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Chapter – 05
Baek Hee-an answered honestly after quite a long while, looking as if he had just woken up from a nap.
“……I dozed off for a second.”
Instead of scolding him for nodding off in the meantime, the people from the guild looked at Baek Hee-an with somewhat pitiful expressions.
His insomnia was quite famous.
“We held you back for too long. Especially someone who just got back from an overseas mission.” “Let’s all head home.”
A female employee who was close with Hee-an muttered very softly.
“A little bit……”
Hee-an flinched slightly and looked at her.
However, the female employee, who was his department colleague, said no more; she caught the mood of the others and shut her mouth.
One of the guild employees spoke up.
“Isn’t there anyone who specifically comes to mind among domestic Hunters? If we knew them, there’s no way we wouldn’t recognize them.” “They fight too well.”
It was only natural that the Korean Hunter community was exceptionally interested in the 12th-ranked player in the world of God of Fighters (GOF), who had appeared like a comet: ‘Chicken-Slap.’
Because nobody knew who they were.
Opinions were divided over the ‘Chicken-nim’s’ true identity.
For starters, the atmosphere among Hunters was one of no doubt that ‘Chicken-nim’—who had suddenly appeared in the world rankings and shot up in an instant—must be someone in the same industry.
This was because the rankers of GOF were all actually prominent and famous Hunters.
The trivial chatter poured out again.
“Which guild do they belong to?” “I’m really curious, but there’s not a single person I can think of.” “Who on earth is it?”
On the screen playing again, the combat scene was zoomed in as closely as possible.
A person momentarily flashed through Hee-an’s mind, but he didn’t think they came to mind specifically because of GOF.
‘Am I booked for another nightmare today?’
Hee-an stood up, trying his best to shake off the unnecessarily deepening emotions.
After playing a few matches with the ‘Greenie’ and ‘Reddie’ I pulled in GOF yesterday, this is the realization I gained:
Even if they are in the same Hidden Class, their specialties are too different.
Greenie specialized in support skills that are particularly useful in multi-player battles, and Reddie specialized in very powerful swordsmanship.
Having used them, both have excellent skill compositions and performance.
However, from my perspective—as someone who likes powerful skill explosions that can be launched even barehanded and refreshing one-on-one battles—I felt the absence of ‘Bluey’ more and more the more I played the game.
After I finished the game yesterday, the fact that I had recklessly kicked Bluey out started to weigh on my mind.
‘That bastard Park Kkol-gap… he’s just an AI, he wouldn’t actually be sulking, would he?’
Of course, he definitely was.
Originally, the beings called Constellations in GOF were a total disaster of rudeness, arrogance, narrow-mindedness, lack of common sense, and personality flaws.
They were star-powder grinders who would sulk at the drop of a hat and cut off the player.
There was even a saying that the game developers intentionally set the Constellations to be prickly as a ‘devil’s system’ to rip money off the users.
‘This is the first time those words have really hit home.’
Since I had been so popular with the Constellations from the start, I had never really been swayed by them.
‘I didn’t even know my situation was unusual until I saw the game community.’
When I did a star-draw using star powder, Diamond grades rolled around like pebbles, and the Constellations performed ‘Constellation-duce 101’ live just to be chosen by me.
But now, as I thought about calling back the Constellation I had flatly rejected, I felt strangely self-conscious.
A quiet morning.
Right now, I am at the convenience store today as well, working my part-time job.
Beep. Beep.
After scanning the barcodes of the products the customer brought and finishing the card payment, there were no more customers.
‘Crazy. I’ve lived long enough to worry about an AI sulking. This damn Constellation Dating Sim system. If a piece of data leaves, it leaves; what can I do?’
Unlike typical dating sims where you can try to conquer a route again, the characteristic of this ‘Constellation Dating Sim’ is that you can’t re-attempt a route.
You could almost view them as actual personalities.
Still, if I hung on pathetically through the Constellation chat, he might accept it.
‘But why should I? I’ll try calling him once when I get home later, and if I get ignored, I’ll just call the Diamond I used before.’
My ranking might go down a bit, but that’s not my concern.
I’m just doing it because it’s fun; it’s not like a game ranking puts food on the table.
One day, as I grew crazy for the game and my skills improved daily—to the point where I was getting confused if I was fighting a player or an NPC—my nickname appeared on the rankings.
The first time I made the rankings, I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited, but after that, I didn’t feel much even when my rank rose.
It was just a brief moment of pride; there was absolutely no change or reward in my real life.
‘Is there no way to make money through the game?’
I stood up with that thought.
After checking the items that came in this morning, I began to organize the logistics warehouse and clean.
Despite how it looks, I am a diligent part-timer who enjoys the full trust of the owner.
To ordinary part-timers, it might be a temporary job passing through for some pocket money, but to me, this convenience store was a very precious workplace.
Finding a part-time job with this intimidating face wasn’t easy.
Tinkle—
That’s when a customer arrived.
“Welcome.”
I stepped out of the warehouse and walked limpingly toward the counter, glancing at the customers who entered.
They were clearly male students—minors.
‘Shit.’
It was the most annoying situation.
Three guys reeking of high school vibes walked in confidently as a group.
Normal students would be studying hard at school at this hour, not wandering around in civilian clothes reeking of alcohol.
‘They’re delinquents.’
The fact that they were unnecessarily confident because they were somewhat good-looking was quite unsettling.
For reference, among the schools near the convenience store, there is an all-boys high school notorious for being very delinquent.
That was the reason the owner hired me.
“One Mevius Sky Blue, one Marlboro Red, and one Dunhill Light, please.”
Their tastes were certainly diverse.
It looked like one guy was taking the lead to buy cigarettes for the three of them.
You shouldn’t use polite language with bastards like this.
I answered shortly.
“ID.” “I guess I do look a bit young.”
The guy standing at the front as the representative winked and gave me an eye-smile.
‘This brat?’
A deep irritation rose within me at his attitude of trying to gloss over it with a half-assed charm just because his face was somewhat decent.
When my expression hardened, the guy flinched slightly but forced a smile and took out an ID.
“I’m a college student.” “…….”
Looking at the ID, the resident registration number matched a college student’s, but the face was way too different.
It just so happened that the fingerprint scanner for IDs in the convenience store was broken, and it seemed they had timed their visit perfectly, knowing that for some reason.
I spoke, gesturing with my hand.
“Give me your student ID.” “I don’t carry my student ID around.” “Well, that could happen. Who carries a student ID every day these days? Then open your school’s student ID app and show me.”
Perhaps they hadn’t prepared that far; the three of them panicked and their expressions stiffened.
The pattern of these bastards is obvious.
After pulling a trick so clumsy it’s absurd, if things don’t go their way, the violent instincts of kids with under-developed frontal lobes come out.
“Ah, fuck. I tried to talk it out.”
A hollow laugh escaped me at the sight of him trying to set the mood while spitting out curses.
I said calmly.
“Try me if you’re pissed off. I just called the police. Since you’re high schoolers, you’re probably past the age of juvenile protection; let’s try ruining your lives with a criminal record at a young age.”
The guys hesitated.
At the mention of calling the police, the eyes of the three of them shook like an earthquake, and one of them soon turned around.
“Hey, let’s go.” “……Fuck. Because of that leg-crippled pig, I couldn’t even buy a single cigarette.”
Kha-ak, ptooey.
The one whose face looked as if it had been ground against asphalt spat a thick yellowish glob of phlegm onto the convenience store floor.
In that instant, something snapped in my head.
“…….”
Sshhk.
I pulled out a steel pipe I had prepared in advance for emergencies.
This neighborhood originally has… quite a lot of crime.
Not that I’m planning to become a criminal or anything.
Thump. Thump.
At the sound of footsteps ringing out irregularly yet heavily, the guys turned back toward me just as they were leaving the store.
The moment they made eye contact with me and saw the steel pipe, they were startled out of their wits.
“C-Crazy!” “Run!” “Ack!”
I hadn’t actually called the police.
If I lost my reason and fought here, the one who would end up turning the other into a bloody mess and going to jail would be me, not them.
The three high school bastards ran as hard as they could to get away from me.
Limp, limp.
I started to give chase reflexively but soon stopped as I realized the state of my leg.
“…….”
Grip.
Standing at the convenience store door with the club in hand, I stared blankly at the guys who were quickly moving away.
To be precise, at their legs.
A customer who was walking toward the convenience store from a distance saw me and flinched in shock, then immediately turned around and ran away quickly.
‘……How annoying.’
I stared intently at the two functioning legs of the person moving away, as if spectating, and then slowly turned around.
Tinkle—
The sound of the bell as the convenience store door opened felt lonely.
Perhaps because I play virtual reality games so much, I sometimes forget that my legs are in this state in reality.
‘If only my legs were fine…….’
If my legs were fine, if I hadn’t had that accident, if I hadn’t gone there that day.
By now, I would have had several gold medals hanging around my neck.
Just as the black resentment knotted in my heart was starting to rear its head, an unidentified message window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[A constellation of ‘God of Fighters’ wishes to open the ‘Coin Market’.] [Would you like to open it?]
My steps toward the counter faltered.
“Coin Market?”
But the format of the message window appearing before me was somehow familiar.
It was definitely the same window that had popped up with the ‘100 Coins’ thing when I pulled Constellations in GOF and kicked out Kkol-gap.
I remembered it clearly because it was different even from the game’s message format.
“Am I finally going crazy?”
I suddenly wondered if I was seeing things as a side effect of excessive virtual reality gaming.
