When You Work, Be Diligent

"How was it, working again after so long?"

After dinner, seated on the sofa with a cup of coffee, Hye-suk asked about his first day back on the job since recovering.

"It was good. My strength was a bit lacking, which made things tough, but once I pushed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through on stamina alone, it was doable."

A full month of rest and recovery had left his muscles soft and sluggish. Muscle hardened the more you used it and went soft the more you left it idle — that was just how it worked. After so long away, and especially after a shift of courier loading and unloading, which was notoriously brutal, he had felt the shortage of raw power keenly. Even so, Seong-min had managed to hold on because his muscular endurance and overall stamina were solid. With his cardiorespiratory endurance backing him up, he never hit the wall and collapsed.

So, surprisingly, it had been manageable.

Still, the lack of strength was real, and that was something he would have to fix for certain.

"You spent a whole month recovering. That part can't be helped."

"You're right. I think so too. Still — I brought home a day's wages today."

Seong-min pulled an envelope from his pocket and held it out.

"Pretty impressive, right?"

"It is impressive! Surviving an accident that bad and getting back on your feet this fast isn't something just anyone can do — and you did it."

"Heh heh... you're making me blush."

"I mean it. That's the kind of thing I find admirable."

"Here."

Seong-min held out the envelope containing the wages from his first day back at work after recovering.

"Oh my, why are you giving this to me?"

"You said it was fine, but this is a small token of thanks — for looking after me at the hospital, and for taking care of me while I recovered at home."

"No, no! You don't have to. This is money you earned by working hard..."

"That's exactly why you should take it. The reason I'm trying to live diligently like this includes wanting to repay everything you've done for me. If you refuse and won't accept it, I'll be really disappointed — and from then on, every kindness you show me will just feel like a burden."

"Seong-min..."

Hye-suk felt a lump rise in her throat.

"I may have grown up an orphan without parents, but I'm not someone who forgets a kindness. I remember everything — how you took me in, how you've looked out for me all this time. And this time, too, the reason I didn't fall apart emotionally and made it through a full month of recovery was because of you. So you have to take this money. Accepting it is how I properly show that I beat that accident."

Hye-suk couldn't bring herself to refuse a second time. His words were completely sincere, and she realized that if she turned him down, he really might start feeling burdened by every consideration she offered from then on.

"Seong-min, if you insist, I'll take it. But let me say this again — you don't need to feel burdened by any kindness I show you, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and you don't need to feel some compulsion to always repay me. I just want you to do well. I just want you to keep living hard and living well."

"I will. Now that you've taken this, I'll enjoy your kindness freely from now on without any guilt."

"What? Did you give me this envelope on purpose just so you could say that?"

"Who knows."

"You little rascal~"

"Heh heh heh."

She lifted her iced americano, took a sip, and set it back down.

"By the way, I met a pretty unusual guy today."

"An unusual guy?"

"Yeah. Kid named Min-hyeok. Really something else."

Seong-min told Hye-suk everything about the guy he had met at work that day.

"Hahaha~ Really?"

"I'm serious. It was so ridiculous. Do I look thirty to you, Auntie?"

"A little, maybe."

"What?! Seriously?!"

"I'm kidding~ Why are you so shocked? You don't look like that at all, so don't worry."

"You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it."

Watching Seong-min finally relax with relief, Hye-suk covered her mouth and laughed.

"Still, that kid's hilarious. Most people can't just talk like that."

"Tell me about it. He claimed he could read faces and then just went off saying every crazy thing that came into his head. Standing next to him, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry."

"What's surprising is that he didn't run off — he stuck it out to the end."

"That surprised me too. Honestly, I figured he'd bail halfway through when it got hard."

But Min-hyeok had stayed until the finish and completed the work.

"So I'm kind of curious."

"About what?"

"Whether he'll show up again tomorrow or not."

"Hmm... He did stick it out to the end, so maybe he will come back?"

"I think the opposite — now that he's experienced how brutal it is, he probably won't."

"Then how about we make a dinner bet on it tomorrow?"

"A dinner bet?"

"Yeah. Whoever's right buys dinner."

"You're on~! But there's a condition."

"What condition?"

"If you lose, you can't just cook something at home and call it even, okay?"

"Don't worry~ It's an eat-out bet. But Seong-min, are you saying my cooking isn't good enough?"

"No, no. Your cooking is really delicious."

"Doesn't sound like it~?"

"I'm serious!"

"Hahaha, alright, alright~!"

After dinner, a cup of coffee, and a good long chat, Seong-min headed back up to the rooftop room to prepare for tomorrow.

Let's take a look.

Anticipation rising, he opened the Status Window.

"Oh~!"

The moment he saw it, a sound of pure admiration slipped out.

The work must really have been that brutal — his level had jumped by three. On top of that, his experience bar was already past fifty percent.

Fired up, Seong-min didn't waste a second. He poured every stat point straight into Martial Power.

His Martial Power stat had changed to 13.

Wonder if anything will change?

He had raised it by three, so there might be some Martial Power-related shift.

It'd be nice if my strength got a bit better too.

What he knew for certain was that you only really felt the difference after investing ten points — so he would have to wait until then.

Working and leveling up at the same time. Two birds with one stone~!

With that, he felt like he could push even harder at work.

Still, it'd be a waste to let the gym membership sit unused. Once work's over, I should stop by the gym and train for an hour or two.

Today he had come straight home, but starting tomorrow he planned to hit the gym for at least an hour after work before heading back.

Right — the gym has a solid shower room too. Finish the workout, clean up properly, and then come home. Perfect.

Today, thanks to Hye-suk's consideration, he had showered in the first-floor bathroom. Tomorrow he would work out at the gym, rinse off clean in the shower room there, and come home.

This really does feel more rewarding. Heh heh heh...

Working and stacking experience at the same time.

Now that was a life worth living.

The next day.

Seong-min woke before six, same as yesterday. He took care of business, roughly washed his hair, brushed his teeth, and finished the rest of his morning routine before changing into the clothes he had laid out. He packed his bag with the usual gear — work gloves and everything else he always carried — then pulled a thermos of cold water from the fridge and slipped it in. That way the water would stay cold longer.

The thermos was a gift from Hye-suk the day before. She had said cold water in a thermos would be better than regular bottled water, so he had chilled some in the fridge and was packing it now.

"That about covers it. Time to head out."

He slung the bag over his shoulder, got up, switched off the fluorescent light in the room, and stepped out into the kitchen. He closed the door, put on his sneakers, and went out through the front entrance.

It was a digital door lock, so there was no key to turn — just shut it and it locked automatically.

"The night air's still pretty cool."

It was only June, so it was still manageable. Once July hit, though, the heat would start climbing fast. Courier loading and gombang work got truly brutal in hot weather. There was a reason people said the cold was better. But Seong-min didn't pick and choose based on the weather. As long as it wasn't pouring rain, if there was work, he went.

That was how a debt of fifty million won — co-signed for a friend he had trusted — had been whittled down to under twenty million. Whenever he had extra, he paid more than the three hundred thousand a month, trying to clear it as fast as possible. Strictly speaking, he didn't have to. Paying three hundred thousand a month would have been enough. Two shifts of courier loading covered that easily — the daily wage was a hundred and seventy thousand won.

He came quietly down to the first floor, and sure enough, Auntie Hye-suk was there to see him off.

"Be careful today, and do well."

"Yes. I'll be back."

With Hye-suk's send-off, Seong-min opened the courtyard gate and strode out with confidence. He knew full well that she hadn't gone back inside — that she was still watching him go.

Giving her that envelope with a hundred and seventy thousand won yesterday was the right call.

If she hadn't accepted it, every kindness she showed him would have weighed heavily. That hundred and seventy thousand covered everything — from the way she had stepped up as his guardian and cared for him in the hospital, to looking after him through a full month of recovery. Honestly, if you tallied all of that up, a hundred and seventy thousand was nothing. But Seong-min had known she would try to refuse even that, which was why he had said what he said. That if she didn't take it, every future kindness would feel like a burden. So she had accepted it, however reluctantly.

If I just keep working hard, I can pay off the debt and save money too.

As he walked toward the subway station, Seong-min thought back on yesterday's courier loading shift. It had been hard, and his body had taken a beating. Even so, he could smile about it. A month of recovery and bed rest had almost certainly dulled his physical rhythm and reduced his muscle mass, and even two weeks at the gym hadn't given him that feeling of raw power building. That was why he was raising Martial Power — to see if his strength would actually climb.

Setting that aside, once Physicality hit 30, the courier ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work had been surprisingly manageable.

My strength might have dropped, but with the stamina backing me up, it actually felt more doable than before. Like I always say — this kind of work is all about mental grit and persistence.

Even with good strength, if your stamina was lacking, this work was hell. But even if your strength was a bit short, solid stamina let you grind it out. Of course, having both was ideal.

That kid had more grit than I expected.

After hauling one produce truck, Min-hyeok had looked ready to die, and Seong-min had fully expected him to bail mid-shift. But the kid hadn't run. Even looking like he was about ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to collapse at the end, he stayed, finished every task he was assigned, and collected his day's pay. Just as the supervisor had said, Seong-min figured the kid had more persistence than he looked.

Doesn't mean he'll show up again today, though.

Plenty of people toughed it out to the end one day and simply never came back the next. That was why the faces on courier loading crews changed so often. Even if Min-hyeok had held on yesterday, now that he knew what it was like, there was a real chance he wouldn't appear today.

Auntie bet he'd show. I bet he wouldn't. Who's going to be right?

Based on experience, Seong-min had put his money on no-show. This wasn't the kind of work you casually came back for.

Anyway, as hard as the work was, it counted as training — I gained three whole levels.

If he could earn a day's wages and level up at the same time, there was no more rewarding work in the world.

He rode the subway, transferred to a bus, and arrived at the Courier Distribution Center.

Wonder if he came.

It was nearly seven. They gathered by seven for attendance, got twenty-five minutes of personal prep time, then reassembled five minutes before shift to take their places on the line.

He entered the logistics center and walked toward the gathering platform near the vending machines and smoking area, where people were already clustered. These were the day-shift workers for today. Seong-min looked around, then put on a face that said, figures.

Didn't come.

No matter where he looked, Min-hyeok was nowhere to be seen. His prediction had been right.

"Hyung~!"

A voice called from behind him. He turned — and there was Min-hyeok, waving as he came over.

"What? You came again today?"

"If hyung's coming, of course I have to come too..!"

"That's unexpected."

"Huh?"

"I figured you wouldn't show."

"Wow~ Hyung, is that all you thought of me? I'm disappointed. You saw me yesterday. Even when it was that hard and that rough, I didn't quit — you saw how I—"

"Where were you?"

Seong-min cut off Min-hyeok's rambling and asked.

"Huh? I just came from the bathroom. The second I got here I bolted straight for it. All of a sudden I got an emergency dump signal, so I ran so hard I almost—"

"Anyway, impressive. Coming back again like this."

"I am pretty impressive, yeah~"

Seong-min had already learned that once Min-hyeok got talking, he ran his mouth nonstop like a magpie — so he kept cutting him off midstream. It had been the same yesterday. In the morning, Min-hyeok had been smoking and laughing and chatting away with a bunch of older guys like they were old friends. When Seong-min asked, it turned out he was meeting them for the first time. One day had been enough to show that the kid had solid social skills.

"Hyung, I brought some too."

"Brought what?"

Min-hyeok rummaged in his pocket and pulled something out.

"Work gloves. Heh heh heh..."

"You packed them today, huh?"

"Of course I did~! I'm not just going to freeload off help. And the essential item!"

He dug into another pocket and pulled something else out.

"Cigarettes?"

"Came fully prepared today. With these, there's no problem at all~!"

He pulled out a single cigarette.

"Hyung, I'm gonna smoke. Want one?"

"I don't smoke."

"I still don't get why you quit something this good. Alright, then I'll go have one by myself."

Seong-min was watching Min-hyeok stride confidently toward the smoking area when a voice rang out.

"Alright, everyone gather up!"

The supervisor's call to assemble announced that it was seven o'clock.

"Tch!"

Seong-min, who had been looking at the supervisor, turned his head again at the sudden sound — and snorted with laughter. Min-hyeok, who had been marching boldly toward the smoking area with a cigarette already between his lips, had already spun around and was marching just as boldly back.