Age of Summoner

“What have I done?”

Joke mumbled to himself for who knew how long while walking back to his apartment once again on a hectic day. The said person sat in his sitting space in his small-sized apartment. Even though it was not a luxurious or grand apartment, he was neat and tidy enough to be able to divide his room into various functional spaces properly.

The rent was seven thousand baht per month, which was a great price considering that it was located near the skytrain station and several facilities. But all of this was about to come to an end.

Because Jakkarin had just turned down a large sum of money that would be able to help him achieve his dreams and perhaps also pay for his rent. Joke could only slump over his small coffee table with a bowl of instant noodles covered with a lid, waiting for the eggs inside to be cooked.

“Why did you turn down such a huge sum of money, Joke? You idiot.”

Joke mumbled to himself before glancing at the problematic card called ‘Snowbelle’ that was currently placed nearby and covered in a plastic sleeve to prevent it from being scratched (and reduced in value).

“Bloody twenty million. It’s more than enough to study abroad in the UK comfortably.”

The more he thought about it, the more regretful he became. If it was not for that foul-mouthed, lousy Viper getting on his nerves, he would have been celebrating in a luxurious restaurant with that huge amount of money instead of devouring instant noodles like a pauper like this.

Joke could only sigh, thinking about that ill-mannered person who was so furious he was about to attack him when he refused to sell him the card. Luckily, the manager came to stop him and tried meditating with him until he backed down furiously.

Joke also felt sorry; not for that foul-mouthed person of course, but instead for that manager who went to great lengths, all of which were eventually ruined by him in the end.

“It’s all right. This is not the first time for someone to call off a trade negotiation in the middle of it. Um...although this is the first time someone is selling such a rare card.”

Words of the kind manager came back to his mind. That kind smile clearly indicated that he did not take any offense. In fact, he seemed glad.

“It is in fact my fault to apologize for introducing you to such an ill-mannered buyer. But if you still want us to contact other buyers, it would be our pleasure to do so. But today will not be a good time. I advise you to wait for the heat to die down or else both of us will be losing credibility. But don’t worry yourself too much about it. Let’s wait around for a couple of months. If you are still interested in selling, we will immediately carry it out.”

With the manager both helping and giving him good advice, Joke at least felt that not everyone in the AOS community was so terrible; this, in fact, was the way it should be. Those bad attitudes of that foul-mouthed jerk must be his inborn traits. Although he regretted not taking that sum of money, deep down inside, it felt good to reject that bloke.

“Back to reality once more it is, then.”

Joke stated while lifting the lid off the instant noodle bowl. The savory aroma of his favorite tom yum reached his nose. Without delay, he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and shoved the noodles into his mouth, munching away. The reason why he was extremely hungry might be because he went through a lot of stressful situations today; that was why this first meal, at three o’clock in the afternoon, was remarkably delicious.

“It is a common fact that AOS is entering its golden era. With a percent increase in players each year, the pro players are beginning to become more serious about the game. And the arrival of pro players in turn gave rise to various levels of leagues with ranging cash prizes. Currently, AOS players have statistically been earning more than any other sports in the world.”

The narration blasted from the TV in front of him, causing Joke to take his eyes off his dinner while still slurping in noodles. Stunned, he looked at a documentary on AOS that was currently airing.

“What’s wrong with today? Why are there so many people trying to shove this card game to my face?”

The young man muttered to himself. He placed his chopsticks down and picked up an unsweetened green tea for a sip.

“It can be clearly seen that the younger generations are currently starting to be interested in becoming professional esports players, especially an AOS pro player, which is considered to be growing very fast. At present, the game is giving more attention to the younger generations; as a result, there have been youths, as young as 13, starting a career as professional players. Due to this, AOS is starting to set a higher standard for pro players by imposing that all pro players must have a high school diploma along with raising up the bar for its professional certification exam procedures. With that, it can be said that the career is highly stable if you are skillful...”

Joke chuckled upon hearing those words while picking up noodles into his mouth again.

“Can’t believe you can make a stable career out of playing games…”

Unarguably, he was an old-fashioned person. In fact, he never even gave any attention to AOS. But out of the blue, it seemed like the world was cramming him with information about this card game, so it would be a big lie if he said that he was not once interested.

Ringgggg!

His phone suddenly rang, causing him to cease his actions and pick up his phone. He then realized that he was receiving a FaceTime call from none other than Artit.

“How’s it going, Joke? I’m free now. Didn’t get a chance to talk to you much last time.”

The instant he accepted the call, his best friend’s cheeky face popped up on the screen. His somewhat corpulent figure appeared, beaming ear to ear while sitting in front of a small bed. It seemed like he had arrived at his hotel room.

“What’s up?” Joke sedately replied, causing his best friend to raise his eyebrows.

“With that look and your noodle slurping, this best friend is guessing that your job interview didn’t go well?”

His best friend’s interjected question caused Joke to sigh, which made everything seem clear.

“Come on. It’s quite hard to find work these days. There must be a place somewhere that wants to hire you,” Artit sympathetically consoled. “I suggest you also look out for other kinds of jobs apart from publishing. Loads of work use language skills… I think you should be grabbing every opportunity right now. You can apply for work you like afterwards once you get the chance, or else you’ll have to go work in Suphanburi—don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Thank you so much, pal. I’m now a lot more hyped up to go find work.”