2
Sehyun approached a student who was sobbing uncontrollably. Looking at the school uniform jacket, there was a tag on the chest with the character ‘中’ (middle) along with a nameplate.
“Hyung… I’m Dosehyun. Can I talk to you for a moment…?”
Sehyun spoke to the student with a trembling voice, trying to hide the nervousness and using the gentlest tone possible. The student, who had been crying with mouth shut, looked at Sehyun with teary eyes and nodded.
Sehyun sat back on the ground, placing his buttocks on the floor. Speaking with a polite tone at the eye level of the child, he asked, “What’s your name…?”
“Kkuyak, I’m Jaeyoung….”
“When did you wake up? I just opened my eyes, so I don’t know how long it has been.”
“Kkuk… t-two hours… Hik… it’s been two hours….”
Sehyun noticed a watch on the child’s wrist. As he looked at the ticking hour hand, a strange discomfort crept in. Even at this moment, time was continuously passing.
“Do you remember anything when you came here?”
The child raised his arm to wipe tears from his eyes. Seeing the swollen eyes, Sehyun couldn’t help but feel pity.
“It’s okay, don’t cry. Hyung… hyung will be here with you.”
“Waiting for the game… Kkuk… I was waiting for the game…. But after that… I can’t remember.”
“The game?”
“Elix. The official server, Hik… there was less than 5 minutes left… Huk….”
The official opening of Elix’s server. That was news Sehyun was well aware of. Since the day the official server announcement came down, it had been constantly climbing up and down the real-time search rankings on the portal, and everywhere on the internet, it was all people talked about.
Sehyun’s gaze shifted to a man lying nearby, still unable to open his eyes. He was also a Korean like Sehyun. The reason Sehyun was certain he was Korean was that Korean was written on the documents he was clutching like his life depended on it.
The gaze of the people around, who were lethargically sitting and hunching their bodies, remained fixed on the ground. Assuming there was someone who woke up first, how many hours had passed since they were moved here?
“Hyung… Can we go to my house…?”
“…It’s okay, don’t cry.”
Sehyun comforted Jaeyoung, who was clinging to his clothes, and reassured himself. Whether they could go back or not was still unknown. With the cause of this situation not understood, and unable to anticipate what would happen next.
Moreover, Sehyun couldn’t find a commonality among those present here. There were significantly more males than females, and the age range was mostly from early 20s to late 40s or early 50s at most. Children were even rarer. Among those Sehyun observed, there was no one younger than Jaeyoung.
Was there any commonality?
As he was trying to find commonalities among people of different nationalities, ages, races, and genders, a small commotion occurred nearby. All eyes were drawn to the source of a scream. Sehyun was no exception.
“This is all because of Elix! I saw it for sure! Before collapsing, I saw it clearly! Whether it’s light or fire, I saw it when the announcement said it was the entrance to the official server!”
However, no one paid attention to his words. In fact, what was more surprising than his words was that even though he was a foreigner, everyone could understand him. People were puzzled, but no one willingly opened their mouths. Perhaps they wanted to ignore the current situation.
As people began to ignore him one by one, Sehyun also turned away. He knew about Elix, but Sehyun had stopped playing Elix two months ago. No, it would be more accurate to say that he quit.
Unlike Sehyun, Jaeyoung seemed to take his words quite seriously. With a child who couldn’t stop crying due to shock, Sehyun looked back at the man who was lying down with documents in his hands.
“It’s true! Are you also someone who played Elix? Huh? Speak! Are you also someone who played? See! Everyone played it!”
The voice, filled with anger, spread through the gap. Sehyun comforted himself, holding the trembling fingertips of the hand that was clinging to his clothes. He waited for the time to pass, and two more hours passed.
The words of the enraged man were proven to be true when the man lying down opened his eyes.
More precisely, it was when the man who had collapsed with documents in his hands regained consciousness and could perceive his surroundings.
When he made eye contact with that man, a scream from someone started, and a change began to happen.
The beginning of the change was the appearance of a massive circular mirror beyond the portal that surrounded the crowd. Starting with that, in the vast space where the concept of width did not exist, large and small circles began to appear, creating countless circles. While the unidentifiable sound echoed in their heads, the circles increased to hundreds and thousands. People crawled on the ground, covering their heads, screaming.
And when the endless noise stopped, the surroundings became as quiet as a mouse. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Only the terrified gazes filled the air.
What surrounded the crowd was the spatial teleportation portal that appeared in Elix. People stared at the portal emitting a brilliant light with bewildered eyes.
[Now that everyone is finally awake.]
In the silent and vast space, an unfamiliar voice echoed. All eyes were directed to the giant mirror floating in the sky.
There, a man in a ceremonial robe extended only his upper body, looking down from above through distorted glasses reflecting the light. After scanning the surroundings, he seemed to have finished confirming and floated down from the portal.
[I am the guide of this place, ‘Billwill.’ I thank you for your efforts in coming a long way.]
With a formal greeting, Billwill raised his hat elegantly and bowed his waist. However, none of the people, who were holding their breath, responded to the greeting. Rather, they were gradually overwhelmed by fear.
Sehyun also said to himself while holding the hand of Jaeyoung, who was clutching his clothes sweetly, that he should wait and see if he could go back. Still, he didn’t know whether this was a dream or reality. Countless people and the eerie man floating in the air made it hard to distinguish.
[Planet Earth in Sector 481. You all, the players who have come to this place through the selection in that place, Earth, are now players in this planet called Elix. We refer to you as ‘Road Players.’ Though belated, I welcome you to Elix.]
Elix Planet. Sehyun was enveloped in a shock as if he had been hit with a hammer. Commotions erupted here and there. Amidst the shock and anger, there were few who showed calmness.
Just
before going into a rage. The current situation was exactly like that.
[Those of you here are players who have logged into the game Elix at least once. Regardless of the number of times or the duration, those who have completed the aptitude test and logged in. I believe all of you are qualified to challenge achievements.]
“Nonsense!”
“Please send us back…! I beg you like this!”
“Whether it’s a choice or whatever, send us back immediately! Send us back!”
[From now on, you will begin play loading for the achievements you couldn’t achieve during the beta test period in this Elix. I will assist you with the instructions accordingly. Now, first-]
Snap!
The moment Billwill lightly flicked his finger, distorted remnants began to appear beyond the portal that surrounded the crowd. Although it couldn’t be seen clearly, they were all different landscapes. Some looked like villages, some like castles or empires.
“Empire….”
Sehyun thought of the Imperial City. The portals emitting dazzling light seemed to show the empires that the current players had built. The distorted remnants gradually became clear, becoming as vivid as looking into a mirror.
[Regular server play will not be much different from before. Go to your own empire, be recognized as a king, and achieve new ‘achievements’ as you nurture your empire. Achievements, um… They haven’t appeared yet. Let me see… Ah, there it is. You should be able to check the achievements when you finish awakening the character currently in your sight. The most important thing here is survival.]
As Billwill finished speaking, a blue window appeared in front of Sehyun. It was a system window familiar to him from playing games.
[Will you awaken as a Road Player? If you awaken, you will continue with the data of the race you played before.]
Road Player. The word caused a murmur to spread throughout. Sehyun was no exception. With cold sweat and a choked throat, it became difficult to breathe.
The red eyes of the man looking down below turned horribly distorted. A sense of despair began to spread among the crowd. People had already realized the answer. No, the voice digging into their minds was telling them.
Everyone will die.
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
