1 The 2nd Player

"Any last words?"

Yami's cold voice echoed in the room with a gun pointed at the man's head. Around the man were several bodies of people killed cleanly and quickly, with only one shot in the head.

Yami's cold facial expression brought the man to fear for his life.

"Please have mercy," the man begged and crawled towards Yami's leg to show he submitted to him. "I still have two kids waiting for me at home."

"Too late."

An evil smile formed on Yami's lips as he pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit the man's forehead, killing him in the process.

Yami grabbed the yellow envelope on the ground and looked at the papers inside before tossing it into the trashcan with the blonde wig he was wearing and burning the evidence.

Yami took out his phone and dialed the spymaster's number.

*Click*

"Operation Bee is done." Yami stated while walking out of the dark alleyway and blending in with the ordinary people.

[As expected from our top spy. Good job, Eclipse, but you need to know something about your sister before going home.]

Yami stopped walking and focused his attention on the information that the spymaster told him.

"I understand."

Yami turned off the call and continued walking as if nothing had happened, but his eyes showed concern.

[5 years later...]

Yami placed his bag on the bed and looked around his room, "Nothing really changed."

His room was still the same as the day he left; aside from that, it was clean. Memories of his innocence flooded into his mind, making him grin.

Yami cleaned himself first since he had traveled far before reaching his parent's home. Only once his skin was adequately cleaned, he donned his pitch-black suit and now was ready for the funeral.

Suyin, his missing younger sister, was announced dead after five years of continuous search.

The funeral for Fai Suyin ran its course as everyone gathered to grieve. Since there was no body, the Fai family prepared a resting place for her. 'Dearest beloved' was marked on the headstone along with her name.

The sky turned gray before it started raining. The people that attended the funeral ran towards their cars for shelter, leaving Yami with his parents.

"My angel..."

Yami could hear her mother's tearful scream as she hugged the headstone like it was Suyin's body and ignored the rain that drenched her clothes.

Yami subdued his emotions and opened the umbrella before giving it to his father. "Please rest. I don't want you both to get sick."

"What about you, son?" Ming, his father, asked when he noticed that there was no spare umbrella left.

"I'll be fine," Yami replied and handed the umbrella to his father with a forced smile.

His parents hugged him before walking away and isolated themselves from grieving.

Yami looked at the sky as rain fell on his face. He had seen many deaths in the last seven years during his job as a spy. Many had died by his own hands.

Spy work was difficult. You assumed many identities, you had to pretend something you were not, and often, your life was always in danger. You will often find yourself in a situation alone and surrounded by enemies; if you don't, you're smart enough.

But...

Yami had been doing that job for so long that it became rare for him to show any reaction, but that day was an exemption. He felt grateful that the cold rain hid the tears streaming down his face.

'Why am I burying my sister? We still didn't find her body!'

'Why?'

Yami gritted his teeth and clenched his fist due to anger and frustration.

'I did various jobs on behalf of my nation, different people and lovers. I had killed for good, yet, I can't protect my own family.'

'I'm a top spy but incapable of finding my sister for years, and it leads to nothing no matter what I do.

Yami's hand grasped his hair and pulled them hard to transmit the emotional to physical pain.

'I am so useless.'

'I-'

Yami's thoughts are shattered when he felt someone tapped his shoulder.

"My son, let's go home. The funeral is over."

"..." Yami looked at his father in shock for a few seconds before his whole body relaxed, and he spoked in a low voice:

"Okay…"

His father nodded and walked away from the scene.

Yami took one last look at his sister's headstone, his lifeless eyes glowed for a few seconds, and that day a promise was made.

'I will hunt down the responsible ones.'

Yami turned his back and went home with the promise to keep until he died.

***

Yami was drying his hair using a towel after he finished a quick shower. As he walked past Suyin's room, he couldn't help but had the urge to checked what was inside.

Yami needed a lot of resolves to open the door since the feeling of grief was still strong.

"They never touched Suyin's room," Yami commented as he went inside and slowly navigated his way into the room to ensure he wouldn't move anything.

The room had trash scattered on the floor and dirty sheets stuffed in the corner.

Yami lowered himself to the bed and felt the amount of dust piled up on the sheets. He wiped the layer of dust using his hand, only for it to slowly fall down on the floor.

Yami grumbled in annoyance and looked around the room when a photograph at the bedside table caught his attention. In it, his sister's sweet smile was captured.

"You looked so innocent."

Yami was about to take the photograph when his foot hit something under the bed. In curiosity, he reached down and took the item to see what it was.

The item was the box of Suyin's favorite game that she used to play before going missing.

"Soul Beast Online."

Yami took out his phone and checked the game's information, but there wasn't much there. He went to the forums and comment sections and saw old players complaining about how trashy it was.

"Soul Beast Online stopped operating three years ago..."

Yami read one of the comments, scanned for more details, and saw that most players complained the same thing.

Yami continued his search. He found out that nobody knew the real reason for the game's failure.

The game used to be the best hit of the production company Minusone before rumors of crises arose. They didn't announce anything related to the game's failure and later on filed for bankruptcy. It only took a year before the company shut down.

"That must have sucked for both players and the company."

Yami put the box down and went to investigate the room for additional clues that he could find to helped him track down the reason for Suyin's disappearance.

As Yami walked along, he stumbled on a trash bag and nearly fell to the floor.

"That hurts," Yami stated and massaged his pinky toe that hit the object inside the trash bag.

Yami was irritated and aggressively opened the trash bag and saw a virtual reality device that resembled a helmet with a white tube attached to its back.

"What is this?"

Yami took out the device, placed it carefully on the table, and examined it. The machine looked old and had scratches on it. Yami even noticed that it was the exact tool used to play Soul Beast Online on the internet.

"Why was this inside the trash bag? This is expensive!"

Yami complained and wiped the dirt around the device. Later on, he decided to check and plugged the device, and to his surprise, it ran smoothly.

He thought it wouldn't work anymore after the game was closed.

Yami inserted the game's cord on the white tube, and three lights flickered on the helmet's forehead.

Yami sat on the chair and put the helmet on his head. He had begun to feel anxious. Yami had heard about that kind of game device before but never experienced using one.

"Here it goes."

Yami took a deep breath to calmed himself before shutting his eyes. Bright light surrounded him, and a series of rainbow-colored blocks appeared, followed by a flicker that generated a text.

'WELCOME TO SOUL BEAST ONLINE, PLAYER 2!'