The whir of the computers was all that could be heard in the office as Changmin resisted the urge to break the unnatural silence in the room.  The tension in the air made him want to scratch his nails on an old school vintage black board, it was that infuriating.  Well, physically he wasn’t actually in an office, his consciousness was merely habitating the virtual one him and his boss frequented when they worked after hours. Changmin’s physical body was was currently sprawled across his comfy sofa surrounded by piles of chinese take out containers.  The fact his body was in a state of apparent rest didn’t mean the computer programer in desperate need of sleep, but with tomorrow's launch of the Beta test for the company's newest game, Annales Cambriae, meant  he was yet again forced to forgo the one thing that may be the thing he loved most, besides eating of course.  

“Your opinions on Lee Donghae, if you any?” His boss, the ever mysterious Jaejoong, finally said breaking the previously infuriating silence.  Glad to finally have something to do the young programmer brought up the player’s file on the laser screen and quickly scanned through the information.

 “He is a complete rookie to virtual games, let alone role playing games.”  Changmin said in confusion shocked at the lack of experience. “Why on earth did we, I mean you, hire him?  Beta testers should at least know the basics of the game.  This is a sequel, all the other players are experienced well known players from the the first installment.”

“A little experiment of mine.”  Jaejoong waved his hand expanding the player’s information on the laser display.  “He certainly has the skills to excel in the game and he has the desire to.”  Changmin scanned over the additional player history attached to the basic statistics. The more he looked at it, the more it made sense the university student, Lee Donghae, was in fact used to be national champion in Wushu, specializing in the long sword category.  No doubt that skill that would be useful in the action fantasy game, maybe Jaejoong wasn’t completely out of his mind. It didn’t distract from the fact that Donghae was an outlier in the otherwise expert playing field of Beta testers.

“Even still it makes no sense whatsoever.” Changmin shook his head.  “What makes even less sense is that you’ve paired him with Lee Hyukjae.  Hyukjae is undoubtedly the same skill based player.  There team would be completely unbalanced they are at an unfair disadvantage.”

“Yet, they both players have the most to gain from winning the game.”  Jaejoong chuckled, a sly smile gracing his perfect features.  “Shouldn’t that desire to win place them at an advantage over the other players?”  

“You’ve got to be kidding me, you are purposefully pairing them for your own amusement.  For your own social experiment?”

“Isn’t it more fun this way Changmin?  I’m curious as to what lengths both will go to.”  Jaejoong continued.  “There virtual beings will make them stronger than they are in reality, but their success will depend on their hearts.”

“You are one freaky man boss.”  Changmin uttered with a shiver running down his spine as he waved away Donghae and Hyukjae’s information, silently wishing them good luck.  They’d need it.