Pride Online

Chapter 617: The Plea Part IV

“Knowing that the world that I love is controlled by corpses whose brain is the only thing that functions, what would you feel about it?”

“I feel great.”

Payu answered immediately. Wisana could only blink.

“It’s not like I don’t understand you.” He sighed. “But I think letting the sickly live on normally in Pride is a good opportunity for them. It may sound like an excuse, but I never feel bad about letting them be a part of the Pride System.”

Pride System?

Wisana raised his eyebrow, but he was still quiet. He did not know what to say.

Because for him, making a human being one with a machine was not something anyone should do. Okay, it might have been a new life for them in Pride. If some did not want to be in Pride and only wanted to leave this endless online imaginary place? There would not be anything that could be done by then!

Payu read Wisana’s facial expression and let out a long sigh before he softly put his coffee cup on the table.

“I have to recall back, but I’ll tell you about the origin of Pride and you’ll understand me.” The old man leaned down and looked up at the ceiling.

“I have four best friends.” Payu put up four fingers. “They were all crazy and daring, just like me. We’ve been together since Grade seven.”

He turned to look at his grandson, who seemed to be confused.

“Haha, yes, I studied in the US.”

“Are you half?” Wisana asked.

“I’m pure Thai, my son, but my father owned a restaurant there.”

The younger man nodded and intertwined his fingers to show his interest in the story.

“So, I have four friends and we were together until we graduated. After that, all five of us established Pride. We were all good in a different way. I’m good at management and making decisions. That’s why they appointed me as CEO. The rest of them were all investors. Later, we split and, little by little, gained fame for the company. The name PRIDE is actually from the initials of our names.”

“From your names?” Wisana raised his eyebrow.

“Yes. P from Payu, R from Roberto, I from Ian, D from David, and E from Eric, PRIDE. We thought a lot about the name and ended up with our names.”

He chuckled and poured more coffee into both cups.

“At the time, technology wasn’t this modern. We didn’t succeed right away. We’ve been through so many trials and errors. The money that we got was only enough not to let the company go bankrupt. We nearly had to close the company down several times. And eventually, we were on the right track.”

Payu stopped for a short while and looked at Wisana with a different eye expression.

“Signetic.”

“What?”

“We found what’s called Signetic in human’s brain waves. And that was the key to our online imaginary world.”

Wisana got quiet for a while before he started to say something.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“A Signetic is a special chemical in the brain of someone special. You know that, right?” Wisana nodded. “And the Signetic is a special kind of brain wave that is tangible and able to be modified. Simply say, it’s the main key to build Pride.”

“..I’m still...”

Wisana narrowed his eyes, still confused. Payu sighed loudly.

“We use the Signetic as a foundation of Pride. We experimented on those special people to build a virtual online place.”

“Experimented?!” Wisana shouted. “That’s illegal. How could you do that?”

“Because we couldn’t.” Payu sighed. “That’s why I used my brain.”

Wisana froze in place. Payu seemed strangely at ease.

“You used your brain in the experiment?” Wisana repeated softly.

“Yes. Who do you think was the first man with the Signetic that we discovered?” He grinned. Wisana opened his eyes widely in awe. “As they say, sometimes we overlook what’s closest to us. Yes... My friend, Roberto, examined me and found the Signetic. At the time, the Signetic was very new. Roberto thought about calling it Asper. I thought that it sounded kind of scary, so we finally decided on the name Signetic as people call it now.”

“Then, that means you’re the first person with this chemical?”

“I’m not.” Payu shook his head. “It’s not like the Signetic was just created through the mutation of human genetics. It’s a special chemical, which is found in people with a deranged DNA or those who are stimulated until something in their brain changes. The said chemical is all about our complicated brain. I don’t know who was the first man with the Signetic. Maybe it was Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Leonardo DaVinci, or Christopher Columbus? They were all crazy people with crazy thoughts, right?”

‘Including you, too, huh?’

Wisana thought but did not say it out loud. Payu could read that from his facial expression.

“Wait.” Wisana frowned. “From what I’ve heard, the foundation of Pride can also be built from normal human brain waves and it’s enough to use those from sickly people who are in their vegetative state. Do you have to examine them, too, if they have the Signetic or not?”

“You’re not wrong, Wisana.”

Payu grinned before sipping his coffee.

“Nowadays, it’s okay to do that since the foundation of Pride has already been done. The stable rotation of the brain wave balances the server until today.”

“Then, the main foundation of Pride is built from the Signetic in you alone?”

Payu looked Wisana in the eye. Seeing those amber eyes, he could only sigh softly.

“Yes, everything is built from my brain wave.”

Hearing that, the boy was speechless. He had heard that this man was incredible, but using solely his brain to build the whole Pride was impossible!

“My son, you should understand that I can even eat my own flesh to make the perfect world of Pride. I want it to be an opportunity for everyone and not just a simple online game. It’s another world that anyone can join, even the one with no chance in real life.”

Wisana fell silent. He did not know what to say about that. He knew full well that Pride was everything to Mr. Payu and he seemed to be responsible enough for everything he had done. If he was dedicated enough to experiment on himself, he did not know how to blame him.

“And what about after that?”

Wisana said softly. He was smiling a little, making Payu raise his eyebrow in surprise.

“What about it, my son?”

“After you built the main foundation of Pride, it’s been famous ever since, right?”

The old man smiled at the question.

“It’s not that easy, son.” Payu laughed. “It took years for us to complete it. My children were all grown up when Pride Online was officially released. They were the very first people to try it out and they’re all legendary now.”

The old man glanced at the photos. He seemed nostalgic.

“Ah... May I ask something that’s rather inappropriate?”

Wisana asked. Payu turned to him and smiled.

“Of course.”

“That man in the photo, Winter, where is he now? Nam... ah... I mean my little sister, she doesn’t even tell me about Ms. Nittaya, the famous player in the game. Especially, about Winter. I didn’t even know that she has an uncle.”

“It’s only normal.”

Payu smiled while pouring more coffee into his cup.

“My son passed away even before Nam knew he existed. It’s only normal that she doesn’t talk much.”

There you go, Na...

You asked something you should not have!

Wisana went pale. The smile had gone awkward. He looked like he had a toothache.

“I... I’m very sorry. My deepest condolences.”

He said softly. However, Payu blinked at him and laughed so loudly that it surprised Wisana.

“I’ve overcome that a long time ago, my son. You don’t have to feel so guilty. What a strange boy.”

“Hehe... A lot of people say that.”

Wisana could only scratch the back of his neck. Then, he turned to look at the photo of Winter again.

I see...

Mr. Winter was gone.

That was why Nam never talked about him at all.

“Eh... Does that mean pa was friends with Mr. Winter?”