Episode 2: The Event (1)
“Number 17… so there it is.”
Having spotted the Vega Capsule marked with the number 17, I Taeseong immediately headed toward it.
Beside the Vega Capsule, a Sanseong Group employee was waiting to guide him.
“Hello. I’m participant number 17. What do I need to do?”
“Ah, hello. I am I Cheolhun of the Sanseong Group, here to assist you. If you come this way, I will help you with the trial after a simple body scan.”
I Cheolhun, the person in charge of Capsule 17, said this while pointing beside the Vega Capsule’s entrance.
When I Taeseong went and stood there, a laser beam emerged from the Vega Capsule and swept over him.
After the laser scanned I Taeseong.
[Height: 180cm]
[Weight: 70kg]
[Gender: Male]
[Participant scan complete. Optimizing settings.]
I Taeseong’s simple physical information was displayed on the Vega Capsule’s side monitor, and simultaneously with the message indicating that settings were in progress, the sound of machinery operating came from inside the capsule.
“The Vega Capsule alters its internal structure after scanning the user’s body. To put it in terms that are easy for you to understand, participant, the interior chair is optimized for the user’s physique. Everything that touches the user’s body is made using Sanseong Electronics’ patented technology with a new material.”
Woooom~shhk~
While I Cheolhun’s explanation continued, the settings seemed to finish, and the Vega Capsule let out a sound as though spitting something out, automatically opening its door.
‘Should I call that thing a chair or a bed…’
Inside the Vega Capsule, there was a place to lie down—too large to be called a chair yet too small to be called a bed—and one had to lean back in a half-reclined position to use it.
“Now then, the explanation is finished. Please go in and sit down, and we will begin the trial.”
The moment I Cheolhun finished speaking, I Taeseong entered the capsule and reclined.
He already knew how things worked on the inside, having tried it countless times before his regression, but since he had come today as a first-time participant, he moved exactly as I Cheolhun instructed.
“Look at the right wall, and you will see something like a transparent helmet. Please put that on your head. Now, I will close the door. When I start the operation, the machinery inside will move once more. Don’t panic then; simply stay still and let the capsule do its work.”
“Yes. Please hurry.”
After the door closed, perhaps because the operation had started, holograms flowed across the transparent helmet, and countless thin lasers began firing at I Taeseong’s entire body.
It looked as though hundreds of rays of light were embedded all over him.
After finishing the loading in that manner.
[User synchronizing.]
At the guidance voice he heard, I Taeseong’s heart began to pound.
‘Even before my regression, it was the same as everyone else up to this point. Please let the synchronization succeed… Please!!’
When he had swallowed his dry saliva a couple of times from tension, earnestly wishing for synchronization success.
[Connection successful. You will be moved to another world in 5 seconds. 5 4 3 2 1..]
As soon as the words “connection successful” came out, I Taeseong was filled with euphoria.
“Haa……”
Closing his eyes and bowing his head, he let out a deep sigh, then slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was his own feet. He raised both hands to check them, then touched various parts of his body.
“It really works, it really worked!! Haha. I’ve escaped those damned connection errors!! Kuhaha!”
Though it was something from before his regression, to I Taeseong, it was a moment when a twenty-year-old grudge was finally resolved.
He laughed heartily while touching various parts of his body for a good while, but that too was brief.
At the vivid sensations that were hard to believe came from virtual reality, I Taeseong regained his composure and was genuinely amazed.
‘The world will soon change because of AW. Now that I’ve actually connected, I painfully understand why. This sense of vitality that’s hard to believe is virtual reality… Hoo, once again, those past years feel so unfair.’
The senses I Taeseong felt surpassed the level of a character inside a game.
If not for the game interface visible when he consciously looked for it, there would have been no sense of incongruity even if he were told this was reality.
‘In this virtual reality indistinguishable from reality, being able to use magic or swing sword qi… people have no choice but to go crazy. And the dazzlingly beautiful scenery is just a bonus.’
The surrounding scenery he beheld upon raising his head was truly beautiful.
The area I Taeseong had connected to was a dense jungle with trees like the Amazon of reality, filled with echoing birdsong and sunlight filtering through the trees.
And all these harmonized with a large river cutting through the forest, creating a fantastical landscape.
While he was admiring the scenery for a moment, movement appeared up ahead, and he overheard a conversation between some people.
“Wow, this is really amazing… Isn’t this too realistic?”
“Right? This doesn’t even compare to what I saw in the ads. Wow, the game really lives up to its name.”
“Haha, let’s stop sightseeing for now. The event lasts for several hours, right?”
“Well, it’s one hour in real time, so it should feel like about three hours here. They said time flows at three times the speed when you’re connected to AW.”
“Where did you hear that again? Anyway, for even the perceived time to be different… The more I learn, the more amazing it is.”
“The reason I came in a bit late is because I was asking the staff all sorts of questions!”
“You little question freak, kekekek. Anyway, let’s hurry up and find some monsters. Since we’re here, we need to win some prizes!!”
“Alright, alright! Let’s go!”
The two of them moved spiritedly forward.
‘Right. Even twenty years later, they never revealed why in-play time flows differently from reality.’
Sky Soft, the developer of AW, would face countless questions in the future.
Every phenomenon inside AW felt so unrealistic precisely because it was so realistic.
When Sanseong Group later revealed in the Vega Capsule development story that they had received everything related to manufacturing from Sky Soft and had only produced and distributed it based on that, curiosity about Sky Soft grew even greater.
Suspicions regarding the overly advanced technological prowess that had realized the Vega Capsule and AW.
Providing users with infinite freedom, there had never been a single system error or even a maintenance check.
And decisively, because time flowed differently in the game than in reality, it spawned innumerable conspiracy theories and rumors, but Sky Soft always gave the same answer to repeated questions.
“Everything related to development is a corporate secret. We cannot disclose it.”
There were countless attempts to extract corporate secrets and technological prowess from those who had resigned from Sky Soft and those still employed there, but not a single case succeeded.
Seeing as there was not a single company that had implemented virtual reality even somewhat similarly after twenty years, it seemed there had been no leak of technological prowess either.
It was a part that could be considered even more amazing in another sense.
‘I’ll think about what I don’t know later. I should start moving too.’
I Taeseong, who had briefly fallen into thought at the passing conversation, also shifted his attention to the event tied to the Vega Capsule.
It was the second day of the week-long event, so many reviews left by first-day participants had been posted on related websites, and some of today’s participants had come after obtaining such information in advance.
According to the disclosed information, the participant who took first place on the first day had caught twelve monsters.
The monsters that participant had caught were common wolves inhabiting the jungle called “Gray Wolves.”
No matter how common the wolves were, it was nearly impossible for a user connecting to AW for the first time to catch twelve.
That participant had coincidentally discovered a place where Gray Wolf pups were huddled together, and though they were pups, he killed them wondering if they would be included in the monster kill count, and they were all reflected in the kill count.
He left a review about how he came to take first place like that, and diverse comments were posted, ranging from reactions calling it cruel to “a born winner” and “he’s a lucky guy.”
After exterminating the Gray Wolf pups, the participant who had been delighted to see his kill count rise was bitten and torn apart by the returning mother Gray Wolf, and his connection was terminated.
He ended his trial earlier than the others, but since the second-place participant among those who had hunted monsters until the event time ended had only caught four monsters, it was truly a lucky case.
Today’s participants, who had learned of such things on the website in advance, went around looking for Gray Wolf pups, and those who had thought a step ahead busily moved to find the pups of other monsters or weak monsters that could be caught all at once.
‘The guy who caught the Gray Wolf pups was lucky, but there was someone else who was truly lucky at this event.’
I Taeseong, whose knowledge related to AW before his regression was at the expert level or higher, knew exactly how to take first place in this event.
If he could just connect, the Vega Capsule offered as a prize would definitely be his.
To put that thought into action, I Taeseong kept moving while checking the tops of the lined-up trees.
Having moved while only looking upward for a while, I Taeseong stopped after discovering something.
‘Found it! But even though it’s virtual reality, it’s a bit scary.’
What I Taeseong was looking at was a tree that appeared to be about twenty meters tall.
To be precise, it was a beehive the size of a human torso hanging mid-way up the tree.
‘On the last day of the event, the person who accidentally touched the beehive and jumped into the river while fleeing.’
In I Taeseong’s memory, that participant had run into a nearby river while being chased by the bees.
Because the swarm that followed him to the end chased him into the water and drowned, he recorded over thirty kills and took first place in that day’s event.
The exact name of that bee swarm was “Tracking Bees.”
They were the lowest-grade monsters, but true to their name, they were vicious creatures that would track a target once recognized as an enemy until death.
The Tracking Bees’ aggro had remained locked on that participant until the end, so all the bees that drowned were recorded as that participant’s kills.
What I Taeseong was looking at now was the hive of those Tracking Bees.
Even though it was inside a game, the thought of a swarm of bees chasing him was a different kind of fear from fighting monsters like wolves.
I Taeseong knew that all damage received inside AW felt like little more than a sting to a greater or lesser degree.
But even knowing this, since it was his first connection today and everything he could see and touch was so vivid, the thought of the swarm stinging and chasing him was a bit frightening.
‘Don’t be afraid. I’m not the only one connecting for the first time, right? Don’t forget that all the other participants are doing this for the first time too.’
There is a saying that starting is half the battle. Right now, I Taeseong had to write a new life for the twenty years that had been reset.
I Taeseong knew even the future twenty years from now. He knew how the world would drastically change because of AW.
Having collected and analyzed information with desire, resentment, and yearning, the present I Taeseong, who had returned to the past with that knowledge intact, could preempt and monopolize everything he knew.
I Taeseong had planned his future life after accepting the regression last night.
‘That’s right. This is the starting point. What am I hesitating for?!’
I Taeseong’s eyes changed from being unable to readily act despite discovering the Tracking Bees’ hive, and he slowly began to climb the tree.
The method I Taeseong chose was removing the hive itself.
To remove the hive hanging mid-way up the tree, he had to climb about ten meters, but climbing the tree was easier than he thought.
The tree itself was growing at an angle of about seventy degrees, so he only had to find the cracked parts on the trunk and climb up.
As the hive drew closer, he approached while holding his breath so as not to provoke the Tracking Bees circling nearby.