Forbidden Link

24. First Stage

While Alex has experienced the repeated event twice, Bianca has experienced it three times. Alex wondered what would happen to people who had done it dozens or even thousands of times. He still couldn't imagine what would happen to all the people in this forbidden link world if they couldn't pass the stage at all. Is there a limit that they can't re-play in the end? Then what happened to them?

"And where is Kaira actually? If Kaira played the same game as me, she would be somewhere in the forbidden link. Or... is this forbidden link made by Kaira?" asked Alex in his head while walking.

Alex's question could not be answered right then and there. So Alex preferred to continue his journey with Bianca, a girl he'd only met for less than a day. Even though Bianca was a stranger to Alex, little by little, Alex got used to having Bianca beside him. Especially when Alex saw Kaira's shadow on Bianca's appearance. As if Alex repeated the experience he used to be with his sister when he was with Bianca.

Alex and Bianca were already in the room where they had to deal with the NPCs again. The positions of the NPCs were still exactly the same before Alex returned to the starting point. NPCs were standing still like mannequins who had an annoyed glance at people at the entrance door.

Before closing the door, Alex glanced at Bianca who was standing right beside him. He still remembered how that girl thrilled in the first place. Did Kaira feel the same as Bianca is feeling right now?

"Are you sure you don't want to just stand by the exit door?" asked Alex after his imagination about his sister was stopped.

Bianca shook her head confidently at Alex's words. Of course, being in front of the exit before the NPCs made a move was an advantage for Bianca. Just like Marvin, Bianca might just as easily get out of the room without having to deal with NPCs. But Bianca has twice rejected Alex's offer. The answer was the same.

"I will stay by your side, Al."

Maybe for an innocent and outspoken middle schooler like Bianca, saying those words was an easy thing. But as his thoughts saw his sister on Bianca's appearance, Alex never heard that outspoken sentence from Kiara. Even though Alex really wanted to know if Kaira wanted her brother to be by her side, Kaira never said that at all. Until she lay in a coma, Kaira never once told Alex that she wanted her brother to be by her side.

Alex turned around and smiled in relief. A warmth enveloped Alex's feelings right then. It was as if he had just said that he was needed by his sister. The uncomfortable feeling in Alex's heart slowly began to dissipate. Alex no longer sees Bianca as a nuisance.

Alex closed the door and a voice started to come from behind Alex's back. When Alex turned around, his hand was held by Bianca with a face that looked fine. The look of fear and trembling had disappeared from Bianca's face this time. Seeing Alex, who didn't respond right away, Bianca held Alex's arm more tightly.

"If my dad was Alex, I definitely wouldn't have hit that link."

“Hmpf… you are too easy to conclude," replied Alex with a chuckle at another outspoken Bianca's sentences.

Alex and Bianca started to move. As Alex suspected, if Bianca wasn't afraid, the NPCs wouldn't put Bianca too much. The NPCs just stared intently at Alex and Bianca, who were walking between the tables towards the position of all of them. The NPC's gaze was sine and sometimes they whispered to each other. However, they were standing still and didn't do much movement like before.

As the two people walked together, Bianca chose to walk and look at the floor. The girl tried to sing the song in a very low voice just to distract herself. Her head moved left and right according to the beat of the pop song he chose. Her mouth also made movement non stop. At that moment, Bianca's diversion went pretty smoothly. Bianca wasn't scared at all even though she crossed the NPCs one by one.

Alex saw the NPC with sharp eyes. The NPC couldn't make any reaction at all. They didn't even move their hands or legs, different to what he and Bianca had experienced before.

Alex and Bianca only had about five more NPCs in front of them. The positions of the NPC's were quite close to each other and made Bianca need to release her hand from Alex's arm. Bianca walked carefully between the NPCs and tried not to touch those five strange creatures by crossing her arms on her chest. Meanwhile, Alex was holding the right shoulder of the girl in front of him to direct Bianca's body so as not to get hit by the figures around them.

"Bukk!"

The clash between Bianca's arm and one of the NPCs immediately alerted Alex. Bianca, who was walking with her head down, immediately widened her eyes when she saw dozens of pairs of eyes staring at her. The NPC that hit Bianca tried to touch Bianca's shoulder. While the other NPCs immediately walked slowly towards the two humans who were in the room. The situation became more tense when several NPCs were screaming at Alex and Bianca too.

“Quickly get out of this room!” said Alex while pushing the NPCs who were trying to grab Bianca.

Without seeing the face of the girl in front of him, Alex immediately imagined that Bianca was quite shocked when an NPC reacted immediately when a collision occurred. So Alex took the initiative to get closer to Bianca with the thought that Bianca would budge for a while. Alex wrapped his arm around Bianca's shoulder with his right hand while pushing one by one the NPCs who were approaching the two of them with his left hand.

Although Alex and Bianca's footsteps faltered because they were blocked by several NPCs in front of them, the two of them finally arrived at the exit. Alex removed his right hand from Bianca's shoulder with the aim of opening the door, but Bianca reached out first.

Different to Alex's expectations, the exit door was successfully opened by Bianca. No more time to question why Bianca succeeded in opening the door, Alex grabbed Bianca's shoulders again to defend her from the NPC's attack. Because the NPCs were still trying to surround the two humans who were trying to get out of the room, Alex and Bianca immediately rushed out of the room and tried to close the door. Neither of them cared what would happen to the next room. The room that only got light from the previous room suddenly became very dark when the door was closed.

Again, Alex felt the exact same condition right before he returned to the classroom. His five senses were already unable to pick up any impulses from his surroundings. It had occurred to Alex's mind that he had failed the second time. But a split second later, Alex revised his thoughts because, when he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the same room as the original room.

Alex woke up from the transition that goes on with each incident and found himself standing in the middle of a dimly lit corridor. There wasn't a single person there. There weren't even any NPCs passing by when Alex looked around. It was just one person in the corridor and it meant Alex was alone right now.

The conditions which were different from before made Alex realize that he might successfully pass the first stage. With a thought full of confidence, Alex was thinking of this forbidden link world like a stage by stage game he had used to playing. He thought that he just needed to pass all of the stages and he might find Kaira in the end. So he prepared his mind to think of another problem which was waiting to be solved.

“This corridor… it feels familiar…”

Alex walked towards the source of light coming from a few meters in front of him while looking around for information. But before he found out the information from around him, Alex first guessed from what he was wearing at that time. When Alex looked down, he realized that he was wearing a high school tracksuit. Alex immediately remembered that the corridor where he was currently walking was the corridor leading to the basketball court.