Closed Beta That Only I Played

Reading works can both earn Points. Points can be exchanged for gifts.

299  Erosion (1)

At that moment, my father asked, "When did you feel it first?"

1

"Well, I don't know exactly. Maybe yesterday? I just felt something strange and uncomfortable. That's why I tried accessing the game with my sister at the same time to investigate."

"Then, did you feel anything strange in the past?"

When he said that, I traced back my memories for a moment, but nothing strange came to mind.

I didn't meet anyone in particular. I just acquired the 'Ice Punishment' skill at Kotum Castle, then went straight to the Land of Titan to hunt. That's all I could remember. There was nothing strange.

"Nope."

"Hmm..."

My father groaned at my denial, and a heavy silence fell in the small meeting room.

Then my father looked at Director Sok and said, "Investigate all the players of the Myongjin Guild, not just the 20,000 players you mentioned previously.  Ask the Mirae Guild or the Tugal Guild of Mongolia if there is anybody who is experiencing the same thing as Juyoung. Don't mention his name, though."

"Yes sir!"

This was my first time experiencing this kind of strange phenomenon.

Anyway, we put our heads together to try to tackle the problem, but we had no ideas. All we could do was to try and find out if there was any other player like me.

The next day.

"35 minutes and 17 seconds."

I frowned slightly when my sister who logged in with me mentioned my delayed access. As a matter of fact, the delay was increasing each day.

But unlike logging in, I could log out immediately with no delay.

The only problem was the time it took me to log in, which increased gradually.

"Whew…"

When I heard her confirming my delay again, I just let out a sigh.

I wish I could know the reason, but I was told that nobody in the Mirae or Tugal Guild had experienced the same problem. They rather asked us who was experiencing this problem.

Of course, we simply told them that one of the Myongjin Guild members was experiencing it without explicitly naming me.

At that moment, my sister said with an anxious expression, "How about announcing it to all the guilds around the world? Some of them might know what is happening."

But I shook my head because revealing it to others would not be a good idea. Besides, it involved me, not some random other player.

She frowned, but after conversing with her briefly, I left to the level 1500 hunting ground Land of Titan.

How about my current situation?

Of course, I racked my brain trying to find out the reason this could have happened all day long yesterday.

Not only I, but also my family members, Director Sok and the people of the Strategy Department of the Myongjin Guild tried to find any clue to my persistent delay in access, but they failed.

At the end of the day, I got sick and tired of thinking about it, and I became really upset as to why this kind of thing was happening to me alone. If there was such a thing as an administrator in this game, I wanted to run and grab him by the collar and complain. But this was impossible, of course.

So I decided to hunt as usual because I didn't know the reason.

I also wanted to know how long this kind of delay would continue.

At the level 1500 hunting ground Land of Titan.

"Ice Field!"

Pasasasak!

"Blizzard! Ice Tornado!"

Puck! Puck! Puck!

[Kheeeeeeek!]

[Khuuuuuuk!]

"Ice Punishment! Pouring Hail! I'm going to kill you!"

I didn't have to use Ice Punishment or Pouring Hail, but I kept using them, plus all my other skills.

Nonetheless, I couldn't get rid of the frustration and irritation caused by the continuous delay in accessing the game.

So I hunted more ferociously. I kept hunting like that until the next day.

Three days later.

"4 hours 58 minutes and 31 seconds. As time goes on, the delay in access is increasing rapidly."

It took almost five hours now, which meant I would now lose five hours compared to others.

Tomorrow, considering the rate of increase, it could take me six hours or even eight hours.

"…"

"…"

That's why there was a heavy silence in the conference room.

If this phenomenon continued, it would eventually take more than a day to log in, and at some point, I would not be able to access the game at all.

Then Director Sok opened his mouth to break the heavy silence.

"I started investigating from the point the Level 1200 regular quest started. And I examined carefully Juyoung's activities by the second, not by the minute or hour."

Of course, I mentioned my activities over and over again to everyone in the Strategy Department, including its head, Director Sok. Just in case I might have missed something, I told them repeatedly, but the Strategy Department had not come up with any specific conclusion until now.

Actually, they had not mentioned anything at all because there was nothing strange about my activities even from my own eyes.

But this time, Director Sok mentioned something significant, as if he had found some clues.

"The Strategy Department concluded that the most probable source of your delay is from Kotum Castle. Because there were quite a lot of users in Kotum Castle, I heard you bumped into them while you were moving to the central plaza to acquire skills. Of course, that's not anything unusual, but we could not find any other clue to explain this phenomenon ."

As soon as he said that, my father asked, "Then, is the culprit somebody who bumped into Juyoung?"

"Yes, that's what we concluded. Other than that, we could not find anything suspicious."

"What about bugs or errors in this Revival Legend?"

"We also examined that possibility, but we ruled it out. If that was the cause of his delay, then there is nothing we can do on our part. Of course, even if this was the case, we would not have been able to find any clues anyway. I'm sorry we can't help you more, Chairman and Juyoung."

"…"

"…"

"…"

When Director Sok finished his presentation, no one including me said anything.

Even if what he said was true, that incident at Kotum Castle happened a week ago. Besides, there were so many users at that time that it was impossible for me to pinpoint any particular person among them.

Even if I could, there was no possibility that the man would easily reveal himself.

Anyway, we ended the meeting on that day with a heavy heart.

Two days later.

"19 hours 48 minutes 37 seconds."

"Wow!"

My sister exclaimed sarcastically at the extraordinary delay this time.

Without hiding my embarrassment, I said jokingly, "Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow it might take more than 24 hours for me to log in! Lol! What a game! How can I log in after 24 hours? Revival Legend really is a terrific game!"

"…"

But my sister didn't laugh as if she thought my joke was not funny at all.

She only made a frustrated expression.

I passed by her and headed to the level 1500 hunting ground Land of Titan.

Other than this place, tThere was no other hunting ground where I could hunt.

Of course, I visited one hunting ground in between, namely, Kotum Castle, which the Strategy Department guys, including Director Sok, singled out as the most likely source of my delay.