After school, Alec immediately dropped his bag and prepared to meet the unknown caller, before realizing he didn't even ask where they should meet. "Shit", Alec exclaimed softly and rubbed his forehead. As if on a cue, his phone dinged.
"New Age Restaurant, ten minutes drive", the message read, which was from an unknown sender. Alec automatically knew it was the unknown person that called him. "Stalker much?" Alec said in disdain before heading out.
Now that he had money with him, there was no need to walk to the destination. He flagged a cab and told him the address. Nine minutes later, he dropped off and paid the cab driver, before heading to the designated restaurant.
When he entered, he looked around for anyone that looked like the caller, but he didn't find anyone. He approached a seat and sat down and waited. It seems that the person hasn't arrived, so he decided to wait. He checked his time to know how long he was to stay here.
While he was waiting, he noticed a young girl was waving at him from four tables away from him. Alec first chose to ignore her, but her incessant waving forced him to take a second glance at her.
The young girl then made a gesture to join her at the table. Alec was dumbfounded. Where was this girl's parent, and why was she telling him to go sit with her? Has she confused him with someone else?
Alec decided not to understand what she did, so he turned his face away from her and stare at the transparent window, effectively blurring the girl's figure away from his vision.
Moments later, Alec could see from his peripheral vision that the girl was approaching his table. This made Alec's heart wince. This girl is mistaking him for someone else.
When she sat down, she sized Alec closely and squinted her eyes. "That's not how to treat a girl in distress", the girl said smiling. Alec could not help but turn over.
Now that he could see her clearly, he realized she was even younger than he saw her at that table. She had long red hair that was packed neatly into a bun. Her face bore large blue eyes, and her nose was pointed, which complimented her pink smooth lips.
She was weirdly beautiful for her age.
"I'm sorry young woman, but it seems you've mistaken me for someone. Where are your parents?" Alec managed to say in a bid to look responsible. The girl, however, ignored what he said and looked at him intently.
"What questions do you want to ask?" The girl asked with a serious face. Alec's opened his eyes wide. This was because he already knew who it was. "Wait, are you the caller I was talking to yesterday?" Alec suddenly became wary of the person sitting opposite of him.
"Yeah, why are you surprised? Was it because of my appearance?" The girl asked with curled lips. Alec had so many questions to as, but he didn't have the time.
"Why did you force me to enter a game without my consent?" Alec asked. "Listen, Alec, we don't force anyone to enter a game they didn't know. We give them the device to enter the game, but it's up to them to decide if they want to play. In your case, you were given the headset, but you weren't forced to put it on. That was your decision".
Alec was dumbfounded by the answer. He had no idea that that seemingly retro headset he was given by the old man was a real game of some sort.
"What's your name?" Alec asked. "My name is not important..."
"I need to address you when I'm speaking to you", Alec interrupted. "Call me Lisa", the girl sighed.
"Alright Lisa, what happens if I die inside of the game?" Alec started.
"Of course, you completely die", the girl replied.
"What do you mean by 'completely die'?"
"I mean you die for good", the girl said squinting her eyes.
"So you're telling me that if I wasn't careful on my first game, I would have died, just like that, without knowing how I died?" Alec asked without blinking.
"Yup, you could've, but you're talking to me, which meant that you were capable of playing this game", the girl said smiling. Alec didn't mind the insensitivity and continued.
"What are the items that followed me from the game?"
"These are game items. They are scattered in the game, so a player, like you have to find them and obtain them. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on one, you get to use them even in reality. Remember, those items are very valuable, and they are based on their rank", the girl said and took a sip of the drink she ordered earlier.
"Rank?" Alec asked with a raised brow. "Yes, rank. Every item is ranked based on its strength and performance. A luck charm item, for example, can e ranked based on how much luck is given by a user, a gun item based on the lethality and accuracy of the bullet, and so on".
Alec pondered for a while. "You said one cannot stop playing this game. What happens when I don't?" Alec asked and looked at her intently. "I can't tell you that, but what I can tell you is that you must play at least two times in a month so that you don't get evicted", the girl replied.
"Why are you even asking all these questions? You think we are the ones benefitting here huh?" The girl asked as she stared at Alec with a critical eye. "Tell me. If it wasn't for this game, would you know how to use combat skills and defend yourself? I've seen the video, so don't make us the villains here."
"This game gives you a very rare opportunity to improve yourself. You get to complete missions, you earn goodies along the way. This can come in form of game items, which you can use in reality, points, which you can become wealthy from, skills and ability, which can make you better than an average human", the girl said in disdain.