Rivalry: Infinite Buff

Chapter 48 The Dormitory Caretaker

In the hospital room, many people surrounded Ivan’s dad, all watching and hoping he would wake up. The only exception was Leo, whose eyes were glued on Cindy. She would look at him and blush, then put her head back down.

Ivan gave a little cough to remind Leo to restrain himself. Leo turned his head in embarrassment; he was still amazed himself that he was interested in Cindy.

Suddenly, Ivan saw his father’s eyelids twitch, he rushed over, “Dad, are you awake?”

Martin opened his eyes after days of being in a deep coma. Watching his father trying to open his eyes, Ivan cried and mumbled, “Dad…Dad…Dad…”

His father tried to move his lips and speak, but was still having trouble so he just smiled and tears ran down his face.

“Thank God!” Ivan and his mother held Martin closely in great excitement.

The others in the room cried tears of joy and hugged each other tightly.

…

A few days after his father woke up, Ivan took him to the hospital garden for a walk and so that he could get some exercise.

“You saved my life with the money you had earned from gaming?” Martin said smilingly.

“Yes,” Ivan replied cautiously, afraid his father would get angry with him playing games.

Martin thought for a moment and said, “You are almost twenty years old. If you see good career prospects in gaming, just do it.”

“But…” Looking at his father’s pale face, Ivan couldn’t bear to leave him.

“Don’t say ‘but’. You’re a man. You should be determined.” In the past few days, Martin had noticed that Ivan’s heart was pulling him to gaming. He was grateful that his son could devote himself to one thing and be able to support himself.

**

The next day, Ivan got ready to return to San Francisco. His father was awake and only need to have physiotherapy so there wasn’t much he was able to help with.

While on the train, Ivan received a phone call from his old roommate, Edwin. They hadn’t spoken since Ivan was expelled because Ivan wanted Edwin to concentrate on his exams. Edwin explained that he had finished exams and was at the bus station in San Francisco. They made plans to meet there when Ivan’s train arrived.

Since they had last seen each other, Edwin had lost a lot of weight; Ivan almost didn’t recognize him.

“How have you been? How were the exams?” Ivan laughed.

“Not too bad. I guess I am able to get into an Ivy League school,” Edwin said with a smirk.

Ivan punched him in the arm and laughed, “I knew you could.”

“I owe you a debt of gratitude. If it wasn’t for you I would have been expelled from school for crossing the wall and then…” Edwin said gratefully.

“No need to say anything more. Let’s go to my place.” Ivan flagged down a taxi.

When they got to the apartment, Ivan tried to unlock the door but the light in the hallway was blown out. He struggled to insert the key into the lock but suddenly the door opened.

“This lousy place really pisses me off. Thankfully you were home, Claire,” Ivan bowed his head to put the key back in his pocket.

However, the one who answered wasn’t Claire, an old man’s voice said, “You are back, brat. Oh, your old buddy is with you, haha.”

Why is that voice so familiar?

Ivan’s heart sank.

Is he a burglar?

When he lifted his head, he and Edwin both exclaimed, “Sir?”

Ivan was stupefied.

This guy is the dormitory caretaker! Why is he here?

Ivan saw Leo busy in the kitchen and hurried to say, “Leo, I’m back.”

“You’ve finally come back. How is Martin?” Leo asked without looking at him. He was too busy making something to eat.

“He has no major problems. Why is the dormitory caretaker here?” Ivan went to the kitchen and asked Leo.

“Oh, I sorry, I didn’t introduce you. He is my uncle and is off on summer vacation, so I invited him to San Jose,” Leo explained.

“What? This old man, your uncle, asked me to mop the floor and clean the toilet!” Ivan rolled his eyes.

The dormitory caretaker heard Ivan’s complaint and laughed, “Brat, it was for your own good. Young people need to get more exercise.”

“Humph,” Ivan and Edwin sneered.

**

During lunch, Ivan, Leo, Claire, Edwin, and the caretaker sat together at the small dining room table. As they got to know each other better, Ivan and Edwin found out that the caretaker’s name was, Jim Black and he really was Leo’s uncle. 

After a few bottles of beer, Ivan said, “Jim, do you know how unlucky I was? I cut my finger on the glass when I was climbing over the wall. Then, in the game, I lost all of the equipment. Finally, when I made it back to the school, I had to mop the floor and clean toilets for you late at night. The next morning, I got expelled.”

“Ivan, you are actually quite similar to me in my younger days,” Jim said laughingly.

Ivan took a long gulp of his beer and laughed, “How can we be similar? You didn’t have games to play when you were young. Or did you also climb over a wall to play games? Haha.”

“Don’t underestimate Jim, Ivan. He was a straight-A IT student in Stanford University. He’s a senior to us in regards to gaming,” commented Leo.

“What?” Ivan and Edwin beside him were both wide-eyed with astonishment.

None of them had thought him to be an IT major at such a prestigious university.

“Why are you a dormitory caretaker then?” Ivan asked in bewilderment.

There was a nostalgic look in Jim’s eyes. He replied with self-deprecating humor, “I was expelled from school for climbing over a wall to play games just like you, so I had no choice but to become a dormitory caretaker for a living.”

“Aw, come on.” Ivan and Edwin surely didn’t buy it, but they didn’t pursue the matter. After all, everyone had some secrets.

“Are you still playing games, Jim?” Ivan continued to ask.

“Yeah, I’ve recently been playing Rivalry,” Jim answered.

“Oh? What’s your occupation? What’s your level?” Leo was also a bit surprised that his uncle was playing Rivalry like them at his age.

Jim got a little shy and said, “I’ve just started to play. I’m a level-2 farmer right now.”

“Pffffft!” Ivan spit out the beer in his mouth. The crafty image of Novice Village chief came to mind.