🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 01
“Five healing potions, please.”
“That’ll be five gold coins.”
Mona smiled gently and held up her fingers. The man at the counter rummaging through his bag paid the amount and gathered five small bottles.
Beginner’s tunic, beginner’s pants, beginner’s boots… and weapons.
Mona peeked past the counter at the man’s waist. The glint suggested it was a “well-sharpened” training wooden sword with some sparkling effect.
His awkward glances around showed without a doubt that he was a new player. In that case…
‘It’s about time.’
Just then, a transparent notification appeared above the man’s head. A yellow exclamation mark blinked and shone.
<SYSTEM>Quest target assigned – [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer]
<SYSTEM>Quest target assigned – [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer]
<SYSTEM>Quest target assigned – [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer]
As expected. Mona turned off the increasingly noisy system window.
‘I know, I know. Geez.’
Still, why would someone claiming to be an archer choose a wooden sword? Mona’s eyes grew bored as she looked at [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer].
A man with ambitions to become the ultimate archer, [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer] was amazed at everything, repeatedly raising his hands, stomping his feet, and shouting “skill!” or “inventory!” even mid-conversation. His exclamations like “Amazing!”, “Whoa!”, “What?!” and “This is awesome!” sounded almost musical.
Well, it is fascinating. Mona patiently waited for him to calm down.
“‘Bond!’ Is this the friend window? Whoa, there’s no one here.”
Isn’t that obvious?
“First time in Newbie Village?”
“Y-yes… yes.”
Mona, who had been quietly observing, couldn’t hold back any longer and decided to speak up. The man, manipulating the air, had suddenly slapped his own cheek and shouted, “Ouch! That really hurts!”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Mona.”
[Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer]’s eyes widened in surprise. His expression clearly read, “I thought you were just background scenery.”
Normally, she would have sighed or complained about lacking items first, but she decided to skip all that.
<SYSTEM>[Quest-giving] skill activated!
“Lately, a pack of wolves has been causing trouble in the village forest. I need to get some items, but the merchants can’t come out here.”
“I see…”
“By the way, you look strong. I know this is sudden and a bit forward, but could you help me? I’ll reward you handsomely.”
“Huh?”
The man, who had been making strange noises, fell silent for a moment—probably startled by the sudden quest window—then shouted into the air:
“I accept!”
‘Ah, that startled me.’
“Huh? Wait, I mean I accept!”
‘You don’t need to shout it so loudly. Just touch the window or say yes.’
But Mona didn’t explain those details. Because…
<SYSTEM>User [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer] has been added to the quest list.
She was, after all, just an NPC.
[Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer] glanced at Mona’s face, then at the [NPC Mona] floating above his head.
Mona ignored his quick glances and chose not to ask questions like, “Where are you looking right now?” to avoid hurting the fragile ego of a newbie.
“So, you’ll help me?”
“Of course! Those bad wolves! I’ll take care of all of them.”
[Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer] nodded enthusiastically. He seemed to have no doubts even about this sudden quest.
“Thank you so much. You’re very kind. The village forest is north after you pass the general store.”
When Mona added that he needed to hunt ten wolves and bring back their claws, he got so excited he even bought a 5×5 inventory expansion pouch to hold the claws.
His face lit up with a thrill, probably thinking, “Could this be a main quest?”
It was just a daily quest. Mona was certain he must have missed the notification.
“Phew.”
After the quest-giver left, the potion shop went quiet again.
‘His nickname is [Ji-Jeon Supreme Archer], but maybe archery isn’t his strong suit…’
Mona quietly polished the already-clean potion bottles. Looking at the system window, she realized there was still plenty of time before the end of her shift.
Once the work was done, she’d stretch, take some supplements…
‘Was the capsule inspection today? Ah, next week… It’s supposed to rain; I wonder how crowded the subway will be.’
While habitually thinking ahead to later hours, the potion bottles kept piling up on the counter.
Mona’s online VR game, The Great Journey: The One Adventure for You, prided itself on being a world where “everything you can imagine is possible.” It was a well-made world.
Due to some protective law, realistic bloody battles weren’t allowed, but even the “gentle” version of combat was incredibly popular. Capsule centers had sprung up like mushrooms thanks to this game.
However, the truth was that [NPC Mona] and most other NPCs weren’t true AI. To put it simply, half were staff pretending, and half were computer systems.
This was to compensate for the limitations of AI that humans couldn’t fix otherwise.
‘The pay isn’t bad, though.’
She’d applied thinking it was a regular corporate support job, but when told she’d be an NPC, she had imagined something like a mascot costume part-time job.
She loved games too much to hesitate for long. Probably thought naively, “Wow, I can get paid while playing a game?”
‘Yeah, I was naive. Didn’t even realize being an NPC was just a side task.’
Having produced an overflowing amount of potions, Mona now cleaned the counter while thinking.
She handled customer service, data analysis, and even minor bug reports that popped up constantly.
As expected, the company worked her efficiently for the pay.
If her assigned AI character caused trouble, overtime wasn’t optional; she had to fully use capsule time.
Though she was supposed to observe legal working hours to prevent brain overload, sometimes it was unavoidable.
Other NPC actors envied her space in newbie village, but…
‘Being stuck in this small area, only giving low-level quests, is a whole other problem.’
Still, time passed, and she became capable of crafting healing potions with her eyes closed.
—Using real people as NPCs in a VR game… I feel like reporting this. It’s all just a script!
Mona glanced at the voice messenger suddenly pinging. After ten repeated messages, she didn’t even feel like responding.
-You at least have a home. The guard NPCs are basically living on the streets. Not homeless, but what is this? Yet they still get assigned work.
“Yeah, right. People would think I’m overworking.”
-The field AI needs extra attention. Why does everyone have to hit them once just to test them…
“Oh, really? I didn’t know that about the field.”
-Hey!
The friend who interviewed with her and became [NPC Serious Guard] had plenty of complaints.
-I don’t even have a name! Why “Serious”? Standing in a pose means players don’t talk to me. Keeping my mouth shut all day, you know?
Mona giggled as she read the message filled with crying emojis. Still, this friend was the most immersed in the role. Hmph.
She turned off the voice messenger in case a customer arrived and pulled up the holographic keyboard.
[Get to work. The work system doesn’t lie.]
<SYSTEM>Sent.
Mona then closed the blinking messenger window, rested her chin on her hand, and gazed outside.
New players were diligently moving to complete quests. Most wore similar beginner outfits, but hair color was freely customizable, glowing in rainbow hues.
‘They look like a cult worshipping rainbows…’
Two hours later, Mona was busily working. She used her [Quest-giving] skill, distributed potions, and saw off hesitant beginners selling items.
When the shop emptied, she casually threw the bought items into the data incinerator and tidied up.
“Hey! Don’t forget your potions!”
“Oh, goodness, almost left without paying. Thank you.”
“If the calculation is off, it’s exhausting for me too.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, no… never mind.”
After giving three [Mona’s Potions] to each player who completed the daily quest, she finally had time to stretch.
‘Alright, now!’
She quickly cleared the messy counter and looked outside. As expected, the sun was slipping through the trees at the usual angle.
Once the sunlight crossed the pointed branches, it would mean almost time to clock out. And…
‘About now, probably.’
After tossing the leftover quest items into the incinerator, everything looked orderly. Mona snapped her fingers and expertly crafted more potions.
<SYSTEM>[Potion Crafting] skill activated!
Potion crafting involved taking herbs and water from an endlessly replenishing supply and using the skill. In other words, it was simple manual work.
Though she wondered why NPCs even needed skills—convenience or not—Mona secretly liked the pretty glow of the potions changing instantaneously.
Bang! Bang! The potions popped out like fireworks.
<SYSTEM>User has set a destination.
<SYSTEM>Approaching within 10M.
After preparing twenty-four potions to make complete sets, the system window popped up. Someone had pinpointed [Mona’s Potion Shop] on the map.
It was the system trying to consider the staff’s convenience but came across as a high-tech GPS—still amusing.
“Cough.”
Mona arranged the potions neatly, straightened her neck, and stood at exactly two spans from the counter, in perfect posture as instructed by the NPC manual.
‘Are there shopkeepers who always stand like this?’
Lost in thought, the system that had been broadcasting distances—5m, 3m—went silent.
“….”
She was sure someone was at the entrance, but they weren’t coming in. Mona silently counted: one, two, three, four.
The system didn’t tell her who it was, but she knew perfectly well.
‘Five.’
As soon as she counted the last number, the doorknob turned as if someone had been waiting.
