The Utopias

Chapter 1

  "Wrong Password. Try Again." - Jeongguk huffed for the nth time. Irritation was taking over him as he heard the same robotic voice for the third time in a row. He blinked twice, allowing him to input the password again. - "Wrong Password. Try Again."

  "Fuck!" - He grunted in frustration. Lucky for him he was alone, alone from being judged or to be hushed for swearing way too much whenever he can't log in properly. - "Why can't I log in?" - Closing his eyes, Jeongguk let his head hang back while he rotated the chair in the direction of his messy desk. Maybe restarting the system would help, maybe he wasn't properly connected; he had just woken up after all. There was no way his Utopia was going to get lost, he even made sure to log out properly everytime.

  The system reeboted and Jeongguk opened his eyes, only to be greeted with the log in screen he knew so well by now, right in front of him. He took a deep breath before typing in his username and password, chanting cmon's while it loaded.

  "Welcoma Back jeongguk_1997. We're glad to have you with us today." - The robotic voice echoed through Jeongguk's ears, and he couldn't be more glad. He let the air out he didn't even realize he was holding and ruffled his hair in the process, making it even more messy that it already was. - "Please close your eyes and relax. Soon you will be transferred into your Utopia. Enjoy your stay." - So Jeongguk did so. He relaxed in his chair and waited to enter his alternate reality.

  Everything went white for a few minutes, a very faint bling was heard on Jeongguk's right ear and he finally opened his eyes. He looked around, familiarizing himself with whatever place he was spawned - he saw blue, the sky greeting him, soft and mellow just like he remembered when he left the place last time; it couldn't get prettier than this.

  He felt odd. Although the sky was an amazing sight to admire, Jeongguk scruntched up his nose and looked down. As expected.

  "Ah crap, not again." - It was quite common for him to be placed into the small crystal clear lake in front of his wodden house. He did make several complaints on how his dropping off point didn't work, but he never got a reply, nor did they tried to fix the problem.

  With his shorts drenched in water, he slowly walked out of the lake, making the small fish in it move out of the way so he could pass by. Placing one foot after the other he went into the fresh grass and sighed, staying quiet for a few seconds. Yes he was wet, but what he created was truly peaceful and he couldn't help but stop and just enjoy the bird chripping or the sound of the fishes jumping in the lake. He created his safe place, and an alternate home where he could truly be himself.

  Jeongguk looked around, and he heard a very faint but still awful sound; he tried to find the source of the sound, looking at the most obvious things that were right in his sight, but nothing. Until he stared further into the distance, and there it was - the mountain that was there by default was glitching. Probably nothing serious, but it was enough to make Jeongguk worry about his sacred Utopia, after all he did hear some Utopias had constant glitches. He hoped that this wouldn't affect anything that he created so far, nor would it affect anything that he would create in the future.

  Shrugging that problem aside, and pushing it way into the back of his head because all he wanted to do now was everything but worry about a stupid mountain he didn't want there in the first place, Jeongguk walked in the gravel trail back to his house. He pushed the heavy door, creaking in the progress, and cleaned his almost but still wet feet on the little carpet at the entrance.

  The house was warm and had a welcoming feeling to it, exactly like Jeongguk intended. He slowly walked upstairs on his spiral staircase and made his way into his bedroom so he could change into some dryer shorts. His bedroom was his precious little space where he could think things straight, where he would plan all of his projects and where he would spend many lonely nights wondering about reality. He truly treasured his bedroom.