Black Online

Fang Raon fluttered his eyes open.

It felt like he had been asleep for ten hours and was just waking up but, for some reason, was still feeling tired.

It was really hard to keep his eyes open.

’Such a strange feeling...

He shook his head to slightly wake himself up, and once he did that, he was able to take a good look at the surroundings.

An open field with few flowers scattered here and there and several forests in the distance that was too long of a walk away.

’It looks quite empty, but the graphics look nice. It looks realistic, so they succeeded in that.’

Fang Raon thought.

But then...

He looked at the flower and saw that it was swaying, like there was a wind, but the air was still, and he couldn’t feel the slight wind breezes.

’There is wind, but not wind. That’s bad. Black Online is hard to separate from reality because it’s so similar.

’You can feel the wind, feel the wetness of the water, and even feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.’

Fang Raon thought.

He actually couldn’t really feel anything—not hot or cold—it was as if he were just sitting in a tightly locked box.

’What about the sensation of pain?’

He looked at his arm and pinched it slightly, but there was no feeling at all—not even numbness like in Black Online.

’I like the numbing mechanic in Black Online because it signals you that you’ve actually gotten hit by an attack.

’But since there is no sensation like this in here, I probably wouldn’t even notice if I had been hit by a punch or sword.’

Fang Raon thought.

"H-Hey..."

At that moment, he heard a shy voice behind him, and he turned around to see Phoebe standing there, looking down at the ground with her hands twisting nervously.

She was wearing an old servant girl’s outfit, which was worn commonly during the time period with knights and princesses.

’I am wearing a simple tunic with tattered edges and a patched skirt. It seems like they’re planning to copy the time period that Black Online is using.’

Fang Raon thought.

Then, he smiled and said.

"Hello. Where are we currently?"

"T-This is the Purpleberry Field."

Phoebe said nervously.

"...Purpleberry, is that a town?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Y-Yeah... W-well... one of the starting villages..."

Phoebe said.

"Alright, let’s go visit that place then."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"W-wait, no!"

Phoebe anxiously exclaimed, but then saw Raon’s frown and, with a flustered expression, tried to explain.

"T-That is one of the bugged areas in the game... I-It wouldn’t be good to go there b-because you might fall into a glitch hole and get your character killed..."

Phoebe said.

"..."

Fang Raon looked at her and noticed that she was actually lying—he didn’t want to use Read on her, but he had to.

’If even the starting villages don’t work in the game, what does actually work? Surely every starting village can’t be broken.

’Besides, she is lying through her teeth. They don’t want to show Purpleberry or any village to us... That means I must go there.’

Fang Raon thought.

Phoebe also wasn’t that good of a liar. Even if he didn’t use Read, he could’ve found out about her lies.

She avoided his eyes as much as she could, as if she felt guilty for lying just now.

"Can we look at Purpleberry from afar then? I didn’t fly for ten hours to get here to look at flowers, no matter how pretty they are."

Fang Raon said.

"...Just looking?"

Phoebe asked.

"Yes, from a safe distance."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

She looked at that smile and felt butterflies in her stomach, and she then again lowered her head shyly.

"Okay... As long as it’s only looking..."

She then led him through the fields of purple flowers, and for the next thirty minutes, they did nothing but walking.

While walking, Raon noticed one detail about the world that caught his attention.

Most of the trees looked the same.

Of course trees often look the same, and most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but usually, all trees have some differences.

The way their branches twisted and turned. The height of the trees. The shape of the bark. The types of leaves each tree bore.

When they were walking past several forests, Fang Raon noticed that most trees were exactly the same—as if they had been copy and pasted.

’That’s worrisome.’

Fang Raon thought.

Then, at last, Phoebe stopped walking on top of a hill and pointed towards the distance, saying, "There it is."

Fang Raon looked over.

There it was—Purpleberry Village—it was a small village with little houses, and there were some farm fields surrounding it.

’I don’t see anything wrong with that place. The houses look nice.’

Fang Raon thought.

However.

There must be a reason why they refuse to show them that place, and he was eager to find out what it was.

"Alright, let’s go."

Suddenly, Fang Raon kept walking towards the Purpleberry Village, and Phoebe was stunned for a moment.

Then she panicked.

"W-Where are you going?!"

She ran after him.

"To check out the village."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

"D-Didn’t you hear what I just said? It’s dangerous. Grandpa Nero and Father Ronin wouldn’t approve this! Please, don’t go there!"

Phoebe pleaded and tried to pull him back, but she had no physical strength, and Raon was easily able to keep walking.

"I’ll just take a quick look."

Fang Raon said with a smile.

...

At the control room.

"Where the hell is he going?"

Ronin asked with a slight panic in his tone.

"Stop them."

Nero said to one of his workers, and as the worker was about to type something on the keyboard, Aizen suddenly grabbed his hand, stopping him from doing so.

"Ah?"

The worker looked at Aizen and caught sight of his cold eyes and felt like he plunged into an ice-cold river.

"I’d like to see the village. Don’t do anything."

Aizen said.

"Purpleberry Village is a really buggy place, and he might get himself killed if he does that, and we don’t have another character prepared for you.

"That means you came all the way here for nothing. There are many other things that we’d like to show you!"

Nero said.

"If he dies, so be it. I’ll take the responsibility. I’ll cover the cost of creating another character, no matter how much it costs."

Aizen said.

"..."

Nero turned speechless, and there was nothing he could do if they were really that stubborn to go there.

There was a reason why they didn’t want to show Purpleberry Village or any other village for that matter.

’Phoebe, you had one job.’

Ronin thought angrily.

He started to feel like it was a mistake to send the shy Phoebe with Raon, as she usually hadn’t been able to say "no" to anyone.

’I should’ve gone there instead.’

Ronin thought, realizing their mistake.

...

Fang Raon walked down the street with the panicked Phoebe trailing behind him.

The village didn’t seem all that bad, but he did notice one thing.

The lack of NPCs. He’d seen none so far. There could be a possibility that they weren’t added to the game yet.

’Just how early in the development is this game? They did say it would be ready in a year or so, but to me, it feels like they need to work for another five years on this.’

Fang Raon thought.

Creak~!

At that moment, out of nowhere, a door of one of the small houses opened, and actually someone walked out.

It was a person. A farmer with a straw hat and a big smile on his face. The smile looked eerie, like it was glued to his face.

The person then turned ninety degrees—it wasn’t moving like a normal human would—then it started walking.

However, his way of walking was strange.

His knees got lifted all the way to his chest with each step, giving him an almost puppet-like appearance.

’That’s so bad...’

Fang Raon thought.

Phoebe looked really scared when the NPC appeared and wanted to drag Raon away, but he was already walking over to him.

"Hello."

Fang Raon stopped in front of the NPC, and the NPC stopped, still wearing that same old big smile on his face.

He opened his mouth, as if he were about to talk, but then...

Instead of words, a holographic screen appeared above the NPC’s head, and words began to scroll across it.

[Hello, adventurer. My name is Farmer John, and I am currently heading over to my fields. I need an assistant. Are you willing to help me out?]

[Farmer John has a quest for you!]

[Accept/Deny]

’Don’t tell me the NPCs in this game don’t actually talk, but instead their dialogue is displayed in text boxes...

’That’s the worst thing possible. It immediately kills all the immersion. Please, don’t tell me this is a finished product.’

Fang Raon thought with great disappointment!

"U-Uhmm..."

Phoebe didn’t know what to say.

"I think I’ve seen enough. I’d like to log off."

Fang Raon said.