The knock came just after nine.
Kenji was already waiting by the door.
He opened it to find the box sitting there like a silent promise. Heavy, unmarked except for the courier's label. His chest tightened as he bent to lift it. He had carried engines heavier than this, but never with such care.
Inside the apartment, he set it down beside his old tower. The relic sat hunched and dust-choked, its side panel rattling from years of overuse. The new one gleamed like obsidian, edges sharp and clean. For a moment, Kenji felt as though he was holding the past and future side by side.
He sliced the tape. Cardboard peeled back. His breath caught at the sight of the matte-black case. Smooth. Untouched. The faint smell of new electronics drifted up, sterile and sharp.
"…This is it," he muttered.
It took hours to dismantle the old rig. Cables twisted like vines, dust clung to every fan, screws resisted as though the machine didn't want to let go. When the new tower finally hummed to life, the silence startled him. No groan, no stutter, no rattle. Just clean power.
The monitor lit instantly. Colors vivid. Edges razor-sharp.
Kenji leaned back, exhaling. For the first time in years, he wouldn't be the one lagging behind.
But the world wasn't quiet.
Even with the curtains drawn, Kenji felt the hum of it pressing in. His phone buzzed constantly—news, messages, forums, streams. Every screen in the world was fixed on the same number.
Wishlist count: 188,452,991.
He refreshed.
188,475,203.
Again.
188,509,844.
It climbed steadily, like a tide that refused to stop.
Kenji sipped his coffee and scrolled through the chatter.
Ryo: "Holy crap, this is bigger than the Olympics."
Mika: "Stream chats are exploding. Everyone's doing countdowns already."
Samir: "Doesn't matter. Top guilds will dominate no matter what. You'll see."
Hana: "Dominate what? We don't even know what kind of game this is yet."
Dante: "Doesn't matter. Day one discipline wins."
Kenji didn't reply. He clicked through the global forums instead.
[World Forum — Revelation Online Global Countdown Thread]
[Pinned Post — Devs]:Servers open at global midnight. One world. One history. No resets.
That was all. No gameplay guides, no details, no explanations. Just the same cryptic promise they'd repeated for months.
[Crimson Alliance Guild Post]:We're claiming the capital. Consider every guild not aligned with us an enemy.
[Valkyrie Order]:First dungeon clears will belong to us. Watch us lead the world.
[Black Lotus]:Forget dungeons. Forget capitals. This game will be about secrets. We'll uncover them first.
Replies filled the screen:
"lol no one knows anything, stop pretending."
"Day one wars incoming, can't wait."
"What if there's no capital at all?"
Kenji sat back, letting the noise wash over him. Speculation, arrogance, excitement, fear—it was chaos. And no one, not even the biggest guilds, had any idea what awaited them.
That was the point.
The day stretched thin. Kenji cleaned his desk twice, emptied the trash, rearranged his cables. Anything to quiet the restless energy buzzing through him.
The news channels echoed the same refrain:"…with 189 million wishlists confirmed, Revelation Online is the most anticipated launch in history…"
On his phone:"Global record: 189,000,000 players ready to log in at midnight."
On the radio:"…some analysts estimate half the world will be watching streams of the launch tonight…"
The number finally slowed. Stabilized.
189,002,117.
That was it. The peak. The final count.
Kenji stared at the screen, heart pounding. One hundred and eighty-nine million. More than any sporting event, any film, any game in history.
And he would be there, not watching, but inside.
The launcher blinked.
[Download Available: Revelation Online]
Kenji reached for the mouse. His hand was steady this time.
Click.
[Download Starting…]
The progress bar crawled forward. Outside, the world held its breath. Inside his small apartment, Kenji let out a long one of his own.
"…It's finally happening."