Asuna slowly regained consciousness. She found herself lying on a comfortable bed, oddly placed under the shade of lush trees. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting patterns of light and shadow around her.
"Finally, you're awake, Asuna." A familiar voice broke the silence.
Hearing it, Asuna turned her head. She saw Charlie sitting in a chair nearby, legs crossed, his eyes fixed on something in his hands.
Wait… a manga?
"Charlie. Where did you get that manga? Are mangas sold in this game?"
Charlie rolled his eyes toward her, his expression slightly annoyed.
"I told you, this manga is my personal item stored in my inventory. I already explained this—did you forget?"
"More importantly, you're missing the point. Don't you realize you were unconscious for over an hour?"
Asuna sat up, propping herself with both hands.
"An hour? That's strange."
She frowned, trying to recall what happened.
"I remember… we were talking about your girlfriend. Then… the next moment, I'm lying on a bed under these trees."
"What happened to me?"
Charlie closed the manga and slipped it into a silvery-blue portal that appeared briefly before vanishing as quickly as it came.
"I have a theory about what happened to you. Most likely, you were transferred to a hospital in the real world. That's why your consciousness was temporarily disconnected from SAO."
"Remember what Kayaba Akihiko said? The Nerve Gear has a backup battery. So, full dive doesn't immediately shut off if the power is cut. During that time, your body was probably moved to a facility like a hospital for care and medical supervision."
In the real world, Asuna was an exemplary student. She quickly grasped the implications of Charlie's explanation.
"That means the players' bodies in the real world still function normally. They need to be fed, bathed, and so on. If left unattended, most players wouldn't survive a week without real-world care."
Generally, humans can survive without food for about three weeks, sometimes longer, depending on body fat reserves and individual conditions. However, without water, survival is limited to three to five days, as dehydration is a far quicker killer.
Considering most players were teens or young adults, without fluids, nutrition, and basic care, their real-world bodies would deteriorate rapidly.
"So those without family or anyone to care for them… they'd die from starvation, dehydration, or untreated medical conditions."
The reality behind this death game was far grimmer than Asuna had imagined. Not only were they trapped in the game, but their physical bodies were also in great danger.
"Your thinking's off, Asuna. Even if a player is an orphan without family or close friends, they won't die from neglect."
"I'm certain the government would act quickly. For example, they'd collect data on Nerve Gear buyers and transfer them to hospitals or special facilities set up to house players' real bodies. After all, the SAO incident shocked the world. The Japanese government would have to act wisely to avoid becoming a global laughingstock."
Hearing Charlie's logical analysis, Asuna patted her chest, visibly relieved.
"I see… That makes sense."
Asuna could guess why it took a full month in the real world before she was moved to a hospital with better life-support facilities.
The Yuuki family wasn't ordinary but part of Japan's elite.
She suspected her parents initially thought SAO would be resolved quickly. After all, SAO was just a game. What game takes long to clear?
That was the mindset of many parents, including hers. They likely assumed the developers would soon find a way to free all players.
Sadly, even after a month, players were still stuck on Floor 1 with no significant progress.
Faced with this bitter reality, Asuna's parents finally decided to transfer their daughter to a better hospital, ensuring she received optimal medical care despite her consciousness being trapped in the virtual game.
"Charlie, thank you for protecting me during my most vulnerable moment. This isn't a safe zone—it's not impossible for someone with ill intentions to, say, use my hand to transfer my money and items to themselves. In the worst case… I could've been killed."
"It's my duty to protect you, Asuna. Whether from the Abyssal Devourer or malicious players."
Hearing this and seeing Charlie's handsome face radiating calm, Asuna felt her heart race.
She'd previously dismissed Charlie's talk of protection as empty words. But after being safeguarded in such a helpless state, she changed her mind.
Though Asuna wasn't the type to judge men by looks, no woman disliked a handsome man!
And Charlie, with his natural good looks—unlike surgically enhanced Korean stars—had been by her side from the start.
She only realized this after Mito's betrayal left her with an emptiness and vulnerability, making her more attuned to Charlie's presence.
"…"
Unaware he'd "sinned" by planting seeds of affection in his charge's heart for the second time—after previously charming Nakano Nino—Charlie looked at Asuna with a raised eyebrow.
"So, what do you want to do now, Asuna?" he asked, his tone practical.
Asuna took a deep breath, her eyes showing renewed determination. "I want to keep leveling up."
"Alright, do as you please." Charlie nodded.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Days passed quickly in Aincrad.
Asuna and Charlie continued their routine, with Asuna focusing on leveling up and Charlie faithfully by her side, watching and guiding.
A week later, a major strategy meeting was held after a frontline party discovered the Boss Room for the next floor. The entire frontline player community gathered, discussing tactics and preparations needed to face the Floor 2 Boss.
Repeating his earlier tactic, Charlie discreetly and undetected hypnotized the Raid Team's leader. He manipulated their consciousness to immediately send the map and Boss Room details to Asuna.
Once the information was received, without wasting time, Charlie and Asuna moved. They headed to the Boss Room, beating the entire Raid Team still busy strategizing.
The next day, when the Raid Team finally arrived at the Boss Room, they were stunned. The room was empty. The Floor Boss had been defeated.
Naturally, with his hatred for beta testers, Kibaou cleverly scapegoated them. He spread the narrative that beta testers, with their game knowledge, must have snuck in and defeated the Floor Boss first to claim all the loot and experience.
Now, beta testers' reputations were dragged through the mud. Players known as beta testers were automatically ostracized by the majority. They were looked down upon, suspected, and often verbally abused. The community's trust in them was shattered.
This didn't happen just once. Every time players formed a Raid Team to face a Floor Boss, they'd find the Boss Room empty, the boss already defeated.
This strange phenomenon repeated, floor after floor, up to Floor 4.
Each mysterious boss defeat only fueled suspicion and hatred toward beta testers, with no one knowing the true mastermind was Charlie Avalon, who wasn't even a player.