Two spaceships phased into existence at an empty point in outer space; a still and silent location, with only the intense, unprotected rays of a blue sun irradiating anything in their path.

As soon as the Wandering 14 left warp space, its systems brought up a warning.

‘Notice of Hazardous Radiation from close proximity to the current system’s star’

‘Protection granted by Shield Extension v2.2. Time remaining: 06:00:00’

Looks like the extension we bought back on Hub Influx-3A came in handy.

A rocky planet came into view, the sun illuminating almost exactly half of its surface from our angle.

Chao was an onyx black in colour, but numerous lights could be seen arranged in patterns everywhere on its observable surface.

You: Give me a short description of Chao, Uzzu.

Eunseo: Oh, are you here, KC?

You: Yeah, I’ve brought Yeoreum with me if you don’t mind.

Eunseo: 👌

Yeoreum: 👌

Uzzu: Chao is a terrestrial, dark planet, and the closest celestial object in the Malia System to its sun.

Uzzu: It is almost entirely an industrial world, boasting a sturdy and highly efficient sun harvesting grid that makes it Malia’s most important power generator.

Bona: An energy producer… Isn’t this what you were looking for, Luda?

Luda: It’s alright, unnie. I got a lead myself.

Eunseo: They use these really huge solar panels pointed at the sun all day long. Like, bigger than entire stadiums!

Eunseo: The large-scale power units actually glow with the incredible amount of energy stored in them.

You: With that much to run on, I imagine that the units must be worth a lot.

Eunseo: Yeah, you can imagine how tight the security is here.

Chengxiao: 😨

A high-security planet, huh. I’m not sure what I feel about this.

Hope nothing goes wrong while we’re stopping by.

“I’ve located Eunseo unnie’s ship, KC.”

Yeoreum’s voice could be heard through my ship transmission. “She shouldn’t be too far from us.”

“Okay,” I reply.

You: We’re on the way now.

Eunseo: Alright 😄

I sent one last message and closed the chat window.

A waypoint appeared on my navigation system, the marking sent by Yeoreum corresponding to an object moving at high speed in Chao’s atmosphere.

We steered our ships and accelerated in the direction of the dark planet, towards a point on its southern hemisphere.

As we neared Chao, I felt a scan being performed on my ship. A voice reached me through an open transmission channel.

“Hello, traveler. May I ask what your business in Chao is?”

The voice was synthesized, but it had a tone that resembled a living person.

Fortunately, I was already prepared for this.

“We’re visiting a friend. The other ship is also with me.” I reply.

“And who is this friend of yours?” It asked.

“…Her name is Eunseo.” I was skeptical of the question the voice asked, but I didn’t dare challenge the authority it represented.

“Eunseo, Eunseo…” The voice pondered, “…ID GV-03499, Logistics Enforcement.”

“Welcome to Chao, travelers.” It finally concluded, “I will attach a guest identification to your ship and person. This will be valid for seven days, after which you will have to apply for longer-term temporary residence.”

“Thank you,” I respond.

As soon as the scan on our ships completed, we continued to fly towards the planet, the lights on its surface now showing their true form; hexagonal specks of glass-like material reflecting Malia’s light onto me.

We breached Chao’s warm, yellow atmosphere, and I saw the hexagons turn into gargantuan solar panels that spanned more than entire blocks of land in width.

At this point, Yeoreum took over the lead of our journey, and went onwards ahead of me. The Indignant 11 grew a bit of distance between us, before returning to cruising speed.

“Anything wrong, Yeoreum?” I asked her.

“I’m just a little nervous about us flying in their airspace for so long.” She answered, “Hope we’re not interfering with their solar panels too much.”

“I think it’ll be alright.” I told her.

I saw that my ship already adapted the cockpit’s view to filter out a large amount of the intense sunlight permeating Chao’s atmosphere.

Our ships would be too small to affect the huge panels in any significant way, I explained.

After about a minute, our ships entered a rather sizable city and weaved through the highest of its skyscrapers, assisted by the autopilot system.

I could see the roof of a large glass-like dome well above the height we were flying at.

While absorbing the excess sunlight, it also kept the city at just the right temperature and brightness for pedestrians to walk around outside during the day.

Considering that we haven’t run into anything on the way here, the dome must have been a type of large-scale force field, which served to protect the city as well as collect solar energy for later use.

The information on my HUD read:

‘You are now in C’ssun-R, Sector 35 of Chao’

Brief, aren’t they.

While I was busy looking around the buildings and the roads, the navigation alerted me that we were approaching our destination.

After a few seconds, I found out that our ships were tailing a light brown flying object; a battle-scarred space fighter traveling at a cruising speed.

Reddish marks adorned the boosters and a section of its fuselage, in lines of two and three that at places wrapped around the entire ship.

On its right side, the number ‘08’ was etched in the same red colour.

I connected my transmission and spoke into the mic.

“Behind you, Eunseo.”

---

“Hmm?” The pilot of the ship we were following voiced, “…Oh! Hey guys!”

Looks like she’s noticed the two ships behind her. The brown fighter craft raised its nose and flew upwards ahead of us.

We let Eunseo lead us into what looked like a calm, quiet airspace above the city. Still within the protection of the force field, the ship turned around and hovered in front of us.

I slowed down my ship and followed suit. The three of us were now facing each other in the air, stabilizers making sure we didn’t bump into each other.

“Must have been a long trip, you two.” Eunseo began.

“Not really.” I answered, “We did rest for a bit before we came here.”

“How’s it going, Eunseo unnie?” Yeoreum added.

“It’s going fine.”

“I see, that’s great.”

“…”

There was a short silence, the only sound coming from the humming of our ships and the dry gust of Chao’s air passing by us.

“It’s a little difficult to talk on the transmission channel, isn’t it?” Eunseo broke the silence, “Let’s find somewhere to land and meet up, is that alright?”

“Sure.” I answer.

“Okay.” Yeoreum agreed as well.

We touched down on a nearby hangar and went through the arrival process. It was rather thorough and took a little longer than on Tranquil Lakes. It made sense, considering how secure this planet was.

We even got a warning from the authorities not to let our ships loiter around the city airspace for a long time, which Yeoreum and I accepted embarrassedly while Eunseo just waved off.

“Eunseo unnie!”

We finally met up in the arrival terminal, and Yeoreum immediately ran over to Eunseo and gave her a hug.

“Yeoreum-aaah!” The taller girl returned the embrace and spun around with the maknae in her arms a few times.

“It must have been hard on you,” she continued to pat Yeoreum on her head, the other arm still held around her body.

“It really was! Can you imagine being chased by so many monsters, running and hiding around for hours!?” The younger girl nuzzled into the side of Eunseo’s body, spoiling herself with her unnie’s love and care.

Now that she phrased it like that, Yeoreum really went through a lot on her first day.

I think about the stories she, Bona and Luda told the group chat earlier today, about fighting off monsters to survive.

The other two must have faced their share of difficulties as well. Even Dayoung and her outburst in chat…

I gave the two girls in front of me enough time to finish comforting each other.

After they were done,

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop by somewhere for dinner.” Eunseo spoke up, “I had the ship’s rations for breakfast and lunch, but I could use something proper for once.”

“Sure,” I reply, “I think we could use a bite or two ourselves. Right, Yeoreum?”

She nodded in agreement.

We still had Xetune’s rations on us, but eating out was an idea we definitely could entertain.

I looked at both of them still in their spacesuits, Eunseo’s a yellowish-brown colour scheme and Yeoreum’s in a motif of grey and white.

I was also in mine, orange like ones NASA had.

“I think we could use new clothes as well, how about a little shopping after?” I suggested.

“You can go shopping in this game?” Eunseo questioned.

“Yeah, Chengxiao unnie told me there were all kinds of shops where you could get anything you want with your credits. We even had a travel agent help us before!” Yeoreum explained.

“Wow, I’d like to hear about that.”

Eunseo was clearly surprised at what we told her.

“What were you doing this whole day, Eunseo?” I asked.

“You were on Chao the entire time, right?”

Being around civilization in this game should have given her enough exposition. At least, that’s what happened to Xiao.

“Oh, I was busy with work,” Eunseo answered, “Didn’t really have time for anything else.”

“Right.” I remembered, “Now that we’re here, I can finally have you tell us what you’re up to, Son Eunseo.”

I confronted her with a faux seriousness.

“At least let me eat first, KC.” She pleaded.

“Very well.” I let out a giggle.

---

The three of us left the exit of the hangar, which opened up to a walkway a great height above the ground.

C’ssun-R’s infrastructure consisted of multiple layers of walkways that interconnected with suspended platforms between its skyscrapers.

The network of paths bridged between buildings and, in places, merged to become roads on which transporters scooted back and forth.

Peering over the barrier downwards, I could not see the ground, as sand and dust obscured Chao’s terrain like an earthy fog.

I saw some parts of the city that were definitely walkable on the ground, back when I was in flight. Does the fog stay in one place, or move around?

Eunseo and Yeoreum walked along the corridor together, while I followed after them. Seeing them curiously pointing at every single thing they could find, I could spare the time to make a few observations myself.

Around ten or so minutes passed by before we finally found a place to eat.

It was a diner themed in dazzling neon lights, reminiscent of the Hard Rock Cafes I’ve seen in real life.

After an attendant brought us to our seats,

“Mun-nak! Mun-nak dinner date!” Eunseo exclaimed, hugging Yeoreum tightly once again.

“You’re strangling me, unnie!” The victim of her passionate skinship cried out.

“Chengxiao and Meiqi sends you their regards, by the way.” I told Eunseo, as I opened the menu to the burgers and steaks section. “I feel like eating a good hamburger this time around.”

“Really?” She replied, “Alright then.”

The girls were sat together on the opposite side of the table, which meant that I had one menu all to myself. Eunseo and Yeoreum shared another between them.

“A hamburger sounds great!”

“Hey, Yeoreum!”

Eunseo helplessly watched as her maknae flipped the menu to the same section, then scanned the dishes they had for sale.

However, I saw her go quiet as she saw something on the page. Pointing a finger to it,

“I think I’ll go for this… Atomic Reuben Melt?”

I saw the dish on my own menu. It was a sort of footlong sandwich, will plenty of meat and a variety of salad additions in between. As far as I know, no ingredient other than the bread, existed in real life.

Ah, to heck with it.

“I’ll have the Mountain Buffalo then.” I picked my own order.

“I’ll get the Sizzling Boevin Tenderloin.” Surprisingly, Yeoreum decided on a steak order instead of the burger she wanted earlier.

“We can get all sorts of food with credits in this game.” She explained, “If I can eat this expensive-looking steak after selling a few monster parts instead of having to use real life money, why shouldn’t I?”

“Oh, I see.” I respond.

That makes sense… I guess? VRMMOs can’t fill your stomach in real life, but in an immersive game like Hyperspace Frontier, the taste of the food and the satiety it gives you can be very convincing indeed.

I raised my arm to catch the attention of a waiter, who shuffled over to us to take our orders. I felt a slight breeze below me, which, as I curiously looked, came from a levitation implant embedded in his legs. The legs themselves were scaly, thin and conical, ending in a pair of blunt points an inch above the ground.

I caught myself staring under the table and apologized to the waiter, saying that I couldn’t help my curiosity.

“I had normal walkers just like you,” He answered, “Around six of them, typical of my race. But a terror attack happened in the city I worked a few years ago, severing all of them from my body.”

He explained that his previous employer helped him get back on his feet with the bionic attachment, and most of the people on this planet didn’t mind his new appearance.

Surprised, I thanked him for sharing his story with us, while Yeoreum and Eunseo urged me to continue with the order.

I listed out the food we asked for and told him to complete each dish with… a side of chips and a glass of cola.

At least, they were listed as such in the menu, so I hope they mean the same thing.

Thanking us, the waiter left us as we waited for our dinner.

We weren’t in the mood to talk until the food came, so all of us went back to our chat windows.

You: I’m getting dinner with Eunseo and Yeoreum now.

You: What’s everyone up to?

Luda: I’m in the Cuvie Institute of Quantum Electronics right now, reading up on the entanglement sets.

Yeonjung: I’m still on Earth, looking at the herbal studies at the Botanical Institute.

Bona: Studying, in a game? Where’s the fun in that?

Luda: It’s required for the place I’m going to, unnie. Plus the Prestige gain is really good.

Yeonjung: You’re getting Academium Prestige too, Luda unnie?

Luda: Academium and Industrion Prestige, two birds with one stone.

You: Prestige, huh.

Some of the girls have already begun their progression in HF. The stuff I could access at my current level in the shops were sufficient, but I couldn’t help being curious with what higher Prestige could offer.

I knew that you could warp without a portal if you had enough Prestige, but what else?

Eunseo: Chengxiao? Meiqi? Xuanyi unnie?

Meiqi: We’ve met up with Xuanyi unnie on Nascent Coil, a Gate Space Station on the Shalim System.

Meiqi: Chengxiao is now merging the star maps with her in the Nexus, while I’m looking for someone to buy our monster parts nearby.

Chengxiao: We’ll post the complete map here once we’re done.

Looks like the Chinity is doing their share of work as well.

Yeoreum: Dayoung, how’s it going over there?

Exy: Bona should be with her by now. I’m following an expedition convoy to the same planet, so I should join up with them soon.

Bona: She’s fine, just resting a little before we’ll set off to find her ship.

Bona: We’re in… ‘Yomborae’, it says. There’s very little info about it on my nav other than the name.

Yeoreum: I see. Stay safe, unnie.

Bona: We will 💕

I keyed in the name on my own nav and didn’t get a good result myself. Uzzu had no info to give either.

Hmm…

“You look like you have something on your mind, KC.” Eunseo snapped me out of my thoughts.

As if she could see right through me,

“Don’t worry about those two, I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

She reassured me, as she put her chat window away.

Yeoreum told me the same thing back when we were on the train.

Am I just being needlessly worried about Dayoung? I don’t know.

Shaking off the thought, I closed the messaging UI and straightened my back.

This was just in time for our meals to arrive.

---

“So, tell me about your day, Eunseo.”

I began as I bit into the super thick hamburger I ordered.

The meat patty had a consistency like normal ones, but there was a depth of flavor to its taste that was similar to marinated lamb. It was… brawny, to say the least.

“I woke up on Chao, as you already know.” She began, in between munches of her footlong sandwich.

“The strong sunlight was a problem at first, but my visor quickly took care of it after the repairs were done. It was a peaceful morning so I could gather and build everything without any problem.”

Yeoreum listened intently from the side, as she cut out a piece of steak and ate it up with a fork.

“As I started flying, however, I could hear someone broadcasting an emergency call for help.

An assembly of guards transporting a power unit from Sector 20 to Sector 22 ran into trouble with a particularly terrible wave of jet eruptions, and they needed anyone with a working ship gun to help.”

Eunseo drank from her glass of thankfully normal cola and continued.

“Only two of us showed up, me and another random explorer. We barely managed to set off the jets before they could take out the ground crafts the guards were protecting.”

“They offered us a generous reward for our assistance, but I instead asked if I could continue to participate in several more of these operations.”

Confused, I asked her, “Why did you choose to work instead of just taking the reward?”

“An occupation is a good thing in HF, even if it’s part time.”

Eunseo leaned forward on the table towards me and held up two of her fingers.

“Think about it: I’m helping people deliver their energy needs around the planet. What do you think this means?”

A lightbulb lit up in my head.

“Communete and Industrion Prestige!” I unconsciously raised my voice.

“That’s right.” She nodded, “I have a steady stream of Prestige flowing into my account along with a decent salary, which was already a good start considering that it’s only my first day.”

“So when you said something came up with your work earlier today…?”

“Yep, that was another run with the guard assembly. The jet eruptions and winds weren’t that strong, but the route was particularly long so it took off quite a bit of my time.”

Finishing her explanation, Eunseo went back to enjoying her Atomic Reuben Melt.

Thinking back to my previous experience,

Wait a minute.

I brought up my system window and switched the display to my account status.

==

Name: KC
Title: [No Title]

Prestige:

Industrion – 0
Communete – 5
Academium – 6
Artistice – 0

==

5 in Communete and 6 in Academium!

Checking my logs for Prestige gain,

“I knew it!” I exclaim.

“What happened?” Eunseo asked.

“We’ve got a couple of Prestige points from helping that scientist, Yeoreum!” I turned to look at the girl who just finished the last of her steak dinner.

“From Assaudy’s research?” She checked her own status window, “Wow, you’re right!”

“Still, it’s not enough for us to get anything good out of it yet.” I calmed back down, seeing as I haven’t obtained any Clearance yet.

“You’ll get there soon.” Eunseo reassured me.

---

We finished our dinner, and each of us paid for pur own food, scanning our hands on the pad in front of the cashier to complete the credit transfer.

With Eunseo’s part time job and the revenue we got from selling our Daecigas, none of us were going broke anytime soon.

“So, what now?” I brought up the question.

“You said we were going shopping, right?” Yeoreum retorted.

“I mean, yes, but after this. What’s your plan for the rest of the day?”

I looked at the system clock earlier, and there was only an hour or so left in the [Evening] phase. As we had a curfew for playing this game, we don’t get a lot of time in the [Night] phase either.

Of course, day and night were dependent on planetary rotation and the position of the sun in the sky. This meant that Chao was already dark, warm city lights illuminating the network of walkways we were on in the darkness.

“Logistics Enforcement won’t tie me down too much in my current position, so I’m not particularly in a rush to do anything,” Eunseo pondered.

She suddenly turned to me,

“Have you explored a lot of the planets in this game, KC?”

“Me? Not so much…” I replied.

As of now, I have only been on Mars, Thohiri and here on Chao. I’ve also seen Jupiter and Xetune from orbit… Do they count?

However, I thought back on what I experienced. Syrtis Eo Alpha, Erinome Epsilon, Cobalt Heights, C’ssun-R… I’ve been in four cities and each one of them look so different from the other.

“It’s not just the planets, even the space stations have entire cities you could spend days if not weeks looking around in.” I continued.

“I’m leaning more towards natural features like canyons or mountains or forests,” Eunseo suggested, “But cities could be fun too. I mean, C’ssun-R alone will take so much time to fully explore.”

The glimmer of wanderlust in her eyes was something I shared.

“As long as we can stay safe and away from alien monsters, I’m fine with it.” Yeoreum commented.

Ah, right.

Her words brought me back to reality.

My personal equipment and ship were adequate for interplanetary travel, but I’m not sure if they’ll hold up against anything stronger than the Daecigas we faced back on Thohiri.

Traveling to unknown worlds without preparation is pretty much digging our own graves. Guinness, strong as he was, lost his life due to the same mistake.

“If you need a hand, KC, I can try talking to Logistics Enforcement to give you something to do.” Eunseo suggested.

“Alright, thank you.” I appreciated her offer. “Let’s get some new clothes first, I’ll think about our options along the way.”

The three of us began to walk again, trying our best to get to anything that looked like a shopping mall.

The cityscape of C’ssun-R was beautiful at night, but it made it pretty difficult for us to tell the buildings apart.

---

There is still time to visit two or three planets in HF today, and if we’re careful we should be able to avoid any danger in our journey.

Gaining Prestige and getting better upgrades is a safer option, but I don’t think we’ll get enough until the afternoon of Day 2, at least.

Well, we are still playing a game, either way. I don’t think either option will hurt us that much.

A) Explore other worlds as is, keeping a safe distance from anything that looks dangerous.

B) Try to get the job on Chao and build a suitable foundation of Prestige for yourself.

C) What about Bona and Dayoung? You still can’t take your mind off their situation.