There are too many non-believers in cyberpunk – Chapter 1

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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What is punk?

A world where science and magic-like technology have advanced so much that human dignity becomes worth less than a single banknote.

A world where intangible values like love, religion, and truth can’t even be the subject of a joke.

Stories set in such a world are called the punk genre.

A dystopia where steam engines are advanced is steampunk.

A dystopia where diesel engines are advanced is dieselpunk.

A dystopia where mechanical engineering is advanced is cyberpunk.

Just sprinkle a bit of sci-fi seasoning on a dystopia and it’s punk.
I liked this punk genre.

Money was becoming increasingly important, even emotions were being calculated in monetary terms, and seeing myself living a half-dead existence just to earn that money didn’t feel like a story from another world.

Of course, the world I lived in wasn’t quite that messed up, and technology hadn’t reached that level of singularity, but…

Seeing it change in that direction year after year, I figured that by the time I died of old age, it would become either cyberpunk or biopunk.

As my rambling about “punk” might suggest, my favorite game series was, without a doubt,

Punk City.

The series appeared 10 years ago, introducing a very high-quality open world and bringing a new genre to the gaming market.

Because of this series, every game company and their dog tried to jump on the open-world bandwagon, but none of them even came close to its prestige.

There was a reason for the saying, “The only enemy of Punk City is a past Punk City.”

The setting of this masterpiece, as you can tell from the title, was a punk world.

The basic base was sci-fi punk, but they added magic and genetic engineering, claiming it to be fusion punk.

I was a die-hard fan of this series and considered myself among the veteran players.

I could confidently claim that anywhere.

The kind of veteran who wasn’t necessarily skilled in controls but brought extraordinary strategies through meticulous planning.

Although my playtime had been reduced to about an hour a day after I got a job, I had been playing for more than nine hours a day before that, so I had somehow accumulated a total of 20,000 hours.

(Of course, in the community, I pretended to be a total newbie.)

But even I, who loved the series this much, had one complaint.

While playing through every ending, every concept, repeating the playthroughs so many times I couldn’t be bothered to count,

While getting tired of part 3 and replaying parts 1 and 2, exceeding 4,000 hours on each,

Those bastards at the development company…

…hadn’t released part 4.

My initial reaction when the series, which usually released a new game every 2-3 years, didn’t release one even after 3 years, was understanding.

‘Games aren’t like some predetermined product; it can take some time.’

Then came depression.

‘Could the company be out of money? Or have they lost their love for the fans?’

Then bargaining.

‘I’ll give you more money! If that’s not enough, release some DLC! Please, give me part 4!!!’

Then anger.

‘You bastards! How could you do this to me?! I loved you so much!’

And now, denial.

“Hehe. No. Part 4 must have been released. I’m just too stupid to find it.”

The problem was that I had been in this denial stage for 2.5 years, and so were most of the Punk City fans.

Now, five years after the release of part 3 with no news, the words “Punk City” had already become a trigger for fans.

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My tire’s punctured lol

The title is the content

Comments

What? Punk City? Punk City? Punk City? Punk City?

Punk? Punk? Punk City? Punk City?

TheendofwaitinghascomeletusallholdhandsandprayPunkCityPunkCity
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It was roughly like this.

While I was also among those ranks, desperately waiting for part 4, my angel suddenly visited me.

As usual, I came home from work, washed up, and turned on my computer.

While Punk City 3 was loading, I alt-tabbed and routinely checked the community.

And the first thing I saw was the most popular real-time post.

[Punk City 4 Development Rumors Leaked]

I clicked on it halfheartedly, figuring it was another troll post, but wanting to check it out anyway.

And then unfolded images and videos too credible to be a troll post.

By the time I almost finished reading the post, I couldn’t help but believe this leaked rumor, and I almost cheered with joy.

But as I scrolled to the very end, I saw:

[By the way, this is all fake.]

“…”

Only then did I understand why this post was the most popular.

Those bastards…

They couldn’t bear to suffer alone.

Normally, I would have joined the ranks of those trolling others and clicked the like button, but I had just come home after two consecutive overnight shifts, so I wasn’t feeling particularly generous.

My blood pressure boiled.

My neck stiffened.

My chest tightened.

And then a sudden headache.

Ah.

Something burst in my head.

I collapsed on the spot without any resistance.

What a damn way to go.

Fortunately, perhaps by the grace of God, I woke up alone the next morning.

I was so relieved.

Living alone, if I had collapsed, no one would have been able to call for help, so this was a stroke of luck.

‘I’ll need to take sick leave today and tomorrow and go to the emergency room.’

Just as I was about to move, I saw something strange on my computer screen, which I hadn’t turned off because I collapsed yesterday.

It was a trailer uploaded on the official Punk City YouTube channel.

“Huh?”

Forgetting even about going to the hospital, instinctively, as I was about to play the YouTube video, my right hand wouldn’t move.

I couldn’t feel it either.

It didn’t end there.

Not only my right hand, but my left hand, my legs, even my face…

Gradually, the feeling in my whole body disappeared, and my vision went dark.

When I regained consciousness, I was still lying on the cold floor, staring at the fluorescent light on the ceiling.

The conclusion I reached after desperately racking my barely-functioning brain was…

‘Damn it. Even in death, a white light ending.’

God clearly hated me.

Couldn’t he let me die peacefully?

As I lamented, my senses gradually faded away.

This was truly the end.

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I opened my eyes again.

I could clearly feel myself standing in a white space.

For several minutes, convinced it couldn’t be another white light ending, I performed reality checks.

In conclusion, I existed in this place, and this wasn’t a dream or a life flashing before my eyes.

My fingers and toes moved fine.

My nose picked up my familiar scent.

I could hear sounds and my own voice clearly.

And finally, I could clearly see the busty beauty in front of me.

…Huh?

“Who are you?”

The woman in front of me spoke.

“I am the goddess of the world you loved.”

To summarize my conversation with Mama… I mean, the Goddess, it went like this:

I was dead, and she was the goddess of the Punk City world.

When I asked how her world ended up as a game in our world, she replied that she wanted to show off the lovely world she created, but she was lonely with no one to appreciate it.

So, she said that if she consistently showed her world to capable and well-funded game developers in their dreams for years, they would subconsciously create it as a game.

‘Sorry for the insults.’

I had cursed the developers, calling them all sorts of things for not releasing the game, but I felt sympathy for them, who must have been gaslighted through their dreams for decades.

Enough mourning.

In response to my question about why I was here, she answered that she was impressed by my love for her world, even seeing Punk City in my final moments, and she brought me here to reincarnate me into that world.

According to her following words, she wanted nothing from me.

She simply wanted to see how I would live in her world, the one I loved so much.

It wasn’t forced either.

If I didn’t want to go to that world, she would send me back to Earth.

She added that while I wouldn’t be resurrected if I returned to that world, I would either reincarnate or go to heaven.

She gave me two choices.

I could either take the portal behind me to the Earth afterlife or the portal behind the goddess to be reborn in Punk City. It was my free choice.

I wanted to dive straight into Punk City.

But my reason held me back.

Doesn’t it seem strange?

The logic of her specifically reincarnating me just because I loved her world.

What was her ulterior motive?

Or was she just bored?

Maybe her pride in her world was so strong that she was a naive goddess?

No, considering recent reincarnation stories, maybe some terrible scheme was lurking…

Then, reaching the assumption that she, as a goddess, could read minds, I quickly gathered my thoughts.

However, she responded to my disrespectful thoughts with the most benevolent smile I had ever seen.

“Does one need an explanation to show off their beloved world to someone who loves it just as much?”

Like a fan showing infinite kindness to a fellow fan of the same genre.

Like a veteran doting on a newbie.

It was simply an act of bestowing love without expecting anything in return.

That was the only reason, the Goddess said, embracing me with a benevolent smile and encompassing love.

Instead of rebuking my distrust and disrespect, she comforted me, saying it must have been hard living with such distrust.

And she said,

“That world may be a little different from what you loved through the game. But I want to tell you this. No matter which series it was, just as you loved that world, you deserve to be loved, no matter who you are.”

I felt a touch.

A warm touch. With every stroke of my head, my doubts melted away like snow.

The Goddess told me one last thing.

“Be confident. No matter what anyone says, you are the protagonist of your life.”

A tear rolled down my cheek.

Because selfless love was so warm to me, who had lived alone, not knowing what love was,

Because her benevolence, returning love simply because I loved, was so dazzling,

I couldn’t help but vow right then and there.

“I will definitely live a happy life.”

On the day I was reborn as my mother’s child, my second life began.

After the reincarnated soul boarded the portal and disappeared, only a woman remained in the pure white space.

She sighed, looking in the direction the soul had vanished, even before he had fully processed her words.

“Perhaps I’ve placed too heavy a burden on him…”

Just before he threw himself into the reincarnation portal, the goddess had glimpsed into his heart and found a strong sense of responsibility residing there.

She hadn’t intended for it to be this way, but his mind was filled with a sense of duty, determined to benefit the world as the protagonist(?).

“Sigh…”

There was no need for that.

She had simply wanted to give him the opportunity to experience the world he had only seen through a game.

The goddess worried that, burdened by responsibility, he might not be able to appreciate his surroundings in his second life.

She wanted to tell him, even through a revelation, that he didn’t need to be so driven by responsibility, but she stopped herself.

Since the mortal realm had begun developing its civilization in earnest, she had made it clear through the mouths of prophets that she would no longer intervene with direct revelations, for the sake of her children’s independence.

Giving a revelation only to the reincarnated soul would be favoritism in any sense, and a betrayal of her own promise.

From the moment he descended to the mortal realm, he was her child, but also an independent entity.

Out of respect for her new child’s independence, she decided not to offer a revelation.

The goddess erased her worries about the reincarnated soul from her mind and began working on crafting his physical form.

Since he was being reborn, wouldn’t it be nice to give him the appearance he desired?

Of course, he hadn’t requested any specific appearance.

But people tend to project their desires onto their characters.

Therefore, the appearance of the character he had invested the most playtime in would be the appearance he desired.

The goddess checked the characters the reincarnated soul had used.

She identified the character with the most playtime and…

…was horrified.

“Wh…What is this?”

The character, with 3,000 hours of playtime, was a grotesque creature with fist-sized eyeballs, protruding cheekbones, and purple skin.

Not a single hair on its body, and armed with a single dildo.

Its nickname was Prostate Dest-

She stopped reading the nickname.

She had witnessed countless acts of madness and malice over thousands of years, but this nickname was comparable to, perhaps even far surpassing, them all.

Fortunately, the goddess understood the human heart well, and didn’t mistake this gag character for the reincarnated soul’s true desire.

Her gaze moved to the next character.

A total of 2,000 hours.

Sunglasses, bunny ears, and a reverse bunny girl outfit… on a pot-bellied, hairy-legged, middle-aged man.

The concept was a man who hypnotized people through hacking.

“Rejected.”

A total of 1,400 hours.

Rainbow-colored, bomb-shaped hair, a bushy beard… on a girl(?).

The concept was a magical girl (gender: both) who went around turning people’s heads into bomb shapes with a toy hammer.

“What in the…”

The goddess continued to check the reincarnated soul’s characters.

This reincarnated soul’s mind was clearly… unusual.

With every character she checked, she felt her sanity slipping away, and she eliminated candidates one by one.

Finally, she found a reasonably kind-looking male face.

A very good-natured face that wouldn’t arouse suspicion in anyone he spoke to on the street.

In human terms, he was a handsome, likable man.

This must be the reincarnated soul’s true desire.

‘Phew…’

The goddess breathed a sigh of relief, finally finished with her work.

Satisfied with the completed appearance of the reincarnated soul, she looked down at the mortal realm once more.

Anticipating the story that the reincarnated soul, now thrown into that world, would write.

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