Chapter 59 – Sword Art Online (27)
November 6th.
The official opening date of Sword Art Online has come.
The time left until opening is at most 10 minutes. While Seo-jun was talking with the girls gathered at his house, he was thinking about what to do next.
It was then.
T-ring, his cell phone rang.
‘It’s finally here.’
Upon checking, it was a text from Argo.
Seo-joon read it.
– Jun Doryeong. I’ve been thinking about it. Honestly, it’s not too common sense for this noona to think, but I don’t know how much I thought about it because it was so confusing. But strangely, it’s normal to hate it, but it keeps getting better. So, in the end, I decided to accept the offer. Good luck in the future. See you today in Sword Art Online. Argo.
Seojun laughed.
Argo has passed.
‘It’s cute.’
Seojun sent a reply.
He sent the Nerve Gear program he and his harem members had installed in an attached file. He didn’t forget to put a postal note on it.
‘All preparations are complete.’
5 minutes to start.
Today, the death game finally begins.
So far, Seo-joon has thoroughly prepared. To enjoy this world. So he took steps to ensure that his people were safe, and even arranged for the means to dismember Kayaba, who later caused this debacle.
‘Now all that’s left is to enjoy it.’
Enjoy it, and when the time comes, you just have to kick Kayaba.
Of course, there was no guarantee that things would go as planned, but it would change little by little within the range of not going too far.
The margin of error of that extent is within the assumption.
“Jun’s time is up.”
“Oh yeah? Okay.”
Seo-jun, who was lost in thought, suddenly came to his senses.
Then he went to his seat, put on his NerveGear, and lay down.
“See you inside then.”
Yes-!
With that answer, Seo-joon closed his eyes.
“Link start.”
This is the beginning of the original.
***
“Hey, Jun Doryeong!”
As soon as I logged in, someone called Seo-jun.
That distinctive voice and title was Argo. Seojun looked at her and made her happy face.
“Argo! Wasn’t it too late for you to contact me?”
“Nya ha ha… It’s not an easy decision, after all.”
“It’s not like that. Thank you for accepting me.”
“… Keuhum, that, other kids than that?”
“I will be back soon.”
As he said, Argo formally introduced them to the other girls who soon connected. She already knew each other, but since she was also newly recruited to the harem, it was a natural procedure.
“Wow! Argo?!”
“Come on.”
“Thank you.”
Argo let out an awkward laugh.
It seems he still needs more time to adapt.
‘Jun is also true. How far are you going to increase it?”
“Kuhm.”
Seojun, avoiding Asuna’s eyes, cleared his throat.
It wasn’t that I didn’t notice at all, but how could I bear with the increase of heroines?
Well, anyway, after the introduction, Argo, who finished adding friends with everyone, opened his mouth.
“Then I’ll go to work on intelligence! If you create a guild later, please let me know!”
“Okay.”
She went somewhere to work as an informant.
And the rest of Seo-jun’s party went to catch the Frenzi Boer first.
Kayaba would call her to the plaza anyway, so she was thinking of earning a lot of experience points before that. How much time has passed like that
The evening glow of Sword Art Online hung over it.
“Shall we go out to eat soon?”
Asuna said so.
Seojun nodded and called out the interface.
‘… As expected, the logout disappeared.’
It was the other girls who noticed that too.
Asuna tilted her head.
“What? Where did the logout button go?”
“Uh? Are you really not there?”
“Bug? Or is it an operational mistake?”
They narrowed their brows.
It was then.
Deen, Deen!
Bells rang throughout the world of Aincrad.
And right after that.
“Huh?”
The bodies of everyone in the party, including Seo-jun, were wrapped in a blue pillar of light.
I’ve seen this phenomenon several times during beta testing. It was 〈 Teleport 〉 by the place transfer item. Before long, the field of view turned pure white, and when I regained my original field of vision, it was the central plaza on the first floor.
There, not only them, but many users were summoned just like them.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Ah, yes. I was just a little surprised.”
The girls each answer Seo-jun’s question. They were making puzzled faces.
A roaring, buzzing sound was heard, and the volume gradually increased.
“What happened?”
“Can you log out now?”
“I wish I could fix this soon. The pizza will get cold after this.”
Those words came to Seo-joon’s ears sparsely.
Soon, as the chatter gradually grew irritable, fierce shouts broke out sporadically.
And suddenly.
Pushing those voices away, someone shouted.
“Oh! Look up!!”
Others, including Seo-jun’s party, reflexively raised their eyes.
And I saw something strange there. 100 meters in the air, the floor of the second floor was dyed in a crimson checkered pattern.
Looking closely, it was that two types of English were displayed in alternating patterns.
When people saw that, they gradually let down their guard, harboring the same impression as what the manager was saying. However, Seojun did not.
It was because the death game had finally begun.
‘Here he is.’
The center of the crimson pattern that filled the sky was sticky like a huge drop of blood.
The bright red bells did not fall and changed their shape in the air. What appeared was a gigantic human figure wearing a robe with an all-red hood that could have been 20 meters tall.
The shape of the robe was familiar
This is the outfit that the GM, who was in charge of Temple Agas, always wore during the beta test.
But unlike then, there was no old man inside the hood, but only black darkness.
“Is that the GM?”
“Why is there no face?”
Noisy people.
At that time, the right hand of the huge robe moved as if to interrupt those voices.
[Welcome to my world, players.]
Kayaba’s voice echoed.
Seojun smiled.
‘〈 is my world 〉.’
It was absurd.
But I watched silently.
Rob, no Kayaba lowered his arm and opened his mouth again.
[My name is Akihiko Kayaba. He is currently the only one who can control this world.]
He studied the reaction for a moment, then continued.
[I think players have already noticed that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. But this is not a bug. Repeat This is not a bug, it is 〈 Sword Art Online 〉 original system.]
“The original system?”
Asuna muttered in a hoarse voice.
The first announcement, as smooth as covering the horse’s tail, continued.
[You will not be able to voluntarily log out of the game until you reach the top of this castle. Also, it is not acceptable to stop or release the Nerve Gear by an outsider. If this is tried…]
Some silence.
The words flowed slowly in the stillness of 10,000 people holding their breath.
[The high-powered electromagnetic waves emitted by the Nerve Gear’s signal element will destroy your brain and stop your life activities.]
“To?”
“Ji, what now?”
Kirito and Asuna, who were next to them, murmured.
Destroying his brain meant killing him. Kayaba had declared that if the Nerve Gear was turned off or unlocked and tried to remove it from the head, the person wearing it would be killed.
At those words, Seojun smiled inwardly.
‘Yeah, no.’
Killing is absolutely impossible.
Because he’s already taken action on NerveGear.
“Lord, Jun-kun.”
“Brother Jun…”
“Oh, this happened…”
Girls came around Seo-jun.
Then, with an uneasy expression on his face, he held on tightly to his clothes. Seojun gently stroked their hair as if to reassure them.
Whether it was or not, Kayaba continued to speak.
[To be more specific, shutting off the external power for 10 minutes, cutting the network line for two hours, attempting to unlock or separate or destroy the Nerve Gear body… If any one of the above conditions is satisfied, the brain destruction sequence is executed. In the outside world, this condition has already been communicated through government authorities and the media. For reference, at this point, there have been many cases where the player’s family or friends ignored the warning and attempted to forcibly remove the Nerve Gear, and as a result…”
The humming metallic voice takes a breath here,
[Unfortunately, 213 players have already been permanently banned from Aincrad and the real world.]
Most of the players around them were either disbelief or disbelief, with their mouths wide open or a slight sneer.
Then, as if dispelling the other players’ hopes, Kayaba’s practical guidance resumed.
[There is no need to worry about the body you left behind. Currently, all TV, radio, and internet media are repeatedly reporting this situation, including the fact that a number of deaths have occurred. It would be nice to say that the risk of your Nerve Gear being forcibly disengaged has already been reduced. In the future, your body in the real world will be transported to hospitals and other facilities for a two-hour disconnection grace period while wearing the Nerve Gear, and will be put under strict nursing care. Rest assured, gentlemen… Please try your best to attack the game.]
After taking a deep breath, he spoke again.
[However, please be careful. For you, 〈 Sword Art Online 〉 is no longer a simple game. It has become what we should call a second reality. In the future, in the game, all means of respawning will not work. The moment your hit points reach 0, your avatar is permanently destroyed, and at the same time, your brains are destroyed by the Nerve Gear.]
Amidst the terrible silence, only Kayaba’s voice resonated resoundingly.
[There is only one condition for you to be released from this game, and as I said before, you have to reach the top floor of Aincrad, the 100th floor, defeat the final boss waiting there, and clear the game. At that moment, we will guarantee that all surviving players will be completely logged out.]
10,000 players fell silent all at once.
