DESPERATE GAMBLE
The alleyway behind the potion shop felt colder than before, the flickering streetlamp casting long shadows over the cobblestone floor. Max stood there, stiff as a corpse, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Cathy leaned against the wall across from him, arms crossed, a faint smirk curling her lips. That smirk—the same one she always wore back in college whenever she knew she had the upper hand.
In her eyes, Max was already defeated.
Her gaze held no sympathy, no pity—just disdain. Disgust. He was weak. A failure. A desperate fool still clinging to the illusion that he mattered.
Cathy had seen plenty of people like him before—the ones who thought they were special. The ones who believed they could fight back against the system.
In the end, they all broke.
Max was no different.
"You're starting to remind me of Rex."
Max's stomach twisted. His fingers twitched at his sides, curling slightly as he forced himself to breathe.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" His voice was low, defensive. Too defensive.
Cathy let out a slow, deliberate sigh, feigning disappointment—but inside, she relished the way his body stiffened, the way his jaw clenched ever so slightly.
"Think about it," she said, tilting her head. "He had potential. Could've been something more. But in the end?" She exhaled through her nose, shaking her head. "He folded under pressure. Couldn't keep up. Dropped out of college. And now? Who even knows where he is?"
She said it like Rex was nothing.
Like he had never mattered.
Max gritted his teeth so hard it hurt.
Perfect.
Cathy continued, her voice smooth, indifferent—but her words hit like a hammer.
"Rex got crushed by reality because he wasn't strong enough to handle it. He thought he could beat the system, and he failed."
She paused, letting the words sink in. Then, in that same calm, knowing tone, she added, "And now? You're standing in the same damn spot."
Max's breathing hitched.
He was crumbling.
Cathy watched him carefully, her sharp eyes noting every flicker of hesitation, every moment of self-doubt.
It was almost too easy.
He wanted to fight back, but he had no argument. No ground to stand on.
"I'm not like him," he forced out, his voice tight, controlled—but the crack in it betrayed him.
Cathy's smirk widened just a fraction. Weak. Predictable.
"Really?" She gestured around them. "You were on top just twelve hours ago—leading a guild, getting backing from Real Solutions. And now?" She tilted her head. "You're broke. You're alone. You have no future."
Max was breaking.
And Cathy?
She was enjoying every second of it.
"You keep saying you're different from Rex, but at least he had the sense to quit before he embarrassed himself."
Max's fingers twitched, his nails biting into his skin so hard it almost drew blood.
"You?" Cathy's voice was quieter now, almost gentle—but that only made it worse.
"You're still pretending you have a chance."
The way his face twisted at that—God, it was satisfying.
Cathy rolled her shoulders, giving an exaggerated sigh. "You should do yourself a favor, Max." She turned slightly, as if ready to leave. "Log out. Cut your losses. Just like Rex did."
Then—she hesitated.
Max barely had time to process the shift before she spoke again, her tone lighter, more casual.
"...Or, you could be smart about this."
Max blinked. "What?"
Cathy turned back, and this time, the smirk on her lips was sharper—calculated.
"I'll be honest, Max. You're screwed." She shrugged. "Real Solutions is done with you. You failed, and they don't tolerate failures."
Max stiffened.
"But." Cathy's eyes gleamed, her voice taking on a smoother, almost persuasive edge. This was it. The hook.
"That doesn't mean everyone is done with you."
Max narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at?"
Cathy stepped forward, just enough to lower her voice into a whisper. "Twilight Stars."
Max inhaled sharply. A first-rate guild. One of the biggest powerhouses in the game.
"Why would they—"
"They're expanding," Cathy cut in smoothly. "They've been looking for someone like you. Someone with experience leading a sub-guild. Someone who already has a foot in the door."
Lie.
Twilight Stars didn't recruit failures.
They bought them.
And once you signed their contract, you weren't a player anymore.
You were a pawn.
A disposable asset, bound by a contract that turned you into a dog on a leash.
Cathy knew that.
And yet—she didn't care.
Max had never been strong enough to fight back against people like her. That's why he was pathetic.
But Twilight Stars?
They needed idiots like him.
Max's fingers twitched.
Cathy noticed. She tilted her head slightly. She had him.
"You're thinking too much, Max."
Max's jaw clenched.
Cathy chuckled, her voice filled with mocking amusement.
"You think you have a choice?" She leaned in just slightly, lowering her voice into something syrupy-sweet.
"Let me tell you something, Max. The only thing worse than failing is refusing to accept reality."
She smirked, her eyes glinting with cold amusement.
"You? You know better. You're not some idealist chasing a dream. You know how this game works."
She let the words settle before delivering the final blow.
"You can either rot in the dirt… or you can climb back up."
Max's heart pounded. His mind screamed at him.
This was it.
His way out.
But…
His throat was dry. "And if I say no?"
Cathy's smirk didn't fade.
She just shrugged. "Then you'll stay in the dirt. Real Solutions will blacklist you. No guild will take you. You'll be stuck grinding like some nobody."
Max clenched his fists.
She saw it.
And she knew she had won.
Cathy smiled, slow and satisfied.
"You don't have a choice, Max. You never did."
Then she turned and walked away, leaving him alone with his failures.
And for the first time, Max felt like he really was no better than Rex.
The night was cold, but Max barely noticed. He stood in the narrow alley, his back pressed against the damp stone wall, staring at the glowing system notification hovering in front of him. His breath came in shallow, uneven bursts, his fingers twitching at his sides as if they couldn't decide whether to clench into fists or just go limp.
The city around him was alive—NPCs bustled about in the distance, their indistinct chatter blending with the occasional clank of armor and the hum of magical streetlights. But in this alley, in this moment, Max might as well have been the only real thing in the world.
Because for him, this was the end of the line.
> [Incoming Message: Cathy]
His stomach clenched. His pulse pounded so hard he could hear it echoing in his ears. He knew what the message would say before he even opened it, but still, he hesitated, his thumb hovering over the notification like it was a detonator.
But what was the point of delaying?
With a slow, defeated exhale, he tapped it open.
> "Ready to stop pretending yet? I'll set up the contract."
There it was. The final nail in his coffin.
Max swallowed hard, his throat dry as sandpaper. His eyes darted across the words, as if hoping he'd somehow read them wrong, but the meaning remained the same. Sign the contract, or be nothing.
He knew Cathy wasn't offering him a lifeline.
She was throwing him a leash.
A collar.
A chain he'd never be able to break.
Because signing with Twilight Stars meant one thing—he would belong to them.
No freedom. No choices. Just another tool, used and discarded when convenient.
His fists clenched. How had it come to this?
Just twelve hours ago—in real life—he had been excited.
He had spent money—real money—to buy this game, to carve out a future for himself in God's Garden. He had dreamed of making a name for himself, of leading his guild to success.
He had imagined standing on top, commanding respect, proving that he wasn't just another failure.
And now?
Two silver.
That was all he had left.
His guild was gone. His reputation was in ruins. His name was a joke on every town's bulletin board.
NPC guards mocked him when he tried to enter safe zones.
Bounty hunters hunted him like a rat, looting what little he had left.
Even the players who had once followed him, once believed in him, now treated him like dead weight.
And Cathy?
She looked at him the same way she always had.
With disdain.
With cold amusement.
Like he was pathetic.
Like he was Rex.
The thought made his gut churn.
"You remind me of him, you know."
Her voice echoed in his head, silky smooth and filled with quiet contempt.
"That dropout? That failure? You're just like him. Desperate. Weak. And you know what happened to him, right?"
Max's jaw tightened.
Rex.
That guy had been the laughingstock of their college. A dropout, a nobody, a waste of talent. And now, he was in this game, too.
Rising from nothing.
Just like Max had once tried to do.
And now Cathy was dangling a contract in front of him, like a master offering scraps to a starving dog.
"Sign it, Max. Stop acting like you have a choice."
His knuckles turned white.
He wanted to fight back. To refuse. To tell her to go to hell.
But what could he do?
If he logged out, he'd be returning to the same miserable reality.
A cramped, decaying hostel room. An empty wallet. No future. No hope.
At least in God's Garden, he still had something.
Even if that something meant selling himself.
His vision blurred for a second, rage and shame boiling in his chest.
The words of that message burned into his mind, searing through his last shreds of pride.
He had lost everything.
There was no way out.
Not unless he accepted it.
Not unless he became what Cathy wanted him to be.
A tool. A pawn. A dog.
His fingers trembled as he lifted them to the reply window. He hesitated, his chest tightening—but what was the point?
His breath came out slow, shaky.
Then, like a man walking to his own execution, he typed two words.
> "Send it."
The moment he hit send, a cold weight settled in his stomach.
He had chosen.
And deep inside, a part of him knew—he had just thrown away the last piece of himself.
Note: this is end of max and Cathy part i will write about rex from next chapters this is not single hero story I will give all characters importantance so don't skip any character they may be interlinked.TARA AND JIN IS ALSO MISSING DON'T WORRY I WON'T FORGET ANYONE pateron is over will launch on 26/2/2025 i hope you support me there thank you
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