Black Online-Chapter 141: Smart Guy’s Gaming Land

"...This must be the location."

Fang Raon stopped in a gaming store on the 38th floor.

He was holding the poster that he found at the window of the convenience store, and it told where the tournament would be held.

[Smart Guy’s Gaming Land]

’This is definitely the place.’

Fang Raon entered the store, and the whole store had quite dim lighting. There were computers all over the place, and people were playing games with intense focus.

[Black Online Tournament this way →]

At that moment, he noticed a sign and followed it until he found himself at the back of the store that had people sitting in chairs and waiting.

[Registrations Here—One Person Needed]

There was a desk with staff members sitting behind it.

’One person needed? I guess they’ve mostly filled the tournament bracket and only need one person more to join. Lucky me.’

Fang Raon approached the desk, and was about to say, "I am here to j—" but was instantly cut off by an excited-sounding young woman.

"You’re here to register?! Welcome, welcome~ This is the Black Online tournament hosted by Smart Guy’s Gaming Land!"

The young woman said excitedly.

She sounded like they had been waiting for one more person to fill the tournament bracket but started to lose hope that they would find anyone.

They were ready to already start the tournament and just let one of the people get a free pass to the quarterfinals.

"Yeah, I am here to register."

Fang Raon said.

"Write your name there, a class that you’d like to use, and when you’re done, take one of these small books and read the rules quickly."

A firm-sounding man said and pointed at the small pile of books at the desk. It was a very small book indeed, could be mistaken for a pamphlet at first glance.

He nodded, wrote his name on the registration form, and at the class, he wrote down "Warrior" on it.

’If this tournament was just for fun, I would’ve wanted to try another class since I’ve only played Warrior so far, but there is money on the line, and I need to try my hardest!’

Fang Raon thought to himself.

He then took the small book and went to sit down on one of the empty chairs.

"With this, the registration is concluded. The tournament will begin in ten minutes. The finalized tournament bracket will soon be available, and you and your opponent will enter one of the rooms.

"There, you’ll find two Virtual Reality Pods, and you must take the one that is under your name. If you take another person’s, you will be disqualified from the tournament."

The firm-sounding man said, and then headed to the back with the young woman to get the tournament bracket sorted.

’It looks like there are sixteen people here. Including me.’

Fang Raon looked over, and then he opened the small book and started reading the rules quickly, but luckily, there weren’t many.

’The matches will happen in a private server. Everyone will only have the two starting skills of their classes to use. When a person’s health is all the way to zero, the match will end.

’The tournament starts with the first round, where all sixteen people participate. Then quarterfinals, where winners of the first round will participate.

’Then semifinals, where winners of the quarterfinals will participate. And then depending on whether you win or lose, you’ll either end in a bronze match or a gold match.’

Fang Raon thought it was all pretty simple.

’I am glad that I am now healthy. If I were in my previous condition, I wouldn’t have been able to participate in this. These Virtual Reality Pods aren’t specially made like mine, I guess.’

He then closed the book, as he understood the rules quite well, and put it in his pocket.

He didn’t have the bag with his new microphone and computer with him. He put it in a locker, where it was possible for people of the Megaworld Apartments to store their stuff.

Fang Raon didn’t want to risk even in slightest that somebody might steal that while he was playing in the tournament.

"The tournament bracket is here!"

The young woman came back, and she was rolling a whiteboard that displayed the match-ups for the first round.

Everyone gathered around it.

***

[Anselma Rocha vs. Iker Mendieta]

[Yara Haddad vs. Soren Nygaard]

[Tomasz Kowalzcyk vs. Basilios Papandreou]

[Lourdes Quintana vs. Noemi Szabo]

[Fang Raon vs. Eira Lung]

[Rurik Volkov vs. Hiroto Sakai]

[Amal Nasser vs. Matej Horvat]

[Lock Manchester vs. Bjorn Halvorsen]

***

’Eira Lung...’

Fang Raon thought, and saw that his fight was number five, so he had to head over to the room 5.

"You all can head to your rooms now!"

The man shouted.

They looked for the number on their doors, and everyone went their separate ways, except those who joined them in the same room.

’This is room 5.’

Fang Raon put his hand on the doorknob, then felt a presence behind him, and turned around to see a face staring at him.

She was a mature-looking woman. Maybe in her late twenties. She looked like an office woman with a tailored blazer over a blouse, paired with a pencil skirt.

Her hair was styled simply in a low bun, and she looked very organized.

’I think she just finished her job in the Office Floor, and came straight down here. I feel actually quite intimidated.’

Fang Raon thought.

"Are you going to enter?"

Eira asked.

She sounded impatient as if she didn’t like people that wasted time, and weren’t hasty in their actions.

"...My bad."

Fang Raon opened the door, and entered with her, and they saw two Virtual Reality Pods in the room.

They weren’t what they expected to see.

Instead of lying flat on the ground—like a bed—they were standing diagonally against the wall, each one about the size of a refrigerator.

Eira immediately climbed inside her Virtual Reality Pod, and then Fang Raon did the same with his own.

The machines were both on, but they hadn’t been sent to Black Online just yet, as if they had to wait.

In that moment, the man and the young woman walked into their room, as they had already visited rooms 1 to 4.

"Are the two of you ready? And if you have any questions, it is better to ask now."

The man said.

"...Ready."

Eira said.

"I am ready... as well."

Fang Raon said.

With a smile and a nod, the young woman pressed the start button on the control panel, and the two of them immediately fell asleep.

Instead, their consciousness stayed very much awake, but it was heading to a different place—to Black Online.