章節 1: The Fall of a Champion
If anyone were to present Klaus Park with the hypothetical scenario of a noble, beautiful and fascinating life of poverty in which it is possible to find the sentimental spark of unconditional love or even share a warm smile with someone, Klaus Park would only beat that person to a no way back. He would make this person look like a piece of flabby meat and wouldn't hesitate to finish by killing.
The truth is that the world can undoubtedly be cruel and fate barbaric to people who dream too much. As they say, the higher they rise, the greater the fall, and Klaus Park has experienced it for himself.
When he was just a bored and energetic kid, he was encouraged by his older brother to play video games as it might distract him a bit. Soon, what was just a silly hobby became a youthful passion, which grew more and more in his heart over time.
At such a young age, he got to know MOBA-style games and delved into the knowledge of one called Myth2. Unlike single-player games, Myth2 was an online game, providing endless possibilities, both for the variety of playable characters and for the difference in the player's gameplay.
It didn't take long for Klaus Park's efforts to learn about that universe to make him the youngest professional player in Myth2 history, at just 13 years old.
His employment contract with the team that hired him was freewheeling, his salary meager, and his team members were men with frustrated professional dreams. In reality, his signing was nothing more than a gamble, and it became a meme in the gaming community within the first few weeks.
However, at the end of that same year, the newly formed team became the world champions in a fierce best-of-five, personally displacing the greatest Myth2 player of all time, who was about to retire from the scene.
The pressure didn't seem to have affected him, making the world startled by the 13-year-old's coldness on stage at the event,
In addition, the crazy tactics of that underdog team were the key to turning them into champions.
Klaus Park's simple life has been transformed. Still, the boy was not satisfied; for him, it was still not enough because Klaus was highly competitive and wanted to become the greatest player in the history of Myth2.
The following year, shutting the mouths of those who said they were lucky the year before, the young player and his teammates reached the final of the world championships again. But before the last best of five started, the boy's cell phone rang.
Klaus looked at his cell phone screen and saw his mother's contact name. His eyebrows suddenly rose, explaining his surprise. He was so focused all day that he forgot to call his family. In his mind, he suspected she was in the audience, watching him play, so he thought it was pretty strange that she called him. Still, he answered his cell phone.
"Hey mom. I'm about to go on stage now." He spoke, already thinking about the answer he would give when his mother wished him good luck for the matches.
The call was silent on the other end. Klaus' lips moved to speak again, but he suddenly heard his mother say,
"Son... your brother... He had a serious accident." Her voice was emotional. Even though she knew it was an important day for Klaus Park, she thought it would be unfair to him if he waited for the championship to end to deliver such news.
The fourteen-year-old boy's world plummeted after his mother's news. Klaus Park's older brother was his biggest fan when he embarked on his professional gaming career, but he was the one who encouraged him to play video games in the first place. For Klaus, it was impossible to play without the support of Rhyzer Park, his best fan and best friend.
In the end, Klaus Park decided to help his pregnant mother and father, abandoning the World Cup final and his four teammates. Maybe this wasn't the most rational decision, but it was the boy's choice, aware of all the consequences that would come.
Rhyzer Park underwent many surgeries to survive a bus hit, but in the following weeks, he still didn't wake up. Doctors warned the Park family that the chances of Rhyzer waking up were extremely low, as his multiple organs functioned only with the help of modern hospital equipment.
Even though it was difficult, all the Park's believed that Rhyzer would wake up one day, and as they had made a lot of money in the last year, they chose to keep him plugged into the machines.
Years passed, and Klaus Park became a tired young man from a competitive boy. Deep in medical debt with his family, he had no choice but to work in the office of an insurance company in order to earn a measly salary.
'At least I have this loud guy keeping me away from thinking too much.' Klaus thought as he watched his officemate speak so excitedly once more.
"Man, you have to listen to this one! My girlfriend and I were playing this new virtual reality game yesterday, and bro, we ran into some assholes in a forest near a game start point and they killed us for our items! HAHA! I have never seen my girlfriend so angry!" Jayaa said, grinning like an idiot.
Jayaa has distinctly oriental features, but he had bleached blonde hair and wore many flashy earrings. Despite being a former nerd, he is quite popular with girls for the different way he is usually dressed.
"Eh? And why are you saying it so happy? Aren't you afraid of looking weak in front of your girl?" Klaus Park teased him with a sadistic smile.
"You only say that because you were not there. The players in this game are soo tryhards, we didn't even stand a chance." Jayaa stated and popped three straw-shaped chocolate candies at once into his mouth.
Klaus Park didn't get much into gaming after his brother's accident, so he just listened to Jayaa without saying too much. "Really?"
"Yea! I don't even know how there are already so many high levels in this game, it only launched like… four months ago I think. We even lost all of the levels that we got grinding last weekend. This is soo frustrating." Jayaa complained and sighed regretfully. "And you know what, we…"
For a few more minutes, Klaus listened to Jayaa complain about the online game, and when their lunch break was over, he only asked his colleague one question as they went back to their tedious work:
"And why do you even keep playing this if it always makes you disappointed, even as just a beginner? If you tell me it was because of your cute girlfriend, I'll make fun of you forever."
Jayaa suddenly stopped walking to think about it. He put his hand on his chin and shook his head, thinking of reasons to keep playing. "I don't know." He replied, smiling.
"What?"
"If you wanna find out, you'll have to play it too. I just can't explain the feeling of playing Rise Online, it is just amazing." Jayaa was still showing his white teeth in a wide smile.
Klaus Park turned away, put his hands in the pocket of his dress pants, and started walking to his desk. "Tsk! Fuck it, I'll just mind my own business."
As he watched Klaus walk away, Jayaa scratched his head with his right hand. "Why do I still talk about these things with him? Ahhh! I'm sure he doesn't even know what a VRMMORPG is. Oh, I almost forgot, I have to deliver that worksheet today! Damn it!"
Klaus Park's former career and life were part of a past he wanted to forget, so he didn't tell this to literally anyone, including Jayaa.
Furthermore, the company that managed Myth2 went bankrupt two years after Klaus stopped playing, thanks to the loss of hundreds of labor lawsuits by the game's developers. Everyone who played this MOBA migrated to several other games, and the worldwide fame of the legendary players of the Myth2 competitive scene was practically erased from history. As he wished, Klaus Park was forgotten, and his notable achievements as a player all but disappeared from history with the fall of Myth2.
However, even miserable, the love for games was still secretly alive in Klaus Park's heart, and he couldn't suppress it forever.
On the night of the same day he had that talk with Jayaa about Rise Online, Klaus was returning home after yet another date with a woman who was at least tedious. He stopped before the crosswalk, waiting for the light to clear. Facing a busy avenue, there were so many electronic billboards that it looked like it was daytime.
Naturally, Klaus started watching the advertisements flashing in the sky. Suddenly, a loud voice was broadcast over the loudspeakers of the biggest screen on the avenue.
"The standard of virtual reality games. Rise Online contains hundreds of different races to choose from, from normal humans to centimeter-sized fairies…"
Meanwhile, every second on the screen a different character design appeared, emphasizing what the narrator was saying.
For Klaus Park, it was nothing new; he already knew about Rise Online since this game had become famous all over the world. As the advertisement said, this game was not just another virtual reality game; playing it had become essential for any gamer.
Rise Online was the most innovative game in history and continued to amaze the world with its endless array of skills, tens of thousands of classes, and rich open world. The freedom within the game was impressive, and the fantastic adaptive system of it made the experience cool for novice players, but also deepened the options for more experienced players.
"These advertisements are everywhere, what a pain in the neck." Klaus thought.
Then, the youth turned his face away from looking at the screen anymore; however, his eyes landed on the cell phone screen of a boy with uniform clothes who was passing him at that moment.
The boy appeared to be watching a video of a battle in which a redheaded woman was fighting with a sword against seven men. This lady had a stunning beauty, which, for some reason, mixed with the elements in the scene, made Klaus think it was probably from some new movie. However, he was surprised when he noticed the LIVE sign in the upper left corner of the screen.
Klaus Park didn't have a chance to think about this in detail, and even though the pedestrian light was still closed, the boy kept walking forward without looking where he was going. On the avenue, the cars weren't going very fast since they were inside the city, but there were so many cars that if one of them suddenly braked so as not to run over the boy, surely the cars behind would crash into the one in front, and there would be a lot of damage.
'Oh, that sucks… I'm tired... Today is Friday.' Klaus complained, but he didn't hesitate to grab the boy by the shoulder a second before his feet touched the street's asphalt.
Suddenly the boy looked back with a surprised face, quickly turning into a fearful face. Klaus Park was tall, broad-shouldered, and his black hair was slightly messy by nature, but his angry eyes made him intimidating to others.
"Watch out where you're going, kid."
"Yes sir! Thanks!" Cowardly, the boy didn't want to look at Klaus for too long or exchange many words.
They both waited together for the green light for pedestrians, and when the opportunity arose, they crossed the avenue together. Since Klaus was still curious about what the boy was watching so closely, he didn't hesitate to ask.
"Hey, kid. Wait a second."
The boy in schoolboy clothes turned around, with muscles so tight that he looked like a rusty robot, already imagining the man was going to ask for some money. "W-what, sir?"
"What are you watching? Is it some movie?"
Upon hearing this question, the boy was relieved and extended his cell phone forward, showing that the red-haired woman's struggle was not over yet. "That? Well, this is a stream of Rise Online, a virtual reality game."
Klaus Park raised his eyebrows. He couldn't believe what the kid said was true, and there was no way the game's graphics could have evolved so much. Yes, he hadn't watched any gameplay of any game in a long time. Still, he was pretty sure that the augmented reality games he played during his childhood were nothing compared to the computer ones. Hence, his expectations for virtual reality games were always low.
Klaus' disbelief became so great that as soon as he got home and greeted his father, mother, and younger brother, he went to his room to research more about Rise Online.
Klaus forgot to eat dinner and take the bath he was so anxious about, all because he spent hours watching videos and reading newspaper articles about the gaming world's newest star. Gradually, that hidden urge in his heart began to be fed, and he began to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time; this energy was so intense it made his heart flutter.
'What do I do? Today is Friday and I won't be doing anything over the weekend. Should I try it?' he wondered as he looked up at the ceiling.
Before thinking twice or getting afraid, Klaus went downstairs to the first floor and woke his younger brother with a jolt.
"Hey, Arc. Wake up." he whispered.
The seven-year-old boy woke up with sleepy eyes since it was already dawn. "Bro…?"
"Can I borrow your NeuroGear? It is important."
"Okay, okay… you can take it." The boy was so sleepy that he didn't even notice that Klaus had already picked up the NeuroGear left on the study table.
The device used to enter virtual realities was called NeuroGear and had the appearance of a tiara that perfectly adapted to the size of the wearer's skull. There were many different versions available on the market, but the version that Park's had was the cheapest.
When Klaus Park arrived in his room with the device in his hands, he walked over to his computer chair and sat down. Another time, he looked at the price of the game on the online platform and thought,
'Fuck it! I have 150$. Today is Friday and I have nothing better to do, I can play over the weekend and ask for a refund on Monday.'
Klaus Park refused to spend money on silly things, including his own wishes, as he had to pay Rhyzer Park's medical bills.
Then, with his right index finger quivering with hesitation to buy the game, he clicked the green button and bought. Klaus huffed in relief and immediately began transferring data to NeuroGear. The moment the TRANSFER COMPLETE message appeared on the computer screen, Klaus put on the tiara and lay down on his bed.
"What were the words in the manual like? Oh, yeah… Start Connection." He uttered, closing his eyes.
The NeuroGear vibrated for a second before turning it on, as it was old and outdated, but then Klaus felt the sensation of his mind being pulled. Everything went quiet and dark for the next few moments, which made Klaus realize he was in deep immersion.
He read a lot about NeuroGear before giving his brother the one he bought secondhand. When the user was using this Hardware, he didn't use his eyes or ears to see and hear, but the signals that were sent to his brain. Not to mention that NeuroGear not only allowed the user to see and hear but also to touch, smell, and even taste.
Before Klaus Park knew it, he was in a completely dark and quiet world, where there was a semi-transparent screen in front of him.
[Calibrating data…]
[Calibrated data.]
[Checking RISE ONLINE game updates…]
[No updates found.]
[Do you want to connect to RISE ONLINE? YES/NO.]
Without hesitation, Klaus' right index finger moved to the YES key and touched it.
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