About three years and six months ago, the world changed.
Monsters and dungeons, commonly found in novels and games, began to appear in the world.
The Earth I knew became an abyss, but as if to balance the world, some people began to gain power that could go against these monsters.
People called them ‘Players.’
Players were able to move to a different world, called La Elta, through the randomly generated portals.
Everyone who has been there could talk to each other with the common language of La Elta.
It was like a game world.
Players said that they can level up after they receive the quest through the quest board and complete it.
If they level up, they can improve their skills, and if they’re lucky, they can learn skills.
With that ability, the players could now go against monsters on Earth and begin attacking dungeons.
Player. Hunter. Awakened person.
Words that people would usually find in fantasy novels.
Many Koreans know this fact very well.
There were many debates about whether the ‘Player’ should be called in a much more formal way, such as ‘the awakened’ or ‘hunter’, but the government decided to just use ‘Player’ because of the world La Elta, which was no different from playing games.
In fact, the main goal of the government was to encourage many people to complete the quest like a game.
The stronger players there are, the safer the world will be.
However, in the case of Korea, many people took the situation too lightly, jumped into the game as if it were really a game, and died.
Those who are familiar with fantasy novels took the quest immediately because they were the most excited.
With ‘La Elta Quest’, players were able to choose the level of difficulty, but everyone chose the most difficult level, saying they would find hidden pieces like the main characters of fantasy novels and become the main characters of the world.
Most of them died without breaking a single quest.
Well, since there are a lot of players who survived, Korea now has some of the strongest players in the world.
I’ve been scrolling around the Internet for the past few years, so I memorized this basic information.
My current job is to surf the Internet and watch TV.
Are you curious about what kind of job lets me watch TV and browse the Internet?
It’s called being unemployed.
* * *
I am the second son of a very ordinary family in Korea.
It was not a family full of unfortunate stories or suffering from poverty.
I am just a very ordinary person in a very ordinary family, not the child of a wealthy one.
As soon as I became twenty years old, I found it hard to continue studying, so instead of going to college, I immediately faced society to earn money.
I chose to do a part-time job because I didn’t attend college, and back then there were no companies that welcomed people who didn’t have a single line of education in their resumes. Also, I wanted to save money before joining the army anyway.
If I have a part-time job, I can add something to my resume after I’m discharged.
That’s what I thought.
Rather than a Cafe, PC room, restaurant, etc.
The reason why I chose to work in a convenience store at night, among the various part-time jobs, was simple.
The first reason is that the hourly wage was good.
However, the real reason was that they rejected me even though they were searching for part-timers.
Sigh, it’s not really a big salary, but I have no choice. This is the only place that accepted me.
Where am I supposed to start my career if I’m rejected everywhere?
Shortly after the evening shift, many office workers came to the convenience store, even though it was late at night.
An office worker with dark circles went down with his chin while paying.
An office worker, who was on a call, bought a pack of cigarettes, saying he’s going to leave work soon because he took overtime again today.
Another office worker bought a hangover drink after a company dinner.
Since this was a convenience store surrounded by all kinds of small and medium-sized companies nearby, I could see office workers suffering from overtime work and having get-togethers every day.
Still, I envy them.
It’s good to work overtime; working as an office worker was better than working in a convenience store at night.
I sighed, thinking about how I came to my current situation.
I just finished eating my dinner.
I threw the cup of noodles towards the trash, but the soup spilled right in front of the trash can.
I can’t even afford to give myself a proper meal that costs 5,000 won (around 4 USD). I would only eat something that cost around 1,000 won (around 0.70 USD).
This was the real difference between an ordinary office worker and a part-timer.
Office workers, who were being overpowered in their company, overpowered ordinary people.
When I came back in the convenience store after eating, the customers were angry, saying ‘They wasted time waiting for me to come back.’
What a crappy life!
At first, when I just started my part-time job, I was happy that I finally had some income.
If I save up my money now, I will be able to invest it in the future.
While doing this part-time job, I would always ponder whether to sleep right away or spend some of my time studying.
Shall I also learn English or Chinese?
If I work 10 hours a day and sleep for 6 hours, I can spend 5 or 6 hours on future employment, except for washing and eating.
But… Even if I started planning right now, I know that I wouldn’t be able to do it as I really hate studying.
However, I couldn’t prevent myself from lying down on my bed and sleeping.
I fell asleep, saying to myself that it was okay to rest.
When I wake up, I just play computer games, saying, “I worked hard, so I will reward myself.”
Then it was time to go to work again.
Even though I know that every time I spend the day like this, it is just a continuous cycle with no visible progress.
I was stressed out because of this fact, but I just laid down and played phone games to relieve my stress.
Oh, what a crappy life!
While lamenting and cursing about my life, it was clear that I would rather spend time with my cell phone or laptop mouse instead of washing myself up and studying.
Am I the cause of this procrastination life, or was it the world?
Thinking about this and that, the part-time job ended, and the day ended again like that.
That’s how my day used to end at the beginning of others’ days.
Looking at the phone screen, I walk across the road after checking that the traffic light for people has turned green.
And, just like that, I was hit by a car.
The moment I realized that something had hit me, my body was already floating in the air.
The sense of being hit by a car came first, rather than suffering through pain.
At that moment, an idea in my head popped up and I questioned whether it was a car that hit him, a bus or a truck.
Usually, in a novel, when someone is hit by a bus or truck, something surprising happens.
But I just found out later that the car that hit me was a very ordinary car.
* * *
Regardless of the type of car that hit me, the result was successful when it came to transmigrating or fantasy elements.
When I woke up, I was in an unknown world.
Even the clothes I was wearing were leather clothes, not the white T-shirts and jeans I was wearing before I was hit by a car.
Sloppy leather clothes that I would usually see in fantasy movies or games.
At that moment, I thought, “Did I come inside the game?”
Also…
“It’s a relief that my clothes are not made of straws or glue.”
At first, I was extremely confused and wanted to go back.
But gradually, I got used to it.
For the first 20 years, I trained my swordsmanship.
I quickly strengthened myself to see if I possessed a talent.
When I reached a certain level, my body stopped aging, and I continued to look like I was in my late 30s.
For the next 10 years, I fought in the war and got the title of war hero.
In the next 10 years, I bought a large mansion in the village where I first opened my eyes and remained inside.
Most of the time, I either just train or find a way back to Earth.
In the last 10 years, I have traveled all over the country in order to beat monsters.
Just like that, I became stronger than anyone else, the same as the usual transmigrator in a common fantasy novel.
However, I still didn’t know how to get back to Earth.
Then one day, I lay down in one of the accommodations of an inn.
I was feeling lonely.
Somehow, I felt that everything that I had done was in vain.
I once dreamed of this kind of life while reading fantasy novels.
But after a few decades, this dream of mine disappeared from my mind.
I don’t know why I didn’t know the importance of a normal life back then.
I missed my family so much.
I fell asleep while thinking about that.
When I opened my eyes again, after 50 years of being in this world, I woke up back on Earth as if everything that happened in these past 50 years was just a dream.
