The Unexpected Invitation

Park Ji-woo sighed, the glow of her phone illuminating her face in the otherwise dark room. Another late night, another raid gone wrong. Her fingers flew across the screen, furiously typing in the guild's Discord server."Seriously, Min-jun, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't pull aggro on the fire elemental before the tank is in position! It's basic raid etiquette!"A barrage of laughing emojis flooded the chat. Kim Min-jun, the guild's resident chaos mage and Ji-woo's long-time gaming buddy, replied with a string of apologetic emoticons."Sorry, sorry! My fingers slipped. You know how it is. Besides," he added with a cheeky grin (at least, she imagined he was grinning), "it makes things more interesting, right?"Ji-woo rolled her eyes. "Interesting is one word for it. Frustrating, time-consuming, and a complete waste of mana are others."Cha Eun-woo, the guild's stoic and ever-reliable tank, chimed in with a single, calming sentence: "Let's just regroup tomorrow and try again. It's late."Ji-woo appreciated Eun-woo's level-headedness. He was the anchor of their guild, always keeping things on track. Secretly, she had a bit of a crush on him, but his focus was always on the game, his responses concise and professional. She doubted he even noticed her existence outside of raid strategies and damage calculations."Fine," she typed, "but if Min-jun pulls that stunt again, I'm kicking him from the raid team."Min-jun's laughing emojis turned into pleading ones. "No, please! Have mercy! I'll buy everyone fried chicken tomorrow as an apology!"Ji-woo chuckled. That was Min-jun – always making up for his mistakes with food. She closed the Discord app and glanced at the time. 2:00 AM. She really needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, though, which meant… more gaming! She grinned.As she was about to turn off her phone, a notification popped up. It wasn't from Discord, or any of her usual apps. It was a message from an unknown number."Greetings, Player. You have been selected to participate in the Aethelgard Ascension Games. Your unique potential has been recognized, and you are invited to test your skills in a world beyond your imagination. Accept this invitation, and a new reality awaits. Details will follow upon confirmation."Ji-woo frowned. This had to be some kind of spam. She received weird messages all the time, promising free iPhones or instant weight loss. Usually, she just deleted them without a second thought. But this one… this one was different. The wording, the mention of "player" and "Ascension Games"… it felt oddly familiar. Like something out of a game."Yeah, right," she muttered to herself. "Nice try, whoever you are."She was about to delete the message when another one came through, almost immediately."Do not dismiss this invitation, Player Park Ji-woo. This is not a game. This is your chance to transcend the ordinary."Ji-woo's heart skipped a beat. How did they know her name? That was unsettling. She stared at the messages, a strange mix of curiosity and apprehension bubbling inside her. She had to admit, the gamer in her was intrigued. A new world? Ascension Games? It sounded like the plot of a cheesy fantasy webtoon."Okay, okay," she said to herself, "let's play along for a second."She typed a single word in response: "Details."Almost instantly, the reply came. "A portal will open for you at precisely 12:00 PM tomorrow, in front of the abandoned playground near your apartment complex. Be prepared."Ji-woo stared at her phone, her brow furrowed. This was getting weirder and weirder. An actual portal? That was impossible. And yet… a tiny part of her, the part that had spent countless hours immersed in virtual worlds, couldn't help but wonder… what if it was real?"No, no, don't be ridiculous," she told herself. "It's just a prank."But the seed of doubt had been planted. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to this message. She decided to do a quick search online, just to be sure. She typed "Aethelgard Ascension Games" into the search bar.Nothing.She tried variations of the keywords, but still, nothing came up. No forums, no wikis, no news articles. It was as if Aethelgard didn't exist.The lack of information only fueled her curiosity. It was like a hidden quest in a game, a secret waiting to be discovered. She knew she shouldn't go to the abandoned playground tomorrow. It was probably a trap, or some elaborate prank. But… what if it wasn't? What if this was real?She looked at the time. 2:30 AM. She really needed to get some sleep. But her mind was racing, filled with questions and possibilities. She couldn't shake the feeling that something extraordinary was about to happen. She finally turned off her phone, but sleep evaded her for a long time. The image of a swirling portal, leading to a mysterious world, danced in her mind.