“Wow, that was a fruitful negotiation.”
I opened the front door, carelessly tossed my slippers aside, and returned to my room, collapsing onto the bed with a satisfied expression.
Now that I no longer have to sneak out to the bathroom during class, I can breathe a sigh of relief.
Gomteng seemed to realize some new fact that even he didn’t know, resting his fluffy arm on his chin and murmuring.
“Quota, huh? I didn’t know something like that existed.”
“Is that all? It seems there’s also a device that allows you to return without dying.”
“How irritating… I mean, was it just the executives using that? Damn…”
As memories of the unfair experiences I endured as a monster began to resurface, Gomteng moved his arm from his chin to his head, at a loss for words.
I wondered how many deaths he had experienced, but I didn’t bother to ask.
I was about to yawn from sleepiness, but what does it matter how many times Gomteng died?
Aside from the satisfying negotiation, my lack of sleep from waking up early in the morning was going to be caught up during school.
“Hey, did you game all night?”
“…Get lost.”
Suhyun, the guy who dared to poke me while I was sprawled out during break.
Once one of them came over to bother me, the other two gradually slinked over to join in the conversation.
“Why are you messing with someone who’s sleeping?”
“Well… because it’s fun.”
“You’re really something.”
Suhyun, Taehyun, and Dongha, who had approached my desk, spat out their remarks one after the other.
It seemed this break was not meant for sleeping.
“Just get lost, you jerk…”
Even saying that, I propped myself up with sleepy eyes.
Rubbing my groggy eyes with my index finger to clear my vision a bit, I folded up the blanket I had been using as a pillow and placed it on my lap.
With the blanket that had occupied most of the desk now gone, Dongha replaced it with a pack of hardtack he brought over.
Why hardtack of all things?
“What’s with the hardtack…?”
“Just thought it was tasty. Want some?”
Moving the pack of hardtack, it seemed like Dongha was the one who bought it.
Having memories from the military, buying hardtack felt like a waste of money.
Thinking back to when the supply came in and nobody touched the hardtack that was past its expiry date, I still felt a jolt.
“When I get to the military, I can eat as much of this as I want, so why would I buy it?”
That didn’t mean I’d refuse to eat it, though, so I stuck my fingers into the bag and picked one out with my thumb and index finger, munching on it.
The unique texture of hardtack lingering somewhere between gritty sand and a snack.
Moisture evaporated in an instant, turning my mouth as dry as a parched desert.
“It’s actually good.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s bad or anything.”
To put it bluntly, it’s a waste of money.
Not that I needed to voice that out loud, I soaked the next piece in saliva and ate it.
After all, being in a position where I was receiving food, it wouldn’t be polite to keep complaining.
Just as I was chewing on the hardtack, my mouth involuntarily opened.
“Ahh, hmm.”
“What did you really do last night?”
After letting out a long yawn, Suhyun seemed genuinely curious, and this time it was Dongha who asked instead of him.
I transformed into a magical girl and had meaningful negotiations in a redevelopment area.
Surely, the occurrence rate of monsters in Incheon would decrease from now on.
…But I couldn’t say that to these guys, so I thought up a suitable excuse.
“Meore.”
“Don’t lie, you didn’t log in at home.”
As I tried to brush off the question by saying I played games at home, Suhyun seemed to know I didn’t log in.
Right, I had added him as a friend.
Noticing that my flimsy excuse had failed, my mind started racing for my next alibi.
What’s another suitable excuse…?
Having woken up just now, nothing really came to mind.
“Oh, right.”
“Played with my second account.”
To make it sound like I hadn’t lied, I tossed out the excuse mentioning my second account.
It wasn’t specifically about a game, but I had indeed collected something to the level of slaughter recently.
In a way, doesn’t that fall within the category of slaughtering?
“Wow, what a trashy thing to say.”
It seemed this excuse didn’t raise much suspicion, and Suhyun’s face turned sour as he half-laughed and scolded me.
It’s a common story among gamers.
Users who were in the upper tiers seek a refuge in the lower tiers to release the stress that had piled up.
Of course, they often face penalties for that, but Siyeon’s account should be fine.
I had made it without her consent, but it’s not like Siyeon would use Meore anyway!
There shouldn’t be any worry of getting caught, probably…
As I mentioned using a secondary account as my excuse, Suhyun returned to talking about games with admiration.
“Wow, but how are you getting ‘red star’? Were you just gaming as a kid?”
“Lack of effort, you incompetent fool.”
Seemingly remembering the game where he was thoroughly humiliated at the PC bang days ago, he wasn’t too keen on the term ‘incompetent’ and was pulling up another game’s story instead.
“Oh, but you’re terrible at Vigilante.”
“What? I don’t hear a word about a game that has a 10% PC bang share?”
Grinning, Suhyun cupped his ear like a funnel and mocked me.
In this country… no, the world, the level of gaming skills is judged based on Meore.
Even if you get good at some FPS game that is trending among teenagers with a share of only about 10% in PC bangs…
There’s a game enjoyed by people in their teens to thirties with a share of over 40% that is rated far higher.
“Dude, that’s really frustrating.”
“If you can’t stand it, you know what to do?”
“Hey, are we going for a second round today?”
As the atmosphere began to escalate, Dongha was nudging for another round.
I wondered if I’d get the chance to grab a free meal at the PC bang again today, just when…
“Who’s the red star in Meore? *Cough cough.*”
A strange voice suddenly chimed in from behind us without hesitation.
Turning around at the sound of a throat-clearing cough mixed in, I noticed a male student offering a faint scent of cigarette smoke approaching us.
He seemed interested in my ranking and asked if we were going to the PC bang.
Though he had intruded abruptly into our conversation, we continued chatting nonetheless.
“Mari is red star 1.”
The student wearing a uniform was named Yoon Ji-ho.
Every break, he’d go out to smoke and come back, just loafing around in the back throughout class.
I wondered what he found so interesting all of a sudden, but surely, gaming was a topic that appealed to male students.
Ji-ho was not just interested in gaming ranks; he even asked about our plans after school.
“Oh, are you guys going to the PC bang today?”
Addressing us collectively rather than just me, Suhyun, it seemed he was already done talking to the other two and was now asking me.
“Huh? I’m not sure… We’re going, what about Mari?”
“Wait, what’s the date today?”
The odd days of the month I had to keep in mind.
I turned Suhyun’s question about whether we were going to the PC bang back to him, asking what date it was.
“23rd.”
“Oh, that makes sense then.”
After hearing the answer, it seemed things were settled.
Siyeon would be in charge of monster subjugation today.
Even if a monster appeared, there was no way I’d be rushing outside while playing a game at the PC bang.
Though it was just a conversation exchanged through texting, I also reached an agreement with Siyeon to eliminate monsters quickly and painlessly.
Her brief response of “Understood,” was short, but I got a reply, so I was relieved.
Honestly, it’s still a bit clumsy, but Siyeon’s magical power compared to mine isn’t lacking at all.
Unless we’re dealing with a giant monster that could chew through an average building, it’d be over in no time.
“What’s your main character?”
“All-around okay.”
The conversation continued as we neared the end of school, responding coolly to Ji-ho’s question.
He’s just a guy who hangs around with the group that relentlessly smokes, so I figured, ignoring him altogether might turn into a hassle, so I decided to play a few games.
Honestly, it’s hard to have a good impression of someone who’s been smoking since middle school.
“There are five of us, should we do a team game?”
“I’m not that good, is that okay?”
“Eh, it’s fine! Red star will carry us!”
“If I throw the game, I’ll bail out.”
Flowing with the moment, we made a team of five for the multiplayer game.
The result was 6 matches, 5 wins, 1 loss.
That 1 loss happened because Suhyun, with his relentless stalking, kept dying until he couldn’t take it anymore and slammed the keyboard, causing the computer to shut down.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a computer malfunction; it rebooted quickly.
By the time we got home, it was nearly eight o’clock.
I kicked off my sneakers at the entrance and shoved them in the low shoe rack, then immediately took off my clothes to hang them up.
As I stepped into the room, Siyeon’s door burst open.
Naturally, she wouldn’t have anything to do with me, but I paused for a moment at the suddenly opened door, glancing that way.
Just when I was about to continue walking to my room…
“I want to go to an academy.”
“Huh?”
Siyeon’s unexpected words reached my ears.
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