Life as a Day Laborer (3)
I practically got chased out of the day labor agency.
But in my hand was about 200,000 won in cash. The agency guys had forced it into my grip.
"Hm."
My feelings were all mixed up. Still, gotta survive first. Pride doesn't fill your stomach.
"Thanks."
I muttered under my breath at the signboard. I probably won't be working there anymore, but at least the urgent problem was solved.
After that, I headed home and crashed to catch up on sleep. It was still too early in the morning for the shops to open, so I figured I'd recover my stamina in the meantime. Once I got a bit of shut-eye, I made a beeline for the mart.
My shopping list wasn't much for a single-person household. Just a 3kg bag of rice, some spam, kimchi, and eggs. After shopping, I stashed everything in the fridge.
"Nice."
With shopping done, I had some money left over. That meant one more thing to do: hit up the PC shop.
"Welco— huh!?"
The employee jumped up in shock when I opened the door to the computer store.
"You're back! How's the mouse? Any issues?"
"Yeah. It's perfect."
I said that and plunked the cash down on the counter.
"Here."
It was exactly the price of the mouse I'd gotten yesterday. I came to pay it back. The agency guys gave it willingly, but this clerk only helped because he pitied a beggar like me.
"Uh... what's this?"
"Mouse money. 79,000 won."
The clerk frantically waved his hands.
"No, it's fine! I told you yesterday—it's a giveaway for the 1,000th customer!"
"I know it's bullshit. Who has a '1,000th visitor event'? And that mouse is expensive."
"Seriously, it's okay! It's my treat—just use it!"
The clerk tried shoving the money back. But I had no intention of taking it.
"Deals gotta be square."
I pushed the cash back across the counter and bolted for the door.
"I'll put the mouse to good use. Thanks for your hard work!"
"W-wait, customer? Take the money!"
I glimpsed him scrambling up from the counter, but I was already out the door and running.
Back home, I whipped up some rice first thing.
Time passed like that...
-Hiss
I stood guard, listening to the steam venting.
"All done!"
The rice cooker beeped, so I popped the lid and stirred with the ladle. Glossy white rice steaming perfectly. Today's batch turned out delicious.
The sides were top-notch too. Crispy grilled spam and stir-fried kimchi. This was practically a feast fit for a king.
"Whoa."
I set the rice and sides on the desk and sat down. Not much of a "table"—no dining setup, so it was the computer desk. Spooning rice into my mouth right there.
"Mmm."
So good. Tear-jerkingly good. Koreans run on rice power, no doubt!
-Nom nom.
After a satisfying meal, I cleared the dishes and wiped the desk.
"Urp."
Belly full to perfection. This little body has killer cost-performance—just half a bowl and I'm stuffed.
At the same time, my eyes drifted to the computer. Belly full? Next up was obvious.
"Gotta recover from that 6-game loss streak."
I plopped into the gaming chair and booted up.
"Ah, you 20-loss-streak motherfucker!!!!"
BJ Pororo slammed his keyboard, screaming. A whopping 20 losses in a row. Already in the deep sea, but now plunged to the rock bottom of the abyss.
And the pit he'd fallen into? None other than the Mariana Trench. That lair of freakish deep-sea monsters.
"Why do I only get trolls? Without those troll bastards, Bronze would be easy."
He stared blankly at the DEFEAT screen, laughing hollowly. He'd thought today was the day to climb to Iron 4, but that grand dream got crushed. And a 20-loss streak right before promo...
"Hah, whatever. Win the next one."
Grinding his teeth amid the viewer roast, a match popped. Pororo picked his champ with a grim face. Then, habit, he pulled up the match history site.
"Alright, who's ADC. Please be a normal human..."
Pororo clamped his mouth shut the instant he saw the ADC's name.
Geogeun Wondil
"What the actual fuck!!!! My MMR's dropped this low!!!!"
Pororo slapped his cheeks left and right in disbelief.
"No way. Even with 20 losses, how do I queue with that guy? Geogeun Wondil? Am I really in the same queue pool?"
"Ugh, I don't wanna play..."
Geogeun Wondil. A name no deep-sea ecologist of Asgard could ignore. A monster lurking in the 200-300 rating depths—every player had heard of it.
"Fuck! All the big names are queuing together."
The bad news? Geogeun wasn't the only notable.
Dread already creeping in. Pororo squeezed his eyes shut and whispered.
"Please dodge."
He'd dodged too much lately—huge penalties stacked up.
But no one dodged, and the game started.
Right as it kicked off, an ominous chat popped.
Hyeji—slang trash-talk for female support players. Not for a guy like him. But Pororo didn't correct it. Pissing off that guy? Recipe for disaster.
Lols flooding the stream chat already.
"Fucking hell..."
Pororo grumbled aloud, ignoring chat as best he could.
Then, 3 minutes into laning phase.
Pororo's champ got hooked by the enemy. The classic grab skill. His Yuria got ponytail-yanked and dragged helplessly.
"N-no, nooooo!!!!!"
Dragged Yuria couldn't even flash—dropped dead in seconds. Massive early-game fuckup.
Screen went gray. Pororo bellowed in outrage.
"Fucking shitty game!!! Is this hit detection right? Total bullshit!"
As Pororo vented, Geogeun—who'd been farming minions—froze.
The 20-loss trauma hit Pororo—he snapped and typed in rage.
Then the bastard started spamming Ctrl+4 on Yuria's corpse.
Lanscape Copulation Press
The buff male champ started violently humping the corpse. Like raping the fallen Yuria.
Watching Geogeun's Nike thrust faster, Pororo could only howl.
"Cut it out, you fucking psycho!!!"
But Geogeun didn't stop.
Pororo stared blankly at his humping Yuria. Then the stream chat exploded.
No allies on his side.
Tears streamed silently down Pororo's face as the chat flew by. 'Fucking bastards...'