The magical summoning circle: 4 concentric circles and in between them were several alien/foreign characters. I say alien because they resemble nothing like any of the languages on Earth – mostly weird but unique squiggles. Most players would write it off as simply gibberish or detailed artwork but I could see a pattern – mostly thanks to my linguistics background. Having studied languages and their evolution, I find it interesting how a gaming company has bothered to build its own language. Nobody does that – not anymore at least.

I could think of a few examples such as JRR Tolkien, who way back in the day wrote multiple languages while writing his novel. Then there was George RR Martin…but more recently…no one. Take Royal Road for example – the in-game language is automatically translated for players. There is a setting to turn it off but a basic analysis of the written scripture is enough to conclude its random characters.

Contrast that with the written characters I am seeing here – I see more consistency and structure … maybe even grammar rules. These are small details but it makes me wonder why did the game developers bother with such minute details.

As I stare at the magic circle beneath my feet, the circles printed on the sheet of paper begin lighting up. There is a soft white slow around the borders of the circle and slowly the entire circle begins shining white. The shining light begins projecting alien characters in the air, which then begin swirling around me. Next, the individual alien characters in between the circles begin glowing gold.

I don’t know if it was an in-game effect or just the moment of the fancy lighting display: but I felt nauseated. Just as I begin to feel sick, it all disappeared. The printed paper beneath my feet burnt away, leaving behind a small card.

“Is it done?” I ask as I steady myself.

KDrama and One-Shot nodded in unison.

“Then I’ll see you two in a bit.” I said as I logged off.

Audicious-Lee slowly walked towards his bed and went to sleep.

“Are you awake?” One-Shot asked as she peered over Audicious-Lee.

“What are you doing?” KDrama asked as he pulled her back.

“Just checking if he is here.” She replied without looking away.

KDrama sighed and dragged her away.

“I can’t believe he agreed to it so easily. Did he really lose his memories?” One-Shot asked.

“It could be someone else…” KDrama answered her question. “Those are the only two possibilities.”

“But does it matter? Are we really going to help him?” One-Shot asked with a smug smile on her face.

KDrama paused for a moment as he thought about it carefully, “Yes.”

“EH!!? WHY!?” One-Shot angrily shot back. “Why go through a summoning circle ritual if we are going to help him?? I thought we were here to steal a candy from a baby.”

“And then what?” KDrama shot back. “What’s the point of that? Does it help us beat the game?”

One-Shot remained silent.

“Don’t be so narrow minded. Even if we get ahead of him now, I am sure he will learn. The summoning circle will only last till the end of this cycle, but what then?” KDrama continued asking her questions. “You need to think about the bigger picture. We will get our chance to cut him loose but for the time being we need to know what was Dancing Daggers up to.”

“Che…then I am not going to be nice to him. I don’t like all this waiting stuff, if he annoys me, I am going to give him hell.” One-Shot bitterly replied back as though her toy had been snatched away from her.

KDrama shrugged his shoulders. “As long as you don’t get in my way, I am alright with anything.”

One-Shot gleefully smiled as followed KDrama.

***

In my pitch-black room, the laptop’s screen bright light illuminated my face. No matter how many websites I checked or how many forums I scrolled through, I found no mention of “missing Valor gamers”.

That’s strange….It’s as if someone is almost actively working to remove any content which hints the game is dangerous. If that is the case…I check historical results of the search engine. Numerous ‘missing player’ titles began popping up. Players weren’t just missing in Korea, but from France, Japan, and many other countries. Unfortunately, I can’t actually read the content of these historical search results as they no longer exist.

I throw myself back into my plush chair as I stare at the screen – so someone IS actively removing any mention of missing players from the game. At this point, it’s obvious: several missing players and actively removing web content, all point to need of large resources and manpower. Unless Bruce Wayne had an alter-ego, the most likely culprit is Laureta Inc.

But that brings me back to the main problem I had with keeping Laureta Inc. as a culprit – why bother? What’s up with elaborate scheming? Does it make any sense in developing a game, offering $50M as prize money…

My train of thoughts came to a dead halt! I facepalm my forehead. How can I be so stupid? Of course! This is all about the prize money; they don’t want anyone to win. Yet, they want to profit of the capsule sales and rental fees.

I am 90% sure, I am correct. However, I am no crusader of justice. Furthermore, before making such a high-profile accusation, as an investigator I need to dig deeper. I reach out to my cop buddies in Seoul HQ and begin leading them down the rabbit hole.

***

“Stan, I really appreciate the information you are providing me but how am I suppose to convince my boss that a company is kidnapping gamers to keep their prize money?” My friend, Eun Jung, asked me.

“I don’t know! Isn’t that the part where you do your work?” I retort. “Maybe, we can look into their tax filings or financial statements or something? Or maybe you can track down who works there and ask them?”

“Hmm…” Eun gave a long pause as she considered my suggestions. “As long as they operate on Korean soil, those things should not be too difficult to obtain…sorry my database shows they don’t have business in Korea.”

“What?” I am shocked. “How are players buying this game in Korea, if they don’t have a business here?”

I could hear Eun clicking away, before she replied, “As far as I can tell the game capsule is distributed here by partner agency, Red Hat and………the game capsule is given away for free. They only handle the logistics. If you are saying that they buy the game capsule then it must be directly from the US.”

I slump back into my chair, holding my phone to my chest.

“I am sorry Stan, but if they are giving away the game for free. Isn’t that a dead end to your theory? Stan, you there?”

This makes no sense.

“Thanks Eun. Let me know if you hear anything about this company or game.” I drop the call and drag my legs to my bed. I am starting to feel frustrated and yet…I am starting to like this challenge even more.