Second World Online

The documentary about reindeer migration on the giant television screen finally displayed the end credits. The heavy, soothing narrator’s voice gradually faded, replaced by a soft orchestral melody.

I let out a small yawn, feeling the lingering effects of the sedative beginning to creep back into my consciousness. The antique clock in the corner of the family room already showed half past nine at night.

"It’s late, champ. Time for you to return to your room and rest," Mother said with a gentle smile. She picked up the remote from the glass table and turned off the television, leaving the room illuminated only by the warm yellowish glow of the lamps.

Alya, who had been sitting cross-legged on the carpet the whole time, immediately jumped up. She brushed imaginary dust from her pants and moved behind my electric wheelchair.

"Let me push Brother Rian to his room, Mom!" Alya exclaimed enthusiastically, taking over the wheelchair controls before Mira who was already preparing to step forward from the corner of the room could take over the duty.

"Alright, be careful pushing him, Alya," Mother instructed as she stood up from the sofa, ready to return to the master bedroom on the upper floor.

"Wait a moment, Mom. Alya, stop for a second," I said softly, raising my right hand to halt the wheelchair that had only just shifted a few centimeters.

Mother’s footsteps stopped. She turned to look at me with a questioning gaze. Alya also tilted her head from behind my chair, looking at me with furrowed brows. In the corner of the room, I could see Mira’s shoulders tense slightly, as if her instincts had picked up on the sudden change in atmosphere.

My heart beat a little faster. All this time, from dinner until we watched television together, there was one major thing weighing on my chest. Something that kept pushing to be revealed.

The Hortensia family had never kept secrets from one another regarding fundamental matters. They were always transparent about my health condition, business affairs, and even personal matters. That was why hiding my relationship status with Mira felt very wrong and unsettling. I didn’t want to date in secret like an unstable teenager afraid of being scolded by their parents. I was a twenty-year-old man, and I wanted my relationship to be acknowledged with pride.

I took a deep breath, gathered my courage, and looked directly at my mother.

"What is it, Rian? Is some part of your body hurting? Should Mother call Doctor Karin tonight?" Mother asked, her tone shifting slightly into panic as her maternal instincts took over.

"No, Mom. I feel very well," I answered quickly to calm her. I smiled, then glanced briefly toward the corner of the room, right at the pair of brown eyes that were now wide with panic.

I looked back at Mother and Alya alternately. "I... I just want to tell you both something very important. Something that happened last night."

"Last night?" Alya blinked, her curiosity peaking.

"Yes." I straightened my back, letting my voice flow as calmly and firmly as possible. "Starting last night, Mira and I are officially dating. The two of us are now in a relationship."

Silence immediately enveloped the spacious family room. An absolute silence, so complete that you could hear the ticking of the antique clock pendulum swinging in the corner.

At the doorway, Mira’s face first turned as pale as paper, then within seconds became as red as a boiled crab. She lowered her head deeply, the tips of her black loafers suddenly becoming the most fascinating things to stare at in the entire world. Her hands tightly gripped the hem of her uniform skirt in extreme nervousness.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!!"

An extraordinarily high-pitched scream shattered the silence. Alya released her grip on my wheelchair, jumped up and down in the air like a rabbit that had just drunk an energy potion, then hugged my neck from behind so tightly that I nearly choked.

"Finally! Finally Brother confessed his love to Sister Mira! Oh my god, I’ve been waiting for this moment since I was still in elementary school!" Alya exclaimed in pure joy, shaking my shoulders. "Congratulations, Brother Rian! Congratulations, Sister Mira! Wah, I’m finally going to have a beautiful sister-in-law!"

While Alya celebrated the news with wild enthusiasm, Mother’s reaction was far more elegant, yet no less emotional.

Mother’s eyes, which usually radiated the firmness of a mayor and the matriarch of a conglomerate family, now glistened with tears. An extraordinarily wide and sincere smile bloomed on her lips, which were lightly coated with red lipstick. She slowly stepped closer to me and stroked my hair with deep affection.

"Mother already knew this day would come. I could see it from the way the two of you have been looking at each other lately," Mother whispered softly, her voice slightly trembling with emotion. "Congratulations, dear. Mother is very, very happy for you. You deserve this happiness."

Mother then straightened her body and shifted her gaze from me toward the girl who was still frozen with a bright red face in the corner of the room.

"Mira," Mother called with a slightly different tone not the tone of a mistress, but the tone of a mother.

Mira flinched in shock, her shoulders jumping as if she had just been electrocuted. "Y-yes, Lady?! Forgive my Lady... I-I didn’t mean to..."

"Ssst," Mother cut off Mira’s panicked words with a soft laugh. She walked over to Mira, completely ignoring all formalities of mistress and servant. Mother directly took both of Mira’s cold, nervous hands and held them tightly.

"From now on, when we are not in a formal setting, call me Mother," Mother ordered with a smile that could not be refused. "Thank you, Mira. Thank you for choosing my son, for loving him, and for always being by his side during the darkest times of his life. This family owes you our lives and our happiness."

Hearing such sincere words from the woman she had always respected most, Mira’s emotional defenses finally collapsed. Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes. She returned Mother’s handhold and nodded slowly, too moved to form any reply.

"Now," Mother suddenly changed her tone to a more conspiratorial one. Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint very similar to Alya’s. She pulled Mira’s arm. "As two adult women, there are a few things we need to discuss privately. Come with Mother to the reading room on the upper floor for a moment, dear."

Mira’s eyes widened. "Eh? B-but Lady... I mean, Mother... I still need to take Young Master Rian to his room and give him his night medication schedule..."

"Let Alya handle that! She’s old enough to push the wheelchair and pour a glass of water," Mother decided without any room for negotiation.

While still holding Mira’s hand, who looked confused and half-panicked, Mother turned toward Alya. "Alya, take your brother to his room. Make sure he takes his medicine, then you must go to sleep right away as well. Understood?"

"Understood, Commander!" Alya gave an exaggerated salute, her mischievous smile still fully intact.

Unable to refuse, Mira was finally pulled by Mother up the spiral staircase toward the second floor. All the way, Mira kept glancing back at me with a look of asking for help, her face as red as a tomato. But I could only smile innocently and give her a thumbs-up.

After their backs disappeared around the bend of the stairs, Alya took hold of the wheelchair handles again.

"Wah, wah, wah. The stiff Young Master Rian has finally taken action. You’re pretty good, Brother," Alya teased as she began pushing my chair along the long corridor toward the medical wing of our residence.

"Stop teasing me, little fox. My head hurts from listening to your high-pitched voice," I replied while massaging my temples, though my own lips couldn’t stop smiling.

An extraordinary sense of relief flooded my chest. My core family had learned of and accepted my relationship with Mira. There was no drama, no rejection only full support that warmed the heart.

Upon arriving at my room, Alya carefully helped me transfer from the wheelchair onto the medical bed. Following Mother’s instructions, she poured warm water into a glass, handed me several night medication pills that had been prepared in the daily dispenser box, and waited for me to swallow them one by one.

"Okay, task complete! Sleep well, Brother. Tomorrow morning don’t forget to help me grind levels again! I want to test the power of my new race!" Alya said cheerfully, tucking the blanket up to my chest.

"Yes, yes. Go to sleep already," I dismissed her with a soft chuckle.

"Sweet dreams, Brother Rian!" Alya waved her hand, then walked out of the room, closing the automatic sliding door behind her with a soft click.

Now I was left alone in the spacious, cool, and quiet room. There was only the soft hum of the air filter and the steady beeping of the EKG monitor beside my bed.

Being left alone after such a lively atmosphere actually made me feel a little bored. My eyes did feel heavy, but the happy adrenaline from the earlier confession still kept my brain too active to fall asleep immediately. While waiting for Mira to return from Mother’s "interrogation," I decided to reach for the smartphone lying on the nightstand.

The phone screen lit up, displaying a wallpaper of the StoneBrook cityscape viewed from a cliff. My fingers reflexively opened the internet browser app and typed in the official Second World Online (SWO) community forum address.

The moment the main forum page loaded, a massive digital advertisement banner in bright red immediately dominated my entire phone screen. The text on the banner used a very striking gold font, surrounded by dynamic magical particle animations.

[OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM CHRONOS TECH: SERVER-WIDE SECRET EVENT!]

To all Explorers of the Second World, an unstable Mana Wave has been detected tearing through the boundaries of space and time across the entire Beginner Continent. The Oracles in the Grand Capital have prophesied the occurrence of a strange phenomenon never before recorded in history.

Prepare to raise your weapons! A Server-Scale Secret Event will be held on:

Time: TOMORROW, 14:00 Real World Time.

Location: StoneBrook City.

Event Description: [LOCKED]

Prepare your Party, repair your equipment, and make sure your inventory has enough space! Exclusive rewards await those who are brave!

Reading that massive announcement, my drowsiness instantly vanished, replaced by the euphoria of a true gamer.

"A Server-Scale Secret Event? The server has only been open for a few days and Chronos Tech is already launching a major event?" I muttered, my eyes quickly scanning the small details beneath the banner.

The scheduled time made me smile widely. 14:00 WIB, or two in the afternoon.

That was a very, very perfect time for me. My afternoon rest and medical schedule always finished at one in the afternoon. Meaning, when this event started, I would be in a fresh and ready login position, with enough playtime to fully participate before Doctor Karin’s time-limit alarm went off.

I scrolled down the phone screen into the comment section of the forum, which had already been flooded by hundreds of thousands of replies from other players. Conspiracy theories were scattered everywhere.

[SwordSaint99]: Secret event at two in the afternoon?! Damn, I still have a lecture class at that time! Chronos Tech please change the schedule!

[MageGirl_UwU]: Is this a monster invasion? If so, I have to stockpile Mana potions right now!

[BlacksmithBro]: The market has gone crazy! Defense crafting material prices rose 200% within five minutes after this announcement was released!

Reading the comments about the market, I immediately recalled the pile of loot I had obtained from the Orc Canyon that afternoon. Dozens of super-quality Orc hides and a Rare-tier dark elemental magic staff.

"Perfect," I smirked. "With the price inflation caused by panic buying in preparation for the event, I can sell those Orc spoils tomorrow morning for two or three times the normal price. That money will be used to buy an Intermediate Alchemy equipment set and make exclusive buff potions. Alya and I will dominate the event tomorrow!"

My mind churned with strategies, calculating stats, the probability of monster distribution, and the best blind spots around StoneBrook City if the event really was a monster invasion.

Sreett...

The sound of the bedroom door sliding open shattered my strategic daydream about Second World Online.

I put my phone back on the nightstand and turned toward the door. There, Mira stood frozen in place. Her breathing was slightly uneven, as if she had just half-run through the corridor from the second floor.

However, the most striking thing about her current appearance was her face. If earlier this afternoon her face had flushed from embarrassment, this time the red color was not only on her cheeks but had spread to her neck, the tips of her ears, and was even visible beneath the collar of her uniform. Her eyes moved restlessly, refusing to meet mine directly, while both of her hands kept adjusting her apron that was already perfectly neat.

She stepped inside very slowly, closed the door again, then stood at the foot of my medical bed like a soldier waiting for an execution sentence.

I couldn’t hold back a small laugh seeing her incredibly adorable behavior.

"You look like you just finished being interrogated by a police detective, darling," I teased, once again using the endearment that made her shoulders tremble. "What exactly did Mother talk about in the reading room earlier? Why is your face so red?"

Mira bit her lower lip and quickly shook her head.

"I-it’s... it’s nothing, Rian," she whispered softly, her voice slightly trembling. "Mother only... she only asked a few things about your meal schedule... yes, the meal schedule, and... umm..."

"And?" I prompted, raising one eyebrow mischievously. I knew with absolute certainty that she was lying. Mother was not the type of person who would drag someone into a private reading room just to discuss a meal schedule that was already clearly written on the medical board.

Mira let out a long sigh, finally lifting her face and looking at me with a pleading gaze that melted my heart.

"It’s a secret, Rian. A secret between women," she said with a slightly forced final tone, trying to build a wall of privacy between us. "I promised Mother not to tell you... at least, not for now."

Hearing the pleading tone in her voice, I immediately stopped teasing her. I smiled warmly and extended my right hand toward her.

"Alright, alright. I won’t force a lady to reveal her secrets," I said gently. "Come here."

Mira obeyed. She walked over to the side of the bed and accepted my outstretched hand. Her skin felt slightly warm, contrasting with the air-conditioned room temperature.

She performed a final check on the EKG monitor and inspected the drip of my nutrient infusion with the professionalism she had painstakingly rebuilt. After confirming that all my vital parameters were stable, she turned off the main room lights, leaving only a small night lamp that emitted a calming dim blue glow.

However, instead of pulling out the folding chair or lying on the accompanying bed as usual, Mira stood still for a moment beside my bed.

Without me needing to ask, she slowly removed her loafers. With extremely careful movements so as not to bump the infusion tube on my hand, she climbed onto my medical bed, which was designed in king-size.

I shifted my body slightly, giving her enough space. Mira slipped under the same thick blanket as me. She turned on her side, resting her head comfortably in the hollow of my neck and chest, while her arm gently circled my waist, avoiding the still-sensitive area of my abdomen.

The warm sensation of her body pressing close to mine instantly drove away the remaining cold from the air conditioner. The scent of chamomile and the sweet fragrance of her hair filled my sense of smell, working far more effectively than any sedative Doctor Karin had ever prescribed.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, pulled her a little closer, and affectionately kissed the top of her head.

In this warm embrace, accompanied by the rhythm of our heartbeats slowly synchronizing with the steady beeping of the EKG monitor, all thoughts about tomorrow’s secret event, the plan to sell the Orc spoils, and the mystery of Mother’s conversation gradually faded, replaced by absolute peace.

Tonight, I would sleep soundly, gathering all the remaining strength to welcome the big surprise in the Second World tomorrow.