Suho's fingers traced the pod's smooth lines. He wasn't an expert in materials, but even he could tell this one was… strange.
The faint humming sound from it blended perfectly with the night's quiet. Its surface was sleek and large enough to fit most people who weren't oversized.
Suho crouched beside the pod, running his hand along the underside. The glowing blue lines etched across it pulsed faintly.
'It's like a refrigerator coffin.' That was the most accurate depiction he could think of at the moment, a refrigerator someone could enter, with a see-through glass at the head.
Anika, who stood next to him, moved toward the couch at an even pace. Once she reached it, she grabbed the tablet from the armrest.
The blue light from the screen illuminated her face as she spoke. "Listen up, cadet."
Suho looked up at the sound of his mom's dramatic tone. "Yes, general."
She smirked. "As you may already know, this piece of machinery follows a set of rules," she said, scrolling through the official Aether Online guidelines. "It says here: once synchronization begins, players must remain calm until the process completes. Any attempt to resist may result in a fatal accident."
Hearing those words, Suho began to reconsider if diving into this game was actually a good idea. Yes, he was curious, but at the same time, he didn't want to die yet.
Anika, hearing no reply, read on. "When you enter, you'll pick an Aspect. No one can tell you which to choose, and you won't know its rank until after you do. In total, there are Grades 7 to 0, also known as Special Grade. This aspects grow stronger during advancement but their ranks will never increase. And yes, higher grades naturally mean stronger aspects, though some low-level ones can turn out to be cheat or hack skills."
Suho frowned, waving his hand in the air. "This is too much to handle at once, Ma." He rubbed his temples. "So there are these things called aspects that give you power, the higher their rank, the stronger they are, except for a few. And these aspects range from Grade 7 to Grade 0 or Special Grade?"
Anika nodded. "Correct." Stealing a glance at her son, she scrolled further down, excitement evident in her eyes. "In the game, there are two types of monsters: Daywalkers and Nightwalkers. They're exactly as the names suggest. Daywalkers operate during the day with abilities suited for it, while Nightwalkers have abilities suited for the night. So don't even think about fighting a vampire until morning; once it slips away, you'll never catch it."
"And their ranks?"
Anika shot him a glare. "I was getting to that, cadet." She cleared her throat. "Monsters are ranked from Tier 9 to Tier 1, which correspond to players' Sequence 9 to Sequence 1 ranks."
She took a breath, realizing she had been speaking too quickly, then continued. "Monsters also have another classification, this time based on their traits, which are the equivalents of players' aspects. These are Dormant, Awakened, and Transcendent. The system will notify you each time, but you can also identify them by how many cores they possess: Dormant have two, Awakened four, and Transcendent seven. These cores are used to fill your own after you kill them, since mana in the air is harmful."
His mom finally turned off the tablet. "The game sounds… well, fun at least." She sighed. "I know it might sound ridiculous, especially for someone like you who doesn't game much, but just give it a try. If anything feels wrong, come out immediately."
Suho met his mom's hazel eyes, the same ones he had inherited. Her fingers trembled slightly, even as she set the tablet down.
"Mom," he said softly, offering her a wry smile. "I'll be fine."
She smiled, crouching low and brushing his hair back. "Better be."
For a while, they sat there, the quiet ticking of the clock and the soft sounds of the television filling the room. The global countdown flickered on the TV, like everyone was waiting for New Year's.
It all felt so unreal and far too fast. How did everyone believe in this thing? How had an unknown company sold over a hundred million pods? What even was their goal in all this? Entertainment? Control? Or something worse?
Suho glanced at his mom, who sat next to him, their backs resting against the pod. He leaned his head on her arm. Anika looked at her son and smiled. "Don't act like you're dying, it's just a game."
'Just a game.' That phrase felt ominous to him for some reason.
The global countdown flickered on the TV, five minutes to launch.
"Mom, I think I shouldn't enter this."
Anika frowned. "What are you saying, Suho?" She grabbed his arm, helped him up and tapped the open button. "It's just a game."
For some reason, everything around him felt blurry. His vision was hazy, and he couldn't think clearly or even process his surroundings.
One moment he was standing, and the next, he was inside the pod. He could see a female news reporter on the TV, describing something he couldn't hear through the soundproof pod. Beside her, a timer continued counting down.
A hiss of cold air escaped the pod as it tightened, triggering his claustrophobia. His breathing turned ragged as his blurred vision worsened. The smooth padding beneath him began to massage his body, and mist filled the pod, making it impossible to see outside.
The temperature kept dropping, turning his skin pale, then a sky-blue screen whirred to life.
[Preparing for &$&#&#&#. Estimated Launch Time: Four Minutes]
[____ Time: Ten Years+]
The system screen came with a feminine British voice, calm and melodic, though it didn't dispel the fear creeping up Suho's spine.
Suho exhaled and closed his eyes. The hum around him deepened. The padding vibrated further. A faint pressure filled his body as though he were sinking into the depths of water.
[One-minute countdown]
Suho felt his heartbeat slow, his breathing syncing with the pod's rhythm.
He thought of his father, his coma, and everything he'd gone through as a child. His mother, her kind heart and firm hand, and how many times she'd always been there for him.
[Ten… Nine…]
Suho steadied his breath and exhaled. Then the world vanished, and his consciousness drifted away.
***
— Era of the Shattered World —
"Why did the master even send us here?" The voice of a woman echoed through an empty, destroyed building as she and her partner made their way up a flight of ruined stairs.
"How should I know?" her partner, who had white hair and light brown eyes, replied.
The other one, with brown skin, black hair, and light brown eyes, scoffed. "So useless, so useless."
"Oh yes, you're more useless than me, you idiot," her partner, no, her sister, who had paler skin, shot back.
"Hmph, I'm stronger than you. That means you're an idiot, so useless."
The two girls, both dressed in bunny outfits, stopped as the sound of beeping echoed in their ears.
"Oh yes, did you hear that?"
"Yeah, so useless."
They both paused for a moment before yelling in unison, "Treasure!"
They rushed into a collapsed apartment in the ruined building. The girl with brown skin froze when she spotted a sleek white pod buried under debris, still intact, faint blue light pulsing from within.
"So useless," she whispered, eyes wide. "Isn't that the ancient box Master talks about? The one the prophets mentioned?"
Her sister with pale skin frowned. "Let's go back, sis. Master said we should never touch them. The ones who come out of those can kill us."
The brown-skinned one chuckled darkly. "None of that has happened for the past ten years." She placed her hand on the pod and slapped it. "See? Nothing."
Her sister was about to say something when the pod emitted a sharp beep. The blue light stopped blinking, then turned red.
The two girls stumbled back as the lid, which hadn't opened for years, hissed open. A flood of cold mist poured out, rolling across the cracked floor.
Inside, a figure who had been lying down slowly sat up, steam curling from his mouth. His eyes opened, pale hazel eyes locking onto them.
The young, handsome man looked around, dazed, confusion clouding his expression.
The girls' faces, instead of draining of color, flushed deep red, and both of them squealed at once. "SO HOT!~"
Suho Park tilted his head slightly, then whispered, "…Where am I?"
The hum of the pod slowly faded, replaced now by total silence.