"Good. As of today, let us close our research on the man who achieved the max level in the third closed beta. Focus on other stuff instead. Do your best to find more of those who achieved the max level in the first and second closed betas. Try to tell them we will give them whatever they want as long as they find the guys who achieved the max level in the second closed beta in particular. I can't stand the Shaipe guys taking away these max-level achievers in the second closed beta aside from the US government. Of course, I can't allow Europe or China to recruit them either!"

"Sure."

"If you can't cajole them in the end, just kidnap them. If you can't do it… then just kill them."

"Yes, sir."

The meeting went on for a long time.

Before the meeting was over, the man at the head table cast a glance at the participant list again and said, "Last but not the least, tell those who achieved the max level in the first and second closed betas, who we manage especially, and all of those under our control that they should not be killed in the games. If they are, there will be EXP drop as a penalty and they will be denied access for 24 hours. Besides, the addition of further killings to their status bar can bring about another penalty later."

"Got it. I'll give them clear instructions about party hunting in all of the dangerous hunting grounds."

"Good. Keep it in mind that everything in the future will be decided by 'Revival Legend.' So, focus all your resources on 'Revival Legend.' Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

The meeting of Holdredge, cited as one of the three major forces along with the US government and the Shaipe group, finally ended.

***

A cafe located in the remote place of Mt. Kwanak in Seoul—

"Hello, welcome."

I greeted a couple with a smile as they were walking into the cafe.

Of course, at first I felt it was rather awkward and hard to serve customers.

But as time went on, I got used to it and became more natural at it.

Soon, the couple approached the counter.

"What would you like to order?"

"Two cups of Americano, please."

"Got it."

As soon as I took their order, I naturally got the coffee machine up and running.

As the cafe was located in a remote place, I had to take care of everything ranging from receiving orders to making the coffee and serving.

I could do it all together because there weren't many customers.

Soon I approached the couple, holding two cups of Americano coffee.

When I got closer to them, I could overhear their conversation.

"Hey, what the heck is that game that keeps stopping you from attending class?"

"Well, it's a very interesting one."

"How are you going to graduate like that? This is not an ordinary college. It's Seoul National University! You will never be able to graduate if you keep playing like that."

"Well, if I can't graduate, I can quit."

The girl frowned at her boyfriend's confident attitude.

I glanced at the man with mixed feelings because he reminded me of the old me that was addicted to games.

Anyway, their conversation continued as I placed the two cups of coffee on the table.

"So, what's the name of the game?"

"Revival Legend."

At that moment, I flinched because the name of the game he mentioned was unusual. Obviously it reminded me of 'Forgotten Legend.'.

But the man now mentioned 'Revival Legend.'

Of course, it might not be the sequel to 'Forgotten Legend,' but I couldn't help linking the two together. I wanted to confirm it on my mobile phone immediately, but I didn't because I was afraid that the two games might not be related.

In the past, I used to search the 'Forgotten Legend' homepage in the search engine every hour.

But the extinct homepage never came back. On such occasions, I sometimes thought of posting about the strange things I experienced from Forgotten Legend on the internet.

In the end, I didn't post them because I felt it still uncomfortable telling others like I did back then.

As time went by, I no longer paid attention to it because I fell into the abyss.

If I had not achieved so much, I would not have felt the impact of a harsh downfall.

To be honest, as someone who found it hard to enter a provincial junior college, let alone a four-year college in Seoul, the bar was too high for me to even enter Seoul National University (SNU), the nation's top school. Nonetheless, I was still admitted.

The fact that I entered SNU at the top of the class gave me an air of enormous conceitedness.

A media outlet even wrote a report about me.

That was why I worked at this remote cafe to avoid others' attention as much as I could.

The hourly rate was low at the cafe, but I didn't care.

Then I suddenly came to hear about 'Revival Legend' from the campus couple.

I found myself torn between the desire to confirm it right now and my possible disappointment to find that the two games were not related.

I could not help but tremble beyond my control.

Still, I cautiously turned on my mobile phone and surfed the internet about Revival Legend.

Then a homepage appeared immediately.

"Oh, maybe it's not that one? Well, I don't think it is."

My heart was pounding hard at that moment.

I had not searched 'Legend,' for a long time, 'Forgotten Legend' because it was the only way for me to recover from the shock of having fallen into the abyss.

Anyway, I clicked on it with my trembling fingers, then the homepage screen appeared.

The first screen was different from that of the Forgotten Legend homepage.

Not caring about it, I examined it here and there because I could not make a proper judgment, based on the first screen.

How long did I spend surfing every nook and cranny of the homepage?

My body trembled more violently than before because I realized that although its name was different, it was the same game I had played.

***

That night when I returned to my one-room apartment, I connected the 2nd generation VR adaptor to the computer which I had never used since then.

Then I accessed the homepage of the game whose name changed from Forgotten Legend to Revival Legend.

But I stopped immediately because it suddenly occurred to me why I was at it again.

It was a closed beta game after all.

All the strange experiences that I really could not explain easily originated in the closed beta.

But the new game called Revival Legend was open to the public, and it was currently operating normally. It had been open for more than three years.

Besides, there was nothing like a service closing like the closed beta.

Not only the game itself, but even the company changed hands.

"Let me try it anyway."

I was absorbed into MMORPG games, so much so that I even wished to have a traffic accident to disable my legs so that I could concentrate on playing games.

When I came to live alone like this, I had a natural environment where I could turn into a game addict.

But I didn't become a game addict. To be honest, I failed to because it was not interesting to me anymore.

Even the very game that made me wish I had a traffic accident didn't interest me anymore even though I thought I'd never move on from it.

I didn't know why.

But I just guessed that the unusually strange and strong experience I had while playing Forgotten Legend made me feel like all the other games were banal.

Even without such experience, I found Forgotten Legend to be very interesting.

I was into it so much that I slept less than two or three hours a day to concentrate on the game religiously with the goal of achieving the max level.

"Lol. I might become a game addict this time.'