Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Klaus Park was asleep in his hotel room when he started to hear a lot of notifications coming in, and with his cell phone vibrating on the bedside table, it was getting annoying. So he turned over to try to sleep, but his cell phone suddenly started ringing insistently. The flashing light from the screen illuminated the dark room, making him blink Klaus’ sleepy eyes as he tried to get his bearings.

He picked up his cell phone and saw the name ‘Ard Brother’ flashing on the screen. Klaus was confused, because it was late, but he sat up in bed, rubbed his tired eyes and answered the call.

“Hi, Ard. Did something happen? Why are you awake like that?” Klaus asked with concern in his voice.

On the other end of the line, Ard’s cute voice sounded with a mixture of hesitation, concern and excitement. “Klaus, are you awake? Whew, that’s good. Mom and Dad are asleep, I’m in the other bed. I was watching a video and I saw something here. Do you know who Kaizen is?”

Klaus rubbed his eyes, sitting up in bed. “Yes, Ard…” He said and yawned. “Whua… Didn’t Mom tell you about this?”

Ard nodded and then remembered that Klaus couldn’t see him. “No, she never did, but did you see the news?”

“What news?”

“Big brother, some people are saying that Kaizen is you! Could it be true? That would be really cool, I think…”

Klaus felt a knot forming in his stomach and throat. He wasn’t prepared to hear this all of a sudden, least of all from his brother. “Ard, where did you hear that?” He asked, bringing himself to his feet abruptly, because the news was so sudden that it felt like he’d been slapped, waking him up.

“On the webnet, of course!” Ard replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “They say they’ve found old evidence and everything. It would be great if you were the real Kaizen!”

Klaus sighed again, running a hand through his hair, and his whole body seemed to start itching, a very strange sensation.

“Ard, I’ll tell you about it soon, okay? But for now, just know that it’s a bit of a complicated story. Don’t worry about it and go to sleep, okay? It’s getting too late.”

At that moment, Ard made a sound of agreement. “Uh-huh, big brother. But you’re going to tell me everything, right?”

Klaus smiled, despite the tense situation. “Of course, Ard. I promise I’ll tell you everything. Now, go to sleep and tell Mom and Dad not to worry tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll do that. Good night!”

“Good night, Ard. Sleep well.”

Klaus hung up the phone, turned on the bedroom light and sat on the bed for a moment, staring at the locked screen of his cell phone, unable to believe what was happening. He had worked so hard to hide his identity, how could it have leaked out like this? Could it be that someone he had entrusted with this secret had leaked it? For money perhaps?

“Jayaa, Emma, Andrew… Who?”

He knew he couldn’t avoid the situation much longer. It was time to face the truth and face the consequences. Hundreds of messages were locked on his lock screen, so with a sigh, he unlocked it with his password and started scrolling through the notifications. They were all about the revelation. Comments, direct messages, tags on posts, all flooded his vision now.

By coincidence or not, the last message he received was a minute ago and it was from Jayaa

[Jayaa: Hey, man! Did you see this here? (02:32)

Jayaa: *Forum post link* (02:32)

Jayaa: If you need anything, you can count on me (02:32).]

Klaus clicked on the link sent by Jayaa and was directed to the forum post that exposed the connection between Klaus Park and Kaizen. He read every word, absorbing the evidence presented and the fervent comments surrounding it. The reality of the situation was there and it was far worse than he had imagined, because it wasn’t just exposing that Klaus was Kaizen, it was exposing his past. All of this was happening before his eyes, and there was no denying it or ignoring it any longer. The information had sources, and although many still apparently didn’t believe it, Klaus knew that it was only a matter of time before all the sources were confirmed.

What’s more, many people might not remember Kaizen from Myth2, because the careers of e-sports players were short and their names didn’t go down in history, but the public who watched these players were able to remember when there were so many videos, photos and news stories about it.

So, with his cell phone in hand, as he finished reading the post and some of the comments, contrary to what one might expect, Klaus smiled, because although it wasn’t a stranger who leaked all this, it wasn’t one of his friends either.

The information contained in the expose text, the perspective on Klaus’ past and the minute details all made it obvious that it was someone from the very organization he was part of.

Klaus got out of bed, put on a shirt and walked over to the window, looking out at the dark city skyline.

“Those guys… I bet it was one of them, but who?”

Anger and confusion were tangled inside Klaus. He knew he needed to deal with this situation head on, but he also understood that he needed to be careful. After all, now that his identity was exposed, any misstep could complicate things even more.

Klaus picked up his cell phone again and called Jayaa. The call was answered after a few rings.

“Hi, Jayaa,” said Klaus, his voice laden with tension. “I saw the post. They’ve gone too far. Did you read the whole thing?”

Jayaa replied in a serious tone. “Yes, I saw it. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you, Klaus. Do you… do you know who could have done this?”𝒩𝑜𝒱𝗅xt.𝒸𝐎𝑚

“I can’t say for sure, but I have a suspicion. You know how intense internal rivalries can get and the decision I made before and after that finally weren’t fair to some people.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes, it was one of the four: Evan Elliot, Isaac Kaufman, Raiden Cortez and most likely, Peter Hopkins. My four ex-teammates.”