The professor was about to begin his lecture when a student quickly walked in hurriedly. "Alec Norman", the professor spoke, causing Alec to stop in his tracks.
"You're late", the professor said and tilted his glasses to properly look at Alec. "No, I'm not. This is five minutes to eight, which means your period hasn't begun yet", Alec spoke expressionlessly, garnering scattered gasps in the class.
The professor squinted his eyes and sized up Alec. He opened his mouth to say something but ultimately chose not to. "Go sit down. We'll talk about this later in my office", the professor finally said and ordered Alec to head to his seat.
Alec sat down and stared front at the class. He couldn't believe all the time he spent on the game was only a measly ten minutes in real life. How? He spent four months learning skills and killing people. All these for ten minutes?
"Psst", Ji Hoon called for him, snapping him back to reality. "Alec, what has gotten into you? You talked back at the professor! Do you have any idea what you've done?" Ji Hoon looked at him with a questionable stare.
Alec shrugged in reply. To be sincere, he had no reason to feel bad about what he said. Back then, he would beg the professor to let him in the class, but now, he didn't care anymore. Maybe that was why he was able to blurt that out.
"Please, don't do that again", Ji Hoon said with worry in his eyes. Alec could only smile and nod. He had almost forgotten Ji Hoon's protective character. Ji Hoon reminded him of Diego. This made Alec's expression complicated.
During the break, Alec, Ji Hoon, and his sister, Ji Na were eating at a table in the cafeteria. "Alright get this. I wanted to buy this particular model headset for, you know, our project, but it turned out that model was expensive. I couldn't afford it, so I went for the lower model. But guess what, the headset I bought for a cheaper price turned out to be the model I was vying for. Can you believe it?" Ji Hoon grinned and took a spoonful of his meal.
"Seriously, you mean the store made a mistake? This sounds a bit fictive if you ask me. From what I know, those kinds of companies don't make such mistakes", Ji Na replied with distrust.
"I'm not lying. I'll show you when we get home. It might have been mislabeled", Ji Hoon defended with pouted lips and ate his meal in silence. Then he looked at Alec, who was silent throughout their conversation and nudged him.
"Did you find a VR you can afford?" Ji Hoon suddenly asked. Alec looked at him and shook his head. "I did buy on, but it turned out to be defective. After school, I'm gonna return it", Alec replied, before realizing he spoke vulgar, something he'd never said before. This further made him believe that four months journey in the game wasn't fake.
Thankfully, Ji Hoon ignored the vulgar words. "Seriously, defective? Who still sells defective products at this time?" Ji Hoon asked, and continue chatting about other things, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
The old man that gave him that VR headset seemed suspicious to Alec. At first, he wasn't sure why the old man forced him to take that headset, even gifting it to him. How did he know he was going to buy a headset before coming to his pawnshop?
After school, he would go ask the old man about this, and why the seemingly retro headset transported him to a very realistic game world.
Just as he was talking, Ji Na shook his hands desperately. "Alec, it's him. Please, help me", Ji Na said with fear in her eyes. Alec looked in the direction Ji Na was staring at and saw two male students walking towards their table.
"What did you do?" Alec asked curiously, but before Ji Na could answer him, a shadow hovered Ji Na, causing her to gulp her saliva. "Where were you when I called you", the tall domineering student asked flatly, glaring at Ji Na.
"Uhm.. uh... I w.. was in the.. the library, I was in the library so I forgot to..." the student cut her off while she was speaking, "and I told you to do my assignment, that was two things. Are you that desperate to lick my sandals that much?" The young domineering man asked ferociously.
"I'm sorry, please. I... I'll do it, I promise, I'll finish it for you right now", Ji Na said panicking, but the man ignored her frightened state and signaled for his friend to hand him something.
"Stand up and follow me. I feel you don't respect me anymore, that's the reason you are acting with utter stupidity. I'll have to teach you a lesson so that this would not repeat itself", the man said and walked away from the table, expecting Ji Na to follow him.
Ji Na looked at Ji Hoon with fright as she wanted him to do something, but Ji Hoon bowed his head, refusing to look at her. it was obvious he was also afraid of these people.
Giving up, she stood up and was about to walk to them when Alec suddenly stretched his arm, preventing her from going further. "How long has this been going on?" Alec asked without looking at her He kept his face on the food he was eating.
"Alec, please let me go. I don't want to keep them waiting, please", Ji Na begged as she tried to shove his arm away from her, but it didn't budge. "I'll ask you one more time, how long has this been happening?" Alec asked, and this time, his voice carried a sense of authority, like he was addressing an army of soldiers.
Ji Hoon's heart palpated when he saw Alec preventing her sister from following the two students. "Alec, please let her go. You're risking her safety if you prevent her from following them", Ji Hoon pleaded.
Alec stayed silent and told Ji Na to sit down. Just then, the two students turned their heads and saw that Ji Na wasn't behind them. They walked back to the table and glared at Ji Na coldly, who was about to pee in her pants.
"You are bold Ji Na, very bold. I asked you to follow me, and you dared not to, wow", the man clapped slowly without smiling. Ji Na was on the verge of crying. Thanks a lot, Alec!
"I'm multiplying your punishment with every second you sit on that your seat on that chair", the man said flatly Ji Na hurriedly stood up and pleaded for their forgiveness, but he ignored her pleas and grabbed her hair.
As he was about to drag her out of the table, someone yanked his arm away, causing him to lose grip on Ji Na's hair. He turned to look at the culprit, who happened to be the boy sitting on the table. The student had ignored him, seeing him as a non-existent nobody, but now he was forced to notice his existence.
"Ji Na, sit your ass down", Alec said calmly, but Ji Na didn't budge. The student looked at Alec with interest as he sized him up. "Are you not the boy that his mother died because of you, and you have the guts to interrupt my conversation? Do you have a death wish?" The student glared at Alec angrily.
However, Alec ignored him and stared at Ji Na, who was shivering at her spot. "Ji Na, sit down. Don't make me repeat myself", Alec growled. Ji Na was in a serious dilemma. She didn't know who to obey, whether it was Alec or the muscular student, but she was willing to obey the latter as she remained standing.