#2
Sehyeon first approached the student who was sobbing. When I looked at the school uniform jacket, I saw that the word ‘中’ was attached to the chest along with a name tag.
“My brother… It’s Do Se-hyeon. Should I talk to you for a moment… ?”
Sehyun hid her trembling voice and spoke to the student as softly as possible. The student, who had been sobbing with her mouth closed, looked at Sehyeon with tearful eyes and lowered her head.
Sehyun sat down again with her butt on the ground. And he spoke in as gentle a tone as possible at the child’s eye level.
“What is your name… ?”
“Ugh, Jaeyoung Lee… .”
“When did you open your eyes? “My brother just opened his eyes and I don’t know when he started being like this.”
“Pfft… Two, two hours… Hi… That’s Okay… .”
The watch on the child’s wrist caught my eye. When I saw the hour hand ticking, I felt a strange sense of alienation. Even at this moment, time continued to pass.
“Do you by any chance remember when you came here?”
The child wiped his eyes with his arm and shook his head. When I saw that her eyes were so swollen, I felt sorry for her.
“It’s okay, don’t cry. My brother… “My brother will be by your side.”
“game… Wow… I was waiting… . After that… I can `t remember that.”
“game?”
“Ellix. Official server, hehe… There were less than 5 minutes left… Black… .”
Ellix’s official server opens. That was news that Sehyun knew well. Since the day the official server announcement was made, the portal’s real-time search term rankings have been constantly rising and falling, and no matter where you go on the Internet, it’s the only thing you see, so it was impossible not to know.
Sehyun’s gaze shifted to the man lying nearby who had not yet opened his eyes. He was also Korean like Sehyeon. The reason he was sure he was Korean was because the documents he held like his life were written in Korean.
The eyes of the people around me, who were sitting helplessly curled up, did not leave the ground. Assuming that the first person woke up, roughly how many hours had passed since they were brought here.
“Tongue, bro… We can go home… ?”
“… It’s okay, don’t cry.”
Se-hyeon said this to herself while patting Jae-young Lee’s back as he held onto the hem of her clothes. I still don’t know if I can go back or not. I couldn’t even figure out why this happened, and I couldn’t even predict what would happen at this point.
Besides, Sehyeon couldn’t find anything in common with the people here. There are absolutely more men than women, and the age range is from the early 20s to the late 40s or early 50s at most. Children there are even rarer. Among what Sehyun saw with her own eyes, there was no child younger than Jaeyoung Lee.
Maybe we have something in common?
While people of different nationalities, ages, races, and genders were looking for common ground, a small commotion broke out nearby. Everyone’s attention was focused on that scream-like shout. Sehyun was no different.
“This is all because of Elix! Boo, you say it’s clear?! I’m sure I saw it before I fell! “I don’t know if it was light or fire, but I saw the fire spread and it was announced that we were officially entering the server!”
But no one listened to those words. In fact, what was more surprising than those words was the fact that we could communicate with him even though he was a foreigner. Everyone was confused, but no one opened their mouth. He may have wanted to ignore the current situation.
As they began to ignore him one by one, Sehyun also turned away from him. Elix, I know. However, the last time Sehyun used Elix was two months ago. No, it was more accurate to say that he folded.
Unlike Se-hyeon, Jae-young Lee seemed to take those words quite seriously. With the child in shock and unable to recover, Sehyeon looked at the man who was lying down while holding the documents.
“It’s real! You’re the one who played Elix too, right? uh? say! You were there too, right? Look! “I said it was all done!”
A voice filled with evil rang loudly through the whispers. Sehyeon held the hand of the child holding her collar tightly and waited for time to pass. And when two more hours had passed since then.
The evil man’s words turned out to be true as soon as the fallen man opened his eyes.
To be precise, this was when the man who had fallen while clutching documents came to his senses and was able to perceive his surroundings.
Just when I thought I had made eye contact with the man, something strange started to happen, starting with someone screaming.
The start of the miracle was the appearance of a breathtakingly large circular mirror. From that point on, countless circles, large and small, began to appear in a vast space where there was no concept of area. While hundreds and then thousands of circles were created with an unknown sound echoing in their heads, people were crawling on the floor with their heads covered and screaming.
And when the endless sound stopped, the surroundings became extremely quiet. Not even a sound of breathing could be heard. Only looks filled with fear appeared in the air.
The thing that tightly surrounded the crowd was the space movement portal from Ellix. People looked in bewilderment at the portal emitting brilliant light.
[It looks like everyone has finally come to their senses.]
A foreign voice echoed in the quiet and vast space. Everyone’s eyes shifted to the huge mirror floating in the sky.
There, a man in a tailcoat was standing with his upper body sticking out, looking down through a monocle reflecting the light. After scanning the surroundings, he seemed to have finished checking and came out of the portal and floated in the air.
[My name is ‘Bill Will’ and I am the guide here. We would like to thank everyone for their hard work in coming this far.]
With a formal greeting, Billwill lifted his hat out of the air and bowed gracefully. However, none of the people holding their breath could accept that greeting. No, on the contrary, I became more and more afraid.
Sehyun also had to hold her trembling fingertips tightly as she looked at her trembling hands tightly gripping her clothes. I couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality. Countless people. And even that man floating in the air, full of estrangement.
I didn’t understand what all this was for.
[Planet Earth in the Sector 481 system. You are the players who were chosen by us and came here to the planet Elix. We call you ‘road players’. It’s late, but welcome to Planet Elix.]
Planet Elix. At those words, Sehyun was shocked as if she had been hit with a hammer. Uproar erupted here and there. The number of people who showed calm amidst the shock and anger was only a handful.
Right before I go wild with indignation. That was exactly the situation now.
[The people here have a history of accessing the game Elix at least once. These are people who completed the aptitude test and logged in regardless of the number or duration. I think everyone deserves to challenge their achievements.]
“Stop talking like a bitch!”
“Please send us back…” ! “Let me ask you this favor!”
“It’s a choice, damn it, send it all back right away! Send it back!!”
[You will be able to start loading play for achievements that you were unable to complete during the beta test period here at Elix. We will help guide you accordingly. Now, first of all-]
Perfect!
The moment Billwill flicked his fingers, a distorted afterimage began to appear beyond the portal surrounding the crowd. I couldn’t see it in detail, but the scenes were all different. It was like a village, a castle, or an empire.
“Empire… .”
Lee Chae appeared in Sehyeon’s eyes. Each portal emitting a dazzling light seemed to show the empire that the current players had grown. The distorted afterimage gradually became clearer, like looking into a mirror.
[Official server play will not be much different from before. Go to your own empire, be recognized as a king, and reach new ‘achievements’ as you cultivate your empire. Achievements are… I guess it hasn’t popped up yet. Let’s see… . Ah, that’s it. Once you complete the ‘Awakening’ of the character currently in view, you will be able to check your achievements. The most important thing here is survival.]
As soon as Bill Will finished speaking, a blue window appeared in front of Sehyun’s eyes. It was a system window that I was familiar with when playing games.
[Would you like to awaken as a road player? Upon awakening, you will inherit the data of the race you previously played.]
Road player. At that word, the sound of intake of breath could be heard here and there. Sehyun was no different. Along with the cold sweat, I felt like my throat was clogged and I couldn’t breathe.
There were two options floating at the bottom of the screen. ‘yes’. ‘no’.
[Unfortunately, existing levels will be reset. Now, let’s take a quiz here. In beta testing, if the king died, it was game over. So, if those of you connected to the official server die, what will happen to you and the empire?]
The red eyes of the man looking down were horrifyingly curved. Sobs of despair began to spread among the audience. People recognized the answer early on. No, that voice in her head was telling her so.
They’re all going to die.
