Jaewook was sitting at a cafe table, waiting for his party.
It had been a long time since Jaewook, who had bought a personal capsule with the money he earned from his part-time job and took a break from school to fully immerse himself in ‘Astria Online’, had gone out during the daytime.
Sipping on an iced Americano and fiddling with his smartphone, Jaewook noticed a small woman entering the cafe.
He waved at her with a happy face.
“Dayeon is here!”
The small woman, called Dayeon, approached with a sulky expression and sat down across from Jaewook.
“Hey, Jaewook Lee! How long have you been here? Huh, you’ve already started drinking coffee. I just finished leveling up right before the meeting, and what about ‘Cherni’? Are you not leveling up? You seem too relaxed.”
“Namdayeon. We haven’t seen each other in a while, and you’re already throwing an initiation? Or should I just call you ‘Bae Merong’? Can’t use third-person speeches outside, right?”
“Ohh~ I can’t hear you.”
Jaewook and Dayeon started bickering right away.
“Senior Chris asked to meet first. If someone who has been so passionate about leveling up wants to take a breather, she must have her reasons.”
“True, I came because Chris called me, too.”
Jaewook chuckled, making his typical goofy expression.
Recently, every day had been a joy for Jaewook.
Since starting ‘Astria Online’, he had grown financially stable from tackling dungeons with Chris.
As a member of the advance team, clearing the Elite Dungeon early and selling weapons had earned him a profit that not only covered his capsule purchase but also enough for his tuition.
“I might just pursue this path entirely. Seeing kids earning money in various virtual reality metaverses, I think the outstanding game ‘Astria Online’ might establish itself as a stable job in the RPG market in the future.”
“Well, you know how RPG games can fluctuate due to patches. There’s no eternal honey pot. If a game fails, you have to move on to another one.”
“Sigh. Junior Jukdae is already learning on the job as an intern at a big capsule company.”
“Isn’t that Chris’s family’s company? Jukdae has a bright future ahead of him. He said he can’t come today because he’s busy, but he’s still playing the game like crazy.”
Jaewook and Dayeon’s conversation shifted to their seniors.
Chris, a senior in their department, was a mixed-race second generation, with an American father and a Korean mother.
Of course, she had a Korean name since she had lived in Korea since birth, but she preferred to be called ‘Chris’.
“Some people use their real names as their in-game nicknames, like Senior Chris.”
“Hehe, it doesn’t sound awkward, right? Your sister’s English name is pretty too!”
Ding ding!
Amidst Jaewook and Dayeon’s conversation, the sound of the cafe door opening was heard.
Turning his head at the sound, Jaewook spotted a red-haired woman.
Like proof of the saying that a tiger appears when you mention it, their conversation topic about ‘Senior Chris’ revealed her presence.
Chris approached Jaewook and Dayeon with a smile.
“Our juniors are already here?”
“Senior Chris! It’s been a while!”
“We just saw each other in-game yesterday.”
Jaewook stole a glance at Chris’s hair.
Her hair, which originally had a hint of red-brown, was now dyed a vibrant red, just like her character.
“Wow, did you dye your hair a primary color? I doubt anyone else but Senior Chris could pull off such vibrant red hair.”
“Your bright red hair is pretty too, Senior! You look just like the character ‘Chris’ from Astria Online!”
“Hehe, aside from the hair color, I didn’t change much in my character creation.”
Jaewook shook his head.
“This is the second time I’m seeing such vibrant hair color in real life.”
“Huh? You’ve seen someone else with such an unusual hair color in real life?”
“I saw someone when I was working part-time to buy a capsule. Well, that’s not important.”
Remembering a girl he had seen while working, Jaewook shifted the topic.
“So, why did you call us, who are busy leveling up?”
“Nothing much. We’ve been rushing for over a month now, right? Let’s take a breather, meet up and chat.”
Jaewook couldn’t shake off the confusion about Chris’s relaxed demeanor.
“You were pushing us to level up faster last time, and now you’re all chill?”
“I don’t need to rush anymore.”
Jaewook and Dayeon looked puzzled at Chris’s words.
To clear their doubts, Chris continued,
“I already figured out the location of the next Elite Dungeon. I’ve also identified the entry requirements.”
“So, that means we really need to speed up leveling even more…!”
Chris interrupted Jaewook’s comments.
“Listen to the whole thing. The allowable level to enter the next Elite Dungeon is 30. However, the entrance is currently sealed.”
“It’s sealed?”
“Yeah. It seems to be a dungeon that opens when certain conditions are met.”
Chris opened her smartphone and shared a screenshot with the juniors.
They could see a grand castle entrance sealed with a massive magical circle.
“See the sealing magical circle at the entrance? It’s blocking user access. And there’s a gauge in the center of the magical circle.”
“It seems slightly filled?”
“Yeah. According to what I checked, the gauge fills up a tiny bit each time users clear the four ‘Beast Dungeons’ in this region. If it continues at this pace, most users who entered this area will hit level 30 right around when it opens.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a kind of content consumption speed control. Everyone’s been rushing through the 25-level area without a break, right? Advance team users must be pretty fatigued by now.”
“Oh.”
Jaewook nodded.
With this system, they could wait leisurely for the dungeon to open instead of sacrificing sleep for leveling.
Chris smiled slyly.
“Well, starting now, it means you can afford to relax a little. However, as the dungeon opening day approaches, you’ll need to tighten your belts.”
“There will be more competition for initial clears.”
“Yeah. Just like with previous Elite Dungeons, it’s not going to be easy to get the first clear. The difficulty is going to be significantly higher.”
Only then did Jaewook feel a slight relief from the anxiety pressing on him.
It wasn’t just about money; the thrill and sense of accomplishment from clearing a high-difficulty dungeon with party members was indescribable.
How many users, even in the now-defunct globally enjoyed raid MMORPG ‘World of War Thunder’, aimed for the glory of the first raid clear and the sense of achievement from conquering intensely difficult raids?
“Classic online raid games sometimes took over a month for the first clear.”
“Even though this is still an Elite Dungeon, later on, if legendary difficulty raid dungeons come out, we might actually need to schedule attempts over several weeks.”
“All good, but the game’s controls are really tough.”
“That’s how virtual reality games are. ‘Astria Online’ supports user movements with coordinate shift skills like ‘Backward Evasion’, but there’s still a lot of synchronization limitations. This game has a maximum of about 20%.”
“Isn’t there any way to increase synchronization rates with capsule hacking or something?”
“Not that it’s impossible, but isn’t that against the law? You know my dad is the CEO of the capsule company, right?”
Jaewook gulped at Chris’s piercing gaze.
“And current virtual reality technology can only push up to 40-50% at best. Going beyond that could put the user at risk.”
“Why would it be dangerous?”
“You guys have probably heard too, right? About people freezing to death in malfunctioning cold storage.”
Jaewook slapped his palm. He had heard about it during a class on virtual reality.
“That’s why they tell you not just to play games but to study hard too. A higher synchronization rate means that sensations feel more realistic. Even pain.”
“Definitely, thinking about games in VR FPS where you have to repeat death and resurrection or dealing with ‘Astria Online’s’ dungeon clearing process.”
“Yeah. The pain from character death could cause a shock to your real body.”
“That sounds incredibly dangerous.”
Jaewook broke out in a cold sweat.
“Well, still, everyone plays games well, right? I trust my party members.”
“Bae Merong can play like Senior Chris’s right hand!”
Chris gave Dayeon an affectionate pat on the head, her eyes sparkling.
Jaewook, who was watching with a smirk, suddenly asked Chris a curious question.
“Um… What if you enjoyed ‘Astria Online’ at 100% synchronization?”
“Huh? Hmm. Of course, it would depend on how keen the user’s senses are, but if a person with outstanding reaction speed did it, wouldn’t that create a real OP character? They might solo every dungeon we struggled to clear together.”
Chris paused for a moment and then smiled slyly.
“Setting aside the feeling of pain, do you think modern people, who can’t handle even a small paper cut without wailing, could handle that?”
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