“Why hasn’t he told me this?!”
Digital pixels emerged beneath the reality rift. Endless marigold layers dispersed across the once Terrapin Tech department, appearing frozen. But the squared polygons stretched horizontally and contorted into undeciphered scribbles. Those strings piloted in a circular pattern just over the group’s figures, only keeping the detective on high alert. The rotation's velocity accelerated until it depicted a halo. It was as if the seemingly motionless ring had screeched to an immediate halt.
One minuscule pebble from one line chipped off. Another one fell. Many shards tumbled through like an hourglass. When all laid on the ground, a rectangular aliasing crimson hologram appeared in front of the visitors.
HonJok Dome
To interrupt normal startup, press Enter
No one lifted a single finger and exchanged bewildered expressions with each other.
Before anyone could blink, the images vanished in an instant flash.
VROOOOOOOOOMMMM!!
A steaming gale beneath the surface void rocketed the sands. The chalked texts came crashing down on the Private Investigators. The rainy grains continued to hammer down heavily.
Until it finally stopped.
"Everyone alright?" Mr. Richter wiped the residue on his glasses and puffed out the specks on his tongue.
"Yeah, we're good," Marie rocked her head left and smacked the opposite side with her right palm, slinging the remaining dust flying everywhere. "Bleh… I got sand in my mouth."
"What the hell is this?!" Detective Vargas smeared his face using his sandy right palm. He then noticed the others and hovered over his holster. "Can someone explain to me what's going on?! Where did you guys get those weapons from?"
"How should we explain this?" She murmured, pinching the right side of her lips and interlocking her arms.
"Detective, what just transpired is that we traversed to a different world separate from where we are. While it sounds like science fiction, what you see is real."
"Pffahahahaha!!" His dark smile emitted ambiguous signals to everyone. "This seriously can't be right… right? N-no? You guys are legit? What the hell?"
Mr. Richter briefly explained what the other world had entailed. Officer 277 instinctively pulled out a small white box, pulled a thinly cylindrical stick, and ignited flames.
"I still don't get what all this means. It feels like some matrix shit. You guys know this place better than I do. I'll just sit back while you guys take the lead. I just need to find Michael."
“We appreciate your understanding.”
“By the way, you said something about how this world represents what someone truly is or something like that. What do you mean by that?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer.”
“It’s like… you understand from what others say, but once you experience it, you get it,” the artist chimed in.
“Huh, that kinda makes sense. You don’t know until you go through it. Is that why each world is different?”
“No two worlds are the same.”
“Have you guys been here?”
“We’re going to this place without any prior knowledge of it,” The leading professor affirmed. “This is the first time a member is in this world without being alerted.”
“Do you guys ever go to a place that you know?”
“Unless someone is in peril or we need specific answers, we do not traverse to another world. A justification must be warranted.”
The smoker giggled, nearly snapping off the butt of the cigarette. “Man, I wonder if this is how potheads see this world. Anyways, we’re wasting time here.”
“All of us will proceed cautiously, alright.”
“One more thing…where did you guys get those weapons? Did you guys sneak them into campus? I can’t recall if you had them.”
“We did not. Our Soul Channels, or weapons, are only accessible here.”
“Huh? How's that even possible?” The detective squinted his eyes and raised his cheeks as the rest of the group marched through the grains of sandy rivers. “What about Jansen? He doesn’t have anything like you guys.”
“Yeah,” Jansen shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. “I don’t have mine, and I'm just kinda here.”
“I forced him into coming here,” Allyson nudged her left elbow against her friend’s tricep. "We're all in it together!"
“Uh huh,” Vargas groaned unamusingly.
They found themselves in front of a steep valley glowing with sparkling grass. Two massive inclines sat next to each other, exposing a narrow pathway. The width conformed to an average human body, so they formulated a single line following the curvy trenches. Mr. Richter had summoned his Soul Channel. Four touches on his helmet. Unsuspecting ripples scurried the vicinity.
Several minutes clocked by.
"Hmm?"
"You good, Teach?"
"Shit! Cover yourselves!!"
The tan river beneath their feet began swirling and roaring around them. Burning rubble stung through their outerwear and invaded their flesh. All visitors glued their shoes to the ground. The winds kept blowing and blowing.
"Rgh, it fucking burns!" Allyson hollered.
The professor's arms were unresponsive from the scorching residue plaguing his Soul Channel. Marie's knuckles in diagonal crosses barricaded her sight. Julia sunk her head and extended her arms, holding her tablet against the sandstorm. Jansen planted himself against the left valley. His uncle mimicked the same but to the right.
The raging breaths resumed its onslaught, rendering all vision blocked.
It then died down in just one minute.
“Everyone alright?” Mr. Richter shouted while cleaning his glasses with his shirt.
“I think we’re okay,” Allyson slowly raised her eyelids, facing the straight path and unveiling a blinding light. “Look! If there’s something up ahead.” She grabbed Julia’s hand with her right hand. “Come on, let’s go!”
The shining spark lost its strength. An elongated cylindrical building with a sandstone brown dome on top yielded up front. Four pathways split into four equivocal acute angles across the building.
“What’s this place? I’ve never seen it before. Something you see in a game,” Michael’s uncle intently focused on the massive building.
The professor tapped the side of his visor, and blocks of data unloaded.
HonJok Dome Basic Report
* Host - Active
* Arenas - 5
* Visitors - 6
“Based on this quick scan, we must be in the right place. Let's proceed with caution, alright.”
Passing the arms, the gargantuan glass door with missing handles. It contained split sections. On the top left was a silhouette of a man placing his hands over his head and bolts hovering above. To the right was a shadow figure with his right hand resting on the top of his head with a zigzag line emitting outward. To the bottom left, a dagger pierced through a dark-grained heart. To the bottom right was a cage trapping a shadowy orange ember. Outside the boundary, orbs of cyber yellow, scarlet red, teal blue and ghost white surrounded it at a distance.
“What are those symbols?” The faculty member inquired, rubbing his metallic chin.
The undergraduates deflected the voice waves and were mesmerized by the tiles. Julia saw her ember on the bottom right and attempted to assess its message. Jansen checked the bottom left square. Marie curled her brows inward as her focus shifted to the top right tile. Allyson gazed at the bottom right but primarily focused on the caged sphere, engendering her heart to pump blood into overdrive.
Mr. Richter noticed a small prism just in front of the wall. It was a rusted foundation with a tablet latched on top. A message on the screen: Press here to enter the HonJok Dome.
When he tapped the highlighted text, a window jumped out.
Access denied! You do not have the necessary permissions to enter the premises!
“Alright, but how are we going to get in?” He surveyed his surroundings of the massive building. The instructor discerned one pathway to his left where one cubicle sat. “Guys! Follow me!”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Upon reaching their destination, Marie slid the door to the right, revealing a square jagged perimeter. The wine-red chair had withstood a myriad of scratches against it, displaying the white, cloudy fabric inside. In front was a navy desk holding a wooden horizontal plate with two monitors, a work laptop, and a wireless keyboard.
“Hey, this looks like Michael’s workstation,” the agent entered inside and inspected the chair by kneeling on his left knee. He pulled out his phone and pressed the power button on the right side. “Huh? Why’s my phone not powering on? It should have enough battery.”
“Yeah… phones are effectively useless here.”
“Why is that?” he then swapped for his notepad in his shirt pocket. “I’ll just use this then.”
Allyson stared at the workstation and stiffened her arms. "Should we just turn on the computer?"
"Doesn't hurt to try," Marie pressed the power button on the top right of the laptop's keyboard.
The device screen displayed several desktop applications in medium-sized windows. All four applications had documentation inserted, but they appeared as screenshots. Marie moved the wired mouse and clicked on the Excel app, which turned whiter. A message on the top of the window revealed (not responding).
"Oh damn, I hate seeing that."
"My computer isn't working! Please help!"
"Who the fuck was that?" Allyson gripped the sheathed handle on her Jingum.
"Let's go ahead and get this resolved. Have you rebooted your computer yet?"
"Yeah, I did! It didn't work! I need to get these assignments done today!"
The left monitor screen, while black, popped up a notepad.
How will you proceed to resolve the issue?
"Uhh, I usually just press X there and close without responding."
Allyson began the first troubleshooting step, but the little rectangular window continuously attempted to close the apps. It never did. "Well, fuck."
"Hmm, Michael did show me Task Manager before," Jansen controlled the pointer, right-clicked on the dark gray bar below, and chose Task Manager. He selected the four apps and chose End Task for each one. After relaunching the apps, he clicked on an open space in Word, but the unresponsive white shade returned. "Oh…"
"Don't look at me. I use Google Drive," Julia stuttered, raising her exposed palms to her shoulders.
"We can't look up how to fix this kind of thing."
"Hang on, guys. Do we actually believe the person rebooted their computer?" Marie decided to take the helm. "Is there…like a way to tell if a computer restarted? Jansen?"
"Yeah, Michael also showed me that before. Go back to Task Manager. Then, check the Performance tab."
Marie followed his instructions and found the Up Time. It showed 9:20:15:02.
"Offff course…" he grumbled, swiftly rocking his head sideways. The group all pinned their eyes on him. "That person didn't reboot. They shut down the computer."
"Does shutting down not reboot?"
"Nah! Restart does that. Shutting down just puts your computer into a hibernation state so that it quickly powers back on. Don’t you guys notice how your computer batteries appear lower the next time you draw?"
“Welp, I did not know that.”
“Me neither.”
“Now that you mention that, Jansen, I haven’t used my computer in three days. My battery went from like half charged to nearly empty.”
He went to the Start Menu, clicked the power icon, and selected Restart. A grayish-blue screen flickered on with small white dots circulating at the center; the word Restarting flashed from above.
The computer lost its light before reverting to the login page. The four applications automatically awakened from their slumber. Jansen clicked File and chose the latest document.
The first extension screen typed again.
The issue has been resolved. The service request will be closed. Unlocking estrés gate.
The cube violently ruptured its infrastructure, forcing all inside to fall or latch onto any tangible support. In a sudden split second, the surroundings had stabilized.
“Everyone good?!” Detective Vargas hollered, grabbing Allyson and Julia’s arms and lifting them to their feet.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Yeah, we’re good,” Marie glued her eyes against the windowsill, viewing the entrance. “Hey, guys! Check that over there!"
Returning to the glassed barrier, the top left glowed dark orange. The other three windows remained colorless.
“Does this mean that-”
“Three more to go.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The group traversed behind the first gate, entering the second desk.
“Huh? Does this look the same as the last one? What’s going on?” Allyson pressed the power button on the laptop.
Once the workstation booted up to the login page, the device typed itself the password and logged into the desktop. The applications displayed remained the same.
The previous four applications remained dormant, a lavender blue desktop app with a gaming controller launched on a particular server.
#general
Warframer: @everyone hey guys there’s this game, Spellbreak. I like it so far and it has co-op. Anyone want to play?
Village Protector: wish I could but I got a lot on my hands atm
Jewels: same… I have too many portfolios to work on
dunes n danes: it’s a maybe from me
dunes n danes: work’s been hectic and got some exams prepared ahead
Dos Pantalones: sorry bro got a lot going on
Dos Pantalones: when I get the chance for sure
sonny sideup:): I can play! Right after practice
“Did no one play that game with Michael?” Allyson growled at Julia, Marie, and Jansen. Her eyebrows tightened closer.
The artist looked at her shoes. The lady wearing gauntlets averted her gaze right and had cast down her eyelids. The weaponless friend managed to admit the revelation with his stare.
“We were busy at that time. So we couldn’t play that game.”
“When did this happen?” Allyson scrolled back to the conversation on the Discord app and noted the date: 09//15/20. “This was two fucking years ago, and hell, the semester at that point just started! Did you guys seriously not play with him at all?!”
Ding!
The date had shifted to 02/20/21 - 8:33 pm
#general
Warframer: @everyone anyone want to play Spellbreak? Need a teammate to rank up.
No texts piled on for four hours.
“What’s your excuse this time?”
Neither of the UMD students spoke a single word. Detective Vargas lifted his right hand, but Mr. Richter signaled him to stand down.
“I’m sorry, Allyson,” Julia's somber gaze shot pulses throughout Allyson’s temple. “I wasn't going to do something I'd be into. That’s why I didn’t respond the second time. Winter classes were also a pain in the ass. I had no time for myself with all the reading prompts and assignments due each day. And also with her, too.”
“I was in California with my housemates, Roland and Toby. We planned on going there for winter break at that point.”
“And your excuse, Marie?”
Her posture and expression were still as a statue, her face dimly darker.
“Marie?”
Mr. Richter cautiously peeked at the date from the Discord server. Wires in his brain sparked, “… … …”
“Hey… are you ok?” Allyson’s tone shifted, and her forehead puckered.
“Theo…”
“Who’s Theo?”
“He… they ruined his life. Because of them, only I had to take care of him when he was in the worst state of his life. That entire month I never can look forward to.”
“Marie?”
The woman’s eyes began to moisten. Clear tides were just several cracks away from breaking through. Soon, beads evaporated as the scorching heat flared up in her vision.
“No one, and I mean NO one, not even my siblings, want to help Theo! Why?! It’s not his fault! Why am I the only one having to help him? Why can’t they?! That’s what I had to deal with, and I certainly didn’t have time to play Michael’s stupid little shooting game! So that's why I didn’t respond.”
“I… didn’t know that.” Her heart continued to beat eight times per second.
“Like, hell, you wouldn’t know. You’ve been with the group for barely a week. We hardly know you, and I don’t want to hear that I have some excuse for not playing with Michael’s game.”
"Marie!" The artist barked, causing blue lines to bulge out of her neck. "That's a little-"
"Let her be," Jansen softly chimed. "Allyson didn't know, and it brought some… painful memories. It's best to say it all out."
"S-still…"
"Just stop guys," the fighter indignantly scoffed. "Please…"
“I-I'm sorry for, uh, pushing it too far. L-let’s continue,” Allyson tilted her head down to her slight left, staring vacantly at the floor. Marie crossed her arms, circumventing any visual contact with her peers.
Approximately 15 seconds ticked by, and an unnerving silence haunted the group. Julia and Jansen glossed perturbed expressions. Mr. Richter gently shut his eyes. Vargas directed his sharp eyes at the undergrads.
"Something about that day caused her to act like that. Hmm…"
“Soooo… anyone know what we would do to open this gate?” Julia suggested while still concerned for the two women.
“Well… look at both chats,” Jansen mused loudly. “What do these have to do with us?”
The left monitor generated a message: What did Michael end up doing?
The monitor on the opposite side released a wide rectangular window box with a flickering vertical line.
“Uhh, I don't know what Michael ended up doing,” Jansen shrugged his shoulders before typing on the keyboard: Played a game by himself.
The answer box rattled horizontally, and the text deleted itself.
“I wonder if he played a different game,” the artist suggested. He jotted: played a different game. The box repeated the same motion. “No?”
“Hang on, when did this happen?” Detective Vargas queried, raising his entire upper body and approaching the workstation. He assessed the date. “I remember coming home. Usually, Michael greets me. This time he didn’t, and I wasn’t sure why. Let me answer this.” The detective wrote: Nothing.
The answer prompt closed, and something appeared from the left monitor:
Correct! Michael lay on his bed and did nothing until he fell asleep. Unlocking the decepción gate.
The cubicle began to rumble. Julia, Jansen, Mr. Richter, and Detective Vargas held onto any object within their grasp. Marie and Allyson stood in balance and unfazed.
“Two more. Come on, let’s continue, alright.”
The group departed, but two were hanging back.
“Hey, Allyson,” Marie finally focused her attention. “I’m sorry for my outburst there. I lost my cool.”
“No, no, I should be the one saying sorry for assuming that you guys had some BS excuse for Michael,” she scratched the back of her head with her left hand. “What I saw from the chats scared me for a minute.”
“I don't blame you because there wasn’t much context.
"Seriously… had some worried thoughts."
"Hahaha, too, right! Anyway, why are those chats relevant now? We’ll just have to find out.”
“Yeah, let’s go. Oh, and Marie? Who’s Theo?”
“…” Marie’s entire face lit with crimson flames. “Another time. I don’t want to bring it up right now.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The mirrored entrance had the top right portion illuminated. The group traveled to the opposite side of the left pathways. They decided to split up. Mr. Richter, Marie, and Julia covered the third path. Allyson, Jansen, and Detective Vargas partook in the fourth.
In the third booth, they powered on the workstation. There were no computer apps viewable on the screen. Except for one, a green equilateral shape surrounding a white oval. The application revealed a myriad of direct messages. One contact name appeared.
11/21/21 – 9:48 pm
Keith: I’m not gonna play Spellbreak anymore with you
Michael: Why? If it’s something I did, please let me know
Keith: You take that game too seriously. I thought it was just playing for fun like casual shit. After playing with you, it’s not fun. You get upset like pissed when I die. If I make a mistake or leave the area, you get mad and tell me to stay in range. I change a build and you tell me to change it for optimizing. Like dude, let me fucking play how I want to play. The game allows me to play how I like, not some tier list BS. You do this for every game we play. I’m honestly sick of it man. I’mma be real, the stuff you like, the stuff you want to do, it drains me. That’s why no one wants to play with you. If you just let me play the way I want to and work together to win, then I wouldn’t complain. But clearly, that’s not the case.
Michael: No… that’s not how I acted for those kinds of things. I was telling you to help me out when I was fighting solo. I gave you suggestions for specific builds that you wanted to try out, not forcing you to change. I still enjoy playing these games with you because it’s fun. If you want me to let you do you, then I will.
Keith: It’s NOT helping you out fighting solo when you say shit like “Keith, don’t just run off or play like a maniac.” It’s NOT giving me suggestions for builds when you say “why would you want to use the staff? It’s worthless on your build”. You say this and never think about oh idk if I should say this for a casual game. Honestly, it’s not worth trying to speak to you on this. We’re done here. The date tomorrow you can forget about it. If you can’t understand, then I won’t understand you either. Bye, Michael…
Michael: Keith, can we talk this out? Please…
Neither monitor lit up. The cubicle immediately shook more abruptly, forcing Julia to her knees. Marie grabbed the end of the door with her right hand, and Mr. Richter fell onto his back.
The magnitude had subsided. Both screens displayed a message:
An arrow had pierced his heart. Unlocking the descubrimiento gate.
“Teach! You alright?”
“Nrrgh, I think so,” he grunted, sat up, hunching forward, and gently pressed his lower back with his left hand. His eyes crunched up, revealing his tightened teeth. “Might be the end of me. My back has finally broken.”
Julia’s eyes inflated as both hands covered her gaping mouth. Marie, on the other hand, half-closed her eyes and lost all emotion.
“Get up, you old man, quit messing around,” she grabbed her professor’s right hand and forcibly yanked him to his feet. He slyly grinned as he puffed his button shirt. Julia tilted her head left and furrowed her brows. “He’s old but not that old.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the fourth work area, the home page resembled the previous visit. Initially, no apps had automatically opened.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
“What the hell is happening?” Allyson covered her ears before noticing multiple small boxes from the bottom right corner. “What’s going on?”
Three applications opened up: Teams, Outlook, and Messaging. Numerous notifications were continuously piling up on the bottom right corner of the screen.
“Michael, can you help me with this ticket?”
“Please fix my printer! I can’t print!”
“Hey, Michael! My computer’s acting up. Could you give me a hand?”
“Sorry, didn’t read your message earlier, but can you help me with a Teams issue?”
“Michael, let’s do this instead. I think it’s more fun to do.”
“Not interested, I'd rather do this.”
“Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael…”
“Good, God, man, I’d lose my shit if people keep pestering me like that.”
“Is this what Michael was going through? How did I miss that? Why hasn’t he told me this?!” Detective Vargas’s angry tone echoed in the minuscule room. The ringing sent shivering waves to Allyson. “Let’s get this thing over with.”
Both monitors displayed the same rectangular answer box. A question popped up above: Michael is feeling ________. He will__________
“Uhh,” Jansen typed his answers on the keyboard. “Overwhelmed and take things slow?” The window shook sideways. “Oh… well… maybe annoyed and quit?” Same result. “Unappreciated and take a stand?”
“You’re not gonna figure this out if you keep guessing like that. Don’t you and Michael know each other?”
“Well, based on the messages, I can’t tell. Maybe it’s-”
Allyson silently took command of the desktop, forcing Jansen to step aside. Her lifeless eyes became mesmerized. Her friend knitted his brows upon furtively inspecting the lady with a sword. She typed in isolated and do things alone.
Correct! Michael feels isolated and wants to do things alone. Unlocking the aislamiento gate.
The cubicle rattled like an earthquake. Vargas and Jansen held the handles of the windowsill. Allyson remained stiff as a stone. Her vision began to blur, eyelids partially covering her pupils and cloaked by the violet irises.
Once the rumbling subsided, the men recomposed their posture.
“That should be the last one. Come on, let’s meet up at the front. Allyson?” He tapped her left shoulder and rocked it back and forth. “Wake up! Let’s go!”
“Huh, huh? Oh, yeah! Let’s hurry!” Allyson’s irises reverted to brown along with her pupils. She fizzled her head sideways for a brief stint.
Dark circles layered around Jansen’s eyes. He was behind Allyson and the detective. His forehead pressed against each other, forming three crunched layers when staring at her. Soon, his lips tightened before the skin around made dimples.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once rendezvoused at the glassed entrance, the four squares all lit up. The panel kiosk remained the same as before. Mr. Richter pressed the hyperlinked text: here. The glass squares zoomed away, starting from top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right, respectively. Beneath the kiosk opened a small storage area, mechanically driving the contraption until it was not present anymore.
Slowly entering the dome, they immediately noticed the numerous server racks stacked in a column and spread through the perimeter walls. Silver rectangular 2U Rackmount form factors stacked on top of each other, over ten per column. Numerous blue ethernet cables lodged into all available ports from behind, wrapped in an organized, twisted rope. Maxi-glass doors containing number locks intertwined with the handles.
In a straight path ahead, another pillar touchscreen stood on its own just above an around cylindrical electronic board displaying: R.E.G.I.S.T.R.A.T.I.O.N
Upon inspection, the shadow yet slightly dark orange screen launched a window.
Welcome to HonJok Dome! You will partake in five arenas before confronting the System Master. Each arena is designed by the System Master and his countless efforts in perfecting the trials by himself. By clicking agree, you consent to the risks of participating in a dangerous task.
Select: Agree Disagree
Next
“We don’t know what’s ahead. Michael’s somewhere here, and I won't stop until we find him. Got it?” Detective Vargas’s commanding tone had everyone comply without hesitation. He tapped Agree before directing the kiosk to the next screen. Two forest green luminescent lights shot from opposite sides and converged in the middle, just above the group. A halo ring encircled them up and down before it vanished without a trace.
Congratulations on partaking in the HonJok Frontier! You will participate in the five arenas representing the System Master’s HonJok. In the next screen, you will dispatch one participant per arena until all have been completed.