I shoot up to my feet. And the second I do, another one of those screens pop up just before my eyes.

　　23:49:03>

　　A timer? It seems to be counting down&

　　So, if I get it right, in 23 hours and 50 minutes or so, the first floor will open.

　　&The first floor of what?

　　I guess it must be the tutorial, but that doesn`t say anything else, either. How many floors are there? What happens after the tutorial? Does it even have an end? Where is this place? Why was I called here? And who are these other three people?

　　Three, because I just now noticed someone on the floor. I think it`s a girl considering her slender frame, but her hair is cut so short it makes her look like a man. But she`s wearing a pretty nice—if somewhat torn—dress, so I`m pretty sure she`s a woman. I`m also pretty sure that she`s sobbing, because her exposed shoulders are trembling. On the other hand, I have no idea where she`s from. She doesn`t look like a westerner, or like she`s from Japan or South Korea or even China.

　　The Japanese delinquent guy meets my eyes. "On your feet now, eh? Guess you`re at least a half-man. How about you make yourself useful and show what kind of weapon you picked?"

　　He`s asking me to show my cards? Why? So that he can—

　　He`s close in front of me now, with the axe raised, the edge of it pressing against my neck. "If I wanted to kill you," he growls, "I wouldn`t be asking you to take out your weapon, now would I?" I blink at him. Something cold slithers up through my veins and I begin nodding. "Great, glad you understand basic logic. Besides&" he shoves the axe closer to me, into my neck, drawing blood, making its cold blade enter my skin, but instead of making my neck splurt with blood, it does nothing. I stare at him, wide-eyed. He draws back the axe and the meagre pain I felt dissipates. "Even if I wanted to kill you, I can`t. This place won`t even let you get hurt, much less actually die."

　　It takes a minute or so for my mouth to start working again. "Wh-, why?"

　　"Wuh-wuh-why?" he asks right back, making a mocking face. "Do I look like I`ve got a clue? I don`t even know how I got here!"

　　Now the only actual adult in the room butts, "As I`ve told you before," he says in that measured, even voice you only use with children, "you got invited to the tutorial, you accepted, and you chose the Hell difficulty." He sighs melodramatically. "And then you chose the axe for some reason I can`t comprehend."

　　"I chose it because it looks awesome!" the delinquent squeals as he hugs the massive axe closer to him. "You-, you never said why you chose that dopey spear, right? I bet it`s cuz you`re a coward or something!"

　　Spear this, spear that, I haven`t seen any-,

　　Suddenly there`s a spear in the older guy`s hand. Was& Was that always there?

　　"The spear is the easiest weapon to use for a beginner. It`s versatile, suitable for fighting wild beasts and humans alike, and-,"

　　"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up already, will you? You`re a nerd, we get it." The delinquent turns to me. "So? What weapon did you choose? Out with it already."

　　I have a feeling that if I talk now I`ll stammer so I keep my mouth shut.

　　"Just pull it out of your inventory, man." And the second he said inventory, a screen popped up in front of his eyes. "Damn it, not again& Shouldn`t this place be able to patch stuff like that? Such a bother." With a wave of the hand, the screen disappeared again.

　　After a second or so, tentatively, I say, "Inventory." The window quickly appears, so since it works in both English and Korean, that would mean anyone can use it, as long as they know it exists. Neat, I guess.

　　The screen shows a graph of small item icons, including a shield and a sword. They`re shown as separate items, and apart from them, I also have five pieces of beef jerky and five bottles of water. Wonderful. Just what I needed. I kind of forgot I was literally starving to death, but now that I see some food, I can feel my stomach`s grumbling coming back in full force.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

　　&How do I get it out of there, though? The older guy didn`t say anything to call out his spear, so do I just& Imagine that—

　　A pack of beef jerky appears in my hand. I stare at it.

　　"Pfff, that`s your weapon, eh? Bet you`ll kill loads of enemies with that!" the delinquent says with a guffaw. But I don`t really care. Without a moment`s hesitation, I tear open the little plastic baggie and rip out the jerky from within before stuffing it into my face. It`s bland and dry and tough but it`s food. I chew and I chew and I suddenly realise that my teeth are no longer crooked and rotting and it doesn`t hurt to eat anymore. I almost want to cry but I`m somehow able to keep it inside.

　　Once I`ve swallowed all of it, I take out a bottle of water too and drink it all in one gulp. God, that was good.

　　But the window isn`t closed yet, so I quickly pull out the sword and shield.

　　The delinquent stares at my weapons. "So, another close-range dealer, huh&" I tilt my head at him and frown. He rolls his eyes and jerks a thumb at the fetal-position girl. "She also chose the sword and shield. That means we`ve got four guys who are all close-range damage dealers and nobody at a distance. If we face bird enemies or something, we`re screwed."

　　My frown dips a bit further down. What does it matter if we`re all DPS? Whatever happens, I`m playing this solo. Who in their right mind would pollute the game of life by playing it co-op?

　　The delinquent huffs at me. "What? You think this is some solo adventure?" I shrug at him. Why wouldn`t it be? "Listen, if it was solo, we wouldn`t all be in the same lobby, would we?" I don`t see how that`s important. Even if you`re in a lobby with a million people, you still don`t have to play with all of them. "Okay, listen," he says. "Check the Community tab. Right at the top of the screen. Just press it."

　　I glance back at the window in front of me. No reason not to, I suppose.

　　I poke the community button.

　　Normal Lobby: 258/258

　　Hard Lobby: 40/40

　　Hell Lobby: 4/4>

　　There`s seriously only the four of us? In the entire Asia server there`s only four Hell challengers?!

　　Really now. Still, I guess this explains a bit of what`s going on. From the looks of it, over 1100 people have been called here, assuming the numbers indicate humans. It almost looks as though I should be able to press the lobbies to enter some sort of chat, but anytime I try I get blocked.

　　will be unlocked once the First Floor

　　of the tutorial is cleared.>

　　Right, okay. Gotcha. I guess that makes sense, but it`s still kind of a bummer. Still, my point stands. There`s no particular reason to form a party.

　　The only other Korean here sidles up beside me. "Press the Status tab."

　　His helpfulness is making me suspicious, but I can`t really refuse him. Without much ado, I press the button. And what appears is enough to freeze me in my tracks.

　　Human Level 0

　　Strength: 4

　　Agility: 9

　　Stamina: 9

　　Magic Power: 13>

　　In a different state of mind, I might have focused on the fact that my stats look kind of like hot garbage. Maybe I would`ve lamented over how I should have picked that termite-eaten staff instead. Or maybe I`d feel emasculated by the fact that my strength is pathetically low. Or maybe I`d wonder what it meant that I`m not even level 1.

　　But I don`t. Because right now, all I can see is my username.

　　That-, that can`t be right. Shouldn`t it be my name or something? Lee Ho-Jae? Or—or maybe just my former username? ThatGentleNight2? Maybe it could remove the 2 since there aren`t too many with that username here, but&

　　I feel a tremble take hold of my body.

　　A hand falls on my shoulder. "Your magic power`s good, but the rest is& You know, you can probably increase it once the tutorial starts, so I`m sure it`ll be—"

　　And then he noticed it. There was no way he couldn`t notice it. It was blaring and bright and obvious and right there. Like a malignant tumour growing right on your face.

　　"Th-, that`s, um&" He gulps audibly. "You could have gotten a worse one, right?"

　　"What`s yours?" my mouth says faster than my mind thinks it. "What username did you get?"

　　He freezes in place. A bead of sweat runs down his forehead. "It`s randomly generated, so it`s really not all that important to&" I stare him down. He buckles. His head falls to face the floor. "...My username is SpearMaestro."

　　I feel a violent need to strangle him, but the last time I strangled someone I got arrested, so I resign myself to simply bringing forth the mental image of his face turning blue and then purple and then white. It`s a good image.

　　"But, erm, uh& If you look at the bottom, you can see a clock for the, ah, the attempt."

　　I glare at him for a few more seconds just to watch him squirm before looking back at the screen. To be sure, right there at the bottom, there`s a little clock calendar thing.

　　<00:27:01

　　Day 1>

　　23:32:59>

　　23:32:59>

　　I watch the seconds ticking by for a few seconds. I`ve got a lot of questions, but I have a feeling that the majority of them will be answered in 23 hours, 32 minutes and& 20 seconds. 19. 18. —You get the point.

　　For now, I should get ready for the first floor. I have no idea what it will have, but if it`s anything like the MMORPG`s it`s trying to emulate, then it`ll probably have some goblins or wolves or rats or whatever that I`ll need to kill. That`s my best bet. I shouldn`t discount the possibility that it`s a gathering quest or something non-combative, but the chance that I`ll be fighting something is too high to ignore. In other words, before I do anything else, I should spend these 24 hours training to use my starter weapon.

　　"...If you want, I can just call you by your real name instead. Mine is Choi Min Shik. And you are?"

　　"My name is—" but what if he saw the news of my assault? What if he knows what I did? What if he`s related to LetsFraternizeTogether? What if he was his fan? What if&? "—Lee. It`s Lee. Just Lee."

　　"Lee, is it?" He smiles. "Well, alright, Lee."

　　Phew. Crisis averted. "That guy over there is Taka& Taka& Something with Taka."

　　"Hey, you talkin` about me, geezer?" The delinquent snarks at us. "The name`s Takashi Kokubo! And before you ask, yeah, my parents are huge nerds. Don`t even think of making a joke about it or I`ll cave your skull in, you get me?"

　　Right. Takashi, then.