Grilling

At the Nulgupjisin Grill House, Kazi found himself among his new friends, gathered around a table enveloped in the grill's enticing sizzle. Sun-young ruled the grill with an experienced touch. Kazi enjoyed watching her work her magic. William, seated next to her, tried to copy her moves. His attempts were less than successful, full of fires instead of juicy meat.

At the tenth try, his focus was at an all-time high. The grill house wasn't busy so there was tense silence, almost like everyone was waiting for William to get it right.

"Don't forget to flip them, William," Kazi advised.

Sun-young, in that same flat tone of hers, also joined in on the teasing. "I refuse to scrape the meat off the grill, so please don't mess up," she said. Whenever Sun-young succeeded, William failed. Once again, she succeeded, so it was up to William to make or break the pattern.

"I promise," William declared, "this time it'll be perfect!"

Elena, Marta, Aisha, and David stayed relatively silent on the other side. None of them were close to one another nor were they talkative, and that was amplified by what they saw immediately following their exit from the Heavenly Tower. Tears, cries, and harrowing begging from players who had lost their party to the bandits and mini-boss. The sight was sad and crushing. Kazi could sense it stirring everyone's hearts and he recognized he had to be the one to initiate conversation.

"Tell me about yourselves," Kazi said. "Marta, what did you do in your life?"

"I was in graduate school," Marta replied, adjusting her glasses.

"What did you study?"

Her cheeks flushed. "English and computer science."

"Neat! How about you, Aisha?"

"I also studied IT," Aisha replied slowly. "I guess…I was studying it. I was in my final year."

So probably twenty two, the same age as Sun-young

"So all three of you did similar things?" Kazi questioned.

David glanced down at Marta and answered, "Essentially, yes, although I'm a software engineer specializing in social media. Computer science is broader than that."

"Got it, got it." Kazi pretended to be occupied with eating. He was all smiles and conversationalist when in reality he was thinking. Thinking, thinking, thinking…

"I'm jealous. You're all so smart." Elena was wide eyed and looked between them. "I didn't even go to college because I got married. I always thought about going to college as a nurse."

"A nurse. Of course," David murmured. Elena glared at him.

"I was young back then! Eighteen! I had hopes and dreams, just like everyone else."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with hopes and dreams," David defended. "But nursery is such an ick."

"An ick?" Elena seemed as offended as an actual nurse. "Really? Nursing is a fine occupation, thank you very much!"

"David, as smart as you are, you really say some dumb stuff," William said.

Chewing on her food, Sun-young chimed in, "Agreed."

"I-I…the internet would agree with me!"

"Doesn't work, sorry. There's no internet here–" William snapped to Kazi. "Riiiight?"

"There's no internet, no," Marta answered in Kazi's stead.

"So yeah, no support here, dude," William said.

David sighed. "Okay, whatever, but are we going to skip the fact that Elena got married at nineteen?"

Elena pointed at herself, "I-is nineteen early?"

"Yes—"

"No—"

Sun-young, William, David, and Marta said yes, while Kazi and Aisha claimed the contrary. There was an impasse. Then, laughter.

"Nineteen is way too early," David said. "I mean…you have your whole life ahead of you! Why waste it?"

"Marriage is not a waste," Kazi countered. "You can still live your life with the love of your life. I mean, seriously, isn't that the point of marriage? To not have your life be a waste? I've seen people get married very young. Like thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen."

This time, even Aisha looked at him strangely.

"Have you not seen it? Kids proposing to other kids and they get married?"

Kazi felt like he was talking to a wall, blank expressions all around.

"Dude," William began, "I think that's just you."

Aisha chimed in with a crushing, "Yes."

A second passed and another bout of chuckles and giggles ensured. The atmosphere was relaxing. Sun-young wasn't the type to laugh incessantly but she did let out air through her nose.

"C-can I say something," Elena said. The housewife hadn't touched her food so far. "I…I really appreciate you doing this for us, Kazi."

He waved off her concerns with his chopsticks. "It's alright."

"Even though we're useless in battle?" David said.

To his right, Kazi could hear Sun-young saying in her head, 'At least he's self-aware.'

"Nonsense! Some things can't be valued numerically. Just being here is great for me."

David frowned. "But—"

"No buts! First you should eat. On a full stomach, you'll think more clearly. Come on. All of you."

There was silence and no movement. A beat passed, and David started to eat. Marta and Elena soon followed, with Aisha joining in at the end.

"Hey, Kazi," William called out, brows set in curiosity, "I wanted to ask: how did you beat those bandits by yourself?"

Kazi feigned ignorance. "What do you mean?"

"I feel as though fighting one bandit is easier than fighting multiple. At least in this stage of the—"

"Bandits? Now THIS sure is an interesting conversation!" Heads turned and they were welcomed by blonde hair, a white gi, and a shiny white smile. A hand slammed down on their table. "Would you mind if I join in?"

"Sure, why not?" Kazi said. He had detected the man from the moment he stepped in, his radiant presence and welcoming voice and footsteps tinkering with his ears. "Your name?"

"I'm Leon. I do gymnastics." He slid at the corner seat, bumping into William. "Nice to meet you! Now, bandits? How in the world did you guys encounter them? Are you a part of a guild?"

"Are you?" Kazi asked, casual yet sharp.

"Yep, the Sapphire Order. See this symbol?" Leon pointed to the sapphire gem on his chest. "I'm a rookie, duh, since I don't have a number, but I hope to get there someday."

"You sure are…chipper," David said.

"Just excited. Especially because you guys seemed to have had an exciting scenario."

"I wouldn't say it was too exciting," William said.

"I disagree! In my scenario, I didn't encounter any bandits! Me and my party helped the students make swords and then left."

"One student per weapon, right?" Kazi said.

"That's right," he said like a catchphrase.

Leon didn't realize that what he agreed with brought in a plethora of answers. Answers that he otherwise would have required an actual guild to feed him with. Still smiling, Kazi ran through his conclusions like a jet cruising through the skies.

'Meaning, in his scenario, the students were NOT injured. Meaning, scenarios play out like video games. Without picking the proper dialogue, you can't get the special or hidden objectives. Even bosses can cease to exist.'

While Sun-young killed the mini-boss, the actual boss was left forgotten. Kazi assumed there would be a battle of some kind after the creation of the Majin-ken but no. Nothing. Not even a hint of the real boss.

In the first gate, there was the Slime Queen and the rumoured Slime King, the latter of which was allegedly killed by a single player. Kazi and party went back there all the time to train. Repeating gates was standard procedure for players as it was the best way to gain levels. Gate 2 in particular. The objectives were simple to accomplish and therefore the safest way to gain XP.

'But it also means I made the right call by not immediately joining a guild. Leon over here, a member of the Sapphire Order, wasn't told about the special or hidden objectives, even though there was no reason not to tell him. Meaning…they don't know. Meaning…the Heavenly Games likely change scenarios and gates with every iteration.'

A leap in logic to some extent. His instincts were telling him he wasn't wrong though.

"How did you do it then?" Leon asked cheerfully. "Did you do something in particular?"

'He wants to report to his higher-ups. Scenarios can't be redone which is incredibly disadvantageous for independent players. But with guilds, you can coordinate scouts. Select particular groups of players to grow depending on their potential. The downside would be that they wouldn't receive the first player completed bonus. A downside that they're willing to take because of the guaranteed results.'

"Woah, woah, woah." Kazi chuckled. "You're a part of a guild, man. Let us independent parties do our own thing."

Leon pouted. "Come on, just a hint!"

"Is it really a big deal?" Elena popped the question with a small tilt her head.

Not really. By simply knowing there were bandits, it wouldn't be difficult for the guild or players to figure out the secret. But Kazi wasn't to let him get away that easily.

"Hmmm…." Kazi pretended to think. "You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Can you tell me something only the guilds know?"

"Heh, how about this? It was actually pretty shocking to me so fair is fair." Leon cleared his throat. "Did you know we only keep the Game System for the two years we're here?"

The party displayed surprise and shock. Kazi tossed a piece of meat with a chopstick, curious.

"Go on."

"Yep! Once your original Heavenly Games tenure is over, you lose it. Permanently. There's no getting it back. That includes your levels, skills, whatever."

"W-wait, seriously?" William said. "B-but…wait, what? Why?"

"No clue. My instructor suggested it was because there would be a huge number of powerful humans and that would threaten the gods or something. Another guy I talked to said it was because the human soul was too weak. Some players go from being shut-ins to almost demi-gods and that leap in power can mess up your soul."

Shakily, Marta asked, "Does that mean we lose all our powers? ALL of them?"

"You still have access to your pocket dimension and your inventory but that's it," Leon replied.

David's eyes narrowed. "So you have to learn magic yourself? Without the assistance of the Heavenly Games?"

"If you're staying, that is. The veterans that will be coming after Gate 50 will—oops, that's not…yeah, just ignore that."

"Veteran players can join us in the Heavenly Tower after Gate 50!?" William exclaimed. "Hold on, that's…" His expression shifted several times. "Kinda…not…unfair…?"

Sun-young broke down the utility of guilds quite well. "That explains why guilds hold so much power. Experience, an accumulation of points, institutions. Right now, they are mere sponsors but afterwards…."

"They can be full blown powerhouses," Marta finished. "I get it. But they're also not so OP that they're level 9,000,000 and can one-shot everything."

"Shoot, I wasn't supposed to say that." Leon looked away, a hand on the back of his head. He nervously glanced over to Kazi. "S-say, could you tell me the secret behind the bandits thing? I think I said too much…"

Kazi grinned. "No problem. Now, the way to get the bandits to appear is to…"