Ian woke up feeling dizzy and disoriented.
He could feel his entire body shaking and a dull headache echoing in his mind.
Muffled incomprehensible sounds filled his mind.
"AN! IAN!!"
The sounds began to get clearer and recognizable.
It was Alice, his forced fiancée.
"OH GOD, ARE YOU AWAKE?" Alice yelled in worry.
"Wh…?" Ian mumbled slowly, trying to get up.
The surroundings began to make much more sense now.
It was the stairs of his newly rented apartment.
Ian looked around and saw that he was lying on the floor while Alice was sitting on the floor near him.
He wondered, why does he always find her hovering over him these days?
Though, that wasn't a bad thing.
Suddenly, he felt chills crawling up his body.
"I feel cold…" he said, blinking to regain focus.
"Well that's because you are lying here naked."
That quickly sobered him up.
Ian shot up to his feet and all his dizziness vanished. He truly was naked, standing in a pair of socks and his branded underwear.
What's worse was that the underwear was a cut one, not hiding much except what needs to be hidden.
"What the fuck happened?!" Ian shouted.
"I don't know, dude! It's fucking 11 PM right now! I was worried you didn't return yet, so I was going to check up on the store." Alice said with a sigh, "But I found you lying here on the stairs, naked and unconscious."
'11 PM?'
Ian blinked and instantly a string of floating texts appeared in front of his eyes.
[ Robbed off of your clothes, shoes and pen: -8000 GP ]
[ Alice was genuinely worried: +100 GP ]
[ Total GP: -9010 ]
"HAHAHA!" Ian laughed, his cackle sounding deranged.
Alice quickly moved away from Ian, creeped out.
But then another message popped up.
[ Worked for 3.5 hours: +200 GP ]
[ Total GP: -8810 ]
Ian laughed again, but this time a little mellower.
"I…" looking at the GP in his balance and the poor state he found himself in, Ian felt like crying.
"Hey, let's go home first." Alice said gently.
Ian nodded and walked up the flight of stairs before walking in their newly rented apartment.
But then his eyes widened.
"PHONE! WHERE THE FUCK IS MY PHONE?!" he screamed, ready to run out once again, but Alice caught him and pushed him back in the house.
"I have it. Chill."
She fished it out of her LV purse and handed it to Ian.
Ian took it with a nod and sighed, looking at the ceiling.
"Alice." he began, "We haven't even started the classes yet."
"Yeah. That's why I said let's just beg for our parents to take us back."
Ian turned to look at her, not directly rejecting her idea.
[ Lost will to grow: -1000 GP ]
[ Total GP: -9810 ]
Another floating text appeared in front of Ian and he looked at his grandfather's ring, before looking back at Alice.
"We won't give up." he said sternly.
"Come on, Ian! How much more do you want to suffer?!" Alice shook his body in frustration.
"You are robbed! You work hours in a fucking filthy little general store! You got no money! You are in debt with ME for the rent! What more do you want to lose?!" she screamed.
"Yet, it has been just 2 days, no?"
Alice went silent.
She hung her head low and breathed, "Do as you wish."
Ian smiled a little and patted her shoulder, "Thanks for worrying about me."
Saying that Ian walked into the recluse of his room and jumped on the bed.
"Sigh…" Alice, still in the hall, sighed before shaking her head with a small smile.
Somehow, she felt more motivated to work on her influencer career too.
***
In the room, Ian didn't even bother to put on any new clothes as he turned on his phone and called the only number he could call.
His father.
"Disappear." Ian said softly to the floating screens before looking at his grandfather's ring, glowing as subtly as ever.
On the other side, Leon picked up the facetime.
"What happened now?" Leon asked impatiently, thinking his son was going to make more entitled demands.
But when he saw the look in Ian's eyes, Leon's tone mellowed down, "What happened, son?"
"Dad." Ian breathed out, feeling a bit on the verge of tears, "It's hard. Not easy."
Even without details, Leon understood.
The 'life's easy' joke was off the table, finally.
Leon chuckled softly, "Now you know."
Ian nodded with teary eyes, "Tell me about my grandfather. Please."
"Only if you tell me what happened there." Leon's scenery behind him shifted a little as he sat down on the bed, his wife laying near him.
She joined in a bit of greeting but then quickly excused herself when she saw the state of Ian.
She knew she would break if she heard him right now.
"It's a long story, dad." Ian said.
"I have time."
Ian sighed and began to tell Leon about everything that happened after their last call.
"You were robbed?" Leon asked coldly.
"Yeah…" Ian shifted on the bed uncomfortably.
"Do you have any ideas of who it could be?"
"Yeah. I heard a voice before falling, it was Moby. But I don't have any evidence against him, you know?" Ian sighed.
"It's okay son, you won't need any."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it, I will send some extra money for new clothes. Also, did you just say you paid 4500 for your apartment, Ian?"
"Yeah, it's a little small but all we could afford." Ian coughed awkwardly.
"..." Leon stared at Ian blankly, "Are you really my son?"
"I don't know. You didn't do DNA?"
"Shut up brat! Give me a tour of the apartment. Now."
Ian sighed and got off the bed, putting on casual shorts and a T-shirt before leaving his room.
He obediently gave Leon a tour around the apartment.
Even going as far as to knock on Alice's room and giving the tour of her room as well.
Though Alice didn't even bother to greet Leon.
Still pissed about getting shipped here.
"Ian oh Ian…" Leon stared at his phone blankly once Ian's apartment tour was finished.
"I think we need to redo the DNA test. You can't be my son."
"Huh?" Ian tilted his head confused.
"I couldn't have passed such dumb genes…"
"Whatttttt?!"
"You were scammed. Quite badly. Who in the world pays 4500 for a 2 BHK shoe box?!"
"..."