Prologue

My name is Jun, and I’m employed in management. As an employee of Unicorn, I am allowed a capsule and a subscription free of charge. Once I left the company, I would have to start paying out of pocket. I see no reason to leave. They allow me complete freedom due to my competence. I can do in an hour what others can only do in a day. My well off parents also have an influence upon my treatment at work. I was hired straight after college and by 23, renting a small, but clean and respectable apartment in a safe neighborhood. I also had already progressed with my girlfriend, Yun-Jin, of 2 years to the point that we were living together. She was a senior in college as a pre-med. We had met a Seoul National University in a VR class we took for fun. We were only average looking but both of us were looking primarily for intelligence. I was paying half the rent. I didn’t want my parents involved. I thought it was okay that Yun-Jin’s parents pay the other half, though. We liked living simple. Both our parents were well off, and it got to the point we were tired of luxuries. All that clutter was only stressful. Our apartment had less than 100 items. There is almost nothing we don’t regularly use.

Royal Road was to be released to the public the next day. We were as excited as everyone else to receive our two capsules. Her parents paid for her capsule, as she had already been accepted into medical school. Both our parents had decided to play too. I told them to start in a place as far from Nophen Kingdom as possible, because that’s where Yun-Jin and I would start. I was sure they would be pissed later, but I didn’t care. We had our parent’s approval, so it was only a matter of time before I proposed anyway. I knew a lot about the game, which would deaden the experience somewhat, but I had never actually dived in. I was too new at Unicorn for that. All I saw happened through a computer screen. Lame. I told Yun-Jin as much about the game as she wanted to hear. We now knew what we wanted to do. A goal was a must to succeed both in RL and VR.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The next day I did my usual routine except with much impatience. It was basically waking up at 6 A.M., showering, grooming, and eating breakfast by 7, going to work, then finishing up by 11:30A.M., eating a quick lunch outside with some friends and coworkers, then coming home by noon. I basically went over what my subordinates did the previous day, gave out advice, wrote reports, and handed them to my superiors, explaining what was good and what could be done differently. All everyone talked about at work was Royal Road that day, and what were the first things they were going to do, and hope to achieve. I talked a little bit, but kept my goals private. Good ideas meant others were going to follow them. That meant more competition and less pleasant gameplay. I wouldn’t care what other people did as long as they didn’t bother me. I would crush those who got in my way.

When the deliverymen arrived around 1:00 P.M., I ran to the door, helped them set it down, signed the papers, and thanked them for their prompt delivery. I then immediately set it up without looking at the ridiculous instruction manual and numerous warnings of excessive gameplay. Just plug and play, baby. There was still about an hour left until Yun-Jin would arrive at home. Knowing I would pay for it later, I gave Yun-Jin’s disapproving glare in my mind the finger, turned on a capsule, got in, and connected to Royal Road.

-Connect to Royal Road?

“Yes!”