TING!
It was the sound of a bell that will ring if a customer entered the A-mart convenience store.
A student entered and bought a cup of noodles. After purchasing, the student sat on one of the chairs inside the store and peacefully started eating his food.
However, his peaceful moment quickly faded away as two other students entered the store.
"Oh, look, he's here!"
Two students approached the one eating.
Pak!
Along with a slapping sound, the two students were also laughing. Those sounds were heard by Kane, the cashier employee. While also trying to work peacefully, he couldn't just ignore the annoying slapping sound inside his workplace.
"Hey, kids! If you're gonna try to hit that student, do it outside, not on this store."
"Old man, just mind your business."
Kane became more annoyed upon being called an Old Man. Kane was just 21 years old. Obviously, their age difference was not that far for him to be called an Old Man. Kane approached one of the students. He grabbed the student's coat and glared at him, face to face.
"Get out or just buy something."
The other bully tapped his friend.
"Let's go for now."
Both bullies left the store but not without glaring at Kane.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
'Poor fellow.'
That was the only thing that Kane could say upon seeing the crying student beside him. He didn't say anything and went back to the counter. But before turning around, he saw the student thanking him by giving him a subtle nod.
KKRRRING! KKRRRING!
A few minutes later, Kane's phone rang its alarm. It was finally the end of his boring shift. He leaned over the counter to look at the student, but he realized that the student already left.
Seeing that the store was empty, Kane left the cashier and flipped the store's signboard from OPEN to CLOSED.
As he went out of the store, he immediately saw an old man sitting in one of the benches beside the store. Kane smiled as he knew who the old man was.
He went back to the store and took two bottles of juice from the fridge. Kane gave one of the juices to the man and sat beside him.
"How long have you been waiting, Mr. Lee?"
"Just a few minutes. You don't have to give me this juice."
"No, just take it."
Mr. Lee took out his wallet and handed Kane some money to compensate for the juice, but Kane waved his hands as he didn't want to accept any payment.
"It's fine, it's been years since we've met. Why are you here, anyway? Don't tell me you're still sorry about what happened?"
Mr. Lee returned his money back to his pocket first before answering.
"Yes, I'm still sorry about what happened. But that was not why I'm here."
Mr. Lee raised a paper bag and gently placed it on the table.
"Mr. Lee, what is this?"
"It's Joshua's VR set."
Kane was taken aback. It was his friend's most valuable item, so why would Mr. Lee give it to him?
"Why... why are you giving me this?"
"We're trying to move on in our life. We already donated all of Joshua's things except for this VR set. I believe Joshua would want you to have this."
"I only liked his stories, I was never interested in games."
"I know. Either you sell it or give it to other people or just use it. It's up to you."
"Are you reall—"
But their conversation was halted as Kane felt that something fast was coming at his face.
Pak!
It was a glass bottle. Luckily, Kane easily caught the flying bottle because of his incredible senses. The confused Mr. Lee stood up and took a few steps back.
Right in front of them was a bunch of students, wielding baseball bats, lined up. Kane remembered two of them. There were the two bullies that he scolded earlier.
"Remember us, old man?"
Kane looked back at Mr. Lee and gently slightly him away.
"Leave now, sir."
"Are you in trouble again, Kane?"
"Hehe. You know me. Always."
Kane walked toward and faced the group of students.
"Do your parents know you're doing this? You looked like a baseball team, aren't you gonna get suspended once your school finds out about this?"
"No one will find out about this if no one would report it. Now get him!"
A bully leaped toward Kane and swung a bat at Kane's face. The bully was a little bit bigger and bulkier than Kane. In addition to that, the bully was also part of a baseball them. With those perks, the bully was confident he could take down Kane.
Kane ducked and swiped the bully's leg.
THUD!
The bully fell to the ground in his back. Kane quickly knocked him out by stomping on his face.
PAKKK!
The bullies were surprised. They didn't know Kane would knock one of them effortlessly. Kane slowly walked forward while the bullies slowly stepped backward. The ringleader, who was also stepping back, tried to push some of his teammates ahead.
"Don't be scared. There's too many of us!!"
"I guess it's true. Sports teams have gone shit since all the games are now being played online."
Kane placed his arms in line with his eyes like a boxer and dashed toward them. The students swung their bats at Kane, but none of their attacks landed on Kane. They even made it worse by hitting their fellow athlete.
PAK! PAK! PAK!
Ugh!
PAK! PAK! PAK!
Hit and back. That was the strategy that Kane did. And in no time, most of the bullies were already down on the ground. With that, he spotted the two bullies that entered the store. He ran at them, grabbed their heads, and banged it on the asphalt road.
SLAM!
After seeing Kane's barbaric acts, the ringleader couldn't help but hide behind his last man, a bully twice as big as Kane.
"Get him! He might be a boxer!"
The dude dashed forward to grab Kane. Kane rolled over and took a fallen baseball bat on the ground. Unlike the other bullies, this guy was completely unarmed.
Kane just sidestepped, and he smoothly managed to dodge the bully's attack. The bully looked at his side to grab Kane once again, but as soon as he turned his head, a baseball bat was dropped on his face.
POW!
The student dropped to the ground while dripping blood from his face. But a bully in his size won't go down in just one attack. The student tried to get up, only to get his crotch bashed by a bat.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeee..."
Those were the final words of the bully before losing consciousness.
WHEEEOOO!! WHEEEOOO!!
The Police finally appeared and intervened. Mr. Lee came out of the police car as he was the one who called them. All of them were arrested, including Kane.
Arriving at the police station, the Police lined up all of them.
"So, these are the kids who started this trouble, did your parents know what you are doing?"
The kids were quiet.
TINGGG!
Suddenly, a man in blue clothes barged into the station.
"Hey! Kane! What happened here?! I heard there's trouble in my shop!"
Kane stood up and bowed at the angry fellow.
"Manager..."
"Hey, kid! If you're gonna create trouble at my store, then better just resign right now!"
The Police approached the manager and waved his hand.
"Woah, Woah, Woah. Chill, man, these kids were the ones who started the fight."
"Oh, really?"
The kids were still silent.
TING! TING! TING!
At that point, multiple people barged into the police station. They were the parents of the bullies.
"Who's the guy who beaten our kids?!"
One of the fathers saw Kane. He raised his hand and tried to slap Kane.
PAK!
But Kane grabbed the adult's wrist before it hit his face. The father tried to move his hand, but Kane easily overwhelmed him that he couldn't get out of Kane's grip.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
After a few seconds of struggle, Kane finally pushed his hand away. The father retreated in embarrassment and approached the Police.
"Hey! Why is this guy still not in that detention cell?"
"Sir, he's the victim."
"Why is he the victim?"
The Police showed them the recorded video of what happened. It was blurry, but it was still distinguishable that the students outnumbered and ambushed Kane. The parents became silent.
TING!
"We don't know what really happened there."
Another man said as he entered the station. He was wearing a blue suit along with an expensive pair of glasses. The policeman bowed and shook hands with the man.
"Attorney Choi, what are you doing here?"
The Attorney pointed at one of the arrested students.
"That is my client's son."
"Oh, really?"
"We don't know what really happened in that scuffle, that employee might've instigated the fight first that is not seen on the camera since he knows that camera positions."
Kane was offended. He stood up and faced the Attorney.
"Really? Are you gonna use that card? But what kind of person would instigate a fight alone against more than twenty people."
"A person who beats children."
"Hey, I'm not that old."
It only took one nod from the Attorney, and the Policemen changed their tone.
"Yeah, yeah, he's right. Why would you fight against these kids? You should've just run away."
Kane flinched and found his situation absurd.
"What? These guys are athletes, you think I can outrun them?"
The Attorney chuckled.
"Ehem. Well... you did defeat them all. You have the capabilities. You might've been enjoying in beating up people that you instigated this fight, knowing you'd win. You're a young adult, you should act like one."
"Yeah, he's right!" the policemen shouted in unison.
One of the policemen suddenly gasped.
"Sir, look at this!"
The Policeman and the Attorney looked at the monitor. Subsequently, the Attorney suddenly grinned. He flipped the monitor and showed it to the parents, Mr. Lee, and the Manager.
"Look at this guy, he had multiple assault cases already. He's been doing this for a very long time."
Kane's records was being shown in the monitor. In his entries, there were multiple assault cases that was filed against Kane. All of them were surprised except for Mr. Lee.
"So, what will happen to our kids?"
The policemen bowed.
"We're sorry, we're freeing them now. We didn't know this guy turns out to be a constant offender."
Kane was flustered at the bizarre turnout of events.
"Hey, they ganged up on me!"
One of the parents tried to slap his back again.
WHISH!
But it just went through the air as Kane leaned forward to dodge it. He glared at the parent that prompted the parent to take a step back.
The Police asked the parents,
"Are you gonna file a case?"
"Yes!"
The Attorney grabbed his client's coat and pulled him away.
"We'll be going. There's no point in going to court with this matter. I'm sure his manager will deal with this. I suggest you guys also do the same. You'll only lose your precious time if you tried to pursue this case."
He was one sly Attorney. He knew that they'll lose the case if they pursued it.
The Attorney quickly left the station along with his client. The other parents started whispering at each other. Eventually, they agreed without knowing the Attorney's real intention and departed with their kids.
Kane was eventually released since no one filed a case. But as soon as he got out, money was thrown at his face.
"This is your severance pay. Don't come back to the store ever again."
Kane didn't say anything. He took the money fallen on the floor while Mr. Lee helped him.
"I'm sorry this happened to you again."
"Don't blame yourself again. This will happen over and over again, even if you're not here."
"What are you gonna do now?"
"Live like what I always do. I had never lost even once in my entire life except when money was involved. Those rich bastards couldn't take me down unless they take advantage of their connections. But I'm already used to it, and you know it, Mr. Lee. This is not new to me."
Mr. Lee took out the same money from his pocket with another set of bills and gave it to Kane.
"I'm too tired to refuse this. I'm taking this so that you won't feel bad. I'm going now."
Kane left with only the money and the paper bag that he received from Mr. Lee.
After a few minutes of walking, he reached his apartment and saw a notice on his door.
IF YOU DON'T PAY YOUR RENT TOMORROW, THEN JUST MOVE OUT.
'Damn it...'
Kane entered his shabby room, laid down on his bed, and started banging his head at the soft cushion of his bed. He fell asleep a few minutes later.
When the morning came, Kane immediately took his phone and searched for job entries.
SEARCH: JOB IN YOUR AREA.
SEARCH RESULTS:
TECHNICIAN AT ARCANOS INDUSTRIES
ONLINE TEACHER ON ARCADIA
ONLINE MANAGER AT A STORE ON ARCADIA
ONLINE JANITOR AT A GUILD IN ARCADIA
ONLI—
Kane sulked and threw his phone on his bed.
"What the hell is this? Everything is either on or about Arcadia."
ARCADIA. The Virtual-Reality game that ruled the world.
After decades of wars and natural disasters, Arcadia became the hope of the people that satisfied their violent nature.
In the year 2050, Arcanos Corporation immediately became the number 1 company on the planet upon releasing Arcadia. Slowly, Arcanos promoted Arcadia all over the world, and the violence gradually faded. Little by little, the wars finally came to a stop.
It was initially treated as a game, but due to its expanded features such as Painting, Sculpting, Building a House, Marrying someone, and so on, people treated Arcanos as a fantasy world that allowed them to escape the harsh reality.
In 2070, the wars finally stopped. Borders and nations were removed. Instead, continents were considered as united nations. They were North America, South America, New Africa, European Empire, Russian Federation, New Australia, and the Greater Asian Kingdom.
It was said that almost 95% of the global population were either playing or involved in the game. Arcanos became too rich and too powerful that even the world leaders were bowing to them.
Despite that, there were still 5% of the population who were not interested in Arcadia. And one of them was the 21-year-old Kane Walker, living in the City of Hansung of the Greater Asian Kingdoms.
Not knowing what to do, Kane decided to take a break.
Kane took out the VR set and connected it to his laptop. It was composed of black leather shoes, kneepads, belt, shoulders pads, elbow pads, gloves, and googles. All of them were adjustable so that it could fit every player. There were microchips buried in each of them to serve as trackers.
The players of Arcadia could play from any means such as mobile phones, desktop computers, consoles, and so on. However, the most upgraded and recommended equipment was the VR Capsule. The VR set was an older and probably one of the first versions of a VR Capsule.
After a few minutes of setting it up, Kane finally managed to download the Arcadia App and wore his VR goggles to start playing. But a notification spawned in his goggles.
[An account is required for the game to start. Please Register at the Official Website.]
"Damn it. Why can't I just create an account in the game? Did no one in their creative department suggested this?"
Kane took off his goggles and registered on the website. The fill-out form has some required details to fill up, such as his name and age. However, Kane was flustered upon seeing the credit card option.
"What the hell is this? Why do I need to register this?"
He ignored it and clicked the register button.
[Credit Card is required for both monetary and security reasons.]
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!! This is sketchy!! Why do people play this game?!"
Kane was skeptical at first until he remembered that he doesn't have any money anyway. Even if Arcanos scammed him, they can't take anything at all.
"Well, whatever."
Kane stood up, took out his wallet, and entered his Credit Card number. After that, he clicked the register button, and it was finally accepted. The smiling Kane wore his VR goggles and entered Arcadia.
[START]
"I remembered something that Joshua wanted to build. What is it... what is it... oh! The Moonwrath armor. Alright! Let's just take a break from hard labor for a few minutes to get that shit. Let's think of this as a vacation!"
Kane then clicked the start button.