Ep. 1 — Chapter 2: Long Awaited Official Release (1)

I stared at the woman in front of me, trying not to pay her too much attention. But instead, she continued to stand there, looking down at me as I sat and scrolled on my phone. How long have we been in this position?

"Ahem," She cleared her throat, childishly trying to get my attention. But instead, I comtinued to ignore her. After what felt like a few minutes she finally got aggressive and her hands slammed on the counter.

Startled, I looked up at her. But that wasn't really what bothered me. What was really bothering me was that…

"Why do you have my name tag?" I asked, turning to look at her, leaving my phone screen on. "And when did you come back, Hua Lin?"

"Oh, so now you're acting as if I haven't been here for 10 minutes?"

"You didn't say anything."

"I wanted it to be a surprise. After what, 2 months? We haven't seen each other since July, and this is how you act? Aren't you the least bit happy to see your cute junior?"

I stared at her with disbelief. My eyelids lowered and sighed, "Then you should've approached from behind me."

"Anyway," I said, flicking the name tag in her hand that said, [Rayes Kim]. "Why do you have that? You have your own, use that."

Hua Lin looked down at my name tag which she had pinned on her shirt. She puckered her lips and thought deeply about it. I continued to stare at her and only turned back to my phone after receiving a somewhat hostile 'What?' from her.

I continued to scroll down on my phone and went back to reading the web-novel that I was enjoying…until she came.

Hua Lin, a part-time worker of this place. She got a long leave of absence because of her classes for university, so it had been a while since she showed up in this place. I think it was around my second year working here that she came in. At first, I found it troublesome to have an outgoing university student such as her to be working alongside me, even if it was only part-time. I guess I had gotten used to her presence that it doesn't bother me so much anymore.

"Because I found it."

"What?" I asked a reply, still reading without turning to her.

"I found your name tag. So I took it, being a good samaritan and returning it to you, and all. But my question is, why don't you have your name tag with you?"

"There's no reason to."

"What about the people? How would they know your name? Plus, you're not that outgoing, so I doubt you'd introduce yourself."

My eyebrow twitched. "This is a bookstore. There's no reason for me to introduce myself to the people."

"…" I could feel Hua Lin staring at me with judgeful eyes. I tried my best to avoid her gaze. "Why did you choose customer service anyway…?"

"Because, reasons." I got up from my chair and put my phone in my pocket before turning to her. "You came here because you're coming back to the job, right?"

"Wha-"

"Good. Now help me put these books back. And also get the news ones as well."

"Hey, wait! I didn't come here to work."

I turned to her with a smirk. "Then? You came here to see me?"

Hua Lin was quiet, biting her lips in slight anger. "You wish. I just came here to talk to the boss."

"Hm? You said you're not working?"

"Not yet."

"…Whatever. Just help me out here." I said, picking up the books on the cart and placed them in order. I looked around, seeing that the place was empty, I decided it was almost time to close up. The clock read [6:43]. "It's time to close up anyway."

"You're paying me." Hua Lin grumbled.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, how much?"

I could hear her stumbling over her words, most likely baffled from my nonchalance. "You…stop talking like you're filthy rich, damn it. Wait, are you?"

"No."

"Then…?"

"If it was too much, I wouldn't have paid you."

"Dammit." Hua Lin cursed under her breath. She came up next to me, carrying the remaining stack of books. "So, I can choose?"

"Reasonably. Keep it below $30."

"What the hell, man?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Tsk." She clicked her tongue and glared at me.

The both of us went to different sections of the bookstore, shelving the books that were delivered. Luckily, it wasn't so much, so I would be able to leave on time. Like always. The last of them were in the middle section, where I see Hua Lin was at, looking through the wide selection of books.

"Hey, does the payment have to be monetary?" Hua Lin asked as I shelved the books. "Well, you'd still need money for this but…"

"What is it?" I asked, coming up behind her and tapped her head with the last book. Her hair certainly grew a bit longer, but not long enough, so I suspected that she must've cut it.

Hua Lin grabbed the book from my hand and placed it in the shelf. "…sion."

"What?"

"World Ascension…!" She whispered a shout, her cheeks flushing red. Her lips quivered and she tried to not look me in the eyes. "It's a…a videogame. A famous one…"

"Uh-huh?"

"I—I want it, okay?! I mean, it's not like I…I…Nevermind, just get it for me…!"

I had a pretty good idea of what this is about and decided to be do a bit of a mischief. "So, what is this 'World Ascension' thing about?"

Hua Lin pinched my side, glaring. "I don't like your tone. And I told you, it's a game. A videogame."

"You play?"

"Why else would I ask for it then?"

"Right…" I backed up, a slight smirk plastering across my face. "And you'd like me to get the game for you, is that it?"

Hua Lin narrowed her eyes. "Or you can just give me the money and I'll go buy it myself…I shouldn't have asked you in the first place anyway…"

I placed my hand in my pockets and searched for my wallet, pulling it out. If I remember correctly, the game was pretty expensive, most likely due to its increasing popularity and demand. I pulled out several $10 bills and gave it to Hua Lin without much thought. Honestly, I hand't expected her to play the game.

And I should hold off on telling her that I was one of the early testers of the game. I wondered if she will be able to get her hands on the game. All over social media, that's all everyone talks about nowadays. So it's a strong possibility that all of the copies in the city would be sold out within the first hour or so.

Hua Lin walked up to me and nudged my shoulder. "Hey, you. It's going to be very crowded there. You'll come with me, right?"

"Hm? That wasn't a part of the agreement, was it?"

"…Just do it, man."

"What if I have other plans?" I asked, crossing my arms. Hua Lin glared at me with an irritated look.

"With who?"

"Uh…"

"There's no one else you talk to besides me and the boss. And you and the boss aren't even like that. Other than your family, which you don't keep in contact with, the only other person you talk to is me. Hua Lin."

"Hey, that's a little…"

"You're not busy."

"I—"

"You're not busy."

I sighed in utter defeat. "Fine, fine, I'll come with you."

Hua Lin had a delighted smile on her face and she lightly kicked the back of my knee. "I'll send you the location of the place. Don't be late and I'll meet you there, okay?"

Without letting me say anything else, she quickly ran towards the door happily. I watched as she bolted out of the bookstore, nearly tripping down the steps of the place.

I walked back to the counter and packed my things and grabbed my bag. The clock now read [6:58], and it was time I left the place. If I leave now, I'd make it back before eight. I guess I could get on [World Ascension] and play for a little while before the official release. Now that I think about it, when was the time of the release?

Quickly, I pulled out my phone and searched up the game's official website. My face turned to one of horror as I read the time of the release, completely baffled by it.

"What kind of game…?"

['World Ascension's official release will be held on September 4th, 12:00AM!]

Midnight. No, wait, I can't possibly go at that time. But if I didn't, Hua Lin would miss her chance to purchase the game. Barely holding back tears, I put on my coat and headed out of the bookstore, locking its doors.

The sun had mostly set by then, leaving behind reddish orange skies, with a slight hint of pink. I guess it wasn't so bad that my shift ended at this time, as I was able to see this view every day as long as I left on time.

I walked down the street, headed towards my usual route as I read the comments posted under the announcement. Expectedly, they were similarly confused as well.

—Why midnight?

—Weird time for a release, tbh

…

I nodded in agreement at the comments. Whoever's idea it was to have the game be released during midnight was definitely not in their right mind. I wouldn't have gave this much though had Hua Lin not have asked me to take her to buy the game since I already had it. Tsk, just when I thought my luck was getting better after getting the game.

My phone buzzed. A notification popped up, the sender being my sister.

—Ray.

I stared at the message for a while, contemplating whether or not I should reply to it. Eventually, I ended up typing a reply to her.

—What?

—Are you coming home today?

Home? I bit my lips.

—No. Why?

—Mom wanted you to come home.

I turned off my phone and placed it back in my pocket. I had expected it to continue buzzing from my sister's calls, but it was surprisingly quiet the entire time. I waited by the sidewalk for a bit until a taxi pulled up to the side.

I stepped in the car and placed my bag on my lap. I gave him the address and he started to drive. As we passed by several tall buildings and got to the highway, I kept my eyes out of the car window, staring at the distant sunset. Just barely, I gazed at the time, [7:10].

If I get home by 7:30, I could get cleaned up and have enough time to play [World Ascension] before heading out again. It should be around 11 by then. The location Hua Lin sent me was…

I checked our messages and looked at the location she sent. It wasn't too far away from my apartment building, but I would still have to go through the highway to get there quickly.

Eventually, I leaned back on the seat, still staring outside, allowing the sunset to bathe my eyes with its soothing colours. I felt drowsy, the fatigue from the long shift today finally kicking in. I tried to fight off the drowsiness by reading web novels, but it was to no avail. My eyeslids grew heavier and my vision blurred.

The light vibrations of the car as it moved only made it even more comfortable, rendering my efforts to stay awake useless.

Without realising it, my hand had begun to loosen up, my phone slowly sliding off my hand. I heard the sound of my phone falling to my feet but was too tired to move or pick it up. The most I could do then was move my fingers, but that, too, was soon becoming impossible.

"Are you tired?" The driver suddenly asked. "Don't worry, I will wake you up when we get there."

I tried to tell him that there was no need, but I couldn't muster any strength in my body to do so.

Finally, after the long struggle, I ended up falling asleep.