The Disappeared
One week after the "Simulated Memories" incident, the memory gate was completely removed from the system.
No announcement.
No patch notes.
No explanation.
Just a single line in the update log:
> [Experimental mode has been disabled to ensure system stability.]
Eiden didn't buy it.
He had seen that entity with his own eyes — something that couldn't have been born from normal data. A raw, living fear that reached deep into the darkest parts of memory.
But what disturbed him even more… was that people began to disappear.
---
The player Kai – Trapmaster, who had once fought beside Eiden on the "Old Railway" map, suddenly went offline for three days. Before that, he had logged in every evening without fail — always selling traps and survival gear.
"Maybe he switched accounts?" Lina suggested.
"No. I checked — his name's gone from the system. Not even in the match history," Eiden replied, voice low. "It's like he never existed."
And Kai wasn't the only one.
Over the next seven days, thirteen players were reported missing. No farewell messages. No death confirmations. No reappearances.
They all had one thing in common:
They had accessed Simulated Memories.
---
"Maybe… something inside those memories took them," Lina whispered, eyes fixed on nothing. She had never believed in the supernatural — but now, her certainty was beginning to crack.
Eiden stood in the center of the Hub, fingers tracing a signal-transmitting pendant — a rare item used to mark emergency locations. It had once belonged to Kai, left behind after a past match.
It was still active.
The signal… was still there.
But when he tried to trace it, the system returned a strange result:
> [Unknown area – Data not synced with central server.]
[Warning: You are attempting to access a zone locked by the system.]
"There's a place… the system can't control."
Lina looked at him seriously. "And you're planning to go there?"
Eiden nodded.
"If we want to survive, we can't just keep running. We have to understand this place — understand what Reality Escape really is."
Back in his personal room at the Reality Hub, Eiden activated his system interface. A transparent display hovered in midair, slowly spinning.
> [Syncing personal data...]
[Account: Eiden – Class: Scout (Illusionist)]
He swiped to the Ranking Panel.
The screen shifted, displaying stats and blinking numbers.
---
> [Current Rank: A+]
Total Survival Points: 980
Total Matches: 11
Survival Rate: 63.6%
Teammates Successfully Supported: 6
Successful Illusion Disruptions: 9
Skill Success Rate: 74%
---
"Still a long way to go…" Eiden muttered.
He needed at least 1,200 points to reach Rank S, which would unlock advanced skill quests and grant access to the High Entity Mode — the mysterious feature he suspected was hiding deeper system secrets.
Below his rank, a red progress bar hovered near its final marker.
> [220 points remaining to reach Rank S.]
Lina stepped into the room, holding two containers of virtual food.
"You know," she chuckled, "I used to play ranked in normal games back in the real world… Now, every point could cost someone their life."
Eiden gave a dry smile. "And I'm going to earn every single one."
His eyes lingered on the glowing "A+", but there was no pride in them.
It was just a checkpoint.
---
> Next goal: Rank S — and unlocking the door to the truth.
Eiden sat before the control terminal in his private room — a custom interface he had built for advanced data searches, accessible only to players ranked A or higher.
On the screen, the coordinates tied to Kai's last signal pulsed steadily — hovering within a zone labeled:
> [UNKNOWN SECTOR – UNSYNCHRONIZED]
No map.
No entity data.
No record of any players.
The longer Eiden stared at it, the more certain he became:
This wasn't a system glitch. It was hidden — on purpose.
---
> [Would you like to initiate manual intrusion?]
Warning: This action may result in temporary account suspension or trigger data protection protocols.
Eiden read the message.
Before, he might've hesitated.
But after witnessing his own memories being recreated… after watching Kai and the others vanish without a trace… there was no going back.
> [Manual access confirmed.]
---
The screen went black.
A harsh buzzing sound echoed for three seconds — static distortion — and then silence.
Eiden opened his eyes.
Before him stretched a ruined sector, broken terrain covered in digital decay. Glitching lights flickered through the air like corrupted data fragments.
The ground was cracked. Symbols floated midair, shifting like memories half-erased. And in the center stood a crimson-red terminal bearing a chilling message:
> [SECTOR NULL – ERASED ZONE]
---
"What the hell…"
Eiden stepped forward carefully. The sensation was unlike anything he'd felt in the game — like he had stepped outside Reality Escape and into raw, unsupervised data.
No notifications.
No system guides.
No mission objectives.
Only complete silence, and dozens — maybe hundreds — of floating player icons surrounding the space. No names. No avatars. Just blurred silhouettes, like deleted memories.
---
One of the icons… flickered faintly.
Eiden approached it.
> [Signal recognized: Kai – Trapmaster]
[Status: Cognitive data frozen]
He froze.
Kai… still existed?
Not dead. Not erased.
Just… frozen, trapped in a place no one was supposed to see.
Eiden clenched his fists.
"Reality Escape... is this really a game? Or is it a memory control system in disguise?"
Eiden stood before Kai's data icon — a faint, ghostlike glow suspended midair. He reached out and touched it with his fingertip.
> [Signal recognized.]
[Status: Cognition Frozen – System Level Lock.]
[Initiate Data Liberation?]
Warning: This action is restricted by internal protocols. Severe system risk.
Eiden hesitated.
The system was threatening him. But if he did nothing, Kai would stay trapped forever — like a fragment of a soul sealed between life and death.
He pressed [CONFIRM].
---
The screen erupted with light.
The surrounding data symbols began spinning chaotically, releasing a screech like grinding steel. Eiden's body trembled — not from pain, but from the pressure now surging straight into his neural interface.
> [Liberation Progress: 17%...]
A red backlash surged up — jagged code tendrils erupting from the ground, trying to devour Kai's data.
Eiden gripped his illusionist knife. It had no damage stats, but he charged forward, slashing through the code, forcing it back.
> [Liberation: 46%...]
A cold voice echoed from all directions:
"User Eiden. Your actions violate core protocols. Cease immediately."
"Get out of my head…" Eiden growled.
> [Liberation: 82%...]
Kai's data began to glow. Memories shattered into fragments — his voice, shared battles, laughter after close escapes.
> [Liberation Complete.]
BOOM!
A data shockwave burst outward. All of Sector Null trembled. The surrounding player icons flickered… then glowed faintly, as if receiving a forgotten signal.
Kai collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath — panic in his eyes.
"Eiden… Is that really you?"
Eiden caught him. "Yeah. I've got you. We're going home."
---
> [Emergency Alert: Unauthorized access detected. System is restructuring the zone.]
[Forced exit countdown: 10… 9…]
Eiden grabbed Kai's hand. "Let's move!"
They ran toward the exit gate forming at the edge of Sector Null, a blinding white light swallowing them as the system began to erase every trace.
---
When they woke up, they were back at the Reality Hub.
Eiden looked up. Kai was still there. Still breathing. Still alive.
But one thought echoed in his mind:
> If one person's memory could be frozen… how many others have been erased without anyone knowing?