[Free World] II

Rrriiiinggggg~ Rrriiiingggg~

The sudden ringtone disturbed the bickering of the siblings. Ren hurriedly took out his phone and answered the call.

His family observed him, witnessing his facial expression that was becoming worse by the second.

Rina scrunched up her nose at her husband's reaction, feeling that something was off.

After a few minutes, Ren hung up and looked towards Rina.

"The United Nations has requested for an emergency meeting, we are ordered to be there immediately."

Hearing his words, Rina wrinkled her forehead with worry.

She then looked towards Zen guiltily. "Son, we may have to go back to work early today. I'm sorry but we can't be by your side when you try out the game."

Zen replied with a smile. "Don't worry about me, I'm all grown up now mom."

Sera joined their conversation with a hopeful expression. "Am I gonna stay here and play with brother?"

Ren chuckled as he was wearing his coat and said, "No, we will be going to your school."

Sera's smile faded away fast. "B-but…"

"No buts! Get up and prepare." Scolded Rina.

Zen chuckled as he watched his silly family.

After getting ready, the trio got up and bid farewell to Zen.

Looking at his family's departing backs, Zen would usually be dispirited all over again. But now, with the box in his hand containing the device that might change his life, Zen was more spirited than ever.

His face brightened up as his hands gripped the box in front of him as if it was a treasure.

'I can finally get my life back… finally…'

As Zen's focus was all on the box in his hand, he did not notice the few tears of joy that slid down his smiling face.

***

After they left, the trio were walking down the hall.

Ren and Rina have been whispering with each other as soon as they left Zen's room.

Sera saw this, but after seeing how serious her parents seemed, she suppressed her curiosity.

After she noticed that her mother and father had stopped whispering with each other, Sera carefully asked.

"Mom, what are we gonna do at my school?"

Rina caressed Sera's head and whispered softly.

"Baby, don't get mad but your father and I have decided to drop you out of your school."

After a few seconds of shock, Sera became full of happiness but at the same time, confused.

Going to school was one of the things she hated as she didn't like interacting with other people. Yup, Sera is an introvert.

The words that came out of her mother's mouth just now sounded like the musci sang by the angels.

But still, she could not help but frown cutely in confusion.

Although she didn't really like school, she was still intrigued as to why her parents would make her drop out.

As if hearing her thoughts, Rina continued.

"Though we said to your brother that the game might be a scam, we are at least 90% sure that all of it was true. We just didn't want him to try something we deem dangerous but alas, we also knew that we couldn't imagine his suffering in the past 10 years. Besides, this might be the only opportunity for him to turn his life around."

Rina put her mouth closer to Sera's ears and whispered softly.

"Your father and I also had a bad feeling about how things are going and we had been sure of it ever since we saw the encrypted message and the so-called game."

There are things that Rina hadn't said to Sera, and one of those things was that they are suspicious about the government.

While they were talking, they had already arrived in front of their car.

Ren opened the door for his wife and daughter and proceeded to sit in the driver's seat.

Broom~ Broom~

After a couple of revving, they soon left the hospital's vicinity.

***

Back to Zen's room…

He had just finished eating and cleaning himself up with the help of the nurses assigned to him.

They had been the ones that were taking care of him all these years and as such, they were close and casual with each other.

After a couple of chats and laughs, the nurses bid farewell to Zen as he thanked them.

He then looked towards his bedside table, not to look at their family picture, but to the two boxes beside it.

Although he was still bedridden and couldn't move most of his body, with the help of a couple expensive physical treatments and medicine, he was now able to move his arms and do simple things with it.

Just that the medical apparatuses going in and out of his body often hindered him.

Zen reached out to the box and found it surprisingly light.

With a heart full of excitement, he carefully unwrapped and opened the box. Inside was a sleek black helmet and a manual that came with it.

He hurriedly tossed the box and stared at the helmet that would give him the chance to save his life.

He also didn't forget to read the manual before throwing the box.

Zen looked at the wall clock in his room and saw that there was only a few minutes left before midnight, which was the game's time of release.

11:50

11:55

11:57

As he watched the clock's hands, he began to wear the helmet. He didn't have any difficulties in doing so because of the manual and its user-friendly design.

After he wore the device, he was surprised to find that it covered his whole head. What he saw inside was a countdown of the game's release.

11:59

12:00

After the timer completed its countdown, words flew in front of Zen's eyes.

[Dear Player, do you wish to enter the Free World?]

As he had read the manual that came with the helmet, Zen knew what to do.

And so he confidently said,

"Dive In."