Chapter 67: Call (Buy Privilege Please)

[A noble plan. You are getting smarter every passing day.]

The System said it in an approving tone, almost as if Kyle had just come up with the most brilliant business strategy in human history.

’I know. No need to remind me of my ingeniousness.’

Kyle snorted proudly while rubbing his finger underneath his nose, clearly pleased with himself.

He had already decided what he was going to do once he got home. He needed System Points, and he knew exactly how to get them.

Stacy.

If his previous videos had generated that many points, then making another one would obviously be the easiest way to refill his balance. There was no need for him to overthink it.

At least, that was what he thought.

buzzbuzz

His phone suddenly began vibrating loudly in his pocket.

Kyle frowned.

"What the hell?"

buzzbuzzbuzz

The vibration didn’t stop.

The bus had finally entered an area with network coverage, meaning all the messages, missed calls, notifications, and other things that had been unable to reach his phone while he was deep inside the forest were now arriving all at once.

"Come on, what’s with all the hurry? Stop buzzing already, man..."

Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket, already annoyed by the endless stream of notifications.

He glanced at the screen.

There were so many notifications that they were practically stacked on top of one another.

"Damn..."

He unlocked his phone, expecting the usual useless notifications from apps he barely cared about.

But the moment he looked at the notification list, his expression changed.

His smile disappeared, eyes widened and entire body froze for a moment.

Kyle became as still as a statue.

[50 Missed Calls from Lira.]

"Oh fuck."

His voice came out quietly.

Then the realization struck him completely.

"Oh fuck!"

Kyle stared at the screen.

Lira.

He had completely forgotten about her.

Not because he didn’t care about her but quite the opposite.

He had simply gotten so absorbed in everything that had happened in the forest that he had completely lost track of the outside world.

Before leaving, he had told Lira that he would only be away for one or two days.

One or two days.

Yet he had now been gone for more than four days.

And during that entire time, he hadn’t sent her a single message, call or nothing else.

Kyle sat there staring at his phone, his face slowly losing all color.

He suddenly realized just how terrible the situation looked from Lira’s perspective.

He had simply vanished.

[Oh boy, you are cooked, my man! Absolutely done and roasted.]

The System immediately took the opportunity to make fun of him.

Kyle didn’t even have the energy to argue.

"Fuck... fuck, what have I done, bro?"

He began scrolling through the notifications.

The fifty missed calls were only the beginning. There were messages too and lots of them too.

[Lira: Where are you?]

[Lira: It’s been over two days?]

[Lira: Hey? Call me back when you’re in the network zone.]

Kyle stared at the first few messages.

They weren’t too bad. Those had clearly been sent around the time when he had only been a few hours late.

She sounded concerned, but not panicked.

Then he kept scrolling.

The tone changed.

[Lira: HEY! WHERE ARE YOU?]

[Lira: It’s been four days. Are you okay?]

[Lira: You promised to text me back in one day and it’s been more than four days now. Where are you?]

[Lira: Hey idiot, are you even alright?]

[Lira: Where the fuck are you? I’m dying here from fucking worrying.]

Kyle’s heart sank.

The further he scrolled, the more messages he found.

There were short and long messages followed by questions and repeated calls.

Messages asking whether he was safe, asking where he was and asking him to call her back as soon as he got into a network zone.

The frequency had increased as the hours passed.

It was obvious that Lira’s concern had gradually turned into genuine fear.

Kyle swallowed.

The reason he was petrified wasn’t because he thought Lira was going to become angry with him.

He knew her.

Sure, she might yell at him, call him an idiot or might even curse him out for disappearing without telling her.

But that wasn’t what bothered him.

What truly made him feel horrible was realizing that he had made her worry and considering everything that had happened recently, she probably had plenty of reasons to imagine the worst.

Kyle remembered the incident with Dylan and everything that had happened between him and Lira.

Then he had simply told her he was going away for a couple of days and disappeared for more than four without a single communication.

"Fuck... man, what am I supposed to do?"

Kyle lowered the phone slightly.

"I made her worry because of my idiocy."

He rested his forehead against his knuckles.

He couldn’t even defend himself. It was completely his fault.

He had become so focused on learning magic that he had forgotten about practically everything else. And before he knew it, four days had passed.

"Man, I’m such an idiot."

Kyle cursed himself under his breath. He deserved whatever scolding was coming.

[Just saying, but instead of sitting here thinking about what you’ve done, maybe you should call her?]

The System’s voice was surprisingly reasonable this time.

Kyle stared at the phone.

"Yeah..."

He knew the System was right.

"But with what face?"

He imagined himself calling her.

’Hey, Lira. Sorry I disappeared for four days without telling you.’

He grimaced.

That alone sounded horrible and then he’d have to explain where he had been. That would probably raise even more questions.

Kyle was still sitting there trapped inside his useless cycle of worry when suddenly—

RING! RING!

His phone began ringing and he looked down.

"Fuck."

It was Lira.

He had been sitting there worrying about how he was going to call her, and somehow she had beaten him to it.

"It’s Lira!"

The phone continued ringing in his hand.

RING!RING!

Kyle stared at the screen.

His thumb hovered over the answer button.

He suddenly felt nervous even though he had fought goons, went through excruciating pain and even even had learned magic but he was most nervous right now.

"What the hell am I supposed to say?"

RING!RING!

The call continued.

Kyle hesitated for another moment then the System finally lost its patience.

[Pick up! What the fuck are you doing? Do you want to make her even more worried than she already is?]

Kyle clenched his teeth.

"Alright..."

He finally pressed the answer button.

Click.

He brought the phone to his ear.

"Hell—"

[Are you alright?]

Kyle didn’t even get the chance to finish saying hello.

Lira’s voice immediately came through the phone.

It sounded heavy near emotional with haste because of the breathlessness of her voice. He could feel her worry.

For a moment, Kyle couldn’t say anything.

The anger he had expected wasn’t there or anything else that he was expecting.

Instead, the first thing she had asked was whether he was alright.

That somehow made him feel even worse.

Kyle swallowed.

He suddenly realized just how badly he had made her worry.

"I..."

His voice caught for a moment.

"I’m alright, Lira."