Kingdom of Corrosion

...

At the bar, Stone, doubling as a bartender, poured a cup of hot red tea for Lin Wu, "Sir, wouldn’t you prefer some ice water?"

"You’d actually say that? Mind your status," Lin Wu retorted, "You old thing disrupting unity."

Stone grumbled, "How am I disrupting unity? I just want to do something I feel like doing at the end of the game. Or do you think I fancy farming? Sitting on a chair for an hour a day like a fool? That’s called work, it’s what society demands of you. Going to True Hardcore Mode is retirement, my reward to myself."

Stone poured himself a Coke, "You young people fancy yourselves as trendsetters, but you never really break free from society’s subtle rules. A little rebellion against the boss and you think you’re a new breed of human. You haven’t even figured out what self is. The self is an obstinate sentiment that isn’t swayed by others, paying for one’s own actions."

Stone said, "When over 99% of people believe your behavior is wrong, and society and family put pressure on you, can you still stand firm and stay true to yourself?"

Lin Wu responded, "If that many people oppose it, maybe it is wrong."

Stone argued, "Many people still believe Blue Star is flat. We think they’re ignorant, and I think so too. You think my choosing True Hardcore Mode with my abilities is self-destruction, incomprehensible. But isn’t there basically no difference between the two? Lin Wu, what matters isn’t how long I can survive in True Hardcore Mode, or whether I have a good life there. It’s about whether I dare to chase the faint hope that even I don’t believe in."

Stone elaborated, "Take love, for instance. At my age, should I not believe in eternal love? I’ve experienced it firsthand, studied it from books; I know there’s no such thing as everlasting love, just familial affection between spouses that comes from adjustment, and compatibility. But I believe in love. You’d say, ’How can you, a capitalist bloodsucker, believe in such pure and beautiful love? Hilarious.’"

Stone continued, "Though I’ve never seen nor found it around me, even if Blue Star is devoid of any such pure and lasting love, I still believe it’s real, that it exists, and I might just be the lucky one."