Onerous [Lookism Fanfic]

Chapter 1: I turned back the time (or not).

The room that's too small to be called an apartment, was where the player was dropped and had become a nameless extra. There was no typical shouting nor the common phrase, "where am I?" Since our dear protagonist was so calm and collected as he stared in a mirror inside the bathroom of this small room he had found himself when he woke up.

He immediately recognized the room he was in but he just shrugged and went to the bathroom. Just like that, he was calmly examining himself in front of it.

'Hmm, I do look a lot younger than I could remember...' He holds his chin as he turns his face sideways to check. He wasn't shocked that his face was still the one who's looking back at him when he gazed in the mirror.

'Looks like my face was retained when I came here.' He then touched his hair and brushed his bangs up, revealing his forehead. He then patted his body through his shirt. He removed his shirt and looked at the mirror in front of him to take a good look.

"I knew it. I got younger. Probably around high school?" His body that the mirror was reflecting was the one he could remember during his high school years. A well trained body full of scars due to the harsh environment he was in. It was a body that's not covered in tattoos since he was so poor he would just use the money to buy food during that time, though he covered it with tattoos when he was able to get by as he got older.

"Did I turn back time? Why though? There's nothing I regret." Our protagonist asks as he opens the faucet to wash his face. But he stopped splashing water on his face when he remembered something.

"Fuck." He immediately goes out of the bathroom and goes to the living room that's only filled with a small couch for two sitters and a small t.v. With a huff he raised his foot to walk in front of the sofa.

"I... really did turn back time." He kneeled in front of the sofa as he gently clasped the hand of a woman sitting still. His eyes went to his mother's face, touching her cheek as a tear fell down his face. There was no warmth coming from her face.

His mother is dead, again.

He removed his hand on her face and gently carried her dead body off the couch. He carried her until he reached their small bedroom room and gently laid her down on a clean mattress, fixing a clean blanket on her body until it covered her face.

"Rest well, mom. I know you're tired. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine..."

He didn't curse out just like the first time he saw his mother dead. He didn't wish that he could have returned back earlier before she died. He was content to see her even if she's dead. He had engraved her face in his memory this time.

"Now what?" He asked himself as he sat in the corner of the room, watching everything stand still.

The dry scent of the room filled his nose. The dust slowly moves around, the only thing that moves in this kind of stillness. The curtains which his mom always drew to save electricity remained close, just like her eyes. There was no light going through, the place was dimmed. He's not that sad or broken as he had been before. Experiencing it twice kind of develops his immunity to the pain of losing his dearest mother again.

'Let's not sit here all day and contact the funeral parlor.'

Ding!

A sound came out of nowhere.

It startled him. His senses turned sharper as he looked around trying to find a bell-like sound. When he couldn't find it, he calmed down a bit and decided to leave the room only to fall back due to a flashing light in front of him. It momentarily blinded him.

"Ah shit!" He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, only to find a screen like a hologram in front of him.

[Memories 100% transmitted.]