Chapter 1: The Outdated Headset

  The world had changed.

  In a time when reality bent at the touch of a headset—when taste, pain, and pleasure could be programmed—people stopped looking up. Not at the sky, not at each other. Everything they could ever want now existed behind their eyes: built of code, sustained by servers, and ruled by those who could afford the key.

  Jin didn’t have a key.

  He stood at the edge of the city’s tech market, hands buried in his jacket, watching high-tier citizens stroll past with sleek neural-linked headsets clipped to their colrs. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday, but it wasn’t food he craved.

  It was escape.

  Floating ads pulsed in the air above the stalls: holograms of paradise, sculpted avatars, and lines like “Work. Py. Live. All inside.” Jin scoffed and turned away. Live, they said. As if the ones stuck in reality were already dead.

  A man brushed past him—gray coat, hair streaked with silver, eyes calm but distant. He muttered low, just loud enough for Jin to hear, “You want in?”

  Jin blinked. “What?”

  The man didn’t look back. He just raised one hand and made a subtle flick toward a narrow alley. “Not here. If you’re serious, come.”

  Jin hesitated. Something about the man felt… off. Not dangerous, just out of pce. Like he didn’t quite belong, yet knew this world better than anyone.

  Curiosity overruled caution.

  The alley was quiet. Neon shadows stretched over crates and rusted wiring. At the end, a red-lit door marked “Legacy Tech” buzzed quietly.

  Inside, dust danced in the glow of antique monitors. Shelves were packed with outdated gear—visors, gloves, neural jacks. Not junk. Not for someone like Jin.

  The man stood behind a counter, gently pcing a cloth-wrapped object on the surface. “Not many come this far,” he said. “Fewer still with the right kind of eyes.”

  Jin stepped closer. “What’s the catch?”

  “No catch,” the man said. “But there is… a condition.”

  He pulled back the cloth. A headset—gray, scuffed, barely held together by repair tape. It looked useless. But something about it… buzzed. Not in sound, but in presence.

  “I’m not selling it,” the man said. “I’m giving it to you.”

  Jin narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

  “Because you’ll see something others won’t. That’s all I’ll say.” He slid the headset forward. “This isn’t charity. Consider it a… quiet request.”

  Jin frowned. “What kind of request?”

  The man just smiled. “You’ll understand, eventually.”

  Later that night, in his dim room, Jin sat on the floor with the headset in his p. He wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to. But that didn’t matter.

  He put it on.

  Pain nced through his skull as the neural link dug into pce. Vision flickered. His body disappeared. The world warped.

  [Welcome to Echelon]

  Status: Unverified Access Detected

  Legacy Firmware B-7 Detected

  Initializing…

  …System Unlock Request: Accepted. Hidden Functions Enabled.

  Jin’s breath caught.

  A second window flickered open in his vision—one no one else would see. Crude. Uneven. Not part of the polished system.

  CHEAT MODULE ACTIVE

  Analyzing environment…

  Skill Insight Enabled. Current Analysis: Negotiation – Potential +31%

  Behavior Prediction: Optimal Response Calcuted.

  Jin leaned back, stunned.

  This wasn’t just a relic.

  It was access. A path.

  And somewhere in that vast system, a man with silver in his hair watched a screen—silent, waiting.