Reader - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The reason Soo Hyuk let out a sigh, as he went up to the exercise equipment filled third floor, is because he had to exercise. Soo Hyuk originally did not exercise. There’s not enough time to even read a book, but exercising? It was unheard of.

This Soo Hyuk, the reason he began exercising is because exactly four years ago, he came to a realization. Up to four years ago, once Soo Hyuk sat down he would not move. Is that why? His body became weak and his stamina went down as well.

Because his body became weak and his stamina declined, the time for reading shortened little by little. Soo Hyuk was shocked when he found that when his stamina decreased, the time for him to be able to read a book also shortened, so he began to exercise right away.

Although, he had thoughts of reading while exercising, he restrained himself. He thought that if he exercised, the time he would get to read would increase.

And the way Soo Hyuk thought was exactly right. After three months passed since he started exercising, Soo Hyuk was able to build his stamina so that he could read a lot longer than before. After that, although Soo Hyuk hated exercising, he continued.

This was only to lengthen his reading time.

“Even though I don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do.”

Soo Hyuk went on top of the running machine. And in order to loosen his body, he began to walk slowly as he turned on the TV.

-Hahahahaha! You humans are stupid!

As soon as the TV came on, a pretty boy with handsomely good looks, which many women would be bewitched by, appeared.

-You guys thought with your strength, you could seal in me, the Prince of Darkness. Hahahahaha!

The man’s identity was the Prince of Darkness. And in front of him were a magician, a warrior, a priest, etc., people with different occupations gathered to seal in the Prince of Darkness.

“Is this a movie?”

He didn’t know the exact story, but if it was about the Prince of Darkness and humans it must be a movie.

-Wow, team leader Yang, is this really what you call a play video?

However, Soo Hyuk soon realized it was not a movie.

-Yes! Isn’t it amazing?

-To think we’d hit a gold mine! Though I do approve. The graphics are extremely exceptional. Out of all of the games I’ve seen, the graphics are remarkable.

-It’s not only the graphics that’s outstanding! Honestly, we are more confident in the story than the graphics. The story!

-Oh, then we will be surprised by the graphics and then surprised again with the story?

-No! You will be surprised once by the graphics, then fall straight~ into the story. There’s no time to be surprised!

The thing he thought was a movie wasn’t a movie, but a game.

“Wow, there must be lots of development.”

Soo Hyuk, as expected, has played a virtual reality game. He’s played FPS and RPG. However, they were not like what just came on, games with extraordinary graphics. Anyhow, the games must’ve advanced during the time Soo Hyuk quit gaming.

-When was the hardest time for you?

This is what the reporter asked.

-The hardest time…

And the following answer made Soo Hyuk stop on the running machine.

-No matter how I think about it, it was when I made the library.

“Library?”

What do you mean library? Soo Hyuk caught his breath as he focused on the interview.

-A library?

-Yes, a library!

-I’m confused! I thought you would say, magic implementation into the story or when you have to fix a bug. Why was creating a library the hardest for you? Isn’t it something you could just implement?

Team leader Yang laughed as he replied to the reporter’s question.

-Haha, you’re correct. The building itself, you can just implement. The problem is the books that would fill the library.

“…!”

And as soon as Soo Hyuk heard team leader Yang’s response during the interview, his eyes grew wide.

* * *

“Hoo….hoo….”

Soo Hyuk breathed coarsely as he pressed the stop button. The speed on the running machine slowly began decreasing, then stopped completely.

Only then was Soo Hyuk able to come down from the running machine. He caught his breath as he headed down to the first floor to take a shower and began washing off his sweat.

‘Pangaea….’

While washing off the sweat, Soo Hyuk recollected on the game he saw while exercising, ‘Pangaea’.

‘They said there’s an enormous amount of books.’

Implementing the books in the library was the hardest in Pangaea. After taking a shower, Soo Hyuk walked straight towards the computer. And then began researching information on Pangaea.

‘December 31….’

Soo Hyuk went onto the official homepage and saw the open date. The open date was December 31.

‘There’s a little over two months left.’

Today’s October 15, I have to wait two months and fifteen days from now on. After Soo Hyuk checked the open date, he looked for other information. Of course, the only information on the homepage was specifications on the capsule needed for play.

‘…. The specifications are no joke?’

The specs on the capsule needed in order to play Pangaea surprised Soo Hyuk. The capsules he had at the moment made it impossible for him to play.

‘Well, it has been five years.’

They were capsules he attained five years ago. To spin them in the latest games was irrational and obvious.

‘I can’t save my allowance.’

In order to play Pangaea, he needed a new capsule. Therefore, he couldn’t save his allowance. Even if he saved his allowance, it wasn’t an amount of money he could purchase it for and above all, if he saved his allowance, he wouldn’t be able to purchase books.

The reason he wanted to play Pangaea wasn’t because he wanted to hunt or because he wanted to experience the world of fantasy personally.

The library, the reason why Soo Hyuk was showing interest in Pangaea was because of the books inside the library. But in order to read those books, he couldn’t purchase any books? It was a contradiction.

‘Should I talk to them about it?’

Soo Hyuk thought of his parents. Currently, there was only one way that Soo Hyuk would be able to attain a capsule. It was his parents.

‘Yes, I should talk to them.’

Soo Hyuk stood up in front of the computer as he made his decision. He checked the open time and capsule specifications, as well as everything that was on the official homepage. There was nothing else to find. Soo Hyuk went up to the second floor in order to read a book.

* * *

“The installation is complete. How you use it…”

“I know how to use it.”

Soo Hyuk replied, as he cut off the capsule installation engineer.

“Oh, okay! Then I hope you have a good time. If something you don’t understand comes up, please refer to the guidebook or call the center and we will resolve it right away!”

“Okay, good bye.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Soo Hyuk returned straight to his room after he hung up with the capsule installation engineer. And with a pleased look on his face, looked at the capsule sitting in the middle of the room. Ultimately, he told his parents and was able to purchase the latest capsule.

‘I didn’t know they would like it.’

Soo Hyuk was even ready to get in trouble. But contrary to what Soo Hyuk thought, Soo Hyuk’s parents were very much delighted when he asked them to buy him a capsule. ‘You’re finally playing games!’ Soo Hyuk was unable to forget the delight in his father’s face as he said this.

After looking at the capsule, Soo Hyuk came out of his room. He went up to the second floor and took out a book from the fourth bookcase, within all of the ‘Science’ relevant books.

‘Forward 5 days.’

After he found out about Pangaea, much time had passed. With the capsule installed, all of the preparations in order to play Pangaea were completed. Now all he had to do was wait for it to open. There were only five days left until the 31st, if he waited five days, he would be able to play Pangaea.

‘What kind of books are going to be there.’

Soo Hyuk opened his book as he thought about Pangaea’s library. Soo Hyuk looked forward to what types of books would be in the library.

* * *

Time passed quickly, and it became Pangaea’s open date of December 31st. Soo Hyuk checked the time.

’10 minutes from now.’

The time was currently 11:50. The situation was open time at 12, and 10 minutes left until then. If 10 minutes passes from now, he’ll be able to access ‘Pangaea’.

‘I can’t understand why the homepage is opening later….’

While waiting 10 minutes, Soo Hyuk thought to himself. Normally, the homepage is opened before a game opens. Information is opened through the homepage to lead the users’ interests. It is normally like this.

But is Pangaea not an ordinary game? They did not open the homepage. To be exact, there was a homepage, but the only thing on there was the open time and capsule specifications.

Of course, the homepage was not in this state permanently. One hour after Pangaea would open, on the homepage would be a story and such, with various kinds of information that would come up. It was definite because there was an official announcement from the group ‘Myung Kyung,’ whom created Pangaea.

‘Do I have to check, after I come out one hour later?’

Soo Hyuk worried to himself. Once it became 12, he was expected to access ‘Pangaea.’ However, in order to check the information that were going to come up on the homepage, would he need to come out one hour later?

‘No, it’s not like I’m going to focus on hunting.’

After he finished worrying, Soo Hyuk shook his head. First, it wasn’t like he wasn’t going to hunt at all. He was going to, out of curiosity. Shouldn’t he enjoy the game? Therefore, he would hunt in order to see how much of his curiosity would be resolved; he had no thoughts of genuinely hunting. Soo Hyuk’s goal was the library. There was no reason for him to check the various kinds of information on the homepage.

Beep beep beep beep!

While in that thought, the alarm rang. Soo Hyuk hurriedly turned the alarm off, stood up in front of the computer and went inside the capsule.

Inside the capsule, Soo Hyuk implemented ‘Pangaea,’ which he downloaded prior. After he entered his i.d. and password, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but be amazed when he logged in.

Plains, once he logged in, the darkness filled peripheral room changed into plains. Although he saw it in a video, he was shocked when he saw it in person. It was not only this.

‘Wow, you could feel the air.’

He was able to feel the cool breeze.

‘Real technology has advanced a lot.’

The virtual reality games that came out a couple years prior couldn’t compare.

It was at this moment.

[Please move to the house you see in front of you.]

As Soo Hyuk was being astonished with the graphic and sensation, the message appeared. Soo Hyuk saw the message and looked forward.

‘Up until just a moment ago, it wasn’t there?’

In that place, a house that wasn’t there before, appeared.

Stomp stomp

Just as the message was written, Soo Hyuk walked towards the house.

‘Do I have to go inside the house?’

Soo Hyuk arrived in front of the house and thought to himself. It said to move towards the house, but he didn’t know if it meant to go in front of the house or to go inside the house.

‘Nothing’s coming up.’

But even after he arrived in front of the house, no message popped up. I think I need to go inside the house.

Squeak

After he finished his thought, Soo Hyuk opened the door and went inside.

[There is no character.]

[A character will be created.]

After he stepped inside, a message appeared simultaneously with multiple windows. It was a window where you could control the character’s name and outward appearance.

[First, the character name will be created.]

A window appeared as well as a message. And within the multiple windows, the window that could create the character name began to twinkle.