I Play a Game

Seojoon sat on the couch with a face devoid of all emotion. He was starting to think that playing a game was more trouble than it was worth.

Seojoon sighed as his eyes slowly moved back to his parents.

"Hubby! It's a dream come true! Our son is finally becoming a normal boy!"

"Darling~ How long has it been since we've given up on raising our son like a normal child? All these years of suffering.... all these years of doubting our parenting skills.... he finally asked us to let him play a game...."

"We should celebrate! We need to drink over this! What do you want hubby? Champagne? Wine? Vodka? Soju? A Spirytus Rektyfikowany 2020?"

"Anything you want my darling~"

Seojoon stared at the clock that was on the wall and let out another sigh. It was 9:17. He had been on the couch for forty-odd minutes now.

His dad's eyes slowly glazed into the distance as he started to speak in a nostalgic tone. "I remember the old days when I was still young. I would play for hours and hours on my Xbox RX with my father and brothers. Such great times. Now my son is asking me if he can play.... my long-awaited dream of playing games together with my son...."

His father started to cry as his mother patted his father on the back. Seojoon could see a couple of empty bottles of some kind of alcohol on the table behind his parents.

"Just when did they drink all that?" Muttered Seojoon lifelessly.

The front door suddenly opened with a burst as his sister bathed into the room with flushed cheeks while panting heavily.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LITTLE SEOJOON! WHERE IS HE? YOU SAID HE WAS KIDNAPPED!"

Oh great, thought Seojoon to himself mockingly, another troublesome person had entered the fray.

His sister was a very pretty lady, her face could be described as gorgeous in both Asian and American terms. She had smooth black hair that stopped just above her shoulders and had startling gray eyes. She also wore very skimpy clothing that revealed a lot more than was necessary. She also smelled like alcohol.

"YOU SAID MY BROTHER WANTED TO PLAY GAMES! WHERE IS THAT FAKE ASS SON OF A BITCH IMPOSTER! I WILL BEAT HIM UP UNTIL I GET MY BROTHER BACK!"

Seojoon followed in his father's footsteps and cried a little as well.

His mother gave his sister a good look before scoffing. "Who gave you permission to scream at my house? Sit down you silly girl, your brother is completely fine."

His sister hesitated, still breathing heavily from running all the way home as she was not allowed to drink and drive.

"Didn't you say.... that my Seojoon wanted to play games and that he was kidnapped? And why is dad crying?"

"Oh you silly girl, your brother is just finally going through his 'normal person phase'. It's nothing dramatic and it's very silly to overreact like you just did now."

Seojoon sent a dark look to the floor. His mother was such a hypocrite.

"As for your father.... he is just very overjoyed-"

"I CAN PLAY GAMES WITH MY SON!"

"-and a little bit drunk as you can tell."

His mother shook her head before immediately sharpening her gaze as she observed his sister.

"The only person who is out of their minds is you. Going out in public dressed like that. S. M. H."

His sister blanked out. "But I like these clothes?"

"You look like a hoe, now hurry up and change clothes before I strip you naked and toss you outside. Maybe that would help you learn some shame."

"But mom, it's snowing outside! I'll freeze to death-"

"Good point, I'll make sure to douse you in water as well. Now hurry up and wear something decent before I give in to my desires."

Apparently, his mother was very drunk as well. Normally, she was never this harsh.

As Rachel went to her room with a sulk, his father sat down at the couch and placed an arm around Seojoon.

"Seojoon-ah. Whurt game did yer wanna buy again?"

Seojoon hesitated. "It's called Rising Worlds."

"Issunt that ther new game that's releasing todur?"

"Yes."

"Geerd thing fur yur... I have a gaming capsule in ther gaming room. Yur can huve it. It's yurs to keep-"

His father collapsed onto Seojoon's shoulder and started to snore.

Seojoon sighed before moving out of the way to give his father a more comfortable position for sleeping. His mother was in his sister's room bullying his sister and his sister was getting bullied.

Seojoon made the very smart decision to ignore his sister's pleas of help and went to the gaming room on the opposite side of his house.

He opened the door to the room and walked in. Immediately, all the lights turned on and illuminated the entire room. A large TV was hooked up to the wall that would turn off and on with a simple command with his voice. A cozy sofa was placed directly across the TV while four gaming capsules sat on the four corners of the room. He had used one of the capsules at school once as a school assignment. He had most of the basic processes down.

He opened one of the lids to the capsules and entered it with a sense of novelty and excitement. This was his first game ever, what would it be like?

The capsule slowly closed its lid and Seojoon closed his eyes. He heard the mechanical whirring of the machine and then silence. Seojoon opened his eyes and was now in a completely different place. He had moved to a black room and in front of him was a selection menus featuring a variety of games.

He immediately selected the game that said Rising Worlds and watched as the world around him changed sceneries.

[Please wait a moment. The game has not been released yet. It is scheduled for release at 9:30. Thank you for your patience.]

Seojoon pulled up the capsule clock and saw that it was 9:28.

Very quickly the time changed to 9:29.... and then 9:30.

[The game has been released. Welcome, player, to Rising Worlds.]