Lv. 1 - Encounter

Life is actually very easy. For the rich, of course. That's why sometimes life is so unfair.

Even so, you can still be grateful to life. It might be tough, but what can you do if it's destiny?

Arka Fidelis, a 20-year-old man. He has been living independently since the mysterious deaths of his parents. Moreover, his memory before entering middle school was almost non-existent.

Arka has no close relatives. It made him have to do everything by himself, including his bills. Being a high school graduate makes it quite difficult to find a decent job. But it can be said that he is quite enjoying his current job.

For him, gratitude is the way to live life to its fullest, even though he goes through all the difficulties in his life alone.

"Arka!! Take this order to table number 5!!"

"Okay!!"

Being a waiter in a cafe and helping in the kitchen, a bit of a tough job. He's thankful to have a good boss and partner.

"Boss, I'm going home first."

"Oh, be careful."

....

On the way home, Arka stopped at a mini-market to buy groceries. You could say, Arka is against instant food.

"Okay, it looks like fried rice is enough for tonight," said Arka who saw the contents of his shopping bag.

Because the work shift is from 4 pm to 9 pm, managing the commute is hard when you don't have good means of transportation.

"Help!!"

"Screams?" thought Arka when he heard a sudden voice.

"Someone please help!!!"

"Hel-"

"Damn, this is really a cry for help." thought Arka who immediately ran to the source of the sound.

As Arka passed through the alley he could hear another scream coming from there. And what he saw was a girl who was held captive by two quite large men.

"Huh, seriously... I hope this will be easy," thought Arka, seeing the situation getting a little complicated.

Dialling the police, Arka slowed his footsteps and tried to sneak up on them. The atmosphere was quite dark, plus the sound of a vehicle that was quite close from there made Arka's whereabouts almost unknown.

When Arka got close enough, he decided to run and hit one of the man's necks quickly from behind. The man immediately dropped unconscious.

"Wh-wha-''

Because his parents often left him to go to work, his father decided to teach his only son how to defend himself, mastering several martial arts and having a pretty good physique are facts from Arka. That was what he vaguely remembered so far. Seeing what happened to his friend, the other man was very surprised and did not expect that his friend would fall in one attack. The man reflexively pulled out a knife and...

"Hey kid!! If you don't stay in place, then this girl's neck will have a scratch on it."

Arka went silent and observed the situation. He thought and thought, but nothing came up.

"Argh!"

The kidnapper suddenly screamed in pain, the cause turned out to be a bite that was lodged in his knife-bearing hand.

"Woah, that's quite vicious," thought Arka who saw how the previously defenseless girl was now fighting back.

As the girl ran away from the kidnapper, Arka swiftly tried to disarm the kidnapper by grabbing his wrist, which was holding the knife. With the rest of his other hand, Arka chose to grip his face and gave a push along with a tackle. With the kidnapper lying on his back, the final blow was a powerful blow to the face.

Crack!!

"Cracking sound?" Arka thought

Seeing the kidnapper's knife which was still lying around, Arka kicked it as far as possible, then an unexpected voice suddenly sounded...

"Watch out!!"

The voice belonged to the girl from before, it was unexpected that the other kidnapper could still move, and now he managed to snare Arka with both of his hands.

"Brother, now!!"

The kidnapper who had previously been lying down got up again, it was seen that the marks from Arka's blow caused blood to drip from his nose. A smile showing annoyance appeared on his face, he thought it was hard to believe that a random man who suddenly appeared could make him and his partner fall like this.

"Hah, hold him tight, Brother."

A punch that seemed very heavy and fast was ready to hit Arka's head, but Arka himself seemed still calm, he didn't even fight back when his body was being entangled.

"You're starting to loosen up," Arka mumbled.

When the punch was inches away from his face, he suddenly tilted his head to the side with great ease. As a result, the man's punch hit his own partner.

"GHUAK!! B-brother... w-why?!!"

"S-shut up! My head really hurts and now it's hard to aim. So hold it properly!"

"Hoho~ you can do it... BrOthEr," Arka sneered while giggling.

This time Arka couldn't help but act, before the person in front of him finished his preparations for the second blow, he gave a header to the face of the man who was hugging him from behind.

Cracks!

"Another crack huh," thought Arka

Whack!

Unexpectedly, the girl that Arka helped earlier also came into action. Following after Arka gave a header to the kidnapper behind him, the poor man got a hit with a wooden block right on the top of his head.

"GUH!! B-brother, HELP!"

Watching it all without being able to do anything, the other kidnapper couldn't help but remain silent. Meanwhile, Arka took the opportunity to dash towards him with an uppercut to his chin.

Pow!

"Yosh, we better go."

"Eh?"

Without thinking, Arka immediately grabbed the girl's hand and tried to get her to run out of the alley as soon as possible. Arka certainly wanted to leave the place immediately, considering the nearest police station there, the police seemed to be coming soon.

BANG!!

A fatal mistake went without further checking the fallen opponent, and it ended with a successful bullet being fired. Arka felt an excruciating pain sensation in his stomach area, his body began to feel cold, the blood continued to flow.

"S-sir?"

Seeing that the man next to her was turning pale, and blood was flowing from his body, the girl suddenly had difficulty breathing, her heart was beating very fast, a panic attack started to fill her head.

With a little composure remaining she tried to open his smartphone and contacted the nearest hospital.

"Y-yes... he is still breathing faintly... yes, I beg you to come here immediately... thank you."

With tears starting to well up, the girl could only watch Arka's condition while helping to stop the bleeding.

"Hold on, sir... sob... sob... you will definitely survive..."

From Arka's side it was getting harder and harder to breathe, as his consciousness was running low, both his sight and hearing also started to blur.

"Shit..., I-I didn't expect to die... like this," Arka muttered in pain as his surroundings began to darken.

The man who shot Arka fled with his friend, at the same time the sound of police sirens began to approach.

....

In a bed, Arka managed to open his eyes, and what he saw was an atmosphere like... a hospital? He tried to remember what happened to him.

"Hah... I'm still alive it turns out." Arka sighed.

And when he looked around, he was surprised that a girl was sleeping with her head on the side of the bed.

"W-who is she? Why is she sleeping here?" Arka thought in surprise.

Then not long after, the girl woke up and her eyes began to tear up. Of course, Arka was surprised and tried to calm her down.

"F–Finally… sob… sob… you finally woke up, sob…."

"...."

Arka was really surprised, suddenly the girl hugged him and cried. Arka was silent and let her cry for a long time, sometimes Arka also touched her head so she could calm down.

"Have you calmed down?" asked Arka when he found the girl's crying stopped.

"A-ah sorry, I'm just too happy," said the girl shyly.

"How long have I been unconscious for?" asked the curious Arka.

"You've been asleep for ten days."

"Ten days?!"

"Yes."

"Gosh ... I hope I don't get fired," Arka muttered.

"Did you just say something?"

"Ahh no, by the way, what's your name?"

"Mm ... my name is Cecil, Cecilia Putri Athala."

"My name is Arka Fidelis. Then, are you okay after that incident?"

"Hmm," the girl replied, nodding. "I'm okay, it's all thanks to Arka, thank you," Cecil said once again while lowering his head.

"Is that so, thank God," said Arka who felt relieved.

"T-then Arka, why did you help me at that time? Even though you must have known it would be very dangerous for you," Cecil asked hesitantly.

"Well ... really who could have the heart to let a girl in such a condition? Of course, I will help her," said Arka which ended with a smile.

Cecil who saw that was amazed and embarrassed until her face turned red, very red.

"I-Is that so..., thanks again."

"You're welcome," replied Arka with a warm smile, which made Cecil blush even more.

"I-I'll call the doctor," said Cecil who immediately left.

"Huh, is she feel hot? Or a fever?" said Arka who saw Cecil's face before he left.

....

"Huh... finally able to go home."

Arka had spent three weeks in the hospital, and he was grateful that he hadn't been fired. Even the hospital costs are also paid for by Cecil's family. Honestly, he felt bored while in the hospital, but for some reason, he felt that the boredom was long gone by the time Cecil visits him.

Imagine, a girl with a face that is arguably above average, long blonde hair and very beautiful blue eyes, taking care of you when you are sick. Isn't it the dream of all men to be cared for by such a beautiful girl when you are sick? Arka was satisfied with that.

The sound of a knock on the door was heard, Arka who was still in his room began to move to open the door. And when he opened it it could be seen that there was a man and a woman, a middle-aged man was wearing a black suit and black hair that some strands have turned white.

While the woman who looks very young in elegant clothes is like an office woman and her appearance reminds Arka of… Cecil.

''Mmm ... is there anything I can do for you two?" asked Arka to both of them.

"We came to look for you, Arka.''

"Huh...?"