Resonance Harem: I Level Up Through Sincerity

Ch 7. Medical Crisis

I was lacing up my sneakers, mentally preparing for Jade's hold pads session, when my phone buzzed at 5:47 PM.

Jade: Can't do pads today. Hospital.

I stared at the message. No explanation. No details. Just... hospital.

My first instinct was to text back something safe like "Hope everything's okay" and pretend I had fulfilled my social obligation. Classic Evan move. Send thoughts and prayers from a safe distance.

[RSN with Jade at risk. Decay acceleration detected.]

"What does that mean?" I muttered.

[Emotional distance during crisis = Link degradation.]

I grabbed my keys.

The hospital lobby smelled like disinfectant and stress. I found Jade in the waiting area, still in her training gear from yesterday, arms crossed, staring at the floor like she could drill holes through it with pure intensity.

"Hey," I said, dropping into the plastic chair next to her.

She glanced up. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but her jaw was set in that stubborn line I was starting to recognize.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"You said hospital. I figured..." I shrugged. "Moral support? I brought snacks."

I held up a bag from the vending machine. Stale chips and an energy bar that probably expired when I was in high school.

"That's not food," she said.

"It's hospital food. Low expectations."

She almost smiled.

"It's my brother," she said quietly. "Danny. He collapsed at work. They're running tests, but..." She rubbed her face. "It's not good."

[Quest Unlocked: Medical Crisis Support]

[Warning: Jade's RSN dropping due to emotional stress. Iron Will efficiency reduced by 50%.]

Great. So not only was she dealing with a family crisis, but my system was telling me I was losing my combat buff because I couldn't properly support her. No pressure.

"How long has he been sick?" I asked.

"Two years. Leukemia. He was doing better, but..." She gestured vaguely at the hospital around us. "Insurance only covers so much. We've been trying to manage the rest, but the treatments are expensive as hell."

I felt that familiar pit in my stomach when money came up. The same feeling I got every time I looked at my own bank account and wondered if negative numbers counted as scores in some tragic financial video game.

"How expensive?" I heard myself ask.

She laughed, but it wasn't funny. "The kind of expensive where you sell everything you own and it's still not enough. We're talking fifty grand for the next round of treatment."

Fifty thousand dollars. I made that much in... never. I made that much never.

"Shit," I said.

"Yeah." She leaned back in the chair. "The worst part? I know how to fight. I know how to plan. I know how to protect people. But I can't punch cancer. I can't strategize my way out of medical bills."

Her voice cracked slightly on the last word, and my chest twisted.

[RSN dropping faster. Jade requires active support, not passive sympathy.]

"Okay," I said. "What can I do?"

She looked at me like I had offered to personally cure cancer. "Evan, you deliver packages. No offense, but unless you've got fifty grand in your back pocket..."

"I don't," I admitted. "But I know people. Delivery work, you meet everyone. Restaurant owners, shop managers, people who run fundraisers. I've seen how this stuff works."

She was quiet for a moment. "You're serious."

"Dead serious. We start small. Set up a fundraiser page, spread the word through social media, talk to local businesses about sponsoring. I know a guy who runs a food truck. He did a charity drive last year that pulled in twelve grand."

"Twelve grand isn't fifty."

"No, but it's twelve more than we have right now." I pulled out my phone. "What's Danny's full name? And do you have any pictures of him that aren't, like, super depressing?"

"Daniel Kwon. And..." She scrolled through her phone and stopped on a photo. A guy in his early twenties with Jade's eyes and a smile that belonged in a toothpaste commercial. He was wearing a baseball uniform, mid-swing. "This was from before. He played college ball."

"Perfect. People love baseball. Very American, very sympathetic." I was already typing. "We'll set up a GoFundMe, post it on Reddit, hit up local sports groups. You said he played college ball? Which school?"

"State University."

"Even better. Alumni networks are goldmines for this stuff."

A doctor in scrubs walked past, and Jade's attention snapped to him like a laser sight. False alarm. Not her brother's doctor.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly.

The honest answer was complicated. Because Mira told me to. Because I needed to maintain my Link stats. Because I was terrified of losing the first real connection I had had in years.

But looking at her, seeing the way she was holding herself together through sheer willpower, I realized there was a simpler truth.

"Because you matter," I said. "And he matters to you."

[RSN Stabilized]

[Individual Bond Strengthened: Jade recognizes authentic care]

She was quiet for a long moment. Then: "I'm not good at asking for help."

"Good thing I'm good at offering it before you ask."

This time, she actually smiled. Small, but real.

"Okay," she said. "What do we do first?"

I opened the fundraising app on my phone. "First, we set up the page. Then I make some calls. I know at least three restaurant owners who owe me favors for not reporting their parking violations to their landlords."

"You'd use your delivery connections to help my brother?"

"I'd use my delivery connections to help you," I corrected. "The brother is just part of the package."

[RSN +3]

[Jade Kwon — Combat Path]

[Resonance (RSN): 9 → 12]

[Iron Will efficiency restored]

[Quest Updated: Medical Crisis Support - Phase 1 Complete]

She leaned over to look at my phone as I typed in Danny's information. This close, I could smell her shampoo, clean and straightforward like her. No fancy perfume, just soap.

"What's our target?" she asked.

"For the first week? Five grand. If we hit that, we expand. Get local news involved, maybe approach some of the bigger businesses."

"Five thousand dollars in a week." She said it like she was testing the words. "That's... ambitious."

"That's not even a real thing."

"It is now. I'm pioneering it."

A new doctor emerged from the elevator, and this time Jade stood up. This was the one.

"Miss Kwon?" the doctor said. "Your brother is stable. The episode was caused by an infection, which we've got under control. But..."

"But?" Jade's voice was carefully neutral.

"His white cell count is dropping faster than we'd like. We need to move up his next treatment cycle."

"How much sooner?"

"Two weeks instead of six. I'm sorry."

Jade sat back down slowly. Two weeks. Fifty thousand dollars in two weeks.

"Okay," I said, mostly to myself. "Change of plans. We're not going for five grand in a week. We're going for fifty grand in two weeks."

Both Jade and the doctor stared at me.

"That's impossible," Jade said.

"Challenging," I corrected. "Big difference."

[Quest Updated: Emergency Fundraising - 50k in 14 days]

[Warning: Quest failure will result in permanent RSN loss with Jade]

No pressure at all.

"Thank you, doctor," Jade said. "Can I see him?"

"Of course. Room 314."

After the doctor left, I turned to Jade. "Go see your brother. I'm going to make some calls."

"Evan—"

"This is happening," I said. "Fifty grand in two weeks. I don't know how yet, but it's happening."

She studied my face for a moment, like she was trying to figure out if I was serious or just delusional.

"You realize you just committed us to raising more money in two weeks than most people make in a year?"

"Yep."

"And you have no idea how we're going to do it?"

"Correct."

"But you're going to do it anyway?"

"We," I said. "We're going to do it anyway."

[New Skill Unlocked: Crisis Management (ADP +2)]

Stats:

Presence (PRC): 6

Adaptability (ADP): 7 → 9

Endurance (END): 10

She stood up, and for a second I thought she was going to hug me. Instead, she squeezed my shoulder—brief, firm, grateful.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Thank me when we hit fifty grand."

She headed toward the elevator, then turned back. "Evan?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't let me down."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

As soon as she was gone, I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through my contacts. Delivery drivers, restaurant owners, small business managers, and that one guy who ran the comic book shop and always tipped in exact change.

Time to find out if being Evan the Errand Boy had any advantages after all.

[Crisis Management active: ADP boosted for problem-solving]

[Quest Timer: 13 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes]

I started dialing.

"Hey, Rico? It's Evan, your delivery guy. I need a favor..."