Three kilometers to go.
Pat stared anxiously at the street ahead.
This was seriously bizarre.
Why was the road so congested today?
Normally, even when this street was busy at this hour, it never turned into a full traffic jam.
But today, traffic was completely jammed.
"Hey, what's going on up there? Why are there so many cars?"
A car in the adjacent lane rolled down its window, and the driver looked over at Pat with an annoyed expression.
Pat turned his head and saw a slightly overweight middle-aged man wearing a patterned tank top.
Pat shrugged. "No idea. Normally this road wouldn't be jammed at all at this time."
"This is ridiculous," the chubby middle-aged man complained. Then he added, "I'm almost at the district—just a bit more and I could've caught a Pokémon."
Huh?
Pat felt like he'd just heard a very familiar word.
He looked at the man again.
"Uh, sir… did you just say… Pokémon?"
"Yeah," the man replied casually, pulling out his phone and showing it to Pat.
"It's this game—Pokémon GO. It's supposed to get people to go outside, but there aren't any Pokémon in my residential area, so I had to come here to try my luck."
Pat was stunned.
So there were other people coming to this district for the exact same reason as him?
Suddenly, Pat recalled the message he'd seen earlier in the app.
Each area had a limited number of Pokémon.
Only a small number would appear within a given time window. If you arrived too late, the Pokémon might flee—or the rare ones might already be caught.
That couldn't be happening… right?
Pat didn't really want to believe it.
This was just an ordinary mobile game. Surely there wouldn't be that many people as idle as him, willing to drive all the way out just to play a game?
Most people preferred staying at home to play games, didn't they?
His logic wasn't wrong.
Most players did prefer gaming at home.
But—
He had overlooked one crucial thing.
There were over a hundred million loyal Pokémon players worldwide.
And if you counted everyone who had ever played Pokémon and registered an account, the number multiplied several times over.
These were real players, with no inflated statistics.
Not some hollow "three hundred million guns blazing dreams" numbers from the past.
When even a fraction of that hundred-million-strong player base poured out into the streets, it might not look terrifying on a global scale—but it was more than enough to cause traffic congestion.
In the end, Pat patiently waited for the jam to clear.
About three or four hours passed.
What should have been a ten-minute drive took several times longer than usual.
It was honestly insane.
Pat had never seen anything like this.
When he finally reached the destination and pulled out his phone, Pokémon GO displayed a notification:
"We're very sorry, Pokémon Trainer. Most Pokémon in this area have already been captured, and the remaining few have gone into hiding. It seems it will be difficult to catch Pokémon here in the short term. However, don't worry—Pokémon will reappear at the start of each week. You may return then to catch them."
At that moment, Pat finally understood.
The severe traffic jam really was caused by countless people trying to catch Pokémon.
Including that chubby middle-aged guy from earlier.
Sure enough, the man was standing not far from Pat now, angrily complaining to himself.
"Damn it! They're all gone! These people are way too fast!"
Pat walked over and said, "You didn't catch anything either?"
The man turned to look at him, suspicion written all over his face.
"Wait… you're a Pokémon Trainer too?"
"Yeah. I downloaded the game as well."
Pat nodded and showed him his phone.
"Well I'll be damned," the man said in surprise. "Didn't expect to run into someone else who likes Pokémon this much. Usually, there aren't many people around me who are into it."
Even though Pokémon had a massive player base, when spread across the entire world, it still felt surprisingly rare.
Unless it was a pre-arranged gathering, Pokémon fans usually didn't just bump into each other.
"Woo-hoo! I caught a rare Pokémon!"
Suddenly, an excited shout rang out from nearby.
The volume alone drew confused looks from passersby.
And almost immediately after the shout, more than a dozen people rushed toward the source of the noise.
"Bro, what Pokémon did you catch? Let me see!"
"Heh, it's Lairon. Train it up and it'll be pretty strong."
"Lairon? That doesn't sound that powerful."
"What do you know? Have you caught anything? At least I've got a Pokémon. You guys probably got nothing, right?"
The dozen people fell silent all at once.
Pat and the chubby man exchanged a look.
All Pokémon fans…
They'd actually clustered together like this.
It really was a rare sight.
The group didn't linger for long.
As soon as they saw someone successfully catch a Pokémon, they couldn't sit still anymore.
They all wanted Pokémon of their own.
That's when Pat finally snapped back to reality.
If there were no Pokémon here, there was no point staying.
The right move was to hurry to the next area where Pokémon might appear.
The chubby man beside him realized the same thing.
Almost simultaneously, both of them rushed back toward their cars, preparing to head elsewhere.
But just a few minutes later, the parking lot jammed up as well…
"Damn it! Why are there so many cars?!"
Beep! Beep!
"Hurry up and move! Why is it blocked again?!"
"I want to leave too! How should I know what's going on up ahead?"
Seeing this scene, Pat instantly understood.
A huge number of Pokémon fans were packed together here.
No—he couldn't stay here any longer.
He had to get out.
And as fast as possible.
He glanced at an empty parking space right beside him.
Then he turned the steering wheel sharply, pulled straight into the spot, hopped out, locked the car in one smooth motion—and bolted.
Behind Pat's car was the chubby man's vehicle.
When he saw Pat's actions, he seemed to realize something too.
Without hesitation, he turned into a parking spot as well, got out, locked his car in one fluid motion.
But unlike Pat, he didn't start running.
Instead, he calmly opened his trunk, pulled out a bicycle, and rode off at full speed.
Meanwhile, the people still stuck in traffic could only watch—as Pat sprinted through the parking lot, and a bicycle quickly followed behind him.