Tl/note: Hello, it’s translator Kayiwas! I want to explain about the introduction of a new word that will be used starting from this chapter – unnie.
Unnie – literally means “older sister” and is used only by girls; can be used not only when addressing older female siblings, but close female friends and other women if it’s appropriate (not the boss, and not in business-like situations). From now on I’ll use this word instead of “sister”, because the novel is more about modern Korea and Koreans playing the game, than being in a medieval world itself, so this term fits the setting. Also it would be more appropriate in the yuri trope, where it would be strange to read about “sisters” stuff, right…?
More rarely mentioned “oppa” is a similar term used only by girls for a man (older brother/friend/lover).
Jaewook was sitting at a cafe table waiting for his companions.
It had been quite a while since Jaewook, who had been deeply immersed in ‘Astria Online’ for some time after buying a personal capsule with money earned from part-time jobs and taking a leave of absence from school, went out during the day.
After ordering an iced Americano and sipping it while fiddling with his smartphone, Jaewook saw a short woman entering the cafe entrance.
Jaewook waved at her with a welcoming face.
“Dayeon’s here!”
The short woman called Dayeon approached with a sullen expression and sat across from Jaewook.
“Hey, Lee Jaewook. How long have you been here? Tsk, already drinking coffee too. I was leveling up until right before the appointment time, doesn’t ‘Cherni’ level up? So carefree.”
“Nam Dayeon. We meet face to face after a long time and you’re already initiating? Or should I call you ‘Bae Merong’? Can’t use third-person outside, right?”
“Aaah~ I can’t hear you.”
Jaewook and Dayeon bickered as soon as they met.
“Senior Chris asked to meet first. Someone who was so passionate about leveling up must have a reason for saying we should take a breather.”
“Certainly, I came because Chris unnie called too.”
Jaewook grinned and made his characteristic playful expression.
These days, every day was enjoyable for Jaewook.
He had become financially comfortable since starting ‘Astria Online’ and clearing dungeons with Chris.
The profits from early clearing of elite dungeons and selling weapons as an advance party user were enough to cover the cost of buying the capsule, pay for tuition, and have some left over.
“I’m thinking of changing my career path to this field. Seeing virtual reality department kids earning money in various virtual reality metaverses, won’t the RPG market, where an outstanding game like ‘Astria Online’ has emerged, establish itself as a stable money-making job in the future?”
“Well, RPG games fluctuate a lot depending on patches. There’s no such thing as an eternal honey pot. If the game dies, you have to find another game.”
“Haah. I heard senior Death is already learning work as an intern at a large capsule company.”
“Chris unnie’s father’s company, right? Death oppa’s future is all set. He said he was too busy to come today? But he still plays the game relentlessly.”
Jaewook and Dayeon’s conversation topic flowed toward their seniors.
Chris, Jaewook and Dayeon’s senior from the same department, was a second-generation mixed-race with an American father and Korean mother.
Of course, she had a Korean name since she had lived in Korea from birth, but she preferred to be called by the name ‘Chris’.
“There are people who use their real names as nicknames in Astria Online, too. Notably, Senior Chris.”
“Hehe. It’s not awkward, right? Unnie’s English name is pretty too.”
Ding-a-ling.
During Jaewook and Dayeon’s conversation, the sound of the cafe door opening was heard.
Turning his head at that sound, Jaewook could see a red-haired woman.
As if proving the saying ‘speak of the devil’, their conversation topic, ‘Senior Chris’ had appeared.
Chris approached Jaewook and Dayeon with a slight smile.
“Our juniors were already here?”
“Chris unnie! It’s been a while!”
“We saw each other in-game just yesterday, though.”
Jaewook glanced at Chris’s hair.
It was originally reddish-brown, but now Chris’s hair was dyed bright red like her character.
“Haah, did you go and dye it in primary colors? Only Senior Chris could pull off such a flashy red hair color.”
“Unnie, bright red hair is pretty too! It’s just like the ‘Chris’ character from Astria Online!”
“Hehe, actually, except for the hair color, I didn’t customize.”
Jaewook shook his head.
“It’s the second time I’ve seen such a flashy hair color in reality.”
“Huh? You’ve seen someone with a flashy hair color other than me in reality?”
“I saw it when I was working part-time to buy a capsule. Well, that’s not important.”
Jaewook, recalling the girl he had seen during part-time work, changed the topic.
“So, what’s the reason for calling us who are busy leveling up like this?”
“It’s nothing much. We’ve been running busily for over a month, right? Let’s take a breather, meet juniors outside, see faces and talk.”
Jaewook couldn’t erase his puzzlement at her relaxed demeanor.
“You were urging us to level up quickly in the previous area, but now you’re so carefree?”
“Because there’s no need to hurry anymore.”
Following Jaewook, even Dayeon’s expression became puzzled at Chris’s words.
As if to resolve their doubts, Chris continued speaking.
“We’ve already located the next elite dungeon. We’ve also figured out the entry conditions.”
“Th-then shouldn’t we push harder on leveling up…!”
Chris cut off Jaewook’s words.
“Listen till the end. First, the entry level for the next elite dungeon is 30. But, the entrance is blocked right now.”
“Blocked, you say?”
“Yes. It seems to be a dungeon that opens when conditions are met.”
Chris opened her smartphone and showed her juniors a screenshot.
A large fortress with its entrance sealed by a massive magic circle was visible.
“You see the sealing magic circle at the entrance? This is blocking users’ approach. And there’s a gauge in the center of the magic circle.”
“It’s slightly filled, isn’t it?”
“Yes. From what I’ve checked, it’s filling up very slightly each time users clear the four ‘Divine Beast Dungeons’, the regular instance dungeons in this area. At this pace, it will open around the time most users who have entered this area hit level 30.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a kind of content consumption speed control. Actually, everyone has been running non-stop up to the level 25 area, right? The advance party users must have accumulated a lot of fatigue too.”
“Oh.”
Jaewook nodded.
If it’s like this, they wouldn’t need to reduce sleep to level up, and they could turn their eyes to other content while waiting for the dungeon to open.
Chris grinned.
“Well, it means you can take it easy from now on. Instead, when the dungeon opening day approaches, you’ll need to tighten your belts from then on.”
“The number of initial clear competitors will increase too, right?”
“Yes. It won’t be as easy to get first clear as the elite dungeons so far? The difficulty will be significantly higher too.”
Only then could Jaewook feel a little less pressured.
Even if it wasn’t just for money, the thrill and sense of achievement of clearing a high-difficulty dungeon by combining strength with party members was indescribable.
How many users had challenged extremely difficult raids for the glory of raid first clear and sense of achievement in games like ‘World of Worsender’, a raid MMORPG game enjoyed by people worldwide that has now disappeared into history.
“In classic online raid games, first clears sometimes took over a month.”
“It’s still just elite dungeons for now, but later when legendary difficulty raid dungeons come out, we might have to schedule tries over several weeks.”
“It’s all good, but the game control difficulty is too high.”
“That’s how all virtual reality games are. ‘Astria Online’ does assist user movements with coordinate movement skills like ‘Backward Evasion’, but still, the synchronization rate limit is big. This game is about 20% at most.”
“Isn’t there a way to increase the synchronization rate through capsule hacking or something?”
“It’s not entirely impossible, but you know that’s breaking the law, right? You know my father is the president of a capsule company?”
Jaewook flinched at Chris’s sharp gaze.
“And with current virtual reality technology, even if you increase it as much as possible, 40-50% is the limit. Exceeding this figure could be dangerous for the user.”
“Why does it become dangerous?”
“You’ve heard about it too, right? The story of a person freezing to death in a non-functioning cold storage.”
Jaewook clapped his hands. It was a topic he had heard once during virtual reality lectures too.
“This is why I say don’t just play games, study hard too. Higher synchronization rate means sensations are felt more realistically. Even pain.”
“Certainly, thinking about the process of repeated deaths and revivals in virtual reality FPS games or clearing instance dungeons in ‘Astria Online.'”
“Yes. The pain received when the character dies could cause shock to the real body too.”
“Th-that sounds really dangerous.”
Jaewook broke out in cold sweat.
“Well, everyone’s playing the game well though, right? I trust our party members.”
“Bae Merong is confident in moving like Chris unnie’s right arm!”
Chris patted Dayeon’s head once as she sparkled her eyes.
Jaewook, who was watching that scene with a chuckle, suddenly asked Chris about a curious point that came to mind.
“Umm… What would happen if someone enjoyed ‘Astria Online’ at 100% synchronization rate?”
“Huh? Hmm. Of course, it would depend on how excellent the user’s senses are, but if someone with outstanding reaction speed did it, wouldn’t a real cheat character be born? They might solo clear all the dungeons we struggled to clear as a party.”
Chris paused for a moment, then grinned.
“Even setting aside the part about feeling pain realistically. Could modern people who cry over just cutting their finger handle that?”