Boom!

Flames erupted from the mouth of what appeared to be an overgrown lizard, crashing against the shield of a young man, which was as large as the man himself. 

As soon as the fiery breath subsided, another young man, clad in typical medieval attire, leaped onto the back of the oversized lizard, swinging his sword with all his might.

-Crack!

But even with all his power, the young man was unable to inflict much damage except for the crack that appeared on the hard scale of the lizard.

“Tch!”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the young man backed down and started blaming another young man who stood at the back with a shabby-looking staff.

“Hey, Max! What are you doing?? Use the buffs properly!”

“S-sorry! I will cast it now!”

With a thin frame, pale complexion, and an extremely timid demeanor, the supporter at the back appeared as if he was a slave purchased off the black market. He seemed frail and meek, giving off the impression of a bullied child.

His name is Max, Max Collins.

Waving his staff timidly, Max cast the buff on the attacker.

[The has been cast]

[The target’s strength has been increased by 10%]

As his buff reached the dealer, Max stood there, gazing at the overgrown lizard with dead eyes.

New World Online.

It was the most popular hyper-virtual reality MMORPG game of all time.

Here, players could choose roles, gain experience, and grow within the vast world of .

If you wanted, you could become a knight capable of slaying dragons or a mage with the power to summon gigantic creatures. There were no restrictions, and the game's motto was...

Awaken your new self.

Within one year of its release, it had amassed a player base of more than 20 million, each with their own profession and role, enjoying their fantasy lives.

However, in this world, the role that Max had was...

“Hey! Max, can you heal me already? You piece of shit!”

“Ah! Sorry, I will do it right now.”

It was the least-played profession of all... .

Or what the gaming community called, the Healer Shuttle.

The profession itself was not bad, but what made it unpopular was the fact that all the healer had to do was press the same button over and over again while standing at the back of the team.

And to make things worse, as if the developers had some kind of hatred towards the healer class, they introduced ‘Potions’.

With enough game currency or by using real money, people could now heal themselves, which made an already boring class of healers more unpopular.

However, at the end of the day, potions couldn’t fully replace the healers. The buffs and special skills of the healers were crucial in a raid, so the guilds began to nurture special players whose only job was to heal, otherwise called ‘the Healer Shuttles.’

Max was one such ‘special’ player.

But it was just that—Max didn't choose the role willingly. He was forced into it by his so-called classmates.

And all they ever did was use him as a Healer shuttle, like right now.

“Ugh! What is that bastard doing?”

“Hey! Hurry up, you idiot!”

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While Max was forced to play as a , it didn't mean he was very good at it. Just like how he had just tripped on a nearby stone and fallen on his face!

"What is that f*cke–" The damage dealer didn't even have time to complain as the lizard, which had been pushed back, got up, opening its mouth filled with lava.

"Damn! That's the ultimate skill for sure!"

"We are screwed!"

"Fuck–" The flames from the lizard's mouth descended upon the team, and everyone who was already low on health, including Max, were sent back to the revive point!

And at the same time, the archer who had been watching everything from a long distance received a bunch of messages.

[Your teammate has been killed by the ]

[Your teammate has been killed by the ]

[Your teammate has been killed by the ]

"Ah... This is so annoying," he said as he withdrew his bow into his inventory. "I thought we could totally kill it this time."

The archer had blond hair, a fairly fit body and a face which was handsome enough for the girls at his age to get heads over heels for him.

Turning back, the archer sighed and muttered to himself, "Anyway... Max, it seems I need to do something about him."

***

At the revival site.

The young man named the delivered a powerful punch to Max’s face, which sent him flying.

"Urg!"

"Max! You fucking bastard! You can't even heal properly? If you had done your job, we could have caught that damn lizard. You fucker ruined everything!"

Max lowered his eyes at his 'friend's' complaint and apologized, "I am really sorry..."

"Sorry?"

But his friend was far from calming down.

"You really think one 'Sorry' is enough? Huh?"

He kicked Max as he spat out.

"Stop."

The Archer who appeared at the scene just in time said. It seemed as if he was protecting Max...

"We are inside the game... so, it doesn't hurt."

But his words said otherwise.

"Oh, you are right! I will just beat him up at school tomorrow."

However, to Max, he looked like an angel who was saving him from the bullies.

"Lucas... I am sorry, because of me... we lost a raid we could have won."

Max said with remorse as he slowly got up and looked at the archer, named .

"I am really sorry."

“...”

But the archer was silent, and then suddenly a smile spread on his face, a creepy one.

"Oh well, games are just for fun anyway, and sometimes things go wrong, right?"

The archer, Lucas, said as he placed his hand around Max's shoulder.

"You are... right, haha."

And Max calmed down a bit, only for the smile on Lucas's face to turn cold.

"However, even though it's just a game, you will take responsibility for your mistake, right?"

He asked in a serious tone.

“Huh? What do you mean—”

“Prepare 500 high-quality potions… for us to use during tomorrow's raid.”

“Five hundred…!!?? That’s 200 dollars in cash! How can I do that by myself…?”

Max, frustrated by his words, tried to reason.

But the Archer didn’t even look at him and completely ignored Max, starting a conversation with other teammates.

“Hey, we planned to go out with our class’s girls, right?”

“Yeah! I heard some pretty juniors are also joining.”

“Alright! I will meet you all at our usual cafeteria, sharp at 1 O'clock.”

“Ok.”

And they started to log out, but before that, the Archer looked back at Max.

“Hey Max, we are trusting you and logging out now! Make sure to arrange 500 potions, NONE LESS THAN THAT. You know what will happen if there aren't 500, right?”

And they disappeared from the game.

“500 high-quality potions... How is a Healer supposed to gather all that by himself in one day?”

With all hope fading from his face, Max crouched down in despair.

“No matter how much I think, it isn’t possible, even if I play all day, I will only be able to gather 200...”

He started shivering with his face losing color.

“If I can't gather it all... then I’ll definitely be beaten up, just like every time.”

The memories of him getting bullied resurfaced as he tightened his grip on his crouching legs.

“I hate it… I hate my life so much…”

Max sat there for some time before getting up, tears filling his eyes.

“I don’t want to live like this!”

He screamed aloud.

“System! Log out from the game.”

He had decided; he had no intention of continuing to live like this.

Getting bullied in school every day, beaten up by his classmates—every day felt like hell!

He was tired of this and wanted to end it all... forever!

In front of him, a prompt appeared.

[Are you sure you want to log out of with this character?]

[ Yes / No ]

The projection that appeared in front of him was on a red screen instead of the usual blue one, but Max was too distracted to notice it and just clicked on Yes!

And his character disappeared from the world of !

---***---