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Minyoung sighed as she got into the room. She started working on the bomb that kept failing since yesterday. It exploded over and over again. She could've gained immunity for bombs if there was one in this game.
"Please work today, don't make this hard for the both of us lil buddy." She tweaked on the bomb's parts and carefully handled the wires. Her hands will get dirty again, obtain cuts, burns, and maybe bruises. But she'd rather do this than struggle to explain how complicated this world is while nudging someone to take their side.
Minyoung isn't the type to talk too much, and she's aware of the fact that her explanatory skills are below average. She can understand any concept, but she has problems with making other people comprehend.
She appears cold to others, as she had intended. She thinks the battle will be harder if she gets attached too much. That man seems to be very friendly, which irritates her a bit. She also thinks he's too dumb and naïve to try and desperately steal a spot in this stupid game test run.
He caught her attention when he really tried so hard to register multiple times, just to get just even one application in. His previous game records show promise. But a game is a game. This is virtual reality, he still might not have noticed it yet, but it is alarmingly real. The feelings are real. The cuts, the blood, the pain, they can feel it all.
What more of its effect on their real bodies?
"Tch, cursed company owners."
Minyoung aggressively pulled out the excess wire from the bomb.
She already killed lots of people in this game, but she still doesn't know what happens to them after their death. Do they respawn? Maybe start another game? Get disqualified?
There is still one possibility, but Minyoung does not want to accept that thought.
"Minyoung."
Her thoughts were disrupted when Calista called out to her. You can say Calista is a good.. leverage. Because she's calm and collected most of the time, while Minyoung likes to dive into fights with her short patience. She's also good at communicating, so she's very thankful for this ally she gained in the game.
"Where is he now?"
"I'm not sure. He may have entered the room, or stayed in the living room to think about things."
"He seems to be a midnight blue colored wolf, or darker."
Calista nodded. She wasn't alarmed because Kaito seems to have only discovered his tails and ears just now. His claws and fangs didn't show yet, not to mention the heightened senses, but she believes he'll be more surprised and excited when it does.
"Let's go to Houlte tomorrow. I have to show him around and introduce him to weapons and artifacts. Also, I think he'll need more decent clothing."
"Alright, let's also buy our own needs."
"Is it really smart to bring him here directly than our other base?" Calista said, pertaining to the old building that serves as a second hide out. That one is for precaution, the enemies mighy be wondering where they're staying, and if they only had this advanced facility, they'll most likely blow their own cover. So they need a decoy.
"It's to show that we're expecting something back from the help we're giving him, also, the amount of trust we're giving him should also affect his decision. It's safer to have him on our side than letting him loose on his own."
Calista never really liked this room. It was full of ingredients for explosives, parts of machines, and blueprints. It was dangerous, like stepping on a landmine, literally, because Minyoung uses this room to make her bombs. Also because, Minyoung is a bomb herself, blueprints may be just papers, but Minyoung will be the one to explode if it gets stepped on, or crumbled.
"I still don't know how I'll handle him. He might become as strong as you, or even better..." She didn't dare to take a step further into the room and stood three steps in front of the door.
"I hate to admit this but, we are in need of allies. We will soon be discovered if it's just us two." Minyoung said as she connected the wires together in the bomb she was making. Extremely focused on her craft, she didn't even notice Calista entering the room before she had called out to her.
"How about forming a guild then? We have been planning to do so. We'll gain more people that way."
"You know how this world works, you don't know who works for 'that man' and if they have their eyes on us. I don't want to recruit one of his pawns and dig my own grave. We have to be careful with choosing the members."
"Is that why you recruited someone who knows nothing?"
Minyoung did not answer, and that silence answered Calista's question. They have limited options, so they'll have to take anything that's offered more favorably than the other choices.
"I cannot promise that he'll side with us, but I think I can confirm that tomorrow." Calista looked like she was in a daze, floating, or focused. One couldn't be certain, but in that mind of hers, someone's future might have already been set up. It needs just one more assurance. Something that will connect everything together, and everything will play as she had envisioned.
"You could totally be a manipulator Cali-- tsk!" Minyoung clicked her tongue in annoyance, her crafting doesn't seem to be going well. Calista sensed this annoyance and tried to lighten up the atmosphere, and well, prepare for a safe retreat. This room can handle the explosion, but Calista definitely couldn't.
"That's ridiculous. I am merely watching. That's all I can do. Being a manipulator takes a great deal of processing."
"But you can do that, right?"
"Thinking about what factors may affect the result you may have wanted, the possible responses of the independent variables, and the existence of unexpected errors."
"That sounds hard, but you seem to have done that earlier though, when you talked to Kaito. You made it sound like he had no choice, when he could've just ran off."
"That's right, but what I did was different. I wasn't controlling it. I was just narrowing his choices. If I was manipulating it, I could've made him my soldier."
"Why didn't you do it then?" Minyoung plastered a satisfied smile as she had finished the bomb she was making, and finally looked at Calista behind her.
"Everything could go wrong, and as you were manipulating the situation, everyone will notice the strings you are holding, even if the curtains have only parted for a bit. It's too scary for me. So I just watch, and I think you can call me, the person behind the manipulator."
Calista left the room, thinking she may have said too much, and because if her memory serves her justice, Minyoung missed a step in making that bomb. She counted her steps, 16 and a half of the size of her foot. The door didn't close completely yet, so some of the fragments may yet reach just behind her.
*BOOM*
The bomb Minyoung was tinkering with exploded for the 9th time.
"GODDAMN--" it wasn't as loud as the explosion, but Minyoung seemed to have punched something near her to let out the frustration, because she doesn't really scream that much.
But it seems Calista had also missed a step in her mind process.
'Why am I not feeling even a little pain?' she thought to herself. She clearly heard a couple of debris clattering on the ground, and she expected a few pieces to hit her back.
"Are you alright?"
Her eyes widened when she heard that voice. She turned around to see Kaito, who served as a shield, and once again, she thought---
'Ah, this is exactly why I can't be a manipulator. I forget about crucial variables like this.'
She does not control them, but still gives them freedom to decide, she didn't want to steal that right from anybody. If there is a way to get something everybody can benefit from without manipulating their actions, Calista will be the first one to choose that, even if it has lower chances than making the opponents play right into her hands.
"What was that explosion just now? Is Minyoung okay?" He quickly walked towards the room where the explosion came from. This was a normal day for both Calista and Minyoung. Explosions are not out of their everyday schedule, but this is new to someone who only witnessed explosions inside a mobile phone or computer. The back of his white plain jacket became dirty, he also seemed to have a few scratches, but there was one thing she noticed---
"Minyoung! Are you okay? Get out of there first!"
It shone as it dangled on his neck. The first item he may have received in this game. Something that can determine his path.
A pendant of the king's cross.
"He's going to... lead."
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