Water flows down, wetting his hair, body, and feet. It falls like rain trying to wash away his depression. In a bathroom filled with women's hygiene products.
Arya stands facing the wall, using both hands to support himself as he stares at the floor.
Accompanied by the sound of falling water, Arya remains silent for a moment as he recalls the fact that his wife cheated on him, coupled with the debts he has to pay, everything feels so chaotic.
The man remains silent for a few minutes before finally washing his slightly bruised body and the remaining organic garbage stuck to it.
After cleaning himself, he walked out of the bathroom wearing only a towel covering his lower body.
The apartment was quite spacious with some nice furniture and decorations such as paintings on the walls and several flower pots in some corners of the room.
Of course, the apartment did not belong to Arya. He was only staying there temporarily until he could find a place to live in the city of Alpu.
*Cklak...
The front door opened to reveal a woman dressed in typical office attire. She wore a cream-colored blazer over a white shirt and a skirt that matched the blazer. She had long black hair tied in a ponytail and looked elegant with light makeup that gave her a natural beauty.
"Arya? Are you home? Why are you home so early?" said the woman, who was taking off her shoes and immediately lying down on the sofa after throwing her handbag and her blazer on the large table in front of it.
"That's my question, Yuni. Don't you still have to work?" replied Arya, who was now opening a large suitcase leaning against the wall. "I got a call from the school saying that school is closed today. Tomorrow, I can go to work."
"Wow, you have a few bruises on your body, what happened?" asked the woman who now just realized Arya's condition.
"Those debt collectors beat me up again. But don't worry, it's just a minor inconvenience at this point," said Arya as he looked at the folded clothes inside his suitcase.
The large suitcase was Arya's only possession. All of his clothes and important documents were in that suitcase. The man took a shirt and long pants then walked towards an empty room that contained nothing but a dusty carpet.
"Why don't you use that room while you're here? I don't mind if you stay here," said the woman named Wahyuni, who now got up from the sofa and walked towards the refrigerator in the kitchen while removing her hair tie and letting her long black hair flow freely.
"I appreciate that, but I don't want to bother you any more than this," said Arya, who used the empty room as a dressing room to put on his shirt and long pants.
Wahyuni opened the refrigerator in the kitchen and took out two cans of beer. "I don't mind. Besides, as your cousin, I feel it is my duty to help you, considering..."
Arya came out of the empty room and found his cousin walking towards him carrying two cans of beer.
The woman gave Arya a can of beer. "...Considering your difficult divorce."
Arya took the beer she was offered. "Please don't talk about that anymore."
Wahyuni sat down and turned on the large-screen TV mounted on the wall. "Yeah, sorry. That must have been tough. You lost everything, even the company you built since graduating high school."
Wahyuni downed the beer can and crossed her legs on the table. "Regardless, what about the void beast? Did you manage to kill one? Or did you take shelter in the bunker?"
Arya sat next to his cousin and watched TV too. "You could say that I managed to kill one."
"Eh?! That means you got paid a lot?!" said Wahyuni, surprised, and immediately grabbed Arya's shoulder. "You know... This should be celebrated with –"
*Ptck...
Arya opened a can of beer and immediately downed it. "It's not that easy. I only got a few hundred thousand Narat. Because of my abilities, I have to pay a kind of penalty, not to mention paying for the power I borrowed."
Wahyuni sighed heavily and immediately leaned back on the sofa. "Ah... What a pity. I thought we could have a party."
Arya took another swig of beer. "But we could have a small party. How about pizza and beer?"
Wahyuni immediately perked up and looked at her cousin with a smug grin. "But I get to choose."
Arya could only smile thinly. "Whatever you say."
The woman chuckled happily and took another sip of her beer. "I'm really jealous of you, void hunters. You can make money quickly, while I have to work in an office from morning to evening."
"Oh yeah, you didn't say why you got home early. You were supposed to come home late, right?" asked Arya.
"My office building was a bit messy because of the void beast attack this morning. The building went up and down like that, everything was messy and many cables were cut, my office is currently under repair. Maybe it will be finished tonight."
Arya chuckled softly. "That must be because the management doesn't meet standards."
Wahyuni downed her beer. "And it's not my job to worry about things like that."
Wahyuni took out her phone and ordered some pizza. "By the way, how does your power work? Do you turn things into money?"
Arya took a sip of his beer. "It's not like that. I can't turn objects into money, but I can buy, sell, and invest in anything."
"Including concepts like other people's power?"
"Exactly."
Wahyuni stood up, threw her empty beer can in the trash, and walked over to the refrigerator. "That is so overpowered. Sometimes I don't understand how the void hunter's ability works."
Arya could only chuckle. "Me too. D4 is a very absurd concept of power if you ask me."
Wahyuni returned with six cans of beer. "So, whose ability did you borrow? It must be a good one, considering the guild you encountered, must be the Red Lion."
"Unfortunately not. The person I met was a high school girl, probably the daughter of a rich family who wanted to try being a void hunter." Arya downed his beer. "I don't understand the behavior of rich people."
Just as Arya finished his can of beer, he noticed his cousin standing silently with a worried expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Arya asked.
"Could she be a Bloodborn?"