“How was your night?” Mitch, her personal assistant, asked with a wide smile, though fake, as he took off his shoes. “Did you sleep well?”

  Veyra lay lifelessly in her game pod. She smelled horrible. Her face must have been a mess. She still felt sick to her stomach.

  Did she fucking sleep well?

  “No,” she said curtly. “I did not.”

  Mitch looked sad to hear that. “Another night gaming, then?”

  She snorted, shaking her head.

  The dark-skinned man was an outdoorsy type of guy with decent muscles, wearing shorts and a green t-shirt. He wasn’t an evil man by any means, but he was damn irritating. He once said he used to work at a child daycare, and that showed—he treated Veyra like she was some kid.

  “The usual routine?” he asked. “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

  “No,” she said, eyes pointing away from him. “Just a shower…”

  His smile fell slightly from the way Veyra spoke, and he immediately understood what had happened. Thankfully, he was sympathetic—at least more sympathetic than her asshole of an evening assistant.

  “I’m lifting you now,” he said, and he helped her out of the pod. Veyra didn’t need to move a single muscle as she was quite simply carried her out. The man moved her so effortlessly it wasn’t even funny. He prepared to place her in her wheelchair.

  “No,” Veyra said. “Just drag me to the goddamn shower.”

  “Alrighty,” he said, and carried her to the shower room. That went without issues as well and a hundred times faster than what Veyra could have done on her own.

  Under her shower was a seat with a railing on both sides. He placed her there, and undressed her. He had the decency to look away as best he could. Not that Veyra would have minded either way. There wasn’t one man in the world who would be aroused looking at her body.

  “Anything fun on the schedule today?” Mitch asked as he turned on the shower. “Something good to eat? Or more raids in that game?”

  Veyra breathed in. He’s just trying to be nice… No need to get upset at him…

  “Sorry, I’m really not in the mood. I’ll shower alone.” She grabbed the shower handle with her right hand. “Go clean up the mess, please.”

  “Okay, call me when you’re ready.”

  She just sighed as he exited. Dealing with assistants was just as exhausting as just dragging herself to the shower. Still, there were things that only assistants could help her with, such as preparing food. She had no choice but to pay for assistants to check up on her every day. That was 920 baht every goddamned day for her two assistants.

  After the shower, Mitch helped her dry up and put on new clothes. He put on the laundry machine, and lifted her to her couch. He left her there while he moved to the kitchen to prepare food. The recipe for her baby food smoothie was on the counter, and she’d be eating that again.

  While he was doing that, Veyra just lay on the couch. Because what else was there to do? The urge to puke had calmed down, and her body wasn’t aching all over. That in itself was a pleasure. She enjoyed the moment while she could.

  “Thailand made it to the finals, by the way,” Mitch said and sent her a quick grin. “They’re broadcasting Japan versus India now.”

  “I’m not turning on football for you,” Veyra said.

  “Ah, shame,” Mitch said. “Cooking just doesn’t feel right without a football caster in the background. The sound is my childhood. Did your family never watch football?”

  “My mom watched Starcraft tournaments,” Veyra said. “Because those were actually interesting.”

  Mitch laughed. “Is that also some game?”

  Veyra didn’t even bother responding. Her body felt decent right now. If she could also eat a little bit without puking, she was positive Wonderwind would let her log in until evening, when her next assistant came.

  Her phone was on the table ahead of her. Perhaps five feet away. “Could you bring me my phone?” she asked.

  He did, and she opened up Wonderwind’s forums, scrolling the memes and checking the patch notes. Most of the content there came from low level players, since most of Wonderwind’s playerbase was stuck in the midgame, fighting their own event. Every now and then, a clip from the Ray Dragon event popped up.

  Someone had clipped Veyra’s and A’s fight against Mythforged. The people in the comments were wondering who she was, debating whether she was a genius, a cheater, or just lucky. A few of the comments made her smile.

  That smile fell when Mitch asked, “Has your doctor given any suggestions on play time in virtual reality?”

  “Frankly, I don’t care even if they have,” Veyra said.

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  “My son spends all day playing,” Mitch said. “He’s always irritated when he comes out. Spending too much time away from the real world warps the dopamine receptors. Not to mention how unhealthy it is. It’s healthy to see sunlight every now and then.”

  “And what do you suppose I’ll do in the real world?” Veyra asked. “Considering I’ve seen ninety-year-olds with broken hips that are more nimble than me.”

  “I could bring in a ping-pong table,” Mitch suggested. “Or if you book a longer timespan, I could push your wheelchair through a hike.”

  “Yeah, and then I’ll puke my guts out,” Veyra said. “Good one. I think I’ll just keep spending the rest of my life online.”

  His lips formed a line. He cooked in silence for a bit until he said, “You always feel grumpy when I arrive. It hurts me to see you like that. I would like to do something with you to make you feel better.”

  Or maybe you just want me to book longer sessions for money, Veyra thought.

  “Spending some time in the real world could—” he tried to say.

  Veyra spoke over him. “So you’re saying I’m grumpy because I spent too much time online?”

  He paused. “Well…”

  “You asked me how my night went,” Veyra said, frowning. “I’ll tell you if you really want to know why I’m so fucking grumpy all the time.”

  He wasn’t looking in her direction anymore.

  “I woke up hungry,” Veyra said. “You know, hungry. A basic human function. When you’re hungry, you eat and you’re no longer hungry. Easy, right? Well, I climbed my way out of the game pod, and I ate the simplest baby food there is. No problem, right? Then I lifted myself back into the pod with everything I had. Simple.

  “Except, that food I ate made me so sick that I had to spend the next two hours meditating just to not puke it all out. Two hours of the worst stomach pains you can imagine, all so that I can keep some nutrients in my body. And when it calmed down, you know what? The virtual pod still told me I was too sick. It wouldn’t let me into the world where I actually have a decent body, and I don’t feel like I’m dying every second. I was too sick even for that.”

  “Veyra, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  She continued over him. “I could not log in. No problem. I’d already been playing for a while. Any normal person would have gone to sleep. Except, I couldn’t do that either, because my right arm was too weak to lift even my goddamned body weight. I literally could not get out of my fucking game pod, and I couldn’t even log in. So what was I supposed to do then?

  “Nothing. I pissed myself, because I literally could not move to the fucking bathroom, and I cried myself to sleep until you woke me up.”

  She snorted and spoke with sarcasm. “So you’re definitely right. I’m grumpy all the time because I spend too much time in virtual reality, where I can actually walk and enjoy life, and not because my body is a useless cripple.”

  Mitch had nothing to say. With a saddened expression, he brought the baby food smoothie on her table. He sat down next to her.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Veyra looked down as well. She grabbed the smoothie and took a small sip. For a while, she just sat there in silence.

  “The only reason I’m not dead yet is because of virtual reality,” Veyra said. “I can also earn money there. If not for VR, I wouldn’t be able to pay you right now.”

  “Are you still saving for your mother’s operation?” Mitch asked.

  She bit her lip. “Yes. Eight million more baht…”

  He nodded. “I think you can do it. You’re good at that game.”

  She sighed. “Thanks. But I’m not paying you to sit still. There’s dust everywhere!”

  “Of course, of course,” Mitch said. Flustered, he began cleaning her apartment.

  And Veyra continued sitting still, doing nothing, except watching her assistant listen to her venting.

  “I’m a difficult customer, aren’t I…” she said.

  “No, not at all,” Mitch said. “You’re wonderful.”

  “Apparently, I’m 21-years old, but still throwing temper tantrums,” Veyra said.

  “You’re smarter than me,” Mitch said. “You’d do well in school.”

  Sure, if I could make it to class… Veyra thought. Luckily, she didn’t need to go to school or work. She earned much more than any Thai profession by playing Wonderwind.

  But paying for Mom’s life support wasn’t easy. She needed to constantly pay just to keep mom alive. And to actually proceed with the surgery, she’d need to earn money for the surgery sooner than later, or she’d really need to live alone for the rest of her life.

  Her phone buzzed as a notification came through from Wonderwind’s app. A message from a player. She opened it, and read the system notification through her phone’s app.

  [You have received a friend request from player Assassin]

  [You have received a message from player Assassin]

  Assassin: “Hey, I’ve got some money for us to earn if you’re interested.

  Assassin: “I know you betrayed me once already, so this might be a bit weird, but you said you needed money, so I’ll assume you need more. I have a proposal for another guild wipe worth at least ten grand today. If you’re interested, meet me at the Sunken Crypts asap.”

  Veyra blinked. Oh wow. That was an interesting message.

  Does he want to kill me for revenge? was her first thought. Possible. But also, Veyra agreed. Their teamwork had felt solid last time. She considered it. It really sounded good.

  “Do you want me to—” Mitch was saying.

  “Bring me to the pod,” Veyra said. “Something came up.”

  “What?” Mitch asked. “Right now? But you haven’t eaten yet?”

  “Yes, right now, this is very important,” she said.

  “The doctors said you really need to eat this,” Mitch said. “I’ve been instructed to watch over you for half an hour after you eat.”

  “I’ll eat the rest later,” Veyra said. “Just bring me to the pod! Clean or whatever with your remaining time, I don’t care.”

  He bit his lip, but did as asked. Veyra did pay him to follow her commands, even if they did break the doctor’s suggestions. She was placed into the pod. She closed her eyes alongside the door shutting.

  Please, she thought, and reached in to log into Wonderwind. She felt good today. She only had a mild urge to puke out her insides. Please, please, please!

  [Logging in…]

  The pains in her body disappeared, and Veyra rejoiced in genuine relief when Wonderwind’s menu screen greeted her. Yes! Yes! Yes!

  Finally, she could walk on her own two legs again.

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