It's weird how long an hour feels when you're pretending to be busy. Especially when you have nothing to do aside acting all pretty in a cool blue dress while laying down on the sofa, all sleeping beauty like.

I'd been sitting there on the couch, scrolling through the boring forum feed of Darkmoon Adventure, just waiting for something, literally anything to happen.

The posts on here were just low-level rage bait like I usually post when I was 14 and had nothing better to do, mixed with a couple of lore questions that's met with "go read" or unhelpful comments

The last message from Ann came about thirty minutes ago:

"The plan is in circulation."

Alright… alright, so the money's in circulation, and the plan's in motion, I'd assume what she meant.

It was 8PM already. I kept waiting and waiting… Hoping that Eirlys Sonder would leave the mansion and we'll cross each other's path, yet, I was starting to get anxious that she won't.

If my assumptions were correct, she'll need to get to the Sonder Interactive Inc. to deal with the issue, since she was apart of the patch update department.

…Right? Was she? Oh fuck I haven't thought this through, I mean, yeah, I send her bugs and she fixes them but that doesn't make her- Oh god I hope I didn't just assume wrongly.

But then, I let out a sight of relief when I heard footsteps echoing in the hall, heavy, fast, and sharp steps of rush.

A woman was storming down the hallway in a full suit and tie like an average Japanese salaryman, holding with one hand was a folder, and a coat on the other hand.

Her expression could be interpretted as both panic and irritation. She almost didn't catch me as she passed, leaving behind her perfume running up my empty cranium.

"Going somewhere?" I blurted out, pretending I wasn't about to have a heart attack from the fact that she didn't noticed me when I needed her to.

"...Cory? Ah, don't mind me, just business," she said, barely glancing at me as her hand reached the door handle.

Oh fuck… She didn't care about me, which was a bad sign, I need to check on Eirlys, making sure she actually initiate a roll back, so that I can revive my character.

"Eirlys!" I said quickly, rising from the couch, "If it's about Darkmoon Adventure VR, I can help."

The door was already opened, but she snapped back and looked at me with her eyes tad wide.

"Why so sudden?" Eirlys asked, her tone colder than I remember when she spanked me just this noon.

"I… I thought you seemed anxious, and I just wanna help! You know how it is." I answered.

"I really do not." Eirlys squinted, her eyes scanning me up and down like she was trying to figure out why I suddenly grab at this, and why was I already dressed to the brimmed and groomed.

Then, without a word, Eirlys Sonder adjusted her collar and nodded, before walking out the door.

Which, yeah… It wasn't the "Sure, Cory, I totally trust you" I'd been hoping for, but I took it as she's telling me to come along. So I hastily put my phone back into my dress pocket and ran after her.

We left through the front doors, but instead of heading for the main gate, the garage, or the driveway where a black car would usually be parked waiting for the heiress; Eirlys veered off to the side path, I totteringly walked behind in my old (yet visually very fresh since it's cleaned every two days) sneakers as Eirlys heels crunching on the gravel.

The garden lights dimmed the further we went, replaced by the industrial hum of generators and the clatter of pipes against the walls.

I'd never been to this part of the mansion before, I intentionally avoid it in fact because it was not my type of place.

I'd rather escape from reality, and the industrial revolution didn't help, this part of the mansion had no flowers, no marble no warm garden lanterns.

Just wires running along the walls, doors that probably lead to the places people knew exist but never acknowledged or respect; like the kitchen, security room, maintenance room, staff office, staff lounge, etc.

The smell of metal, oil, and something vaguely electric kinda be sending chills down my spine..

Eirlys Sonder stopped in front of a ladder, tall enough to scale the entire building, up straight to the roof. She glanced back at me, putting on her coat—to free one hand—and started climbing with the folder still on the other hand, hitting it against the steps.

"..." I stared up at Eirlys, half-sad that she wasn't wearing a skirt, you know… Corporate women knee-lengthy skirt in doujinshi? So that I can look at her leggings? If she's even wearing any? But sadly, it were just… trousers.

I looked around to make sure no one was looking before started climbing myself, because I am, in fact, was wearing a dress. And even though it went down to my ankles, there was still a very good chance someone got a sneak peak.

By the time I reached the top and rolled (literally) over the wall onto the roof, I saw something that no normal human being… Actually, out of the 9 billion people currently alive on Earth as of last month… I guess only 8.9 billion of them would see one of these up close in their life time.

An "H" symbol on the ground.

"Holy fuck." I whispered at the magnificent sight.

It was… A helicopter.

No big deal, right? It's very easy to imagine the Sonders having one, hell, one hundred of these laying around! I mean like, have you SEEN their net worth? Have you seen their estimated daily income from all the techs they're producing aside from just running the best online VR game in history, and other random things they're dipping their toes into like fast food subsidiaries?

It shouldn't have been such a big deal, I told myself repeatedly, I mean, it's not like I'd never seen one before. There's plenty online, and video games too.

"We're taking this, let's go, Cory." Eirlys said with one foot inside the helicopter, before turning back, double-checking the thing quite professionally with the pilot, "Do you have an extra set of headphones? How's the fuel?"

"Yeah, coming." I muttered, "I'm… coming."

I observed the helicopter from a distance; the body was all dark gray with these soft gold lines running down the sides, quite similar to my blue dress with gold lines, only mine were shinier, so more artificial, I guess? With that in mind, I felt less bonita. My dress felt ugly compared to the helicopter.

But why the hell am I getting these thoughts? Who the hell makes these comparisions? And I didn't even buy this dress!

The helicopter seems well-kept, every surface looked clean and shiny, too smooth even, like it'll skeeet if you run a finger through it. It reflected the floodlights and the sky and my dumb face staring back at it.

I approached, and the scent finally hit as the night wind blew in my face. The smell of fuel and oil was faint but sharp, comparable to burnt plastic and metal rain. I was expecting some kind of paint smell, but I guess I was expecting nothing.

And then there was the black-tinted glass. As the pilot and Eirlys were talking, I quickly brisked towards the front for a better looking. The rounded glass was like a magnifying glass, when I get too close, my reflection gets distorted and I look like a creepy titan with a giant nose and forehead, it warped my head and aggrandized my messy hair and a few pimples I have on my not-so-perfect face that's barely wash twice per day when I get in to take a bath/shower depending on my mood.

I lookeded up at the the rotor blades and honestly, yeah. Those sure are rotor blades, cool, I just don't know what to comment about them, also, I noticed that… They're not flat? They're tilted at an angle somewhat.

I tried jumping up and touching them, but my height and jumping capabilities were insufficient.

"Cory?" Eirlys called for me again from the passenger side.

"Coming!" I said, turning the corner to see her, "Damn… You actually own a helicopter."

Eirlys didn't answer, just shrugged as she handed me a pair of headphones to cover my ears with… While if I were to say that to Hailie, I can imagine an answer somewhere along the lines of "You don't?"

And as the distant engines began to hum to life, I realized…

I would rather just create a new account at this point… Instead of asking Ann to break the game, lying to Eirlys, infiltrating her system and coercing her into rolling back the game ~30 hours, reverting all progress every players had made just because I didn't wanna grind 50 levels… Something I could've easily done in 3 days back in my prime.

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