Lee Hyun scratched his head. Even his decision to leave school wasn't as hard to make.
So which answer is the right one?
He thought ethics was an easy subject, but it proved to have such complicated questions.
Well, 3 of the answers are correct...
After pondering for a while he opted to the 2nd answer. 5th looked correct as well, but 'leaving the wallet' wasn't the best choice.
Other ethics questions weren't as hard, and Hyun answered them with ease.
I'm totally getting a full mark for ethics.
Ethics was last subject, so with it he finished his exam.
"In my last trip to Ross Gleasis I got a new weapon. Shining Golden Axe! With 60+ damage!"
"What about bonus stats?"
"Strength +45, Agility -10, increased chance to not to encounter bandits while travelling; if it falls in water it will be lost."
"Whoa! Cool!"
In the hallways, people who just finished their exam, were standing in small groups. And almost all of them were talking about Royal Road.
"Golden axe..."
Axes in the game had the highest damage attribute, but their attack range and speed were considered to be the lowest. Even though every hit from an axe would deal tremendous damage, it didn't matter much if you couldn't land even one of them. So, if you knew how to wield an axe, you were a really dangerous fighter.
Lee Hyun picked up his bag and started walking towards the exit. He wasn't in a hurry so he decided to walk behind that gossiping group of guys. He wanted to hear the rest of their conversation.
One of the guys looked to be around 30 years old; the other two were a bit younger.
"Joong Hoon, I'm jealous. When we left school all we did was drinking..."
"Yeah, we were just fooling around, while you're a Dark Gamers Union member..."
Dark Gamer?
Dark Gamer was a name for players who were making money through games.
But Hyun was most surprised by the reaction of two other guys: they knew who that man was and they were jealous.
Isn't he ashamed?
Lee Hyun thought that there's nothing to be proud about if you earn money by playing games. Because you're not making anything useful, not bringing anything new into the world, you just make money out of thin air. And were games to disappear, you'd be one of the most useless people in the world.
"Joong Hoon, what's your level?"
"My level? Let's see... what was it... 355."
"That's huge! I have a lot of friends in game, but none of them are of such a high level. And what's your rating?"
"I'm in the top 10000."
The number of players in the game went over 100 millions, so being in top 10000 meant a lot.
Already at 355th level. Lucky one.
Lee Hyun couldn't hide his envy and slowed down his pace. To get home he had to take a bus.
However Joong Hoon and two guys stopped on the parking lot near a foreign car.
"Get in, I'll show you what being a dark gamer is."
"Really? Thanks!"
They got in a car and Hyun didn't have a choice but to be on his way to bus stop, when Joong Hoon called out to Hyun:
"Hey! We have a spare seat, wanna join? If you live nearby I'll give you a lift."
Hyun started to consider if he should accept the invitation, but the man continued:
"It's fine. I see you play Royal Road as well. I noticed that you were listening to our conversation. We're headed to the regular meeting of dark gamers at the moment. If you want, you can join us."
Dark gamers were gathering at an abandoned warehouse.
Inside a huge building there were a couple of capsules, a long table, and multiple chairs.
"Before we start our meeting, I'll tell you about our Union..."
He introduced himself as Choi Joong Hoon and continued with a smile:
"How many people in your opinion make money by selling items from Royal Road? Not just once or twice, but those who make a living that way?"
"A few tens of thousands?" - asked one of the guys after a bit of thought.
Choi Joong Hoon shook his head.
"Not less than a hundred thousand."
"So many?"
"And most of them are from India, China and some other countries of East Asia."
International borders meant nothing for Royal Road. Any person from any country was able to enjoy the game using capsule. Even the language barrier was removed, thanks to the automatic speech translation software, provided by Unicon Corporation.
"I heard there's a trading company in Korea that works only with Royal Road..."
"That's true. They sell items and in-game money obtained by their employees. I'm not going to criticize them, they made their own decision. But we made ours, and do not want publicity. A lot of our members are unsociable by nature and prefer to be alone... Players like that wouldn't be able to show their potential in a big company. That is why we created The Dark Gamers Union."
Choi Joong Hoon's words slightly confused recruits.
"Then what does being in the Union mean?"
"Good Question. The main reason for Union is information exchange. Our union accumulates information gathered by members. It allows you to learn about hunting grounds, good dungeons, profitable trading routes and rare monsters..."
"Wow, you share information? So it means that once I join the Union I get access to the information database?"
"Unfortunately, it's not so easy. You can't get all the information immediately. Member's access level is determined by his rank within the Union."
"Eh, why's that?