It’s normal that when people are quoting the stories about their lives or writing their biographies, everyone says that there are one or two decisions that have completely changed their fate.

The first such decision that Klaus Park made happened before he was even old enough and mature enough to understand. Although leaving his career in e-sports was just an emotional decision at the time, the second most important choice of his life just happened because of the first one. When he signed the resignation paper from Arc Insurance, he knew there was no way back. This time, he could not retreat to his comfort zone. Now, it was time to face the world head-on once again, as he had done when he was just a kid.

“How much was it, Mike?” Jayaa asked the cab driver.

“$15,80.” The taxi driver replied as he turned off the meter.

Jayaa went through his wallet, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to the driver. “Keep the change as a tip buddy, see you later!”

After that, the yellow cab drove into the messiness of downtown New York City traffic again. Jayaa looked at Klaus Park and smiled when he saw his awestruck expression.

It was evening, and Klaus had accepted Jayaa’s invitation to visit before the move, so the two were going to the apartment they would live in. So that Klaus would already know how things worked, which room he would be staying in, and the right location of the place. However, he was impressed when he got out of the cab and saw that the building Jayaa lived in was not one of these old and almost abandoned buildings in the center.

The building had a great location. It was in front of a small tree-lined park, on the sidewalk of one of the subway entrances and exits of the neighborhood, and well-known neighboring addresses in the city, such as the famous triangle building and a 5-star hotel with a large hand clock on its top. Moreover, the building where Jayaa lived was large and modern, with splendid glass panes and fine architecture, which neither escaped the identity of the mostly commercial neighborhood nor the city’s classic residential architecture.

From the moment Klaus stepped onto the sidewalk until he stepped into the elevator to go to his apartment, he felt like he was in a dream. It was unimaginable to live in a place like this, and it was a strange feeling to be moving, even after he had resigned from his boring job. Klaus felt that he was taking larger steps than he should have.

When the elevator door opened on the 15th floor, Klaus saw a long corridor covered with expensive carpeting and lit bilaterally by modern lamps on the floor and ceiling. It looked like the corridor of a luxury hotel.

They walked in silence until they stopped at apartment number 157. It had a white door in the front with not a normal lock but an electronic lock that would only open with digital marks or a numeric password, which had to be entered manually. At that moment, Jayaa brought his right thumb close and squeezed it into a small, glowing red square.

*Ting*

A short beep resounded, and the door was unlocked. Jayaa pushed the thin handle down and, at the same time, pushed the door forward.

“Hey, sis! I’m home!” Jayaa shouted and turned on the lights.

No one responded. The place was completely silent, and all the lights were off until Jayya turned them on at the electronic panel in the foyer.

“Looks like she hasn’t come home from her trip yet. Well, you won’t get to meet her today. Hehe! Come here, don’t keep just stand out there.”

Jayaa’s apartment was as impressive inside as it was outside. The place was a duplex flat, that is, a two floors apartment.

At the entrance, there was a space to let the shoes so as not to dirty the white carpet, but Jayaa didn’t care about that, so he entered and already went into the living room. There was a U-shaped sofa and a TV with way more than 70 inches. Next to the television was a small bookcase and a few decorations. All the rooms looked expensive. To the left was the staircase leading to the second floor.

The decoration of the apartment blended vintage elements with modernity. For example, there were hanging ferns, rustic wooden cabinets, and some chill sacks next to the window to sit and enjoy the view, but a vacuum cleaner robot also dropped further into the corner. The poor robot was ironically covered by a thick layer of dust.

To the right of the room, there was a small kitchen with modern household appliances and no fruit, apparently.

However, Klaus did not live on the positive side alone. Perhaps because he had lived for a long time with Chun Park, a person who is annoyed even if the kitchen garbage is out of place, Klaus could not completely ignore the mess that the apartment he would now live in was.

On top of the kitchen counter, at least seven pizza boxes were piled up. In the sink, a mountain of plates, cutlery, and glasses.

In the living room, the center rug was crooked, and the coffee table was covered with snack wrappers, papers, and magazines. Not to mention the other traces of poor organization. The apartment looked as if it had been devastated by a tornado or had been visited by five teenagers fighting to put out the garbage.

“Oh, that place is… impressive,” Klaus said.

“Isn’t it?” The blond man scratched his chin as if the compliment was meant him. “Let’s go upstairs. The three bedrooms are upstairs.”

So, they went upstairs to the second floor of the duplex. The main window of the apartment extended to the second floor, so Klaus could see the busy street without difficulty. For someone who had never lived in central New York and that the windows in the building at work were locked so the employees wouldn’t jump out, watching the street from so high up was pretty cool. People looked like ants from up there.

“Here will be your room.” Said Jayaa as he opened the third door of the second-floor hallway. “You may enter.”

As requested, Klaus entered what would be his future room.

The floor of the place was lined with cardboard boxes with keyboards, books, and other objects. There was also a desk with no chair to sit on, a bed with a thin mattress, no sheets, a closet built into the wall, and a small window. It would be exaggerated to say that this place was a bedroom; it looked more like a storage room.

“What’s up? What did you think?”

“Look, this is definitely a room… Didn’t you say this was a guest room?”

“Yes, it used to be with the former owner. However, when my sister bought it, she made it a storage room. Still, don’t be worried. When I got home yesterday, I talked to her on the phone, and she said it’s okay, you can use the place, just try to keep it a little organized, okay?”

Klaus looked at his colleague and smiled wryly. “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

“That’s the way to talk! Now, I’ll give you and the room some time to get to know each other a little better, I’ll see if there’s any pizza left in the fridge for us.”

Jayaa left the room and closed the door. As Klaus looked at the mess, the light in the room began to flicker and, seconds later, burned out.

“Okay. I’ll have to add that to my mental list of things to tidy up here… Well, it’s not as bad as it looks, at least the subway is close by.”

Klaus was taking the situation in the best mood he could.

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https:///bpqq9u4gS8

Like it? Add to library!𝒪𝔳𝑙xt.𝑐𝑂𝔪

Don’t forget to vote with Powerstone to support the book if you like it…