Max left his bed filled with perspiration and walked to their archaic cabinet. It was brought by his deceased parents when they were settling in this apartment. The cabinet was already worn down—the paint all over its body was detaching. Dust and spiderweb covered most of its joints.
Max reached out for the drawer and opened it. There was 900 CAD inside. With 30% interest of his parent's monthly loan, he would have to pay 800 CAD.
However, the loan sharks saw that there was more than a hundred CAD inside after receiving the loan so the bald middle-aged man nodded at his lackeys, and the latter walked towards Max.
Max, while facing their back against them, simply smiled and sighed. Grabbing the 900 CAD and turned around, he raised his hands and said, "There's no need to settle for violence, alright? I'll give all my money to you."
The bald middle-age man's lackeys grinned. One of them reached out and forcibly grabbed the 900 CAD from Max's grasp and counted them.
The other pointed at Max and said in a hostile tone, "Are you sure that's the only money you have left?"
Max sighed. "Yeah. I know you'll beat me to pulp if I hold into it, and I don't want my body to be injured, costing me more money. I'll earn again later to feed me and my younger brother."
The lackey nodded. He lowered his steel bat, glanced at Max for a long silence before saying, "You should blame yourself. If only you came earlier and paid our boss, we wouldn't have stolen… get all your money."
Max sighed and lowered his head. His facial expression turned serious.
He replied in a hopeless tone, "Yeah. Don't worry, it won't happen again."
Yeah, continue clearing your conscience you mother fuckers. Wait until I pay off my debt and leave this hellish place.
While lowering his head, the two lackeys patted his shoulder and thanked him, encouraging him to work hard to earn more money.
They held their leader, the bald middle-age man who still wanted to get back the humiliation he received from Max as they finally left the apartment room.
Afterwards, Max remained in his position for a minute when he suddenly raised his head and noticed that the apartment owner was now standing at the broken door.
She was gazing at him filled with worries.
Max smiled awkwardly and walked towards her.
He was quite taller than Sarah Grant, his father's sister, and she has been a widow for three years after she lost her husband, the actual owner of the apartment building, in a car accident.
After Max's parents died a year ago, Sarah Grant has been looking after them—not even requiring them to pay their monthly rent.
Max greeted her. "Good morning, Auntie Sarah."
Sarah sighed. "It's already afternoon, Max. I know you haven't had your breakfast and lunch yet after working a night shift. Then, those guys even took your hard work for granted. You should have hidden some of your money and only showed the required pay."
Max smiled awkwardly as Sarah hugged him deeply. He didn't want to tell her he had already saved and hidden money that amounted to 7,000 CAD.
It was the result of working four different jobs for sixteen hours straight for the past months. As far as Max could remember, he was currently taking a three day rest starting today.
The cabinet supposedly only has 700 CAD but he put what he earned last night inside, becoming 900 CAD.
He was so exhausted he had forgotten to set his alarm on his five year old phone, causing him to lose his door…
And a 200 CAD.
Sarah finally stopped embracing Max and covered her nose.
Sarah playfully said, "You should take a shower now! You stink of sweat!"
Max nodded.
Sarah said, "Also, dinner's on me. Bring little Enzo with you later at 6pm in my apartment."
Before Max could reject and assure her that he had a way to secure a dinner with Enzo, Sarah already turned around and walked towards the broken door.
Along the way, she said, "I'll call someone to buy a new door and replace it. It's on me. Also, if you're hungry, come to my apartment. I have so many snacks that I can't consume them alone."
Max could only sigh with a smile after seeing Sarah had already disappeared.
He shook his head and his face suddenly turned serious.
Sarah was actually the second family member he had, but he lost her during the apocalypse. It was one of his biggest regrets.
For the next five years, Sarah continued to be their guardian until Enzo graduated and managed to secure a position in the government, earning them money until they paid off his debt.
Max, on the other hand, actually decided to buy a gaming pod today after knowing he could have earned some money.
When the Night Reaper told him his foundation was poor, it was simply because every time he obtained an item, he would immediately sell it to earn money. That was how he proved himself to Sarah and Enzo that what he had risked buying an expensive gaming pod was worth it.
It turned out, not focusing on his character inside the game was one of his biggest mistakes.
However, now that he had finally returned back to the time, despite Max being skeptical if he was only dreaming, Max was determined to fix his life this time armed with knowledge of the future.
He glanced at his phone on the cabinet and walked towards it.
He opened his phone and realized it was 3pm.
He thought. There is still an hour before the shop closes. I have to take a shower first.
Glancing at his bed, knowing that the 7,000 CAD was inside a box below it, Max was thankful that his past self had worked hard to save that amount of money just to buy a gaming pod and still has an emergency fund left to focus on gaming.