Viewing as Guest
Chapter 1: Crow
Author: Lei
Date Published: August 27th, 2013
*NOTE: This Fan Fiction is only loosely based on the Moonlight Sculptor novel by Nam Hi Sung. Everything besides the basic concepts of Royal Road is pretty much made up. Warning: this chapter contains mature content.*
“What do you think?”
“Well… that’s…”
“Aren’t they perfect, though? Like birds soaring up…”
“Some of them are okay, like Lark… but Pewee? Boo-- Booby?”
“What’s wrong with those names? They’re perfectly fine.”
“…”
“You’re too serious, Mr. Kim. These girls are strong. They’ll be fine.”
--
Park Sun Ja pushed open the door. Ha Yoon couldn’t see because she was at the back, but she heard the intakes of the others. As she filed in, she first took notice of the chilly, sterile room, with its white tiled floors and walls. Then she suppressed a gasp of wonder.
They were capsules. Ha Yoon had never seen one before; she had heard of them before her confinement, but that was a long, long time ago, and one she didn’t want to remember. The shiny capsules neatly lined the room, in five rows of ten. Each capsule had a number inscribed on the top, from 1 to 50.
Park Sun Ja nodded towards the capsules. “This is the Link Room. You’ll be spending most of your time here. These capsules are the new prototypes that allow people to sleep in them while playing. Each of you will be assigned a capsule. Of course, you will be wakened for scheduled meal times, bathroom breaks, and exercise, all of which will occur in the other rooms.”
The authoritative woman straightened her suit and strode across the room to the large double doors on the other side. The inmates silently followed, trailed by the alert guards. Ha Yoon’s fingers grazed the top of a capsule. It was cold and smooth, and she hurriedly pulled her hand back lest a guard take notice.
Park Sun Ja nodded to the guard next to the door, who unlocked it with a key swipe. The door slid open. “In this hall is the dining room, bathroom, and exercise room.” She pointed at three doors. “You will be accompanied at all times by a guard. Thirty minutes of daily exercise is mandatory.”
She gestured back towards the capsules as the door slid back in with a click. “Today will be your first experience with Royal Road. Wait quietly as you are given your number.”
Some of the inmates looked excited. Many were dazed, as if they didn’t understand what was happening. What did she say this “Royal Road” thing was again? They had to spend all their time in… those things?
Ha Yoon felt a tremor of excitement. If she was in those capsules, there would be no more beatings. No more Harpies. No more Harpy One, who was currently strutting confidently towards capsule number 14.
It would be no different from a prison cell, but at least she wouldn’t be there.
As Ha Yoon watched, a flash of uncertainty swept across Harpy One’s face as the capsule opened. But then she looked up and met Ha Yoon’s eyes with a vicious grin. I’m coming for you, said those wicked eyes. I’m coming for you, Ha Yoon. Then she went in and was gone.
Soon afterward, a man in a white lab coat came up to Ha Yoon. “Kim Ha Yoon… you’re number 18.” With just that short sentence, he nodded and walked away.
Ha Yoon walked over to number 18. Besides the number on the top, it looked like all the others. Her new prison cell… she stepped in without a moment of hesitation.
The inside was padded. It was rather comfortable, actually, and a remarkable improvement from her rock-hard, stiff mattress in the cell. And it was clean. There wasn’t much space to move around, and she wasn’t sure what to do, but as the capsule closed and darkness swallowed her up, she shut her eyes.
Something whirred and a spike of fear shot up her spine, but then a warmth surrounded her and she drifted away…
And then she was floating in a sea of whiteness. It was hard to describe the sensation—a place without borders, just whiteness, all around, everywhere.
A feminine voice sounded around her. It was impossible to distinguish where it originated from, just like the whiteness. It was a voice without emotion, but it was calm and firm, and sounded just like a real person.
“The scan on your retina and iris has determined that you are a user registered in the program HOPE. Would you like to see a list of the avatar names you can choose, or have it decided at random?”
“List.”
Words like Lark, Sparrow, and Hawk appeared in front of her eyes. Amazed, she put her hand out and tried to touch them, but her hand just swished through the whiteness and she felt nothing. The black words were like the whiteness—untouchable. She drew her hand back and looked through the list.
From the ones she could recognize, they were the names of birds. Apparently, she had to choose one of them. A few of the names were already struck out with a line, which might mean that one of the other inmates had already chosen it. With a quick look, she determined that there were 50 bird names. One for each of them.
As she contemplated, a name was struck out. The person before her, number 17, must have chosen. The avatar name wasn’t really that important. She wasn’t sure what it would be used for, or what an avatar was, either. But for some reason, she felt drawn to those names.
The crow. She had always felt a kindred spirit with those black, beady-eyed creatures. Disliked, even despised, by humans, the crow was resilient and tough. She admired its ability to thrive in a multitude of environments with cunning and fearlessness.
“Crow.”
Even as she spoke, Crow in the chart was slashed out. The names disappeared.
“Your race, location, and appearance have been predetermined. Do you wish to see the details?”
Ha Yoon nodded.
“Your race is Human. Location will be at Haven, Kingdom of Humans. You will appear as you are. For more detailed information, use the “Stats” command.
You will be transferred to the city of Granheim in the kingdom of Haven.”
The whiteness was suddenly replaced by darkness. Surprised, she flailed out, and… stumbled face first into the ground.
Her face felt numb. It didn’t really hurt, but something tasted earthy. Dirt… this was the taste of dirt. Confused, she pushed herself up. Someone giggled behind her, and she looked around herself with bewildered eyes. Where was she?
“Look at that noob. Totally faceplanted.”
“Haha, I never thought I’d actually see that happen in my life.”
Crow wiped the dirt from her mouth. She vaguely remembered the voice in the whiteness telling her that this was a kingdom called Haven. But how could this be? It was so… realistic. And there were… there were people around her. She was in some kind of a plaza. It was so noisy. The dining hall in the prison was always filled with some chatter, but this was on another level. It was familiar. The sound of a city…
“Guess it’s something you can only see in a game. Hahaha.”
This was a game? This was Royal Road?
She stood up shakily. If so, then this was so much more than what she had hoped for. Colors filled her eyes, and something wet rolled down her face. Her chest felt tight. This wasn’t a prison cell. There were no guards here to scrutinize her every move. Could it be? Was she… free?
Calm down, Ha Yoon. No, it was Crow now, wasn’t it. The voice in the whiteness had told her to check something called “Stats” for more details.
With a trembling voice, she called out, “Stats.”
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She hadn’t played a game like this before, so wrapping her head around the strange terms and numbers was difficult. She shook her head, and as soon as her attention drifted from the chart, it disappeared like magic. Amazing. This was technology? What was it called… virtual… virtual reality?
Well, as incredible as it was, she was here now. She suddenly realized that a lot of people were staring at her. Alarmed, she resisted the urge to curl up into a ball and scurried away instead.
Where was she going? Her sandals made pounding noises on the ground as she fled, and her simple white woven shirt chafed along her skin. No longer was she wearing the dirty bright orange of her prison attire. Crow ducked into alleyways, avoiding the people who looked at her. The momentary panic subsided and she began to pant, but she didn’t stop. It was glorious. Running… running was incredible. The wind on her cheek, the growing warmth of her muscles, even the cramp in her side—everything was so realistic!
There were smells, too. When she stopped, she found herself on the edge of a big road with lots of people. There were stands selling food, and the fragrance of meat pies and popcorn assailed her nostrils. So even eating was a part of this game. Although it was tempting, she stepped back into the darkness of the alley and walked away. There were too many people there.
Crow walked a little slower, thinking. This was an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar world, so she had to be careful. There were lots of people, too, so it must be a city. A big city.
What was she supposed to do in this game? There had to be some kind of motive. If all those people were other players, then… then they were regular people playing an extraordinary game. So the world had advanced this far while she had been wasting away…
She felt bitter. It was something she hadn’t felt in a long time. The first few times that the Harpies had raped and beaten her, she had fought back, clawing at their faces with a terror she thought she’d lost. But that just earned her more kicks and slaps and jeers, each blow blossoming into a bruise on her pale skin, so after a few times she stopped resisting. As they mounted her, one by one, and defiled her and sucked and groped and licked, she had felt hatred at first, but that soon dulled to bitterness, and then even that disappeared. Empty. Like spiders having their fill on a helpless, cocooned insect, they sucked her dry. She was just a husk. It was best to stay in the darkness, to be unnoticed, like the carapace of an insect left to wither away.
But the sight of all these people nonchalantly playing this game filled her with anger. She sighed and leaned into the brick of the alleyway. These feelings weren’t going to do her any good. Feelings like these were dangerous. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, stowing the disturbance deep into her heart, and began to walk again.
Crow was walking aimlessly, her eyes greedily taking in the sights around her, when she bumped into a girl. With a little yelp, the girl fell to the ground along with the pile of fabrics that she’d been hauling in her arms. Crow leapt back and thought about running away, but the sight of the tiny girl who looked to be on the verge of tears made her stop.
With a closer look, the maturity of the facial bones revealed that this girl was actually a woman. Her petite frame was deceiving—her face was strained and furrowed with wrinkles. She looked to be in her mid thirties, or even her early forties.
And… and her face kind of looked like the Miss, the homely serving lady at the dining hall. The resemblance was slight, but the pursed lips were the same. Crow made her decision. She stepped forward, and knelt to start gathering the fabrics.
“Oh… oh, I’m so sorry,” the woman murmured, pushing a frazzle of hair from her watery eyes. “I’m.. I’m… waaaaaah!”
Suddenly, the woman burst into tears. Shocked, Crow froze, glued to the spot. What was she supposed to do? The woman crawled closer and wept into Crow’s shoulder. What the… what the fuck?