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Missing 

        A week of power outage forced me to go outside. I wasn't planning on leaving my den for many more years, but things
        never work out as intended.

        It's been year since I last went outside. I mentally prepared myself for an hour before I took a step out in the
        social wilderness. I was welcomed with a familiar scent of my surroundings–the smell of rain particularly. I probed
        the surroundings for potential threats. Nope. No people in sight. So far so good. The environment seems awfully
        cooperative. No burning sunlight, no people, no loud noises.
        It's a divine intervention that made me go out on this day.

        I stretched out both of my arms and felt optimistic. I took another whiff of the surroundings before continuing to
        walk.

        The surroundings look a bit different from what I can recall. For one thing, the place seems to have grown lots of
        trees. It's also eerily quiet. No traffic noises, no dogs barking. My senses couldn't detect any trace of
        civilization. My optimism quickly died off when I suddenly feel terrified.

        I considered going back to my den, but that place is inhabitable without electricity.

        A few minutes later, I managed to curb my panic attack. People probably just relocated to a different site. I
        decided to head to the town center to disprove my paranoia.

        I arrived at my destination feeling defeated. There is no one in here and I have encountered no one on the street.
        All the houses were abandoned, and no running automobiles can be found.

        I don't know why I'm horrified right now. I hate people, but maybe the idea being the only person left in the world
        is something I didn't prepare for. Who'll release new anime from now on? Wait, who'll run the electric company then?

        The hypothesized situation seems too ludicrous that I reconsidered the current earthly state. Is there really no one
        around? There's a mall nearby, and those kind of place never has a shortage of people. I designated the mall as my
        next destination.

        As I walk, one strange thing I noticed is that the situation is quite different from those post-apocalyptic scenes I
        see in the movies. It's missing some important elements: chaos and destruction.

        There is no semblance of tragedy. No broken windows, no shattered glasses, no disfigured establishments. There are
        no misaligned cars that were abandoned in a hurry in the hopes of escaping an eventual demise. Aside from the
        untented lawns, everything is orderly.

        Maybe things aren't as bad as I think it is. My mood lifted simultaneously with a ray of sunlight descended upon the
        desolate land.

        I arrived at the entrance of the mall after a while, all sweaty under the sun. I was greeted with good news as the
        automatic doors opened themselves. This place still runs with electricity, although maybe not for long. I was both
        relieved and disappointed that there were no crowd. I don't even know what to feel anymore.

        I entered the premise without restraint. The mall being lifeless has a strange ambiance to it. Not entirely
        depressing, somewhat mystifying.

        Then it occurred to me. There is no else around, which means I'm free as a bunny with a rabies and lots of cooties.

        … Free stuff, free food, free everything! Shit, this is fucking awesome. What am I getting worked up for?

        I walked towards the grocery to first sate my hunger. I walked as normal and as free as I could, which is never
        normal to begin but I really don't care, no one will make fun of me anymore since all the morons in the world
        hopefully died for good.

        I arrived at the aisle where snacks are placed and popped open a potato chips. I grabbed a handful and stuffed them
        in my mouth. In the refrigerator nearby there would be drinks of all sorts: milks, juice, yogurts. I picked a yogurt
        and dipped potato chips on them.

        Then I heard something.

        Even though I was too preoccupied from eating yogurt-dipped potato chips, I thought a heard a voice from behind me.
        A surge of panic welled-up inside me as I scanned the surroundings for people.

        A part me of reprimanded my self for being stupid for thinking there's really no one around. What was I thinking?
        Now I'm going to jail for stealing. I'm too stupid for jumping into conclusions. I need to get out of here fast.

        Before I could exit the place, reality descended back to me. That can't be right. As I calmed down, I started to
        think clearly again. I have already made sufficient environmental probing to conclude that there is no functioning
        society within a mile. Still that doesn't prove that there is really no one around. But what am I panicking for? I
        wouldn't get arrested in a post-apocalyptic-like setting for munching chips without paying for them first.

        I really hate it when my axioms get all messed up in the face of panic. But what was voice?

        ------------------------

        I was pretty certain that what I heard was a girl's voice, although I wasn't attentive enough to understand what was
        said. I'm pretty open to other possibilities as to what was really the sound I heard. The more I think about it, the
        more I doubt my memory and senses. It could be a ghost. It could be a mysterious extraterrestial animal that's
        responsible for wiping out the population. Or it could've been really just a girl that ran for her life as soon as
        she saw a creep who dips his potato chips in a yogurt. Damn succubitch.

        I lost my appetite but I continued eating anyways as I walk out of the grocery. Whatever it the sound was, I sort of
        didn't care much at this point. At the worse case, I could get killed, and dying is something I don't really care
        about anymore. Heck, I don't really care about anything anymore.

        What I'm more interested at this point is exploring. Strolling in mall was something I never had the chance to do
        and enjoy. I was too distracted of the people around me and I feel like at any time a security personnel would
        accuse me of shoplifting.

        But what I'm doing now isn't a mere stroll in the mall. It's more than that! I'm on a quest. Yes, that's right. A
        quest. I'm on a mystery adventure-JRPG, and my current quest is to explore the surroundings. It's common knowledge
        to stock up a good equipment before the next quest, so my next destination is sports department. Or hardware store.
        Although I'm not sure were I can find them, but that's part of the quest.

        As I amuse myself of role-playing, I entered a clothing store, something I wouldn't do voluntarily. I never cared
        much about clothes but it's kind of fun looking around, touching and sniffing all sorts of fabrics. Oh wait, this
        one looks like a leather armor. Oh well, I'll put on some new comfy jeans while I'm at it. Hey, that shirt looks
        kind of cool too. A bit of rummaging here and there, I was fully equipped with new armors, +10 def -50 smell.

        Out of curiosity, I went to the cash register and looked if there's any cash in it. And it does, almost fully loaded
        with cash. I took about a grand just in case. Then I had a sinking feeling that someone or something's in the
        dressing room, I'm not sure why. I mean, the light is lit in it.

        I slowly pulled the door open, and my eyes widened in horror. Fuck there's an ugly person staring at me. Oh wait,
        that's me in the mirror. Before leaving the clothes store for good, I threw a bunch of clothes on the floor and laid
        down on them. I stared up in the ceiling as I thought what the hell am I doing. Nothing really. This is pretty comfy
        and I'm really tired from all that walking. I took my time just lying there, I even almost fell asleep. My mind
        wandered off, recalling and making sense of this bizzare day. Am I going to spend the night here? The wall clock
        display a time of 2:15, I've still got lots of exploring to do. I got up and prepared for the next destination.

        My HP and mana was fully restored after my free stay at the inn. I mostly walked past by the other sections of the
        mall, although I've made a couple of stopovers. I should really focus on my main quest now, so after a while I
        finally reached the sports store where I was hoping to get me some baseball bat. It's probably the most ideal weapon
        that is less likely to injure myself, unlike say a sharp knife. Although a knife is a usefull to have in the
        inventory as well, I should get one too. Looking around, I saw several baseball bats on the corner. I took one and
        took a swing. I picked up a baseball then tried hitting it with the bat. Homerun! And a sound of shattering glasses
        broke the silence. Whoops. Oh well, I ain't paying for anything.

        I grabbed myself a backpack and a hunting cap on the way out of the store.

        Across the store, I saw an internet cafe. Much of the world's mystique is lost thanks to the Internet. If I need to
        know or learn something, I'd just go to the Internet. As for the reason why didn't I do this in the first place,
        well... I'm not sure if the Internet is even working at this point. Besides, I really enjoyed the thrill of mystery
        and not having an idea what the hell is going on.

        Still, I need to know what's going on. I headed to the internet cafe hoping I could find the answers to my
        questions.

        ----------------

        I glanced through the wall glass. A well-lit and fully air-conditioned room housing around 15 terminals. I can see
        blinken lights from the router, indicating perhaps some connectivity to the rest of the world. I pushed the glass
        door open and went inside.

        I sat down in front of the computer nearest to the entrance. The computer was already on. It showed me a cluttered
        desktop, filled with documents that was saved for printing.

        I opened the browser without further delay and searched for the news. I skimmed past headlines of recent events and
        then once again read over slowly. Something's not right. I scrolled slowly, reading the headlines one by one, making
        sure I've read them right. What the hell I'm reading...

        "Doctrines revised"

        "God is us"

        "Secrets of universe unfolded"

Notes