Ch. 72 - Tenth Ghost Story - Minecraft's Herobrine (5)

As we continued to walk through the endless forest, the sun soon began to set on the west horizon and evening approached. The surroundings quickly became dark as the once green forest turned eerie.

“It’s already so dark. I can’t see anything ahead.”

Although we had been using the transparent wall as our guide, we couldn't see anything beyond it because of the darkness around. The boundary line which was our exploration objective, seemed to disappear completely, unless we bumped onto it.

“In movies, I saw people creating sparks to make a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together.”

While trying to imagine the process of creating fire which I saw in movies, I rubbed the piece of wood that Sunah had been holding with the one in my hand that I had picked up on our way.

However, even after rubbing for a while, not even a single spark was visible.

Sunah, who had been watching my desperate attempt to create fire, soon looked around. As if she discovered something, she suddenly opened her mouth.

“Joon, I can see a cave over there…”

“Oh.”

Looking in the direction Sunah was pointing, a miniature hill, as tall as our shoulders, came into view. Buried between the tall trees around us, it was barely visible with its apex poked out through the trees.

I would have surely missed it if Sunah hadn't pointed it out.

A very small cave was seen just at the foot of the hill. We would need to bend our knees to peak inside or get in.

The cave suddenly made me remember the small round houses of hobbits shown in the movie ‘Lord of the Rings’.

“Do any animals live inside? Let’s try to get in.”

Perhaps if we could venture inside, we might get our hands on some useful items.

“A rabbit!”

As we approached the tiny cave-like hole, a small block shaped rabbit suddenly jumped out of it. Seeing us, it quickly ran away as if frightened from our presence.

“Wow, it’s cute…”

Sunah bent down to pet it. But the startled rabbit quickly slipped between her legs and ran away.

In front of our astonished eyes, the rabbit swiftly hopped past the transparent wall, without being blocked by it. It soon disappeared amidst the thick trees.

“What? It seems mobs can pass through the wall.”

As I took another look, I realized that trees similar to this side were also seen growing on the other side and along the border.

If it wasn't for the presence of the transparent wall, there would have been no differences between the scenery on both sides.

Could it be that this transparent wall, which supposedly marks the edge of the world, only blocks players from crossing?

With the rabbit disappearing behind the woods, I quickly bent down and began to search inside the hole the rabbit had escaped from.

“Do you see anything, Joon?”

“The hole is too narrow, I can't see much inside. I guess I'll have to bend down and go in. Could you keep a watch on the perimeter?”

“Okay.”

As soon as I finished speaking and was about to get into the hole, a large spider, with a usual block shaped body, suddenly began approaching us out of nowhere.

At the sight of the spider, much larger in size than the ones we were used to seeing, Sunah flinched back before throwing a rock at it.

“There’s nothing inside.”

The inside of the hole was extremely narrow and nothing particularly special caught my eyes. However, the walls felt rough to the touch, as if they were made of some sort of stone.

I carefully looked around, in case I missed something. At that time, a stone suddenly fell in front of me, and at the same time, a message hovered before me.

[You have obtained coal.]

‘So coal is found here?’

As expected, since coal was necessary to create fire and the most basic material for that purpose in the game, the system appeared to have compromised with reality and somehow made it easier to obtain it.

The other natural elements were implemented quite realistically, however, the gathering of coal seemed to have been compromised so that a player could get it by just mining rocks.

“Okay. Fire!”

Whish.

As I combined the coal, which I just obtained with the wooden stick at hand, a flame immediately burst out, lightening up the surrounding in an orange glow.

The giant spider, that had been slowly approaching from afar also noticed the flame at my hand and quickly backed away.

“Here, you can take this one.”

“Yeah!”

Quickly and efficiently, I crafted another torch and equipped one for Sunah and one for me. After that, we resumed our walk through the dark forest again.

“A lot of time seems to have passed.”

“Grandma must be very worried…”

Under the full moon, which also had a hexagonal shape, we walked side by side, searching for a way to cross the transparent wall.

For a moment, I felt a bit uncomfortable to be in the woods, walking beside a friend.

As a student, I rarely ever stayed outside during the night, not to mention never in the woods alone without my parents.

But since there was a reason for me to be out in the woods so late at night, I had to continue this journey as far as I could.

Swish, swish.

“Ah, the sun is rising.”

Before long, the surrounding of the forest started to brighten again. The night had already passed and dawn arrived with the beginning of a new day.

Time seemed to pass much faster in the game than in reality.

[Admin (Oh Dukhun): Has anyone found anything?]

“Not yet.”

Forgot about finding anything, all I could see was vast, endless, rows of trees stretched before me and hexagonal ground beneath my feet.

‘How long do we have to walk?’

The temperature of the forest seemed to turn a bit cooler because of dawn.

Seeing nothing but rows of trees in front of us, I decided to climb up a tree to ensure how vast the forest was.

“Sunah, let’s craft a ladder and climb up one of the trees. We need to take a look around to see how far we have to walk.”

“Joon, here. Make the ladder around this tree…”

Soon, we started digging the soil just like before when we made our shelter and started building the steps of the ladder.

“Huuu.”

We began to make the steps as we climbed up to the top of the tree with the ladder.

Such a feat of building stairs as you climbed up the steps could only be done in games.

After reaching the top, I cleared away the lush leaves and branches before poking my head out between them.

“Huuu, Hoo.”

Finally, for what seemed like eternity, I breathed in the fresh air that didn't smell like the forest.

The pleasant greeny smell of the forest that I had the opportunity of smelling felt quite nice at first. Since I was born and raised in the city, I didn't get many chances to be in the woods. But because I had been breathing in it for a long time, the smell soon overcame my sense of smell and my head started to hurt.

“Let me see. How far do we still have to walk?”

From above the peak of the tall trees, the whole forest seemed to be glowing under the morning sun.

Fortunately, as my gaze got lost in the horizon, I saw the rows of trees ending and a vast land covered by lush green grass appearing just at the end of it.

“Wow, the view is pretty.”

“I want to see it too…”

Sunah had been following me up the stairs so she was behind me.

As she voiced her wish to view the scenery, I put a few blocks beside the step I was standing on and made a small platform for her to stand on.

Clearing away the leaves and the branches in front of her, she also poked out her head through them.

The forest that seemed to be glowing, and the horizon of the endless grassland in the distance.

For us, children who were born and raised in the forest of buildings of Seoul, it was a breathtaking sight to behold. Even though 70 percent of the country was covered with enormous mountains, the sight before us was something we never had the opportunity to witness before.

“Wow…..”

“Pretty, right?”

“Yeah…..”

Side by side, we blankly stared at the magnificent scenery in front of us.

Something occurred to me, so I slowly opened my mouth, my eyes still stuck at the faraway horizon.

“Why did you reject going with Hayoon earlier?”

At the carefully but suddenly asked question, Sunah flinched for a moment. Then, she slowly whispered with a weary expression.

“Because I was flustered…”

I nodded quietly.

Hayoon, a beautiful girl from a rich family who was born with a diamond spoon, and Sunah, a timid girl who was born dirt poor.

I could comprehend the differences between them and their awkward interactions, however, I had no idea how to comfort her.

Therefore, for a long while, we just continued looking at the horizon, enjoying the morning breeze that caressed our faces.

Breaking the silence, I muttered softly.

"Let's try to give our best, Sunah."

At those words, Sunah puffed her cheeks with a determined expression and nodded strongly.

"Yeah... If we just walk a little faster, I think we can reach the end of this jungle.”

Soon, we climbed down the stairs and resumed our journey once again. The rows of trees were coming to an end, and soon we reached a place where the densely packed trees had already become sparsely spaced.

The forest of trees that had been blocking the sky was about to end.

The moment we reached the end of the dense trees, a brilliant light poured in from the end of the forest in the distance.

"Sunah, run! We're gonna reach the end soon!"

"Huff, huff!"

There was no reason for us to hurry, but we started running like a bunch of excited children running for the ice cream truck.

Trees on both sides passed by quickly and soon became our background.

"Huff, huff."

“Haah, hah.”

“Huuuh-!”

Thump.

Finally, we reached the end of the forest and stepped into the plains.

The endless pastures appeared before our eyes with its full glory.

“Whoa!”

Sunah, who followed me from behind, wiped off the sweat on her forehead.

“Where is it, where is the transparent wall?”

After crossing through the forest for a whole day and night, we reached a vast open meadow. However, because of our running, we lost track of the boundary which we had been using as our guide so far.

In order to not lose our purpose, we resumed walking towards the south again.

The transparent wall, separating two worlds, soon appeared before our vision.

We sat down on the grass at the boundary line, leaning on the transparent wall.

“Huuu, let’s take a short break here. I'm exhausted after all the running.”

“Yeah.”

Sunah also collapsed next to me, probably because the march through the forest was hard for her as well after the continuous walking the previous night.

“I’m hungry.”

“Me too.”

On our way through the forest, I collected some mushrooms which surprisingly could be obtained easily. Opening the inventory, I took them out just in case.

“Do you think these are edible?”

Instead of answering, Sunah stared blankly at the mushrooms.

Placing the few mushrooms in my hand on the ground, I used the torch to roast them.

“Uh, f*ck.”

The flame soon spreaded on the green grass.

Lest the fire spread in the whole meadow, I quickly began stepping onto it quite hard.

The warmth of the fire surrounded my feet, but I endured it somehow and continued to step on it. After successfully putting away the fire, I started roasting mushrooms again.

Soon, a delicious smell wafted to our nose.

“Smells delicious…”

My mouth started to water at the delicious smell and I swallowed my saliva. But I didn't forget my role and served the first mushroom to Sunah.

“Try it, Sunah.”

“Yeah.”

Nom, nom.

Nom, nom.

[5 minutes left before the prepaid time.]

Oh.

For a moment, I stared blankly in front of me, perplexed at the sudden message that entered my ears out of nowhere. Beside me, Sunah was munching on her mushrooms heartily.

[5 minutes left before the prepaid time.]

A robotic female voice once again called out.

As if struck by lightning, realization dawned over me and I came to my senses.

We shouldn't be feeling hungry in a game.

The person eating the mushrooms should be the character of Sunah and me, not our own self. Forget about eating, we shouldn't even feel hungry because we were playing the game, but did not exist inside the game.

Suddenly, I felt a flash of consciousness entering my head.

In a hurry, I took off my headset.

As if I had been pulled out from a long lucid dream, the game screen on the monitor came into view.

The short-haired female character of Sunah was pretending to munch on a bunch of hexagonal mushrooms beside my character.

The noise of the internet cafe noise slowly reached my ears.

“Ah~ What an idiot.”

[En Taro Adun. My Life for Aiur.”

[T/N: En Taro Adun is one of the most famous characters of StarCraft, a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. Aiur is his homeland.]

“Who ordered Shin Ramyun?”

“Here!”

[Half. Half. Half. Call. Call. Die.]

The sound of part-time workers bustling around and carrying cups of ramen.

People chatting with each other.

And people playing StarCraft absentmindedly.

I glanced beside me.

Sunah was blankly staring at her game character eating mushrooms. Her eyes appeared to be out of focus.

“Sunah?”

“……”

“Sunah, Sunah.”

As I shook her shoulders and called her, her eyes finally regained focus. Turning her head, she gave me a confused stare.

“Joon...?”

“Yeah, me. Are you okay?”

Sunah stared blankly at me for a moment, as if she couldn't understand how she could be in an internet cafe bustling with people and not in an endless meadow eating mushrooms, she slowly came to her senses.

“Yeah… I guess I was too engrossed in the game… Why did you call me?”

“Our prepaid time is up. I’m going to recharge it.”

“Yeah, come back soon…”

I stood up from my seat, and glanced at the other members around me, who were all staring affixed on their screen.

They were all engrossed so much in the adventure of the edge of the world that they seemed to forget reality.

Shaking my head, I pushed the chair back.

“I’ll recharge yours too while I’m at it. Can you wait a moment?”

“Yeah, okay…”

What the hell just happened?

If I felt hungry, it should be solved as long as I ate something in real life. However, why was it that I felt eating a few mushrooms in the game could solve my hunger?

While walking to the counter, I pondered hard about it.

‘…So this is the kind of ghost story it is. If that's the case, solving it is going to be a lot of hassle.’

It seemed calling Jinhee and inviting her over was the right decision.

In the game, Sunah wiped away her sweat after running as if it was normal to sweat and huff and puff in a game.

Such an action was something that a character made of block graphics would or could never do.

It was Sunah's habit to wipe away her sweat in reality if she is tired, and such a thing was noticed by me pretty early.

Not to mention, she even mentioned her grandma, worried that if she didn't go back in time, her grandma would be worried.

Such words must have left her mouth because of the sense of reality that was left in her while playing and the passing of time in the game.

The illusion of breathing fresh air when I stuck my head out through the trees after walking around in the forest.

The urge to have some food in the game because I felt hungry.

The delicious smell of roasted mushrooms that wafted to my nose.

The warmth of the flame which I felt while putting away the fire.

“Huuu.”

While thinking of all this, I took a deep breath as I recharged my, as well as Sunah's time with the prepaid card.

At some point, we weren't even aware when the game and reality overlapped. We became so engrossed in the game that the environment and life inside the game became our new reality, without us knowing.

‘Then… If we plan ahead like this, it might work…’

A very good idea popped up in my mind after all the thinking. Nodding to myself as if ensuring, I went back to my seat and began to call the members.

“Guys, guys.”

The members were so absorbed in playing the game that they didn’t bother to respond when I called them.

Only Sunah, who was waiting for me, turned to look at me.

“Dukhun, wake up. Hey.”

“Umm?”

Dukhun had his gaze fixed on the monitor as his hand moved and absentmindedly manipulated his character. Because of the headset, he couldn't hear my call.

His head was buried deep in his shoulders, like a turtle hiding its neck. When I shook him on the side, he sat up straight and blinked several times, puzzled by the sudden interruption.

“Gyeongwon, Gyeongwon.”

The character of Gyeongwon was fishing in a hand-made boat, which was most probably crafted by him.

When I shook him, he shrugged me off with an annoyed expression.

“Can’t you see I’m busy catching fish here! The currency here is strong, which means I can make more money here than getting a job after graduation!”

“Stop talking nonsense and wake up.”

Does that mean he's considering becoming a gamer?

“Hayoon? In Hayoon.”

Hayoon was also absentmindedly wandering through the snowy mountains.

It seemed her character had been dozing off in a corner of a dark cave.

“It’s cold… ”

“Hayoon, come to your senses.”

"...Huh?”

When I shook her delicate shoulders, she finally raised her head. Blinking slowly, she remained still for a moment, as if trying to comprehend if she truly was sitting in a comfortable chair and not on the cold hard ground.

“Let’s go wash our faces before starting the next round. Everyone, stand up.”

With that, I took the members and headed to the bathroom.

A while later.

After washing their faces, all of the members seemed to come to their senses.

Some of them shook their heads, as if they still couldn't get over the dizzying feeling of the game becoming reality. Their consciousness mostly appeared hazy as they slowly regained control over their mind.

“What happened? I felt like we were too immersed…”

Gyeongwon muttered as he rubbed his sore arms, trying to dissipate the feeling of exhaust.

“I feel exhausted from rowing the boat.”

Although he said so, we knew it was nothing but an illusion.

He was just pressing the buttons on the keyboard.

“Oh, how refreshing!”

Dukhun exclaimed loudly as he gulped down the bottle of water he had just bought.

Perhaps because he had wandered around the desert for a long time, his throat felt perched up.

Finally, after all the members came to their senses, we gathered in a circle in front of the bathroom.

“President, do you have any idea why this happened?”

Certainly, I had a vague inclination, however, I have no intention to let them know.

It wasn't because I wanted to put them into danger. I was worried that knowing about the reason might disturb their immersion in the game, especially for members who were still unaware of the fact and haven’t noticed yet.

“I have made a few plans. Would you guys like to listen?”

“What is it?”

“First of all, I’m thinking of building a house.”

“A house?”

As all the members showed a puzzled expression.

I slowly nodded and declared.

“I think I have found a way to cross the edge of the world.”

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