Not only am I a handsome guy, but I’m also a crazy talented gamer?!

Episode 18

I listened, almost memorising what she was telling me. It was all important information. I couldn’t be more grateful for Ren’s ability to easily explain the current trading situation and the importance of items.

There were many unique items I didn’t pick up and even more rare items. I have a slight, very slight (?) case of guichaism (severe), so picking up items is hard for me.

She taught me all the current prices and gave me tonnes of information, including the use of skills, the mastery system, etc. She was indispensable to me.

* * *

I woke up in the capsule, my head throbbing.

‘Is this the aftereffect of her death?

No, it’s not. I’m still alive, so it’s not an aftereffect but a symptom of the end of my life. My head is dizzy, and I have no appetite. I want to play games again, but for the first time in a long time, I want to enjoy the real world.

Virtual reality is good, but it’s not as real as real life. Real is real, and virtual is virtual. Preconceived notions are scary. No matter how realistic a virtual world is, it can never be the same as the real world.

I opened the window of my house and breathed in the crisp (?) air of the Korean Empire.

“Kolok Kolok~! It’s too foggy.”

I quickly closed the window.

Muffled.

My whole body made a sound. My body isn’t listening. Maybe I should get some exercise. I put on my jogging shoes and left the house to go for a jog.

Thump, thump, thump!

“Huh?”

Ten, ten, ten, ten, nine.

I’m finally beeping. I’m not feeling too good today.

After a quick jog and a shower, I went to the shooting range. The range always welcomes me.

But I’m not happy with my score.

I leave the range with a bad feeling. I’m walking in a daze, and before I know it, I’m in a virtual reality game room.

“Can I get you a seat?”

“I’ll take the Sudden Death seat, please.”

“Me too.”

I asked for Sudden Death out of habit, but then another customer behind me asked for the same Sudden Death as me. I glanced over and realised he looked familiar.

“……!”

Yellow, spiky hair and a face like a bully. I didn’t recognise him, but he seemed to recognise me first.

“……?”

“You!”

He exclaimed, in a very bad mood.

“Who are you?”

I can’t remember.

But his next snide remark quickly reminded me.

“Don’t you know, it’s been four days, and you’ve already forgotten Sudden Death!”

“…! That asshole!”

I remembered. I remembered my triumphant victory in Sudden Death when this asshole didn’t wear a helmet and got KO’d by me in a single blow.

“Fuhahaha, you’re the one who broke me!”

“We died together; it was a draw!”

It seems that I remembered the sticks quite well. Still, it was nice to see Comrade Sudden Death after all these years.

“Want to play?”

“I’ve been waiting for this day! Kkkkk~.”

We must be about the same age and have the same hobbies. We casually placed our pieces, laid down in the capsule, and connected to Sudden Death.

Do you want to log in?

“Yes.”

I’m going to check your iris and EEG, Mr. One shot, one kill. You’re logged in. Do you want to auto-enter?

“No, I’ll make a room over the network. Get the fuck in here! It’s a control.”

-Okay.

I wait, and before I know it, a notification pops up that I’m in.

Would you like to start?

“Yes.”

* * *

I felt better than I had in a long time. It was a match.

I picked up my K2, which had good accuracy and fire, crouched down, and shot the sniper in the head. This thug was so fond of his hairstyle that he still wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Anyway, he couldn’t beat me in a single round, but it was still fun, especially seeing the look on his ridiculous face.

I opened the capsule and got up. I opened the capsule and stood up. I flashed him my best smile, tossed him the numbered ticket, and jumped out first.

I hadn’t made a bet that the loser would pay, but I felt like it.

“Hey!”

“Huh?”

The bum ran after me, relieved to see that he had at least paid. I was a little nervous that he hadn’t paid, although I doubted it.

“How old are you?”

“28.”

“Oh, so you’re a bachelor?”

“Awww, the woe of the unattached, are you?”

“Hmm, I’m 28 too!”

“Kkkkk, you’re a bachelor too!”

Saji’s expression didn’t change. Does he believe this?

“I have a pretty girlfriend! Kkkkk.”

“Oh dear, my defeat!”

We got to know each other over drinks at the bar. He’s a nice guy, unusually jovial for his looks, and we hit it off, especially me.

After three or four rounds of drinks, we were like BFs who had been friends for ten years.

We exchanged phone numbers and left the bar, eager to end the night sober.

At home, I went to bed and tried to sleep.

“The real world is a good place.

Would you like to connect?

“Yes.”

measuring iris and brain waves. Would you like to start with the character ‘Karen’, a level 103 Human Inspection Master and novice archer?

“Yes.”

Instead of darkness ahead, a new world opened up. I was logged in before the warehouse keeper.

* * * *

-Today’s event. 1.2x experience. Have fun.

Today is the fourth day of the event. In terms of game time, it’s been 24 days. I didn’t realise how much time passes when you take a day off.

“Skill Window!”

I opened the archer skill window and glanced at the various skills. There were several skills: Hawkeye, Magic Arrow, Speaker, Multiple Shot, and Sniper.

I learned the magic arrow, which was the first skill I could learn.

I could learn Hawkeye, but I wouldn’t need to improve my hit rate.

“Where’s Ren?

Ren’s name on the party list was greyed out. The party list doesn’t disappear until you disband it.

I decided to leave Krepa and head to Breval, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the only empire in Middle-earth. It’s the largest, with lots to see and lots of artifacts. It’s so big that it has everything: newspapers, television, magazines, books, and my ultimate goal: an amusement park. The amusement park is a favourite place for female users, and it’s run by an operator.

“I hear there are a lot of pretty female players.

I happily teleported there.

Breval.

In this setting, an empire was founded by Byzantium, the first Byzantine emperor, after he united all human powers and drove out other races.

He named it Breval, and human power began to grow around it. There have been no other nations or anti-Byzantine forces since, and they are content with their peace.

“Is it a good place?”

The current emperor of Byzantium is the 12th Byzantul. This is the NPC who inherits the name. I was looking at the fountain now. It was elegant and cool, like a mediaeval fountain, but the ultimate reason I was looking at it was because it had a lot of hot female users.

I pulled out my sunglasses and put them on. Partly for fashion, partly so the women wouldn’t realise I was looking at them. In Middle-earth, there’s nothing you don’t need. There are sunglasses, pens, and even pants.

I’ve never travelled to Middle-earth. There are more places to see and more cool things to do in Middle-earth than in the real world. Breval is where most players are, and many of them have homes here. Of course, this is a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

Why do female users in the capital save so much clothing? No, it’s so nice to see them saving clothes. I couldn’t help but drool, but I couldn’t care less. It’s summer in Middle-earth, so the female players were wearing short skirts and sleeveless.

Even if they wouldn’t be this bold in real life, I’m sure there are more and more female players who would be brave in a virtual world. And since so many people were wearing sleeveless clothes, many users sometimes wore swimwear-like outfits.

“Middle-earth. I’m going to do this for the rest of my life.

* * *

For about three hours, I was just playing snowballs.

‘It’s already been three hours; Middle-earth is a good place.

This time, I went to the most famous restaurant in Breval. This place is run by users. A user who is a chef by profession.

“This must be the biggest place, because it’s the best, right?

I walked into the restaurant with anticipation.

“Welcome! Thank you for coming to the Goblin Restaurant. We’re a bit busy right now, so we’d appreciate it if you could wait over there for about half an hour.”

The friendly part-time worker asked me to wait. I’m not usually one to wait, but she was pretty, so I decided to give it a try.

She led me to a sitting area, where there were newspapers lined up.

“Shall we take a look at the newspapers?

There were several newspapers, some about the real world and some about Middle-earth. I picked up the one about Middle-earth and started reading.

“Hmmm, a beauty contest? Hmmm, if I win, I win first prize. What else is there?

I flipped through the paper and stumbled upon the classifieds.

“Live service? Oh, I’ll have to memorise the number. 11-154? Kkkkk, this is better than the real world. Hmm, what is this?

-Vampires, gather round.

“Does this have something to do with me?

I continued reading.

In this usurpation, I became the head of the Crimson Blood, the most powerful of the vampire clans.

I tried to capture the Blood Emperor, but he was already dead. If you were awarded the position of Blood Emperor, please read this article. If the leaders of the other clans see this, I hope they’ll come. Vampires must unite. His name is Chris.

‘…Hmm, so there are nine clans of vampires, right? Since they’re also leaders, they must have been converted to users, so I can rule over them and the vampires spread across the continent. Kkkk.’

I decided to send a whisper.

“Whisper, Chris.”

Send a whisper to the user, Chris?

“Yes.”

-What for?

“Blood Emperor.”