Project: Alternative

Chapter 1: Daily life of a Moderator (Jun)

My alarm clock beeps as I groggily rubbed my eyes. As my habit, I opened up the System. Several violet hologram screens appeared around me and I looked at the status of the world. All the processes were fine and there were no disturbances. Looks like the world survived another day.

If I told you that the world is like a computer program, would you believe me? It's not like the world is an entire simulation like that certain old movie but instead, the world is like a computer program.

Reality could be broken down into lines of codes. For example, there's gravity. First, a variable called Gravity was assigned a formula: F= G(m1m2/r^2). There were values for m1, m2, r, and G. G has a value of 6.674x10^(-11) while the other variables were dependent on other stuff. Because these variables work together, the value for Gravity was determined.

Next was the code. Gravity as a variable was useless without any function assigned to it. If we were to think that Reality was a computer program, then there was a code that makes every object attract another object to its center by the value of the variable called Gravity.

It could be said that Reality was a series of codes piled up on each other. For example, there's a person. There are tons of variables stored in that person like their height, mass, and strength while there are a series of codes that affect the said person. There's the code for gravity, the code for using their organs, the code for their consciousness, and a bunch of other codes.

How do I know all of these? Well, I was not exactly a normal human. While it's true that I was born in a normal family and looks plain as hell, I was a special human known as a Moderator.

Have you ever heard of parallel worlds? What if I told you that they were real? If we were going in computer terms, the worlds were like Servers. I wouldn't go into details but each Server has its own Reality with its own set of rules.

My job as a Moderator was to ensure my Server wouldn't have any bugs and that everything was going smoothly. This Server was really well-made so I was glad I was assigned here. The laws were well-defined and so, there were only a few bugs.

"Jun!! Hurry up or you'll be late!" mom shouted from downstairs.

The hologram screens around me disappeared and I headed downstairs for breakfast. I wondered what was on my schedule while I ate.

After some time, I headed out of my house and headed to a nearby bakery. A brown-haired girl wagged her tail when she saw me. Yep... Tail.

This Server had several races for sentient beings. There were beastmen, humans, elves, dwarves, and other fantasy creatures. It was like a modern world but filled with different races. However, there was no magic in this Server.

According to the Administrator, the guy who made this world, implementing magic on this Server would cause a lot of bugs since well, magic was a system that twisted the world's natural laws.

"Jun-kun! Welcome!" she greeted me.

"Hey there, Koro-san", I waved my hand.

"You'll have the usual, right?" she asked and I nodded.

She went off and started putting melon bread in a bag. I often drop by this bakery before going to school. They make delicious bread and their customer service is great.

The beastgirl in front of me was named Inugami Korone. She was a cheerful girl who was our neighborhood's mascot. Koro-san was also my underclassman in our high school.

I left the bakery and headed for my school when I received my bread. It was going to be a regular day like always.

"Morning", I patted the back of my friend.