It’s summer, as a naive youngster is pedaling his bike to school. The name is Jimmy Hendrix, and he is going to have a field trip with his classmate to Drada today.
Upon reaching the school, he appears so sweaty, with a slightly-torn dirty white T-shirt. That’s what he got after a small accident on the road.
“Hey, Jimmy!” Stephanie, a blonde girl, calls in sneers. “What’s with that look?”
“I bet he didn't even have time to shower at all!” chimes another girl named Tia.
Jimmy can only holds back his embarrassment, and starts busy looking for Anna Campbell, his beloved girlfriend.
However, the girlfriend has actually noticed his arrival, and is currently looking away so that Jimmy won’t find her.
“Please! Don’t let him notice me!”
Lately, she has been feeling so in shame for having a boyfriend like Jimmy.
Soon, the girl glances at a delinquent student who often bullies Jimmy in school. Just so Jimmy won’t dare to come closer, she approaches the guy.
“Hellooow, Dwayne!” the girl greets coquettishly. “Where did you get that haircut? It looks cool.”
“You bet?” replies the guy confidently. “I cut it myself. If you want, I can modify your haircut a bit.”
“Naah, I like the way I look!” Anna waves her long black hair, openly acting pretty in front of Dwayne.
Dwayne intently stares at her, not holding back in enjoying Anna's beauty in every curve of her body.
But then, his attention is averted by Jimmy's arrival. He steps forward, and pushes Jimmy's chest roughly. “What do you want, you punk?”
Jimmy ignores him, and calls for his girlfriend. “Anna! You better get away from him!”
Anna turns around, raises her chin slightly. “Who are you ordering me around like a slave?”
Jimmy looks baffled. “I’m your boyfriend! And you know how bad this guy is! You shouldn't get close to him.” Jimmy’s words provoke a sneer from Stephanie. “Duuuude! You are the worse creature God ever created, and you still have the face to judge other people, huh? Look at you!”Again, Tia joins Stephanie in teasing with Jimmy. “Didn’t your mom teach you how to dress well? Oh, I forgot! You don’t even have a mom, and your irresponsible father has abandoned you too, right?”
“Hey, Anna!” Stephanie calls. “Just break up with him already! Remember, fruits don’t fall far from the tree. Sooner or later, he will abandon you, just like how his dad abandoned his mom.”
Provoked by their insults, Anna really finds the need to dump Jimmy to safe her own reputation. “You heard what they said, didn’t you? What are you waiting for? Get lost!”
Like a lightning strikes on a clear sunny day, that one really shocks Jimmy. “Are you serious with this?” he croaks, with despair slowly turns into rage.
“You are asking me like I’m going to regret this?” Anna refutes. “If you were from a rich family like Dwayne here, maybe you could direct that question to me. But you're just a dirty leech in someone else’s family.”
“You?” Jimmy grumbles.
His attention is averted to the necklace on Anna’s neck. He steps forward intending to snatch it.
But Dwayne intervenes, grabbing Jimmy on both armpits. He easily throws Jimmy away, slamming him to the ground like a kid.
“She’s mine now!” he glares.
It makes Jimmy looks so pathetic in front of everyone. But no one sympathizes. Some even laugh at him openly.
A moment later, the teacher appears, excitedly clapping from a distance to invite all the students to get on the bus.
But Jimmy still has the nerve to call Anna before she leaves him.
“Anna!”
Anna's forehead twitches, she turns around to express her irritation.
“What?!!” She snaps.
“At least, give me back that necklace!”
Jimmy once gave her a necklace. The pendant looks expensive, making her reluctant to give it back.
“You already gave it to me! How can you have the face to ask for it back?”
“It's a memento from my mom,” says Jimmy.
Anna takes the necklace off her neck and throws it roughly at Jimmy's chest.
“There! It’s just a cheap necklace to begin with!”
Jimmy picks up the necklace, and then puts it on by hiding the pendant behind his T-shirt.
“Jimmy!” the teacher calls. “Come, come! We are going to have a fun trip!”
A fun trip she said? In fact, the trip will become Jimmy's worst experience.
In Drada, Dwayne always heats things up by deliberately grinning at Jimmy with one of his arms around Anna's hip.
He keeps continuing with this on the way home, kissing Anna passionately on the bus, not holding back in rubbing the girl’s chest full of lust.
Yes, you are right! They do it on the bus. It just so happens that their teacher has fallen asleep at the most front seat. But the other students are fully aware of it.
“No, Dwayne! Don’t do that!” Anna uncomfortably glances at the others around her.
“Why? Don’t you like it?” Dwayne flirts by licking Anna's right ear.
Anna keeps her voice down. But it is still can be heard by the others, including Jimmy.
Now Jimmy has to hold back his anger, witnessing his ex in the lustful touch of the guy he hates the most. If he had a gun in his hand right now, he would have shot those two in the head.
Apparently, Anna’s moaning also reaches the driver's ears, and disturbs his concentration. Not to mention they are on a foggy road at a hill at night.
While this driver is busy trying to wake up the teacher, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of a truck from behind the corner.
He is shocked, and then swerves in a panic. The bus loses its balance and falls off the shoulder of the road. It flips once and then slides into a ravine.
All the passengers are so quiet inside the wrecked bus. It is unclear whether they are still alive or not.
Until then…
“Cough, cough!”
Jimmy wakes up, enduring excruciating pain due to the broken legs, with head bleeding heavily.
“Help! Anyone? Please! I can’t move my legs.”
He looks around, and witnesses how gore the view inside the bus is. He tries to remove his pendant away from his face. There he accidentally touches the side of the pendant with his bloody thumb.
Srrnnnk!!!
A hologram appears.
[A new player has been identified!]
[Name : Jimmy Hendrix. Age : 18 years old. Condition : 92% critical!]
[Would you like to enter Icalaterra now?]
[Yes/No]
In half conscious, Jimmy touches the hologram and accidentally accepts the offer.
[Do you want to take the other people around you to come along?]
…
[You are taking too long! We will only transfer you alone for now. Have a happy hunting!]
Jimmy’s body then simmers, and begins to disintegrate, slowly disappearing into the thin air.
Half an hour later, Boslow Hill, about 17 km from the city border of Drada.The wrecked bus is now surrounded by so many police and SAR officers. Eight passengers have been confirmed dead. The rest have been rushed to a hospital in Drada Metropolitan City.“Sir! I just got information from Summerfield High School. There were 32 students on this trip, and one teacher.”“Thirty two?” the captain mumbles curiously. “Then, we are missing one student here.”The police captain receives a document from the lower rank officer, and examines it. There he finds the name of Jimmy Hendrix marked in a red circle.“He lives at his aunt’s house since her mom died six years ago. And about his father, Thomas Hendrix, doesn’t that name ring a bell to you?” asks the lower rank officer rhetorically.The captain glances by raising one of his eyebrows, showing some kind of interest.But…“Naah, I bet he just went looking for some help.”However, that one lower rank officer shakes his head. “Actually, his cou
This is his first time holding a gun. His adrenaline starts to race up. The image of him shooting zombies with the handgun starts playing in his head like in the video game. How fun it would be.But soon he returns to reality. “No way! There’s no way I can do that!”Having enough with all the strangeness and his endless anxiety, he rushes down from the top of the hill.“Oh, God! How am I going to get home now?”And suddenly…[!][Would you like to go back to your home?]“Eh, I can go back? Um, yes! Take me home! Take me back home now!”[Sorry! You need to be inside the portal circle to use the portal]“Portal circle?”It reminds Jimmy about the weird circle he found on the ground inside the shallow cave. Hence, he rushes back to that place.And just like what he thought…[!][Would you like to use the portal?]“Yes, of course! Finally I can go back to…”[!][Sorry, you don’t meet the minimum requirement. It needs two portal scrolls to transfer you back to Iodrana]“Portal scroll?”[!]
Frustrated, his breath becomes short. But he still tries to calm his mind, looking for a way to solve his problem.“Hey! Is there any way to cure the poison?”[A small vial of Ether liquid is enough to cure you from this level of poison][A small vial of Ether Liquid = 55 gold coins][Your current balance = 0 gold coins]“Wooo! It's much more expensive than the portal scroll. You're deliberately selling it in a higher price just because I need it?”[Prices are determined based on need and item availability. This is the basic law of economics. Just complete the quest, then you will have the gold coins to buy items.]“You damn capitalist! Can’t you just give me one for now? I’ll pay you later!”[We do not accept that type of transaction]“Come on, Jimmy! Use your brain! Think! Think!”“I should have…”“Hold on! Wait!”“Hey! Show me that quest again!”The system shows him the details of the quest.After reading it carefully, for whatever stupid thing coming to his mind, he points the gun
And he earned it only after two days trapped in Icalaterra. Even though he had to bet his own life to get that much money, his face looks so bright with an indescribable excitement.He exchanges one gold coin for $893.64. And soon, a light occurs in front of him, and some dollar bills drop, along with a few pennies. Excited, he rushes back to the fast food outlet to order.But again, he gets yelled at by the previous girl. “Why are you still here?”“I just want to make an order,” says Jimmy.“Making an order?” the girl squints.Annoyed by the girl’s harsh treatment, Jimmy deliberately takes out a piece of $100 bill and shows it to the girl.He expects the girl to be surprised and change her attitude. However…“Whose money did you steal?” she inquires.“Steal? It’s mine,” replies Jimmy.“Bullshit!” the girl denies. “You just said you only had money to buy a bottle of mineral water.”Jimmy ignores her argument, stepping forward, and putting the money on the table. “Just give me some food
Upon entering the shop, he gets the same reaction as the girl at food outlet earlier. At least, the sales girl in this shop doesn't immediately cast him away.“Excuse me! Are you lost?” “No, I want to purchase a motorbike,” replies Jimmy.The girl looks so unenthusiastic, before she looks to another direction, to another sales girl with yellow hair, looking pretty like a flight attendance.“Amy! Could you come here for a moment and do something for this guy here?”That girl simply takes her leave, even without making sure that one sales girl named Amy really comes to Jimmy.In the meantime, Jimmy has to endure his annoyance for being ignored while that Amy girl is busy with her phone. It stays like that, at least until Jimmy confronts her.“Yes?” Amy asks coldly.Jimmy sighs by showing his unenthusiastic face. “Look! I came here to buy, and don’t you judge me based on my slightly torn dirty T-shirt. I just got into an accident, and I want to get back home with a bike I’m going to buy
An hour later, the girl returns with two friends, while Jimmy himself has been yawning so many times in boredom. He sees one of them prepares the motorbike and then takes it outside for a test drive.The other one comes to Jimmy giving two boxes, one containing a helmet, and the other one containing a set of touring outfits; shoes, one jacket, and a pair of gloves.Soon, the guy who went for a test drive comes back with Jimmy’s new bike, while Jimmy has been holding his excitement.At last, he will experience how it feels to be a rich guy, buying his own motorbike with his own money. No one will call him a freeloader anymore.“Here, the changes,” Amy gives Jimmy some dollars and coins along with purchase receipt, Jimmy’s ID card, and also the document of the ownership of the new motorbike.“So, you really got into an accident, huh? I bet you haven’t had a shower for a while. Don't you want to stay here for a night at least? You can take a shower at my place if you want.”The way this
Soon after he finishes taking a shower, he gets hungry again. Only then does he leave the beach and heads to the border.He takes the times to visit that one food outlet he visited before, to fill his empty belly before taking a long journey to Summerfield.Coincidentally, it’s quiet without any customers. Jimmy's arrival on a luxury motorbike makes the girl who owns the shop looks excited in waiting, tying her shoulder-length black hair up on the back.But then…“Oh, shit! No way? It’s that guy earlier,” mutters the girl by closing her mouth, recognizing Jimmy’s face soon after Jimmy takes off his helmet.“Who?” The girl’s younger brother asks from behind.“No one!” The girl ignores his curiosity.“Oh, wait! That guy?” The younger brother recognizes Jimmy’s face. “Isn’t that the guy we saw on the side of the road at Boslow Hill? I thought he was just a thug!”“Just go back to the kitchen!” Laura slaps her 14 year-old brother with a small towel.Soon, she finds Jimmy walking towards h
Jimmy gives a shy smile with the lie, but Laura doesn’t say a word. She just finds another similarity between her and Jimmy. Now she feels so bad for treating Jimmy so harsh this morning. “Oh?” the girl just mumbles with her blank face. “So you are heading back to Summerfield now?” “Yeah! By the way, thanks for the water,” says Jimmy as he walks away. “Hold on! Wait!” the girl calls. “Do you have a phone number?” Jimmy turns around. “A phone number?” “Um…, uh… It, it will be a long road. Something could just happen to you on the way, so…” “Oh, you are right! But, sorry! I don’t have a phone. You see, I lost everything because of the accident.” Jimmy smiles and takes his leave. The girl still looks so stupid, before her stupid face turns sour, believing that was only Jimmy’s way rejecting her politely. *** As darkness slowly covers the small town of Summerfield, an 11 year old boy is still busy in front of a washing machine. These are the clothes that have piled up in the last