The Second Game: Preparations (2)

Anyone who's read a martial arts novel will have come across the term gubaerye—the Rite of the Nine Bows.

What it means, in short, is the ceremonial prostration offered when a master and disciple formally seal their bond.

Some places explain it as a ritual in which the disciple bows to the master nine times in succession, and that description alone was a word that sat perfectly in Yujin's heart.

A ceremony in which the disciple, with full propriety, drives their skull into the floor nine whole times before the master.

As a citizen of a Confucian nation where age itself was office and rank, he could not imagine a rite that better expressed reverence toward a teacher.

Which was why, right now, having just accepted Sia as his disciple, Yujin was locked in ferocious internal debate over whether or not to make her perform the Rite of the Nine Bows.

In the end, after much agonizing, he decided to show truly monumental mercy and spare her the ordeal.

A warm swell of self-satisfaction rose in his chest: yes, he was not one of those crusty old fogeys who weaponized Confucian etiquette to oppress the young.

"Unnie, I'm sorry. Our oppa wasn't originally this much of a mess, but ever since he came back home a little while ago, it's like something's wrong with his head…"

"…Came back home? Wait—Yujin-ssi… no, Teacher—did he go study abroad or something?"

"Uh… study abroad… it's kind of like that, and also kind of not…"

"…?"

Gyeoul and Sia were muttering together in small voices, but Yujin paid it no mind.

The family tree seemed to have been successfully sorted out; from here on he trusted that communication among them would flow a good deal more smoothly.

"Um… first of all, Teacher, after Nightfall, what game were you thinking of making your next content?"

At Sia's question Yujin merely shrugged and looked at Gyeoul.

Gyeoul let out a quiet sigh and answered in his place.

"I don't really know what oppa was thinking, but I was planning to recommend One of Thousand to him. Going straight back into another story-driven single-player game risks locking a fixed image into people's heads."

"Ahh… looking at it that way, it doesn't sound like a bad choice."

One of Thousand.

Abbreviated OOS. Or simply Thousand.

It was the game currently rated the most successful among all existing virtual-reality titles—and, at the same time, the one accused of single-handedly driving nearly every multiplayer-focused genre, AOS included, into extinction.

In the early days of first-generation VR, the titles that ruled the industry had been AOS games, without question.

That was only natural. AOS titles had already commanded massive concrete fanbases long before VR games ever properly arrived. Even when the medium shifted into virtual reality, those fans were not simply going to vanish overnight. The phenomenon had been entirely predictable.

But time passed. VR games developed until they became nearly indistinguishable from reality itself, and the situation began to change.

More precisely: with the arrival of Thousand, the great majority of gamers went wild for it and poured in en masse.

How popular was it? Popular enough that, some time ago already, it had been selected as an official Olympic e-sports event, beating out every other game.

Thousand was a game that encompassed every existing genre.

You could run five-versus-five team battles the way you did in AOS, fight one-on-one duels like a fighting game, or battle royale-style until only a single survivor remained. All of it was fully possible.

But the real reason people went mad for Thousand was something else entirely.

It was because anyone—literally anyone—who logged into Thousand could become a special existence.

"That's because of Thousand's 'Unique Skill' system."

"Unique Skill?"

"A skill of your very own that every person who connects to Thousand receives. A kind of personal privilege, I guess."

In Thousand, the system reads a user's physical data and the save files of every game they have ever played, then grants them a skill perfectly tailored to that individual.

And among the tens of millions of Thousand users, not a single one is said to share the same Unique Skill with anyone else.

A skill that exists only for you in all the world—one no one else can ever imitate!

Under those conditions, it would have been stranger if people who encountered Thousand failed to go crazy for it.

"There are plenty of other unique systems that exist only inside Thousand, but… I'll leave the explanation here for now. If we start going over every little detail, we could easily talk until dawn."

"Hmm."

"Well, since the topic came up, want to go ahead and make a Thousand account? You'll have to make one eventually—better to get it done early and make life easier."

At Gyeoul's words Yujin tilted his head, looking faintly puzzled.

"Do we really need to make an account right this second? Can't I just create it later with the viewers watching?"

"…What?"

"Last time, when I first started Nightfall, proving I was a total VR beginner and then playing got a really good reaction. I figured we could go the same route this time."

Yujin thought he had made a rather sharp point for once, but Gyeoul only stared at him with an expression of pure disbelief.

"Are you insane? You're going to reveal your Unique Skill in front of a live audience? That's basically social suicide."

"…?"

When Yujin failed to follow, Sia gave a bitter little smile and explained.

"Teacher… what Gyeoul means is that if your Unique Skill gets revealed on stream, it could come back to hurt you later. Unique Skills are as powerful as they are, but their weaknesses are just as clear. If those become public knowledge, it can be pretty fatal."

"Hmm…"

Honestly, the whole thing made no sense to Yujin.

Back in the other world, every last demon race had known the forms and weaknesses of his Demon-Slaying Sword as common ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knowledge.

If you had a weakness, you simply crushed it under even greater power. Why on earth would anyone waste their life worrying about something like that?

"Arguing about it here is probably ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pointless. Rather than us explaining until we're blue in the face, it would be better for Teacher to experience Thousand directly."

At Sia's urging, Yujin left the café and, together with the others, logged into Thousand.

Yujin gave a light nod. Light began to shimmer from somewhere, then gently enfolded his body.

Yujin nodded once more. The light that had been wrapping around him contracted into a round sphere and slipped cleanly into his chest.

Flash—!

At the same moment those words appeared, Yujin realized he was standing in a pure white space.

"Oppa, you made it?"

"Character creation finished a little faster than I expected. I thought you'd be stuck for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠while before you got here."

Gyeoul and Sia, who had logged in a step ahead of him, were already waiting in that space.

"So what Unique Skill did you get assigned? I feel like oppa of all people would get some broken god-tier skill."

"It's not completely impossible. One of the rumored conditions the system uses when selecting a Unique Skill is physical ability, after all."

Looking at the two of them chattering away on either side of him, Yujin opened his mouth.

"Unique Skill check."

…Of all things, the Unique Skill has to be called Master of Swords.

Whether he should call the naming sense coincidental or simply absurd, Yujin could only twist his lips into a wry smile.

It almost made him suspect that Thousand's system had gone and dug through the internet before slapping that name onto his skill.

"…What is this?"

Meanwhile, after reading the description of Yujin's Unique Skill, Gyeoul and Sia both tilted their heads.

To their eyes, the skill description was written in far too vague and sweeping language.

"What does it even mean that he can materialize swords he's had a connection with? Oppa, did you understand any of that?"

"Who knows. We can just try it and find out."

Saying so, Yujin pictured in his mind the sword he had used for twenty years in the other world—the Holy Sword Altina.

And nothing happened.

…As expected. No good.

He hadn't been hoping for it from the start. Even inside a virtual-reality game, fully reconstructing the holy sword he had wielded in another world was simply too much.

In that case, a sword I could materialize without strain would be…

In that moment something suddenly flashed through Yujin's mind.

If he could materialize that, it might have an enormous impact on his streams from now on.

…But can you even call that a sword?

Still, from what he had been told last time, its true form was a sword, wasn't it?

Broadly speaking, it still fell under the category of "sword," so it might be included among the things he could materialize.

He had nothing to lose either way. Yujin focused his mind and pictured it with all his strength—

"…Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Watching from the side, Gyeoul's mouth fell wide open.

"…Mmm. Where am I this time? Lately these things keep happening far too often. First I got sucked into some singularity, and now I'm being summoned into a strange space…"

The undisputed mascot of Nightfall, and the partner who had stood beside Yujin through every stream so far.

Yuria herself now stood fully materialized in that white space.