“What the hell is wrong with Yuujin? He used my name for his pet? Has he gone mad?”


    Alice still couldn’t believe what she had just experienced in the game. Being so close to Yuujin, who appeared to congratte his brother and gave him a gift, made her chest suddenly feel tight.


    She even left Hiro alone in the game. Meanwhile, she tried to calm herself for hours. She had drunk cans of alcohol, but she still hadn’t lost the slightest bit of consciousness.


    Alice felt her head dizzy, so she moved towards the toilet to throw up. She had drank too much.


    “Did he do it on purpose?”


    “Because of that stupid act, Hiro must be suspicious of me right now. My ns could be jeopardized.”


    Alice washed her face with cold water and kept the tap water flowing in front of her.


    “I have to prepare an alibi for an excuse. Hiro mustn’t know who I really am. He’s quite smart. I have to be careful.”


    The girl decided to take a warm shower without taking her clothes off.


    As the warm water soaked her body, she closed her eyes and the memories of the past that had been buried deep within her for a very long time came back to the surface. It kept ying in her head like a broken recorder.


    …


    Alice was in a room that at first nce looked like a studio. There was no one in the room._.


    There were 10 superputerspleted with gaming sets, including chairs, mouses, headsets, and even various types of controllers. It was veryplete.


    The girl sneaked away and made sure that there was no sound of footstepsing to the room. She even turned off the light and made the room dark.


    Only the colourful light from theputer engine that was left on as the source of light. However, the room was still dark.


    She walked over to one of theputers that had been her target from the start.


    When she turned on theputer, a password needed to be entered to gain ess.


    [Yamaguchi Yuujin]


    [WynterRain]


    Alice didn’t need to use her hacking skills to gain ess to thatputer.


    [ess granted]


    “I will stop you no matter what. I will never let you y the game,” Alice muttered while using the keyboard inside theputer with her very dexterous hands. The darkness of the room was not a problem for her.


    [Last Shelter Online]


    [Game Tester has signed the agreement]


    [Avatar in progress]


    [username: WynterRain]


    [basic job ss: Mage]


    [bloodline: Elf]


    This time, Alice used her android bracelet. She connected it to theputer using a Wi-Fiwork, then activated what she had prepared long before she executed it today.


    [Warning!]


    [Your avatar will be deleted by the system]


    [cheat has been detected]


    At that moment, suddenly the door burst open, and a man who had just arrived reflexively turned on themp in the room.


    Alice was taken aback, but what bothered her more at that moment was the bright light from themp that blinded her eyes.


    “Alice, I know you’re here. Stop it! Do not do it.”


    The man was Yuujin who only wore short pants to sleep. It was summer day, so it was really hot right now, and he had a habit of sleeping shirtless every summer.


    Seeing Yuujin still standing in front of the door, Alice still insisted on agreeing to the order she entered into Yuujin’sputer. In such a hurry, she pried out a letter on the keyboard.


    ?[0)??? Tak!


    [avatar has been deleted]


    Yuujin sighed, then walked over with a calm expression on his face, approaching Alice.


    “You won’t be involved in that game.” Alice smiled in satisfaction after seeing that her action was sessful.


    But Yuujin, instead of getting mad at her, he patted the shoulders of the girl in front of him before speaking in a calm tone.


    “You know that Hiro will be entering college soon. I need a lot of money to make him a righteous man. Not like me. I have no other choice, Alice.”


    Alice bit her lower lip, hearing Yuujin’s soft voice that always managed to make her chest hurttely.


    “I know what happened to people who joined the test. I don’t want you to go through the same thing, Yuujin. And if your brother finds out that you risk your own life for him, do you think he will be happy?!”


    Alice shouted in a loud voice. The working rooms of the E-nfinity members were soundproof. And that meant they were both safe to talk about anything, even with a loud voice.


    Her body began to tremble violently from the mixed emotions. She felt very tired telling Yuujin the same thing when the man ignored her and didn’t listen to her words, even though she had shouted at him many times.


    “He doesn’t need to know what happened. And you, you will never tell him what happened. Alice, it’s just a test run. They’re getting better. This will all go smoothly. Don’t worry. I wille back.”


    Yuujin continued to speak in a calm tone. Alice was getting more and more shaken by that, and she couldn’t hold back her tears that had been welling up in her eyes.


    The girl hugged Yuujin tightly.


    “I just don’t want to lose you, Yuujin.” Her sobs were weak.


    “I know. I promise I will be fine.”


    …


    Alice curled up in the bathtub. The warm water from the shower kept pouring down her body. Recalling the most regrettable thing in her life made her feel like a very weak girl right now.


    “If only I was stronger back then.”


    Alice still had a part of her that kept ming herself for not being able to keep Yuujin from carrying out his secret mission that the public didn’t know about.


    The moment she recalled the moment when Yuujin actually managed to bring the others back out of the game safely gave her goosebumps all over her body.


    The wide smile on Yuujin’s face and the people who came with him made Alice feel that everything was fine.


    However… all of that didn’tst long.


    …


    “The medical reports show that only one in 10 game testers of the control group showed positive results. There are no harmful side effects after sessfully exiting the system.”


    “What about the experimental group game tester? Give me an update on their medical condition report.”


    Alice managed to install an eavesdrop tool in the office of the founder of the Last Shelter Online, Dr. Jeff Johnson, who held a sudden meeting with the best doctors at Johnson Hope Hospital. And she heard all the things she shouldn’t have heard.


    “10 out of 10 game tester experimental group subjects have died. Their brain is no longer able to provide any signals to all the organs in the body. It is over. We have failed, Dr. Jeff.”


    “No, no, not yet. We still have time. I have to save my daughter. There must be a way. My goal is definitely achievable. At least, there is one normal game tester control person. Isn’t that a sign that all of this is still possible?”


    “Tell me, who is that lucky game tester?”


    “He is Yamaguchi Yuujin from E-nfinity management.”