PART 1 -4 February 1976: The Kingdoms At War World- The kaw players are gathering around in World Chat for a small talk. In the World Chat… JIN_Bushin_Jin: Hello world! Harry432: Jin!!! Vincent83285: *B2B Warbeasts here, all cs welcome! Join now!* Fox_Liberation_Fox: Jin! Usurper735: Whoa…the 15m cs player is back and here again! JIN_Bushin_Jin: Thanks guys! Hello Harry and Fox! Yuzuri_B_Yuzuri: *B2B Haunting, 2mcs, Perms Wanted* Senju183: Jin!!! Where have you been? Let me guess. You won a primal war again. JIN_Bushin_Jin: Haha yeah! You know what means! Lady18471: Always the warrior of inspiration to us. I wish I could fight alongside you one day, Jin. Harry432: I know right! This guy’s attack strength is GODLY! JIN_Bushin_Jin: Oh really? Maybe some day you can join me on new Primal War. Senju183: Ha ha ha ha….as usual..Jin… -1 minute later…- JIN_Bushin_Jin: …who is assassinating my troops? I just received 24 hits. Harry432: Umm…I had no idea… Senju183: Is something wrong, Jin? Lady18471: Jin? Please tell us, what is going on? Vincent83285: *B2B Warbeasts here, all cs welcome! Join now!* Nifty_Y_Junior: Maybe Jin is afk…. *another 2 minutes later…* **UPDATE**: JIN_Bushin_Jin is killed and this player is now no longer valid. Nifty_Y_Junior: Damn!!! Awesome145: Ouch. Lady18471: Nooooo!!! Jin!! Zhao_Ting: nooooo jinnnnn!!! *There are 24,132 players in Kingdoms At War. Since Jin is killed, it is now 24,131.*
-11 February 1976. Hioki Masashi’s home in real life.- -9:15 AM- Hioki Masashi, the 17-year old boy has completed all his virtual games in his Playstation, Game Boy as well as taking 1st place in some online gaming competitions. Hioki’s Mum: Okay! I’ll be going to work. Take care, Hioki! Hioki Masashi: Okay, you too…Mum! -2:07 PM- Hioki: This is kinda boring….I’ve completed all my games….no more new challenges here to do.. The boy, currently in his own room goes to look outside on his window. Hioki: What new things can come for me…. *deep breath*…nothing to do... Suddenly, a doorbell rang in Hioki’s house. Hioki appears to be dreaming. Hioki: Oh!! I better go get it! Hioki opens the door. In front of him stands a strange man. He wears a formal black suit, formal long pants and a tie with a briefcase holding on his left hand. Strange Man: Hello there. Hioki: Why are you here? I don’t remember my parents calling you to be here. Strange Man: I’ve come to talk to you. Can you give me some of your time, please? Hioki: Sorry, I don’t know you. Goodbye. Hioki slams the door shut. But seconds later he heard the man’s voice again… Strange Man: Just in case you didn’t know, your talents on the online games were really amazing. Hearing that, it made Hioki stopped. How could the strange man know him? This is his first time seeing the man, yet it looks like now the man knows him of something. Hioki opened back the door seconds later… Hioki:…Come in. Strange Man: Thank you Hioki led the guest to his living room. He then took two cups of water to fill up, one for himself and one for the strange man. Strange Man: Thank you, once again.
Hioki: Look, I don’t know why are you want to see me but let’s just get to it. Strange Man: Man…you’re really close-minded, are you? Please relax and listen. The strange man clears his throat. Lee Harataba: My name is Lee Harataba. I came here to see you because I need your help. Hioki: Need…my help? Lee : Because you are an exceptional person having great skills and mindset on online games, as well as your virtual games…I believe you are the right person I can find. Hioki: How did you know all this, Lee? Lee: I have seen your username in some online games, in the leaderboard. From there I viewed your profile, and I even can see everything on you. Your game achievements, your level on that particular game I see and even your address is shown. Hioki: Ah…yeah. I remember I did show my address under my basic profile sections. Hioki is now more relaxed, now that the conversation becomes more interesting. Hioki: All right, Lee Harataba. Tell me why you needed my help. I’m sure you got a reason to come and see me, didn’t you? Lee: Yes. Lee Harataba opens his briefcase, and out shown some papers and a newspaper regarding Kingdoms At War of the latest news. He hands a paper with a picture of a killed player named Jin_Bushin_Jin. Lee: Look at this. Hioki took the paper and looked at it…curiously. Hioki: Who’s Jin? Lee: A week ago, he was around in the game’s world chat. But minutes later, his name suddenly disappeared. The name of the online game was Kingdoms At War. Hioki: But what happened to him? He looks fine in the World Chat earlier… Lee: He was having a small talk with some of the regular players in that game. But look at this. “Jin_Bushin_Jin: …who is assassinating my troops? I just received 24 hits.” Hioki: But isn’t that part of the game? You assassinate someone as part of the game, right? Lee: That’s correct. But then what happened later was a different story. **UPDATE**: JIN_Bushin_JIN is killed and this player is now no longer valid. Lee: Apparantly his last World chat message was at 3 minutes ago before this update came out. After this update, his username is no longer seen and detectable. When Hioki looked at this update, curiousity begin to form out of his mind. Hioki: But why? Lee: We don’t know for sure. But apparently as each day goes the number of players kept dropping down. Hioki: And was it because they quit the game or something? Lee: No. They did not quit the game. Something else is going on, and due to the fact that the number of players decrease instead of increasing, it made me curious to try finding out why. Hioki, after listening to the strange man’s words, was even more curious too. Hioki: How many players are in that game now? Lee: At January 1976, there were 26,814 players in the game. Then at February 4, there is only 24,132 players in this game. Witnessing the update of Jin being killed, that makes 24,131. I do not know how many are there today, though. But I am certain the numbers will keep decreasing. Hioki: And how many were there last year? Lee: In 1975, through January to December, there were around 40,000 players, decreasing all the way to 27,214 as of ending December 31, 1975. Hioki looks at the World Chat, as a piece of evidence of the paper given by the strange man. Hioki: The world chat looks fine before Jin says he gets assassinated 24 times. Lee: Exactly. Before Jin says he was getting assassinated, the other players all looked as if they were having fun. You can see two players still releasing clan adverts. Warbeasts and Haunting. And, to let me conclude this, the number of players decrease every day yet the World Chat still looks fine and that most of the players are still having fun, although some but very few have confirmed crying in the world chat, of their lost teammates of the past dates before this. Hioki: Didn’t any player complain anything to the developers or something? Lee: Most of the players who got “killed” cannot even do anything. They didn’t show a sign of activity in any way. Very few complaints were made, while most are just….gone. And the developers hardly take their complaint seriously. When a player gets killed, they cannot access to Kingdoms At War. Never again. Hioki: This is serious trouble. Lee: Yeah. That’s why the online players are dying every day. The strange man saw Hioki feeling angry, looking at the news Lee: This is why I came to seek for your help. Do you think you can turn things around and save this game world? In Hioki’s mind: “Players die every day….and without a trace of clue…this is indeed very serious. And this “killing” keeps going on and on…I have to stop this. If I don’t, nobody will be there to stop it, and there will be eventually no players left to play that game….!!” Hioki was feeling very angry indeed seeing this happening. Hioki: Do you have the web link address to Kingdoms At War?
Lee Harataba hands the web link in paper writing to Hioki. Lee: What is your name, by the way? Hioki: Masashi Hioki. Lee: Well, I’m done for today. Thank you for your time, Masashi Hioki. And it’s all up to you to decide whether you want to go. I wish you good luck. The man left Hioki Masashi’s house, leaving the entire papers and the newspaper containing the evidence of Jin’s kill on the game, with Hioki holding it on his hands. -7:30 PM- Hioki turns on his laptop, and types in the web address to Kingdoms At War In Hioki’s mind while typing: I’m going in. I can’t stand seeing those players go out just like that…I’ve got to stop this…no matter how much it costs me. I will find the truth, and the person who caused this “killing”. And I will make him pay for what he did to the other players. -PART 1 Ended-