"You're back! Come here I have something to ask you."

Hm?

"Andy, there's something I want to tell you."

Currently, the old Man is being weird. Why is he acting like someone about to confess his love?

"I've been thinking for a while."

"It's fine if you reject me."

"But I just want to say it."

Please stop looking at me with that face... you're making me nervous.

"Do you mind..."

Yes.

"Teaching me how to make games?"

Oh.

Wait. What?!? Old Man wants to make games!?!

"You do know it's not easy right?"

"Um, yes. I tried to learn them myself, thinking that since you could, it must have been easy to make games."

"I'm awfully mistaken after I find out the truth..."

Yeah, making games and playing them, both of them are two different entities. They don't resemble each other at all.

I was also shocked when I find out but I got interested in it anyway.

"And you still want to make games?"

"Of course I want to! Please! Teach me, I'll call you master!"

Should I? I still have many things that I need to do.

Teaching Old Man coding. If he diligently studies, I might have found myself, trusty helper.

Let's see if he really wanted to learn.

"Okay, I'll teach you but on one condition. You mustn't tell anyone what I teach you and that I'm teaching you."

"Sure. Why would I tell that to others anyway."

...If I didn't warn you I'm sure you would.

"Okay, since you said so I'll trust you. I can't teach you how to make games instantly."

"You need to know the basics first, it's about computer logic, basically how a computer works."

"I'll give you some notes tomorrow."

"Yes! Master!"

Old Man saluted me and afterward went back playing his game as though nothing happened.

And that's how I got myself another troublesome job to take care of.

Grabbing an empty book, I start to write the basic theories that I remembered.

The theories were focused on how computers view math problems.

This was the most basic, it's fine that you don't know but it's better to know it as you'll get the gist of what's going happening when you actually learn to code.

Once he understood those, I'll teach him basic languages such as phyton, C, or Java.

Only after that all those are learned, and he got to familiarize himself with everything, I'll teach him the knowledge that doesn't exist yet in this world.

Only if he can get that far without giving up on making games.

I'll be teaching him computer language that hasn't existed in the current era, at least not until the year 2057. This language was called Anonymous, just like its name, the creator of it was unknown, the only thing we know about the creator was that he was a genius.

The language wasn't easy to be understood, it could be said as ten times harder to understand than C++. It actually took me twelve years to master it, while it only takes me a year to master C++.

At the same time, If you compare the effort I spent between both of them, they're also drastically different. When I was studying C++, I was also in the midst of learning other languages.

As for Anonymous, I've been learning it since I have retired.

I spent most of my day learning it every single day.

If I did the same with C++, with the same amount of effort, it might only take me a few months to master it.

What's special about anonymous was that its capability and efficiency.

Sadly, those can't be seen if it was used in the current era's computer architecture.

In fact, if it was used in the computer in this era, the efficiency of the computer will drop significantly.

Meaning, if I wanted to use Anonymous, I'll also need to make the computer from my era, to fully utilize the language.

There's still a long way to go, but by the time Old Man mastered that language, I think I should have made the future computer already.

Not saying that Old Man was incapable or anything, it's just that the language was really that hard to be learned.

"Where have you been?"

Oh, Father is back already.

Should I tell him now?

I hesitated because I'm not used to saying these kinds of things to my father.

And he's not the person that will waste money. Why would he wanted to go check-up his body at the hospital when he's totally fine.

Seeing me not replying, Lee thought that I went to play computer games at Internet Cafe but seeing me being so obedient for the last few days, he's willing to drop the matter.

"Never mind, come, and eat. I've bought Ayam Penyet."

"We should wait for Mervin and eat together. I have homework to do anyway."

"Alright. we'll wait for Mervin to come home."

I went to my bedroom and start writing notes for Old Man.

While doing so, we're waiting for Mervin to come home.

Ding-dong*

It's the sound of the doorbell.

Mervin has returned.

"I'll go!"

Heading downstairs to open the door to Mervin, but Father has already opened the door for Mervin.

It seems Father was waiting downstairs the entire time.

Well, I should've known it since I didn't see Father in the living room.

Both of them are coming up, I quickly return to my room as though nothing happened.

"Andy, come out and eat!"

"Yes!"

...

...

While three of us are eating on the same table, I was thinking about something else.

Out of nowhere, I spoke.

"Dad, I have something to talk about."

"Hm? Yeah?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I want you to make a promise with me. You see, the final exam is coming soon."

"And I want you to promise me to fulfill one thing for me if I ranked inside the top ten."

"Huh? You can just tell me right now."

"No, it'll be meaningless. I'll tell you what I want only if I ranked the top ten in my school."

Lee was confused, he didn't know what would Andy want to ask him to do.

It was rather unusual too, for Andy to make this request.

"Was it to buy a computer? If you want, we'll get it for your birthday."

"No... Anyway just promise me that you'll do one thing that I tell you after I ranked top ten this year."

"Sure, sure. I'll promise."

After that, we ate dinner with an awkward atmosphere.

After dinner, I then took a bath and change into pajamas and continue to work on Old Man's note.

"Hey, Andy."

Lying on the bed as I was about to sleep, I was surprised that Mervin called out to me.

"Yeah?"

"What promise you want to ask father to do after you rank the top ten? Don't tell me you'll force Father to do something unreasonable."

Hearing that Mervin wanted to know about it, I suddenly have another plan.

"Right! Big Brother! Can you promise me too? It's the same thing I did with Father."

Without hesitation, Mervin rejected it. He didn't want to get involved in Andy's trickeries.

"Eh~ Why not? Please! I won't ask something unreasonable, I promise! In fact, you can choose to not do it if it's something unreasonable."

"Then what about this. If you can't get in the top ten I want you to study properly to become a doctor."

Yes! Mervin is fooled too.

There's just no way I won't be top ten. I won't say the same for the top three but since it's just the top ten I can at least manage that.

"Hmm... Okay. Deal."

"Really? You have to stop playing games. Are you really confident?"

"I'm not but I'll try my best."

With my optimistic attitude, Mervin gave up.

"Stop what you're doing right now. Go to sleep."

"So it's a deal?"

"On the second thought no. I don't want to get involved. Now, go to sleep."

"But~"

"Then score hundreds on your final exam. All of the subjects, I want you to get a hundred. Can you do that?"

"Sure!"

"Then deal, if you can't, I wonder what will I ask you."

"There's no way, I can't! The moment you agree, you have fallen for my trap!"

"Yeah, Yeah, go to sleep."

"Hehe, Good night."

"Good night."

-----

The next day arrived.

Yesterday, I made a promise with both Mervin and Dad and It felt amazing.

It lightens my responsibility a little bit.

Not that I solved Father's lung cancer problem yet.

I can only proceed to the next step after I've received my final year report.

If there were no problems I'll ask both of them to get a check-up at a hospital.

What comes after that... I'll have to wait and see.

"I'm going. This is your allowance."

"Un, have a safe trip."

Time to go to school.

With a bright mood in the morning, I ran full speed toward the school.

People that saw me were simply amazed how energetic I was in the morning.

"Ah, it's nice to be young."

Arriving at school, I'm still full of energy even after the running, arriving at the classroom I slammed the classroom door open.

Pant*

"Good Morning!"

No one except for Micheal reacted to my overly energetic greeting.

"Andy! Good Morning! You're surprisingly early today!"

Meanwhile, Yulia only gave a glare, she looks like she wanted to say something but when I stare at her, she pouted. She was as though a kid throwing a tantrum.

I was clueless and then I suddenly remembered...

How can I forget... Well, this explains Yulia's yesterday weird behavior.

I quickly opened my bag, grabbed a piece of paper out of it.

Going over to her seat, I gave it to her and apologized to him.

"Here you go, I forgot to give it to you yesterday. I'm sorry."

It's the answers to her questions that I promised her. She snatched it away from me as soon as I presented it to her.

"Took. you. long. enough."

As she received the paper, the angry expression gradually disappears, replaced with seriousness. She went into full concentration mode, reading the paper intensely.

"By the way, Chinese New Year is coming soon. You should visit my house at that time!"

Micheal said excitedly as he pleading me to visit his house.

Right, the Chinese new year is coming.

The school even generously gave a total of two week holiday to celebrate the Chinese new year.

And Today is the last day of school.

Though after the holiday, the students will be despairing as one week after the holiday we'll be having the final semester exam.

So, for the student that hasn't prepare themself, they could only spend the holiday to study.

I wonder if Yulia will do that? She's the definition of nerd and bookworm after all.

As I was curious, I then went over to Yulia's seat to find out.

"Yulia, Do you have any plan during the holiday? Such as visiting relatives?"

Surprised by the sudden question, Yulia took a while thinking the answer first.

"I think... I'll be staying at home to study."

Yeah. That answer from Yulia is expected.

Being hard-working is good but she shouldn't spend too much on studying.

"Since you have nothing to do, Can we visit your house?"

Yulia didn't reply instantly but after thinking for a while, she said.

"Sure. Mom will be happy if someone visits our house."

For some reason, when Yulia mentioned that, her face brightened up a bit.

"When do we start visiting?"

Well, for me.

Since our family doesn't have any relatives. We won't get visited by anyone nor will we visit someone else.

"I'm free for the rest of two weeks."

It's sad but we'll be spending our time together, only three of us.

As for Micheal, his family must have wide connections, so it's normal for him to get busy during the first four days of the Chinese new year.

"Hm, I think I'll only be free only after the fifth day."

"How about Yulia?"

"Fifth day will do."

"Then, on the fifth day, it is! Whose house should we visit first?"

I don't actually mind the order so I leave it to Micheal to choose.

"You choose the order."

"Then, we'll go with Yulia and then yours and lastly mine!"

Ding-Dong*

The class is starting, we then returned to our seat.

The entire class was silent until the teacher arrived.

As soon as the class start, the teacher called me.

"Andy, follow me."

"Others should read the story on page 121. I'll ask a few questions later and you guys should be able to answer."

'Hm? Is there anything wrong?'

I was confused, I'm unaware of what happened so I just followed her to the teacher's office.

Standing in front of her desk, she showed me something.

"Did you draw this?"

She was holding the drawing of the car. The one I did together with Micheal.

Without saying anything, I nodded my head.

"How in the world did you do it?"

"I just practice it myself."

That's the only viable reason that I can tell her.

"Practice huh? Did you know that these few days, Mr.Robin and Mr.Ridwan was praising you endlessly?"

"Are you saying that merely practice could make you this good at drawing?"

"Miss. Are you implying that I'm lying?"

"How can you say that?"

Sob*

"I was practicing really hard! Every single day! Repeating the same actions again and again."

I started crying in front of her, attracting other teacher's attention. I even said it loudly so that they could hear what I said.

Well, what I said. They're not a lie.

Back then when my drawing is worse than kid's drawing.

This is why I learn how to draw sprites out of pixels and a single sprite took me more than an hour.

I struggled as I have experience or talent in drawing at all.

The only that saved me was my painstaking effort.

As for the one that has talent, it barely took the time to learn how to draw.

Meanwhile, I struggled to draw a proper pixelated character.

I tried again and again, gathering feedbacks from professional artists and my audiences.

After I perfected my pixel-arts, I moved to real drawing, drawing a 3-D character or object with a drawing tablet.

"You... Stop crying. I'm sorry. I believe in you."

"I just can't believe how much you have changed in just a week."

"Let's go back to our class."

We returned to our classroom and resumed class but still can't stop thinking about Andy.

With distractions in her mind, she gave us exercise and left the classroom on her own.

Honestly, she shouldn't be that surprised when she saw my drawing. There's plenty of kids that's younger than me could draw better than me.

She just can't believe that the most useless kid in the class suddenly became capable of everything. That is what she can't accept.

-----

[Lee's POV]

"Here's some water."

"Thank you, boss."

The boss suddenly became more considerate and caring toward me after that incident happened.

"You should rest, I'll take over for now."

"No, no it's fine. You should really take a rest."

See? He's being overly polite and kind.

"By the way, you've been smoking less lately."

Hm? Did I?

"Really?"

"Yeah, usually you smoke every time you sat down."

If what he said is true... then it's good then.

Now that he mentioned it, I haven't bought any new cigarettes pack in a while.

"Um? How did you notice these things?"

"Of course, I noticed it! You're my precious employee!"

Looking at my hand, I'm not holding a cigarette surprisingly. Even I'm shocked.

But now that I notice it, I wanted to grab one out of my pocket.

Now I want to punch him for letting me know.

-----

[Andy's POV]

"Good job! You understood most of the things already."

To think, Micheal was able to learn everything this fast.

He basically learned the whole fourth-grade material already. He's obviously ready for the final exam too.

"Praise me more~ Hehe."

I wonder if I could teach him other things too.

"Micheal, do you want to learn something interesting?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"It's called Mathematical Concept for Computer."

I suddenly have the urge to teach him how to make games just like Old Man.

"First I'll show you something first."

[ 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 ]

"This, do you know what it means?"

"Huh? Numbers?"

"It meant 'hello' in computer language."

I started teaching him stuffs that shouldn't be taught to kids.

As I expected, Micheal blankly stared at me and shook his head when I explained to him.

I guess it's a 'no'.

I'll have to wait until he reaches high-school.

With that being said, Micheal's mother arrived.

Once he left, I continued the work I have left, writing notes for Old Man.

Twenty pages were done, I could do a bit more and these much should be plenty for him.

Time passed slowly, looking at the clock it was almost 6 P.M before Old Man went home I handed the notes to him.

"These are the notes I made. If you really want to learn how to make a game, you'll need to understand all of these first."

"If you have trouble understanding certain parts just ask me and I'll explain to you."

"Understood! Master!"

Old Man has waited for this for a long time. He could finally start learning how to make games.

Seeing the current Old Man, I'm curious to see what his face looked like when he read the paper's content.

Nevertheless, I'm highly expecting something from Old Man, I really hope he read the notes I made for him.

Closing the store, Old Man then went home carefully carrying the notes with him.

While waiting for Father to come home, I opened the computer to check my email.

No response from James yet, don't tell me he met some trouble while applying for his visa?

If he's not responding tomorrow, I'll go and find him myself.

-----

[James' POV]

"Why are you staying here for?" (Indonesia)

"I'm sorry but I can't understand you." (English)

"This stupid foreigner, why did he speak English. Can anyone understand him?" (Indonesia)

The interviewer looked around to see if anyone here understand English.

"I can." (Indonesia)

Someone volunteered, saying that he can speak English.

Me the one that doesn't understand what's happening can only look at their expression figuring what is going on and suddenly the guy that raised his hand said.

"Good Morning! Nice to meet you!"

It's night outside, you piece of sh*t! I've already met you guys from the morning till now!

"Good Morning! I'm here to apply for a Visa."

Holding my anger, I spoke politely toward them again.

"What did he say?" (Indonesia)

"He wants Visa." (Indonesia)

"I know! Ask him why is he staying here you moron!" (Indonesia)

"Ehem..." (Indonesia)

Waiting for the man to speak only then he said.

"I can't..." (Indonesia)

"Get me an English dictionary!" (Indonesia)

I'm doomed...