Monster Soul Online Chapter 0.5

Prelude: A Broken Spirit

Grand Hospital
 
One beautiful female doctor, who many male doctors and patients have yearned for, now was talking to one middle-age man.
 
Though this middle-age man actual age was 45, he still looked like a man in 30s. He had short beard, looked clean, and was wearing a neat outfit.
 
Eyes of guys surrounding them were filled with envy toward this middle-age man. They all tried to eavesdrop these two's conversation.
 
This female doctor's name is Panhathai. One can say this name was very suitable for her since she truly was like a heart of many men here. This year her age was close to 30. Thus, the fact she didn't have a boyfriend yet caused many men to think that they still had a chance.
 
[T/N: Panhathai means 'like a heart' in Thai.]
 
Although they really felt that way, no one would dare to injure themselves enough to be with her, since she was an orthopedist. By the way, these two's conversation wasn't flirtatious at all. It was about one particular patient.
 
"Doctor, Sila has been in hospital more than a week. Why is he not getting any better? His wounds were all gone, weren't them. So why can't he walk yet?" anxiously asked the man.
 
"Mister Rashane, you first need to understand that, for physical therapy, external wound is not something we have to worry about much. It's internal one that ..."
 
"Internal wound? Does that mean his internal organ has taken some damage? If that's the case, how long would it take for him to recover?" Rashane asked with care.
 
"No, I actually meant his spirit. Sila is not willing to recover himself. He doesn't even perform a physical therapy. Without his will, the medical treatment won't be effective." Doctor's face seemed regretful.
 
Rashane could fully understand the reason why Sila had no spirit for recovery. It's because Sila was the main disciple and at the same time, an adopted child, of his close friend, Mora.
 
Mora was an owner of a martial art dojo who adopted Sila when Sila was a child. For Sila, Mora is his teacher, his father, and his only friend.
 
Not many days ago, Mora had been disappeared without a way to contact to. Meanwhile, there had been a letter from Sila's compet.i.tor threatening him to give up in upcoming duel if he had wished to see his teacher again.
 
His duel opponent was Montra, who was the champion of many compet.i.tions, and son of a very infamous martial art dojo's master.
 
Despite Sila hadn't gave up as he had been threatened by the letter, he hadn't been able to concentrate in the duel, resulting in his loss. He also had been badly injured to the point that he had to admit to the hospital.
 
The worst part of these events was, although the duel had ended, Sila's teacher was still not coming back.
 
With teacher had been disappeared and the main disciple had been utterly defeated, other disciples then had decided to resign from dojo. Thus, now his dojo business was completely ruined.
 
Rashane was actually not directly involved in this, but with him knowing Sila since Sila was very young, together with his perception that his close friend's son is the same as his own son; he then helped paying the medical fees and looked after Sila since that incident.
 
"So at the very least, he should perform physical therapy, huh?" Rashane murmured and let out a sigh.
 
"In fact, he doesn't even have to perform a physical therapy seriously. That's because, for Sila's body, the injuries he received are not considered fatal."
 
"He doesn't have to seriously perform a physical therapy? What does that mean?"
 
"Firstly, have you heard about a brain scanner?" smiled the doctor.
 
"I have. I even have one at my home. It's a device that let us access to the virtual system directly via brainwave while we're sleeping. Time in virtual system is five folds of reality time. It's pretty convenient for working. Though, recently, my daughter is the one who constantly uses it for playing game."
 
"That's it. Our hospital has a policy to use brain scanner for treating patient who has mental damage over physical one. The patients will access to beautiful and relaxing scenes such as mountains, river, waterfall, or sea to calm their mind."
 
"That sounds good. Then why the hospital still hasn't used this method on Sila yet? Is it because I need to buy one myself? If so, I have no problem with that. Please just tell me the expenses. I will pay," proposed Rashane.
 
Panhathai hurriedly waved her hand. "It's not about expenses. I have already told Sila about this, but he personally declined."
 
"Is that so...?"
 
Rashane felt very hopeless.
 
'Wait. What did my daughter told me before?'
 
The man thought of something. Suddenly, he smiled; he just got an idea to motivate Sila to use a brain scanner.
 
"Doctor, I have a plan. I will contact you later for more information. Please pardon me to leave for now. I will come back again soon."
 
Rashane was enthusiastic as a kid.
 
"Y-Yes."
 
Panhathai was a bit confused.
 
Rashane hurriedly left the hospital, so he didn't get to hear the upcoming word of deplore from the female orthopedist.
 
"Hahh... He already left. It's somehow regretful that I got to talk only about patient ... A handsome widower with decent age. He is exactly just my type."
 
The light complaint from female doctor made the eavesdropping guys around there decided not to cut their beard in the future, with the hope that they would have more chance to be in doctor's heart someday.
 
***
 
Three hours later, the door of room 303 was opened.
 
The man in patient outfit was lying down on the bed. His messy dark brown hair was blown away by the wind from the windows. His body was a bit thin from not eating properly, but still looked decent muscular. His deep brown eyes looked vacantly through the windows until the sound of the door made him turned his head to look at two familiar figures.
 
"h.e.l.lo, Uncle Rashane."
 
The man put his palms together to greet the visitor.
 
[T/N: As you may know, in Thailand, putting one's palms together is an act of paying respect. Usually perform by younger one toward his respectful person. It's also an act of formally greeting and saying good bye to another person too.]
 
"Hi, Sila, How are you? Any better?" said Rashane while putting the box he carried on the floor.
 
"So-so, sir"
 
Rashane lightly nodded, "I bought something for you today." He then started to unpack the box.
 
"You actually don't need to. Even with just paying for my medical fees made me wonder how I can ever repay your kindness already."
 
"If you truly want to repay my kindness then get better. Nevertheless, you don't need to be so concerned. I think of you as my own son."
 
"Thank you, uncle."
 
The box was finally opened. Inside of it was a recently released brain scanner. This was the result of Rashane consulting with doctor; she had told him that the brain scanners of the hospital had less functions and had to share among other patients. With Rashane's plan he had told her about, she then had suggested him to buy a personal one instead.
 
"What is it?" curiously asked Sila.
 
One brain scanner consisted of two parts. First part was equipment that looked like a hair band with an electronic monitor in front of it. This part was called brain scanning device. User must be equipped this part to use a brain scanner. The other part was the central processing unit called brain-wave controller. It looked kind of like a laptop, but its functioning was much more complex and versatile.
 
Despite these two parts worked with wireless system, they should be within 10 meters radius to be effective.
 
"A brain scanner," said Rashane, "and it's the most recent one."
 
Sila was starting to know Rashane's intention. He released a sigh.
 
"Thank you, uncle Rashane. But I've already told the doctor that I won't ..."
 
"Just listen to me first, Sila. I have something to tell you. If you listen to all this and still don't want to use it, I will then accept your decision and will not bring this topic up ever again."
 
Sila replied by being silent after hearing this. So Rashane thought it was a good sign for him to continue.
 
"This brain scanner is set to access to a game called Monster Soul Online which is very infamous right now. My daughter is also playing it. In this game, user will experience a virtual reality world. Pain, hunger, taste, smell, and emotion will all seem real."
 
Rashane paused for a moment, as if he was hesitated to tell Sila the next sentence.
 
But finally, he signed and continued.
 
"Sila, what do you think about... ermm... Montra?"
 
Suddenly, Rashane changed the topic.
 
Almost at the exact same time as Rashane had ended his sentence, Sila's eyes were filled with vengeance. His hands squeezed heavily on bed's edge.
 
Sila spoke with very cold tone, "… I want to chop him into pieces."
 
Hearing this, Rashane felt very regretful that he had to use this method. But if this is the only way that will make Sila willing to use the device, then he must do it.
 
"By the way, why did you suddenly mention about Montra?" One could tell easily that Sila's sound was full of suppression on his anger.
 
"I want to tell you that; Montra is also playing this game."
 
"What!?"
 
Sila was so shock to the point that he exclaimed unconsciously.
 
"I heard it from my daughter; his name is very familiar so I did some research. His avatar is very well-known inside the game. He is among the top players who people regarded as Four Emperors, and even among these four, he is known to be the strongest. He uses his real name and real face for his avatar. He even has many fans. Now he is the leader of Heaven Dragon guild, which is the biggest and most influential guild of Monster Soul ... What I want to say is: this game is very realistic. If you want to meet Montra again, it may not matter whether it is in real life or in game."
 
The room fell into silence. Then, the reply could be heard from Sila's mouth.
 
"How quickly can this device be operated?"
 
This reply made Rashane and doctor felt happy and worry at the same time. Both of them felt happy that Sila was finally willing to use the device. Meanwhile, they also were fully aware that the reason for him using the device was not a good one - for seeking his revenge!
 
'It would be best if nothing bad happens,' thought Rashane.