[Board Quest - Mid-difficulty]

  Objective: Retrieve target item.

  Reward: 14,000 Gold

  Minor objective: Visual confirmation of target item.

  (Must be confirmed by accompanying party)

  Reward: 6,000 Gold

  Grim looked at the quest details again, wondering if Halmae was seeing something he wasn’t.

  The reward was more than double what he would’ve expected for a mid-difficult board quest. That alone was reason for suspicion.

  But the minor objective was the real cause for concern.

  “‘Visual confirmation of target item’?” he mused. “So they don’t know if it even exists?”

  Halmae nodded.

  For once, she didn’t voice her own response. She was watching him, waiting for any hint of a reaction.

  Board quests in themselves were nothing uncommon. But this one was peculiar.

  Grim didn’t like things that were peculiar.

  Board quests were split into three categories. Open and low-difficulty board quests were simple assignments that rarely included any danger from monsters. Mid-difficulty was relegated to jobs with known dangers from monsters and dungeons as well as quests that could be completed by players between level 30 and 50. And finally high-difficulty for jobs that dealt with dangers only acceptable to players above level 50 or jobs that included unknown variables and, as such, unknown dangers. Often, due to the nature of high-difficulty quests, they required “watchers”, players assigned to confirm that quests were completed or even attempted successfully.

  Finally, after taking his time reading through the details, Grim spoke.

  “This smells fishy.”

  Halmae pursed her lips and smiled. “Don't it though?”

  The board quest had been sent to her directly which meant it wasn’t a publicly posted quest. At least, not yet.

  Grim stared at the posting a while longer before speaking. “It’s almost as if they’re hiding a high-difficult quest as a mid-difficult quest.”

  “And doing a bad job of it, too.”

  It was months since they’d returned from the north. Unlike the others, Grim and Halmae had done a good job of staying out of the spotlight. After all, they didn’t encounter any otherworldly creators or see another human be infected and turned into a monster.

  If anything, they were closer to the refugees from the northern barony than the players who traveled north to save them. The pair had kept their heads low which only helped keep their ears to the ground. And slowly, rumors of the young heroes of the north turned to the scouting party who had headed north ahead of them.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  For near a month, Grim and Halmae had heard rumblings of the movements of the Cha Bell Corporation. Rumblings that occasionally included them.

  The two old players traded looks. Halmae looked excited while Grim returned a droll, almost bored expression.

  “Trap?” he asked.

  Halmae’s response was so matter of fact, he almost smiled when she spoke.

  “Trap.”

  ***

  The corridor was nearly pitch black.

  Somewhere, far below their feet, was the subway platform. And though he knew that they’d see the glow of the lights once they got close enough, there was nothing to illuminate the way. Before they left, Grim’s [dark sight] allowed him to see better at night and in dark areas, albeit in an unnatural, unsaturated light. But even still, the corridor seemed to grow even darker which only served to unnerve him more.

  Worse still, he’d lost contact with Halmae.

  Mae, can you hear me?

  There was no response, but there hadn’t been since they separated.

  Halmae suggested she’d take the girl, Heekyum, down one set of corridors while he and Nobu took the other. Grim had questioned the wisdom of splitting up, but he knew she was right. Everything about this board quest felt wrong and they needed to get to the bottom of it.

  Grim glanced at Nobu who was focused on the corridor ahead of them. The stairs were steep, but this section of the station was still under construction during the World Break. There were nearly no signs of life here and it was more than likely they were the first humans to walk these corridors since the gates unleashed monsters on mankind and the System first made its presence known.

  “Sir?”

  Nobu’s voice broke the silence and Grim stiffened in response.

  “I wanted to apologize. For earlier.”

  Grim listened carefully for signs of deception in the man’s voice, but could detect none. And when Grim didn’t respond, the man kept talking.

  “I should’ve stopped him. Garou, I mean. I just… it’s been a while since I’ve been in the field, sir. And… I just wanted to apologize.”

  The pair walked further in silence. They were completely engulfed in darkness now, enough so that each man was forced to hold on the railings in the corridor to make their way down. Skills or no, there was still darkness in the world that the System could not pierce.

  Grim’s voice broke the silence this time.

  “Why?”

  Even without seeing him, Grim could feel the man’s nervousness. His steps were short, whether due to caution or because the man was planning something, he could not be certain. But the more he spoke, the easier Grim could place his location.

  “I was at the Seorak Outbreak, sir. And… well, I was injured.”

  The Seorak Outbreak? Grim thought.

  He and Halmae had heard about the events of the outbreak from Han Dae. A group of players had found the boss of the dungeon there and defeated, stopping the outbreak as well as any future occurrences.

  “What have you been doing since then?” he asked.

  Up ahead, he could sense the glow of the platform. The dim glow of light meant that his [dark sight] was beginning to work better. He could see that the darkness was starting to recede. They only had a little further to go before they reached the platform.

  Nobu hesitated before speaking. “I… it’s a bit embarrassing, sir. But I’ve been working at the Player Society.”

  Grim’s eyes widened.

  The barbarian, Garou, was obviously a hired mercenary. Most likely a dreg, someone who was familiar with the inner areas of the city. But Grim and Halmae had assumed (incorrectly) that Heekyum was a representative from the Player Society meant to judge whether the quest was attempted successfully.

  “You work for the player society?” Grim asked.

  Nobu nodded.

  His [dark sight] detected nothing. No changes in blood pressure or any other signs of deception in the man.

  The realization struck Grim like a thunderbolt.

  “We need to move!” he shouted.

  With that he started bounding down the steps without little regard for safety. The steps were mostly clear and they were close enough that he could see the glow of the subway platform below.

  Nobu, obviously shocked by the sudden change in demeanor, did his best to catch up. But Grim didn’t care.

  There was no doubt, then. Halmae had suspected that one of the three players assigned to their party was a corporate plant. First, they had suspected Garou but the barbarian was too stupid to deceive anyone. Next was the man, Nobu but Grim’s [dark sight] confirmed his story. That only left Heekyum, the soft-spoken girl they hadn’t bothered to check.

  At first, all Grim could hear was the echo of his feet bounding down the steps. But then he realized that there was something else, a distinct sound with no rhythm.

  “Sword fighting!” Nobu cried out.

  He was right, Grim could hear the sounds of battle echoing up from the platform.