Pasay City, Local Convenience Store, Heritage St. 10 pm
"Hey, Mike! Hurry it up! We need to close up the shop. I got a date waiting for me online!" A bald man in a bloated 3 colored polo uniform shouted from behind a counter. He was looking at his watch impatiently.
"Yes, boss!" Mike shouted back, even though he was thinking, 'if the pig of a man helped we could finish earlier.'
Lifting the last box of canned goods, he headed to the storage behind the shop and locked it up. He's a teenage boy with a thin yet slightly fit body with pale skin and dark brown hair. When he was done he went back to the counter to tell his boss.
"I'm done Boss, I finished packing up all the extra goods."
"Good." Said the boss as he counted money from the register. "Make sure to clean up the shop properly before locking up. I gave you the room upstairs, so it's the least you could do." The man said with an air of condescendence as he finish gathering all the cash and leaves.
'Yep, you gave me a room, alright; you remind me that every day...' Mike thought to himself.
Sighing, he grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the floors. As it was a chore he does every day, he was agile and efficient, not wanting to leave any dusty spot.
But, as he cleans, his mind isn't idle. He complains to himself about what the boss did to him last week, 'It was my 16th birthday and yet he wouldn't give me a day... again. Not that I have someone to celebrate with this year either though. Being an orphan since 9 and jumping from one orphanage to another, the administration knowing I won't be adopted enrolled me for this job from a government program 2 years ago. Without better education or opportunities I'm stuck here.'
His rant got interrupted as someone knocked at the store's glass door. A tall man's silhouette is projected from it.
"Sorry Sir, but we are closed for the night," Mike told the man outside.
"Nope, I'm not here to buy anything. I'm looking for Mike Perez, is he here?" The man said.
Mike leaving the broom a moment, walked near the door and looked at the man closely. He saw the man was wearing a suit, looked clean-cut and he was very formal with a business-like face.
'What can this man have to do with me?' he thought for a second.
"I'm the one you're looking for. How can I help you?" He replied politely.
"Yeah, you were hard to track down. I came from the last orphanage that had you, they told me you were here. I'm from the family that caused the accident a few years back." The man answered.
"Ok, so... what of it?" Mike asked eyeing the man suspiciously.
"Oh don't worry; the matter was settled a long time ago if I remember correctly. The family I represent has granted you a gift to you as an apology. May I come in?" The man asked.
Mike looked above the cornet, 'There are security cameras all around, he can't possibly investigate the kid in the convenience store just to do some robbery with an empty register. Right?'
"I see no harm in you coming in, but I don't like you. Well, not you specifically, but the family you represent."
"Fair enough; I have come here to deliver a gift for you from the family." Said the man.
"I don't want anything from them!" Mike shouted, tears slowly appearing in his eyes as he remembers the loss of his parents.
"Even so, I was ordered to bring this to you. I will leave it here for you. It's your choice to use it or not. Good Night." The man stated dropping a large box in front of the door and leaving.
Pissed off, Mike take violently the broom and finished up cleaning the store hurriedly and checked he locked up the doors to the shop, he then headed upstairs to his room. After a quick shower and a meager meal of cup noodles, Mike laid down to sleep but he couldn't.
The nagging feeling of the box at the shop's doorstep is keeping him awake. At midnight, after a couple of hours of resisting the urge, he gave up, rushed downstairs, opened the shop door, picked up the box, and examined it. There, stamped on the top, was a simple note.
------------------------------------
TO: Mike Perez
We know we cannot replace
what you lost, but we hope
that what we gave you will
help you in the future.
------------------------------------
The message was addressed to him nonetheless, but there was no 'from' part in the note or any kind of return address.
Shrugging it off, he took the box upstairs and opened it. Inside he found one of those expensive new Deep Dive VR Gear set, a modern laptop, a Divine World Installer Disc, and a letter. He remembers the excitement of his boss when his new VR Gear set was delivered here, but this one looks even more high-tech than the boss' one.
He quickly made space for everything in his small cramped room and opened the letter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TO: Mike Perez
If you are reading this then you have at least wanted
to see what we gave you. This here is a Virtual Reality
Set. Don't worry, we have paid a lifetime subscription
under our name, which means you can play for free for
the rest of your life. We don't know if you are aware
but, in DWO you can earn real money. We hope you
put this to good use.
P.S.: We also play the game, maybe we can see each
other online someday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
***
Outside on a dark roof across the street, a tall man puts on his fedora hat as he was looking down at Mike's window. He pulled out an old cellphone and dialed a number.
[Ring, Ring]
"Hello?" A woman's voice answered the call.
"It took a while, but he eventually accepted the 'gift'." The man whispered to the woman.
"Good." The woman replied and cut off the call.
[Toot toot]
The man looked up again at the boy's window and smiled. After a while he left, shaking his head at the boy's situation.
YOU ARE READING
Divine World Online (2nd edition)
FantasyIt's the mid-2080's and VR is the new tech revolution. Mind-Machine link doesn't need an implant anymore, and the company behind this breakthrough became the biggest tech giant ever with the release of the first Open world VRMMORPG ever. Starli...
