NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1339 A Moment of Rest (2)
Chapter 1339 A Moment of Rest (2)
"…Mm."
"Definitely the right choice to make this my first stop."
Sinking his teeth into one of the burgers he bought, Valyr savored every bite he took as he watched the people passing by the burger joint on the other side of the street.
Feeling as a slight sense of catharsis as he basked under the afternoon sun, the young man finished his first burger in a matter of minutes, only to then pick up the second burger he bought from the joint.
Considering that he still had a lot of Delta left over from the conversion he did when he and Thomas sold beauty elixirs for the first time, Valyr did not hesitate to make his second burger a bit more costly, adding two more patties and two more slices of cheese on it.
Savoring his second burger just as much as he did the first one, it was only then did he let out a content sigh, finding it slightly wild that a lot of things had happened to him back in Greater Beyond before he arrived at his current situation.
Reminding himself not to think about the game for the meantime, Valyr went ahead and made his way towards the next step on his rough plan to spend the afternoon, which was a museum.
Once there, the catharsis he felt while eating burgers gradually intensified, feeling as if all of the stress and tension brought about by the responsibilities he had to bear with were being slowly lifted off his shoulders.
Seeing that he still had an hour to kill, the young man decided to end off his afternoon by spending the remainder of his time at a nearby park, being reminded that it had been a while since he had been to one.
'If I also add the time I spent in Greater Beyond into consideration, then it's been over 2 years since I've been in one,' thought Valyr to himself, slightly chuckling, only to catch himself thinking about the game once more.
Deciding not to suppress his thoughts any further, the young man was able to enjoy his leisurely walk through the park a bit more.
In fact, with how much he felt like he was in tune with the world, he unknowingly went ahead and closed his eyes at some point, relying on intuition and muscle memory to continue walking along the park's paths.
By the time he opened his eyes once more, the sun was already beginning to set, causing Valyr to wonder to himself as to when he started closing his eyes all of a sudden.
Nevertheless, after feeling like he'd been able to temporarily forget all of the responsibilities and burdens that came along with being given a second shot in life, the young man went ahead and made his way back home.
However, after recalling that he had yet to replenish the stock in his refrigerator, Valyr instead made a detour to a nearby supermarket in the middle of his journey back home.
Thankful of the fact that he still had a decent amount of Deltas in his wallet before heading to the supermarket, the young man walked the remaining distance back to his home with a slight spring in his step.
Only to be greeted by the sight of someone he wasn't expecting to see near his front door.
"I thought he'd be in his apartment, but no one's answering even when I knock…" muttered the man near the stairwell, letting out a low sigh as he looked down.
Though, sensing that someone was about to head up the stairwell, the man looked up to see who it was, only to see that it was the person he was waiting for all this time.
"Valyr!" exclaimed the man after a bit of awkward silence, eager to give the young man a big hug.
Unfortunately for him, before he could even embrace him, the man noticed that he was carrying a few bags of groceries.
With that, the man deftly moved his hands towards the back of his head instead, letting out a slightly awkward chuckle while doing so.
"How… how have you been?" asked the man after some time, to which Valyr responded with silence as he opened the door to his apartment.
Feeling both awkwardness and tension in the atmosphere after that, the man tried his best to ignore the feeling as the young man entered his apartment, causing him to think up of various scenarios unrelated to the current situation.
Fortunately, before the man's train of thought further continued on a downward spiral, Valyr looked at him with slight confusion before asking, "Aren't you gonna come inside?"
"…Ah!" Seeing that the young man wasn't actually stopping him from meeting up with him, the man's expression immediately shifted 180 degrees as he hastily enter Valyr's apartment.
Closing the door behind him, the man then made his way to the sofa, only to take notice of the lack of decorations throughout the space. "Don't you think you should get a plant or something?"
"It's not like I plan to live here for a long time," replied Valyr, organizing all of his groceries as he placed them in the refrigerator. "Having none of that makes it easier for me when I plan on moving out."
"I know, but you gotta have at least a bit more than the bare minimum, right?" said the man in return, only to then thank Valyr after the latter gave him a can of soda.
"That's something I'll think about for later," Valyr replied halfheartedly before sitting on the other side of the sofa.
"My lack of decorations aside… what brings you here, Adrian?"
"Although I don't mind meeting up with you every once in a while… all I can say is that I wasn't planning for this to happen, either." Adrian wryly smiled, taking a sip of his drink before letting out a slight sigh.
"…What happened?" asked the young man in return, his expression becoming serious.
"Nothing serious if that's what you're thinking," the man quickly reassured him, only to let out yet another sigh. "It's just that… Mom told me to keep you company for the next few months."
"…Aunt Teresa did?" replied Valyr after some time, his eyes slightly widened in surprise as he looked at Adrian. "What was Uncle's reaction?"
"He was fine with it." Adrian wryly smiled in response. "He told me that it's better for me to keep you company than just stay holed up in my room playing games."
"Any reason as to why Aunt Teresa made the suggestion all of a sudden?" Although he asked Adrian this question, Valyr already had a good idea as to why his aunt thought of having his cousin stop by his place.
"I'm sure you already know the reason as well as I do," replied Adrian with yet another sigh, shaking his head as he thought about it. "She's still thinking about the incident from over a year ago."
"As I expected…" As those words left the man's mouth, Valyr faintly let out a sigh of his own, his mind thinking back to some of the memories that had been clarified after fusing with his past self.
Though most of the memories he had from before Greater Beyond were memories he didn't mind looking through from time to time, there were still a few memories he'd rather forget than recall.
One of them was none other than the incident Adrian brought up.
Although the main part of the incident happened over a year ago, the events that led up to the incident started a couple of years prior.
Having already graduated college that time, Valyr had a well-paying job that allowed him to help his parents out with their bills.
Though, of course, as he was their only son, the two refused the help he gave them and urged him to set it aside for the future. However, with him being adamant, the two eventually relented, thanking him and letting him do whatever he wanted.
Unfortunately, just as it seemed like Valyr's family would have a peaceful life ahead of them, the young man got an urgent call all of a sudden, informing him that his mother had gotten into a terrible accident.
Leaving his workplace without hesitation, Valyr hastily made his way to the hospital, only to find his mother in what he could only describe as an incredibly dire condition.
Asking the heavens above as to why they decided to have his mother go through such a cruel fate, it did not take long for his father to arrive at the hospital as well, only for his expression to become sullen the moment he saw his wife once more.
Looking at each other after that, both Valyr and father swore that they'd do whatever they could to help her out, even going so far as to take extra jobs just so they didn't have to accrue any debt that would hound them later on.
In fact, it was around that time that the young man began to dabble in the world of VRMMORPGs, gradually finding people that were like him that just wanted to briefly escape reality for a number of reasons.
Some of them became friends with him for only weeks, while some of them hung around for months before responsibilities forced them apart.
Then, there were people like Thomas and the other two, who stuck with him through thick and thin, allowing them to forge the tightest bond man could create.
Yet, even with that, his mother's condition still weighed in the back of his mind. After all, the reason why he started playing VRMMORPGs was because he would be able to make more money alongside the jobs he'd already gotten at the time.
Sadly, even after two years of nonstop grinding in both the real and virtual world, both Valyr and his father were eventually given the news that they never wanted to hear in the first place.
And it was also there that the event eventually known as the incident slowly began to take shape.