Black Online

Woodland Region, Rose Family Residence.

"Move in there with you?"

Della said with a look of surprise.

She was on a phone with Chaewon, lying on her soft bed, staring up at the ceiling while Chaewon’s voice came through the speaker.

The Virtual Reality Pod was at the corner. It had been offline for a few days now. The longest time she had ever gone without using it.

"Yes. I bet it’d be lots of fun!"

Chaewon said excitedly.

"It does sound fun, but..."

Della looked troubled.

She would love to move in there with her boyfriend and best friend, Chaewon, but she was worried.

She didn’t know whether her father would allow it.

"What’s wrong?"

Chaewon asked.

"I have to talk with my father. I can’t go anywhere without his permission. I honestly can’t expect him to say yes."

Della said.

"Why don’t you... just run away? Your mom and grandpa aren’t living there. Your father and brother are complete assholes, aren’t they?"

Chaewon said.

"...It’s complicated."

Della said with a long sigh.

She then turned around to lie on her stomach, and she looked at the phone screen, which had a screen saver of a photo from Black Online.

A photo of her, Chaewon and Raon.

"It’s time for you to take reins back in your own life. Raon did. He decided that it is his life, and he won’t listen to anyone else how he should live his own life."

Chaewon said.

Della looked at the phone. She traced her finger across Raon in the picture.

"Do I have the courage?"

"You do! You’re the smartest and strongest girl I know! Your father doesn’t deserve a brilliant daughter like you!"

Chaewon shouted.

Della felt her eyes turn slightly wet. Tears threatened to come out. In the end, she stopped herself from crying.

"I’ll go talk to my father."

"...I’ll be waiting."

Chaewon said.

Then, Della stood up from the bed, and instead of disconnecting the phone call, she left the room.

The phone was left behind at the bed. The call was still ongoing.

Chaewon just lied on her own bed, listening to nothing in particular, just waiting for Della to return.

...

Knock~! Knock~!

In the wood-made office, the sound of the door being knocked on interrupted the silence.

With a sharp gaze, Ares looked away from the stacks of paper.

He was an extremely masculine-looking man with defined features and sharp enough of a jawline that could cut through glass.

A man that no one would dare to pick a fight with.

"Enter."

Ares said with a harsh tone.

Then, the door opened, and his daughter, Della, walked in with her head hanging low, like she was a scared sheep.

Seeing his daughter, Ares let out a short sigh and turned back to his papers.

"What is it?"

"I got... something to tell you."

Della said nervously.

"What is it?"

Ares asked lazily.

It kind of sounded like he didn’t really care what she had to say, as if there was something more important for him to do at this very moment.

’...Courage.’

Della grabbed the corners of her shirt and squared her shoulders, trying to look braver than she felt.

She then reminisced the face of Raon, and remembered her talk with Chaewon, about how he decided to control of his own life.

She had to do the same...

"Father..."

Della took a long breath and then said.

"I’d like to move out."

"Where?"

Ares asked, still not looking away from the papers.

"...Smog Region. A friend of mine wanted me to move in with her."

Della said.

"Go ahead."

Ares said, sounding quite half-interested in the conversation, and Della looked genuinely surprised by the answer.

It was like he didn’t care at all!

"...You don’t care?"

Della asked.

A father would usually be worried, especially wondering whether that "friend" was trustworthy enough.

She was moving quite far, after all, to a completely different region, to a place where she barely knew anyone.

Any reasonable father would immediately say no!

"You’re an adult. You can make your own decisions."

Ares said.

’Does he care this little about me or does he believe that I am smart enough to make the right choices on my own?’

Della frowned, and walked over to the door.

Feeling a little disappointed, even though she got permission to move away, but having her father care this little was very disheartening.

"Take care of yourself."

In that moment, Ares looked away from the papers, looked straight at his daughter, and saw her body freeze.

Della turned to look at him.

He was a man that she hated the most. He cheated on her beloved mother. A disgusting man that ruined their beautiful family.

Yet.

Even she could feel her eyes turn wet.

"...I will."

Della said, and then she stepped out of the office, and the wooden door slowly creaked shut behind her.

Pitter-patter!

The rain fell down the window, and Ares turned to look at the thunderstorm outside, his brows furrowed.

...

Smog Region, Megaworld Apartment, 39th Floor.

"Whew..."

Fang Raon wiped the sweat off his brows, as he just finished cleaning up the place, satisfied with the end result.

The new apartment was much nicer than the dump over at the 18th floor.

It didn’t have ugly yellow walls with the paint peeling off in strips, nor did it have leaky sinks that dripped constantly.

It was modest, sure, but it was fine.

A living room that was larger than the one he was used to. A kitchen that was connected to the living room with a sliding door.

A bathroom by the entrance and two bedrooms down the hallway.

"I’ll be living with Chaewon and Della, but I think just one bedroom for us will be enough... I think."

Fang Raon thought out loud.

He looked inside the first bedroom, where there was nothing but his Virtual Reality Pod.

The second bedroom was used for actually sleeping. He bought a new bed, large enough to fit two people comfortably.

Three even.

The desk and the computer was in the living room, but he wasn’t really planning to use it much, except when he was making some videos.

’Tomorrow Black Online’s servers will reopen. Right, the new patch notes about the update was released. I hadn’t checked them out.’

They came a few hours ago, but since he was so busy cleaning the apartment, he didn’t have time to check them out.

He wanted this place to be nice and tidy, as Chaewon was planning to move in with him tomorrow.

And Della would come in a couple of days.

"Let’s see..."

Raon sat by the computer, and went straight to the official website of the Black Online, where the new patch notes were located at.

"It looks like they’re removing some things that the hackers added and kind of ruined the economy and progression.

"All Mythic Weapons were removed from their owners, as it’s too late for players to have such overpowered weapons.

"Fortunately, the developers have also added more balanced loot to compensate for the removal.

"Locals that were killed were spawned back in. All the buildings that the hackers destroyed were also restored.

"First Floor was quite a mess when we had our fight there, but it looks like it’s back to normal, luckily."

Fang Raon then looked at the rest of the patch notes, and he came across something quite interesting and surprising.

"Ranked Matches. In the sixth floor of the tower, there is a new location where you can queue up for a fight against fellow players.

"The players can put their equipment as bets in these matches, with the winner taking all. There is also a ranking system that only ranks the top 100 best players."

Fang Raon touched his chin thoughtfully.

It sounded interesting. Also a good way for him to earn some quick money.

’I could give that a try. Who knows, maybe I’ll reach the top 100.’

He quickly checked the location, and it was in one of the islands on the sixth floor; thus, he would need to get a boat to get there.

’In the fight against hackers, I couldn’t really do much. I was helpless and pretty much a useless help.

’I still got some work to do if I want to fight the absolute best, and these Ranked Matches could be a good way to get stronger.’

He thought.

He continued reading the patch notes, and at the end of it all, it said, "More coming soon..." as it sounded like they planned to add a few more updates in the near future.

’Looks like with this update they’re just focusing on getting the game back to its former glory. The future updates might have more content dumps, which will be interesting.

’For now, I’ll focus on streaming, video making, and these Ranked Matches.

’I also have to start climbing the tower. I’ve been left behind by others. I am level 5 player, and yet I am only at the 16th floor.’

Fang Raon thought with a wry smile.

But he was excited nonetheless, and he already wanted for the servers to come back on so he could get back to playing!