Kail POV
"You fuckin idiot, I told you it is not working…" a voice full of anger blasted through my headset, threatening to rupture my eardrums. The person on the other end continued to unleash a barrage of curses, completely disregarding my attempts to help. It had already been half an hour, and this individual, seeking help to fix their internet, seemed incapable of comprehending my straightforward instructions.
"Sir, you need to temporarily deactivate your firewall while downloading the system onto your computer," I reiterated patiently.
"And I told you I can't see it!"
Ugh, this frustrating client! I had already sent him simple, step-by-step directions to locate and disable the firewall. My goodness, I wanted to vent my frustration and return his profanity in kind.
"Escalate this to your manager!" the client demanded, and I struggled to keep my composure. Escalating to my manager meant a deduction in my performance score for the week, resulting in no bonus pay. This dimwitted person was pushing my patience to its limit. With a sigh of resignation, I connected him to the escalation team. I was exhausted from dealing with this imbecile. All I wanted was to go home and play my game.
"Kail, you seem really down," a colleague remarked as I clocked out at the biometrics, signaling the end of my shift.
"Yeah, I had to deal with a complete idiot for 30 minutes. It completely drained my patience, and I had to escalate it to the higher team," I said wearily.
"Man, that's tough luck. It probably cost you some bonus points, right?" my coworker sympathized.
"Yeah, you bet," I replied, feeling utterly exhausted.
After a weary day at work, I found myself engrossed in my usual late-night gaming session. I logged into the game and ventured into the market to sell the spoils I had acquired during my last dungeon raid. However, exhaustion weighed heavily upon me, and my interactions with the non-playable character became increasingly challenging to manage. My eyelids drooped, and my head began to nod as I struggled to decipher the NPC's dialogue.
I had a feeling I was teetering on the brink of slumber, as I hadn't bothered to adjust the sound settings properly. Perhaps I was more fatigued than I realized. A final yawn escaped my lips as I strained to pay attention to the NPC's words. I barely registered the voice of the character—a beautiful Elven lady with golden eyes and silver hair.
"I summon thee, to Terra Mercuria and save this world."
My thoughts vanished into a void, and I realized, with a sense of resignation, that I had succumbed to sleep.
That's what I thought!
I slowly awoke from my dreamless sleep, feeling a cold wetness on my face. Is the pipe within the ceiling broken? I touched my face but there were no water droplets in them. Strange…As I slowly blinked my eyes open, I found myself stunned by what I saw. Instead of the familiar dull white ceiling of my room, I was gazing at a clear blue sky.
"Huh, what in the world?" I exclaimed as I abruptly sat up. It was then that I realized I was lying on a cold stone floor, surrounded by pristine white pillars that seemed to stretch up to the sky. It was as if these pillars were holding the very sky itself. To add to the strangeness, there were people around, dressed in peculiar robes reminiscent of Victorian or medieval times. Those robes looked oddly familiar.
I heard groans around me, and as I looked, a few others had also woken up, dressed similarly to me, in modern clothes. Confusion overwhelmed me. What was this place, and what was happening? I wondered inwardly.
A fearsome-looking, red-haired man, covered in dragon and tiger tattoos from his neck to the side of his face, spoke in a menacing tone, "What the fuck! And where the fuck is this?" He was one of the newly awakened individuals, and I counted nine of us in total. We all wore expressions of bewilderment and confusion.
Then, the crowd that had been eerily silent all this time, surrounding us, began to part. An elderly man in a long white robe adorned with intricate designs, reminiscent of priestly attire from games, stepped forward. He was accompanied by a young and beautiful elven lady with silver hair and golden eyes. Wait...that elf...wasn't she...
"YOU!" one of the newly awakened individuals, who seemed younger than me and wearing a college jersey from a foreign country, pointed at her. The beautiful elf lady in the tight-fitting white dress regarded him with a smile. "You know me, young man?"
The college boy, with blonde hair, nodded and replied, "You're that Elf NPC at the market in Trifea."
Trifea...that famous Merchant City within the Lumus Country of the RPG Game "Stopping Ragnarok", a city renowned for its vast array of goods. And I meant "ALL" kinds of stuff.
Suddenly, it all clicked for me. The familiarity of the place, the robes, and now the elf. This was the world of Terra Mercuria, a mythical realm filled with magic and adventure, the kind you'd find in typical fantasy games like Black Desert Online, and Final Fantasy. I glanced at the others, and it was evident that they, too, had come to the realization that we were no longer in our world but had been transported to a different one.
Could this be real?
As I pondered everything while pinching my cheeks, the enchanting elven lady began to speak.
"I don't know about this NPC you mentioned, but I was the one who brought all of you to this world," she said. Her words flowed like ancient poetry, and her beauty was captivating.
While I was admiring her, another one of those summoned just like me spoke up. This time, a cute girl with copper hair, wearing what looks like a Hatsune Miku outfit. A cosplayer? "So, you're saying this isn't a dream but some real isekai shit?"
The elven lady, who wore a kind smile, suddenly appeared a bit puzzled. It seemed she didn't understand what "isekai" meant.
"As I mentioned earlier, I summoned all of you, the chosen ones, to seek your help and save our world," she began. "Dark beings from another realm have started appearing, and even though we have Heroes who can fight and defend, there are a few of these dark beings that our greatest warriors cannot defeat. Not because our warriors are weak, but because we can not kill these beings," she explained.
"Hold on there, sweetheart!" The intimidating red-haired man, adorned with tattoos, abruptly interrupted her speech and regarded her with a stern expression.
"I don't want to be involved in this shitshow. I already punched the ground, and it hurt," the man revealed, displaying his bloodied knuckles. "It doesn't seem like a dream anymore. Anyway, I want to go back home. So, send me back right now," he arrogantly demands.
The elven lady stood speechless, clearly taken aback by the man's threatening tone and attitude. The elderly man in the white robe gently placed his hand on her shoulder and turned his attention to the red-haired man.
"I'm sorry, but you can't return," he declared, leaving all of us stunned.
"What do you mean by that old man?" the red-haired man aggressively approached the elderly man, but another chosen one intervened, tugging at his sleeve. I couldn't see his face clearly, but it was a boy with messy black hair.
"The fuck are you stopping me for?"There was a crisp resounding SLAP! that echoed.The red-haired man slapped the boy's hand away, making all of us gape but what followed made our mouths open in shock. With quick reflexes, the boy with messy hair immediately grabbed the redhead's arm again and swiftly positioned himself at an angle to the man's front. Using the red head's arm as a sort of pivot, the boy twisted it, causing the man to lose his balance. Then, with a sweeping motion of his body and the controlled arm, the boy lifted the man and flung him over his hip, making the man land on the ground.
None of us was able to make a sound due to the shock, but it didn't just end there. The red head man was now disoriented and struggling on the ground. And just as fast as the first, the boy moved in close, securing the man's arm. He then used his own body, involving his legs and hips, to lift the man from the ground. The man's balance was once again disrupted, and he was thrown onto his back.
To keep the man under control, the boy pinned him to the ground, ensuring he couldn't get back up and retaliate. It was a swift and impressive display of Aikido- a type of martial arts that involves twisting and throwing techniques turning an attacker's strength and momentum against himself. The boy's skill and control left us all in awe, especially considering he appeared to be only about sixteen years old.
"You little BRAT!" the red-haired man cursed trying to get up and get even but the boy despite being smaller tried to hold him down.
"Stop and look around!" the boy exclaimed. Hearing him, we all turned our gazes and, to our horror, noticed the eerily quiet-robed individuals surrounding us, their palms pointed in our direction. We could see a glowing star diagram hovering in mid-air within their reach. I recognized that diagram—it was a mage's attack magic.
One mage fired a blue light from the star diagram, but it missed, landing beside the boy and the red-haired man. Small ice crystals appeared where it struck.
"What the Fuck!?" the red-haired man exclaimed, stunned, and glanced at the robed individuals with a questioning and fearful look.
"You do realize we're in the world of 'Stopping Ragnarok'? That means they'll do away with us if you harm their leader," the boy remarked, helping the shaken, larger man to his feet.
"Now, have we got your attention?" the elderly man asked with a menacing grin, and all of us reluctantly nodded in response.