"What do you think you are doing with my perfect being?!"

What did he mean by that?

"Angelica, you have no right to leave this cave! Come back now, or I will kill your little friend!"

Angelica slid her finger and opened her menu. I watched as she pulled an item out of her inventory: teleport leaflet. This will take anyone to the nearest town, but why has she not used it before? She opened a trade window with me and gave me the item. "Leave us, I'll be fine. Thank you for trying."

"I am not leaving you here to die!" I shouted.

She said, "Are you stupid? Get out of here before he kills you."

I opened my menu and pulled out the teleport leaflet. I grabbed her arm and used it.

We immediately found ourselves in the middle of the Town of Defiled. Angelica looked down at herself, "How is this possible?" She started laughing with joy. "I am freed."

"Who kept you trapped down in that cave and why?" I asked.

"I'll tell you once we find a place more private. There could be people listening."

I scratched my forehead, "Well I'd say we could get a motel room, but I've only got 1 gold left. So…"

"I can pay for the room, and I will tell you everything as payment for saving me," she said. "What is your name by the way?"

"Merak," I said, "Merak Yaxha. Are you sure you can pay for a room?"

She smirked and opened her menu. Then turned it around to show me. "10,000,000 gold?!" I choked, "Well if you've got that much, would you mind treating me to dinner as well?" I laughed.

"Sure."

That night, I had the best meal imaginable. I never thought I would see the day that this much gold would be spent on one dinner. At the restaurant, we casually talked about our personal lives, though she did not really talk much about hers in public.

"Are you from this town?" she asked.

"No," I said, "I'm from Oar's Rest. It is a western themed town many leagues from here."

She looked at me puzzled, "What are you doing here then?"

"Uhh, well. You did send a message saying you were in trouble. So I came here to save you…" I said sheepishly while I sipped my lemon tea.

She asked, "But how did you get that message in the first place?"

"Well you are on my friend list."

Angelica looked up, "I-I...am?" She scrolled through her own friend list until she saw my name: Merak Yaxha. "Oh, I guess we are friends then. Hehe," she laughed awkwardly.

The motel room was larger than any other than I had ever stayed in. Two beds, one on either side of the room and laden with velvet pillows, a tiny kitchen which peaked my interest as most motel rooms do not possess such areas, and four red armchairs.

hunger: 98% fatigue: 12%

We sat across from each other in the scarlet seats, and I said ever so unceremoniously, "Tell me, who was it that kidnapped you in the first place?"

Angelica sat up as though posing for an interview. "Well, are you aware of the rumors that the ones who are supposed to be running this world are dead?"

"Yeah."

"Many of them are. And it has been confirmed that this world is dying," she said. She breathed in deeply. "They are testing the players and logging them out to try out their human-like androids they are building for everyone. They can give the exact same sensibilities as real human living in reality."

I scratched my forehead, "That's a good thing right? At least they are doing something about saving the fate of humanity."

"But…" her lip trembled. "They are only testing the androids only on game-borns like me. Because we are not as important as the ones who are not. They are inserting their genetic code into the androids and logging them out. Some parents are willing to sell their game-born child for a high price to the game master, like my 'loving' family did."

"What did the creature who was chasing us out of the cave mean when he said, 'Perfect Being'?" I asked.

She answered, "About one eighth of all the game-borns are vulnerable when they fall asleep. Someone could approach them and manipulate their menus which could, in turn, cause them great suffering. But since there are not quite as many game-borns as regular people, finding one with this bug would be difficult to find."

Is it true that some game-borns are in danger of this bug? I wonder if I am like that.

"This is nice," I said. "I have never met another game-born like myself. I think it is funny how some people think we are only NPCs and have no souls of our own. We have no desire to do anything of our own accord, and thus we've both become outcasts."

Angelica said nothing in return. She leaned back in her seat and remained silent.

"What was the real world like?" I said suddenly to break the silence.

"Excuse me?"

"Living in reality. What does it feel like?"

Angelica answered sullenly, "It is a living hell. You know how sometimes you trip and fall on your face and you can just get back up? It hurts. And they call it 'pain.'"

"What does it feel like."

"It feels like it does when… I don't know how to explain it. Try to imagine yourself when your HP is almost depleted and you don't know what will happen when it hits zero," she said. I thought back to my battle with the lizard-beast when I was about to die. Maybe just the thought of dying is what it feels like. I wonder if I will ever know what this 'pain' feels like.