Until Dusk Protocol-Chapter 23: Reunited With More Chaos

The group emerged from the tangled, fog-choked forest, stepping into the soft glow of dawn. Pale sunlight crested the horizon, painting the grassy plateau in hues of gold and casting elongated shadows from scattered boulders. The air felt lighter, carrying faint whispers of distant voices.

The soft swish of grass gradually replaced the rustle of fallen leaves as they left the forest behind. As they stepped into the open, voices carried faintly on the breeze, becoming clearer with each step.

A girl's irritated voice cut through the gentle morning air: "You said it was here. Clearly, it isn't. Admit it, you're lost."

A male voice responded with frustration, "Will you quit backseating every step? You're driving me nuts."

"Backseating? I've been carrying your ass! If it weren't for my low stats in navigation skill, I'd have left your sorry self hours ago."

"Yeah, that's right—admit you need a man to bail you out." He quipped.

"Who the hell needs a coward like you?!" The girl snapped back.

A calm, deep voice intervened gently, "Relax a little. You know, getting mad is the quickest way for a woman to lose her charm. After all, you can't catch flies with vinegar."

"Shut up! And stay out of this asshole!" The girl yelled

Tang-Ji exchanged glances with Kazami, a silent understanding passing between them as they recognised their classmates—Emiko and Ji-Soon.

"Kang? What are you doing here?" Kazami asked, surprised.

Ji-Soon squinted into the sunrise, then his eyes widened. "Well, damn. I knew my luck hadn't run out yet!" he laughed, jogging toward familiar faces.

Emiko rolled her eyes, about to retort, but froze when she saw Tang-Ji. Hesitation softened into relief as she quickly closed the distance, gently pulling Tang-Ji into an embrace. "God, I thought you two were goners," she whispered softly, her voice trembling slightly.

"Jesus, you look awful," she said, stepping back. Tang-Ji's long coat was ragged, skirt torn, her blouse dirtied from constant battles. Kazami was similarly disheveled, his coat punctured and clothing stained with grime.

Emiko, in stark contrast, appeared untouched by their surroundings, her intricate kimono pristine and vivid, colors swirling gracefully like art in motion.

Tang-Ji tapped Emiko's arm softly. "Too tight... can't breathe," she choked.

"Oops! Sorry!" She laughed sheepishly, releasing her grip. "I missed you. Being stuck with these barbarians is exhausting. Men, right?"

"That's sexist," a husky voice interrupted.

The speaker was a tall man with a composed demeanor, his neatly braided hair contrasting sharply with his professional attire. "We're the real victims here—listening to your nonstop chatter nearly got us killed."

Kazami eyed the stranger cautiously. "Who are you?"

"Depends who's asking," he replied calmly.

"Kazami Lynn. Your real name, please. Everyone here knows each other from school. If we're teaming up, we need honesty." His gaze flicked briefly toward the others.

Based on how he emerged with them, it was clear he'd been traveling in their company. That meant some level of trust had already formed among them. Still, something about him didn't sit right.

'What benefits does he get from teaming up with non-experienced players? Besides me being a beta tester, the rest of the people here have little to no gaming experience.'

'A middle-aged-looking man hanging around us a bunch of high schoolers can only mean trouble.' He thought to himself before Ji-Soon jumped between them, stopping the situation from escalating.

"Woah. Hey, calm down," he chimed in.

"Kompto here, saved the both of us. Without him, we wouldn't be able to make it out of that forest alive." Ji-Soon continued to explain, trying his best to clear up the misunderstanding.

"These two are my classmates. Tang-Ji and Kazami, and... wait," he hesitated. "Who is that?" He pointed at the individual accompanying them.

"Oh, this is Ukiyo, our NPC travel guide. We found her after leaving the Shrine of the Beginning," Kazami replied quickly, directing stern glances back at Ukiyo, who was trying to avoid eye contact.

Ji-Soon's eyes widened in surprise, and he let out a low whistle. "Ukiyo, huh? You guys seriously landed one of those NPCs? You lucky bastard," he teased, shaking his head in disbelief. "People on forums would kill for a find like that." He laughed obnoxiously in an attempt to lift the heavy atmosphere.

Kazami continued to glare at the stranger.

The man paused briefly, then sighed, relaxing his stance. "Creed. I've spent years in various corporate roles globally but recently settled into a boring job—tax accounting." He smiled awkwardly. "This game was supposed to be an escape."

Kazami considered him quietly before nodding slightly. "Fair enough."

The sun continued to rise, bathing the plateau in a warmer, comforting glow as tensions gradually softened into cautious camaraderie.

Mid-conversation, Emiko suddenly gasped. Her eyes widened in horror, and her voice dropped to a desolate whisper. "My streaks... they're all gone. Just like that."

She sank to her knees, head in her hands, mourning her lost social connections like a funeral wail in a comedy sketch.

Kompto raised an eyebrow, visibly baffled. "Girls these days... grief over data. This is what passes for tragedy now?"

"Quiet you fossil!" She snapped back.

Ji-Soon leaned toward Kazami as the antics continued in the back ground, lowering his voice. "Hey, something's off here. This game was exclusive to Japan for the first year, right? Why are there so many foreigners here? No one's questioning this? And that system announcement... what is Kyushu after, really?"

"Even the die-hard fans probably didn't know; otherwise, you'd have seen tweets of it for days."

He stopped, his expression turning more tense, as if something in the air was too thick to swallow. After a moment, his eyes flickered back to the group, his voice dropping lower.

"And about that system announcement earlier... that was definitely Kyushu's doing," he said, a sharp edge in his tone.

"But why? Why is he trying to stop us from clearing the game? He never explained his true motive from the start. So what's he really after?"

"All we got was the classic 'clear the game or death' ultimatum. If he truly wanted to kill us, a single command would have been way more efficient than this."

These questions were also on Kazami's mind, but one thing was obvious. This was a worldwide threat, and there was no way this occurrence wouldn't be airing all over the globe right now. V.I.R.M. single-handedly trapped players not only from Japan but also from across the world within a game.

He was certain that hundreds of armed soldiers would have been sent by Interpol and other law enforcement organisations to apprehend the person responsible.

Before Kazami could respond, loud voices and noises drew their attention to nearby boulders.

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"Fuck this. I'll just pull the steel claws off, like... so!" One tall figure with blonde hair shouted before jumping into the air.

He fidgeted, throwing his arms around as if there was something crawling under his skin; it was like he was trying to grab onto some invisible force.

"Aye, dumbass! It doesn't work that way. The SSD disabled all our motor functions, so we don't move around while playing. Plus, even if you were able to escape from the game, I doubt the pod would willingly lay down a red carpet for you," said another figure who was sitting on a small rock not too far away.

"Heh, I'll just smash that shit open," the tall figure said with confidence.

"Are you mentally ill or what? That's metallic glass we're talking about."

"And? What's your point?" He spun around multiple times before slamming his body once again into the boulder, creating a loud clattering sound.

"You moron!" The one on the rock yelled.

"That thing is made from the same material as the one people use for spacecraft construction, meaning it is literally indestructible to humans' hands or feet. So good luck with breaking every single bone in your body."

"Lay off, shitbag. At least I'm trying to think of a way to escape, unlike you, who's wasting his time waiting for survivors. Who knows if there are even any left here? They probably all migrated below along with those pigs," he replied, obviously irritated by his friend's smug reply.

"You know as well as I do that we need an alliance. After that crazy system announcement, people are turning against each other. Everyone blamed each other over nothing and went off in their own little factions. This is a total disaster," the figure said, touching his palm to his face.

"At the start, our only concerns were the mobs. Now we have to watch out for players who are coming for our heads too."

"Ughhhh!!!" The tall figure groaned.

"Hey, what are the chances of this whole thing being a prank? I mean, it's not like we know for sure that people are actually dying in the real world."

"Prank my ass!" he snapped, his voice rising in frustration. He slapped his hand hard against the rock beside him, the sound echoing through the air as if to emphasise his point.

"I don't know what your idea of a prank is, but trapping millions of people in a digital prison? That's a damn crime." He paused, glancing at his partner before continuing, his voice hardening.

"And like you said, we don't really know what happens to those who die in here. But I sure as hell am not risking it."

As the conversation continued, Kazami approached quietly, trying not to alert or scare off whoever was talking. However, as he crept closer, the conversation seemed to stop altogether, with only silence remaining.

'Why'd they stop?' Kazami thought. 'Did they hear me?' Then it hit him.

Before he could react, Kazami was forced onto his knees with a small, sharp knife against his throat. "So? What've we got here?" said a familiar, angry voice.

His partner emerged from the boulder just to his left, wielding a small, handheld device.

"Who are you, and what are you trying to do?" the boy said. His simple, youthful features were now in clear view. The boy was unremarkable, unlike his partner, and was definitely shorter and weaker than him was.

"Relax! I'm not here to hurt you," Kazami explained. "I was just, uh..."

"Eavesdropping?" finished by the boy holding him at knifepoint. "You've really got to learn to mind your own business."

"Name and why you are here," said the other one, who was towering over Kazami. He was now staring coldly down at his restrained victim.

"Wait, wait, wait!" cried a voice from behind Kazami. It was Ji-Soon running towards the trio. "Stop! We don't want any trouble!"

In response, the angry one kicked Kazami down and turned around to face Ji-Soon. "I assume this one is yours?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "Whaddya want with us?"

"Alright, so... me and some of my group heard you and your, uh... 'friend' arguing, so we decided to check it out." Ji-Soon explained.

The unremarkable one stepped forward before the other one could say anything: "Sorry for the disruption. I'm Junyo, or Junya; call me whatever." The boy extended his hand, as if expecting something to happen.

"Hey, what're you doing?" The other boy asked.

"We should be the ones asking questions, not these bozos." He walked over to Ji-Soon and sized him up before showing visible disappointment at his lack of spine.

"Fine, since my friend here has already self-snitched, I guess I have to too. The name's Decker, and no, I don't want to be called anything else."

"Nice to meet you, Junyo, Decker. I'm Ji-Soon," he replied. "That guy you kicked to the floor is a friend of mine, Kazami, and I would appreciate it if you kindly helped him up."

"Sorry about that; we just weren't sure what his goal was in sneaking up on us," Junyo uttered as he moved to help Kazami up. "So, why did you decide to come over here?"

Kazami slapped away Junyo's hand and pushed himself up off the ground. "We came over because we thought someone was going to get hurt because of your argument," he grunted.

"Well, I guess someone got hurt, but it wasn't either of us," Decker sneered, tucking his knife into his backpack.

"Sorry about that, by the way. Is your face alright?"

"No, of course not; your friend almost cut me. Anyway whatever."

Upon closer inspection, the name displayed right above the player's name was strangely familiar.

'He's the same boy at The Shrine of Beginning. The one that gave the potions to me and Tang-Ji.' Kazami thought to himself as he stared down at Junyo.

'He must have forgotten, but this is definitely the same guy that saved us.'

"You said you were with a group of friends, right?" Questioned Junyo.

Ji-Soon nodded softly.

"I have something to discuss with my pal here; we will be right back," Junyo said, grabbing and pulling Decker behind him.

"Yo, what the hell bro? You could've just asked me to follow you, idiot."

"Listen. Remember how I said we needed to group up with some people?" Decker nodded but seemed unimpressed with where the conversation was going.

"Ji-Soon and Kazami seem like reasonable people. I'm sure if we ask him nicely, we can join him. In exchange for information, of course."

Decker sighed.

"I would rather not group up with the guy who I just held at knifepoint. It causes tension in the group, you know," he said sarcastically.

Junyo gave him a serious look, and after a moment of thinking, Decker agreed.

The pair walked back to Kazami and Ji-Soon, who were conversing at the boulder nearby. They stopped and turned as they saw them approaching.

"Kazami, Ji-Soon," Junyo began.

"We're terribly sorry for ambushing you back there," Decker muttered, rolling his eyes and frowning as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You see, it was just a matter of self-defense."

Junyo stepped forward, flashing a strained smile.

"Additionally, we were wondering if we could perhaps join your group. I mean, it's far better to be in a larger group than just a pair, right?" He glanced at the others before continuing, his smile becoming a bit more awkward.

"And besides, I'm sure all of you got that system message too. You'll definitely need more people if you want to make it out of this game alive."

"I don't see why not..." Kazami shot him a glare.

'It might be risky, and we might potentially get double-crossed by them. However, this might be our only chance of forming a guild. This is the only way to beat this game, not to mention that it would be far safer and quicker to travel in groups.'

'It would make clearing bosses and hordes of mobs way more efficient. At least I know now that he's a decent person.' Kazami thought deeply about his decision.

"I'll let my group decide first. As for me, I think it will take some time to get used to you guys, but I'm sure we can come to some sort of consensus."