1 Invitation (Part 1)
The room is dark. It's twelve noon yet no light coming from the outside can enter the room for the curtains are closed. It hasn't been opened for months now so people who sees the room as they pass outside think that no one is using it, or even the house.
Inside, there is only light coming from the computer screen that illuminates the sorroundings. The tapping sounds created from the keyboard linger around the cold room. Probably it can be also heard outside for the entire house is dead silence.
Facing the screen is a guy who haven't seen the sun or have been to the outside world for three years now. Having a messy hair, large eye bags, and probably, haven't taken shower for months made him look like a miserable houseless individual, if not for the shelter and the computer he is currently using. The beard outgrown on his face added the character.
"Fuck!" him cursing on a loud voice broke the silence.
The game he's playing lagged for a second and the next thing he knew was his game character being defeated.
He threw the mouse control he was using on the wall and it was shattered into pieces. That was his fourth mouse this month. That made him become more frustrated after he realized what he had done.
While looking for another spare, a notification popped up from his computer. The beeping sound made him flinch because it's been so long since he last heard it.
After he finally found his last mouse, he looked at the screen and saw a familiar icon in having a red dot above. It's an email.
'A message', he thought.
He brought his face nearer to the screen to look at the message.
His eyes are already blurry due to his intense gaming, radiation from gadgets, and with no exposure from the sun. He knew his eyeglasses was placed somewhere around the room but he has no time to look for it.
He clicked the icon and read the latest message he just received. It's a message from an unknown sender.
He was just going to delete it because he heard that most people nowadays send emails to different social media users to let the receivers click something and let the hackers access their accounts, and he was always a victim regarding that issue.
Though he is a hacker himself, it's really annoying when someone tries to ruin your leisure time. He has already enough problems tied on his hands and he still has to deal with those annoying things.
He stopped for a second after reading the email subject.
"Celebrating The Pre-Launching of Newly Created RLRPG Invites Promising Players To Participate In This One-Time Event"
The abbreviation RPG caught the young man's attention.
He always liked to play roleplaying games and is always looking forward on every online competitions, that's why instead of deleting, he continued reading the message.
"Good day! This may be the very first time you' ll ever hear about the abbreviations "RLRPG" since we were the first to create every players' dreams come true so as the very first developers of this game, we are happy to announce that we are all and ready to try and test our newly created game to those who qualify to become the very first players of this game.
It hasn't been so long since the game was developed. We took great risks on developing the game and experienced huge loss of our resources when it was still on testing phase. Now we are doing everything we can to make this project a huge success and it did."
The boy stopped reading and jumped to its last words.
" It would be an honor to us if you'll take this chance and participate on this event. Only few invitations are sent worldwide so you are very lucky to be one of those few players who received this message and be invited. If you are willing to join us, just click the link below and we'll be bringing you to our registration platform."
He continued scrolling until he found the link.
He then scrolled back to find more information but that's all there is. All his questions that was already on his mind weren't answered, so instead of deleting the e-mail, the clicked the link that was attached to the mail that will direct him to their site.'
I'll just try this for a second and if it's a scam, then that's it' he told to himself.
It was already half an hour since he clicked the link and nothing appeared yet.
It was already way too long for him because most sites he visit loads only for a few seconds, and he knew it's also not because of the internet signal because he always check it to make sure that it's working properly.
"aarrghhh" he groaned in frustration. He CLEARLY just wasted his thirty minutes looking at the screen and doing NOTHING.
He could already finish three games on that thirty minutes.
After realizing that it was just a scam, he tried canceling the directing, but it couldn't.
He got curious of why it doesn't cancel so he also tried closing the tabs, logged out all his personal accounts and closed the cloud for a few minutes.
The computer screen then suddenly created glitches and weird sounds came out from his headphones. The sound was both harsh and loud that he immediately took it off.
Surprised by what just happened, he started slamming the monitor thinking that it overheated because of overusing.
Imagine using it seven days a week without letting it rest for a second and plugging it off from the socket. Or even if he wasn't using it, he would still not turn it off because he always download heavy files that would take hours to finish.
But he knew that even if his computer crashes when overused, it doesn't create glitches and weird sounds like today.
Then another idea popped up on his mind.
He sat immediately after realizing that it wasn't because of the overheating but rather, a virus.
He then clicked the keyboard fast enough to block whoever is attacking his computer hoping that the virus haven't gone too far yet.
This is the most annoying part when he open links from unknown sources, it is either there are viruses or you get to challenge the other hacker whose skills are also better, impromptu. And here he knew that the mail is up to no good.
After minutes of countering the attacks, the computer screen suddenly blacked out.
"What the?!" That made him panic because he rarely encounter such powerful hackers as him, and to think that his computer crashed.
While pacing back and forth from his room thinking about all of his files and data from the games that might be stolen already, the computer screen suddenly lit and a message flashed.
Confused about what just happened, he tried closing the computer and turning it off but nothing happened. The home icon cannot be clicked.
He tried clicking the other icons and they were all functioning. He also tried closing the internet and tabs and it all closed. All of it except one, the tab where the message appeared.
He don't know but it also cannot be closed. This is the first time this happened to his computer after all the viruses and hackers that tried to destroy him.
'Is the hacker I'm facing right now more skillful than me? Now this is not good.' he thought. He rarely encounter hackers who are more skillful than him because not to brag himself, but he tops the most skilled hackers on his country.
He started to feel frustrated so he don't have any other choice but to forcefully turn his computer off. He turned to where the socket is and forcefully pulled all the wires that's lunged. The wifi, the lamp, the air conditioner, and the computer.
After doing it he stood up and was about to lie on his bed when he saw the light coming his back.
Surely he already plugged all wires from the socket right?
He then realized that the light didn't come from his lamp, but from the computer screen.
He turned to see that the monitor's still open. The screen is displaying his homescreen with some glitches visible on the corner.
His heart is already beating fast when he realized that his computer is still running despite not being plugged on the socket. Or is it still?
He looked at the socket that is currently empty. Of course, he's the one who pulled all the wires three seconds ago.
He looked again at the screen and got shocked of what it's currently displaying. It is the message from the URL that he clicked.
The letters are big enough for him not to bring himself in front of the screen.
It is also written in different style, not the typical font that his pc is using, but more hand-written like. It's like a picture that's currently displaying on the screen, but only it is a text message with glitches around.
He unconsciously sat on his bed corner and felt a chill from all around his body as he read the words out loud. He didn't understand, and he also didn't understand why his body is reacting this way.
"Welcome, Player 625".
