CHAPTER 2

27-01-2514

A high pitch shriek resonating around the room was all Jaehee could hear in the silence. Her stomach dropped as she gaped at the screaming straight line beside her little brother’s bed. Her eyes widened and everything was suddenly engulfed by the piercing sound.

She couldn’t breathe. ‘Breathe. I can’t breathe.’

It was as if all the oxygen had been out of her lungs. was dry. Tears were wallowing in the back of her eyes. She could feel a scream latching to the back of , tearing apart her insides with an unbearable pain.

Her hands were trembling uncontrollably but she couldn’t move. Something was pulling her back as she tried to urge forward. Her mind had already run to Yuhan’s bed and was crying by his side, but Jaehee was frozen still, her mind shut.

Suddenly everything flushed back with the sound of heart beats. She noticed the bright line jump up and down.

Jaehee let out a breath and collapsed onto her knees. An echo of a smile on her face as tears gushed down her paled cheeks. 

She looked up at her brother’s bed. Relief burned through her body with every rise and fall of his chest. She slowly got up from the ground shaking, her limbs clattering as she stumbled closer to his side.

 “Yu-Yuhan?” she stuttered softly, fumbling as she reached out her hands. Her lips trembled, the taste of salty tears falling on the tip of her tongue.

Jaehee pressed her lips together, squeezing her face in an effort to quiet down. Short bursts of cries erupted from . She rubbed her eyes with each fallen tear.

 “Don’t do that,” she managed to whisper through gritted teeth as she desperately clutched his hand.

Silence.

“Is everything okay, Jaehee-nim?”

Jaehee jolted backwards. She looked over her shoulder to find the stiff-faced Eve. She rubbed her eyes, bitterness in her face as she pulled on the ends of her lips.

The family’s android glimpsed at Yuhan and smiled before turning back to Jaehee.

“Yuhan-nim is alright, yes?” she asked sounding somewhat delighted.

Jaehee stared at her, investigating her facial expressions. Her eyes were still stinging and her heartbeat was still running an extra mile.

“Jaehee-nim?”

“Yes,” Jaehee replied suddenly. She sniffled and added, “Please prepare dinner.” It barely came out as a dry croak but Eve managed to hear it and took her leave.

Jaehee turned back to her brother with furrowed brows. Her heart was beating heavy, loud echoes in her ears. She was finally able to breathe normally excluding the occasional hiccup. Something was off about Eve but she couldn’t quite put her finger to it.

She stared at her brother’s peaceful sleeping face. It was almost as if the temporary heart attack had gone by unnoticed by him.

‘He was able to sleep through a nightmare.’ Jaehee began to wonder whether the machine was faulty or if it was just another thing her brother would have to go through more often from this point on.

“Maybe his condition’s getting worse,” Jaehee murmured regretfully as worry lined her face.

She watched her brother for a while longer. He continued to rest peacefully with the machine by his bed drumming.

The girl took a deep ragged breath in, sighed and took a step towards his bed to tuck him in.

Jaehee took her brother’s hands to place onto his stomach where they seemed more comfortable. She once again came across the white band tightly wrapped around his wrist. She felt a surge of fear overcome her.

‘It can’t be because of this, can it?’

She lifted Yuhan’s arm to take a closer look at the device, careful not to strain or wake him in any way.

Her head began to numb with concern as she noticed several small blinking lights that were not there last time—red, blue, purple, one on top of the other respectively and across from them was a steady green light.

Jaehee pursed her lips. ‘What is this?’

***

“What is this?” Nara muttered as she heaved herself off the ground. She rubbed her temples. As she opened her eyes she was greeted by the familiar scene of desolated plains. Dry grass was the only thing in view for the first five hundred meters on all sides. Despite the whole environment being information from the band being fed to the brain, Nara still couldn’t get over how real it all felt.

‘Welcome back to Paradox Online,’ welcomed the system.

The girl had familiarized herself with the ringing female voice for the past few weeks.

“Hi,” she answered bluntly in habit.

‘Odd. I don’t remember going to sleep,’ she thought to herself as she analysed her surroundings. ‘Did I collapse?’ she questioned dubiously as she recalled the falling sensation.

Nara’s nose began to itch with the smell of dry grass. The realism of the game sometimes became a pain. Nara rubbed her nose irritably and got up from the ground. She dusted her cloak, which for the weather was a heavy burden and had already begun to latch to the sweat forming on the surface of her skin. She readjusted the blue sleeves of her cloak before bending down to pick up her staff. 

‘The function ‘Countdown’ has been ,’ informed the system.

She looked up at the sky with confusion, imagining the system voice came from somewhere up there. “Countdown?” she murmured.

There was no answer but an odd tingling, almost burning, sensation suggested her to check her wrist.  

Nara brought her wrist up to her face to examine the band. The usual lights that upon logging on were blinking as per usual, but an odd set of numbers had appeared between the green light and the set of lights opposite it.

The numbers read,

04:52:00

In snaky silver font that seemed to suspiciously linger inside the surface of the band.

“What’s this…” she thought aloud as she twisted her wrist, trying to see if anything else had appeared.

Nara pursed her lips. “Turn ‘Countdown’ off,” she commanded.

A vibrating feeling numbed her head and a bellowing ring told the player she was denied the authority to do so.

She frowned and tapped at the band, wondering what the new function was for.

Each second the last set of numbers decreased—52, 51, 50 and so on.

“It’s a timer—” Nara murmured in astonishment, “Countdown… it’s a countdown…”

The sudden realisation took her aback. Nara pressed her lips together. Paradox Online had plenty of secrets—how does it work? Who created it? Why are you forced to play every time you fall unconscious? And now, what’s the countdown for—?

Nara could hear her heart by her ears, drumming loudly in her head. ‘Death?’ she gasped then quickly threw her hands over . She shook her head like mad, ‘That can’t be it! That can’t be it!!’ she told herself repeatedly. Her breaths quickened until her head began to spin with crazy theories.

After a minute of panic, her breaths began to return to normal. Nara pressed her lips into a tight line.

Nara shook her head. “You’re panicking!” she scolded herself. She bit her lip then tipped her head to the sky.

“What is ‘Countdown’?” She asked the system. No answer. She tried a second time to no avail. 

The girl pursed her lips. She decided to travel back to the closest city to ask an Elder and maybe sell the items she had gathered the past few days of grinding along the way.

Nara’s eyes widened as soon as the majestic front gates of Hephaestus City came into view. There were more than the small specks of level 1 monsters running around the fields. A large number of players were beginning to appear from thin air, one after the other in a cloud of shimmering light.

The new players looked around them with puzzled expressions as if they were searching for something. There was a confused or sometimes baffled, look on their faces as they twirled around—presumably looking for the source of the system’s voice.

The little ounce of light left in Nara’s eyes went out. She quickly threw herself behind a nearby tree. Her back slammed against it. Nara gritted her teeth and pursed her lips to stop them from trembling. She could feel her heart drilling through her chest—her anxiety drowning her almost immediately.

Nara nervously looked over her shoulder and peaked at the flock of new players. Some were clothed exactly the same as she was a few weeks ago—a thin cream-coloured cloak. Others were in thicker coarse clothing or ratted armour, but almost all the players had no shoes, the fortunate ones got a lousy pair of boots after killing a monster though they would probably only last a few hours.

The girl watched a group of noobs hurl themselves towards a small rabbit. They all comically fell down into a pile as the creature hopped off to dodge more attacks. Due to the games realism killing a level 1 rabbit was rather difficult because of its agility.

Nara shook her head. She swiftly looked around her and, after assuring no one was around, checked her wrist.

The band’s blinking lights smiled at her, the new set of numbers still wallowing on the surface now read a little less than it had before. Nara swiped a finger across the surface. The silver numbers were replaced by a simple question:

Would you like to log off?

To cancel all you would have had to do was drop your arm and continue playing. Since Nara didn’t need to sleep in real life she didn’t see the point in continuing, she decided to log off.

Nara tapped the screen. Nothing happened. She frowned. The numbers reappeared on the device and glowed brighter for a moment before dimming down.

The girl frowned and attempted to log off once again. The set of numbers reappeared, glowing stubbornly.

Nara huffed. She tapped at the screen a couple more times before sinking to the ground in frustration. The number of new players had increased and the sound of running feet and swinging of weapons began to ring in her ears.

Nara sighed and pulled up her sleeve once again. She stared at the set of numbers.

03:49:32

She sighed and crossed her arms. She could feel her hands trembling and gripped onto her elbows. ‘There’s not much to live for anyway…’ she reasoned.

Nara looked behind the tree, back at the gates. The number of players must have doubled.

“I need to empty my inventory…” the girl murmured in regret as she looked out at the flock of busy noobs. They were a good hundred meters away. Currently, Nara was standing by a pack of level 3-4 wolves, mindlessly grooming themselves.

The girl decided it was best to try and not attract too much attention while she looked for the Elder. One word for each gender resonated in her head, ‘stalker’ and ‘bully.’ Fortunately she had yet to sell her beginner’s clothing.

Nara pulled out a small pouch from her pocket. It was a beginner’s inventory made of coarse hide. Despite its size and weight, the pouch could hold up to 10 items—small items could be stacked upon each other and be considered as one item.

Nara opened the pouch and magically pulled out a long pale cloak. She quickly dressed behind the tree and slipped the blue cloak and other bits of clothing into the pouch. Now she looked like any of the other new players.

With folded arms the girl dropped her head and shuffled towards the gates of Hephaestus City.

***

Inevitably, Nara received several second glances and whispers.

One tough-looking male barbarian approached the girl with gleaming teeth. “Hey, do you want to join my party? I’ll protect you.”

Nara hastily shook her head and quickened her pace. She hid an unamused frown as she heard the player sneer. Despite having changed her equipment she was still much better skilled and experienced than any of the other regular players. Being looked down upon and being seen weak in that sense surprisingly hurt her pride.

The Elder was located up a flight of stairs beside the front gates. As soon as Nara entered the city she noticed the long line of players wishing to speak to the Elder, possibly for a quest. She pressed her lips together as her eyes trailed across the line of people. She decided to pay the local tailor a visit.

***

The girl swiftly made her way to a familiar store. The bells chimed as she opened the glass door.

The middle-aged store lady smiled at the sight of the girl’s face.

“Nara!” she greeted adoringly with open arms. Her thin copper hair was pulled back in a loose bun. Several pins and needles were poked into a red cushion attached to her thin wrist. “We just got new stock, feel free to look around,” the lady said as she gestured into the store.

Nara bowed her head. She came to the tailor often to sell items and browse. After a few days of familiarizing herself with the game, the store lady, Taylor, had begun to chat with her. It was fair to say they were now, shockingly, quite close.

Nara also visited the apothecary often for potions but found the store over-filling with players. Since they were all new, the risk of ‘dying’ scared them and were all stashing up on health potions.  The new players were also too poor to purchase anything from the tailor or blacksmith and settled with the rare but poor item drops, so those stores were rather neglected.

Nara strolled leisurely around the store. A thick white hooded cape caught her eye. The cape was emblemised with delicate golden sequencing and embroidery by the hem and hood.

Taylor caught the girl staring at the cape in awe. She chuckled lightly and said with delight, “Do you like it?”

Nara twirled around, admiration filling her eyes as she nodded eagerly. “Did you make it?”

Taylor grinned as she straightened her heavy skirt. “I did, with you in mind, my dear.”

Nara’s eyes widened. Despite the NPCs being—well—NPCs, Paradox’s realism was so high they must have been given some artificial intelligence, quite like an android. Despite having some kind of intelligence, androids were often only given enough to complete tasks given to them and not anything more—like feelings for example. Nara had deducted that NPCs of Paradox must have been given a little bit more.

Taylor smiled and pulled down the cape from the high rack. “It’s made of the Wishbone Spider’s silk from the Green Plains. It’s beautiful and durable,” she stated proudly as she handed the clothing to the customer. She nodded eagerly to the dressing room. “Go ahead and try it on—” she glimpsed at the girl’s clothes, “with your other cloak,” she added with a smile.

The fabric felt glorious. Nara had a mad itch to try it on but doubted she had enough money to pay for something of such high-quality. She was about to reject the offer but the insistent grin on the tailor’s face made it difficult to refuse. Nara coyly got changed.

Nara twirled around obediently as Taylor clasped her hands in awe. “I knew it’d suit you!” she beamed.

Nara smiled shyly. “Uh… I don’t think I can afford it though—”

“Nonsense!” Taylor laughed as she waved a hand, “I wouldn’t want anyone else to wear it.”

The girl cloaked in white, blue and shimmering gold smiled. It may have been crazy to befriend an NPC but the game was already all too real, and the benefits of befriending a store owner were handy. Nara decided to purchase the cape, she reasoned the hood would come in good use.

Shamelessly, Nara pulled out her pouch and laid out several items on the table along with the beginner’s cloak she had just changed out of. All together it would sell for about 65 silvers and 10 bronze.

“Is this and 7 gold enough?”

Taylor inspected the items. “Make it 8.”

“Deal.”

***

Nara stepped out of the store. She immediately caught the eyes of several players passing by. The clean colours of her outfit stood out like a sore thumb in the clouds of beiges and browns. Nara blushed and immediately pulled down the hood. It came over her eyes and shadowed the rest of her face. At least she may look intimidating enough not to approach, she thought as she made her way to the Elder.

***

Some players voluntarily gave way to the cloaked figure as Nara swiftly made her way up the flight of stairs. She didn’t mind waiting like everyone else but the noticeable difference in their attire, hence wealth, experience and skill was so vivid that they decided it was best to move.

Nara made it about half way up the line without a word. A few players wondered aloud how a player could have achieved so much in the little time the game had released.

“Is there a cheat?”

“Maybe it’s an NPC?”

“Why would an NPC wait in line?”

“Maybe they got a special quest…”

Rumours were moving up and down the two halves of the line but did not dare cross the cloaked figure.

Soon enough, Nara was at the head of the line, standing face to face with the Elder.

The Elder had met Nara on a few occasions. Being the only person passing by for the previous weeks he had come to know her face rather well. The Elder’s snow-white beard lifted with a smile as he recognised the lips of the beta-tester.

“Child!” he beamed, “it has been awhile, then again I saw you yesterday but that was after I talked to a thousand other children,” he coughed tiredly.

Nara tipped her head with a small smile. She felt embarrassed to have not taken off her new hood but there were far too many people around. She apologized first and with a small voice asked her question.

The Elder lifted his brows. “Countdown?” he repeated with a knowing smile.

Nara nodded timidly in confirmation.

The Elder sighed. “Many have already asked, others will ask after you… I don’t know why the System has not sent out a notice,” he sighed sounding slightly irritated. “I’m too old to stand here and answer everyone, I’ll run out of breath and quests. They should get me a chair!”

The girl nodded in sympathy, murmuring a light apology.

The Elder waved a hand. “You are not to blame, child. Now where were we? Ah, right!” he drew in a deep breath. “The band is like a watch and the Countdown is like its time—no more accurately it’s like a timer,” The Elder pointed a finger, a prideful look on his face. “Everyone is allocated a certain amount of time before you can return to your world.”

***

Nara made her way back down the stairs, she felt somewhat relieved but at the same time burdened. If what the Elder told her was true then she had over 2 hours left before she could log off, but what bothered her more was that she was going to be locked in the game. She was also told there were ways to shorten the Countdown but was told no more.

‘Youngjae… help me…’ she cried in her head as she wandered towards the gates. ‘I have to get out of here…’ She could feel the wise gaze of the Elder burning through the hood of her cape, along with a hundred others.

“Excuse me!”

A male voice. The hooded player lifted slightly her head. Her bottom lip was trembling as she stared at the feet of the player.

Boots.

They were polished until they were a glowering red. The player was wearing thick brown pants covered in scales of metal.

Another pair of feet stepped forward. Black boots. The two players were mumbling something to each other.

Nara lifted her head timidly. She pursed her lips. They looked strong compared to a majority of the new players.

The first man was decked in scruffy and dented heavy armour and a hefty sword in hand. The second, from head to toe was dressed in black that contrasted with his pale skin and a gun was peeking out from behind him.

Nara recognized neither of them and slowly began to shuffle back. ‘What do they want from me?’

The second man smiled and tipped his head as the first slotted his sword back into its sheath by his hip. The armoured man didn’t smile. He only glared.

Nara defensively pulled the hood further down her face. “Who are they?” she lightly mumbled to herself as shadows enveloped her face.

The smiling man dressed in black swiftly made his way to the heavily cloaked cleric, slowly followed by the first man.

Nara tipped her head to the side as she realized the weak walk of the armoured man. He wobbled and jolted awkwardly as he struggled to make his way towards them.

“Do you want me to heal him?” the anonymous cleric asked.

Both the men’s heads perked up—a sweet feminine voice. Most of the players so far were male so this took them by surprise.

“Ah no,” the black clothed man replied shyly as he rubbed his neck. “My friend here is just inexperienced with walking,” he explained gesturing to the other man shuffling towards them who only scowled in reply.

Nara blinked, not sure what he meant by the comment. She looked at the two men. The armoured man had a pained look on his face. It was only then she noticed the man in black was doing all the talking.

“What?” the armoured man bellowed. He was squinting his eyes, piercing through the hood. His voice was low and sent an electric chill across the girl’s body.

She heard a chime and a small message board appeared in front of her.

“Do you want to join our party?” the man in black asked with a friendly smile on his face.

Nara gazed at the message board. Her eyes darted back at the two men. “Who are you?”

The man in black’s eyes widened as he realized they had forgotten to introduce themselves. “My bad,” he smiled and bowed his head. “I’m Kim Himchan, a level 6 Gunman.” He turned to his partner and nudged his side.

The other man winced. “Bang Yongguk,” he replied reluctantly in a low voice, “level 6 Warrior.”

Nara nodded. They didn’t appear to be lying and the fact they didn’t realize she was a girl at first meant they must have not had any bad intentions when they first greeted her. 

“Han Nara, level 31 Cleric,” Nara swallowed and hoped she wasn’t making the wrong choice, “I’ll join your party.”   

Author's Note:  I'm back !! I had my exams last last week but my friend who helps edit my stories only finished her exams on Wednesday... so that's why this chapter took a while. It's pretty long though right ?

If you need it, here's the very formally written glossary for this chapter.

Glossary:

Noob- A Novice/New player

Grinding- Continuously killing monsters not as a quest. Not the whole ‘grind on me~’ dance. Don’t grind on monsters—that’s just wrong.

NPC (Non Player Character)- People/Characters in the game that aren't real people... pretty much.

Party- Team.