Chapter 32: Too late.

Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Too late.

[In-Game Skin Synchronization—10%]

Victor turned around after dodging, and the first thing he saw was the man’s THICK neck.

A thick scar ran all the way around it.

It was a jagged line with dots on both sides where the stitches used to be. It looked like someone had cut the man’s head off once, but by some unknown miracle, it was sewn back on.

The man stood a full head taller than Victor. He was huge, bald-brained huge, with jet black hair slicked back and eyes that didn’t blink enough.

He wore a tight singlet stretched across his chest, and every muscle underneath showed through the fabric.

Then there were his arms, thick as tree trunks.

Two other men stood a step behind him with their hands in their pockets, both smiling in a way that said they were waiting for permission to give Victor that slap he had narrowly escaped.

Victor didn’t need to ask who they were.

In this building, only one type of person looked at people like that.

Loan sharks.

The one that spoke, the leader with the neck scar grinned. "A stance, tsk. What are you, a Ranker?" His gaze held Victor’s.

—he burst into laughter.

The goons behind him joined him. "Hahaha... A Ranker? In this dump?"

"Hahaha... Boss Jack cracks the funniest jokes."

Victor did not laugh. Jack noticed, eyes squinting towards Victor.

A few seconds passed. Just when Jackie was about to move—

"Hahaha... yes, very funny."

Everyone turned. It was Smelly Joe.

"This useless boy that can’t even kill a fly, a Ranker!? Hahaha... you really jest."

Victor’s mind clicked. He too began laughing.

Jack smiled. "I thought so too." Then he turned, pushing the doors open as he walked into the apartment building.

The goons followed behind, eyeing Victor before walking into the building.

Victor suddenly felt his senses ease up.

"What was that about?"

"I should be asking you." Smelly Joe replied. "Trust me. You do not want to be messing with the Cleavage gang."

"Cleavage gang? That’s a particular name." Victor commented with a questioning brow.

"Yes... one they have earned well." He turned to Victor, "are you sure you are alright?"

He was asking more about Victor’s state of mind, than about his body.

Victor nodded again. Then he turned to leave, grabbing his chest to settle his still heavily beating heart.

Smelly Joe watched him walk away with an observing gaze.

Just then, screams came from within the apartment building.

Smelly Joe sighed.

—

Victor made his way across the city, keeping to the narrow back streets where fewer people would look at him.

Not that anyone was looking anyway. At least it was not like before, when he was very fat.

In fact, it was one of those things that made him a shut in Otaku.

But now, people’s eyes just slide right over him. There were no stares or snickers. And in all honesty, it was strange how much he had gotten used to being stared at.

His destination was the park.

He had seen enough proof already from the television, the forums and the sun in the sky. But a part of him still doubted it.

That part of him wanted to see a predictable event before he made any other step.

On the fourth of January, a Gate appeared near this park. He remembered it clearly.

He had been glued to the news back then, since it was close to his neighborhood.

Back then, his father had suggested they moved. The man was scared that what happened ten years ago might repeat itself.

But it was just a yellow ranked gate and it was easily resolved too.

If the Gate showed up today, Victor concluded in his heart that it was all real.

The year had truly started over.

On getting to the park, he found an empty swing and sat on it. The chains creaked under him.

They creaked less than he expected.

He waited, slowly, minutes turned into hours, and the artificial sun shone day bright.

Children were playing across the field. Some were chasing each other around a slide, others kicking a ball back and forth.

Their laughter carried far in the morning air.

Victor almost didn’t notice the ball at first as it rolled across the grass and stopped against his shoe.

A small boy came running after it, then stopped a few steps away when he saw Victor.

Victor looked at him, then down. He picked up the ball and held it out. "Here."

The boy took it. He looked at Victor for a second, smiled, and gave a small nod. "Thank you mister."

Then he turned and ran back to his friends.

That was it.

No "air balloon." No "you look like a gate monster mister." And no, " why are you so fat?" or any of that kind of insult.

Victor stared at his empty hands. His chest felt tight in a way he didn’t know how to explain. It was such a small thing. It shouldn’t have mattered this much.

Damn it. Don’t cry over a kid thanking you.

Just then, the air changed.

The children stopped playing. Somewhere behind him, a woman gasped. "Get away from there."

Victor looked up.

Far across the park, above the treeline, a Gate had appeared.

It was a literal gate.

It had two tall pillars with a great arch across the top.

But it looked like it was made of light, much like the Boundary in Dungeon Conquest.

It was hard, glowing yellow, bright enough that Victor had to squint.

The edges shimmered as if the whole structure could break apart any second.

There were symbols carved into its surface, drifting slowly across the pillars and arch.

They looked like animals at first. There was a wolf’s snout, a serpent’s coil, a even a set of horns.

But the longer he looked, the more wrong they felt. The eyes were too many. The jaws were too wide.

They were almost demonic.

Victor’s hands tightened around the swing’s chains.

It was real. All of it.

But Victor was not the only one mesmerized by the sight before him.

The little boy stared at it. Absentminded. He did not notice his ball slip from his little hands.

By the time he realized it, the ball already rolled towards the gate.

"My ball!" He hurried for it.

Victor’s eyes widened. "Hey kid, don’t go THERE."

It was too late.