Tomorrow was the big day.

I sat there looking at the clear night sky... 20 years of developing a single game. 20 years had gone by in a blink of an eye. One day he was 24, still fresh out of university, full of fresh ideas. And a day later, he was a 44 year old man with nearly no friends and no family to speak of.I've had devoted his life to this game. And it was finally done. All that hard work was finally going to get acknowledged by the world.

Someone tapped me in the shoulder and shoved a beer bottle in front of his face.

"You know I don't drink alcohol."

"Oh c'mon can't you make an exeption? I mean tomorrow's the big day!"

I hesitantly took the bottle and took a swig.

"So, did you finally find his IP adress?".

"Yep. But it was so heavily secured I couldn't get his location."

"That's no problem. The IP will be enough."

"What will you do, blacklist him?"

"No no, that wouldn't be any fun now would it? I'got a way better idea. Program Nora to treat the Ip adress as special."

A wicked smile took over my partner's face.

"I see what you are trying to do."

I smiled and said:"Oh do you? Here's what I want you to do."

I whispered the details to my partner.

The job would take 30 minutes at most. A quick and efficient method of extracting revenge.

After I finished explaining what to do to my partner he had a puzzled look on his face.

"But why not just straight blacklist him so he can't play at all? Why are you being so fair?"

"Ah, you don't understand Denis. Just banning him right off the bat would be no fun. Let's make him suffer shall we? And if he breaks through the suffering and rage, I may be able to forgive him... Hard work deserves to be praised after all."

"Don't tell me... do you plan on forgiving him if he beats the game?"Denis laughed."That's near impossible. It will be years until someone gets even close to beating "Mortal Coil".

"The whole purpose of the game is to break through the turmoil of mortal life. I'm asking him to do just that... is that too unreasonable?"I asked jokingly. We both knew winning the game would be impossible without the collective effort of all players.

We both burst out laughing.

"You're as Brilliant as ever"said Denis while going to insert the commands that would make that hacker weep tears of rage.

Judging by how many times the hacker tried to crack the code and enter into our databases, I can tell he is a stubborn type. I doubt he would quit after a few (hundred) deaths.

I AM GOING TO MAKE THAT FILTHY HACKER PAY FOR LAYING HIS HANDS ON MY PRECIOUS NORA!!! I am 100% sure he will end up bying the game. And I'll make sure that every second of playing it is a living HELL! I am going to make him quit the game. No amount of sheer determination can pull him through the situation I was going to put him in.

I quietly though about this as I sipped my beer and watched the moon.

*********************

The game finally released. It seems my mischiefs delayed the game. I quickly took my phone and ordered a capsule to be installed in my room so I could play it...

I already know what to expect because of my little adventure into their database but that doesn't lessen my hype.

Afer all, this is the first VRMMORPG ever released. As a game enthusiast I'm quite excited.

The installation took ages. 12 hours of connecting endless 10 cm thick cables! Even though the workers tried to make it look less like the tangled mess it was there were simply too many cables!!! I entered the room once to see how it was going and there were hundreds of thick black cables just laying everywhere.I think I got Post traumatic Cable Disorder because of that.

Thankfully, after the workers drilled so many holes in my wall I could hear my neighbour's TV so they could put the cables in, it was less of a chaotic mess and more of an organized mess. It was still a mess, but at least I wouldn't trip and break my neck when I entered the room now. Now it had more of a cyber punk-ish feel, with cables mounted in the ceiling and going in and out of the wall, with this big ass capsule in the middle. I had to admit it looked quite nice indeed.

I walked towards the capsule with this miniscule chip in hand. That chip contained the game. It was the size of a fingernail, but it could store monre information than you could ever think. 100 terabytes of information could be held in this one, small chip.

It was so small I was afraid to touch it , because it though I would break it. So I carefully, carefully took the chip and put it into the memory slot of the capsule.

Huzahh, I did it! That was nervewracking. If I had dropped that chip it would mean 1000$ wasted! I wouldn't call myself particularly stingy but losing that much money because of my own carelessness would be stupid.

After I put in the chip I finally got to open the capsule. It was cutting-edge technology. The capsule opened in the midle to reveal a slick looking inside with some very comfortable looking coushins.

I hopped right in. As I expected, it was comfy. I could sleep in here.

I heard a soft voice talk:

"Plase stand still and keep your eyes open as we do a full body analysys.You may feel a sharp headache or nausea. Do not worry as such effects are perfectly normal."

Ouch! Fucking hell!! Sharp headache? More like unbearable. And I feel like I'm going to puke my guts out!!

"Analysis complete. Thank you for your cooperation. Please close your eyes and the game will begin."

Finally. I close my eyes shut and I get transported into a endlessly black world with a window screen before me.

Welcome to Mortal Coil. Please choose a name:

Welcome to Mortal Coil. Please choose a name:

Ok my name will be Jack. A simple name.

Are you sure you want to choose the username "Jack"?

Yes, yes I am.

Please choose a race.There are 80 races in Mortal Co..

Yes I get it I'm going to be a human.

Are you sure you want to choose race "Human"?

Yes I want to be a human.

Do you wish to keep you current appearance?

For the love of god get on with the game already! Just keep my appearance as it is!

Choose starting continent: Mortal Continent OR Monster Continent.

Mortal continent.

You will start in the city of Altair in the Mortal continent.

Have fun, Player Jack

Ok ok I ge... Wait what? City of Altair?? I ddin't choose a starting city! Did the game choose for me??

Before I had time to think I get transported into a bright world. The world was so bright infact it hurt my eyes! Ouch! Which motherf&%$#% thought it would be a good idea to make the hub pitch black? Such drastic change in brightness in not good for my eyes!

Your character is permanently locked. You have gained the class "Glass Cannon" Due to class characteristics You cannot put points into Vitality.

Defense attribute lowered considerably.

Base Attack Power permanently boosted by 150%

Base Speed permanently boosted boosted by 150%

Base Agility permanently boosted by 150% Unique Class Skills gained:"Suicidal Attack" "Stamina Burn" Unique Title gained due to class characteristics: "The Suicidal" Due to taking a forbidden class the Church loathes you

Infamy increased by 500. You have gained the respect of berzerkers due to class characteristics

Fame increased by 350. Being the first person to take a forbidden class your fame and infamy both rise by 3000.

Your class is permanently locked. You have gained the legendary item: "Harmakis" A message has been sent to you by the developers.

Message automatically opened.

"Hello, hacker. In 3 weeks I will reveal your identity to the community.

I will reveal that you were the reason this game got delayed.

You have 3 weeks.That delay was pretty controversial after all.

Oh I can only imagine the hate that will get sent your way!

It will be delightful!

Your character is locked so you can't switch characters.

After 3 weeks your nametag will turn purple, alerting everyone who you are.

Don't forget, if you die you can't log back in 12 hours.

Have fun!

"What the fuck?"

I sat there confused looking at the popup window as the clock slowly ticked down...