"The developer of Hero x Villain Online, though still unknown, is under fire today after reports of mass suicides happening all throughout the world. What do they all have in common? They're all registered for the closed beta test for the ARRPG. Authorities are urging those who signed up to stop playing the game until further notice."

BANG!

Ky opened his quivering eyes to find himself back in his bedroom as if nothing happened. 'Was that real?' From Ky's perspective, it was nothing more than an all too real dream, one that culminated from the mental strain the game was having on his mind. However, what appeared before his eyes next would reveal to him that this was all part of the game.

[Fated Moment - Near Death Experience]

[New Passive Unlocked!]

[Second Chance - Second Chance will trigger the moment just before Tempo would have otherwise died. When Second Chance activates, Tempo will be brought back to the beginning of the hour.]

[Cooldown - 24 Hours]

'What?'

In the corner of Ky's visual field, with the rest of his cooldowns, he could see the symbol of an arrow in the shape of a circle. The symbol was faded, therefore, it was on cooldown. If he were to die again before the next twenty-four hours passed, his death would be permanent. 'It's exactly 4 PM. The start of the hour.'

[If not for our intervention, the beta test would have successfully purged you. We won't let you die, Tempo.]

Ky felt his heart sink and a chill crawled up his spine. Just like when he beat Clarence, the game was speaking to Ky directly. To say the least, it wasn't any less disturbing the second time.

"What? Why me?" Ky called out to the game as if it could hear him.

[You're important, Tempo. A piece of the puzzle. You are humanity's last hope.]

"What does that even mean? Humanity's last hope?"

[All will be revealed as the game continues.]

Before Ky could ask any more questions, another message appeared in his field of vision.

[Attention! Content Update 1.1 is now available for download]

[Would you like to update Hero x Villain Online?]

There wasn't any sort of prompt for Ky to press. The game simply started updating itself.

[Updating...]

[Update Complete]

[To view the patch notes, please check the Hero x Villain Online mobile app]

Ky dug through his pile of dirty clothes until he found his cell phone and hastily began opening the app to see what these supposed patch notes were all about.

Stolen novel; please report.

[Patch Notes Ver. 1.1]

[Domains added: Due to certain regions having an unfair advantage, Domains have been added to less active areas.]

[Heroism/Villainy Rework: The development team has noticed that many players do not participate in events that do not align with their current alignment. To circumvent this, the separate alignments have been renamed to Law and Chaos. Additionally, players can now level up both the Law and Chaos skill trees simultaneously.]

[New Players: Due to some unfortunate circumstances, 374 players have dropped out of the beta, reducing the play count in some regions. 374 more players have been chosen to participate in the closed beta to take their place.]

Ky's eyes widened upon seeing the updated regional player count.

[Japan: 37]

[New York: 23]

[Germany: 15]

[Korea: 12]

The list continued, implying that the number of new players represented the number of players in each region who had died. 'Did they...' Ky shivered upon realizing that he too was nearly one of those statistics. He quickly opened social media to find that 'Hero x Villain Suicide' was the number one thing trending on all sites. There were hundreds of videos of people of all ages, all around the world committing suicide in different ways.

Some lept from buildings or took the same route as Ky; while others took more creative means, such as jumping into traffic. 'The game really is weeding out those who refuse to participate... But if that's the case, why was I spared?'

Ky began scrolling through the skill tree on the mobile app, searching desperately for the Second Chance passive. He had most of the skill tree memorized, especially when it came to the most powerful abilities. 'There's no way I would have skipped past something as broken as cheating death.' Ky was correct in his assessment; Second Chance was nowhere to be found.

'The game mentioned something about a Fated Moment. Maybe certain events unlock secret abilities. Either that or the game made something up in order to save my life. Why did it save me of all people? How am I the hope of humanity?' Ky checked the map to see that there was one of those Domains nearby, right at the center of Queens. 'It seems I don't have any other choice but to continue playing or else the game will try to kill me again.'

Concealing his identity, Ky placed a medical mask over his face and a hood over his head before taking his father's gun and placing it in his waistband. The game was getting dangerous and he wasn't taking any chances.

Just before Ky was about to step out of the house, he received a phone call from his father. "Hello." Ky answered, hearing a sigh of relief on the other end of the line. "Thank God, you're safe. Have you heard about that game that's killing kids?"

'So even Dad knows about what's going on.'

"Hero x Villain Online? Yeah, I guess it's good I didn't get chosen for the beta." Ky lied. The last thing his father needed was to be worried about his only son being stuck in a survival game. "I heard they're still sending out codes to those who signed up. Please, Ky, I know you love these kinds of things, but do me a favor and stay away from this one, alright?"

"Yes, Dad. I will."

His Dad sighed again. "I have to get back to work. All the injuries and stuff lately have the hospital in panic mode. I'll be staying over tonight as well. I'm sorry."

"It's all good, Dad. You have to work, right? I'm not mad at you for that."

"Right... It's just when I heard about the kids dying, my first thought was 'What about my son? Is he okay?' I'll make more time for us, I promise Ky. I gotta go. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad." Ky hung up the phone, sighing as he placed it back in his pants pocket. 'I can't let the game take over my mind like that again. I can't do that to him.'

Ky made his way to Yellowstone Park, the location of the Domain. He arrived to find that there were people surrounding a dome-like structure that appeared to be made of one-way glass with jagged edges like a diamond. Every once in a while, the Domain would vibrate or glitch as if it were digital. Though there was an entrance to this building, it seemed that it was completely locked from the inside as civilians struggled to get it open. 'No beta testers. So even the normies can see it, huh?'

With no other real choice, Ky approached the Domain with his hands in his jacket pockets. Once he arrived at the front door, a message appeared in his visual field.

[Player detected]

[Enter Domain?]

Ky confirmed and the previously locked Domain door opened, allowing Ky to step inside.