Rise from Zero

16

"Brother, did you make a lot of money today?" Yasmin stared without blinking at the array of food laid out on their small wooden table. There was a bucket of crispy fried chicken that was still warm and a sweet cheese martabak.

​"Huh? Yeah," Gatot jolted from his daydream. He forced a thin smile so his sister would not become suspicious.

​Without another word, Gatot quickly finished the pieces of fried chicken and the remaining rice on his plate. His turbulent thoughts made all the delicious food taste completely bland on his tongue. The moment the last spoonful entered his mouth, he stood up immediately, brought his dirty dishes to the kitchen sink, and washed them hurriedly under the rushing tap water.

​Yasmin, who had just taken a bite of a chicken drumstick, turned to him with her mouth somewhat full. "Are you done eating, Brother? There's still a lot left. It's a waste if it isn't finished right now."

​"Just save it in the food cabinet," Gatot replied from the kitchen without turning around.

​"It won't taste good anymore once it gets cold, the seasoning will turn stale."

​"Fine, just finish it all yourself. But watch out, don't complain to me if you end up getting fat later," Gatot teased.

​"Weeeee! I don't care!" Yasmin stuck her tongue out in annoyance, then returned to cheerfully chewing her luxurious dinner.

​Gatot dried his hands on a cloth hanging near the kitchen door. He stepped quietly into his room and closed the door tightly behind him. Gatot sat on the edge of the mattress. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and stared intently at his own reflection on the dark, blank screen.

​His shadow there appeared completely intact. There were no wounds, no bruises, and even the impact of the iron mace on his temple had left absolutely no mark. However, Gery's words inside the car during the ride home from the police station a few hours ago echoed in his ears again, spinning in his mind and demanding a logical answer.

​"Do you really not remember, Brother?" Gery asked with wide eyes, his hands gripping the steering wheel of his luxury sedan tightly as they split through the city streets, which were beginning to empty.

​Gatot, sitting in the front passenger seat, let out a harsh sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose to soothe a throbbing headache. "If I remembered, why would I have been asking you this entire time, Gery? My mind feels like a total blank after getting hit from behind."

​Gery swallowed hard, his gaze occasionally darting toward Gatot with a mixed combination of respect and dread. "Brother Gatot... after you fell from being hit on the back of the head by the mace-bearer, a few seconds later you stood right back up. But it wasn't a normal awakening. I mean, the atmosphere around you suddenly shifted completely, turning incredibly freezing cold."

​Gatot furrowed his brow, staring at Gery from the side. "What do you mean by that?"

​"You rose to a full upright stand as if that iron mace blow had absolutely no effect on you," Gery recounted, his tone enthusiastic yet laced with a tremor of fear. "Then, you actually started taking small light hops in place, rolling your shoulders, and stretching. Exactly like someone warming up for a workout on a sports field. Your face was entirely blank, showing no expression of pain whatsoever."

​Gatot fell silent, feeling the back of his own head. He had absolutely no recollection of that stretching phase. Was it an automatic defense mechanism of the system when he lost consciousness? Or had another persona taken over his body due to the overly sudden surge in his attribute statistics?

​"And what happened after that?" Gatot pressed.

​"Then, you started beating them down one by one. Actually, let me rephrase that, Brother. You beat them all down simultaneously!" Gery shouted softly, his hands moving to mimic punching motions in the air, causing their car to veer slightly. "Your speed was absolute madness. The archer didn't even have time to pull his bowstring before you snapped his arm. They were all instantly sprawled on the cavern floor, screaming for mercy. I watched the whole thing and barely dared to breathe."

​"Then..." Gatot left the sentence hanging, waiting for the continuation that apparently served as the reason those seniors were so terrified upon seeing him at the police station.

​"You walked up to them while they were completely helpless, and then you threatened them," Gery lowered his voice, imitating a cold manner of speech. "You told them that not a single soul was allowed to leak anything that happened inside the gate today to the association or the media. If any information leaked out, you said they would all die mysterious deaths. That's why they turned completely pale back at the station when they saw you sitting there."

​Gatot leaned his back against the car seat, attempting to piece together the fragments of information. "Then how did I end up inside that police station cell? Why didn't the association team detain me directly at the site?"

​"The police officer who brought you to the gate was actually waiting outside the dimensional rift. When the two of us stepped out of the gate, he was shocked to see your tattered condition, especially since you were walking while carrying my silver sword covered in blood. Without asking many questions, he immediately called for backup and handcuffed both of us on the spot under suspicion of murdering a fellow hunter," Gery answered as he turned the car toward Gatot's housing complex. "After that, he and the team from the hunter association went inside the gate to retrieve the seniors who were sprawled unconscious inside the cave."

​Gatot nodded in understanding, but one thing still bothered him. "If we were both handcuffed under suspicion, why weren't you detained inside the cell with me earlier? Why was I the only one thrown onto that cold ceramic floor?"

​Gery chuckled awkwardly, his face looking a bit uneasy. "I'm a rich man's son, Brother. The people at the association and the police force knew it the moment they saw my last name on the registration card. So, I was released temporarily as soon as I called my family and they arrived to verify the legality documents of that group. I'm sorry, Brother, I couldn't get you out of the cell right that second because it required an administrative bail process from my father's lawyers."

​Back inside his quiet bedroom. A faint system notification suddenly flashed in the corner of his eye, emitting a golden text that only he could see.

​[The System Shop feature is now permanently unlocked as a reward for completing the Emergency Quest.]

​[Current Shop Points: 100]

​Gatot stared at the lines of text with a complex gaze. All of this was real. The strength capable of crushing a tanker's armor, the speed that surpassed human limits, and the ability to detect heat that was now faintly beginning to capture the essence of life around his house.

​He was no longer Gatot the weak E-rank, the Total Failure who was always turned into a laughingstock in the outside world. This system had molded him into something far more terrifying, a hidden entity walking among ordinary humans.

​Gatot lay his body down on the mattress, his eyes staring at the bedroom ceiling. His first step toward surviving and earning money had succeeded, but he knew full well that this massive secret he harbored was a ticking time bomb that could destroy his and Yasmin's lives at any moment if he did not tread carefully moving forward.