Hyun Lee opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the shadowy interior of his capsule. The next thing he noticed was someone quietly crying nearby. He frowned in confusion, not entirely sure why he was back in reality.

Then in a sudden realization his body went rigid!

Seoyoon was pregnant! She was going to be a mother! Which meant… he was going to be a father.

The crying interrupted his thoughts and he looked to his right, in the direction of the sound. There should only be one person in this room, other than himself…

He got out of his capsule and walked hesitantly towards another capsule that was beside his own. The source of the weeping noise

was coming inside. He popped open the hatch to see a weeping angel. That would be the only way to describe the image of

Seoyoon curled up and weeping within the capsule. He stood in silence for a bit, unsure of what to do.

Eventually Seoyoon noticed him, but instead of going to him, she curled up into an even tighter ball and the crying became

noticeably more pronounced. The increase in volume snapped Hyun out of his trance and he reached out to gently shake her,

muttering things like what was wrong. Each time he reached out he was rebuked by her jerking her body away or crying louder.

Despite her reactions, the increase in volume of her cries was a relief to him. If she was silent, like how she had been when they

first met, he wouldn’t know what to do.

But in this case he knew what to do, almost instinctively. He ignored her rebukes and firmly grabbed hold of her, before picking

her up princess style and carrying her to their bedroom. Once inside, he just held her tight as they sat on their bed. Gradually her cries died down to sniffles and her body began to loosen in his arms. After a few more minutes she looked up at him.

In her eyes were emotions of sadness, overlaid by intense fear. It was that fear he saw that gave him pause. He had no idea in the first place why she was crying, but the fact that she was crying out of fear seemed to shake him. Eventually he managed to utter out.

“What’s wrong, what is it that you are afraid of? I’ll defeat whatever it is. So, please….don’t cry.”

This somehow caused her to burst into more tears as she clung tightly to him. He continued to hold her and wait. A few more minutes passed until she calmed down again. Then her voice, now hoarse from sobbing, emanated from his chest.

“I’m scared for the baby. I’m terrified that….that….th-that I’ll be like my mother!”

This caused her to fall into another crying fit. This time Hyun just stroked her back and made soothing noises, similar to how he

used to calm his sister down when she was little. When Seoyoon’s weeping quieted he pushed her away from himself so he could

look into her eyes. They were puffy and red by now and some might say they marred her beauty. But to him she was always

beautiful and therefore was transfixed for a while before smiling.

“It’s ok, you won’t be like her. Your stronger than that.”

His words seemed to calm her slightly, but there was still uncertainty in her eyes. He realized he needed to say and do something

more. He wasn’t sure what it was, but then he could feel it. It was in the back of his brain, the small nugget of fear that he was

keeping bottled up. He realized he had to share it with her.

“I’m scared too,” he said this softly as one by one, tears began to leak out of his eyes as he smiled at her, “I’m terrified about

whether or not I’ll be a good father. My parents left me and my sister saddled with debt, I feel almost paralyzed by the fear that

I’ll do the same to ours. But you know what? I…..I think that together we can do this. You will be an excellent mother, I can’t think

of anyone else I’d rather raise my, no, our child with.”

Like the sun, Seoyoons smile warmed up the room as she tackled Hyun into their bed and kissed him.

“Thankyou….I think I needed to hear that from you.”

“No problem.”

The rest of the day was spent holding each other and reaffirming their love for one another. It was something they hadn’t done in a while and both realized they should’ve done this sooner. Eventually as the day began to darken to night, they fell asleep in each other’s arms; exhausted from the two long days spent in the game world and exhausted emotionally from the aftermath.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Pete got up and stretched just long enough to begin feeling like he was alive again, before all his blood rushed to his head and he fell to the floor.

“AARGGHH, ouch”

He had just logged out after friending everyone he had partied with and a few of the other survivors. But now that the stress of the event was over with, all the fatigue he had accumulated caught up with him. He slowly clambered up into his bed and was about to get some actual sleep, when his phone buzzed. He opened his messages and saw that Ju had sent him something.

Ugghhh, I can’t even! That event was too hard

He narrowed his eyes in annoyance, he knew his sister knew that he hated when she ever used any white girl tropes. He quickly texted back.

the hell does can’t even mean? Plus, couldn’t you have just come over here and told me that?

*BZZT*

You could just as easily walked over here and told me that as well!

*BZZT*

you’re so lazy! We haven’t moved all that much for the past two days and you’re telling me that you can’t get up and

walk over here!?

*BZZT!*

Says the guy who fell! I bet you’re stiff as a board and tired too!

*bzzt*

-_- whatever

*BZZT*

my point exactly

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Juliet looked up at her ceiling after her phone argument with her brother. Her forehead felt a bit hot from where the Acessor Gear

had been attached for the greater part of the past two days. Lazily, she flicked her right hand from her side and rested it on her forehead. Her hand had grown cold from lack of activity and was a cooling presence on her skin.

She closed her eyes and just allowed herself to sink into her bed. She felt the exhaustion of someone who had been away from

home for a long time and had finally returned. It was like this that she gradually drifted off to sleep.

……………….

“Juliet come down for dinner right now! I will throw out that game system if you don’t come down this instance!”

“I’m coming! I fell asleep!”

Ju groaned as she got out of bed. In the background she could hear her mom shouting the same thing into her twin’s room. After

taking a few unsteady steps, she shook off her tiredness and walked out of her room.

Her door closed with a light bang as she stepped out into the hallway. Looking to her left she saw her twin walk out of his room.

He didn’t bother closing the door and merely yawned as a greeting to her.

“Oonnneee! Twwooo!-“

When their mom began to count, they knew they had taken too much time! The twins rushed down stairs, desperate to keep their

game systems.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kaoru Kleine stepped out of her capsule stiffly.

“AAaahh, gosh that was such a long event!”

“But it was fun, finally getting to play this game!”

Her two older sister had already gotten out of their capsules. They stood their stretching and trying to shake off the stiffness

from not having moved around much.

“Mmmmhh, it was long.”

Kaoru murmured her agreement. Her verbal confirmation reminded her sisters that she was there, and they immediately had

leering grins on their faces.

“Aaahh, but don’t you think Kaoru that it would’ve been nice for it to go on longer?”

“Ne, ne Kaoru… it seemed like you were REALLY enjoying that event.”

Kaoru blushed and ducked her head, her white hair covering her reddening face. However the blush wasn’t limited to her face as

it traced a fiery path down her porcelain, white neck. She wouldn’t take that though from her sisters.

“But what about you Kuromi-nee? Did you find that ‘white’ guy you were so desperate to find?”

It was now time for the middle sister to blush. Though hers was a blush of anger more so than one of embarrassment. She

slammed her fist into her other hand.

“No… That bastard wasn’t there. He might’ve started in one of the other towns, but when I find him I’m gonna crush him!”

Now the eldest sister stepped in.

“Iyaaa – Kuromi why are you always so violent?”

“geh! I’m not always violent! It’s just that jerk!”

With the conversation successfully diverted away from her, Kaoru skipped out of the room towards the kitchen. At the kitchen

table, her dad was drinking coffee as he was flicking through his emails.

“Aaahh, I see you’re up and out of the game! How was it?”

“It was lots of fun!”

Her father smiled at this. He was always worried about his youngest. With a stature that belied her age, coupled with the issues

she had as an albino. He was constantly fretting over her wellbeing. It hadn’t been too long ago that she had been a complete shut

in, due to callous remarks from classmates at school that had resulted in her ceasing to attend.

“What about you Papa? How’s work?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s going just fine. All of Unicorn’s Japanese branch servers are running smoothly so I gave myself the morning off to

see how you girls were doing.”

Kaoru smiled and hugged her dad before rushing into the kitchen to make something for herself for breakfast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jack sat at the table in a somewhat listless manner. He slowly ate the steak and potato dinner his mom had made, but without his usual enthusiasm. He was vaguely aware of his younger siblings’ excited conversation with their parents. He was currently too

busy with his own issues to think about anything else. However-

“WHAT was that girl’s name again?”

He thought he had heard a familiar name, one that would always manage to stoke his competitive flame.

“Aaahh, how nice of you to come back to earth Jack.”

His father made the comment with a bemused expression on his face as his little sister looked at him with annoyance, since he

had interrupted her story.

“What? Which girl’s name?”

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to recall the bit of the conversation he was interested in.

“Uh, um, the one that stayed with you guys? Uhh, oh yeah. The one that would attack first!”

“oh, her character name was Kurokami.”

“….I see. So she made it into this game as well huh?”

Jack mumbled off the last bit as he began to finish off the rest of his meal with an intense enthusiasm. The rest of his family

looked at him curiously, throughout the entire meal he had seemed to be on autopilot so when he suddenly sprung back to life they

were naturally curious as to what caused it.

He gulped down the last of his food and then stared intently at his parents. There was a fire in his eyes. Their intensity was

something that his family was used to seeing only when he was playing soccer.

“Mom… Dad..”

“Yes?”

“I’m quitting my summer job. But don’t worry I can make money a different way.”

“WHAT!? What do you mean you’re quitting your job? How are you going to make money in a different way?”

His parents looked at him with very displeased expressions. Their expressions darkened further when an answer wasn’t forthcoming. Instead they saw Jack raise his hand, as if to say ‘wait’, and began fiddling with his smartphone with his other hand.

“I thought we told you no phones at the table.”

Jacks dad muttered, as he watched his eldest doing something with his smartphone.

“Here it is!”

With a triumphant look, Jack shoved his phone’s display is his parent’s direction. After reflexively flinching backwards, his mom took the phone out of his hand and looked at the information displayed on it. After that she passed it on to his dad so he could read what was on the screen. His dad then handed it back to him. His mom and dad exchanged glances before looking back at their son.

“Do you really think anyone is going to start with a bid that high at this point?”

His dad spoke for both himself and his wife. Jack looked down at his phone again before replying with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Somebody already has.”

His parents shared another glance before his dad replied.

“Alright, I think I understand what your plan is. IF you can keep this rate up, this could very well be quite lucrative for you. Which

means you’ll owe us less in the long run for housing for the next four years. So I think we agree that you can quit your job.”

“Yes, BUT there will still be play restrictions. I don’t want you becoming unhealthy because of that game. Also, if you can’t continue to earn more you will have to find a new summer job and you will be restricted from playing for the rest of the summer.”

His parents both had serious expressions on their faces. They wanted him to have fun in everything he was doing, including his job. However, they also wanted him to earn money since the deal between them was that, they would pay for tuition if he would pay for housing. He understood this and gladly accepted the new conditions.

“Alright, well then….may I excuse myself so I can get back to ‘work’?”

“No, the rest of us are still eating dinner and you need to talk to your family.”

Jack’s shoulders sagged slightly at his mom’s quick judgment on his request. But he knew he would have time later….

_____________________________________________________________________________________

New Road’s official site! It was the website created by Unicorn to provide all information pertaining to their flagship game. It also hosted the hall of fame and the gamer rankings for the game. It was in this section of the site that quite a stir was being caused.

Naturally, as the reclamation battles were being finished up across the Versailles continent, users turned their eyes to these

places to see the end result of the battles. This was seen in the form of the rankings and the players who were invited to the hall

of fame. As these hall of famers accepted their invitations, they also began to upload videos of their exploits during the battles.

While many videos caused exclamations of surprise and excitement, it wasn’t until videos from Morata were uploaded that there was an explosion of interest on the site. Everyone new that it had been the first place to be successfully reclaimed and wanted to see how the final battle panned out. When it was revealed that Weed had taken part in the battle, no one was surprised anymore that it had been the first place to be reclaimed. That was until they saw the mysterious newcomer that shocked everyone during

the final battle by delivering the final blow directly inside the gaping maw of the Bone Dragon or the epic attack that lead to the

beast’s downfall from the little girl. Both events caused the comment section for the video to become flooded.

- Kyaaaa! That guy is so cool!

- Che only reason he could even fight beside the Geomchi’s is cuz he was a vampire.

- Dats one badass loli!

- Super loli! (^<>^)

- But seriously how did she pull of that attack!? What’s with all that japtem disappearing?

The comments continued along these lines as more and more people watched the videos. That was until……..

- Everyone on right now HAS to go to the Auction site

- YEAH! Something IMPOSSIBLE happened!

Comments such as this began to pop up and increased at an alarming rate.

When users went to check the section of the site that contained an official auction site where users could directly auction off in-

game items from their accounts they saw a post that already had over ten million hits.

The post was for the auctioning of a sword. Which in itself wasn’t all that surprising, given that everyone had several swords they

had looted from the corpses of the enemies within the cities and they wanted to be rid of them while making money. What was surprising and what caused the uproar was that this particular sword shouldn’t have appeared for at least a few more months if not years.

Ancient sword of the Rosenheim Guard

This is a ceremonial sword that was given to distinguished guardsmen. It was imbued with magic to help retain its quality. Though it could do with a sharpening and a polish

Durability: 800/1000

Damage: 8~10

Level Restriction: 200 Special Options:

+ 10% Leadership

+ 5% Charm

+20% resistance to abnormal status effects

While it lacked destructive power, it made up for it with special options that would help anyone trying to rise through the ranks of a kingdom quickly. Not to mention its level restriction could only be met by a small portion of the player base that had taken a very active role during the reclamation battles. The users were all confused by how such an item could show up now.

- Well, at least we know it can’t be a fake, this is Unicorn’s official site after all

- You don’t think it’s a glitch in the system?

- Nooo, I think Unicorn is watching this site like a hawk for these first few days.

- Still, who the hell is this Weiss guy and how did he get this sword…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kuromi crunched down hard on the chip she was having as an afternoon snack. Her eyes were riveted to her computer, which had the official auction site for New Road up. Her expression was one of anger but oddly also showed hints of excitement and happiness.

“So you really are playing…..Weiss!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________Geehee! Sorry for the wait as always. I hope you enjoyed the chapter as it brought the story back around to my original main character, the elder brother Jack! Also for those of you complaining about no WeedxSeoyoon mush, I hope this alleviates the issue. As always leave comments down below and rate + review me!

- This chapter is dedicated to Robin Williams. He will be sorely missed.