A sour reward

The sound of labored breathing. Void, who was sitting on one of the dozens of bodies on the ground, his gaze lost in nothingness, waited for the time to end.

9...8...7... The seconds on the counter were slowly ticking down. 'I'm going to die...' Void thought tiredly. His body was marked by wounds, the cold hit them hard, inflicting immense pain. The loss of blood was noticeable in his dark circles.

[Time has ended: Calculating reward...]

'This seems like a game...' Void stood up with the little energy he had left. 'I wish I had never written.' he thought annoyed.

While the young man waited, his gaze focused on those creatures. Dozens of questions came to his mind: How is it possible that they existed? Was this place even the world he lived in? And above all, why was his incomplete novel becoming a reality?

His mind was a sea of ​​doubts, but he knew that none of them would be resolved.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped him. Void began to look around in despair, but all there was was darkness.

The sense of space had been lost, the young man did not know where he was moving, left, right, up, down. All of that was nonexistent right now.

[According to your fighting style, you will be given a weapon according to your skills.]

Golden runes appeared in the darkness, slightly illuminating the darkness.

[Selected reward: The shadow clung to its edge, devouring the light in a whisper of steel and emptiness.]

Void thought about the reward with curiosity, mostly because he did not understand the phrase... The golden runes began to gather in one place, the glow became more intense.

After a few seconds, darkness took over everything again. 'And my reward?' Void wondered as he looked around.

A slight tremor in the darkness accompanied his doubts. Faint lights began to penetrate the darkness, which was quickly disappearing.

Finally, it disappeared. Void was in the room from before, with the difference that in that bowl where he left his blood, something seemed to emanate a dark and ominous energy.

The young man gulped. With hesitant steps he began to approach the energy.

After stopping in front of it, the dark energy began to fade, showing the figure of a dark katana. "Is this going to be my weapon?" Void murmured, trying to reach it with his trembling hand.

His fingers rested on the cold black handle. When he finally grabbed it completely, the katana began to pump, as if it were synchronizing with Void's heartbeat.

"It's incredible..." he stammered along with a nervous laugh. And when he was going to swing it to test it, it began to disappear.

[Spiritual weapons are not available in the real world.]

"Tsk... What a waste." Void was upset, however what caught his attention the most in that message was not the uselessness of weapons in the world...

'What do you mean by real world?' The young man was confused, wasn't this the real world too?

As he walked towards the door to leave the place, doubts about what his novel really was increased.

When he stepped through the door, the air quickly warmed his foot. After leaving completely, he could notice that everything had returned to normal. The thin lines of rain were the only thing in the sky.

'How cold was it inside?' he wondered as he noticed that even the rain was warm. People looked around the door curiously.

"It seems that another one has left."

The words came from a man, who was accompanied by a group of men. They were all soldiers.

"I'll get straight to the point. What was inside?" said the man irritated, due to his great age and appearance he seemed to have a high rank in the military.

Void did not have to answer. His position was currently superior to that of simple soldiers, besides, it seems that others have left before him and have not given information, why would he do it?

"I don't have to tell you..." Void walked towards them. "Don't give me orders either, have you forgotten who has allowed the government to continue?" he added annoyed, grabbing the general by the shoulder.

After those words, he walked away from them.

"General..." the uncomfortable silence was interrupted by the fearful words of a soldier. The general clenched his fists tightly. "Do you think you are in a position to speak with superiority? Void."

On the other hand, Void was walking in the rain. The wounds on his body disappeared after he left the door, however his worn clothes remained the same, leaving many parts of his body exposed.

"Should I go to work?" he muttered tiredly. After thinking about it for a moment he decided "...I'm just going to take a look."

...

After half an hour of walking, Void was finally near the store. The street was quiet, without any disturbances.

This was almost impossible in today's world, in every country the slayers tried to reach the top and rule everything. However, this small avenue was in a neutral state, basically the war did not reach this place.

A middle-aged woman approached the young man. "Void..." her voice filled with sadness. He was used to helping people on this avenue so with a slight smile she answered. "What do you need?"

However, that smile increased his sadness, causing tears to flow from his eyes. "After you left... The Cipher gang has broken the deal..." Her words began to fill with a strange heaviness. "Jiho... Your boss... He tried to stop them, but in the process they beat him to the brink of death, now he is in the hospital..."

Void opened his eyes, his heart began to beat hard. "Where is he!?" he asked excitedly. The woman, wiping her tears, pointed behind her. "In the central hospital..."

The young man began to run. The central hospital was famous since it was close to neutral territory, making it the safest hospital in Korea.

Void ran with all his might, he couldn't let his boss die. 'That's why I told you that talking isn't always the solution.' he thought angrily. He clicked his tongue.

"Exchange."

Using runic skills was illegal, for that same reason slayers didn't directly intervene in battles unless it was against another slayer. But Void didn't care about that rule right now, as long as he got there he would do anything.

After several exchanges, he arrived at the hospital. Void went to the counter. "Which ward is Jiho in!?" The question caught the nurse off guard, who slowly answered. "He's currently in the ICU..."

Void quickly began to run towards the place.

And finally, after running through multiple hallways, colliding with nurses and even patients. "Void, you've come..." said Arthur through tears, who was sitting outside the room.

The seats in the hallway were separated from the living room by a thick glass. The young man's exhausted breaths fogged up the glass, his fingertips leaving their mark as well.

He bit his lip hard, blood began to fall on his lip.

"He's fallen into a coma... He also has many of his bones broken... Even if he wakes up he'll never be able to walk again." Arthur explained, who seemed to have exhausted his tears.

Void grabbed his face, the feeling of guilt began to flood inside him. If he hadn't gone to the door... If I had been there... A lump formed in his throat, trying not to show a moment of weakness to Arthur.

Silence filled the waiting room. Both Arthur and Void were nothing more than orphans. Jiho's daughter died in a car accident, as a consequence of the loss, his wife ended her own life.

This made Jiho's life fall apart, a CEO of one of the biggest companies in Korea turned into an alcoholic vagabond in the blink of an eye.

To fill the void inside him, he decided to take in an orphan, Arthur. He was abandoned at birth and consequently, he thinks that Jiho is his real father.

"Void... Do you think this world is worth it?" he asked with a trembling voice, head down. There was no answer.

Void felt a slight prick in his heart. Warning him of a possible danger. That question Arthur had asked was too dangerous, what would happen if...

"Don't try anything strange..." Void said with a cold voice. "Don't worry about Jiho, he's strong. Just focus on helping." he added, leaving the waiting room.

"Are you going to go to them?" Arthur asked, slightly raising his head.

Void disappeared into the hallways, without leaving a response.

Silence filled the hallways again, Void knew it, the world had changed and without violence he was going to have a bad time. He had endured a decade putting aside his past and trying to live a normal life, however that didn't seem possible.

"Are you Void?"

A voice interrupted the calm. Void, annoyed, looked at the person.

"What do you want?"

A young man stepped forward, causing the light from a patient's room to hit him in the face. With his blond hair shining in the light and gray eyes absorbing it, he was of considerable height and wore a black suit.

"I'm very sorry about patient Jiho..." Void gritted his teeth at those words. "...Void, the man who made a neutral territory or also nicknamed the uncrowned king because even with the power to rule everything, a simple avenue was worth it to him."

Void clenched his fists. "What do you want?" he asked angrily again.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to take revenge..." said that young man with his calm voice.

"Do you want to try it?"

The young man let out a sigh. "I'm not referring to your strength... All of Korea's gangs are being unified by Cipher right now. You alone won't be able to take on thousands, not to say millions."

Void lowered his head, annoyed by the truthfulness of that man's words. It was impossible for him to defeat so many people.

"That's why, join The Order." The young man added, offering his hand to Void.