Life Game In Other World
Chapter 1168: Past and Present (Two More - s, Ask for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 1168: Chapter 1168: Past and Present (Two More Chapters, Ask for Monthly Pass)

As they spoke, the two had already passed by the clothing store, where the owner was already arguing with another customer.

"You really are as rotten as the rumors say,"

Borek retracted his gaze and sneered, "Judging from your tone, the profit margin must be pretty good."

"It’s okay, a net profit of 30% to 40%, there aren’t many recycled clothes, this business actually doesn’t make much money,"

Weiken took the cigarette butt out of his mouth, "Some of the clothes in these stores come from old clothes shipped over from Dawn City and Ains, and that’s handled by another company of mine."

"You’re not picky,"

Borek scoffed, "You make money off everything."

"All great wealth accumulates from trifles,"

Weiken flicked the ash and continued deeper into the neighborhood with Borek, "It’s because I never miss any opportunity to make money that I have reached where I am today."

"It seems you don’t have much affection for this place,"

Borek scanned the crowd, "Hasn’t anyone here ever helped you?"

Their attire didn’t match with the people around, and a space naturally emptied around them.

The people around unconsciously avoided looking at them, steering clear of their gaze.

"The people here have always been greedy and despicable,"

Weiken said with a smile, "If you didn’t look tough, we would have been stripped of all valuables by now."

Saying this, he paused, then put the cigarette back in his mouth and spoke softly, "But if you ask if there are good people, yes, there are,"

He pointed towards a junction ahead, "I used to live three streets away after turning left at this corner, in a cramped shanty, barely enough room for a dirty and smelly small bed, just enough for an adult and a child to sleep hugging each other. It was left to me by my deceased mother,

"While she lived, she always wanted to put me through school, but sadly she died of illness before getting that opportunity.

"After her death, it was just me in that house,

"At first, many adults tried to drive me out to take over my house, most kids who lose their parents here end up like that, evicted and wandering the streets, some lucky ones find a new place, others freeze to death.

"But I was an exception, next to my home lived an alcoholic, every time someone tried to take over my house, he would come out, fight them, and drive them away.

"When he was sober, he was quite Reasonable, urging me to find a way to go to school, not to spend my life here. He would occasionally share with me a few pieces of bread, and Packaged Meat with a sour smell, but most of the time he was inebriated,

"When his craving for alcohol kicked in, he would try to find anything with alcohol, one time I stole a bottle of medical alcohol, thinking I could use it for disinfection later, but he snatched it away and beat me up, leaving me bedridden for a day.

"After he sobered up, he seemed to feel guilty about it and later found a lot of food for me,"

A few wisps of smoke veiled Weiken’s aged face,

"At fourteen, I was caught stealing from a gang, got a severe beating, and lay in the house for a week, nearly died.

"When I crawled back home, the drunk was drinking and went with a bottle to trouble those gang members, ended up being beaten himself, and was brought back with a broken leg, lying in the house with me."

"I thought we both were going to die, but to my surprise, every morning I’d find pieces of bread and one or two anti-inflammatory pills at the door, and even got two meals of Packaged Meat with steak."

"Someone was taking care of you?"

Borek asked quietly.

"Not someone,"

Weiken seemed to fall into a memory, his voice hoarse, "It was the whole street, those pieces of bread, the anti-inflammatory pills, came from different ’neighbors’, and the Packaged Meat was from several families pooling money together."

The glow of dusk spread over the filthy shanties and the bustling pedestrians, the Elderly man smirking with a certain sarcastic tone said, "That’s the people here, filthy, despicable, greedy, and occasionally showing a glimmer of kindness."

Borek, walking behind, fell silent for a moment, as if recalling something, as if listening to something, he lowered his head and spoke hoarsely, "If a person can’t even survive, morality and law are just hollow words and waste paper, only those with stuffed fridges need to think about etiquette and rules, only those with wardrobes full of enough clothes for winter have the time to ponder honor and dignity."

Weiken in the front paused for a moment, glanced back at the red-haired man, and after a brief silence, he smiled with the cigarette in his mouth, "Young man, I didn’t expect you to have such profound thoughts."

He reached out to touch for another cigarette.

"Suote told me that,"

Borek shrugged and passed over the cigarette, "This one will cost you."

"That Devil?"

Weiken took out a new cigarette and accepted the lighter, he paused again, then sighed, "A bit surprising, but it sounds like something he would say."

"So what happened after?"

Borek crossed the pond, looking at the streets under the twilight, his voice hoarse with inquiry.

"Afterward?"

Weiken lit his second cigarette and reflected, "During those days lying in bed, I thought a lot and realized that if I stayed here, my life would never change. Ultimately, I decided to leave this place."

"If you go out there, you’ll be homeless."

Borek chimed in.

"Exactly,"

Weiken nodded, "I wandered the streets for a few months, nearly died, then while stealing, I met a gang member. He saw that I was sharp-witted and took me in as a low-ranking member. He treated me well, and I finally got to eat my fill.

"But within a few months, he got killed for stealing the wrong car, and the gang disbanded. I was back on the streets. Soon after that, I saw that Note Intelligence’s security company was hiring with decent pay, so I signed up on a whim.

"Having eaten well for a few months in the gang, I had grown stronger and barely passed the physical test, getting recruited as an expendable foot soldier.

"After that, it was the cliché story of climbing up the ranks step by step. Quickly, through sheer determination and flexibility, I became the squad leader at Note Intelligence’s security company and even saved up a bit,

"Then I realized that without an education, this was my limit.

"So, I found a way to get a fake high school diploma, and then I paid for a recommendation letter to get into Minte City Engineering College.

"It was a shoddy school that had nothing but the name of a university. I spent all my savings, bribed the college leaders, never attended a day of class, and ended up with a diploma.

"Now with a diploma in hand, I bribed our squad leader that same month to transfer to a clerical job in town,

"Later, with this clerical position and the college diploma, I transferred to the conglomerate and soon became the secretary to the CEO."

"Never attending a day of college, how could you adapt to clerical work?"

Borek asked in a low voice.

"Of course, I couldn’t,"

Weiken said with a smile, "It’s not just college; I hadn’t even finished elementary school, middle school, or high school. Only when my cheap mother was alive did she teach me a few characters.

"But there was no other way; I could only work during the day and study overtime at night, sleeping only two to three hours a day. Actually, the work content for a clerical job isn’t too complicated. If I really didn’t know something, I’d just pay a co-worker to help me, so no one really suspected anything,

"This period didn’t last long. Soon I mastered most of the knowledge and wasn’t any different from the other colleagues. In fact, I did even better than them."

"You’re very hardworking."

Borek said gently.

"The day I left, I made up my mind to make money, a lot of it,"

Weiken looked up at a turning point ahead and pointed, "Turn left."

"After your ’success,’ have you ever come back here to look at your ’neighbors’?"

Borek asked hoarsely.

"Of course, I came back,"

Weiken said softly, "It was about five or six years after I left. At that time, I hadn’t gotten my college diploma yet, but I was already doing quite well. I returned to the streets, and by that time, the people had mostly changed.

"The shack I used to live in was occupied by someone else. I dragged him out and beat him up. The drunkard’s house was also taken over. I beat that person up too.

"Then I learned from that person, after the drunkard became crippled, he lost his job, and as a temp worker, no one wanted him. He had no money for alcohol, so he stole others’ drinks and was beaten so bad several times that he couldn’t walk.

"In the winter two years after I left, he froze to death at his front door. He was said to have been drunk, caused trouble, gotten beaten, crawled home, collapsed at the door, and froze to death.

"The neighbors called the Scavengers, who dragged away his body."

"At that time, there was pretty much no one you knew on that street anymore?"

Borek asked.

"Pretty much,"

Weiken said, cigarette in mouth, gazing ahead with a slow tone, "People come and go frequently around here, dying fast, and some can’t afford to stay and so move away.

"On that street, there was only one kid left, about the same age as when I left. He could be considered the drunk’s nephew. Not long after the drunk died, the kid’s parents also died in a factory accident, and so he was also left alone. I took him with me,

"He wanted to acknowledge me as his big brother. At first, I didn’t agree, but later I accepted it."

He sighed with a blend of nostalgia and pride of an elder recalling a promising younger person, "That kid’s not bad; diligent at work, brave, and just like me, both ruthless and decisive,

"I never made our relationship explicit, just quietly gave him a helping hand. But all these considerations combined made his rise through the ranks incredibly fast."

"How is he now?"

Borek inquired, "With your status, he must have reached a high position at Note Intelligence by now, perhaps among those executives who got caught?"

"Dead, long dead,"

Weiken took a drag from his cigarette and said calmly in response to Borek’s puzzled gaze, "He finally became in charge of the security forces but committed suicide out of fear of punishment, failing to adequately protect the CEO."