RA Ch 1

Chapter 1 – When Reality and Fiction Interweaved.





(Would the world just hurry up and destroyed now?)


There is a man sitting inside a dark room thinking about dangerous thought. He is quite tall and has quite the athletic body.


(Why it was only I who experienced such misfortune like this?!)


But in contrast to his athletic body, his face shows a haggard expression. He keeps staring blankly at the empty space, devoid of any positive aura.


(Where did it went wrong? Why did it went wrong?)


There’s a small notice in his hand. His hand trembles as he looks at the content.

「Notice! You must pay your debt of 50000$ in a month or we will confiscate your house as collateral」

(50000$ is an impossible amount to scrape up in a month! Moreover I am unemployed now! How can I pay that amount of money in just a month! Who are you kidding here! F************!!!!!)


The man then crumples the notice paper in anger. He regains his reasons after a while and re-read the writing in the notice again, hoping that the writings in the notice will differ this time. But of course it won’t happen.


(Hahaha… it’s over… I will soon end up as homeless and beg for alms in the street… No, that way is still much better than involving my parents in this mess. Mom and dad are already too old to live in the street. Shit… I really am one unfilial son)


He was even more afraid getting other people involved in the mess that he created. If it were him alone that get into this mess then he might just stop trying and kill himself already to escape from the dilemma that he is facing now. But he just can’t. There are still those who he can call families, there are those who will get troubled if he ends himself now.


(Seeing mom crying like that… and seeing dad disappointed face… really… where did it went wrong…)


Remembering the time when the notice came, he feels a sharp pain in his chest from remembering his parents’ disappointed faces.


(I was a genius in my school days and in my early university days. I even got some rewards from those kinds of academic contest. Those days life really is easy. I feel like the world is mine. Even if I slack around without doing any study, I still can get perfect score in any kinds test… Is it because of that habit that I fallen this far now?)


He was a star in his youth, he was the soo called riajuu, people who are the winner in life. He has the intelligence to keep up his academic achievement, has the strength to do quite well in sports, quite a handsome face to be adored by the girls, and he also has the bright personality to make other people unable to hate him.

But it seems that the blessed time in his youth had made him quite haughty with himself. He starts looking down on other people, undisciplined with his study, and lives quite a comfortable lifestyle for long.

He don’t even need to try, everything just comes in as he wished it. Be it in academic, monetary, and woman. In academic, he quickly understands the lectures and effortlessly gets the top in the class. Monetarily, his family is not that rich to begin with, but his parents who feel proud of him dotes him too much, giving him all the money he ask even if they need to work harder for it. And his luck with women is also not bad. But thankfully he is not the playboy type that plays around with woman heart.

(Yeah… I never play around with woman heart because I don’t want to be hurt like that also… Thinking back about it… this is all that woman fault. She plays with my heart and hurt me too much that I can’t stand up again for a long time)


It was a story from his golden days. He met a girl he quite fancied with, and she ended up as his girlfriend. But even though he is a genius, he was still a naïve boy that grown up pampered by others. That girl actually just wants to use him for her own purposes. Being the class top girlfriend would look good in the society and she also gets a faithful loyal servant (dog) that she could command as she pleases.


(Thinking back at that time… I really am desperate looking for someone to loves me… My parents gave me a lot of money… but that’s all… they are too busy with their work to give me any attention so I went rampant looking for attention from the outside. I know they are busy because they are trying to earn more money for my sake… I know that they also love me but… I still just a naïve boy at that time… well I still am a naïve boy now too as I got deceived with this kind of debt like this. But really… the start of all this mess is because of her)

That girl runs the man ragged when she is dating him. And when his academicals achievement start to fall, she just coldly dump him without giving him any reason of why.
The man at that time is hurt very bad from the girl cruel treatment that he reduced to a mere shut in. Thinking about his situation at that time, the man now can somehow understand why she dumps him. But the man at that time just simply can’t. His old self kept on brooding and losing his will to continue living. And then ultimately, he found Japanese anime, manga, and game that can help him escape from the cruel reality.

And that man wheel of life starts spinning, bringing that man which was seated at the top position into the lowest gradually.


(If I have anything to feel thankful to that woman then it was to let me meet with these amazing cultures of anime, manga, and game. Well, that amazing cultures is also one of the reason of my current predicament also anyway so is it unfortunate?...... No… I enjoyed it, and I learn a lot. This couldn’t be a mistake. The mistakes is simply my own self)


With him starting his shut in lifestyle, he falls even behind in his academicals achievement. His relationship with his parents started to deteriorate as he starts to become a disappointing child. And he doesn’t get that much money any longer from his parent as they start to get older.


(I know that I am in danger at that time… or at least the future me… I tried many times to stand back again with my own two feet to face with real life again but it was just too hard. My life is just too damn comfortable! Even if I had the determination to get better, the next day, that determination is beated perfectly by the alluring temptation of my bed and also the temptation of new exciting games, mangas, novels, and animes)

So the man keep on repeating his life at that phase with enjoying the life without care -> regrets -> trying to stand up again -> but realize it was futile -> enjoying life without care again -> regrets again -> repeat. He feels sorry for his parents who hope big things from him but he is just too broken at that time to start doing anything to improve his life.


(Really, at that time, I was at my darkest hour. I wish the world would just be destroyed so I would not need to feel pitiable like that. Well… And I have reached my darkest hour yet again wishing the world would end again. Geez where is that zombie apocalypse when I need it the most)


And so, the man dark university life starts without anything able to stop it. Without realizing, month and years pass by. And finally, he got dropped out from the university because he was unable to finish his study within the maximum time allowed for that university’s student. It was the time of birth for another useless man in this world. He is already past his prime youth time with no skill and work experience. He also only had high school degrees as his latest educational background. There are simply no futures left for him.


(If there are reset button on this shitty game called life. I would gladly press it without hesitation at that time…)


But life has no reset button. The man is left alone in this large world to face his own troubles.


(The only skill that I proud of, my Japanese language skill, still won’t be of much use now because I don’t have a degree to support it. But then, at last, a chance had come to me to improve my life better… or so I thought)


At that time when he wished strongly to reform himself, a chance meeting occurred. He found a way to work outside the country. Or to be specific, he found a way to get a job in Japan! The man, who is branded as an otaku by the world, who loves japan cultures more that any normal people, feels happy about it and feels that this was his calling all along. He found a goal, managed to get his confidence back, and start training seriously for the sake of his new dream.


(To improve myself, I first have to get out from my comfort zone. Yeah that is very true. When I start lodging in the dorm where the company, that will send me to Japan, trains their client, I really feel alive. I study and do physical training with much vigor. And that determination didn’t only hold on for a day or two. Well, yeah there are many setbacks happen like failing in the interview for the job or when I already got the job, I need to wait for a long time to start working… I should’ve noticed it sooner that there are something fishy happening but I was just too blinded by my wish to go to Japan to work… I managed to stay positive because of my failure experiences but it was just actually me being haughty again. I was thinking that I had already become wise enough for overcoming just one trouble in my life. But I still am the same naïve boy that was dumped by his girlfriend)


The man trained hard in the training phase. He managed to live with more discipline, his body strength increases from regular training, and also polished his personality to be the kind that is liked by his would be employer, Japanese people.
But in his long training phase, there are no real job experience training at all. The man had already told his condition to the company the fact that he is a university drop out with no skill and working experience. Yet he didn’t get any training in the job side which should be the number one concern if he is going to start working.
His parents already asked the boss before to give the man working training because he wasn’t used with working but the company boss just avoids the topics and said that the man was an exceptional student here who already can speak Japanese so there should be no worry about him. The man was also felt proud because of the praise and don’t think too much about it. He was getting haughty again.


(That company boss was really a good person before… that guy is really dirty deceiving me like that… Curse that baldy! Curse him or deceiving me and put me into my current miserable state… and curse me too for being deceived by him f*** it)


The man then managed to go to Japan and start working after paying that company boss a large sum of money for legalization process or something that he don’t really understand. Well, that amount of money can be regained back after he works for three or four months in Japan so he don’t think much of it… but who could imagine that he would be fired before he managed to collect that amount? Well, he just guesses that baldie boss of his could as the reason for me getting fired is because of his bad performance at work.
The man actually enjoys the time he went to Japan. He came from a third world country which can’t be compared to Japan so everything is a great eye-opener for him. And even thought the work is hard, he was doing his best to finish all the job that is given to him. But then again, it was his first time working. He wasn’t able to adapt quick. Even if he had put his utmost effort to the job but his boss in that Japanese company still ask him to go faster and scold him a lot for being slow and dumb in work.
He was once again facing life reality. All his efforts in the training period were denied. He finally understands that he was once again getting haughty. No matter how brilliant he is in the training period, if he can’t work well then all of it can just eat sh**. He tried his best again to keep up with the work.

But it was all to naught. After three months of probation period passes, he was then and there fired at the spot. He tried to seek help to the company boss who sent him here and the one who held responsibility for him in Japan. He can’t get a hold of the company boss but he was promised help by that field manager.
He who felt despaired at first regained some hope from the field manager words. He then just wait until the day when the field manager would come and help him while still doing his best with the last few days of work, hoping to impress his Japanese boss for the last time so he would cancel his decision to fire the man.

(Well… My feeling is very complex at that time… I kinda want to go back home because of the harsh environment, but I know it was just me being spoiled. I have to get through this trouble so I can have a comfortable life in the future. I feel happy if I can go back home yet feel sad about it, I also feel happy if I can continue working in Japan yet I feel sad about it. I don’t even understand myself. Well… I just had to grit my teeth and move forward like those main character from shonen manga if I want to have a comfortable life in the future…… yeah that should be a perfect future for me… before that field manager of mine actually betray his own words and stab me from the back… that f***er… I need to curse him too)


At last the day where the man supposed to come back to his own country arrives. He met his field manager at last. But what that field manager said first when seeing him was blaming him for his bad works. The man was stupefied with the field manager sudden scolding. Wasn’t this field manager was supposed to help him? Why did he blaming at me like this? The man felt sad and betrayed. He wanted to fight back but he doesn’t have any allies in this foreign land. The only allies that he thought he had, was actually betraying him.
With the guidance of that back-stabbing field manager, he was forced to sign some document that says that the man is willing to go back to his own country and his salary was also seized by the field manager saying that it was the normal procedure.


(The f*** with procedure. You just made my salary a hostages aren’t you f***er! That’s why I can’t disobey you at that time. Bastard had been planning it all along for sending me back home… No, that little twit should’ve be used in dealing with people like me so he took the salary as hostage first knowing his victims couldn’t do anything else if he seized it)

(That day. I lost completely. I lose my job, I lose my confidence, I lose my hope… I lose my money… that f***er… when he return my seized money he already took a lot from it saying that it was for his operational expenses… bullsh*t! What operational expenses! I didn’t get any benefit from your work yet I had to pay it?! Your logic is awesome man! And what is that ‘I had to go to this remote place with shinkansen just because of your unimportant problem so pay me up’ kind of attitude!? If going to my place was troublesome and if you don’t have any intent of helping me then don’t come sh*thole! He must’ve been targeting to steal my salary from the start. He can’t take it all because there are other people so maybe I should consider myself lucky…)


And with those bitter experiences in the end, the man was send back to his country. But his troubles just won’t end yet.

The company that sends him to Japan suddenly came to his house today. That used to be kind bald company boss came with scary face bringing ruffians with him to give the man that debt notice. That bald boss only said that if in one month the man doesn’t pay, then his house will be seized as collateral.

The man world became dark at that moment. He fell into the depth of despair. What could he do to solve this trouble? He never had to deal with this kind of thing before in his life so he was at lost. He could hear his parents fighting outside blaming each other for letting him to be the loser he is now.


(Stop it, stop it! don’t blame each other! We are all in fault here. But the one with the most responsibility is me myself!)


The man one hand was gripping at the debt notice… while his other hand… held a knife. He was in trance in seeing his own reflection in the knife blade.


(God… I know I was never that much believe in you so it might be wrong for me to pray to you now… but please help me! Help me so I can solve this problem and continue living peacefully! No I don’t care about myself but please help my parent! God I beg you please show your miracle!!!)


At that moment, a miracle occurred. Or to be exact, a small disaster occurred.
A bolt of lightning suddenly appears in the middle of the clear sky, then shooting it way straight to the man’s house. The lightning bolt then pierces the house roof and strike the man without any mercy!
The man was shocked by the sudden happening but he couldn’t even react at all because it happened in an instant. But that man miraculously still conscious for a while after the lightning strikes him.


(It hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts! Wha- I’ve been struck by a lightning!? Ow ow ow! But why did I still conscious! Could this be punishment from heaven!? Haha… I really am destined to be trash all along……)


And with that last thought, the man consciousness becomes all dark. He had lost his consciousness.


===============================


(Ow ow ow ow ow. My body feels hurt all over. What the hell happened to me?)


I was awoken from my slumber with my body feeling pain all over. I struggled a bit to open my eyes. Because my body is hurt all over, I only use my eyes to check my surroundings.


(Uh… I’m not in my bed… I’m in the living room… Why did I sleep in the living room?)


My sleepy mind starts to get clear after a while. And at last I remember the thing that was happened when I got unconscious.


(!! That’s right! A lightning struck me when I was reflecting my life!...... I’m still alive? Thank god!)


I feel joy for being able to survive. But the joy was short lived. I start to remember the troubles that I currently face.


(…… Maybe it was better for me to die instead……)


I was afraid to do suicide, but also wish to die. So that lightning strike just now should be a real blessing for him to let him escape from the suffering of life. But it seems like he is tougher than what he thinks that he even manage to survive a lightning strike.


(Hahaha… This happening might be just how God trying to cheer me up eh? I even manage to survive lightning why I can’t survive from such a measly trouble like this? Well, let’s wash up first then gotta discuss this problem with mom and dad)


I lift up my creaky body that was still in pain. It is still hurt a lot allover but I can move around without trouble it seems.
Managing to standing up, I then goes straight to the wash room to wash my face.


(Fuhaaa~ that was soo refreshing. Okay let’s keep on fighting! …… eh? What’s that letter up there on top of my head?)


There’s a letter up there in my head floating… And because I saw it from a mirror, it was mirrored. I blinked several time thinking that I was still half asleep to see such weird letter floating out of nowhere.
But it seems to be not a trick my eyes playing to my brain… Even after a while the letter won’t gone away from floating in the top my head. I then spell the world slowly as it was mirrored.



「Deadbeat」
Lv.2 Robert Brown



(The hell is that?!?!)