2 D.W.O. Part I
“Childish…!”
A man with black hair and sharp features said to his friends. He sat there, resting his chin on his hand. “You guys are grown-ups. Still, you are hyping about an online game. Tomorrow is the first day of the school break. Just try and find some better things to do.” He narrowed his eyes as he watched his friends, A, B, and C, who were looking at the announcement of a popular online game that had been in business for six months.
“Tan, the person finishing this game gets a million though…” said his friend, alias A.
He suddenly widened his eyes. “A million! Nonsense, a million is not a small amount.” Tanthai, who has some experience with online games, said shockingly.
“US,” His friend, C, said.
“US?” Tanthai frowned and then asked.
“US Dollar.”
“What?!” He yelled in surprise, but then sighed and sluggishly leaned his chin on his hand. “Nonsense…Competing against people around the world, do you think we are going to win? Not to mention the possibility they might hire a company to finish the game.”
“It connects to our real data, plus there’s player log data. I think it’d be hard to cheat.” His friend, alias B, explained.
“Hmm…how superb. It sounds like you guys are hired to promote this game.” His voice filled with tiredness, and his eyes were almost shut. It was because he had gone out all night yesterday to celebrate the end of his final test in his first year of college. He was now at the college because he had a meeting with his student club, which ended half an hour ago.
“Whatever, I don’t have any money problems,” said Tanthai.
During the conversation, two female college students were walking towards Tanthai’s group. One of the girls, who stood about five feet tall with delicate white skin and cherry-red lips, greeted them.
“Thanks for being here to help the club with all the physical hard work before school break,” she said.
“Well…everyone is delighted to help if it’s for you, Irene,” A replied. Tan pretended not to care. “Especially, this guy.” A said as he draped his arm around Tanthai’s neck and pointed at the latter.
“Nonsense…it’s my duty, otherwise you won’t see me here,” said Tanthai in a harsh voice.
Irene frowned as she looked at Tan, then shook her head before her eyes landed on a webpage the guys had been discussing.
“You guys play it too?!” she asked merrily.
The four guys looked at each other and shook their heads in reply…
“No,” said one of them.
Her face showed some disappointment. “That’s bad…I thought I would have more friends to play with during the school break. Net and I play it together. We have something to do at Pieta, the starter town…and we might be hanging around there for a while.” She said and pointed at a short hair girl beside her.
The four guys looked at each other again before smiling back wryly. “I’ll let you know once I start playing,” B replied.
Irene, who was nice to everyone, seemed to have something more to say but was interrupted by her bestie, Net, as the latter grabbed and pulled her shirt. “Oh…! I have to go now. Net and I have got something to do.” Irene said and waved her hand at the guys.
“So cute…I’m melting away,” said Mr. A.
“Yeah, no doubt she’s the prettiest,” Mr. B added.
“You mean the creepiest?” Tan asked with an indifferent expression.
Mr. C immediately turned to him. “You have a foul mouth,” said C furiously.
Pleased with what his friend said, Tan laughed. “As always,” he replied. Hearing that, all of his friends shook their heads in dismay.
One of them broke the silence. “But Net who was with her always gives off a bad vibe. Perhaps she might be plotting something against my Irene,” said Mr. C.
“‘Your Irene?!” A raised his voice.
Before others could talk back, Tan suddenly stood up. “I’m leaving, got something to do. I’ll call you if anything comes up.” Then, he turned and walked away, leaving behind his friends who were confused by how he acted…
----------------
Soon after, Tan found himself in the biggest game consoles retailer in the area…an electronic store near his college.
“Welcome…” A staff greeted him.
“I want to buy a game.” He asked as he looked around the store.
“Which one? There are tons of popular online games for you to choose from.” She assisted him with a smile on her face.
“It’s called Duel something…” He explained.
“You mean…Duel Sword, an online game that offers you a realistic sword fighting experience and is currently a big hit?” The staff asked.
He frowned and considered what his friends had been discussing. After his brain, likely smart, yet reckless, processed all the information, he reached a conclusion.
That’s not it…
“Well, there are cards and jobs thingy in the game.” He tried to give more details.
“Hmm…every online game has cards and jobs.” She sighed.
“The one that offers you a million dollars if you can finish it.” He tried to recall the conversation with his friends.
“So…Duel World? That’s the one you must preorder, and you will receive your product in about a month. I’ve just got one for my brother just now.” She pointed at a box.
“You can preorder it and pay 35,000 baht.” The staff smiled as she explained.
“What about other stores.”
“Probably ran out of stock as well.”
“I can’t wait for a month.” He said to himself.
Then, he took out his wallet and drew out a wad of cash. For a billionaire's son like him, this is not unusual.
“I’ll give you a hundred thousand baht in exchange for that.” He pointed to the box that belonged to the staff’s brother and asked.
The female staff looked at the box and the wad of cash in front of her while thinking about her dearest brother waiting to enjoy the game. It was a very tough decision—her brother or the wad of cash…
Soon after, the money won. Tanthai walked out of the store with the game console he wanted…
----------------
Tan returned to his home which was more like a mansion, then walked straight to his room. “Pieta, Pieta…” He murmured. His maid stared at him in wonder but was too timid to ask anything to Tanthai, who was the only son of the family.
With a likely smart brain, he successfully put everything together…though it was the manual that helped him. “Let’s start,” he said as he connected the gaming gear to his nervous system, following the instructions in the manual. He then lay down on his bed and closed his eyes…
A very long text, about 10 pages, popped up in front of him as he went online. Being a fickle person, Tanthai did not read it at all and went straight to the…
‘Accept’ button.
Light flashed across his surroundings just like when a spaceship attempted to teleport in a sci-fi movie. He regained consciousness and appeared to be in a large, borderless white room.
“Welcome to Duel World Online, an online game that lets the player go on an adventure with different kinds of cards and skills,” said a man on top of a white counter. Before him were dozens of screens.
Tan pouted his lips at the welcome from the male staff. “It’s nicer to be greeted by women; It’s more pleasing to the eyes,” said Tanthai.
The staff chuckled. “Our company prefers to be different.” He replied.
“Like creating an online game makes you different from others,” Tan said quietly.
The staff seemed to hear what Tanthai said. “Try it and you’ll see the differences,” he continued. “I don’t want to waste other players’ time. Our time is gold. Now we have more than three million players. Let’s begin now.”
Tanthai narrowed his eyes and stared at the man in front of him. “I’m a customer, not a burglar, don’t you want to be nice to me,” he asked displeasingly.
“We couldn’t care less…our policy is to deliver an enjoyable game. If you are unhappy with the game, just stay away,” replied the staff.
Although the answer made Tanthai infuriated, he had no choice but to get into this game to achieve the goal in mind.
“Just begin already,” Tan spoke in a moody voice.
“Greeting, Mr. Tanthai Phittayatanakul, 19 years old, is that correct?” The staff asked. It made him reel back in alarm because he had not told his name or anything about himself yet.
“How did you know that?!”
