"Huh?! Don't you get it, you jobless bumm!!!? It's Over!!!"
"But?! What did I do?! I've always looked after you and our daughter, haven't I?!!!"
"Our daughter?!"
"What do you mean? She's not our daughter?! Does she... ..."
"Mommy?! What's going on, I wanna go to Papa!".
"I'm here Ha-eun!"
"No! Not you! Papa Seo-jun!"
"What?! I-It can't be!!!! You knew I wasn't your father?!!! Since when?!!! How could you?!!! With my brother?!!!"
the new moon that peaked through the clouds over Lotus City brought the usual repetition of old sorrowful routines. For Min-jun, it brought back the destitute sorrow and unbearable pain he felt that night as he watched the very last source of joy he sacrificed to preserve, crumble from the inside. His own wife had been simply leeching off his generosity, leaving him destitute with not even the joy of fatherhood to his name.
He knew that it was his fault. His late parents had urged him to rethink his choices. However, he chose to follow his intuition. Soo-jin was a graduated alumni of the Lotus City institute of Commerce. A business oriented college that Min-jun happened to attend.
Their love felt one-sided, Min-jun's affection only reciprocated in the presence of gifts and money. Whether it was stupidity or blind love, Min-jun never complained, scrapping tooth and nail from his accounting firm salary, just to sponsor her lavish lifestyle and their supposed daughter's education. The words of his parents still haunted his sleep after ten years of marriage.
On the night of their faithful ten years of marriage together, Min-jun realized the sheer depth of cruelty. On the same matrimonial bed that held the promises of marriage, his wife had sullied it with his own brother, Seo-jun. Seo-jun was a year younger than his under achieving brother, gaining recognition for his marketing skills that earned him millions in crypto currency.
Min-jun was frozen, standing by the door way to the house he bought as he looked through the window to see his wife happily indulge herself in activities that did not fit her attitude towards him. The world seemed to spin, his mind blanked by the thought of entertaining a cheating wife for ten years. He hid in a nearby park, cursing and screaming his lungs out as time flew by. When the midnight clock struck, he gathered himself together, staggering lethargically towards his house. His brother was gone, the w**** of a wife acting all sober in wait. He entered without so much as a greeting, walking away towards their sullied bedroom as he sat in a lounge chair near the bed. His thought were in a jumble. The fact that he knew what had to be done sat heavy on his shoulders. The spiralling torrent of thoughts in his head were scattered when Soo-jin entered the room holding documents in her hands. The documents were in a brown envelope, with a piece of it peaking out the open end.
Min-jun had barely gathered his thoughts when she interrupted.
"I want a divorce".
Her words were calculating and cold, not a single shred of emotion in her voice. She had no objective reason, beating about the bush with false claims as she forced the papers into Min-jun's hands. The painful truth hit him. That very morning, he heard that a new boss had taken over and soon after, he had been relieved of his role as major accountant.
"...So, it was my brother's doing?!!!"
A grin forced it's way out. The man that stood by him when everyone was advising him not to, His own Best Man at their wedding. He took a pen from his suit pocket, tears soaking the clean sheets as he drifted his initials onto the required areas. He knew all he had was his clothes. The house, his main assets, they were all signed to his wife and daughter. The only thing he had was his parent's retirement funds and their house on the outskirts of Lotus City.
Since that night, it had been a year of toil and pain just to make ends meet. His brother's connections had given him the right to close access to their parent's retirement funds in less than a week after he moved. To even afford food, he has to work seemingly endless shifts at a grocery store.
He saw Soo-jin and Seo-jun's lavish wedding on the internet, his old friends berating him just to gain Seo-jun's favour.
"I was abusive?!!! HAHAHA!! SO! FUNNY!!!"
To those who saw him in his state of depraved agony, the only words that came to mind was a mad man. His sanity had left him. There was nothing to hold on to, nothing to care about. On the night of Seo-jun and Soo-jin's one year anniversary, he caved in to insanity, wanting to end it all. His clothes fluttered in the gentle breeze as he stood on the edge of the grocery store roof. He had nothing to will out and no one to will anything to. The wind howled, his thoughts drifting as tears dripped down his pale cheeks. His red hair fluttered violently in unison to the beating sound of his fluttering shirt.
He turned, opening out his hands to receive a gust that would push him to his death. Although the wind blew, it didn't come alone. There was debris , papers and fliers. A piece of paper covered his vision, causing him to stumble side ways and fall back onto the roof.
"Huh?! Magi-Card: Ultimate Card Master?! This game?!"
He tossed the flier away, his resolve clearly shaken. Although he wanted to die, he realized that perhaps it was a sign. He knew this game well. It was an RPG game based on collecting card summons and evolving one's character through tower challenges and PVP battle. He grabbed the flier, returning to work with the flier tucked in his pocket. In the dimly lit room of his shabby house, the glow of a desktop computer was far brighter. He was fortunate to share the neighbor's wi-fi with them, using it to search for the game that used to fill him with joy and the game that had now, saved his life. A nostalgic feeling crept up to Min-jun, making him recall those days when he would play all sorts of games. Now that he had nothing doing, he emerced himself in the game. He wondered whether his old account was still active and decided to log in and find out. Sadly, his old account was no longer active. He resolved to start a new, signing up with the alias, Card-Dealer_X.
In the past, he had conquered almost every single tower in the game. There were 21 towers of mayhem in the world of Anaria. Anaria was the world the game centered around.
"The game's objective was simple. You start off with a beginner deck and slowly level up to gain cards and evolve the deck. By challenging tower bosses, players could gain more power to conquer other towers. Although I conquered most of the towers, I was never able to conquer the last tower. But, this time... ..."
After seven more years of endless gaming and miserable loneliness, Card-Dealer_X, was now the top ranking player. Internet forums were in uproar, each of his adventures a site to behold.
SoloX34567's comment; "I believe we have a successor for the legendary SHADE !!(^^)"
Ironhead_storm's comment; "that's impossible!!! Even if he could succeed SHADE, there's no guarantee he can face the twenty-first tower(*_*)?!!"
"I suppose my old alias left more of an impression than I thought... ... But still, it's been nice making money from what I actually want to do. Accounting was never my dream in the first place. I did it to impress that wrech, Soo-jin!! I'm finally at the twenty-first tower. Let's begin then!!!".
PING!!
"Huh?! A notification from the game's sever?! That's new!!"
Notification: "Dear player, this will be the final round of Magi-Card: Ultimate Card Masters. There will be adversity and challenges that will turn the world on its head!! Are you ready?!!!"
"Yeah I am!!!"
Y[✓]\N[]
He stared at his computer screen waiting for the usual dark themed jingle that premiered every tower raid. He had been solo rading every single tower in Anaria for seven years. And yet, even his knowledge of tower twenty-one, The Ender Tower, was lacking.
A sudden inexplicable headache tore through his head, the feeling of knocking at death's door hanging eerie and heavy in the room. A spark of light materialized, a purple dim glow surrounding the obsidian-like orb of light.
"What is this thing?!!!"
Soon after, a sudden scream from outside urged him to move towards his porch. He looked at his kind neighbor and his wife as they looked up at the sky in horror. Not getting any response from them, he looked up as well.
"Huh!? What... ... Are those?!!!"
Above his very eyes, were holes in the sky. Holes too large to count their number. The moon was gone, the night hue replaced by the glow of a never before seen Aurora pattern. The colours felt alive, with meteors crashing down to Earth with tremendous force.
A neon black screen materialized before Min-jun's eyes. The contents were brief, seemingly explaining the situation.
Notification: "Welcome, to The Last Days of Anaria and the final event of Magi-Card: Ultimate Card Masters. Would you like to access your deck and status points?"