Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Housebound Full-Time Gamer (2)
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A delivery had arrived.
Someone had set the package box down in front of the door and was pressing the doorbell.
Any modern person would start with suspicion toward a delivery guy like that.
-No way a delivery driver leaves the package and sticks around to ring the bell?
It could happen.
In cases where the person who ordered the package specifically requests them to ring the bell.
Not like this was some high-security apartment complex or anything, and even in apartments, folks in a rush to grab their packages quick might ask for it.
So they could snatch it up the second the driver leaves.
Sure, SNS was full of stories about package thieves over in the States, but Korea wasn't that bad.
However.
[Here's your delivery.]
Delivery drivers didn't hang around like that on purpose.
Unless it was registered mail from the post office that required a signature, or something valuable like department store gift certificates that needed personal receipt.
"Elaine. Can you check?"
"Yes."
And one other case.
Tap tap tap tap.
Unless they were an agent exchanging some coded signal, disguised as a delivery guy to carry out a mission.
"No issues. That's our guy."
"Okay."
I opened the inner door and headed to the entrance.
In the full-length mirror by the front door, I saw myself in a light hoodie and jeans.
It looked like casual everyday wear for a quick outing, but underneath, I was wearing a stab-resistant protective vest made of special fiber cables.
Elaine was hidden around the corner out of sight from the entrance, ready to respond instantly if things turned threatening.
Creeeak.
I opened the door.
The chain on the studio apartment's front door—which you rarely saw anymore—rattled open, and I peered through the gap to check the guy out.
Shff.
The delivery man met my eyes, then scanned the surroundings with an even more tense expression than mine.
A guy in a black cap, sunglasses, and neck warmer covering his whole face.
Only someone staring right at him could see past the slightly slipped-down sunglasses: eyes that weren't brown, but blue.
I knew him.
"You need to sign for the delivery. Got your driver's license?"
Driver's license, not ID.
With that, the delivery guy pointed to the box by his feet.
A pretty big box.
Big enough to mistake it for furniture delivery.
"One sec. This work?"
"Yes. ...Confirmed."
The delivery man pulled out his handheld device and pretended to punch in some info, then drew a white envelope from his pocket.
"You can use it freely starting now. This is a gift certificate from us. The package..."
"I'll grab it after you leave."
"Yes, please take it right away."
He bowed.
The delivery man left immediately, and after a suitable wait, I unhooked the chain and hauled in the package.
"...Phew."
The second I got the box inside the front door, I shut and locked it.
I beckoned Elaine right away as she came in, and she approached the front door, pressing her ear to the steel.
A moment of silence.
Elaine shook her head and picked up the box, closed the inner door, and quietly pulled out her smartphone as she came inside.
[Outside. Awakener Management Committee agents present.] "......Ha."
This was a problem.
"Shoulda known. Maybe quitting my job was a mistake."
No sound would carry outside, but I hadn't expected my resignation to come back and bite me like this.
"All these people quitting right after awakening and making me suffer for it."
"...And here you went and packaged your resignation as being fed up with your trash bosses for once."
"Exactly. The company folks get it, but the government and Awakener Management Committee have no clue."
Currently.
After the Million Awakenings, a whopping 10,000 people in Korea had quit their jobs right away.
Of them, 7,000 were actual ability users who awakened as registered national hunters.
Coincidentally, I'd gotten swept up in that resignation wave, so now the remaining regular quitters were drawing suspicion.
-These guys aren't just quitting—they're hiding their awakening and planning to flee overseas, right?
"What a headache. Still... good thing we have this."
The package box was big enough to fit a decent suitcase inside.
Not some insurance signup gift—the box, tape, and label were all meticulously selected.
Couldn't even recycle it.
The box itself was state secret material, and the label wasn't real.
Shh shh shh.
I carefully sliced the tape with a knife and opened the box to reveal a massive metal case inside.
"...Never thought I'd end up using a PC worth over ten million won."
This wasn't just some latest-model computer.
A very important gift from our old friend in West Virginia, 'Armstrong'.
I snipped the end of the pre-delivered envelope with scissors, revealing a card company pamphlet.
And a single existing black card.
"...Stuff you only see in movies. For real."
With this one card, I could buy anything.
Provided.
I didn't get caught by them.
"Let's set up the computer first. Gotta reinstall the games too."
Thud.
"Shall I carry it for you?"
"...Nah."
I knew Elaine could lift this monster chassis—big as a 32-inch monitor—with one hand.
"I'll do it."
This was my burden.
"I gotta handle this much at least."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Meanwhile, at a cafe near the studio apartment.]
"Team Leader, we've circled around enough. No unregistered awakeners here, right?"
"Nah. Definitely one."
"Team 2 pulled back after checking the sudden quitters' backgrounds. Shouldn't we do the same? He's just taking deliveries at home."
"Could be a disguise for taking deliveries. There's that movie where they trade chicken salt for tonics. Could be faking a quit to slip overseas as a latent hunter."
"Ease up on the movies."
The two men sipped their 1,500-won iced Americanos, pointing at the bustling fountain square full of people.
"Criminals always return to the scene."
"He's not a criminal—he's a hero, an S-Rank Hunter."
"Wait. My gut's never wrong."
The team leader—scruffy, unshaven, exhaustion etched on his face—pointed at the crowd by the fountain.
"Lives around here for sure. 'Elaine' means at least local to the neighborhood."
"Gonna canvass every resident? That's illegal unless you've got a specific target... Ah, Team Leader!"
The team leader bolted toward someone with his coffee in hand, and the subordinate chased after him with a 'here we go again' look.
"Hey, you!"
The team leader charged at a black-haired maid standing by the fountain.
"Hold up, need to check your ID."
"Wh-what?"
"Awakener Management Committee Registration Support Team 3 Leader, Park Gun-woo."
Team Leader Park Gun-woo flashed his badge.
It was one of the new badges made after the Tower appeared, forged from 'magic stones' hunters got from Tower hunts.
"Are you the person in question?"
"N-no! It's cosplay, cosplay."
The black-haired maid fumbled in panic but reached for her eyes.
She popped out her colored contacts, revealing reddish-brown irises, and Park Gun-woo immediately bowed 90 degrees.
"Sorry for the mistake. Thought you were the real deal..."
"No worries. I get it. Hehe."
The Elaine cosplayer gave a soft smile and held up her smartphone.
"Oppa, you see that? Ahaha, told you I look just like her!"
"......."
"Obstructing official duties? I'm just out here in cosplay taking concept pics...! No way an S-Rank Hunter's doing this. She's probably in the States!"
The maid cosplayer chatted at her camera, and Park Gun-woo backed away, rejoining his subordinate.
"Argh. Gonna snap. Damn clipbait."
"Hardworking civil servant shorts incoming. Shoulda stayed calm."
"Haa...."
Park Gun-woo covered his face with his hand and shook his head.
"They need cops to cordon this off. Look—hunters, fans, everyone's on a pilgrimage."
By the fountain.
In the cramped space where the Tower had vanished, everyone was gathered, holding their own little events.
"Might as well pray at Mungyeong Saejae."
"Military's still controlling that."
"Bet they lifted it today. Ugh."
Park Gun-woo scratched his head and glanced up at the towering studio apartments.
"My instincts don't lie. Among the part-timers and quitters who didn't grab new jobs, the shut-ins aren't the ones—they're gunning for hunter emigration exemptions."
"...Could just be quitting a shitty company?"
The subordinate shrugged it off and pulled out his smartphone.
"Saw a post on Bla—some ace employee quit in rage after his section chief won second-prize lotto and ghosted."
"What's that got to do with the ace quitting?"
"Ace bought lotto tickets for everyone after drinks, his was second prize, but the chief dipped."
"...That's it."
Park Gun-woo snapped his fingers.
"Dig into that guy. He's the awakener."
"Who? The quit ace?"
"No!"
Snap!
"The psycho who quit over second prize. Who quits over second prize—not even first?"
"...Makes sense."
"Hit up the post's source, make contact. Sigh, everyone but that quitter. Worst luck."
"Wonder what he's up to now."
"Beats me. Probably prepping a new livelihood? Lots of quitters doing Vlogs or YouTube these days."
Park Gun-woo looked up at the sky.
"Man, I wanna quit and be a YouTuber too."
"What channel?"
"All-around gaming streamer. ...Nah, whatever."
Park Gun-woo pointed at the cosplayers mobbing the fountain.
"YouTube off those mobile games they love."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Whoa, insane. A 9090?"
I set the computer from the box on the desk and checked the internals—my jaw dropped at the top-shelf parts packed inside.
"Some good gear? From the President, so yeah, but..."
"Top of the line among what's on sale."
Pluck.
Peeling off the plastic, I spotted a letter envelope.
I opened it right away: a handwritten note, slightly crooked.
-Gathered parts including the in-development next-gen X090, but since they're not officially out yet, game companies might detect 'em. Made it only with current-market stuff—sorry about that. To my friend far away. Hope this helps with the 'disguise' for your new job.
-Your pal, Armstrong.
"...Friends like this are worth making."
DMing him on SNS right after conquering the Tower was the right call.
"Buys me a whole PC to kick off my post-quit full-time gamer life."
"So now you'll do that with this?"
"Yeah."
I sat at the desk.
"Full-time gamer life, starting now."
For the next summon.
"Elaine."
"Yes, Master."
"Sit here and help me search. For our new friend."
A summon that could heal, dish out DPS, and tank.
"With endless mobile games worldwide, one's gotta fit the bill."
Gotta start looking.
"Let's find someone worth fully building and maxing out. Money's no object."
Not some female character whose expression soured every time Elaine hovered the cursor.
"Master, this one—"
"No guys."
Not even XY-chromosome types.
"My game party can have meta bros, but this house? Only one man allowed: me."