Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: For That Handful of Silver (1)
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***
Rumble, rumble, hiss!
The login pod's door slid open, and with the sound of circulating air rushing out all at once, a cool breeze gently enveloped his sweat-soaked body.
Professor slowly tested his movements. Toes, ankles, wrists, fingers—he clenched his fist, rolled his neck. He could feel the calluses on his hands and the taut tension unique to a well-trained body.
“Masterrrrr! You're back!”
*I'm back.*
Corduro's excited voice from outside the pod reminded him that this was reality. Back. Back, huh...
Thwack!
“Ow!”
“Back my ass. You didn't go to some other world or anything. You're making a fuss over just one gaming session.”
He absentmindedly flicked Corduro's drone on the head, then yanked his hand back in surprise. Bandages, where are the bandages...
“Oh, it's fine.”
“Yes? Of course it is. According to customer service protocol, I pretended it hurt, but there's no way a drone gets damaged from a flick like that?”
No, not you. My finger.
“What time is it?”
“09:48 PM.”
“About 28 hours in-game?”
“Something like that.”
Habits are scary things. Just one day in-game, less than six hours in reality, and his body was already adapting. His mind knew better, but his body reacted on its own. He closed the pod door gently, lay down on the dust-covered sofa carefully—
Plop.
“Huh?”
What? What's wrong with this.
The sofa, which had been so caked in 24-hour dust that he and Corduro had joked about throwing it like a smoke grenade at intruders, wasn't kicking up any dust...
He pressed down on the sofa with his butt again.
Sink—
No dust at all. If anything, it smelled faintly fresh.
He didn't need to look for the cause. The moment he sat on the sofa, Corduro's drone fluttered awkwardly beside him as if begging for attention.
“Uh... Corduro?”
“Yup?”
“What did you do while I was gaming?”
“Oh, this? Heh, it's nothing much, but you're making such a big deal out of it...”
What is it. I haven't even said anything yet.
Whirr—
Corduro's drone fluttered past him and flung open the door to the living room as it spoke.
“Nothing much, just... did some cleaning after a long time! Hehe.”
Whoosh—!
Professor blankly followed Corduro's gaze, and his eyes squinted at the brilliantly lit interior.
It's dazzling. The house is gleaming. I've lived here seven years and never seen it like this.
Dishes that had to be left upside down because dust floated around nonstop sparkled. The walls, which he'd thought were originally yellowish for seven years, shone white. The greenhouse inner walls, which got dusty on the glass every day from the humidity and needed two hours of wiping daily, gleamed transparently. Everything in sight was sparkling.
“You... did all this?”
“Ahem! Machines are diligent, after all.”
No, that's not what I meant. You think I don't know how to clean?
“...Shield permeability set to what percent?”
“3%. Blocked everything except fine dust.”
Normally it was at 30%, letting in everything but big chunks. Higher output meant more power consumption.
“Lighting?”
“Everything that's not broken.”
“Water? The greenhouse was drying out a few days ago from the weather. You must've used a ton of the reserves. To make it this clean...”
“Oh right, I was waiting for you to ask about that.”
Corduro's drone, happily flapping its wings, fetched a white towel soaked in water from somewhere.
“Here. You worked hard gaming. Wipe off your sweat.”
“...I don't even have water for a shower?”
The login pod molded its inner walls to the user's body the moment you put on the choker-like terminal called the 'Linker' around your neck.
It had built-in cooling, but last year, the second he confirmed it used a rechargeable battery, he ripped it out and shoved it into the greenhouse.
Thanks to that, he gained another 5-pyeong potato field, but the pod turned into a sauna.
And now, Corduro was lavishly using the electricity he'd scrimped and saved so carefully.
Crack.
“Whoa whoa whoa, don't get mad! Stop the hand! Humans communicate with intellect!”
“Not hitting you. I'm not mad.”
He hadn't realized it, but it was so absurd he wasn't even angry. Just curious.
“What's with the sudden... wind of change? Huh?”
“Heh heh heh... No need to be flustered. Once you see what I saw, Master will say, 'Good job, my AI!' Come on, take a look!”
With Corduro's confident voice, the small screen embedded in the drone lit up.
==========
+ 'garrymoode0385' has entered the chat room!
+ ‘Gasman’ has entered the chat room!
+ ‘ㅂㄷㅅㄹ’ has entered the chat room!
+ .... has
+ .... has
+ ...
- Gasman: Thought it was a troll and came in anyway, but is this real? This is real?
- garrymoode0385: is that real? that fucking white one is roaming war sight? and defeated it? guys, it's 124 solar year!
- Speed Wagon: yes. ridiculously, it's real.
- Highway Nacho Man: What? What the hell is Yang-hyung saying?
- garrymoode0385: Holy Mama!
- Speed Wagon: Asking if it's true that the white one was roaming in year 124, and someone beat it.
- Soy Sauce Gaybar: Charlotte is invincible and Professor is a god! Charlotte is invincible and Professor is a god! Charlotte is invincible and Professor is a god!
- g3854: Is the room big? Is it??
- Jokass: Too bad it's real. If they'd caught Edeorna here, world clear chance would've skyrocketed.
- Mukaba: Exactly. For the Queen, pulling out a high-tier mutation like that early in the Black Mage era was a huge loss already. Catching it would've flipped the game.
- ㅂㄷㅅㄹ: But why did Charlotte let it go at the end? As King's Knight, she should have that skill. Duel request. The 15-minute forced 1v1.
- Heung An Mandu: That consumes 5% max HP. The mid-game spear hit did too much damage, probably didn't have enough. Or maybe it was right on death's door, so blocking would kill her.
- Holy: So, so emotional... ㅠㅠ At the end, Charlotte slicing the surviving knights' throats while crying... Not a sound, just tears... ㅠㅠ
- Highway Nacho Man: Don't be ashamed. No one would deny her the luxury of a single tear for sending off knights like that.
- Take a Look: Damn, that's a quote.
- Jokass: Better to do it while she still had reason left. Otherwise, she'd walk to the Queen on her own.
- Deer Drug Please: I saw it! After cleaning up, supported by soldiers, Charlotte looking at the mercenaries carrying Professor! That was... total crush vibes!
- Jokass: Can't you think with your upper head for even a second instead of the lower one?
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“Wh-what the hell is this...”
“What else? In crude terms, 'it's mooning'! I checked, and while you were logged out and passed out waiting, people saw the battle's end crystal clear! That's why they're all hyped.”
“So... we won? Charlotte did?”
“Uh... Turan lost over half their forces, knight order wiped... but the Queen's gonna starve now. Call it a win?”
Professor stared at the chat buzzing with people.
Not just one or two. He saw familiar names, but most were new IDs.
“Se-seven hundred? Seven hundred in the chat?”
“Too early to be shocked! Keep watching!”
Corduro zipped around his dazed face to grab attention, then scrolled the screen.
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HOT! Post: Thoughts on the Potential of Negative Traits by Daedalus
Skipping greetings since it's the usual crowd.
Saw a crazy stream recently and had to write about something interesting.
As you know, this game's accessibility sucks hard. Everyone in the world plays GG, right? Nah.
Raise the bar. Not casual players—hardcore divers and researchers are nonexistent.
Insane difficulty, plus 500,000 reals per account. Unless you're swimming in cash, experimentation's impossible. Stats say over 80% use community-recommended starter builds.
That's why yesterday's 'professor' stream shocked me. Check the character sheet in comments.
Conditional playstyle. Ah~ conditional. Nostalgic term. Conditional Realistic, but the char was wrecked. No need for details.
The [Mental Fragility] trait—turns out it's a beast. The one you know. The ranker one-shot nuke. No casting, migraines hitting reality, mental chaos... Worst of the worst. But paired with 'Realistic Mode'? Synergy's killer.
Near omnisensory radar. Nothing escapes your sight.
Curious, I checked: Normal mode, [Mental Fragility] just floods the screen with error messages like old PC glitches.
In Real mode, it slams straight into the player's head. Sure, sifting the info flood's on the player, but exploiting a negative trait that well? Hats off to this 'professor' player.
Stream was fun. Go watch.
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“Ta-da! This post went up 10 minutes ago. Just 10! Look at the views. We're made it! No more beggar life!”
“Can't agree with the content, but... this will definitely work.”
Not just any post—HOT status means massive exposure. Stream traffic's gonna explode.
“So! For you, Master, who worked your butt off! I scraped every resource I had and tidied up! Now you'll be streaming to thousands, tens of thousands like top rankers. Money a problem?”
“Uh... well...”
It is. People came for the hyped character, but it's dead now. From big streamer to big scammer.
As he hesitated, Corduro rummaged and pulled out a tattered scrap of paper from inside.
“Master, remember this? Bucket list.”
“Oh, that time...”
“Yup! Two years ago, when depression hit hard and you were all 'die, live' blah blah, I gave it to you to try this.”
Oh yeah. Greenhouse infested, crops dead, eating roaches to survive.
Depression had him giggling and scribbling random dark history crap.
“Told you to throw it away.”
“Command logged, but processed as medical record, reprioritized storage.”
“You little sh-”
“All from loyalty. Loyalty. Anyway, now we're rich, how about crossing some off?”
Professor glared at Corduro's innocently pure lens. No way that's AI. Someone's puppeteering or possessed.
“Sigh. Fine. Gimme. I'll do 'em one by one. When I have time. When I have spare.”
As he reached with a sigh-mixed hand, Corduro snatched the list back.
“Hm? What. You said do it.”
“Ah, ha. Hold on.
What's a housing AI for? Enhancing user convenience! Thinking about it, thrifty-to-the-bone Master facing his own greedy, gloomy inner self on that list? Nah.”
Throb—!
What's this familiar dread. Unsettling. When that guy gets wordy, something big always happens.
“You... don't tell me...”
“Yup! Items 15 to 32, everything buyable? Purchased!”
Oh, my, god.
“Yaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”
“Wh-why! Look! Today's earnings: 80,000 reals! Over 80k! You know these graphs go exponential, not linear? Tomorrow 100k, day after 200k, week: million! Two million!”
“An-and? You bought all that with it? With 80k reals?”
“Nope?”
Professor exhaled sharply, patting his chest.
“Right? Haven't bought yet? Even roughly, those bucket list items ain't cheap—”
“Dome's marketplace: posted player info, they said 'loved the stream,' sent on credit!”
Boom!
“Kweeeek!”
Corduro's drone, wings smashed, crashed with a pathetic screech.
“Why, whyyyyy!!!”
“Hm? What's wrong? From the chatter, seems you bought everything in reach. Drone parts too, probably. Right?”
“Uh... um...”
Crunch!
“No problem then?”
“Th-that's... not exactly... or maybe... AAAAAGH!”
After that, he lost it and doesn't remember well. Something like 'thank god for a fist I can swing freely.'
***
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