A small room is rented at one end of the city. That's where I grew up. Dad Sushovan Babu works as a clerk in a small private company. Ranjan was the only lamp of hope in the world of Panta Furano. She is brilliant since childhood. Neighbors used to say, "Sushovan Babu's son is a piece of diamond". Even the teachers of the school used to admit that Ranjan will be named in the district list for this year's secondary examination. Getting the number 600 out of 700 was a blessing to him.
A year before secondary school, on the pretext of online classes and thinking about the benefits of studying, Sushovan Babu bought Ranjan a expensive smartphone with his hard-earned money. He thought that the boy would learn better. But he did not know that this device will become tomorrow in Ranjan's life.
At first Ranjan used to watch tutorials on YouTube. But gradually falling into the ranks of friends in the neighborhood, he became addicted to a popular Battle Royale game (like PUBG or Free Fire). At first half an hour, then one hour—This way the game took over his brain.
When parents came home, he would quickly change the tab and play an educational video. The father smiled with satisfaction, thinking that the son was studying all night. But there was a virtual war going on across the screen.Playing games all night causes ink to fall under Ranjana's eyes. His mood started to get irritated. The deep attention that was in the study gradually decreased. When he opened the book, the map of the game and the addiction to winning would come to his mind.
The mock test of the school has started. The boy who would have been first in the class somehow passed. The teachers were surprised. Ranjan gave an excuse that his body is not good. But the addiction reached such a point that he started stealing his mother's savings to buy the in-game item. Guilt would have swallowed him up, but the addiction to the game was stronger than that.
The result of the secondary examination is out. Ranjan did not fail, but he got only 400 numbers. The boy who was expected to do more than 600, this fall from school started making shit. Seeing that broken face of his father and the tears of his mother, Ranjan realized what he had lost. The virtual world has turned him into an extremely defeated person in real life.