Chapter 93: Each’s Daily Life
The room, empty of anything that could be called an ornament, was desolate.
The TV continuously broadcasted footage of the 5th floor’s conquest and stories about Kang Jinhyuk.
“Is it that guy again?”
Cheon Yuseong, who had been sitting on the bed, muttered to himself.
His murmur, laden with complicated feelings, carried several meanings.
One was the frustration that the gap between himself and the rival he needed to surpass wasn’t closing in the slightest.
Another was a sense of self-loathing that he had, perhaps unknowingly, started imitating the swordsmanship of that very rival.
‘To fight the opponent I most want to beat, I end up learning their techniques…’
It was a sort of contradiction.
He never wanted to win by resorting to such methods.
Yet, no matter how much he thought it over,
he couldn’t see a way to close that gap without emulating his opponent.
So, he arrived at a single conclusion:
To taste victory, he’d have to cast aside his pride.
Clatter.
Cutlery rattled on the table.
Chicken and pizza, cream shrimp and Yangjangpi, two bottles each of beer and soju.
All were exactly the same as the menu Jinhyuk had prepared for a mukbang in the past.
On a tablet PC at one corner of the table, a playlist of Jinhyuk’s past VTube videos was cued up.
[Hello, Brosephs! Today’s content is ‘Legend of Legends’. I’m going to pull off a 1v5 Pentakill with Teemo. Ready to watch a masterclass? Eh? You think Teemo’s overrated? If you’re so sure, try to snipe me. I’ll shove poisonous mushrooms up your nostrils.]
Imitating everything, from lifestyle and behaviors to eating habits, and every single game and content the guy did,
was not a hard task for medical student Cheon Yuseong, who was adept at designing efficient learning routes.
‘The key in this video is Teemo, huh.’
[Heheheheh?Kahahaha?Kah?Kah! Don’t ignore the discipline of the scouts! Captain Teemo!]
Teemo.
Teemo…
Cheon Yuseong grabbed his Monami pen and scribbled in his notebook, highlighting the word with a yellow fluorescent pen and adding a star for emphasis.
‘I will… win, no matter what.’
Cheon Yuseong bit into his chicken with determination, engrossed in the video.
How many hours had passed?
Ding-dong!
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
Naturally, Cheon Yuseong intended to ignore it.
A random visitor was not his priority right now.
However,
when the entire front door was slashed apart, he could no longer afford to ignore it.
Kagagagak!
A rapid sword strike.
The place where the metal was cut glowed red-hot,
and through that gap,
“Ha-ha. Hope you don’t mind if I let myself in.”
A smirking blond foreigner revealed himself.
“Who are you!”
“My real name’s another matter, but you can just call me Gawain for convenience.”
“Gawain?”
“Yes. It’s common where I’m from.”
Gawain shrugged as he scanned Cheon Yuseong’s living space.
“Hmm, this is unexpected. Considering you’re Unnown, this place is quite cramped and humble. I didn’t expect a 5-star hotel, but I did imagine somewhere more distinguished than a studio.”
Unknown?
‘Out of the blue, he says I’m Unknown?’
Gawain’s words made Cheon Yuseong quirk an eyebrow in confusion.
‘Could it be…?’
But soon, he realized the whole story.
There could only be one person capable of such a prank.
“Kang Jinhyuk, that son of a—”
Cheon Yuseong couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Hmm. This isn’t the time to be casually looking for someone else, is it?”
It was because his opponent had already drawn a sharp sword, smiling as he advanced.
***
Meanwhile, at the same moment, Kang Jinhyuk, who was in front of Shinsegae Department Store in Yeongdeungpo, busied his fingers.
“It’s strange. Why are my ears so itchy?”
As if tiny worms were wriggling around his eardrums.
“That’s normal when someone is cursing you, right?” said Elis, who stood beside him with an expression suggesting she’s stating the obvious.
“What? Who’s cursing me? Who dares, when I live as nobly and diligently as I do?”
“Tsk tsk. I’ve never seen a Vampire as obstinate as you, it’s astounding you can say such things.”
Look at her, getting all cheeky because I’ve been treating her nicely lately?
“Shall we just head back? Going around department stores doesn’t seem fitting for a rare break. We might as well spend the whole day in dungeons.”
Jinhyuk immediately laid down the law.
Elis’ voice suddenly sharpened in response.
“Ah. Why must you touch upon such a mean topic!”
“Why? I have a favorite idiom. It’s ‘putting oneself in another’s shoes’. Think about what others might feel before speaking.”
“Ye, yeah, right. You’re the one who cares the least about others!”
Hmm.
She makes a peculiarly logical point.
Not bad for someone who’s lived for thousands of years.
But, it doesn’t matter.
“My other favorite saying is 내로남불. It means ‘rules apply to everyone except me.’”
“That’s not even a proper idiom!”
“If I like it, it’s an idiom.”
What’s so big about idioms anyway?
They become an idiom once they earn admiration and resonate with the masses.
Just you watch, in a hundred years it’ll proudly make its way into civil servant exams with its own Hanja characters.
“But this is rightfully earned by me. It’s unfair to use it against me as blackmail…”
Elis, who occasionally fed information to Andria, got Jinhyuk to promise that she could enjoy Seoul’s cultural life in exchange.
It was a basic course in ‘Bossology’:
The way a boss lives, the daily routine of a boss, how a boss speaks. Elis was essentially a professor teaching it.
“I’ll let it slide, just this once. So stop sulking. It’s troublesome as it is, with more staff needing management.”
He would have to contact Kim Heewoong, who was in charge of the Black Crow Guild, soon. He had been focusing on climbing the Tower and developing his skills, leaving the guild somewhat neglected, but he felt it needed some attention.
“Really, I can shop whatever I like?”
“Yes, do whatever you want, our Elis.”
And he had no idea he would regret those words so much… until later.
Shortly after entering the department store, Elis unleashed all her pent-up stress and charged ahead like a runaway train.
“Buy everything.”
“Every… everything?”
The employee’s eyes bulged.
No wonder – amidst worries over the economic impact of the Tower and declining sales,
they had been catering to small fry who bragged while merely spending a few million won.
Now, a super VVVIP appeared, ready to sweep all those problems under the rug.
Promotions? Bonuses?
Those weren’t issues anymore.
‘I must secure this customer.’
Thus, a God of Wealth descended at the Yeongdeungpo st화ore, soon to be a legend for ages.
“Just a moment, please! I’ll call the department… the department head right away!”
The employee sprinted off somewhere.
Meanwhile, Jinhyuk pressed his temple with his forefinger.
“If Korea collapses, it’ll likely be due to failing to handle the inflation caused by your spending splurge.”
He had pitied Zimbabwe and Venezuela for their plight.
When he saw them taking out wads of cash just to buy a bottle of water, his eyes welled with tears.
Yet now, sitting right here was a disaster capable of wreaking a national-scale inflation.
“Don’t worry. I don’t know what inflation is, but if it becomes a problem, I shall simply buy that too.”
Sigh.
“I should stop talking about it.”
Arguing would only lead to his loss.
***
After the storm of shopping had passed,
Jinhyuk and Elis found themselves at a famous nearby pub.
While waiting for the ordered dishes, Jinhyuk took the time to sort out the backlog of things he had not yet dealt with.
The most important was distributing the stats he had acquired by leveling up.
Ding!
The status window activated.
Name: Kang Jinhyuk
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Level: 30
Strength 19, Agility 19, Stamina 19, Magic Power 74, Gaps 100, Luck 10, Adaptive 78
Held Stat Points: 9
Held Coins: 1,283,288
Job: None.
Unique Abilities: Fusion, Sword Grave, Star’s Grace, Anubis’s Judgement, Blood Demonic Qi, Mandala
Skills: Lv6 ‘Fire Element’, Lv5 ‘Eye of Gluttony’, Lv4 ‘Sympathy’, Lv4 ‘Brand of Scorching Souls’, Lv4 ‘Toxic Eater’, Lv4 ‘Shallow Breathing’, Lv8 ‘Glacial Sculpting’, Lv4 ‘Daylight’, Lv1 ‘Giant’s Grasp’, Lv3 ‘Soul Chaser Sword’, Lv1 ‘Double Agent’, Lv1 ‘True Taecheonghwarangsimgyeong’, Lv2 ‘Sword Demon Emperor’s Steps’, Lv1 ‘Blurry Scent’, Lv1 ‘Psychic Barrier’
After dealing with the Cult Leader and his followers, he had gained a whopping ’68’ in adaptive stats, and also climbed 3 levels.
‘It’s an unbelievably fast pace, even after looking at it again.’
Considering the lengths he went to gather Gaps for a month, it was a remarkably rapid level-up,
even compared to ranked players who were boosted through exclusive guild dungeons and herd-hunting to reach levels in the 30s.
‘Including the stats, there probably isn’t a player in better shape than me now.’
With all his knowledge and experience as a veteran, the gap was wider than ever.
Good.
Jinhyuk smiled contentedly.
It felt like he was finally seeing the fruits of his past efforts.
‘Let’s neatly round the stats to 20, and then invest the rest into magic power.’
[Strength increases from 19 → 20.]
[Agility increases from 19 → 20.]
[Stamina increases from 19 → 20.]
[Magic Power increases from 74 → 80.]
There might be a touch of OCD, but it feels good when the numbers are even.
Plus, his recently uploaded video looked set to break 100 million views, so using the ‘Coin Exchange Coupon’ would make it a perfect wrap-up.
At that moment,
“Table 127, your food is ready.”
The waiter appeared with a table full of food.
The main dishes for snacks were two items, coupled with two 500cc glasses of Hoegaarden beer. Iced water and various salads were separate.
“Here we have gopchang and fresh salmon. Watch how it’s eaten.”
Jinhyuk deftly maneuvered his chopsticks.
The gopchang’s unique richness was tamed with its piquant sauce,
while the fresh, thick-cut salmon topped generously with tartar sauce and onions brought out an involuntary exclamation of delight.
It was a combination that demanded a drink in accompaniment.
Elis, too, who stuffed her mouth full, sparkled with surprise.
“What is this meat? How can it taste so amazing…!”
Hm.
How should I explain?
“It’s, um, bowel matter.”
“What?”
“It’s a dish made from cow intestines near the anus.”
“Stop kidding. I’m enjoying the meal; why say something that’ll put me off?”
“Have you ever seen me joke about what I’m eating?”
Elis didn’t take long to realize Jinhyuk wasn’t kidding.
And then she plunged into profound despair.
“I must eat it. But how can a noble such as myself… Still, it tastes like nothing I’ve had before… No, I can’t. I must resist. Resist my foot. Aaah!”
From that moment on, Elis grappled with gopchang amidst conflicting emotions for a long while.
While Elis agonized between pride and desire, Jinhyuk was…
‘The boundary-breaking mirror.’
He took out the special item he had obtained from the 5th floor.
