He clicked on the basketball game called "Ultimate Arena" at his rental house at three in the morning, and fell into an absurd cycle with no exit. The neon lights of the virtual stadium are always flashing, but they cannot illuminate any opponent's face; the rules are written all over the screen, but no one can tell what "victory" actually is. Absolute silence must be maintained during free throws, otherwise the basketball will turn into a ghost; teammates are AIs that only repeat "passing", but opponents have scars and obsessions from reality. The frustration in reality was intertwined with the weirdness in virtuality. He won one game after another, but he was getting further and further away from "normal". The court has become a maze, and the scores have become shackles. Are those basketballs suspended in the neon light an illusion of redemption, or a bait that drags him into the abyss?
