Dreamchaser Adventure

1. A Lady and Her Card Friends

In one of the urban areas, various sounds could be heard all around. The hustle and bustle of the people around, the sound of the car and motorcycle machines, the sound of heavy rain that suddenly poured down, the sound of some people complaining about the rain, and many more.

A panic voice and complaints about the sudden rain can be heard among the people. Some are in haste to find a place to take shelter and some other people just casually bring out an umbrella or raincoat from their bag, adding more colors to the surrounding area. Among these colorful umbrellas and raincoats, there is one black umbrella joining in- as the owner suddenly comes out from one of the buildings. Below that black umbrella, a young lady with a gray hoodie paired with a long and black wide-leg trouser can be seen. The lady walks through the city and some groups of people casually, ignoring whatever is happening around her or whatever those people are doing.

While walking on the side road, her eyes kept looking into her surroundings and she, sometimes, raised her right hand until it reached her head so she could fix her mask and bangs, making sure it fully covered her face. On the other side, in her left hand, she carried a big tote bag along with a book with a beautiful cover.

"The Grand Paradise- or in short TGP is a super realistic VRMMORPG with millions of people as its active players. The game was developed by the same game company that published a famous multi-platform action roleplaying game, Garden of Paradise. Not losing to its sister game, TGP offers a lot of features to satisfy their player while also opening up an opportunity for their player to fulfill the dream they have!"

Hearing something familiar to her ears, the lady stops on her track and raises her head to look for the source of the voice. When she did so, she found a digital billboard that was not so far from her, showing a popular celebrity in her country, and promoting a game that she knew so well.

"It seems like they're successfully able to make several countries make ads of their VRMMORPG" she mumbled, unconsciously smiling at the sight above her.

A while before the ads ended, she shifted her sight to the surrounding area to check whether anyone was interested in it. She breathes a sigh of relief when she sees several people that enthusiastically talk about it.

"It's great that there are more people interested in TGP, it's proved that their hard work is not pointless" she said in a small voice with a proud face. After that, she shifted her gaze away while saying, "I better go back now. After all, I still have some plans ahead."

With that she continues her walk, passing by multiple people along the way. While doing so, she constantly checks her belongings- making sure that she doesn't drop anything when she's distracted and shifts her sight back to the path ahead when she's sure nothing is missing.

"There is it" she mumbles.

She slowed down her step when she saw a familiar tall building. When she reached the building's entrance, she entered it right away without hesitation until she saw an older woman whom she knew very well walking towards the elevator.

"Oh shit, it's the nosy neighbor downstair" she said in an extremely low voice.

She- who at first tried to reach the same elevator that the woman went for, now gave up on her plans without thinking and went to the emergency stairs instead. When she felt that she perfectly avoided the older woman she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's just use the stairs... my room is on the third floor anyways, so there should be no problem" she said, and tried to convince herself.

After that, she lowered her mask to take a long deep breath to prepare herself for what she was going to do. When she thought that she was ready to do it, she closed her umbrella before shifting her gaze to the stairs ahead and started climbing it.