheel of Fortune], just so he could have another common thread with her.
Just to clarify, the Figure he was holding in the wrapped box, under his arms, was a representation of [WOF]'s main character, Taliyah Katran.
With almost no money in his pocket, the college boy had worked incessantly for months to get it ordered, and he even payed for a professional in the business to mold it.
However, Harlan considered having started to play that garbage game, the biggest mistake of his life that made him regret until that present day...
[The Wheel of Fortune] was a mystical fantasy game with pretty much world-building that you would easily see in thousands of generic stories around the internet.
It was for this and several other reasons that Harlan disliked that damn work so much, although he had utterly finished it, who knew how many times, just to align his tastes with Diana's bizarre ones.
After beating the game for the first time, having been forced to spend a lot of his own money to surpass some stages of the game, Harlan made a mistake he shouldn't have made...
He soon bragged to his girlfriend about it, completely forgetting for a moment the fact that she was an avid fan of otome games, and would do anything to have someone to play with.
Then, as a sad twist, she often literally broke into the man's apartment just to monopolize his new and expensive computer and state-of-the-art television, playing whatever she was obsessed with on certain days.
But above all others, one game the woman couldn't stop talking about, or stop playing for even a second, was her favorite work [The Wheel of Fortune].
That shit with poorly developed plot was nothing more than a stereotypical otome game, full of beaten clichés, in Harlan's honest opinion.
First things first, as a simplified summary, the story revolved around a commoner girl who is admitted to the prestigious Brivid Academy -- the home for the magically gifted.
However, as with any generic work of romance and magic, Taliyah is soon faced with five capture targets, which the player can freely choose which one they want to end up with on completion.
''But why the hell is this girl so stupid? She could have overcome the trials with her ancient power and become the strongest if she'd just let go of those foolish traitorous!"
Harlan remembered the argument he'd had with Diana a day ago.
Looking at her, he couldn't help but voice his opinion.
Who wouldn't do it with such a trash in front of them?
Shouldn't the protagonist be super awesome and gifted in every way, including intelligence?
Why, then, did she continue to trust her companions, even though they repeatedly betrayed her?
To his surprise, Diana shot him a death glare that made him shudder.
''Obviously because she loves then more than anything. Prince Trawman and his companions, are her excentric lovers, you know. You played it 'till the end, as did I. That's why she gave them not only her love, but also the ultimate artifacts from the end of the Absolute Dungeon!''
Every time the poor college boy tried to tell his girlfriend that, she would start a boring monologue about how Wheel of Fortune's was different, special or some similar bullshit.
''So, in fact, it's a misunderstood masterpiece!''
Smiling megalomaniacally, she waved her narrow arms in euphoria.
Diana loved that kind of over-the-top scenario, which greatly confused Harlan, who tended to be as realistic and logical as possible.
"However, in the finale I could achieve, she is simply left to die, in some kind of idiotic noble sacrifice for the world or whatever.''
Laughing like a complete lunatic, Harlan was feeling very sorry for the poor protagonist.
The girl was fair, correct and hardworking, so she didn't deserve to have suffered so much because of those imbeciles that surrounded her.
It was for this and other important reasons that Harlan was unable to make even half of the game's existing endings, feeling frustration for the poor main character.
''There are a multitude of errors.''
Too much unnecessary chivalry, and hers whole group was made up of useless and heavy baggage.
What's more, the male heroes were useless pieces of shit, with little practical use most of the time, and to make matters worse, one of them even blatantly fell in love with the main antagonist and betrayed Taliyah!
Harlan had already lost the count of how many times he'd argued with Diana about her playing for nights at his house, interrupting his sleep with the same corny lines.
Also, that was why he wanted to make up for everything and arranged a romantic dinner at a highly rated restaurant.
Everything was perfectly orchestrated for him to fix things, and put a stop to Diana's addiction.
''Hm?''
Suddenly, he stopped in the middle of the street.
His eyes cleared and his steps were reduced to a fraction much smaller than before. The vibration of what appeared to be his cell phone's notification sound snapped him out of his daze.
The lad grabbed his phone, taking it out of his own jacket's pocket, and quickly unlocked the phone with his password. All this, only to be completely shaken by what he had just received.
[4 new messages received!]
[Diana S2: We need to break up, there's nothing between us anymore.]
[Diana S2: You promptly stopped playing the damn game when we were finally getting along! Sorry about that, but that's our endline…]
[Diana S2: I hope all the best for you, but I honestly don't want anything else between us.]
[Diana S2: By the way, don't go to the restaurant. I canceled our reservation and have already refunded you the money via the online bank account.]
Honestly, he hadn't expected that even in 1000 years. Weren't they madly in love or something?
''...''
Harlan was never a big fan of fantasy games, always opting for historical and theoretical books that dealt with real-life subjects instead.
Therefore, he was often described as a 'real nerd with no cure' by his friends and colleagues.
To make his urge to play even worse, that shitty game had the worst magical romance plot of all time, so he purposely delayed the completion of the work's various endings.
Although this led him to stop playing after the second final out of the known eight.
It was impossible for Harlan to keep playing that, and reach all eight of that damn finals.
Just thinking about the idea left a bitter taste in the young man's mouth.
Harlan thought Diana wouldn't mind that, however it was pretty obvious she took it as a serious insult.
Also considering their fights over the past week because of that freaking work, it was clear where this was all going to end.
Now getting a breakup text from his girlfriend of eight months just over a stupid game, was probably the worst event of his whole life.
He stood in the middle of the street, just under the green traffic light, petrified and unable to even formulate words properly.
That was certainly the reason of why he was unable to react in time, when a loud horn caught his attention and he found himself face to face with a truck three times his body's size.
''Urkgh...'' Groaning in pain, the boy was snapped out of his reverie by the impact of his body being flung across the avenue.
Lying beside his own blood, he thought, 'Fuck. That hurts like hell.'
The last of his strength utterly poured into his eyes, which clung to his numb, unnaturally crooked arms.
Gradually, hundreds of people gathered around him, leaving Harlan even more dismayed than previously.
'What a pathetic way to die...' He thought, crying silently.
Droopy, watery eyes marred his ruined appearance.
As he spat curses inwardly all the time, drowsiness began to overwhelm his senses.
With a loud thud that rumbled through the vast place, his eyelids finally closed, causing him to finally drop his cell phone and gift bag to the floor.
Ting~
{Soul successfully collected}
{The 13th candidate has been chosen}
{The user has been selected}
{The original manuscript of the {Gate of Truth} is coming into play}
{The veil between the worlds is fading}
{Transferring candidate to a suitable world…}
{Transfer started successfully…}
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone