Chapter 1: Just A Normal Encounter

The alarm clock on the table near my bed rang loudly. Lazily, I pressed the button to turn off that ear-piercing sound. Next, I looked at my phone and found out that today is the day to meet my online gaming friends.

"Is everyone ready today?" asked Dahlan in our group message. "How about we also stop by Thomas's house?"

What?! They want to come to my house too? I haven't prepared anything. I replied to their message, "Are you serious?"

And the other three agreed. I had no choice but to tell my mom that my friends would be coming over. I left my room and headed to the kitchen.

"Wow, it's unusual for you to come out of your room," said my dad.

"Y-yes. Um, m-my friends are coming over today," I said nervously.

"Wow! No problem! How many of them?" asked my mom enthusiastically.

"F-four people," I answered.

"Okay! Leave it to me. You help clean the house!" replied my mom.

I nodded and immediately went outside to sweep the yard. Mom seemed excited because my friends were coming over. I took my wireless earphones and put them in my ears. Sweeping while listening to music was indeed enjoyable.

I didn't realize that Kuti was calling me. I took off my earphones and walked over to the gate. I opened the gate for Kuti and asked, "W-what's up?"

"Oh yes, my mom sent this for your mom," Kuti handed over a basket full of fruits. "The harvest from our farm in the village was abundant. Thanks to the organic fertilizer your mom made!"

"Th-thank you, Kuti," I replied and accepted the fruit basket. I took the basket inside. Dad was ready to leave for work, so I slipped an apple into his work bag and gave the full basket of fruits to mom.

"Here, mom, Kuti gave this. And also a thank you for making the organic fertilizer," I said, placing it on the kitchen table.

"Okay! Just put it there," mom replied and continued cooking.

Since I was done helping mom, I decided to take a shower and get ready to go to our meeting place. I just wore my usual clothes and left the house on my bike to get there.

On the way, I met Kuti, who seemed to be heading out too. I cycled past her and arrived at the minimarket first. I checked the messages in our group chat. Dahlan sent a picture showing that he was close to the minimarket.

I didn't reply and waited inside the minimarket while shopping for snacks. I saw someone confidently taking pictures on an empty bench in front of the minimarket. As I suspected, it was Dahlan, and he had just sent a photo in our group chat.

After shopping, I saw Kuti also stopping by the minimarket. "Hey, Kuti, you're here too? Shopping?"

"No, I'm meeting a friend. We're supposed to meet here. Ah, there she is," Kuti replied, glancing at Dahlan.

Huh? Wait, is Kuti in our group too? I shook my head when I saw her sitting on the empty bench in front of Dahlan. They introduced themselves and joked around.

A group chat notification sounded again. I checked it and saw that Dahlan was now taking a photo with Kuti. What?! My neighbor is my online gaming friend? I took off my cap and approached them.

"Dahlan, right? I'm Thomas, my in-game username is Mintao Geon," I said, shaking hands with Dahlan.

"Ah! So you're Thomas! Our great tank!" praised Dahlan.

Kuti and I stared at each other in surprise. Dahlan was also confused. He said, "Wait, you two already know each other?"

"THOMAS! So it was you all this time! How foolish of me! Please keep this a secret from my mom that I like playing online games!" Kuti clapped her hands and pleaded.

"D-don't worry. I-I won't tell. A-and Kuti, I didn't expect you to be into online gaming too. I always thought you were a diligent kid," I replied and sat down.

"That means Rosa is the only one not here yet," said Dahlan. "That auntie is always late."

"Not late, just a bit lost," said a woman in her 30s, getting off her motorbike. She took off her helmet, revealing her beauty. "Hi! I'm Rosa, my game username is RosaTheWitch."

"Okay! That means everyone's here," said Dahlan.

We spent the morning chatting about our game. Then they insisted on stopping by my house. Finally, I led them to my house. Kuti cycled ahead of me and arrived at my house first.

Dahlan and Rosa followed behind me until we reached the house. Dahlan was a photogenic and narcissistic type. Rosa was easy-going and friendly. While Kuti was just an ordinary homegirl. And me, the introverted and quiet one. Mom welcomed us happily.

Kuti and I helped mom bring out the food, while Dahlan and Rosa spread out a mat in our backyard. Mom eventually joined us. We chatted until she had to leave for a neighborhood meeting.

"So Kuti, where's your house? You said you know Thomas," Rosa asked Kuti while eating my mom's tofu satay. "Thomas, your mom's cooking is delicious!"

Kuti pointed to the big house next to mine. Rosa was surprised, "Whoa, this close, and you didn't know Thomas was your online gaming friend? I'd love to have a gaming friend close by. I'm from a village, and the houses are far apart, and no one understands the games we play."

"What about you, Dahlan?" Rosa asked.

"Well, I'm from the neighboring city. Like Rosa, no one in my neighborhood plays our game. So I'm happy to find party friends close to my city!" replied Dahlan. "How about we take a group selfie to celebrate our first party meeting?"

Dahlan insisted we take a group selfie and made it the main photo in our group chat. "Oh yeah, speaking of which, I found a good book being sold by an old man on the street. The story is similar to the game we play. But some pages have languages I don't understand."

Dahlan opened his bag and took out a book. He opened the pages with the strange language, "Do you know what language this is?"

I looked at it, "Oh, this is Latin. The Wise, The Fool, The Wanderer, The Protector, in a world filled with injustice. They come to reunite and rebalance the scales of the world."

"Wow! You're amazing, Thomas! Keep going!" Dahlan requested.

I took the book and started reading. "Iter, visne intrare in mundum excitantem et plenum periculorum? Esse heros et vivere tranquille in alia natura? Frui tempore pulchro et excitante."

"Then it says, we wish for what," I blew the dust off the book.

"What if we could live in the online game world we play? It sounds fun to live in a world with magic, swords, but also advanced technology. Many cute and adorable races," said Rosa.

"Same, I also want to live in the game world. Without pressure and living freely," said Kuti. "Especially since there are no NPCs that can insult us."

"Fighting and rescuing princesses sounds good too," Dahlan murmured.

I thought, indeed, the game world gives us the world we dream of. In my heart, I also wished to live in the game world. Then the book's page turned blank and had nothing on it.

"Seems like this book wasn't sold because its pages weren't printed," Rosa said, disappointed, seeing the blank pages.

"Looks like it. Okay! Let's play together here! What's your home WiFi password, Thomas? We'll raid bosses and dungeons until evening when it's time to go home!" Dahlan excitedly took out his laptop.

"Great idea!" Rosa took out her laptop.

"Well, I'll grab my laptop then," Kuti excused herself to get her laptop.

"If we're playing together, how about in my room? If we stay outside, we might shout when we get rare items, disturbing my neighbors," I suggested and started cleaning up the empty food on the table.

"Okay! I'll help you clean up, Thomas," Dahlan helped me clean up the plates and trays and wash them. Kuti and Rosa also helped wash the dishes and clean the yard. I folded the mat and returned the porch table we used.

Once everything was clean, we headed to my room on the second floor. On the way, Rosa glanced at my family photo. "Ah, you have a younger sibling, Thomas?"

"Yes, currently in college," I replied, looking at my family photo. "Sometimes they also play our game. But I don't know if they still play now."

We reached my room. I laid out a carpet in my room. Rosa was surprised to see how clean my room was. "This is the first time I've entered a guy's room that's clean and dust-free."

"Yeah, because I like cleanliness," I replied and set up the WiFi settings for Rosa and Dahlan's laptops. "Okay, you're connected."

"Kuti, you know my birthdate, right? That's the WiFi password," I said to Kuti and turned on my computer.

"I know. We were born almost at the same time. I'm December 25th, you're December 24th," Kuti replied.

"Wow, that's unique. Maybe you two are destined to be together too," Rosa joked and nudged Kuti.

"Yeah, our parents have known each other since high school and college. They've been best friends since then," Kuti replied.

After everything was ready, we continued to play our online game until evening. In the evening, we saved the group chat numbers with our names.

"Huaaah. I have a night shift again. See you tomorrow morning! I'll let you know when the raid event starts tomorrow," Dahlan said goodbye.

Rosa also said goodbye because she had to get home before it got too late, as the roads in her village were scary at night. It was just me and Kuti left.

"K-Kuti, aren't you going home?" I asked.

"No. I told my parents I'm staying over. The reason is we're discussing business ideas," Kuti replied. "They allowed it!"

There was a message from mom on my phone. She told me that Kuti was staying over because her parents were out of town for a week. Looks like I'll be sleeping on the floor, and Kuti can sleep in my bed.

"Come on! Let's continue!" Kuti was excited, and we continued playing until night.