Chapter 24: Until Later, My Dream

Raden walked out of Mora's room. He stepped into the elevator to go down, but suddenly, the cabin shuddered violently. Raden banged on the doors, but no one heard him.

The elevator ground to a dead stop.

"Damn it, why is this thing jamming now?!" Raden shouted, panic written all over his face. He hammered on the doors again. Suddenly, the elevator gave a violent lurch, shaking hard enough to toss Raden around for a solid minute. Slowly, the tremors subsided. The lift stabilized, hummed back to life, and the display light flickered to a stop at the number 2.

The doors slid open automatically. Raden rubbed his head where he'd bumped it against the wall, wincing in pain. As he looked up, he saw Michael leaning casually against the wall near the elevator, looking like he had been waiting there all day. Michael turned his head sharply.

"Heh. Knew that was you banging around in there."

Raden stepped out, frowning at the older man. "What do you mean? How did you know it was me?"

"I was killing the building's generator for a second—heard a weird little short-circuit noise coming from the machinery. I thought it was Mora hammering on the lift doors at first, but turns out it was you," Michael said, finishing with a thin laugh.

Raden let out a long breath. "Thank god. I thought the thing was going to be broken for good."

Michael smiled. "Did you see Mora? I checked the workspace, but nobody was there."

"Oh, she fell asleep in the workroom. I... just moved her to her room. Timmy asked me to carry her," Raden answered.

"Good," Michael said. He studied Raden's face. "You look pretty fresh for the middle of the night."

Raden shrugged. "Yeah, I just woke up. Crashed right after training this afternoon."

"Is that so? Hahaha, makes sense. Come on, instead of standing here looking confused, let's go chill for a bit. Follow me."

They walked until they reached a room where one entire wall was a massive glass window. The midnight lights of Spectre City shone through clearly, illuminating two chairs facing each other with a medium-sized table in between. Michael cracked a small window open to let the air in. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes lying on a small shelf, pulled one out, and lit it with a flick of his lighter. He sank into one of the chairs.

"Sit," Michael told him.

Raden sat opposite him. Michael took a long, relaxed drag, blowing the smoke out toward the open window. Raden, meanwhile, looked around the room, fidgeting. Michael tapped the ash into a simple tray.

"You look lost. Something on your mind?" Michael asked.

Raden laughed awkwardly. "No, I just... don't really know what to say, hehe."

Michael squinted at him for a few seconds. "Come on, no need to be awkward with me. You look anxious. Talk to me."

The smile on Raden's face vanished.

Michael took another drag, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke before resting the cigarette back in the ashtray.

"When I went to pick you up that day, your hands were covered in blood. You looked completely out of it, kneeling weakly in front of your parents' corpses. It was a gruesome scene. I've been wondering... was it a criminal who killed them? Is that why you're so traumatized?"

Raden lowered his head.

"No. There was no criminal..." Raden replied, his voice growing weak.

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Then who killed them?"

Raden swallowed hard. "...It was me. But, it wasn't me."

Michael's eyes widened. He immediately snubbed out his cigarette. "How is that possible? What actually happened?"

Raden's fingers trembled. He forced himself to speak.

"There was a mysterious chest in my warehouse. I heard strange whispers in my ear, calling my name over and over. It felt like hypnosis. The moment I opened that chest, I was trapped inside my own body. I could see everything, I could scream, but my body moved on its own. I watched myself kill my parents. But I couldn't stop it..." Raden explained.

"I understand. That's heavy... What happened next?"

"I was dragged to another realm. I don't know what it was, but it was full of strange lights, and I was standing on something like clouds. There was a judge, some kind of massive cosmic monster sitting in front of me. His voice was deep, echoing. I didn't understand much of what he said. Basically, he wanted to let me decide the punishment for the spirit that hijacked my body."

Michael frowned. "So this spirit... was it a demon?"

Raden shook his head. "Not a monster like in the comic books. It was an old man. But that old man had a demon inside him."

"Unlucky..." Michael sighed. "I can't imagine being in your shoes, especially as a kid. If that were me, I probably would have bashed my head against a wall until it ended," he added with a grim chuckle.

Raden managed a small laugh.

"Long before this mess, what was your life like?" Michael asked.

Raden smiled faintly as a small fragment of the past surfaced.

"Those days... they were beautiful. I used to play in the fields and in front of the house with my big brother. Lots of laughing."

"You have a brother? Where is he now?"

Raden shrugged. "Once I hit high school, I don't know where he went. I looked for him in all our usual spots. Didn't find a trace. Mom and Dad were worried sick. they tried to report it to the police, but the cops just demanded fees and bribes. Eventually, we just had to accept it. I just hope... wherever he is, he's safe."

Michael sneered. "Heh. Figured as much. Those stupid cops are greedy pigs. Fat, fucking useless rats."

They both laughed. As the laughter faded, a silence settled over the room.

"I respect you, kid. You're strong. But behind all this complexity and the situation forcing you to grow up so fast... do you have a dream? A goal?"

Raden smiled. "Yeah, sure. I just want to live in peace and eat good food every day. That's enough to make me happy."

Michael grinned broadly. "That's a simple dream. But whatever it is... I hope you reach it."

"Thanks, Michael. What about your life? You seem like you were a big shot," Raden asked.

Michael lit another cigarette. He took a puff and lowered his hand.

"No, I'm no big shot. My life was too boring to tell. I used to work in an office, just typing and printing sheets of paper all day. I did that... for years."

"Is that so? Do you have a dream?"

"Of course. Even an old uncle like me has dreams. Everyone does. You know, dreams never really fade. Ten, twenty, maybe even sixty years from now, that dream won't disappear. It's just... how you reach for it, how you fight for it, and how you view it, that's what changes."

"So, what is it?" Raden pressed.

Michael inhaled smoke for a moment, then said, "Since forever, I just wanted to be rich."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

Michael's phone buzzed in his pocket. He crushed the cigarette in the small ashtray and pulled out the device. The screen lit up, displaying a random notification 'Penis Enlargement Tool' right on the status bar. Michael swiped the notification away with an annoyed flick of his thumb and lowered the phone.

"Oh, you... don't have a phone, do you?" Michael asked, looking at Raden.

"N-no, I don't."

Michael sighed. "You're going to need one. Good for entertainment, essential for communication."

He rested his arms on the table. Raden stared at the device curiously. Michael's thumb tapped open the Nicebook app.

"I love looking at funny posts on here, especially the comments. Look at them, fighting like lunatics in cyberspace, insulting each other. Stupid, right? Weird how they won't just meet up and throw hands instead of having a typing war. Haha."

They both laughed at a meme of a blue alien staring at the camera with a goofy face. A moment later, Raden yawned wide. Michael checked the time on his phone. 07:13.

"You should sleep. Fix your sleep schedule next time. Don't let it get ruined, or your training will go to waste."

Raden nodded. "Alright."

He walked out of the room and took the lift down to the first floor. Back in his room, he threw himself onto the bed, pulled up the blanket, and closed his eyes.

---

From that day on, Raden began to structure his routine. Every morning, breakfast and light exercise. If the weather was clear and the smog over the city wasn't too heavy, Raden, Mora, and Michael would jog around Spectre City. If conditions were bad, Raden hit the fitness room. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays were reserved for heavy training.

In the gaps during his recovery from the heavy sessions, he read technology books Mora lent him. In the evenings, if the mood was right, he'd browse Pall-Tube and Blinktok on his computer, watching martial arts techniques. He didn't just watch, he mimicked the movements in his room, then applied them during his heavy training until they were second nature.

Weeks passed. His missions to collect debts from various targets went clean, at least on paper. His body no longer tensed up when confronting people. He could speak firmly, without hesitation.

Out of the list of 10 targets Raden had to collect from, only 2 remained. Of the 8 he had visited, 3 couldn't pay and had to be eliminated. The other 5 paid up, though 2 of them required Raden to get rough and raise his voice before they opened their wallets.

---

In the workspace, Mora's fingers flew across her keyboard. A moment later, a name popped up on the large monitor. She stopped typing.

"Alright, here is our next list," Mora said.

Raden stared sharply at the screen in front of him.

"Lucifer?"