"Hmm..."
"Hmm... J-Just shopping, sir?"
"Y-Yes."
Somehow this female cashier guard looked at me with suspicion. Is it maybe because I bought a mask?
"S-So, the total expenditure is Rp.67,000, Sir."
After she spoke, I gave her the money and she accepted it with trembling hands.
"The money is Rp.100,000, Sir." She operated the cash register and took the money. "The change is Rp33,000, Sir." She handed me my money and groceries just like before, her hands shaking.
"Hmm..." I accepted it, but her hand wouldn't let go of my shopping. "Hmm..."
The two of us grabbed my groceries from each other, and we were balanced.
"Can you let go of your hand?!" I said.
"By the way, Sir, why would you buy a mask that looks like a robbery?" She tugged hard on my groceries.
"Of course, to rob a bank." I don't want to lose to her and pull my groceries firmly.
"You can't, Sir, that's not good." She pulled back my groceries firmly and smiled. "You don't think about how your family feels?"
"I-I mean, I wanted to say that I will give that mask to my sister later." I pull my groceries tight again and turn to look to the side, and she realizes that I was lying.
"You are lying, Sir."
"N-No, I-I'm not lying. Tch."
"See, you are lying."
"N-No, I only cut my teeth which got caught in the food. Tch."
"See, you're like that again."
With strong determination, I saw her face.
"Can you take it off right now? You know, since it's recess time, so hurry and let it go! If not… I'll bite your hand, okay."
"I do not want! Just bite if you can! It is better than your life being miserable later. You will regret your actions."
"I told you earlier, this mask will be a gift for my sister later."
"That's not possible, Sir. How could your sister want to accept a gift in the form of a mask-like a robber?"
"My sister will want, she is the person who wants anything."
"Impossible."
This woman is stubborn, she doesn't want to hand over my groceries to me and still insists on her own opinion. At this rate, I will be stuck in this minimarket. I have to do something.
"You know, I'm quite famous in EOA games, even the Indonesian people know who I am."
"No, that can't be. What do you think you are, Dark69? Don't joke, Sir!"
"I-I am indeed Dark69."
"No, that can't be. Dark69 is Evan Siregar, son of the owner of the company PT Masuk Angin."
"Then… I-I'm… YouTubers. Yes, I'm a YouTuber. I will use this mask to stream my channel later." I lied, obviously I lied, but she seemed to believe my words just now.
"Eh? Really?" She took her hands off my groceries. "Are you a YouTubers? Then..." she cut a paper, then handed the paper and marker to me, "I ask for your autograph, Sir."
"Eh?" I was a little surprised, but I calmly followed her words and signed the paper.
"By the way, what's your channel name, Sir?"
Her words took me by surprise and stopped writing autographs at once. Even I broke out in a cold sweat, and my brain kept spinning thinking about how to answer that question.
"T-The name of my channel?"
"Yes."
"That's it, that. Hmm… my channel name is… Anton Hallilingard."
"No such thing!" She looked at me with a flat face, and continued, "You must be lying again, Sir?"
Before her hand touched mine, I ran away from her.
"Wait!"
However, when I ran towards the open door, I ran into a man who had just entered this minimarket. With a fragile body, he fell and lay on the floor.
"Ah," I muttered. "If you walk, use... feet!" Without thinking about his condition, I ran back to leave this minimarket.
"Ouch, my butt hurts."
The cashier approached the man who was still sitting on the floor holding his butt.
"Sir, are you all right?"
"Ah, I'm fine. What's with that? Do you know why, Farha?"
"He bought a mask of robbers, and he disguised himself as YouTubers and also as Dark69. I didn't know him, and I was deceived."
"Dark69 you say?" The man was shocked.
"Yes, Sir. So what?"
Regardless of what the cashier said, the man stood up and ran towards the door. However, what he wanted to see was lost.
"What's the matter, Mr. Bagas?"
"Is he Evan?"
"No, Sir."
"Do you know whose name that person is?"
"Not really, Sir."
"Is that so..."
"What is it, Sir?"
"Nothing. Let's go back inside to start the routine meeting."
"Yes, Sir."
***
It turned out that while it was true that age couldn't lie, I was tired and gasping for breath from running.
"Ah... ah... ah... tired."
Maybe it's also because I rarely exercise, that's why my body isn't used to something I haven't experienced so far when I graduated from high school. Even so, I managed to escape the convenience store, and I'm proud of it.
I decided to walk while carrying my groceries and drank a few times.
Not far from my office, there is a park filled with shady trees. When I got there, I was greeted by a slight gust of wind, and it made my sweat dry.
"Thank you, wind."
I was reminded again about the wind element I had in my previous account character, and it made the Samurai class moves stronger. Well, even though it was just back then, but it feels like I just played that EOA game yesterday.
I sat on a swing burning a cigarette and looked at the mask I bought earlier.
"I... I'm confused about what to do now."
It has been several hours I have been out since I was kicked out of my office by my boss. I've done all kinds of things outside of this, like gambling on the lottery, but not winning; I thought about robbing at a bank, but I was hesitant to do it — and that's all for the sake of being able to buy computers and other devices so I can go back to playing EOA games.
Honestly, I'm confused about what else to do now. Because of that, I just played on the swing while wearing a mask, smoking, and looking up at the sky.
"Oh no!" I remember something, something I forget. "I forgot to buy an umbrella. Damn, because Vivi didn't bring the forecast, I forgot to bring an umbrella. And again, I didn't go back to the minimarket."
The previous gust of wind was a little strong, it was due to the weather that was already cloudy and black clouds covered the sunlight.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter." I looked at the large building which is my office. "Tiara, are you still sad? I'm sorry, it's because of me that you guys have a problem that I don't know about. Are you all okay, Bagas, Tiara, Elvina, Helena, Joko, and Kahfi?"
Even though I like being alone, I sometimes worry about the conditions of my guild members. Occasionally, sometimes I asked Bagas how they were, without realizing that I was asking about them, while I was still playing the game. It's not that I'm a shy person, it's just that I don't want to show my worries in front of them. Maybe they think of me as someone who doesn't care about their condition, but I'm the one who cares the most about their condition because I am their teacher.
No matter what happens to them, I have to be able to protect their smiles. But now, I instead saw Tiara and the others in a state of having problems that I didn't know about. I'm terrible as a leader.
While I was contemplating, without realizing it the raindrops began to fall and soaked my whole body.
"Ah, rain..." I remained on the swing even though I knew that rainwater was wetting my whole body. "Looks like, I want to be here for a while."
Whatever happened, how it happened, how in the future, I want to stay here.