Calling

"Haewon!" Dr Kim Haewon sat at his desk with his doctor's coat on the back of his chair. The city streets lit up with the hustle and bustle of the nightlife. "Yes?" Haewon turns his chair around to face his computer, his long black hair swooshing with the movement of his chair.

"Look at this sick combo I found." His friend wore a stained grey shit with jeans that were unintentionally ripped. He had a packet of chips open next to him, his crumby fingers all over the controller. "If I press E and A at the same time as my special, it'll make me move while attacking." He demonstrates this by pressing down on the buttons.

The blaring blue light of the television burned itself into his eyes. "Daeho, I think I'm going to get off today. We've been playing for about three hours. I'm exhausted." 

"C'mon! One more dungeon." Daeho pleads with him over the voice channel. "I promise you we'll get the legendary drop this time." 

"I'm already level 734 crawler, I've maxed out all of my stats." Haewon sighed. "Dungeon Maxima's getting boring." He looked through his inventory, every max level item that was obtainable he had. Even items labeled as [Unobtainable] he would obtain.

"It's a solved game." Haewon moved his mouse across his giant mouse pad. "I've completed my entire skill tree." He presses on his [Skill Tree] tab, revealing an unwinding web of skills and abilities. All stemming from a core icon labeled [Healing Magic].

"Yeah, 'cause you're a healer. The healer's always boring." Daeho sighs. "Fine, I'll log off too then. Go enjoy saving lives tomorrow or whatever." He says sarcastically.

Haewon smiles as he drags his mouse over to the 'End Call' button. "Goodnight." He says as he ends the call, the tab closing itself on his screen.

He pushes himself off his chair, getting a good yawn in as he stretches all his body. He looks around his empty apartment. It's quiet and eerie. He lived in a two-story mansion on the top few floors of the Residential Supreme, an apartment complex only for the one percent. 

He walks over to his wall-mounted television which is bigger than he was, turning it on with the click of a remote. 

"Good Evening Seoul!" The news reporter spoke. "We're here to report that the cancer lethality in South Korea has reached a new record low since the invention of Cancer-X! There has been a 34.2% decrease in deaths from 2024 to 2025." 

Haewon smiles as he sits on his couch with his legs crossed. 

"The man behind the incredible pharmaceutical company? Dr Kim Haewon!" His face flashes on the screen. 

His phone rung and buzzed as a 'Dr Hoyeong' called him.

"Hello?"

"Haewon! I did it! I landed the job!"

"Oh, that's awesome!"

"No, no. The one I should be thanking is you! You helped me go through medical school, drinks on me?"

"Certainly. I'm free tomorrow Friday, you okay?"

"Yes! I'll call you back whenever I can! Goodbye!"

"Goodbye." Haewon ended the call as he smiled, leaning his head back against the back of his sofa.

Haewon's smile starts to fade as his eyes slowly shut, his consciousness fading slowly. 

"Tsh!" The sound of glass breaking snaps Haewon back to reality. He looks around rapidly, looking at every square inch of his giant lonely mansion. He turns to his left where his kitchen light had been turned on. "Shit, I didn't turn that light on." Haewon cautiously stood up, minding the sound his steps made. 

He picked up an empty beer can on the ground, squishing it and ripping off the top part to make a makeshift knife. The sounds of rustling and metal clanking cut through the eerie silence. 

He slowly walked towards his kitchen, making sure his footsteps couldn't be heard. 

"Hurry up!" One of the masked men spoke to the other while holding a duffle bag. Covered from head to toe in black, the one holding the bag had a gun tucked into his pants. 

Haewon stopped breathing, making sure he was completely invisible as he observed them. He bided his time. "What are they trying to steal?" 

The other burglar rummaged through his drawers, picking up stray pieces of jewelry tucked deep inside. He started pulling out expensive watches worth hundreds of thousands, watches worth the equivalent of houses. 

"I can't engage them... I don't have a gun." Haewon bit his lip as he placed his back against his wall. His hands started to shake as his legs started to give out. "Pull yourself together!" He was starting to experience a panic attack from the heat of the moment. 

"There's someone there!" The burglar looked towards the entrance to the kitchen, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the general vicinity. 

"Who's house is this anyway?" The burglar ignored his counterpart, continuing to shovel more and more priceless jewelry into his bag. "Must be some bigshot." 

"Tsk." Haewon looks around his apartment, staring at the pile of used dirty plates on the dining table. There laid his golden opportunity. A dirty steak knife. He cautiously picked it up and clenched tightly onto it with his hand. 

"Let's get out of here." The burglar signaled to the glass door that had been shattered. "I can't climb down with too heavy of a bag." 

"Shit." The other man holding the bag had his hand on the trigger, nervously shaking as he pointed to the entrance. "There's someone there. I know there is." 

Haewon clutched the knife to his chest as he prayed he wouldn't be found. 

"Let's go!" The burglar ripped the bag out of the other man's hand, making his way towards the balcony. 

Unexpectedly, his phone on the couch went off as someone called him. 'Dr. Hoyeong'. Both men were caught off guard, and an eerie silence fell over them as only the ringing of the phone stood between the two of them.

'Bang!' A gunshot fired off as the bullet pierced through the wall. 'Bang! Bang! Bang!' many more fired off as the burglar shot nervously with his eyes closed, hoping to hit anything in the general direction.

Haewon leaped from behind the wall, throwing the steak knife at the gun-wielding man. The burglar cried out in pain as he dropped his gun, the metal clanking against the wooden floor. 

His body went limp as the beer can pierced through his clothes, striking his chest with lethal force. 

"Hey!" The other burglar pointed his gun at Haewon, his finger trembling on the trigger. 

Haewon stares down the barrel, the only thing standing between him and death is a single press of a trigger. 

'Bang!' 

With a single movement, a bullet rips through the air, piercing through the rock-hard tension. The bullet rips through Haewon's shirt, rippling into his skin and through the end. 

Ricocheting off a wall, it stops on the floor as a layer of blood drips onto the floor. 

Haewon's hand clutches his chest, and a hot and heavy pressure comes over him. A sense of freedom was stripped away from his lifeless body. His knees felt heavy, his arms felt heavy, and everything felt heavy. Too heavy.

He falls forward onto his knees, his kneecaps crashing against the wooden floor. He breathes out one last sigh before falling to the ground on his back.

As he lay on the ground, the burglar rushed out of the balcony, repelling downwards with the bag in hand. Just like that, the apartment was dead silent. 

Haewon lay on the ground in a pool of his blood, his eyes open yet shut to his soul. 

[They are calling out for your name...]

[Do You Wish To Revive?]

[Yes] [No]