Chapter 14
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Moving Day
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Clack— Clack—
The owner slapped the side dishes onto the table with a sour look on his face.
"You should smile, sir. You'll scare all the customers away serving them with a face like that."
"What?"
The owner, who had been glaring, bit his lip and tried to swallow his boiling anger.
*Just stay calm. If I can just humor this bastard for today, I can avoid the fine.*
After today, they would never see each other again.
Resolved to endure it for just one day, the owner forced a smile onto his face.
"Is this better?"
"Who talks to a customer so informally? Are you going to talk down to everyone just because they're young?"
"...Is this better, sir?"
"Yes. You look much better when you smile."
Watching Ryu Min smile back, the owner cursed inwardly.
*Crazy psycho bastard.*
The owner turned and went back into the kitchen.
A fleeting glimpse of his face revealed it was filled with rage.
Seeing this, Ryu Won seemed worried and asked cautiously from the side.
"Hyung, is this really okay?"
"It's fine. You don't know how horribly that owner treated me, do you?"
"That's not it. What if he tries to get revenge later...?"
"Don't worry about pointless things."
Revenge?
Could he even dare to retaliate with force against him, a Player?
*It's never happened in any of my past regressions, but if he did...*
He would just have to retaliate in kind.
No, he would retaliate even more fiercely to make sure he never entertained such a foolish thought again.
Soon, the owner brought out the meat they had ordered.
"Here is... your meat."
It was the most expensive cut in the restaurant, flower-patterned sirloin.
Sizzle—
Hearing the meat cook, Ryu Won gulped.
*Not even pork belly, but premium Korean beef.*
It was the first time in his life he was eating such expensive food, and Ryu Won was full of anticipation.
"Eat up."
"Yeah, you eat a lot too, hyung!"
With the owner gone, the brothers' meal began.
"Wow, this is so delicious, hyung. Is this Korean beef?"
"Yeah. One of the tastiest cuts, too."
"I've heard people say it's delicious, but I never knew it would be this good. It feels like it's melting in my mouth!"
"I'm glad you're enjoying it."
Ryu Min smiled with satisfaction and looked around the hall.
Business must have been terrible, because even during peak hours, there were still no other customers.
During the meal, Ryu Min occasionally called for the owner.
"Sir! A little more garlic over here!"
"Sir! A little more sesame oil sauce here!"
"Sir! Another bowl of rice, please!"
"Sir! More flower-patterned sirloin..."
"You son of a bitch! If you're going to order, order it all at once! There's a limit to how much you can boss me around!"
The owner finally exploded.
"Well, did you treat me reasonably when I worked for you?"
"..."
Ryu Min's single remark left him speechless.
"Just hurry up and bring four more servings of the sirloin."
"How much more are you going to eat..."
"It's all coming out of my unpaid wages anyway. You got a problem with that?"
"N-No. I'll bring it right away."
Ryu Min was giving the owner a taste of his own medicine, dishing out the same kind of treatment he had endured all this time.
Without a doubt, the owner was learning the hard way that the customer is king.
*Shit, just get through today... just get through today...*
Leaving the owner to chant his mantra of patience, their meal finally ended after 9 p.m.
Ryu Min and his brother rubbed their full bellies with satisfied expressions.
"That was a good meal."
"It was great, hyung."
Getting up from his seat, Ryu Min looked back at the owner.
"It's pricey, but it was decent. We ate well, sir."
"Y-Yeah. I'm glad you enjoyed it."
As if an eternity had passed, the owner's face had grown haggard.
"A-Are you leaving now?"
"Yes."
"Then what about reporting me?"
Ryu Min stared at the owner silently.
The man clasped his hands together, his pleading eyes showing how desperately he didn't want to be reported.
"You're not going to report me, right?"
"That's right. I won't."
At those words, a wide smile blossomed on the owner's face.
"Haha! Really? Thank..."
"It's already out of my hands. I already reported you on my way here."
"Huh? Wh-What?"
Ryu Min gave a wicked smile to the owner, who didn't seem to understand.
"I've already reported all your misconduct to the Ministry of Labor. I've also filed a criminal complaint, so you'll have to appear for questioning soon. You should prepare yourself."
"Wh-What?"
"As for my unpaid wages, you can just deposit them into my account later as ordered by the Ministry. And I'll consider today's meal as interest on the money you owed me."
"..."
"I don't know if you'll be able to stay in business, but good luck with that. Let's not see each other again. Let's go, Won."
"O-Okay, hyung."
As the brothers left the restaurant, the owner could only stand there for a long while, dumbfounded.
* * *
[Massive Lottery Win at a Seoul Convenience Store. A Whopping 100 Tickets...]
[The 100-Ticket Winner is a Single Person. Wrote the Same Numbers for 100 Slips...]
[GS24 Yeonhui Branch First-Prize Winner. Takes Home 22.4 Billion of the 24 Billion Won Jackpot!]
[Approximately 224 Million Won Per Ticket. Unprecedented Winnings Lead to Complaints from Other First-Prize Winners.]
Ryu Won looked up from the article he was reading on his phone.
"Hyung, it's in the news."
"Yeah. I saw."
"The comments are going crazy, asking how someone could buy 100 tickets, saying you must be from the future."
"Well, I guess they would."
"Hyung, are you really from the future? How did you know the exact numbers?"
"I told you, I had a dream. A very vivid one."
It was hard to believe, but Ryu Won didn't press any further.
The fact that his brother had become a Player was unbelievable enough.
"Did 1.8 billion people really get taken, and only 900 million came back alive?"
"That's what happened. There are tons of articles about it online."
After 5:20 a.m. on January 1st.
Everyone who didn't wake up from the narcoleptic state died of cardiac arrest.
Articles on the subject were flooding the internet, and it was all over the news.
There were a few YouTubers spouting conspiracy theories, but they were a tiny minority.
It was an unbelievable but undeniable reality.
"The whole world is in chaos, and you still don't believe it?"
"It's just so hard to accept..."
Ryu Min chuckled at his brother's words.
He supposed it would be hard to believe unless you experienced it firsthand.
"It's only going to get more chaotic from here. We've only just survived the first round."
With the population decreasing every month, the world would be filled with turmoil.
The economy would collapse, and social systems would be paralyzed.
Some were even saying it was the dawn of a dystopian era.
*And if Players start exercising their power, the chaos will only accelerate.*
That was why Ryu Min needed to gather as much capital as he could right away.
It was always good to have more money, and he had plenty of uses for it.
"Won. What did you think of the house we saw at the real estate office yesterday? Did you like it?"
"Of course! It was amazing! I've never seen such a big, expensive house in my life! Even if it was just in pictures..."
"It was the best one available for immediate move-in. The security is great, too."
Ryu Min was planning to move to Galleria Foret in Seongsu-dong.
The selling price was a staggering 7 billion won, but he hadn't spent that much.
He had signed a monthly lease, not bought it.
"But hyung, why did you rent it? You have so much money, why not just buy it...?"
"I don't have any money."
"Huh?"
As his brother stared at him with wide eyes, Ryu Min spoke nonchalantly.
"I left myself with one billion and invested the rest in crypto."
"What? Crypto?"
What was he hearing? Crypto?
His brother asked again, feeling as if the sky had just fallen.
"You mean like Bitcoin?"
"Yeah."
"You poured 14 billion won into that?"
"Yep."
"Hyung! What on earth were you thinking...!"
Ryu Min raised a hand as if to quiet him.
"I know. I know what you're going to say. It must seem pathetic. It must seem reckless. But it's not."
"Do you have some kind of ace up your sleeve?"
"That's why I went all-in, leaving just one billion."
"..."
15 billion won had appeared and then vanished in a single day.
Of course, it wasn't gone but invested, but in Ryu Won's eyes, it might as well have disappeared.
Even as a middle schooler, Ryu Won knew the risks of crypto.
"Are you sure it's okay? It's your money, so it's not my place to interfere, but..."
"It's fine. You don't have to worry about losing it at all."
"If you say so, that's a relief, but..."
He couldn't feel at ease.
It wasn't regular stocks; it was crypto.
It wasn't a joke; it could literally vanish overnight.
As if reading his brother's thoughts, Ryu Min reassured him.
"Don't worry about the money. I can just win the lottery again."
"Huh? The lottery?"
"The dream I had wasn't just for one drawing's numbers."
Ryu Min explained that he had seen the numbers for a total of five drawings in his dream, reassuring his brother that he could win four more times.
"Of course, I'll have to play to see if they're actually first-prize numbers."
"Whoa..."
He could win the lottery four more times?
*If he keeps winning first prize...*
Ryu Won covered his mouth with his hands.
*15 billion won four times is 60 billion? An extra 60 billion won is coming in?*
If the numbers from his dream were for the first prize, his brother would become incredibly rich.
"Hyung! You remember all the numbers, right? Don't forget them!"
"I won't forget."
*How many times have I done this?*
For a regressor like Ryu Min, memorizing five sets of lottery numbers was a piece of cake.
"Anyway..."
Ryu Min checked the time on his phone and stood up.
"Let's grab some lunch outside and get ready to go."
"Huh? Go where?"
"Ah, did I not tell you?"
Ryu Min smiled brightly.
"Today's moving day."
* * *
Crunch—
The brick in Hwang Yong-min's fist crumbled.
"Wow, this is insane."
When he threw another punch, the alley wall dented.
With each impact, exclamations of awe escaped Hwang Yong-min's lips.
It was only natural.
Who wouldn't be thrilled to obtain superhuman strength?
"I can't believe I can use the status window and inventory in the real world... This is awesome."
Even his runes still applied.
*A rune that doubles my strength. I got lucky with my draw.*
Runes weren't divided by grade, but it was obvious.
The [Rune of Brawn] he had pulled was overpowered.
*I wanted to get stronger anyway, and I ended up with a rune like this.*
Because of the rune, he had poured all his stats into Strength.
And this was the result.
It allowed him to shatter bricks with his bare fists without a second thought.
Though his knuckles were starting to hurt a little.
"With this, even Tyson's got nothing on my knockout punch."
Chuckling to himself, Hwang Yong-min dusted off his fist.
"That's enough testing. Time to put it to practice, hehe."
Crack— Crack— Hwang Yong-min cracked his knuckles and started walking.
He was headed for a shabby multi-family house.
He was, in fact, on his way to Ryu Min's home.
*How dare that arrogant gopher glare at me like that?*
It had only been a few days, but the sneer and the look in Ryu Min's eyes at the bell-tolling site were still vivid in his mind.
*Did you think I'd just let it go? You're dead, you bastard Ryu Min.*
He hadn't seen the guy since returning to reality.
He'd tried calling him out as usual, but he wasn't picking up.
*You think you can solve this by ghosting me?*
He couldn't get in touch, but there was no need to worry.
He knew his gopher's home address perfectly.
*I'll have to correct those bad habits myself.*
He didn't even know if the guy was dead or alive, but he'd find out when he got to his house.
Even if he had survived the first round and was also a Player, he was confident he could win.
A loser was still a loser, even if he awakened some powers.
"This is it."
Hwang Yong-min stood in front of Ryu Min's house and rang the doorbell.
Ding-dong— Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
He pressed it several times, but there was no response.
He put his ear to the front door, but he couldn't hear any sign of life.
*That bastard is home and just pretending not to be here.*
He was probably holding his breath like a coward, knowing he would come looking for him.
"Ah, guess he's not home. Oh well. I should go."
He intentionally raised his voice as if he were leaving, then pressed his ear tightly against the door.
*Just let me hear one little sound. I'll break down the door if I have to.*
With enough strength to shatter bricks, there was nothing holding Hwang Yong-min back anymore.
It was then.
"Hmm? Hey, student? What are you doing there?"
Hearing a voice from behind, Hwang Yong-min turned his head.
An old man was approaching him.
"What are you doing in front of someone else's house?"
"What's it to you, old man? You're not the owner."
"I am the owner of this building."
Hwang Yong-min's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"That's right. So what are you doing here? Looking for a friend?"
*Friend?*
A smile formed on Hwang Yong-min's lips.
"Yes, that's right, a friend. If you're the owner, you can open the door, right? I can't get in touch with him all of a sudden, could you open it for me?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
The old man just clicked his tongue instead of answering, and Hwang Yong-min frowned.
"What's with that?"
"Looks like your friend stood you up."
"Excuse me?"
"That room is empty. I just came by to check since I heard they moved out."
Hwang Yong-min's eyes widened.
"What are you talking about?"
"The student who lived here moved somewhere else."
*Moved?*
Hwang Yong-min's eyebrow twitched.
"When?"
"Today."
"Do you know where he went?"
"I wouldn't know."
Hwang Yong-min trembled, grinding his teeth.
*That bastard moved without saying a word?*
He had never imagined his gopher would escape his grasp.