Second World

Wilted asked Jack about their journey from Themisphere until arriving here. Jack recounted the battles in Hydrurond and Aurebor. Everyone listened solemnly to Jack's narration. They found it hard to believe such huge battles had been happening outside this country.

Some of the players like Anotherday and Blackhole wished they had joined those battles. They were professional gamers. A big battle like what Jack recounted would surely be an exciting one to experience. Not to mention the exp and loots they could gain.

They were considered to have the highest level in the rebel force. But as they looked at the players who came with Jack, they could see that these players were generally two to three levels higher than them.

The natives in the room didn't share their regret. Instead, they were relieved they were spared from those wars. From Jack's tale, there had been uncountable casualties. Unlike the players, they had only one life. If they died and were not resurrected, then that's it. They were gone.

The mentality between players and natives was different in response to Jack's tale.

After Jack finished his tale, they talked about mundane things. They continued chatting until late at night. Some excused themselves as time passed.

When it was close to midnight, only four people were left in the room. Jack, Grace, Wilted, and Handsome Joe.

Grace told Jack she was very sleepy so she left first. Handsome Joe said goodbye soon after.

After Handsome Joe went out the door, Jack asked Wilted, "My friends said they heard Joe called Mistress his sister during the convention in Cakra Valley. Is that true?"

"It is true," Wilted answered.

"Wow… How did those two from the same family end up fighting against one another?"

"You are one to talk. I heard your royal advisor is the son of Master's chief strategist."

"Uh… You got me there," Jack laughed. "But isn't Mistress the daughter to the owner of the Trigitech Corps, doesn't that make Joe the son?"

"That's how blood relation works."

"What about the owner himself? Do you know where he is? Does he support you or Master?" Jack asked.

Wilted shrugged. "I haven't met him or heard about him in this world. He doesn't matter. He might be the owner but he mostly takes care of the finance and the marketing. He left most of the technical parts to my partner and me, under Mistress' supervision. He was not even a gamer. He didn't know much about this world. If he is here, he is as lost as the other common people."

"I see… Well, how do you get to know the son of the owner, anyway? Did he work in the company like his sister?"

"He did, but unlike his sister who occupied the top position. He worked as a common office worker, and none of us knew he was the son of the owner."

"Wow! Like the classic stories in television series," Jack said. He then stood and spoke in a narrator's tone, "The son of the company's owner disguised himself as a common working man to experience what it was like to work at the bottom of the ladder."

Wilted chuckled. "My partner knew, though. They were even long-time friends. He told me about who Joe truly was."

"Oh? You must have been pretty surprised when you found out."

"Surprise and disgusted," Wilted answered.

"Disgusted? Why?" Jack asked.

"Don't tell him this, but I hate people like him very much. Pretending to come down from his golden palace to walk in the mud. As if doing that will make him know what it means to be one of us."

"I think it is pretty good to know someone like him didn't get spoiled by his wealth and was willing to understand the bottom feeder," Jack said, remembering Prince Alonzo who disguised as a common cadet.

"The thing was, it didn't matter. He wouldn't understand what it meant to be poor even if he did that," Wilted uttered.

"Hm… Sound like you know what it means to be poor," Jack said.

"I lived in a small family, just my father and mother. I'm the only child," Wilted said. She paused. Her expression showed that she was unsure if she wanted to continue.

Jack remained silent. If Wilted didn't want to share, he wouldn't push. He was about to say something else to change the subject when Wilted spoke again.

"My father was a loving father and husband. A responsible one. An honest one. He was also a hard-working person, but he was just an average guy. He didn't have any specialty and he had no ambition. It didn't matter. We lived modestly. We were happy. Then one day, he got fired from his job. It's not because he did something wrong. It's simply that the company found someone better. He was let go."

"That was awful…," Jack said.

"Oh, that was nothing. I haven't finished my story," Wilted said. "At that time, my father was already pretty old. He was in his fifties while I was still in elementary school. My parents got married rather late in their lives. Someone his age without any special skill. It was almost impossible to find new jobs. His experience also didn't matter much since he just did normal office work all his working years.

"He didn't know what to do. He was at a loss. Both my parents were. They still needed lots of money to cover my education. Our home was a rented house. We didn't have our own house. Out of desperation, he used his severance pay and all the money he had saved to try his luck in starting a business with a friend of his."

From the way Wilted told the story, Jack could guess that business didn't go well. Wilted confirmed it soon.

"They failed. All their money was gone… My father, he couldn't take the loss. He didn't know what else to do. He jumped from the bridge. He didn't survive…"

"I'm sorry…," Jack said.

"My mother," Wilted didn't stop. "She fell ill from all the stress. She joined my father soon."

Jack was silent. He also lost his parents at a young age so he understood Wilted's sorrow, but he didn't know what to say.

"Do you know, if this happened to Joe or the other rich kids who went undercover to work normal jobs? If they were fired from their job? I can picture what they would say. They would say something like this, 'You don't fire me. I quit!' If Joe or other rich kids tried a business and failed. What happened to them? They would feel sad and awful about themselves. Ashamed maybe. Got some scolding from their rich dads for wasting the money. Maybe feel bad about it for a few weeks, or a few months. Afterward, they got a pat on the back and they were told it was okay. Failure is the road to success or all that shit. You don't give up. You try again.

"Guess what? If you are poor. You don't get a second chance! When my father was fired, it was as if the sky was falling. He was given no option!

"Poor people can only eat at the cheapest food stall by the side of the road. Wealthy people can choose to eat at a fancy restaurant, a high-end café, Heck, they can fly a private jet abroad and taste foreign cuisine. Or, they could eat at the cheapest food stall by the side of the road. If they eat at that cheapest food stall, that is because they choose to, not because they have to. Because of that, they will never understand what it means to be poor. They can go back to their fancy restaurant any time they want. Poor people, they don't have this choice.

"Being rich is about having many choices while being poor is about having no choice. When Joe chose to work at our level, that was a choice. He could easily let go of that choice and return to the comfort of a luxurious life anytime he wished. He was a tourist. As if the life of the poor was some kind of exotic experience he wanted to taste. He didn't mingle with us to know how we felt. He was simply satisfying his eccentric curiosity. 

"That's why I felt disgusted when I learned he was the owner's son. He could come and talk the talk, or walk the walk, but he would never truly understand what it meant to be poor until the day he was robbed of his options."