The 2nd floor, Winter Village, Lurian’s Merchant Wonders.
"...Hmm?"
With a monocle over one eye, Lurian, the owner of this small merchant store, looked at the varying items on the table.
He was calculating their worth quickly.
"..."
Fang Raon looked at the items on the shelf while waiting for him.
These were the items he acquired from killing Junior, Alexis, and Rich. They had some really good stuff.
"...I am willing to give you 555 square coins for these items."
Lurian said.
’...So, the real worth of these items is probably around 800 or 900, but I am fine with the amount I am getting.
’I honestly just want to log off, go eat, and do my needs in the bathroom, and sleep all day.’
Fang Raon nodded, accepted the offer, and received the money.
[+555 Square Coins]
[Coins: 1181]
’Wow, I have already earned over ten dollars! That maybe can get me a nice steak dinner... not really.’
Fang Raon lampooned.
It sure was hard to make proper wealth in the tower, but it wasn’t surprising, as he was only on the 2nd floor.
He wasn’t going to convert these coins to real-life money and instead was going to use them to purchase more items.
"Appreciate it."
He said, and then also found that the merchant store was selling Tower Key, so he spent another 200 square coins for it.
Fang Raon left the merchant store and started making his way to the weapon and armory store. There was one in the village.
After arriving at the store, there wasn’t much to look for, as he could only afford the cheapest piece of armor.
[Leather Armor: 500 Square Coins]
He purchased it and equipped it under his winter clothing. It included leather padding to protect his torso, simple shoulder pads, bracers, a leather jerkin, and gloves.
"Nice."
Fang Raon then left the store and took a visit to the 2nd floor’s potion master, from whom he purchased five health potions.
One health potion cost 50 square coins, so he spent about 250 over there, and just like that, his wealth had been reduced quite a bit.
[Coins: 231]
"Mmh!"
As Fang Raon stepped out of the potion master’s store and entered the chilly air, he stretched his arms above his head.
He had done everything that he wanted to do.
’I don’t think I will stay on the 2nd floor any longer. I think my equipment is strong enough to attempt the 2nd-floor boss already, but I need a party.
’I need to somehow find people willing to do the raid with me, and it also has to be people that won’t betray me.
’I think players might be quite paranoid of getting betrayed, so it might be difficult to enter a party that is solely made out of real-life friends.
’Well, I will think about that tomorrow.
’For now, I am off.’
Fang Raon opened the interface and pressed the log out button.
...
Fang Raon opened his eyes.
Darkness. That’s all the thing he could see.
It made him feel angry as he started to hate the real world more and more.
Going from the virtual game world, where he could see all those beautiful things, to seeing nothing was extremely frustrating.
"Sigh..."
Fang Raon let out a deep sigh.
In that moment, he tried moving his arm to press the button, but for some reason, his arm wasn’t moving.
’Did it go numb because I played for so long? Ugh, so annoying. I am so fucking hungry, and I am really about to piss my pants!’
He gritted his teeth and tried moving his other arm as well, but nothing. It didn’t react to any of his commands.
Slowly, Fang Raon’s heart started beating faster.
He tried moving his legs. Nothing.
"Move!"
Fang Raon shouted angrily, and he breathed heavily with panic starting to set in.
He tried for ten more minutes until he realized that his body was simply in a completely paralyzed state.
’It can’t be.’
He thought fearfully.
"Call a doctor!"
He shouted.
The phone worked with voice activation, as it was fail-safe in case he one day woke up and couldn’t move.
At least with voice activation he could still call for help.
The phone reached the doctor, and Fang Raon immediately told him what happened, and the doctor only said that he was on the way.
The call ended.
Blind and unable to move, Fang Raon felt less like a human and more like a helpless animal.
...
"..."
The doctor checked Fang Raon’s heart pressure and kept frowning silently as he read the results.
He wasn’t alone, as he came with a couple other doctors and nurses.
They were equally confused about what had happened, as this felt way too sudden and unexpected.
"...How is it, doctor?"
Fang Raon asked.
He couldn’t see their expressions, but from the way they were quiet, he could tell that he most likely wasn’t getting any good news today.
"I don’t know how it happened, but your body deteriorated at frightening speed. You should’ve only reached this stage in your illness in two, maybe three years.
"I don’t know what happened, but in just one day since you came to visit my office, your body’s immunity system completely shut down."
The doctor said with a serious look.
"...So this is it? I will be bedridden for the rest of my life like a useless vegetable?"
Fang Raon asked.
He was keeping his overwhelming anger inside him chained and tried to act calm, but his frustration knew no bounds.
"I wish it would only be this, but I don’t think this will be the end. In a couple of years, your brain might also lose against the illness.
"You will lose your self-being, essentially becoming brain dead."
The doctor gave him the bad news.
"Do you ever give good news, doctor?"
Fang Raon asked.
His voice was unusually calm—dangerously calm—as if he hadn’t just heard the worst news of his life.
In a couple of years, he would be as good as dead.
"...I wish I had good news one day for you. Anyway, you cannot live by yourself anymore, so you will be assigned to a caretaker facility.
"There we can study your condition more thoroughly and find a cure."
The doctor said.
"...Doctor, be honest. You call my condition Optineurodegenerative Syndrome, but none of you actually know what’s wrong with me, correct?
"I have had this illness for a decade now, and you still haven’t figured out what’s wrong with me, so you are saying you can find out what this is and even create a cure?
"In two years?
"Be honest with me."
Fang Raon said.
"Helping you is questionable. However, what we learn from you will also help the next patients of this similar illness."
The doctor said.
’That means I am a lost case...’
Fang Raon thought to himself.
In that moment, he remembered the contents of the strange letter from his admirer, and a small spark of hope ignited inside him.
’Black Online is your cure...’
He didn’t want to have any useless hope, but he couldn’t help himself.
’I will not die like this!’