189 Lunch 2

"Did you work at a corporate or win a jackpot price in a game?" Jonathan inquired while laughing a bit. His laughter hid a superior smile. Their family was not rich, but they were ahead of Ren's family. And he was a straight-A student taking up a doctorate, which explained why he thought highly of himself.

"Because I can't see how a college student could afford this," he said before looking at Helen and Troy. "Auntie, Uncle, did you sell all you owned back in Zone C?"

Roni's parents and Hazel all breathed a sigh of relief. That must be it. There was no way that Helen and Troy suddenly became wealthy and could now waste money like this.

Margaret was itching to tell the newcomers the truth, and she was about to open her mouth, but Leon shut her up with a quick glare, silently saying not to butt into another family's affair.

"That reminds me." Roni's mother flicked her attention to Helen. "Where are you staying right now?"

"At Ren's place," Helen said with a timid smile.

"Yeah, but where Aunt?" Roni asked, impatient in his voice.

"Oh," Hazel clasped her hands, face eager for gossip. "You did mention that you'd move in with your son. But if he is living in a dorm, are you going to fit in? I mean, a dorm is only about 50 sq. m or less. Your house in Zone C isn't big, but it's still better than being squeezed like sardines in a can, right?"

Jonathan agreed with his mother. "Don't be too rush in your decisions. I know that life here in Zone A seemed like a dream but . . . renting an apartment in here is so expensive. Your work is in Zone C, and even though your house is small, you still have a roof over your head. If you move here, you'd be bankrupt before you know it."

"Take it from my son. He has lived here for two years now," seconded Hazel, "Not to brag, but he's a straight-A honour student. The reason why he got a scholarship in AU in the first place. But even so, we didn't move here with him. Our job is in Zone C, and we don't want to be baggage for our son here. I mean . . . no offense, but what work will you two even do here when all everyone hired are trained professionals? Even maids here are well-trained. Or so I heard from Jonathan."

"Your cousin is right, Helen," Roni's mother butt in, "I know that living in Zone A is tempting, but you two don't belong here. You'll only burden your son."

. . .

. . .

Silence descended in the room for a time, and even Leonel, who was naïve, felt that something was off.

Helen grabbed Troy's hand when she felt like her husband was about to do something that they would regret.

Ren took a deep breath. And here he thought to be lenient with them if they would behave. Though this was a free country, it didn't mean that they could just say whatever they wanted without regards to the others feelings and didn't suffer any consequences.

There were a lot of people like them who would pull you down when you were getting ahead in life with their toxic and venomous words so they would feel good about themselves.

Like they said, best close your mouth if you have nothing to say.

Ren raised a hand, and a waiter immediately went in his direction.

"Our wine is running out. Do you mind sending another batch of 19** to my unit?" Ren flashed a metallic diamond card to the waiter. "Here's the name and floor number."

"Right away, Mr. Ren," the waiter said after he took a quick look at the metallic ID.

Everyone was confused about what he did, except for one. Jonathan choked on his food and spat some of it on his mother, who was just sitting beside him.

"Jonathan! My goodness! Mind your manners–!"

Hazel didn't finish her words when Jonathan pulled her hand and whispered in her ears. Hazel's eyes stretched to the limits in a fraction of a second.

"What?!" Hazel shot to her feet. Her voice was so loud that it attracted a lot of attention.

She immediately lowered her head and sat. Then her smile was so big while her voice was so sweet like sugar. "Ren, son. Why didn't you tell your auntie that you live here?"

. . .

. . .

"What?!" It was Roni's turn to shot on his feet before his father pulled him back to his seat.

Hazel ignored Roni and, instead, shifted her attention to Helen. "Cousin, are you . . . staying in here?"

Helen looked over at Ren while the latter gave a short nod.

"Yes."

"HOW?" Both Roni and Jonathan said at the same time. Their mouth was gaping. Their ears were definitely messing with them. How could Ren suddenly afford a unit here? Just what on earth happened?!

"How can you afford it in here?"

Leonel shrugged and answered in a smug voice, "COVENANT. You heard the news about it, right? Those people who turned millionaires overnight."

He then placed an arm over Ren's shoulder and grinned. "Ren and I are one of them. Lucky, right?"

Jonathan and Hazel looked at each other.

Roni and his parents couldn't find their voice.

It was Mia's bored tone that pierced the silence. "Can I get another of this?"

"Mia, dear. There are still ten meals after this. You don't want to get fat," reminded Margaret while she flipped the booklet in her hands that contained their meals.

Margaret and Leon's feelings toward Hazel and her son shifted from neutral to negative really fast. But since it wasn't their relatives, they kept their mouths shut.

While Jonathan scowled at his mother in contempt. "See, mom. I told you to buy me that pod. If you had listened to me, your son might be a millionaire right now!"

Hazel ignored Jonathan's tantrums. There was no way that they could afford that pod. She then addressed Ren. Her voice changed from belittling to begging now.

"Ren, dear. That's great." She forced a laugh. "Now, one of our family is a millionaire. I'm sure that our relatives will be happy to hear about this." There was a hint of jealousy in her tone, but this wasn't the right time to be antagonistic.

She then changed the topic.

And as she spoke, she mostly stared at Helen since Ren's blank expression was scaring her, and she felt uncomfortable looking at the young man's eyes. "Cousin, you know that Jonathan lives a little farther from his university, right? But this place is actually near AU. Would it be alright for Jonathan to stay with you even just after he finished his board exams?"

Finished his exams? Ren sneered inwardly. That was still five years away. Were they planning to leech off him?

Ren can't say that he was surprised.

----

A/N (Doesn't consume coins)

I'm just going to clear some things up.

I know that I haven't even tap a drop of the World Building in the game. It's because we're only two months in the game, and the player's ATP is nowhere near the bare minimum requirement to venture deeper into the world.

So please take note of that as you read on.

This isn't a story where I don't think of timelines. Players wouldn't just magically gain 100 ATP in two weeks. Except for Ren, 'cause you know . . . he's the MC 🤣

This a WEBNOVEL, meaning chapters reach thousands here. But I don't plan to drag the story that long. However, this story will continue past more than five hundred chapters. So if you think that some chapters are fillers, they're not. I even cut some plots to get to the main plots. All chapters are necessary to advance the main plot.

And don't worry, it'll be a whole arc when I begin the world-building.

Like an arc for Fey Realm, another Arc for Rescue the Dark Prince Zeroth, another for The Enchantress Meriyaah, and another Arc for each World/Epic Quest.

And also, I didn't forget about the Frost and Thunder Cave as well as the numerous World Bosses.

There is also every issue of every characters that must be resolve . . . so yeah . . . 200 chaps are still too short 🤣