Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Unforeseen Consequences
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“There's no lecture today.”
As Lee Shin had expected, there was no lecture since it was the first day.
After a brief introduction to the required textbooks and future lesson plans, the professor left the classroom.
“……”
Thanks to that, he now had a three-hour break until his next class.
Lee Shin stood up from his seat.
His plan was to wander around campus and think about what to do.
‘Should I look for an empty classroom?’
Lee Si-eun had mentioned there were a few if you knew where to look.
“Excuse me.”
But before he could leave the room.
A voice stopped him.
“……”
“Excuse me?”
“……”
“H-Hey? Wait a second!”
“Oh, me?”
Lee Shin pretended not to hear until the very last moment before finally stopping.
He turned his head, taking out his wireless earbuds that weren't even playing music.
“Phew. I thought you were just going to leave.”
But the other person didn't seem to notice, waving happily as they approached.
More accurately, it was *they*.
Two guys and two girls.
Four in total.
‘Who are they?’
Lee Shin narrowed his eyes.
Their faces looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place them.
Lee Shin racked his brain.
But.
‘Where have I met them?’
Nothing came to mind.
Yet, judging by their reaction, they clearly knew who he was.
This was exactly why he'd tried to pretend he didn't hear them.
Lee Shin gave an awkward smile and asked.
“Sorry. Who are you?”
“Me? I'm Kim Min-jeong. We met at orientation. Them too. Don't you remember?”
“Ah, I remember now.”
‘I have no idea.’
It had only been a month, but Lee Shin couldn't remember at all!
It was perhaps natural, given that the only thought on his mind during the entire orientation was, ‘I want to go home.’
He hadn't even participated in the after-party for the freshmen, making up various excuses.
‘Huh? You're leaving now?’
‘Sorry, I live far away.’
So of course his memory was hazy.
But unlike Lee Shin, his classmates remembered him clearly.
Lee Shin hadn't done anything special, but…
‘Wow. Look over there. That guy is ridiculously handsome.’
‘He's in our year, right? Not a senior?’
‘Yeah. He's the top student of our year.’
‘Really? Awesome.’
The fact that Lee Shin was the top student had already spread like wildfire, thanks to the fuss made by the seniors in their department.
Being the top entrant at Yeonhui University, one of the top three in South Korea, created a good impression on its own.
Add to that Lee Shin's own good looks, and it was harder *not* to remember him.
Thanks to this, there was hardly anyone among his department classmates who didn't know him.
‘Maybe I shouldn't have gone.’
He'd gone to avoid standing out, but it had the opposite effect!
Lee Shin sighed inwardly and asked.
“So. What's up?”
“We're in the same department.”
“Yeah. And?”
“We have time until the next lecture, so let's hang out. That makes five of us.”
“……”
Lee Shin hesitated for a moment.
Honestly, it was a pain to hang out with people he barely remembered!
He would have much preferred to find an empty classroom and read a book in peace.
But now that he was caught, he had no other choice.
Refusing now would just make things awkward.
His learned social skills, honed over many years, prevented him from declining.
“Sure.”
Answering with a smile, Lee Shin left the classroom with his classmates.
Once outside, Kim Min-jeong, the one who had first spoken to him, turned to the group and asked.
“Should we eat first? Anyone here have breakfast?”
“I didn't. You?”
“Me neither. I'm starving.”
Lee Shin nodded as well, so their destination naturally became the cafeteria.
As they walked in silence.
“By the way.”
“?”
Someone, perhaps uncomfortable with the awkward atmosphere, decided to break the ice.
And the topic of conversation was, fitting for students their age, something familiar to Lee Shin as well.
“Anyone here play Avala Online?”
Avala Online.
In fact, it was harder to find someone who *didn't* play it these days.
The once-expensive capsules had come down in price, and if that was still too much, you could now go to capsule cafes.
People went to capsule cafes the same way they used to go to PC bangs.
That's how accessible it had become for everyone.
“Oh, I play.”
“Me too.”
Thanks to the common topic, the slightly awkward atmosphere began to liven up.
But Lee Shin, instead of joining the conversation, hung back a step and just listened.
He was being careful, just in case they asked him to play with them.
“……”
Gaming was Lee Shin's sanctuary.
A space that must never be invaded.
Seeing Lee Shin silent, the classmate who started the conversation noticed he was being left out and asked.
“Shin. You don't play?”
“I don't.”
“Really? Why don't you start and play with us…”
“Sorry. Virtual reality makes me a bit dizzy.”
Lee Shin, lying as easily as breathing!
But it was so natural that his classmates didn't suspect he was lying.
It was a phenomenon that did happen to some people, after all.
“Yeah. I guess some people are like that.”
The classmate who asked nodded.
Then he asked another question.
“So what games do you play?”
“Things like LoL and StarCraft.”
“Loli and Shota!?”
“…You psycho. He said LoL and StarCraft.”
“Ah… so you play classic games.”
They were games that once dominated the era, but they had ceded their throne with the advent of virtual reality.
An unavoidable change of the times.
Still, they managed to maintain a modest player base.
By mentioning these two games, Lee Shin successfully navigated the question about his hobbies.
“That's a shame. It would've been fun to play Avala Online together.”
“Can't be helped. If his body can't handle it…”
After a few more questions, the conversation naturally returned to the original topic.
What class they were, what their level was, what quests they were currently doing, and so on.
And then.
“Hey. By the way, did anyone start in the Eteun Kingdom?”
…Unexpectedly, a topic deeply related to Lee Shin came up.
Lee Shin flinched at the familiar words.
“Eteun? Not me.”
“Me neither. Who in their right mind would start there?”
There was one right behind them.
“Some people do. I know someone who did.”
“…Shouldn't you cut ties with that person?”
“It's fine. We're not that close. Just an acquaintance. Anyway, that's not the point…”
“?”
The classmate who brought it up paused for a moment before continuing.
“He says things have gotten really weird there lately.”
“That place was always weird.”
“W-Well, yeah. But this time, it's different.”
Different?
Lee Shin couldn't help but perk up his ears.
“Apparently, all the quests he was doing suddenly disappeared.”
“All of them?”
“Every single one.”
“…Why?”
“That's why it's so weird, because nobody knows.”
Lee Shin had a pretty good idea why.
No, it was more than just an idea…
‘…It's because of me!’
* * *
[I have a question. Does this game have bugs?]
A post uploaded to the Avala Online community forum a few days ago.
The post, which started with a question, went like this.
[My ongoing quest disappeared.
I didn't even cancel it…;;]
Without touching anything, the quest had vanished along with a message saying it had been extinguished!
The poster asked if this was a bug and, if so, how to get it restored.
In response, countless replies were posted below.
-No proof means what?
-Avala Online doesn't have bugs. You probably canceled it by accident…
-Can you even cancel it by accident?
-I dunno. Maybe he was drunk.
-LMAO
-lol
-lol, people post the weirdest crap here.
A post met with nothing but ridicule and no helpful advice!
This was because it was a community where hundreds of troll posts were actively uploaded every day.
The users had already built up a tolerance for this level of low-quality trolling.
However.
[What is this? I got a bug too.]
[My quest disappeared too.]
[IGN StrawberryToothpaste, me too…]
[Mine disappeared too…]
Starting from that point, bug reports suddenly began pouring in!
Only then did the community users realize this wasn't just a simple troll.
There was no way so many similar posts would appear one after another if nothing had happened.
-What is this.
-Is this for real…?
-This is a VR game, and it has bugs?
-Isn't this kinda dangerous?
The forums exploded in an instant!
Bugs in a virtual reality game are directly linked to user safety.
As such, users who heard the news couldn't help but react with extreme sensitivity.
A few maintained a cautious attitude, but the controversy didn't die down with time.
Far from dying down, it began to burn even more fiercely.
This was because famous streamers who experienced the same thing belatedly came forward with their testimony.
[I have proof, too.]
Some of them even released their own gameplay recordings in first-person view.
They showed the actual message, ‘Quest has been extinguished,’ appearing on screen.
Undeniable proof that couldn't be refuted!
-Whoa. This isn't edited, right?
-How could it be? It's a video. And what would that guy have to gain from doing something like that?
-True. He's already successful, no point in getting on the game company's bad side.
The atmosphere grew increasingly serious.
As the situation escalated, the developers were naturally flooded with inquiries.
The development team, having received the reports, quickly issued a clarification as if they had been waiting for it.
[Regarding the recent influx of common inquiries, we are making a general announcement.
There are no bugs in the game. All AI in Avala Online are currently operating normally. We have also personally checked each user's account as a precaution, but no specific problems were found there either. The cause of the reported issues are all variables that have occurred within the game's internal systems.]
They posted the notice a mere ten minutes after the situation broke, firmly drawing the line that there were no bugs!
This announcement was instantly translated into languages all over the world and spread rapidly.
An unusually fast feedback speed compared to other game companies.
Thanks to this, anxious users were able to feel relieved, but…
-So what is it?
This time, a different topic of discussion arose.
Then why did perfectly fine quests suddenly disappear?
If it wasn't a bug, then what was the cause?
It was a problem with no easy answer, but there was one clue.
The fact that all the extinguished quests had been received in the Eteun Kingdom.
-…Huh?
-Could this be…
* * *
-Maybe a main quest is about to start in the Eteun Kingdom?
-You think? And that's why the existing quests were extinguished?
-Or maybe…
The community was ablaze with activity!
Speculation flew back and forth among the users.
But despite all the activity, the users had no real clue what was going on.
This was true not only for regular users but also for the rankers who had set out to solve the issue.
They were wasting time and gold visiting the wrong information guilds.
‘Well.’
It made sense when he thought about it.
How on earth would regular players know about the death of the hidden 8th Prince?
They probably didn't even know the illegitimate child existed in the first place.
Just like Lee Shin hadn't.
‘The other players won't find out.’
Lee Shin closed the community window, relieved.
When he turned around, Kilgeo approached with a proud expression and said.
“While you were gone, I came up with a method.”
“You did?”
“A way to enter the castle.”
Lee Shin asked in surprise.
“Is that true?”
“Of course. The key is simply to control the evil aura, is it not?”
“That's true, but.”
But was that even possible? His infamy was at a million.
Unless he spent hundreds of millions in real money, lowering it with donations was impossible.
Lee Shin inwardly swallowed his disappointment at Kilgeo's obvious statement.
However, what Kilgeo said next was quite plausible.
“Change your perspective. Instead of receiving a blessing, you should receive a curse.”
“A curse…?”
“To be precise, you wear an item that is cursed.”
“Ah!”
It was a simple explanation, but Lee Shin understood immediately.
There were such items occasionally. Items that were cursed in exchange for high stats.
And the most common type among them was the kind that fixed one's infamy at a high value.
[Infamy is fixed at ????.]
Something like this, for example.
It was normally intended as a penalty.
But for Lee Shin, whose infamy was already transcendentally high, it was more likely to have a reducing effect.
A fresh change in perspective!
‘Not bad.’
To think of using a curse in reverse. Lee Shin looked at Kilgeo with new appreciation and asked.
“How can I obtain one?”