" Don't you dare let go of my hand, Yi!"

Yi just chuckle and look at his friend who's trying hard to pull him out of the sinkhole.

"I wouldn't dare to, I want to survive, dude. Now pull me out of this hell-hole!!!!!" Yi screeches like a girl every time a bug came crawling.

Well, let's go back to the situations before all of this take places...

...Before the incident~...

Aaden's POV

Damn it! I'm late, I promise the guys that I'll walk with them. I ran towards the promised place as fast as I could. I fix my school uniform, especially my tie. I overslept, this is all the overload homework fault, homework from school and the necessary extra classes that my parents provided to me after school. Might as well, split myself into two. I arrive in front of the convenience store, I entered and greet the cashier. I walk over towards the ramen section and found all of my friends.

"You're late, Aaden Lee~." Khael continues munching his potato chips.

His full name will be Kozakura Mikhael, 17 years old, from class 3-D. His face always looks grumpy, but he's a nice fella. He's a tech genius, I highly respected that.

"Sorry. I overslept and the driver is no where to be found." I take a bun and started eating. I skipped breakfast! For goodness' sake. I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"I already paid for that, it's on me today." Calix smile and pat my shoulder. This is our muscle guy~ Calix Adamos, from class 3-B, he's on the school's MMA Team. Anyway, he's a kind and caring person. That's what I like about him.

"Thanks, man." I bumped my fist with his, and suddenly I heard giggles from the cashier's place. Yup no doubt it's Feng Yi flirting with the cashier. Suo Feng Yi, from class 3-A, we're in the same class. Our international lady-killer.

"Let's exchange-" Yi's words got cut, and  now he's being dragged back to us by Hwajun.

"Yi, hurry up and finish your food, we still have to check the files in the council room." Im Hwajun, one of the Quadruplets. The Quadruplets are from class 3-SA.

The other three is still diligently finishing their food. They may be quadruplets, but it's not that hard to differentiate them. They give different kinds of vibes and aura. Let's start with the eldest one, Im Hwajun. Calm and the most organized person in our group. He's also the most matured among his siblings. The second one will be, Im Namjun. Adorable and our lil sunshine, he's a walking battery. He's also a sweet tooth, so he always carries a lot of lollipops with him. The third one will be Im Taejun. The loud and the most extroverted person I've known, people at school called him reckless, but he's not. It's just that he like solving things quickly but wisely.....of course. The last one of the Quadruplets. Im Yeojun, he talks less, and he's emotionless when with others except for us. Students in our school called him *Ice King* because of his cold attitude but the girls like it...... They even called him *Ice Prince Charming*.... cringe, I know.

Khael hand out the morning files to me and both of us continue fixing some parts.

"Ad, the school budget is still in it's critical moment."

"I know.." I groan loudly. " But we don't have any choices, it's our school's turn to host that banquet."

Yeojun suddenly sigh....

"What's the purpose of that unnecessary event anyway?"

All of us turned silent and look at him. It's morning and Yeojun talks.

"I can speak in the morning. I just feel like talking in the morning is a waste of my energy." He sip his coffee and close his eyes to continue his silentness.

" We should go now." I pack my stuff, the others nod their heads and started packing their things as well.

"Hehehe I've bought lots of food!" Namjun came back with a box full with snacks and a plastic bag full with drinks.

"Who do you think will carry that loads now, you blockhead?"

I hit Taejun's back because of his unfiltered speech and he groan loudly.

"I'm not a BLOCKHEAD! My grades are 10 times better than yours!" Namjun continue smirking while the others just laugh loudly. Well that's a fact.

"I'm sorry okay. I'll carry that box for you." Taejun glare playfully towards Namjun. He takes the the box and all of us head out of the convenience store to our school.

"Did you guys check out the news this morning?" Calix scroll through his phone.

Namjun shook his head, followed by others saying no. I missed it this morning, I woke up late today anyway.

" Oh c'mon, not all of us enjoy watching news for our leisure time~..." Yi said with his usual playful tones.

"Sorry." Calix chuckle and continue to scroll through his phone.

"Here look at this." He showed his phone to all of us.

"I'll read it." Calix hand over his phone to Hwajun and he starts reading it.

"Hmmm, I'll just say the important points. The Operational Meteorologist had sense some weird radar last midnight. It doesn't seems like any great natural disasters, but the radar is still unknown and the government advice all of the citizens to stay alert and be careful, also report immediately if there's a sign of disaster near you." Like I said Hwajun is a good person to organize information that's easier to understand.

" That sounds creepy, don't you think so?" Khael hug himself while making a scared expression and look at us playfully. "What if it's an alien invasion!~"

"Pfft you and your freaky beliefs." Taejun chuckle at Khael's words. Khael try tickling him but the box in his hand becomes a useful shield.

"Anyway we should hurry or the files will pile up even more." I push both Khael and Taejun to hurry up.

Everyone quickly walks their way to school. Wait there's only six.... Who's missing!? I look back and found Yeojun standing still while looking at the clouds.

"Yeojun-ah!" I jog back to him and sling my arm around his shoulder. He didn't budge and still looking up.

"What's wrong?" He looked at me and sigh.

"I just... felt very apprehensive about today's school." Yeojun said that with his expressionless face and tones. It's normal for us but if someone else heard this, they might be running away because of how spooky the aura feels.

"Cheer up, Yeo! Everything will the same as before, the weather looks nice today, and we have PE together today!" He nodded his head and smile a little.

"Yeah, sorry if I ruin your mood." I just chuckle and say it's alright.

"Oi oi! Aren't you the one that said we need to hurry!?" Khael shouted for both of us.

"Let's go before he starts nagging!" Yeojun just smile and both of us jog our way to them...

What worse things could happen other than our piling up files anyway?

Aaden's POV

We reached school, and it's already 7 a.m.. Classes will start at 8, so we still have 1 hour to get some work done. We went to the student council room, some of the students greet us, and obviously we have to greet them back. We entered the room and started working.

"Hey have you guys contacted the girls? They usually come to school way earlier than all of us!" Namjun stopped arranging the documents and looked at us.

"I already contacted Ibelina, but she didn't picked-up her phone." Hwajun replied while writing down something.

"Hold on a sec, I'll call the vice." I take out my phone and try calling Zandara.

"The number you've called is unavailable, please try again later."

Huh? That's weird, Zan never turn off her phone. Maybe, she forgets to charge it?

" I can't reach her." I put my phone away. Calix tried calling the others, and it seems like he failed as well.

All of us went silent, the atmosphere is quite uncomfortable.

"C'mon guys, stop worrying. Maybe they have some girl's problem... Or it could be that they all overslept." Yi said while looking at us and shrugging at the same time. Sometimes, I feel like this guy's brain are full of air...

"Now that I remember, yesterday Wei Lin said they'll have sleepover together that night." Khael replied, he just came out of the accounts book's room.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAID THAT EARLIER!?" Taejun throws a pillow towards Khael's face, but he caught it right before it landed on his face.

"I just came out, man! Chill~ you're worried about Emilia, right~?" Khael wiggles his eyebrows and smirk while looking at Taejun.

" What's wrong with a boy having a crush anyway?! It's none of your business, Khael!" Taejun blushed while continue doing his works on the laptop.

Yeah. It's so obvious to the point where Emilia starts giving you sign as well, you're so dense Tae...

"Clueless as always" Khael sighed and skipped his way to me.

Khael it would be better if you explained it to him. Anyway...

"I'm still worried..." I mumble to myself.

Yeojun stand up from his seat and went over to Hwajun.

"Hwajun-ah, I don't feel that well." Hwajun looks at him and immediately hug him.

Namjun and Taejun follow their oldest movement and immediately hug their youngest. What a lovely sight. Suddenly all the lights flickered. All of us stay silent for a while and the lights are back to normal.

" That scared me for a while." Calix chuckled and looked at all of us.

" Is it something supernatural!?" Yi whisper yells while standing firmly next to Calix. Wait I thought he's at the printing corner? Pfft! he sure ran fast~

Yeojun gets out of his brother's arms and all of us stand up immediately. It's not that we're scared, it's just that, there's a weird vibration on the ground. I immediately take out my phone and called the emergency service. Huh? What the hell!? The light went completely off now. All of us switch on our phone's flashlight.

" Aaden! I can't call the emergency number!" Hwajun said out loud.

"There's no service." Namjun who's trying as well. All of us tried calling but the vibration becomes much worse. I shouted at Khael's direction.

" Khael, try using the laptop!"

Taejun immediately gives the laptop to Khael. He tried using it but failed as well. Suddenly Calix interrupted.

"Don't you guys think it's too silent....?" Calix raised his hand up as a sign for us to be quiet for a while.

"The window. I can't see anything outside, it's pitch black." Yi is now looking at the window. "You guys know how much I avoid spiritually inclined stuff because it creeps me. To be honest, I'm scared right now, and I can puke any moment."

"You're not the only one. I'm scared, but I don't know how to react." Hwajun said while holding Namjun's hand, that kid is already anxious.

"We should check outside." Taejun walked his way to the door.

"Have you lost your mind? We don't even know what's outside!" Khael stopped him and looked at me. "Aaden say something!"

"It's the best option we've got, Khael. Do you think it's better to stay here and do nothing?" I sigh and walked over to them. "I'll check out what's outside and if anything happens to me, close the door immediately and don't open it. Easy."

The others got silent and Namjun tap the table.

"We're not doing that. Ad this is not funny! I-I-I don't... like what's happening right now..." Namjun looks down.

Suddenly the small space under the door started shining. Voices of people could be heard, we stare at the door and I look back at our stuff.

"Pack something useful." The others quickly do as I said.

I take my sling school bag and emptied it, I tossed the books aside and take the stationary with me. Phone, charger and power bank. Yeojun came over to me and hand me snacks and drinks.

"Thanks, Yeo." He nodded his and walked away to distribute the remaining food and drinks.

"We're done, oh and I've brought some emergency kits." Yi pointed towards his backpack.

"Is it heavy? You can put some things in mine." Calix said while looking at Yi. Yi just shook his head saying he's fine.

"You guys ready?" I look up and the others just nod their heads or said yes. I sling the bag on my shoulder and walk over to the door. Yeojun stands beside me and pat my shoulder. I nod my head and take a deep breath.

I open the door and what's in front of us are something unexpected....

What is this place? How can it be here?

Aaden's POV

What's in front of us right now is quite unbelievable. A wood with tall trees, there's around more than hundred, probably 3 or 2 hundreds of people outside. We went out and Hwajun close the door. Some people stared at us, office worker, police officers, some soldiers, street thugs, normal looking people,  what the- are those mafias!? There's even middle school students! I look at my friends and they seem to be observing as well, even Namjun stopped eating his lollipop and put it away. Don't worry, he has a special small box to put it in.

"It's a diversity group of people?" Hwajun stated while still observing, he pointed towards an empty space near a tree and there's less people there.

All of us went there and it's quite noisy with people panicking about this place, and obviously how they get here. I'm curious as well, how in the world we get here. I also realized when we're out of the room, it disappears immediately. There's even sounds of people crying and fighting.

"Noisy..." Yeojun mumble while sitting on the ground with his eyes close. Seriously, how in the world this guy can take a nap when we're in dilemma here. Namjun giggled and sit next to him, patting Yeojun's head. Sometimes I forgot Namjun is older than Yeojun.

"{They seems like high schoolers} {Should we ask them?} {No. What if they threaten us?} {Ptui (spitting), those kids is taking that spot all to themselves.}......" It seems these people won't stop talking about us... Haha *sigh

"They didn't even worth my spits~." Yi whistle and continue kicking the small rocks.

"What are we waiting for? Should we really just wait? It's already strange enough that we got here." Taejun said and look at all of us.

Hwajun sighed and looked at him. "So any idea what we should do then? We can't asked people around since it seems like they don't have a clue about this place as well." Hwajun got a point there.

"Taejun-ah I know you're worried that something bad would happen but we can't just do *something* about it. What if triggered this place, or much worse we could even get beaten up by those thugs." I said while looking at him. He lowered his head and cover his face with his palm.

"I'm sorry, my recklessness always kicks in when I'm so unsettled about some things." Taejun sigh while Calix comforted him.

"Let's just wait a little Tae." Calix said while patting his back. Taejun nod his head and suddenly a blue screen appears in front of all the people including us. The screen flicker and an old guy with suit appears on the screen. What bother me the most is that this old man have dark green skin, pointy ears and his teeth is a little disturbing.

"He almost looks like goblin from all the comics I read..." Calix said that with his eyes as wide as it can be.

The green man started to speak.

"Greetings players! Ah wait before that, now I officially announced you as PLAYERS of THE BROKEN LAND!" He clapped excitedly and all of the people started to panic, some tried asking questions, there's also people who started crying, oh will you looked at that, a fainted man. "Don't you think this is exciting? So first of all make sure you listen to this carefully, there will be rules. Complete the quest and get your rewards! If you failed there will be punishment depends on the quest! And that's it!" The green man just chuckle playfully.

"I can't do this anymore... Blerghhhh!" Yi threw up in the bushes besides him.

"Do you want water! Or maybe do you want Ginger Ale?" Namjun patted Yi's back and gave him a handkerchief. Yi take the mineral water and asked for candies instead.

"Thanks man... I just can't help it, that man creeps me out too much." Yi continue eating his candies.

The green man then starts talking again after the people calm down a little.

"So first of all, you could check your ability on your status window. You can open it by saying 'status window'  or  by thinking of it. There's also inventory, but only certain people have them. Quest will show up once everything is ready. So your first quest will be shown right after an hour. GOOD LUCK PLAYERS! I HOPE THE MONARCHS ENJOYED TODAY'S GAME!!!!"  the screen went off and a timer shows up.

...One hour before the quest begin....

I started thinking of it and it pop out. My name, age and gender. STR, AGI, MP, LUK, INT, DEX, VIT, HP, EXP and level? Level 1?

"Guys don't you think this looks like something in video games?" Namjun said after taking the lollipop out of his mouth.

"Yeah. This look so sick!" The depressed Taejun is nowhere to be found. It seems like he likes this kind of thing.

" That's not the point Tae." Khael said with a straight face. "But I agree with your statement... This thing look sick!" This two...

"Um, guys... focus." Both of them apologized. "Explore everything you can before the timer went off." All of them nodded their head and started checking their status window just like I said.

________________

NAME : AADEN LEE (HUMAN)

AGE : 17

GENDER : MALE

JOB : ....

___________

LEVEL 1

STR - 10              HP : 4,923

AGI - 11              

INT - 15

VIT - 10

DEX - 11

MP - 12

LUK - 11

Skills :

(Leader charisma, Lvl 2), (The Solvers, Lvl 1)

Tittle : ..

________________

I have quite a good start, I guess... Hah... I still can't believe all of this. Am I dreaming? If I am... Please wake up! Wake up Aaden! I just sigh and close my status window. It seems like the others already checked out theirs.