“Who are you?” The woman curiously asked.

My heart raced for a moment – what gave me away? Was Audicious-Lee a quiet person? Was he easily intimidated? Or did he get angry easily? What gave me away?

“How did you find out?” I asked directly. No point with the cloak and daggers now that I am caught.

“You asked us why we didn’t call you. Outside of this game, we have never spoken. We don’t even know your real name.”

Oh…that was a really basic mistake. It also makes sense now why Juan Lee had no personal records of his game play in real life. Still, this can be recovered from rather easily. “To tell you the truth, I have lost all my memories.” I blatantly lie to their faces.

They stare at my long and hard as an awkward silence began to brew in the air.

“Bullshit.” The man finally spoke.

“No, really. I don’t remember anything.” I stare back without giving a hint of my lie. To be honest, I didn’t think lying would work in this game. However, when I logged back in I could feel a visible difference in my health and I mean “FEEL different.” This game is good at capturing details; every shudder, the feeling of your heart racing, sweat rolling down etc. If my guess is spot on, if you are a terrible liar in real life, you’d be a terrible liar in this game.

The two of them continue to stare at me, searching for an answer.

I very ‘realistically’ sigh as though I have done this a thousand times. “I had a car accident in real life and am suffering from amnesia.”

After a moment, the woman spoke up. “Let’s say we believe you…that you really did have a car accident and lost your memories. Why are you playing a game right after an accident? Shouldn’t you be recovering in hospital?”

I nodded my head sideways – disagreeing. “Hit my head, that’s all. My therapist told me to play the game in hopes of recovering my memory.” I am good at this and can go all day – bring it on.

“Ridiculous.” The woman shot back without delay.

“Look, I know this sounds like something out of a drama but it really isn’t.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“What do we do?” The woman turned to the man for guidance. I could tell he had been studying me constantly but I doubt that would help him.

“How about this, you help me recover my memories and maybe we uncover what happened together?” I suggested. This is a great proposal – quite brilliant if I may praise myself. If they accept my proposal, I gain two players working for me and I uncover the truth.

The duo seemed to be hesitating.

“I mean you could always ask the Great East or Dancing Dagger what happened?” I suggested with a small smile.

***

“Let us introduce ourselves, once again.” The man said. “My in-game name is ‘K-Drama Too Much’ and I am the team captain for ‘Thermal Hearted Champions’.”

Not a hint of embarrassment when he spoke out his name. How thick skinned must you be to christen yourself ‘K-Drama Too Much’. Like what were you thinking? I mean I thought I was thick skinned but THIS is ridiculous. And Thermal Hearted Champions – that’s the WORST word play on warm-hearted champions. This is the stupidest name and team name, and yet it some how all makes sense why someone with a ridiculous name like Audicious-Lee would team up with such like minded terrible naming sense people.

“My in-game name is One-Shot Wonder.” The woman disapprovingly spoke. “But I go by One-Shot. I am KDrama’s guardian.”

I am not even surprised with her terrible naming sense. It expected. No if she had a normal name, I’d be shocked.

“I am Cho…” Before I could speak further, KDrama raised his hand to stop me. I was going to reveal my fake name.

“We abide by the Code. We will stick with Audicious-Lee.” KDrama explained – he looked exhausted as though this was common sense.

“The code?” I asked.

“The code of conduct - an unspoken agreement by the Valor gaming community.” One-Shot impatiently butted-in. “Never tell your real name or give away any details of your real life that could track you to anyone.”

This is interesting. Why would they have this kind of code of conduct?

“Why the secrecy?” I curiously asked.

With great hesitation, KDrama spoke, “Because all the top players who were public figures have gone missing.”

“Wait, WHAT!!!?” I almost accidentally spoke my thoughts. There are MORE missing people?

***

“Why would people still play this game?”

“$50Million is a big number, kid.” One-Shot answered my question. “If you are scared, then you should quit. There will be more left of the rest of us.”

KDrama angrily glared at her – almost imploring her to shut up.

“I don’t want to scare you into quitting this game by telling you this. However, the last thing we want is something to happen to you because we were selfish.” KDrama explained.

One-Shot snorted from behind him. “Yeah, right. He would have learnt about the Code one way or another.”

KDrama ignored her and continued, “As sad as it sounds, the current Valor community could be considered toxic. It is less about beating the game and more about winning the prize. Those who were scared by the rumors left and mostly the greedy stayed behind. In some sense you could say we’re the greedy ones – you included. However, we all still have our bottom line.”

“But wouldn’t the police or government stop this game? Especially, if people are going missing?” I asked with a slight panic in my voice (it’s all acting – I should get an Oscar for this).

“Like the government cares if some gamer goes missing.” One-Shot smirked. “It’s not like they have actually been confirmed missing. For all we know they quit the game. I mean Kdrama, have you seen any actual proof of players going missing?”

“I haven’t but I did hear of a story directly by someone who knew someone who went missing…” KDrama explained.

While I am still piecing together the information in my head, KDrama mistook my pensive silence for my lack of courage.

“You don’t have to worry. Just stick with us and hopefully, you will remember everything.” KDrama explained.

“Can I think about it?” I ask politely. They aren’t my suspects – well at least the possibility is unrealistically low.

KDrama nodded. “We’ll set up a summoning circle so we can recall you the moment you come back.”

“Okay?” I replied with slight confusion.

“A summoning circle will let us know when you are online and can teleport you to our location.” KDrama explained.

“Can’t we send an in-game message to each other?” I asked.

“Nope.” One-Shot enthusiastically replied. “It’s annoying but you will get used to this way of communicating.”

She’s pretty happy letting me know how painful the game-play is.

KDrama, meanwhile, began spreading a huge sheet of paper on the floor. It had a huge circle printed on it – similar to the concentric circles I saw in Juan Lee’s and Bong-Chol’s room. This ‘magic’ circle had fewer rings…and maybe the characters were different. Similar but different.

“What is this?” Hopefully, my next clue is here?

“A summoning circle.” KDrama replied. “It’s quite standard in the game. There isn’t any magic in this game. Everything works on summoning circles – we can talk about this in more detail if you decide to play on. We would have to because you can’t do anything in this game without these circles. Just step in and answer yes.”

I did as I was asked. The moment I stepped in – a window popped open:

Do you wish to establish a bond with summoner, KDrama Too Much?

I chose “Yes” and that was the biggest mistake I made in my life.