Birth Of Cosmos Online

*sigh* *thud* "Still no progress with my choice... I really shouldn't have tried asking them, when I couldn't even provide half of the information about the contracts..." Soren muttered weakly, as let his body collapse on the couch, after putting his laptop on the table. Currently, he felt like this was the most difficult decision of his life and it didn't help that both options were pretty unappealing to him and the advice he obtained throughout the day wasn't helping making the choice any easier than before. In fact, even after his conversation with his friends, he still couldn't choose either of the two, despite the benefits the full-time job contract provided him and even the fact that he'd be unable to keep the shop open by himself, regardless of the choice he made.

*knock* *knock* *knock* Unfortunately for him, the knocking interrupted his thoughts and although was reluctant to open, he did open the door. "What brings you here doc?" Upon opening it, Morgan's figure appeared in front of him and Soren couldn't help but ask about the reason of his visit, even though he had a guess about the reason.

"I don't need a particular reason to visit a friend, do I Soren?" Morgan retorted casually with another question, but upon seeing Soren's unchanging and serious expression, he stopped acting casually and spoke in a much more serious and somber manner. "I figure you haven't come to a conclusion, have you Soren?"

"Sorry doc..." Soren retorted with a sigh, before continuing with a tired expresion. "I don't even know what to do anymore... Don't you have advice doc? Anything that could maybe steer me towards a direction, at the very least?"

"I'm in no position to give an opinion in this situation, since my biases could come out and make you take an incorrect choice, which you'll come to regret afterwards. But, I can provide some additional info on something else that might help you make a choice."

"Info? On what doc?"

"Mainly on your registration. I figure it could help you make your choice and if it doesn't, it is still important to know for you to know." Morgan stated calmly, as he cleared his throat before speaking. "Now, I don't much about the process of your registration, but from the info Harold gave me today, I know that you came across the AT-0s and because of them, you had to either sign a contract of silence or a work contract under monitoring. From your current situation, it is clear that you chose the latter and honestly, you shouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place."

"Doc... If you're going to berate me, could you at least do it after explaining the things about my registration?"

"Sorry, sorry... But my point still stands. Anyways, after signing the contract, Harold would have to register you as a part timer and although we have part timers for different parts of the company, we don't have any as testers since all of them are full-time workers and all of them perform multiple hour, or even day long tests, so having a part-timer performing a four hour test on a game, clearly wouldn't go unnoticed by anyone, unless someone registered you as a low priority user."

"Alright... But why would I be registered as a low priority user? Actually, even if I am one, wouldn't it still be meaningless if someone decided to check through the records and came across my name?"

"Not really. The main thing about being a low priority user is the lack of surveillance from the executives and anyone else in the upper management and only the people who registered you would know about you. In our system, you would be registered as a company employee, but only the people who registered you would know about you, making you a bit of a invisible employee under someone's care. Not only that, but also comes with a veil of anonymity from any of the outsider's eyes, so you wouldn't have to worry about any outside forces knowing about your connection with AionTech, so long as you don't go yelling it out like a drunk madman."

"I get it, but still why? Why would Harold do such a thing? I feel like being an AT-0 dual state user isn't that special. Sure it allows me to have proper interactions with the NPCs of the game, but it can't be that special, can it?"

"I don't know the full extent of how the dual state works and what it does, but I do know it isn't something widely talked about, so this isn't exactly common knowledge in our company. If anything, the only people who would know about this are the executives, a few testers, overseers and psychologists, unless there's somehow been an information leak, but the chances for that are close to nil. Anyways, I can only think of two reasons why he'd put you on. Either Harold wanted you out of the executives' eyes to perform his own tests for his own reasons, or one of the actual executives ordered him to do so, because you are a dual state user."

"Alright, but still why? What do they get out of me?"

*sigh* "I don't know... Like I said before, I don't know the full extent about it and I doubt Harold would have told you the full extent either, so for all we know, this could just be a sick joke where they get their laughs out of our suffering."

"This isn't helping exactly doc..." Soren stated nervously, as he felt shivers from imagining the twisted grins of Harold and a bunch of random people.

"We've been a little sidetracked, so let's go back a bit, back to the low priority list. Now that you'll be forced to sign either of the contracts, the company can't have you as a low priority user anymore, especially now that you've managed to enter the city multiple times and managed to survive. The executives now know and they'll definitely keep their eyes on you and not only that, but outsiders will come to know of you as well and will start keeping tabs on you."

"Oh... Oh, now I get it... Sh*t..." Soren cursed, as he realized that he was in a far more dangerous situation now. since now there would be people after him.

"I hope this has helped you to come to a choice, although I can't say if this has helped you or not."

"Doc, you just gave me an ultimatum..." Soren stated tiredly, as he rubbed his temples, before adding in a similar manner. "Seriously, if I didn't know you any better, I'd have thought that Harold sent you to tell me about all of this."

"Soren. I may not look like someone who cares, but I don't want any harm to befall you, no matter what. I couldn't care any less about my job, if it meant you wouldn't have to sign this kind of contract. I'm truly sorry I can't do much more than this, but know that I'll always want the best for you and if it means I'll have to commit murder about it, then let god strike me mercilessly on the spot, right now." Morgan stated somberly, as he put his hand on Soren's shoulder, giving Soren some reassurance about making his choice.

*sigh* "If I can't avoid hell in the first place, might as well get comfy and enjoy it. Besides, I could use some time off to start making my own blends once more, since my patrons have started getting bored of my usual blends."

"Soren, the last time you made your own personal blend, you nearly ended taking both me and the old owner out. I think I'll stick to his usual blends, thank you very much." Morgan stated nervously, as he remembered the horrendous taste of Soren's last blend.