Just after Shiro joined them in their little walk to their homes, not so long passed till their argument started to heat up. They were talking about a game! The young man, Silent, was addicted to games and spent so many hours playing and evolving his rank.
He didn't have fun playing the game itself except when first trying it, but he enjoyed ranking above others more, even if he would crash out of anger, losing again and again, still he had so much fun. In fact, he had more fun playing when he was always mad... what a crazy young man.
Everything changed after a certain event that didn't only make him quit gaming or playing games but led to a much greater impact that affected his personality and one of them was to start reading.
"Shema, I heard that the teaser trailer will air today, is that true?!
"What!! Let me check."
Shema, in an instant, took his phone out of the trouser's pocket and began on a journey that won't take long to search about this juicy information. He was fired from the inside, his eyes burned out of excitement. Meanwhile, Shiro shifted his gaze to Silent and asked:
"Silent, are you fond of what we are talking about?" Silent wondered in silence, his look was full of confidence. His mind didn't yet grasp what they were talking about. In fact, he didn't give any bit of attention until Shiro spoke and asked him in the face.
"No, I have no idea." Shiro staggered back as he was stunned by his answer for a moment.
"The Scalers, of course, you heard that name before." Shiro's lips curled upward in a state of smiling while tilting his head slightly towards Silent who was on his right side.
"No, never heard of it." indifferent as he was, Silent answered in an even tone. On the other hand, Shiro's stun developed into a state of shock, his eyes widened, his smile disappeared and his jaw was opened a bit.
He froze in that state of shock he got from Silent's answer and his mouth started drooling a bit. Realizing his current state, some words barely escaped his hard-moving mouth:
"h...huh?!"
"why are you so surprised, it's just a game I didn't hear about. What is the big deal?"
Shema was behind them a bit because he was searching for the information updates of the game's trailer. He stopped searching as he heard the last words that slipped from Silent's mouth.
The same state of Shiro's caught to him like an invisible Bluetooth connection. he caught up to them as he walked a bit faster and joined Shiro.
An argument of 2V1, that's what silent felt.
"I hope you are Joking... Silent!"
Shema was shocked, holding the phone in his right hand, he stopped searching for a while and just stared at Silent. Silent became even more confused than before.
Why are they exaggerating that game so much? he still doesn't know the answer to that mystery, is it really a good game to make both of them this excited even to this extent?! They were one of his best friends, he knew them very well especially Shema as he had known him for more than a whole decade, close to a decade and a half.
"Guys, calm down...it's just a...."
"No! It wasn't and will never be just a game."
"Silent, I don't know how you didn't even hear the name (the scalers) before but, all I have to tell you is to see the updates with your own eyes."
Shiro was so angry and frustrated and the reason was simple, never insult the throne holder of the VR games. Shema was quite different than Shiro, he understood why Silent had never heard of this game before, and he knew very well what happened with Silent a few months ago.
They continued walking, eventually after that state of shock that hit both Shiro and Shema, Shiro was the most affected by Silent's words, leaving Shema behind still in the same state but in the same region of shockingness.
Soon, Shema returned to search for the information about the teaser trailer that was supposed to be released today.
"Guys, I'm in a hurry. Let's fly away a bit."
Shiro interrupted Shema who was about to say something with his jaw completely open, surprised yet excited. Shema's eyes were about to be pulled out of his pupils.
"What is the clock now?"
"About... uh, 3:58 pm now. My clock is not so accurate so, it always says the time before the actual one by two minutes."
"Ok, Silent. Shema, let's... what! Why are you surprised like this?"
"It's... it's..."
"Shema, calm down. What is going on?"
Just as they were talking with each other, Silent zoned out and glanced to his left side, only because Shema had stopped in his tracks... astonished.
A game store was on Silent's left side, the glassy barrier of the game store's exterior had so many TV screens that aired something unusual only for Silent.
"ehm ehm, Welcome... Earth, to the brand new MMORPG full-dive virtual reality game... The Scalers. A Fantasy world-like game with lots of numerous Servers, training techniques, mob and boss fights, evolving ranks, collecting resources, Scaling system, various locations to explore of your own free and many more await all of you."
Silent kept watching... indifferent. It didn't even catch a bit of his attention or make his excitement fire, it didn't light his interest to begin with.
"It's... the trailer... is out right now!!"
Shema's words finally slipped out of his mouth which was unbelievably being widened with a jaw opened like a small cave. Yet, words came out of his mouth too late... what a state of being driven by a stupid game. Or that's what Silent would say if he gazed at Shema at that moment, but somehow... his attention was being pulled like a magnet by this trailer yet it was a stupid one too.
"What a stupid trailer for a stupid game."
Once he uttered those words out of his mouth, Silent heard a voice from the TV screens that made him look at it again until shifting his gaze away... what he saw... made him shiver!