Joon-ho shifted in his seat, his mind whirling with the flood of information Jin-ho had just laid out. There was one question that kept nagging at him, refusing to be silenced: why? Why had Jin-ho gone to such lengths, altering a first-generation Realm device to bypass security and re-enter NexaRealm undetected? What could drive someone to risk so much for a game, even one as beloved as NexaRealm?
After a brief silence, Joon-ho finally voiced his thoughts, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Why do all this, Jin-ho? What's your aim? You've gone to extreme lengths, but for what? Is there a hidden motive? Are you trying to sabotage the game that everyone loves?"
Jin-ho remained silent for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly as if weighing how much to reveal. Then, with a resigned sigh, he met Joon-ho's gaze.
"My why is simple, really," he began, his tone devoid of the earlier playfulness. "I just wanted to play again. After they banned me, I tried to cope, to stay away. But it's like an addiction. I needed to play."
Joon-ho studied him carefully, searching for any sign of deception, but there was none. Jin-ho's expression was earnest, almost vulnerable, as he continued.
"I knew I couldn't appeal my ban. It was permanent. So, I did the only thing I could think of—I found a way back in. But sabotage? No. I've never had any intention of harming the game."
As the words settled between them, Joon-ho found himself believing Jin-ho. The man's motives seemed genuine, driven more by a deep love for the game than by any malicious intent. And with his apparent connection to Director Hye-su, it was clear that Jin-ho bore no ill will toward NexaRealm or its creators. But the mystery of his ban still lingered in Joon-ho's mind. What could Jin-ho have done to warrant such a severe punishment?
Joon-ho knew that NexaRealm's terms and conditions were strict, and any violation could result in a ban. However, most bans could be appealed, and if the player showed genuine remorse and a willingness to change, the ban would typically be lifted. But Jin-ho's situation seemed different—his ban was permanent. It made Joon-ho wonder just how serious Jin-ho's offence had been.
Joon-ho fell into silence, processing everything Jin-ho had just shared. The room seemed to hum with the tension of unasked questions, and in the quiet, Jin-ho seemed to take it as an invitation to keep talking, filling the space with his musings.
"You know," Jin-ho started, his voice carrying a mix of nostalgia and confusion. "This NexaRealm... it feels different now. I thought I knew everything about it, every corner of every map, every trick and strategy. But this version, it's like a different game altogether. I'm still trying to get familiar with it again."
He let out a chuckle, though there was a hint of frustration behind it.
"Maybe it's just me, being away for so long."
Joon-ho hadn't asked for this information, but Jin-ho didn't seem to care. He rambled on as if unburdening himself of thoughts that had been piling up in his mind.
"The first time I broke in, the world went wild. I mean, you know better, I shattered the system. It couldn't handle what I was doing—set new limits that hadn't been thought possible. I messed with the ranking system and took the top spot in every role. But the funny thing was, no one could see my name. Just this mystery player at the top of every chart."
He paused, a glint of amusement in his eyes as he remembered the chaos he'd caused.
"I figured it out later—why the system went haywire. I attacked a boss, something big, and that's when the system noticed me. I tried to log my damage and boom, everything crashed. So, after I altered the Realm device, I inserted some coding to prevent the system from noting down my damage. Now, I can roam freely, attack whatever I want, and the system won't blow a fuse."
Joon-ho listened intently, absorbing the complexity of what Jin-ho had done. But there was one thing that didn't sit right with him.
"So... did you tamper with your damage output?" he asked, scepticism lacing his words. "Because, honestly, whatever you hit seems to obliterate like a collapsing star. It's insane."
"Nope, no tampering there," Jin-ho shook his head with a casual smile.
Joon-ho wasn't convinced. The power Jin-ho had displayed was beyond anything he'd ever seen, beyond even the highest levels of enhancement available in the game. It was illogical. There had to be something more to it.
"But how?" he pressed. "I mean, your damage is off the charts. And you're not even using any visible weapon, armour, or enhancement."
Just then, Joon-ho's eyes caught something—a glint of silver on Jin-ho's right hand. A ring, simple and unassuming, worn on his ring finger. His curiosity piqued, Joon-ho used the game's UI to try and access the item, hoping to get some clue about it. But, just like with Jin-ho himself, the information was completely redacted. The info page was there, but every detail was blacked out, leaving nothing but a sense of growing intrigue.
Joon-ho's mind raced. What kind of item could have such secrecy around it? And what role did it play in Jin-ho's overwhelming power? The more he learned, the more questions arose, each one adding another layer to the mystery that was Jin-ho Gyeung.
Joon-ho's eyes stayed fixed on the silver ring on Jin-ho's finger, curiosity gnawing at him.
"Is it the ring?" he asked, his voice tinged with both anticipation and disbelief.
Jin-ho nodded with a nonchalant grin, almost as if the question amused him.
"Yeah, it's the ring. It's called Nova Reverie. In a sense, it's the ring of everything."
The name hit Joon-ho like a bolt of lightning. Nova Reverie. He'd heard it before. A memory flashed in his mind—nights spent poring over every piece of lore and item data in NexaRealm, trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Among the countless items, there was a section dedicated to removed or outdated items, those that no longer fit within the current structure of the game. But some items were more obscure—developer-specific tools, testing items, and things that never made it to the public game. And then, he remembered seeing the name Nova Reverie listed there. But the details had been sparse, just a name among many, with no clear description of its function.
"But... I remember reading about it. Nova Reverie. It's an outdated item, right? It shouldn't even exist in this version of the game," Joon-ho furrowed his brow, trying to pull more from the recesses of his memory.
Jin-ho's smug grin widened as if he was enjoying the conversation far more than he should.
"You're wrong," he said, almost teasingly. "If you think all those items were removed, you're mistaken. They weren't removed, they were locked away. And this Nova Reverie? It's one of a kind. Mine."
Joon-ho's mind raced with the implications. An item that wasn't just removed but locked away. And yet, here it was, in the hands of this enigmatic man.
"So... what does it do?" he asked, the words almost stumbling out of his mouth in his eagerness to understand.
Jin-ho's expression turned serious, though a trace of pride remained in his eyes.
"Everything," he said simply. "It exceeds the current limits of NexaRealm. That's why it was removed—or rather, locked away. Nova Reverie was a tester's item. It was created to break the limits, to test how far the game could go, to help set the rules and boundaries of NexaRealm."
The weight of Jin-ho's words settled heavily on Joon-ho. The ring wasn't just powerful—it was something that shouldn't even be in the game. It was an artefact of NexaRealm's development, a tool meant to push the boundaries during the game's creation. And now, it was in the hands of a man who had somehow found a way back into the game after being permanently banned.
Joon-ho felt the mystery deepening with every word he spoke. The ring, the ban, the connection to Director Hye-su—it all painted a picture far more complex than he could have ever imagined. This wasn't just about a mysterious player breaking into the game; it was about someone who had access to the very foundations of NexaRealm, someone who was willing to go to unimaginable lengths to reclaim what had been taken from him.
The layers of the mystery continued to unfold, each revelation bringing Joon-ho closer to a truth that felt almost too big to comprehend. The game he thought he knew was beginning to feel like a facade, with secrets lurking beneath the surface that only a few were privy to. And now, Joon-ho was one of them.
Joon-ho's mind whirled as he tried to piece everything together, but the more he thought about it, the more elusive the truth seemed. He realized he was now entangled in something far bigger than he could have ever anticipated. The power of the Nova Reverie, Jin-ho's secretive past, and his connection to the very creation of NexaRealm—it was all too much to digest in one sitting. Yet, despite the overwhelming flood of information, one thing was clear: Joon-ho was no longer just a player in the game. He was now part of a mystery that could reshape everything he knew about NexaRealm, and there was no turning back.