The Scar on His Heart and Wallet

A long time ago, the Park family had only one car in the family, which was used by Michael, Klaus' father, to go to work at the port. For that reason, Klaus always had to take a long bus and a train ride from Long Island to downtown New York when he went to visit Rhyzer at the Hospital.

Going to Manhattan on Saturdays had already become routine for Klaus Park, so he was already quite used to the area. So usually, after Klaus had changed the wilted flowers in the vase beside Rhyzer's bed, he talked with his unconscious brother, trying to stimulate him, leave the Hospital, and walk a few blocks to visit a cozy bookstore. However, on this particular Saturday, he was more thoughtful than usual.

Klaus Park stared at his older brother's pale face with sadness and a whirlwind of thoughts in his head.

Rhyzer's beard was a little big and his hair too, so Klaus asked a nurse for a razor and scissors. Very carefully, Klaus shaved off Rhyzer's beard completely with the razor, some shaving cream, and water. Using the scissors, he cut a few locks of his older brother's hair, but not much because Rhyzer used to keep his hair shoulder-length.

After finishing his brother's hygiene, Klaus grabbed a chair and sat in front of the hospital bed, wondering what Rhyzer would say about him quitting the Esports career when he woke up.

As Klaus thought about it, the hisses emitted by the heart monitoring machine grew louder and echoed deeply in his mind. This always happened when Klaus spent a lot of time in Rhyzer's room as if every hiss was trying to remind him of all the times he'd refused to go out with his brother just to keep playing Myth2 tirelessly.

*BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...*

The kind of guilt Klaus Park felt was different from the usual, a mixture of guilt and grief. More than anyone else, Klaus still believed that Rhyzer would wake up at some point, except that each week with the devices on, nearly five thousand dollars was added to the Park's debt, making Klaus constantly question what the future would be for him and his family.

As Klaus was about to leave, a man in his sixties in a white coat walked into the room.

"Good morning, Klaus. It's been a while since we've seen each other, hasn't it?" asked Dr. Rodriguez with a tight smile.

Klaus Park rose from his chair and shook hands with the doctor. "We saw each other last year, I believe."

"Yes, you're right. So, it's been a long time. Are you busy now?" The doctor put his hands behind his back and cocked his head slightly to the side.

"Actually, I was just leaving." Klaus pointed to the door.

"Please sit down. I promise our conversation won't take long." Rodriguez pointed to the chair next to the bed.

Patiently, Klaus Park returned to his chair, and the doctor leaned against Rhyzer's bed.

"Klaus, I need to be honest with you. I watched you grow up, so no problem, huh?" Rodriguez asked, and the answer was just a nod from the young man. "The chances of Rhyzer waking up haven't increased in recent years. As requested, we do a battery of tests on your brother every month, but the organs remain exactly as before."

"Yes I know. The nurses updated me on this."

"No, I suppose you don't know everything. Take this." Doctor Rodriguez held out an envelope to Klaus.

Before opening the envelope, Klaus Park hesitated, as if he could already feel what this was about. Even so, he opened it and withdrew the letter from the envelope stating the Park's debt: $2,100,560.97

The amount didn't scare Klaus because he already knew it, but if Chun or Michael Park were reminded of this enormous debt one more day, it would shake them up like before.

"This is an enormous value, Klaus. And if this amount continues to increase, no matter how much consideration the owner of this Hospital has for your father, his children will use legal means to force you to mortgage everything you have. You will have to live on the street." The doctor warned in a soft voice.

Klaus Park did not find an adequate answer for Dr. Rodriguez and remained quiet.

"Alright Klaus, I'm leaving. Think about it boy, you have a good family, don't give up everything you already have."

Finally, the doctor left the room, and Klaus left too. Remembering the astronomical size of the debt was a constant torment for Klaus, and while the Parks had tried countless times to find other Hospitals to transfer Rhyzer, none were so much cheaper, and none would accept so many late fees.

Sitting while waiting for the train, Klaus decided to search the Webnet for the most effective ways to make money fast. Of course, there were numerous false forms that were already saturated, such as Digital Marketing, Trading, and Drop-shipping. Still, a forum post about games caught Klaus' attention.

The post was from a user named MonkeyD and talked about how he surprised his girlfriend with a brand-new car for her sixteenth birthday, which made Klaus smoke with envy. However, the post didn't stop there.

MonkeyD told in the rest of the paragraphs about how playing Rise Online had changed his financial life because it was true that the coins earned in the game could be converted into Dollars.

'Wait, is this real? How's that?' Klaus wondered.

He knew that a few years ago, there were games that gave out virtual currencies, but the savings of all these games were very fragile and required heavy initial investment.

Even after Klaus' train arrived and he boarded, Klaus kept reading countless accounts from people who said they loved Rise Online and others who hated it.

The undeniable truth was that the number of players only increased every day, but the value of the game's currency hadn't changed even nearly five months after launch. The economic logic behind it was too tricky for Klaus Park to understand, but it was convincing enough to get his attention. So as soon as he got home, he logged in Rise Online again.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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