A Curious Spark That Refuses to Fade
Curiosity.
The emotion that separates the line between human and beast, and swears the greatest oath to bring all of creation under the footprints of humanity.
From the charred trunk of a tree struck by lightning from the sky, fire sprang forth. One hundred and forty-two thousand years ago, humanity gazed upon it with wonder, and from that moment the Age of Fire began.
When a weak, wounded wolf was abandoned by the pack and left alone in the forest to die, a man happened upon it and the first domestication began.
Almost every discovery imaginable—enumerating them all would be impossible—stemmed from this very feeling of curiosity.
And in this modern society, where even sitting in one’s seat allows access to countless pieces of information and, with nothing more than a thought, verification of things no one in history could have imagined decades earlier, curiosity still sat firmly in the corner of every person’s chest.
So,
“Wow… wow…”
“Are you satisfied?”
“Ah, ah! I’m sorry, I got carried away without realizing it!”
Even this person who accidentally got too focused while tearing the sensor off my tail… I suppose I can chalk it up to the effects of unavoidable curiosity…
Anyway, these stares were quite familiar. In a way, they were far better than staring at my chest, and if I was going to be stuck in a single tent with my fellow team members anyway, I had no choice but to adapt.
With a cheerful sound, the voice announcing completion echoed through the room.
“Was it uncomfortable?”
“It felt like I’d gotten a sticker stuck on every single claw.”
“Haha, you explain it really well.”
These people probably didn’t understand, but the metaphor of a sticker on each claw was an incredibly ancient explanation.
It boasted a glorious record that had convinced every single person who asked about the sensation on the tail in a single go.
Anyway, it had been quite a busy day.
When we arrived at the building, the sun that had been hovering right above our heads was already beginning to sink below the horizon. Even though it was the height of summer, it was still a long way until full darkness would fall, but within another hour my return would inevitably become a hot topic.
Looking at it like this, I really felt like a headache was coming. Especially in the evening rush hour, and in Yeouido of all places where so many office workers lived.
“Is something wrong?”
“I was just thinking about how to get home.”
“Eh?”
“It gets a little troublesome if I overlap with the peak commute hours.”
Flap, flap.
With that, the tail that had been gently swishing in front of my eyes made Han Seol-ah, the one recording the attachment position of the collected sensor on her headset, pop a question mark above her head.
So what was the deal with all that,
“Even the people waiting behind me on the crowded evening subway is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Ah, ahaha. Now I get it.”
The mere existence of the tail firmly attached to my pelvis was enough to stir up stories of what kind of disaster could happen when boarding a ten-thousand-person subway.
Fortunately, today’s time slot had been midday with relatively few subway users, so there had been no issues,
“…Are you living far from here?”
“Not that far, but it’s not close enough to call it near.”
At least fifteen kilometers from Yeouido wasn’t something one could call near.
Recalling old memories, I added as I considered sprinting there at full speed like a supersonic missile to reach my destination.
“By the way, does that discussion take a long time?”
“…I can’t give you a definite answer. Because the variables may increase or decrease depending on the customer’s budget and time availability, we have to talk directly.”
“I see.”
Even while nodding, I was thinking about how I could sprint afterward.
The route itself would pop up on my wrist device, so it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe I could make it home in about an hour… I remembered running dozens of kilometers a day in the old days to breach the northeastern defense line. That time…
While I was sorting my thoughts this way and that,
“…Or, we can check with you separately whether we have availability for vehicle dispatch.”
“If you do that, I’d be grateful, but is it okay?”
“Our daily duties include not only customer data measurement but also activity support, so according to regulations there’s no problem.”
“Ah.”
Apparently so.
I, who had only ever known how to fight with a group of six or so teammates, train inside hood boxes or kill houses, and get evaluated by instructors, had no idea how a company actually operated.
…More than anything, why on earth was this company called Icarus? It gave me such a strong sense of déjà vu.
Since the game was made based on the world I had lived in, and the company developing and servicing it was Icarus International… it was practically saying that I absolutely had to dig into this game.
From what I’d experienced so far… most curiosities were usually resolved gradually over time. But today, what would happen?
I didn’t know.
“Customer?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, you were thinking. We’re about to make a reservation now—when is a good time for you?”
I focused sharply above my head, and a hologram floated up from the lens.
It was pointing at 5:16 PM and 17:16 PM, and next to it it had even kindly marked BMNT and EENT.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke.
“It doesn’t matter when I go. There’s nothing else I’m doing right now.”
“In that case, would 6:30 be okay?”
“Yes.”
I nodded slightly and answered.
The conversation over the phone, whatever it was, was proceeding smoothly with no major issues.
And.
“Yes, confirmed. We will accompany you to the designated location five minutes ago, and after boarding, once you input your location into the navigation, the vehicle will autonomously drive you right in front of your house.”
“The seats might feel a bit uncomfortable, but once you’re seated and adjust to the bed-like shape, you’ll be much more comfortable.”
“Thank you.”
After that was finished, they spoke again as if there had been no problems at all.
“Besides that, is there anything else on your mind?”
“Right now I don’t have anything particular in mind, but if anything comes to me during the discussion, I’ll tell you.”
“Understood. If there’s anything we can do, we’ll handle it on the day, so please let us know before 8 PM.”
“8 PM?”
“That’s when our office hours end, after all.”
A multinational company proudly bearing the word “International” and its office hours…
Thinking that way, the explanation continued.
“Of course, that’s not the official office hour, but because of the nature of the department the workload is enormous, so there’s no helping it. We’re all just waiting for payday, too.”
“Transmitting press releases, monitoring articles, holding meetings, producing content, managing official SNS, and even after getting home monitoring… during esports season it’s even more.”
“…You must be working hard.”
“It really is. And with the E-sports preliminaries starting soon, I’m already dying inside.”
By now there was enough familiarity that I even heard complaints.
I nodded with a bitter smile.
“…Somehow I ended up saying all this. Well, next is the first-floor café, the meeting place—do you want anything to drink?”
“If I want something to drink…”
“Don’t worry. Employees get discounts, and since it’s purchased with the activity support fee issued on the day, it’s all treated as business expense.”
Business expense… wait a second.
Then… if I eat anything, can it all be processed as business expense?
A long-suppressed sense suddenly lit up with a feeling as if a light had been forcibly switched on, and the emptiness that had been seeping out with my breath felt thick in my throat, nasal cavity, and nose.
It was very clear what this meant. For a moment Han Seol-ah turned her face toward me, but whatever I was going to say had already been decided.
I took a deep breath and added gravely.
“By the way.”
“Yes?”
“Can I even have a meal with that?”
Why not.
I was human too—I just wanted to eat something.
“In this lifetime I guess I was wrong about dieting.”
Han Seol-ah, who had been twirling pasta onto her fork, added as if sighing.
If I felt sorry for her, it was unfortunate, but I had a body incapable of empathy for that statement. I was the kind of physique that lost weight so quickly from eating that it was a total value-for-money disaster. And it was fortunate that the modern world made calorie replenishment ridiculously easy.
At this point there was no need to mention my peculiarity, so I quietly stuffed a slice of pizza into my mouth.
“Is there no exercise that helps you lose weight? You have an incredibly good body line.”
“High-intensity interval training paired with diet control, burning body fat with a rowing machine or burpees…”
“…As expected, there’s nothing easy in this world.”
But that didn’t mean there were no ways to answer the question. In the end, I had no choice but to give the most basic reply.
Originally, even just breathing made me burn more than double the calories of an adult male—how could I expect someone to give me dieting tips?
While she fell silent again, I was thinking of other things in my head.
“…A connection device?”
Total fryse was quite substantial. It should be roughly double or triple the price of a high-end setup computer.
Of course there were differences depending on the model, but it was a price even adults found hard to touch easily.
Of course, that was why there had been options.
“Usually, everyone rents a connection device for a long time. You pay about 50,000 won a month and go to an internet café to pick up a pre-registered device from the box and play the game.”
“An internet café?”
“The official name is Private Control Room, but everyone calls it that. The box is a single-person capsule for privacy protection.”
An internet café.
That word, which gave me a strange sense of déjà vu, almost made me give a laugh.
“Excluding the esports season, the time-acceleration ratio is basically maintained at 1:3, so even if you play for a long time there won’t be much hindrance to daily life.”
I nodded slightly and recalled how much usable money I had in my pocket right now.
Since I had returned, it had already been more than a couple of months, and time was always a solution to many problems.
It was still hard to get back all the money that hadn’t been paid yet, but
Paying in full was a bit burdensome, but installment payments would be no problem at all.
Also, according to my personal preference, the machine had to be sturdy and guarantee maximum variety and superior performance, so even if it was the latest model, there was always some chance that not everything would be good.
While I was checking the device list shown again,
“Payment methods vary—confirm and tell us. Many streamers on our broadcasting platform Tricky also pay that way.”
“…I’ll think about that later.”
…That was a really curious mood.
No matter how much I acknowledged that the world I had returned from had become a game, one by one prickly, inconvenient facts kept popping up like thorns.
If I had finished everything and come back, my heart might have been lighter, but without bringing every member of the task force or every friend and teammate of mine to this world, it would be impossible.
So… the only way was to finish what I had to do in this world as quickly and as surely as possible.
For the sake of forgetting the sudden stray thoughts as well, I spoke.
“I’ll go with this model. Installment for twelve months.”
“Ah, you’ve already decided?”
“I don’t really like dragging things out too long.”
If it had been a battlefield where every choice meant life or death, it would have been different, but in a situation where choosing any option made no great difference, deciding based on what I felt was better.
Apparently she hadn’t expected me to choose so quickly, and the two of them looked even more surprised than I was.
But as always, things moved forward. They verified cross-check after checking the touchpad with the entered personal information, then input account details and linked it to the pad.
Naturally, I had no other options besides purchase.
“Yes, confirmed. The device will be delivered to your home. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anytime. Also, because the in-game application of the physical engine takes a little time, delivery is expected to begin around three days from now.”
“Are there other ways besides delivery?”
“If you don’t want to wait, there’s also the option to come pick it up yourself—it’ll be easier if you do.”
“That sounds better.”
“Then we’ll arrange it that way.”
That was the end.
After that, questions about the game continued.
Information about the system inside the game was something I would learn for myself by playing, so the part that drew the most attention was separate.
“I’ve heard the word esports several times—there must be a lot of tournaments.”
“Ah, you’re interested in that side of things.”
It hadn’t come from simple curiosity; a lot of personal emotions had mixed in, but… what did it matter. The fact that I was interested didn’t change.
While pushing back the resentment I wanted to vent about my bloody past and the world where countless people had died, I asked.
“There are so many tournaments held, but the most famous one is probably the Dark Zone World Championship League. As the name suggests, the main attraction is the competition between teams selected through local championships.”
“Competition is the main interest, right?”
“Exactly.”
By now the meal was almost finished, but the conversation on this topic had just begun.
“Nations that are familiar with firearms will have a big advantage, won’t they?”
“Indeed. Especially after the game service began, the United States has never dropped from first place even once. Below that are Europe, Korea, Japan, and Russia, who keep swapping places.”
So that was why.
The United States really was… a gun paradise. And they couldn’t even follow on infrastructure.
As if driving a nail into my understanding, the explanation continued while looking toward somewhere far away.
“Even in individual and squad categories, it’s still evaluated as hard to catch up to the United States.”
“Because of that, people are saying that even active-duty members of the U.S. military can’t do it.”
“…Can even current ninjas or mole rats do it?”
“Eh?”
“Ah, I misspoke just now.”
Damned slang. Having been talking with team leaders and captains for so long, these words had come out naturally.
I quickly corrected.
“Even active SOF members or soldiers—if they can connect, wouldn’t that break fairness?”
“I don’t know what SOF is, but of course there are restrictions in that area. A separate server is assigned, and unless you’re retired, you can’t match with each other.”
“There are measures in place for that.”
“Realistic physicals infiltrating even the in-game part isn’t balanced.”
It was a rather rational solution.
But that didn’t mean my curiosity ended there, and instead another question popped up, tail chasing tail.
“Then, in the opposite direction, do accumulated experiences from playing the game also affect reality?”
“I can’t say there’s none, but that part also has measures in place.”
“Senses might get distorted.”
“Exactly.”
The others sipping coffee afterward added.
“For the prevention of accidents and terrorism, hard-core play is prohibited, and all variables must be reproduced identically to reality inside the game.”
“Therefore, variables for all interactions in the game are adjusted quite differently from reality. That’s why even someone who shoots guns a lot in the game can’t become a marksman in real life.”
“There are a lot of them.”
“Because of the worldwide reach of Dark Zone’s influence, it’s operated this way even if it’s a bit complicated.”
…It was taking longer than I thought.
While I was starting to get confused whether I had come for the game or for a lecture, fortunately it was starting to wrap up.
“Besides that, all firearm operation, movement, interaction—including reloading and so on—are the same. Free customization in Dark Zone is also to make people misread their senses.”
“It’s written in the platform subscription terms, but almost everyone scrolls right past it.”
“…Terms are like that, aren’t they?”
Of course, that didn’t mean I should skip all the terms or I’d be in trouble later.
Anyway, I organized the information in my head.
In summary, the first point was that active special forces members couldn’t match with civilians and only retired people could connect, and the second was sensory-variable adjustment to prevent possible confusion in reality through accumulated muscle memory.
Was this one of the two safety devices in this game?
Since it was my first time encountering this kind of thing, I wasn’t sure if it was systematic, but since it was rolling along without any noise, it didn’t seem like something I needed to worry about.
With that, the meal had finally ended.
There was no doubt I hadn’t filled my daily calorie needs, but I had at least managed to cover the minimum somehow.
The rest I decided to fill at home, and before arriving at the parking lot I continued talking.
A single car with no one inside. The back seat had been converted to a bed-like shape for lying down, and the navigation screen was mounted in the center.
I might not see it again, but I greeted the male and female members of the PR support team waving above the slowly rising window.
It was farewell.
“Thank you for working hard today.”
“Not at all. Drive safe.”
“Thank you!”
Leaving the parking lot smoothly without any special vibration or noise, the sun was now setting below the horizon.
Just moments ago it had been so bright I could barely look at it directly, but now it had become a glowing red ball casting the world into darkness.
While crossing Mapo Bridge and entering Gangbyeok-ro, the car filled with the light of evening-commute vehicles as if trying to fill the emptiness of the setting sun on the way home.
Using that as mood lighting, I lay down on the back seat converted to a bed.
It was soft and comfortable.
“…”
What kind of time was waiting ahead? Maybe the two figures of encouragement I sometimes dreamed of weren’t just my anxiety given form.
Setting aside the complicated thoughts, I closed my eyes.
My shoulders felt heavy.