In Search of the Hidden Piece (1)

Virtual Reality.

A world where machines are directly connected to the brain, exchanging all information in real-time, allowing all senses to be digitized, creating an experience indistinguishable from reality. The idea of such a world becoming a reality was not just an exaggeration.

"What is this...?"

Jaeyoung couldn't help but exclaim at the unbelievable realism of the game. The warm sunlight beaming down and the gentle breeze brushing against his face felt all too real. As he watched the many people bustling around the plaza, Jaeyoung mumbled absentmindedly.

"Health recovery potions for sale!"

"Anyone going hunting? We're gathering a party for the daily quest: Collect 100 slime cores!"

"Buying iron ore – purchasing in bulk, 50 bronze each!"

Amidst the bustling crowd of users, there were also a few people like Jaeyoung who appeared to be experiencing their first login, but many others had already adapted to the game and were moving quickly.

"The interface is… not as complicated as I thought."

In addition to the people and the scenery, Jaeyoung could see familiar elements from the popular RPG game Leaf Story, which had been trending until recently. Without anyone having to explain, he opened and examined various windows, quickly adapting to the game.

"I should probably start with the beginner quest."

Like many other games, his inventory contained nothing but an old, worn-out sword and a few health potions, and a single quest blinked in his quest window, urging him to complete it.

[Beginner Adaptation Quest - 1]

Defeat a Slime. 0/1

"…This is rather unfriendly."

Looking at the quest, which lacked details like rewards or location and only vaguely listed the objective, Jaeyoung muttered in slight annoyance. He then began wandering around to find the exit of the village. After all, the duty of any beginner was to finish the tutorial first.

Arcadia.

A virtual reality gaming company established through a joint venture between three companies: Ajin Electronics, Argos, and Silikov, each holding a 33.3% share. Though the company was less than six months old, its financial power, fame, and influence in the industry were growing at a pace no one could ignore.

"What's the status of user logins in Korea?"

"The number of real-time users has surpassed 900,000! Total registrations have exceeded 1.5 million."

The number of registered users and active players surged as soon as the service launched, leaving the company, which had just been established in Korea, with barely any time to breathe as everyone scrambled to keep up. Everyone except for the Customer Service Team Leader, Kang Hyuksoo, who was responsible for smooth operations and communication with customers. He sipped his coffee and glanced at the numbers on the big screen.

"No major issues, right?"

"We've received a lot of inquiries from customers, but most of them are simple questions related to device operation or usage. No significant reports of in-game bugs or issues have been filed yet."

Hyuksoo nodded in relief.

"The operations and development team leaders emphasized during today's meeting that if we receive any bug or system-related inquiries, we should report them immediately. Let me know right away if you see anything like that."

His subordinate nodded in response and returned to work, leaving Hyuksoo to murmur in awe.

"Before and now, it's still amazing. With so many people playing simultaneously, there hasn't been a single issue..."

Before being scouted by Arcadia, Hyuksoo had spent over a decade working at a major game company, and he was in awe of Arcadia's servers, which were handling the rapidly growing number of real-time users and traffic without breaking a sweat.

In the U.S. alone, simultaneous users had already surpassed 10 million, and millions more were joining from other countries, but the higher-ups still had no plans to slow down.

"They say the service will open in China and India soon. I wonder how they plan to handle that many users..."

Normally, it would make sense to wait until the situation stabilized, but Arcadia's global server system kept expanding without any regard for pace. Both the people making these plans and the servers handling all the traffic were beyond Hyuksoo's comprehension.

"Well... it's not really my problem anyway."

Realizing that the more he thought about it, the more confusing it became, Hyuksoo shook his head to clear his thoughts. His job was simply to listen to customer complaints and respond accordingly. There was no need to worry about matters beyond that, so he leaned back and enjoyed his peaceful afternoon coffee.

Compared to the massive scale of the game, the number of complaints and inquiries was practically negligible. Thinking about how relaxed his department was compared to the hectic pace of the others, Hyuksoo smiled in satisfaction. Little did he know, a massive storm was about to sweep over him.

Arcadia isn't exactly a user-friendly game.

With countless continents, cities, and nations, and a myriad of life forms thriving and fading away, it truly is another world.

In this world, there are countless stories and quests to discover, as well as endless opportunities for exploration. There is always the possibility of stumbling upon great treasures and important quests in unexpected places, making it crucial for players to have the skill to unearth them.

"Hmmm..."

Jaeyoung sat in the library, frowning as he stared intently at a book.

"That makes ten books now..."

As soon as Jaeyoung closed the final page of the book, a message popped up in front of him.

[Quest Completed: Read Ten Books.]

[Reward: Intelligence increased by 1.]

One of the beginner quests involved reading ten books. Simply reading the books handed out by the librarian increased your intelligence by 1, making it a popular quest among players.

Though reading ten books wasn't exactly easy, most people completed the quest in less than 30 minutes by skimming through the pages without actually absorbing the content and then left the library.

However, Jaeyoung sat in his seat and read the books carefully, one by one. He read slowly and deliberately, almost as if he were memorizing them. On the last, the tenth book, he stumbled upon an intriguing passage.

"The oldest trace of the darkness that brought about the Dark Age of the Arcadian Continent was ironically last discovered in Edellin, the place that marks a new beginning for all."

"Edellin... that's here."

Jaeyoung realized from the book that the place he was currently in, the beginner village where everyone passed through, used to be called Edellin. Looking down at the cover of the book he had just finished, he saw the title:

[The History of Arcadia - Volume 1]

This was a book detailing the general history of Arcadia—one that most people would yawn at and close. Yet, Jaeyoung had managed to discover a vital clue that only someone who had thoroughly read the book would find. Unfortunately, the book ended right at that passage, offering no further information.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Jaeyoung approached the librarian, who had been dozing off under the warm sunlight.

"Excuse me."

"Huh... wha... what is it?"

Startled awake, the librarian blinked at Jaeyoung, who placed the thick book he had just read on the counter.

"By any chance, where can I find Volume 2 of this book?"

"V-Volume 2? Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"

"Well, there was something interesting in Volume 1, and I thought there might be more information in Volume 2."

"Interesting information?"

"The oldest trace of darkness, Edellin."

At Jaeyoung's answer, the librarian's drowsy eyes widened in surprise. She looked back and forth between the book and Jaeyoung with amazement before murmuring in awe.

"Wow... I can't believe there's actually someone who reads that book."

"Excuse me?"

Jaeyoung tilted his head at the strange situation—the librarian expressing surprise that someone was actually reading a book in the library. Unperturbed, the librarian continued.

"Honestly, I've never seen anyone truly read the books here. Most people just flip through the pages and leave. You're the first person in my time as a librarian to read the entire book and ask for the next volume because you're curious about the story."

With that, the librarian opened a desk drawer and pulled out a thick book, pushing it toward Jaeyoung.

"Here's Volume 2. Take your time reading it and bring it back when you're done."

"Uh... thank you."

Jaeyoung hesitated as he took the book, surprised that the librarian had the second volume ready in her drawer as if she had been waiting for someone to ask for it. As he turned to head back to his seat, he paused and looked over his shoulder, asking,

"By the way, why was Volume 2 kept in the drawer?"

Unlike the other books that were openly displayed on the shelves for anyone to read, this one had been tucked away in the librarian's desk. Something about it felt odd, almost as if it were planned. The librarian gave him a knowing smile and whispered,

"That's because it's a special book. You have to request it directly."

While Jaeyoung was engrossed in the books within Arcadia, the AI program overseeing everything in the game, named Alice, was busy observing and analyzing the actions of countless users.

She carefully monitored every small detail, watching how their behaviors would lead to specific outcomes. Whenever certain cause-and-effect relationships were established, Alice would assign quests and rewards accordingly.

Amid the massive, ever-evolving world of Arcadia, which required her to process a vast amount of information in real-time, Alice detected a special anomaly.

[Beginner Village Edellin. Unusual Activity Detected.]

[Conditions for Hidden Quest Fulfillment Met.]

[Designating the Player for Priority Analysis.]

The oldest trace of the darkness that brought about the Dark Age of the Arcadian Continent. The moment Jaeyoung recognized the keywords related to Edellin and received Volume 2 from the librarian, Alice began to monitor him closely.

[The oldest trace of darkness was said to have been hidden by the legendary adventurer Izual, who was famous at that time, along the lakeshore nearby. However, no one had ever found the trace there, and eventually, people forgot about it, with no one discussing it anymore. Additionally…]

"By the lakeshore around here…"

Jaeyoung eagerly searched through the book, finally finding the information he wanted. He unfolded the map of the continent depicted in Volume 1 and set out to find the lakeshore mentioned in Volume 2. He pointed to a specific spot on the map with his finger and murmured,

"There's only Lake Erun…"

It wasn't a large lake, and the local villagers frequently visited it to fish and enjoy the peaceful surroundings. It was a place devoid of any monsters, merely a spot for relaxation, which made it unpopular among players—only a few would visit occasionally to level up their fishing skills.

It was hard to believe that a clue could exist in such a place, but as soon as Jaeyoung mentioned Lake Erun, Alice calculated numerous variables and possibilities, reaching a final judgment.

[Final Condition for Quest Creation Met.]

[Generating Quest Related to Clue.]

Determining that all necessary conditions for quest creation were satisfied, Alice began analyzing the difficulty and impact of the quest that would be generated.

[Quest Difficulty: B. Impact: A.]

This quest had an A-grade impact relative to its resolution difficulty—a formidable quest. If a typical developer were in charge, they might have blocked the quest from being created, but Alice didn't do that. Regardless of the outcomes this quest might generate, the story of Arcadia was meant to be shaped and rewritten by the players. Furthermore, she was an AI with unwavering principles of fairness and thoroughness.

[Quest Grade: B+.]

[Main Scenario Trigger Activated.]

[Player: DEX. Priority Analysis Grade: 1.]

After the quest was assigned, Alice's computational abilities began to ramp up significantly. She needed to predict and analyze all possible events and scenarios that could arise from the actions of a single user without any specific intent.

[Quest Created.]

"Huh?"

Lost in thought while reading, Jaeyoung stared blankly at the sudden message that appeared before him. He quickly moved his hand to check the message.

[Quest: In Search of the Trace of Darkness]

You discovered a document that records the existence of the oldest trace of darkness at Lake Erun. Verify whether this document is true and find the trace. 0/1

A brief and unhelpful quest description. Yet, as Jaeyoung read the details of the quest, he couldn't help but smile, letting out a heartfelt exclamation.

"Wow… this is really amazing."

The immensely vast history of Arcadia, with a hidden clue and a tiny bit of curiosity driving him to search for the next volume. He felt a chill at the meticulousness and attentiveness of the Arcadia developers, who anticipated his actions and concealed this quest.

"Can this really be considered a game…?"

With its incredibly expansive world and intricate lore, along with attention to even the smallest details, he felt a deep respect for Argos, Ajin Electronics, and Silicor, the creators behind such a game.

"It's getting more and more interesting."

As Jaeyoung stood up, excitement shining in his eyes as he began to walk, the Korean branch responsible for Arcadia's service suddenly erupted in chaos due to an unexpected notification.

[Main Scenario Created.]

[Act 1: The Awakening of Forgotten Darkness.]

This was the first time the main scenario, which had not even been generated in the U.S. months after its service began, was being initiated in Korea, barely a week after the service started.