The cold wind of the night howled low through the cracks in the concrete, carrying with it the scent of rust and old smoke.
"This is the place, huh..."
Jack stood at the front of the barred entrance to the old station, his eyes landing on the sealed gate that had locked the facility away for good.
The station had long been shut down—ever since the border wall went up.
His gaze drifted toward the massive wall itself, towering just a few blocks away. It loomed over the town like a silent warden, stretching far in either direction, surrounding the entire settlement for roughly half a decade now.
It was one of the many border walls humanity had constructed in desperation—simple but effective.
Back when the monsters first overran the world, these walls were all they had to hold the line. Every major city, every populated zone… they all built one, cutting themselves off from the wild chaos outside.
Even now, with Card-Holders managing most of the outbreaks, the wall still stood—not just as a last line of defense, but as a reminder.
A warning.
And above all…
A regulation.
You couldn't just walk outside whenever you pleased. There were procedures now.
Rules.
You needed clearance to leave, and a damn good reason to be let back in.
They said it was for protection—not just from monsters, but from the world beyond the wall.
Raiders, for one.
Those lawless remnants of the apocalypse who rejected the world government and tore through the land with salvaged war machines.
And then there were...
The cults.
Twisted groups that had emerged from the ashes, whispering new doctrines, gathering followers in secret.
Some rumors claimed they'd even learned how to tame monsters… bending those chaos incarnates to their will.
Barbarians. Fanatics.
Rogue factions of mankind.
Proof that when the old world collapsed, it wasn't just the monsters that crawled out of the dungeons—it was people, too. The kind that thrived in chaos and now rose to power in an almost lawless, fractured world.
In the end... this wall wasn't just built to keep monsters out.
It was built to keep everything else from slipping in, too.
But with it came consequences.
Transportation, for one.
With monsters still roaming the open land and no guarantee of safe passage, many older transportation systems became obsolete.
And one such example was the train transportation system.
Its routes were abandoned outright, with many of its tracks were destroyed when the continent itself shifted, tearing apart the old world and merging it into a single, unstable landmass.
Rebuilding them wasn't worth the risk with all the danger posed outside of the border.
And so, the trains had stopped, and along with it, its workers left to find better things to do.
And thus this place... this old train station checkpoint... was swallowed by the shift of the new reality.
Jack could only stare back at the abandoned facility... his gaze tinted with a faint melancholia.
However, he shook his head over such sentiment.
He had to focus.
He had to escape.
Otherwise... death was the only thing waiting for him in this town.
The main exit through the border wall wasn't an option—not because it was off-limits. He had a worker's pass, after all. Technically, he could come and go easily.
But the debt collectors? They were always watching the gates.
That was where they'd intercepted him before—where they'd chased him down into the back alleys... and then beat him to a pulp before leaving him for dead.
He couldn't risk walking into their hands again.
Not now. Not when he finally had a chance...
A chance given to him by the good doctor.
Jack rummaged through his pockets and pulled out the crumpled note—the one with the small map that the old doctor had scribbled for him—
A supposed 'hole' in the border wall.
For a brief moment... Jack hesitated.
How did the doctor even know about this? And more importantly—was it real?
He pursed his lips... doubt gnawing at him.
Trust wasn't something he gave freely—not in this new reality, at least.
However, the doctor... that grumpy old bastard had patched him up more times than he could count. Not like the official "clinics" with their inflated prices.
No... the doctor had treated him like a real person.
Not just another useful idiot to be squished dry for whatever he was worth.
So... he decided to believe. At least, this once.
Jack pocketed the note back... but then rummaged through his pocket once more, checking on his other stuff... and making sure he hadn't forgotten anything in this town.
After all... he might never go back to this place again.
And what he was checking in particular was his wallet.
He pulled out the battered wallet, opening it to see its content... whatever was left, that is.
As expected, at least—the crumpled one-dollar bill, his ID card, old driver's license, the empty debit card, the maxed-out credit card—
"...Wait, what is that...?"
Wedged between the debit and credit card... was an unfamiliar ebony card.
"What the...?"
He had never seen this particular black card before. And he knew every nook and cranny of this battered old wallet.
With a wary furrow of his brows, he slowly pulled the mysterious card from its slot, his fingers brushing against its smooth, unfamiliar surface.
The card was, unmistakably, a debit card at a glance, complete with a smart chip.
But the details on it were... off.
The serial number? All zeroes. The expiration date? The same.
And strangest of all—there was no bank logo. No marking from any institution he could recognize.
Instead, in the top right corner, there was a simplistic yet unsettling logo—
A grinning clown face.
Jack's breath hitched slightly at the sight of the grinning jester. The wide grin, the hollow diamond-shaped eyes, and the red circle nose unmistakably marked it as a clown.
But... something about the way it smiled sent a sudden chill down his spine.
However, something even more unsettling was evident on this already bizarre debit card...
His eyes darted lower, scanning the cardholder's name... and there it was—
JACK CONRAD
"—!"
Another intense chill ran down his spine upon the discovery!
He had never seen this card before. He was sure of it.
And yet... here it was. Sitting in his wallet—WITH his name on it.
As if it had always been there.
As if he had always had this card.
He quickly turned it over in his fingers, expecting some fine print, some clue as to what it was—
But he found nothing of the sort.
There was the magnetic strip that ran along the card, perfectly 'normal,' just like any debit card he'd ever used.
But any numbers, any codes—any information that could indicate its origin... were absent.
"...The hell is this...?" he muttered under his breath, the feeling of unease creeping slowly into him.
He didn't understand...
How did this thing get into his wallet? When?
And more importantly...
Why?
Jack continued to fiddle with the mysterious black card, his mind spinning with even more questions.
He turned it over again, still expecting to see anything that would tell him its purpose—
But, again, there was nothing... other than his own name.
But... as his fingers brushed the 'smart chip,' he barely noticed the slight warmth that seemed to pulse beneath his fingertips...
And then, without warning—
"...!"
A faint light flickered across the card's surface, a soft glow emitting from its smart chip before shimmering through the entire card!
Jack flinched at the sudden glow...! And before he could react, a translucent window opened in the air before him—!
"What...?!"
His eyes widened in shock as the floating window began to fill with information!
===============
STATUS WINDOW
===============
Name: Jack Conrad
Tier: 1
Job: None
Title: None
C-Point: 0
------------------------
MAIN STATS
STR: 4 <- 5 (-10%)
DEX: 4 <- 5 (-10%)
VIT: 5
INT: 5
PER: 5
[PURCHASE STATS]
------------------------
PERFORMANCE STATS
HP: 45/86 <- 108 (-20%)
MP: 100/100
ATK: 12 ATK: 12,5
DEF: 14
CRIT RATE: 5%
------------------------
STATUS EFFECT
- Recovering From Wounded: -20% Max HP, -10% STR & DEX, -5% Natural HP Regen. (3 Days)
------------------------
ABILITIES
- None
------------------------
Inventory
- None
------------------------
[SHOP]
===============
"No way..." He reeled back upon seeing the status window—his status window—unfold before his eyes. A chilling realization hit him, his breath hitching. "No fucking way—! This is—!"
His gaze snapped back to the black debit card in his hand, fingers tightening around it...!
"—An M-Card...!"