“Okay good you’ve come to.” It was Madder. It was faint but her voice left him, and Jun didn’t feel her presence.
It was then that 2 guards came to the jail cell. “They’ve awakened! Come on then, get up! Time to meet your makers.”
Julia was in the room shackled against the wall, as was Jun which was quickly loosened allowing them to move. “This way!. On your toes!” The other guard yelled aggressively. Inspecting the area Jun could tell something. He had no clue where exactly he was but if he was to guess, he was still in the Black Market. Looking at the walls, they were tight, and cobble. Which meant they were underground. This was a lower floor in the Black Market possibly. He looked back at Julia who was walking closely. She had lost her usual expression but walked with seriousness. He’d never seen her like this. It wasn’t fear, it was anger. They continued to walk for a bit until they reached a large dual-chamber door. “Shut up when you get in.”
“No funny business” the other demanded. When they opened the door the two were pushed into it and were ported into another area. This time it was a room with many seats filled with many players. In the top centre were 4 chairs. The bright light that came upon them blinded them for a second but when Jun and Julia came too, they looked around. To their left and right were some other players. Suddenly a familiar voice came to introduce itself. “My lords, I have brought for you a humble offering.”
Jun looked towards it. It was Baxter. He gleaned back at Jun and smirked menacingly. He then approached the edge of the stage. “I have brought you as per our contract 4 members, to join the Market!” Everyone began to clap and applaud. Baxter basked in the glory of it all and then one of the voices yelled. “Silence!”
When Jun looked up he could see 4 members. Each with question marks over their heads but they weren’t flashing red. Based on their outfits all were wearing a gray coloured robe. He then opened his map and looked for the quest guides. Compared to the dot where he was, those dots were the higher levels. “Put that away!” Baxter yelled and slapped Jun.
“Don’t touch him!” Julia yelled. Another slap came to hit Julia. Both endured 20 damage.
“Baxter you have outdone yourself. Four members to the Black Market. How might we reward you?” one of the players in the seat said.
“I wish to be annexed from the Black Market?”
“You wish to void the contract?” Baxter nodded hesitantly. “So shall be. As per Section 5.42 a. of the Tradesman Policy, once a contract is paid in full, the said member may be granted the ability to either renew or cancel his contract under one condition…Listed here in Section 5.42 b…” The speaker paused as he looked at Baxter. “You must kill one of these players through VAR-Synaping.”
“That wasn’t in the contract…” Baxter began to yell.
“Do you wish to leave or not? Choose your player and do this quickly. We didn’t ask for 4, we asked for 1. We do not need the additional.”
“I say you keep the girl!” One of the other player members yelled. “Keep it girly!”
Their voices rang into the auditorium. Baxter then looked at the other two members. He shook his head. “You,” he said looking at Jun.
Jun didn’t understand what was going to occur but one of the members in the chair explained. “Oh, you must be a new Tradesman.” He inspected his character. “Oh, your spanking new. Just under a day of playtime.” The crowd began laughing. “Well, it's too bad for you.”
“Take the girl,” She will work in the Red District immediately.” One of the guards went to grab Julia but she hit his hand away. Another came and then she did the same. “Wait!” Jun yelled.
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Jun hadn’t thought This through but was on a whim. “Let’s make a deal.”
The crowd began to laugh but then one of the members in the chairs raised his hand and everyone stopped. “I will do anything, Just release my friend there.”
“Anything?” The player in the chair said menacingly.
“Anything,” Jun said with much conviction and resolve.
“Well, Baxter failed to bring us the player we wanted. Which is why he produced 4 players. Hoping that one of them will be the player we seek. He was a player with a bounty higher than anything we could produce here. If we had that player that could strike a deal for the lot of you, but Baxter will still have to Synapse one of the players here. Baxter looked back. He squinted with a frown. It was almost as if Baxter was trying to save Jun but he couldn’t tell. But Baxter turned to. “Fine.” There was a male elf next to Julia. Baxter raised his arms and placed them over his head as if he was holding onto something. Suddenly the player began to scream. Baxter continued but his grip was loosening. He couldn't go through with the process. “Do you wish to break this contract or not!” Baxter continued and as the player screamed smoke started coming from his head. “What…What is he doing?” The crows began clapping, cheering, and hollering. Julia and Jun watched in fear. When it seemed like Baxter was done, the player lay lifelessly on the floor, with sweat and saliva on the ground as if he'd been electrocuted. “Done.”
“What did you do?” Julia yelled.
“Silence.” As we are men of our words, “You are free to go Baxter.” Baxter then walked towards the door portal. He turned back with a solemn face. “I’m sorry.” and ported through.
“You there, Mr. Deal!” This was coming from the Third member in the chairs. “You seem to be a little more lucrative than these other pups. I like how you were quick to come to take a chance with the Sharks. “So here’s what we offer you. We like what you're selling. And…Wish for you to give us something that we are searching for.”
Jun closed his eyes. “What could these guys possibly want that they don’t already have?”
The fourth Member in the chair finally spoke up. “Unveil.” As he unveiled the question marks over his name his visage became highly visible. It was Poor-2. Above his name, he could see his level begin to change from 234. “Yggsalad. Is that right? We have an offer for you.”
The crowd grew silent once again. “How our operation works is that we control all tradesman affiliates, which means we control the licenses of player shops in multiple towns. We also farm Outlaw products and trade them for items and services. This is why players like Baxter remained here for such a time. When he leaves we will hunt him.” He then shrugged. “We may Synapse him so he cannot talk about our operation.”
“What is this Synapsing?”
“Well, right now you are wearing the Neuropath 2. It was found that while a player is in the space created by Neuropath 2, the player's three conscious. His id, ego, and superego are connected to the game. If the player in the real world removes his helmet he will disconnect from the game, but if the player in the game believes they have taken their helmet off but in reality hasn’t, there will be a glitch in the Neuropath 2.”
Jun stepped back slowly. “What…”
“By Synapsing, you sever the section that the Neuropath controls connecting to your consciousness and leave it in limbo. While your SuperEgo and Unconscious remain here. Meaning…”
Julia shook her head. “You sick bastards!” One of the guards grabbed her and tossed her against the wall. “Shut it!”
“You will be connected to Asper online unconsciously until your body stops producing brain waves. In the game, we will be farming your character, like a plant and when you die in real life, we then kill your character reaping in all the money your bounty is worth. Whether your body gives first we don't care. As it rises not only through player killing but through the time it hasn’t been cashed in.”
Jun felt sick to his stomach. “That is disgusting.” He breathed. He knew that remaining as calm as possible would be the best tactic of these players, it seemed they needed something, and for that reason would task him with it. Probably something impossible.
“With that being said, we have a player in our ranks that we need to find and stop. His existence is a threat to the Black Market as he is the only Quest Guide outside of our ranks.”
‘And who might that be.”
“Finally the last member stood. He pointed to an area in the room and a screen emerged. On the screen was a male character smiling with Red Question marks over his head. He wore a green silk cloth armour with a shoulder pauldron, with a cloak that wrapped around him. On his head was a metallic Turban that was winged with a ring in the centre where one’s eyes would be, like a cyclops.”
“We need you to bring us, Crypto.-4. Rumour has it he is in the slums of Elleon hiding. We have many players hunting for this player because not only is he a Quest Guide for the Tradesman, but also, was a member of the late Borealis. His bounty alone would make us rich! But even better if we Synapse him. We could farm him even more!”
Jun was disgusted about the way they acted towards life. To be able to do this to people. He felt he was making a deal with the Devil. “I will bring you Cypto-4. Just allow me and my friend to leave.” This was no longer about fun, which he knew Asper Online to be, it was becoming dangerous, and yet very real. Scary even. “Fine, you and your friend here can search together, but under one condition.”
Jun looked up hesitantly at Poor-2. If you fail, You will be Synapse and your friend here will watch.”
Gasping only once, Jun clenched his fist. “Fine.”
“That settles it, we have a deal. You will be released, just remember, You have 1 day to find him. After that, you are our little Echeveria.” Jun and Julia were suddenly ported outside of the Black Market. They were both gasping for air. Jun turned to Julia. She began to cry and latched onto Jun. “Jun. Jun!.”
“It’s going to be alright, We’ll find him.”