I ran the longest marathon of my life and reached home. With my whole body drenching in sweat and my leg muscles trembling, I entered through the front door. 

As I sat down to rest a bit, my body burned and my ear steamed out hot air. My lungs struggled to suck in all the oxygen around the earth at once. And my heart crashed against my ribs repeatedly making wild sounds as if it could pop out any time now.

"Riko…what'z….za time?"

I could barely speak because of my heavy and rapid breathing.

Riko came running from the living room puzzled by the situation. Surprised by me lying on the floor in the entryway and she gasped out, placing her hands over her mouth.

Steadying herself, she then asked, "Why are you just lying there? What the hell happened to you?" 

"Run…the game…no time… 5 pm.." I somehow squeaked out the necessary words for the explanation.

"What? Anyway, there are still 5 minutes left until 5 pm. Go get yourself washed up first." Riko mommed me, "You look terrible and smell sniff sniff awuggh.." 

What the heck? don't sniff if you don't wanna smell it.

Eventually calming myself, I took a quick shower and then hurried towards my room to enter the Chaos world. 

Just before I stepped into my room,  Riko shouted out from the living room. "Onii-chan they are broadcasting the new One-Piece episode. Wanna watch it together?"

"No, Don't have the time. I have to go inside the game." I explained the situation properly. "By the way, I might be really late tonight. Don't wait for me at dinner tonight."

"Okaay." She responded as if she anticipated it. 

Being late playing the game isn't surprising anymore I guess.

Plugging the charger into my phone, I quickly dived into the game and discovered myself inside our squad base.  

"Arataki-kun, it's already 10 past 5 pm. Are you sure he is coming?"

Hikari's impatient voice reached my ears, but the world around me still remained blurry. Even though I could hear all the sounds, I had yet to get my vision back.

"Y-ya, Hikari. I even went to his class…" Shinji's voice quivered. After a moment, he shouted out, "Oh, there he is!"

Right away, I heard some quick steps closing in on me.

When my eyes cleared up, a pair of angry aqua eyes came into my view first. She glared at me, leaning forward. A tuft of her snow-white hair slid forward, hanging loose over her right eye. She didn't even bother to tug it back behind her ear.

"H-hello!" I managed.

"Why didn't you answer any of my calls or messages?" Hikari thundered.

"Shinji didn't tell you?" I frowned, glancing at Shinji. In response, he just shrugged. Useless… With a sigh, I added, "Well, I couldn't answer because my phone's battery died. I mean I didn't even know we had a void run today."

"Ryoki-kun, this isn't a manga." Her eyes grew cold with a little hint of sadness. 

I guess it's hard to believe that cliché scene happening in real life. I mean, It's an overused and cheap plot armor.

"Wait, don't get sad. It's the truth." I tried to fix the misunderstanding right away. "Ask Shinji, if you don't believe me. He saw my phone."

"Why do you think I'm sad?" 

Instead of asking Shinji about my phone, her focus shifted toward the 'sad' part for some reason.

"Because…"

"I'm not!" She yelled out before I could even speak, with a slight red glow on her cheeks. "A-anyway, are you ready? Do you have enough potions with you?"

Well, at least she ain't angry for missing her calls anymore. 

"Ya, I should have some healing potions left. Those should be enough."

"Knew it. Here, accept my trade request." Hikari said while opening her game interface menu window.

"But I don't need more potions, Hikari." 

Hearing my refusal, she looked daggers at me, knitting her brows together.

"Regardless, you must keep more than enough potions."

"She is right, Rio," said a blonde beauty, entering the room holding a tray. She brewed oolong tree for us apparently.

"But Annette-san, you can always just heal us, right?" I asked, turning at her.

"You said your new playstyle is reckless, right? So you can't always rely on my healing." Annette-san replied, extending the tray toward me. "Moreover, my subclass isn't best suited for healing, you should know that already."

"Alright, alright." I sighed, and took a cup from the tray, with a little nod of gratitude. "Just don't give me too many bottles."

While I sipped on my tea, Annette-san's dress caught my attention. I had never seen this one before. "Oh? Is that one of the new outfits?"

It was a peach-colored fancy robe, with a red cape attached around the shoulder. The outfit enhanced her already gorgeous outlook characterized by her golden hair, half braided, locked behind her head with a red ribbon and the rest waving down to her waist.

"Yes," she replied. "I bought three of the new ones."

Damn, she is rich. Well, that's where she pours all her money. Collecting these outfits was a hobby of hers, an expensive one indeed.

Soon a bulky large built player entered the room. It was our squad leader Kwon Seok-chin, aka Boss.

"Hey Boss, sorry I'm late." I apologized right away.

"It's fine, Rio." Boss grinned while smacking my shoulder. "So, everyone's ready? Recheck all the items and equipment."

"Where's the other two? Just the five of us are going?" I asked.

"Nah, I sent them ahead of time for the teleportation gate." 

Apparently, Lynx and Pinkpika, my other two squadmates, were appointed beforehand to close the gap between us and the void gate. They would help create a teleportation gateway. Two teleportation devices, one on each side, would connect and create a teleportation gateway.

Beep..beep..beep~

"Can you hear me, Lynx?" Boss asked over the group voice call.

"Yes, loud and clear,"

"Let's begin teleportation."

"Alright."

Soon a two-meter oval-sized portal appeared before us. One by one, we all entered the teleportation portal.