A New Beginning
“Doun.”
“Eunhye, hello?”
“Your face doesn’t look good… Is your mom okay?”
“Yeah, as long as I get proper treatment. Just treatment…”
The treatment I couldn’t receive…
Because of the company’s pressure, my mom didn’t receive sufficient treatment and went to work anyway.
To them, my mom was just like a machine part.
The company didn’t consider my mom’s health ten or twenty years down the line at all.
They only thought about making her work right now.
My mom had gone to work with a painful body for me and my sister.
“This time…”
“Doun, what?”
“No. Let’s head to school quickly. The weather’s getting chilly.”
“Yeah.”
I slept like I’d passed out at school that day.
First in the class rankings.
Perfect 100 in every subject.
Even on the re-test, 100 points.
Now the teachers didn’t even scold me.
The homeroom teacher had moved my seat to the back so I wouldn’t disrupt the class atmosphere.
I gratefully accepted the teacher’s consideration…
After charging my energy at school, I came home and immediately turned on the game.
Three-team mission: Escort the merchant caravan.
Departure: North of Sirio Village (40 minutes remaining.)
Escort the caravan and head back to Rion Castle.
Even on the way to Rion Castle, my mind was full of thoughts about making money.
I needed missions with high side income.
Monsters that were easy to hunt like foxes or wolves, and there were plenty of them…
[Thanks to you, we arrived safely. Please receive the reward at the mercenary guild.]
I instructed the mercenaries to rest outside the city gate and headed to the mercenary guild with Seolhwa.
- Exterminate the goblin swarm.
- Exterminate the orcs on the outskirts of Rion Territory.
- Explore the deep forest.
- Escort the merchant caravan (Gilia route).
…
There were various missions, but none seemed particularly good for side income.
More than experience points, more than mission rewards, I needed side income now.
[Seolhwa, let’s go to the city gate.]
[Huh? Aren’t you taking the mission?]
[For now… I’ll think about it more.]
[Yeah.]
Seolhwa followed me without suspicion.
And.
I took the mercenary waiting at the city gate and departed for a village near Rion Territory.
I was going around villages in Rion Territory to exterminate wolves and foxes.
Even if leveling up was slow,
I wanted to gather as much money as possible before the cashout of Hero currency was legalized.
Galia Village.
Like Sirio Village, I received wolf extermination and fox extermination missions from the village chief.
Every day
I exterminated wolves and then foxes in succession.
[Seolhwa, aren’t you tired?]
It was an insane forced march.
From 6 AM without rest, playing the game.
[I’m fine.]
The next day.
I found Sirio Village and exterminated wolves and foxes.
The next day too.
Again the next day.
Every day, roaming villages, massacring wolves and foxes.
“This is enough… I’ve gathered a lot.”
6 AM.
I showered in hot water.
My reflection in the mirror looked quite emaciated.
After showering, I knocked on my mom’s room.
“Mom, can I come in?”
After a while, my mom answered, probably still sleeping.
“Yeah, come in.”
By now, she should be under pressure to leave work early from the company.
And she would have decided to go to work dragging her painful legs.
“Don’t go to work, Mom.”
“Are you worried? It’s okay. It’s better to move around a bit outside the house than staying inside for the treatment.”
She says that, but…
She must be in pain.
If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be suffering from leg pain day after day.
“I’ll earn money.”
My mom smiled.
“Thanks. Anyway, it’s okay.”
She seemed to take my words lightly.
As if just a child’s whim.
“Really earning money. I’m already earning.”
“Son, it’s okay. Go to school.”
My mom said with a smile on her lips and a strict voice.
“Yeah…”
It seemed like it wasn’t enough.
After all, a third-year middle schooler saying he’ll earn money, how many parents would take it seriously if told to rest.
I decided to be firm.
During school break.
I called the company number I had memorized.
That my mom needed to rest for a month.
Couldn’t go to work.
I’d report the evil employer who sent sick people to work.
The president said with a dumbfounded expression, “Is it really okay?”
It doesn’t matter. I’ll earn money. This time, I’ll feed my family.
So, fire me or not, do what you want.
After that, the president’s irritated voice was heard, but I hung up.
After all,
Even if I dragged my painful body to work now, I’d be fired soon.
Since easy employment and easy firing had become the norm…
No need to sacrifice for the company.
I hadn’t gotten fired even though I worked hard at the big company I joined.
“Hah… I said if I was there, the company image wouldn’t be bad…”
A sigh escaped.
“Forget the past. After all, it’s not a big company I’ll return to. Let’s focus on Mom’s treatment first.”
If I had caused this much chaos,
They would have fired my mom or given her more vacation.
It would be better if they fired her.
It wasn’t a particularly good company.
A company that sent workers to work before the injury healed and fired them a few months later.
That day.
When I came home, my mom was quite angry.
“Doun, what did you say on the phone to the company?”
“Mom. Rest enough and treat your leg. I’ll earn the money.”
“What does that mean… How hard is it for you to earn money?”
“I’ll earn money within a month. I’m working right now.”
“I know you play games at home all day, when did you work?”
My mom said with an angry voice.
It was natural.
I had to calm my mom down first.
Although I didn’t intend to use this, I went into the room and took out my secret weapon.
Midterm report card.
Mom already knew my grades.
Bottom of the class.
The lowest class with a few people behind.
“Doun. What is this?”
“Midterm report card.”
My mom’s angry expression disappeared instantly.
She rubbed her eyes several times and slowly looked at the report card again.
Then.
“Doun. Is this real?”
“Yes! If you don’t believe it, call the school.”
My mom’s anger subsided instantly.
Then I said slowly again.
Please believe me.
I’m really earning money.
Because of the class 1st place on the report card.
My mom listened to me seriously.
“Mom, if I don’t earn within a month, scold me then.”
“Okay. For now… think about it.
After all, the work I’m doing now seems hard to do again.”
My mom took the report card,
Smiled with her eyes and sighed with her mouth, and went into the room.
I entered the room again and focused on the game.
For several days, I exterminated wolves and foxes around various villages.
And
When I repeated the work I had been doing for about a week,
The long-awaited news came.
『Game Currency Cashout Implemented.
Human Games’ game “Looking for a Hero” has started cashing out game currency.
…
Interest in the game “Looking for a Hero” has focused on gamers who were disappointed with the existing game.
…
This is an event that appeared amid recent attention to virtual currency, and people from all walks of life are interested.
…』
[Doun, did you hear the news?]
[What?]
[Game currency can be exchanged for cash. The game company said they’ll help with the middle transaction!]
With the game currency cashout announcement, Human Games created a space on the official homepage where game currency and cash could be traded.
The buyer paid money to Human Games, and the seller sent game currency in the game.
When the buyer marked as received or the seller filmed a video for authentication, Human Games paid cash to the seller.
In this process, Human Games only took 0.1% commission.
[Doun, our game money is a lot, shall we cash it out?]
[No, wait… bigger hands are coming.]
The game refugee problem that started with the paid item probability problem.
This incident was not the end.
A bigger incident would happen in a few days.
The place where the person who spent the most money on the game among Korean users was gathered.
A problem would occur in that game.
Due to that problem, users who suffered loss would be compensated with game currency instead of cash.
The game company received money from users, and when a problem occurred, it paid compensation in game currency. A strange thing happened.
Users experienced the magic of cash turning into game currency in the blink of an eye.
Some of the newly rich refugees from that entered the Hero game.
At that time, it was the period when Hero currency was most expensive while I was living.
Never before or after had the exchange rate been this high.
…
Exactly one week later.
They came.
Game players who were whale gamers on a different level from the previous refugees.
They were people who spent billions of won in the game.
They didn’t hesitate to open their wallets to get ahead of others.
I accessed the Hero homepage and checked the game currency exchange rate.
1 gold coin = 200 million won.
The time when future gamers envied the most.
The time when just catching foxes and wolves earned over 10 million won a month.
A short golden age for no-gamers.
That was now.
I applied to sell the money I had gathered so far on the official homepage.
In less than an hour, I was matched with a buyer.
[Cain, going to sell currency?]
[Yeah. I’ll sell all the money I gathered by roaming villages.]
[How much?]
[Eight million two hundred thousand won.]
[Wow… amazing!]
I moved to Sirio Village where the buyer was.
At the village entrance, several users were waiting.
[Are you a game currency buyer?]
[Yes.]
After confirming a few matters, filming a video, and handing over the currency.
[Received it well.]
[Thank you for buying.]
It was over.
Now the buyer would press the transaction complete button or I would authenticate the video with the game company, and the money would come in.
Eight million two hundred thousand won.
When I was about to turn around, the buyer user spoke.
[You seem to have been playing the game for a long time.]
[Yeah, it’s been a few months since I started.]
[We don’t want to play with you? These people gathered here came from other games together.]
I knew these people.
People who came early from the game famous for spending a lot of money in Korea.
They would form a guild called Blood Alliance and operate.
Since they started relatively early,
And used a lot of money from the beginning to match items,
They were ahead.
They were the ones who would earn hundreds of times the 8 million 2 hundred thousand won they just spent.
Hero was different from other games in that money became currency.
Recently, game trends had blocked personal transactions to concentrate cash flow on the game company.
Hero was different.
Personal transactions were possible.
The game company recommended cashout for the game.
A very different path from regular games.
Recent games received cash for game currency and sold.
That cash was kept by the game company.
What about Hero?
In Hero, users sold their game currency to other users.
At this time, the cash was not kept by the game company, but by the user.
In other words, Hero was money.
In the Hero game, due to the cashout system, you could earn more than the initial investment cost.
[Let’s play together?]
[Sorry.]
I knew their future,
But I had no intention of playing together.
They had their own tight bonds, and it was not easy for me to insert myself among them now.
The strong discipline inside the Blood Alliance guild also didn’t sit well with me.
[Give me your phone number. Please sell game currency to us next time too.]
[Okay, understood.]
[Haha. Then I’ll press the transaction complete right away. Let’s continue our good relationship.]
The user who bought the game currency left a greeting and ended the game.
[Seolhwa, let’s return to Rion Castle and log out.]
[Yeah.]
I prepared the money needed right away.
Now it was time to focus on growth in Rion Castle.
Although they started a few months earlier and were ahead of others, if they got complacent, they would be caught up in an instant.
The people who just bought currency wouldn’t take long to reach my level.
They would buy good weapons and armor from the beginning and work hard to level up.
I arrived in Rion Castle and ended the game.