Chapter 235
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 235
Chapter Title: Popup Store Reunion
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During Sunday morning, I wandered around various spots in the city, lost in brief nostalgia.
New restaurants had popped up among the familiar shops, and quite a few buildings that hadn't been there before now stood tall.
'This feels weird.'
It was a far cry from the Seoul I'd returned to after my trip to the martial world, where everything had stayed exactly the same.
After wrapping up my short Yeju trip, I headed to the popup store.
"Ugh, this is Seoul, alright."
I spent ages hunting for parking, and by the time I got inside the store, it was already packed with people.
I pushed through the suffocating crowd to find my acquaintances.
"Divine Physician! Over here!"
"Whoa, nice to meet you."
"Floating Sky and Beast Heart haven't met Divine Physician yet, right? Our first Alliance Leader."
"I'm not the first Alliance Leader. I just ended up inheriting it."
Cheongpung Young Master, who had taken over as one of the three Alliance Leaders when my login rate dropped.
He introduced the newcomers, Floating Sky Steps and Beast's Heart 11.
"Alliance Leader! Long time no see!"
Even after stepping down, Kkyukkyu kept calling me Alliance Leader out of habit.
I'd wondered if she'd even show, but here she was. Her dad must be really sweet, huh?
Anyway, all the core members from our engineering department who played the game hardcore had gathered.
With this lineup, the conversation naturally turned to Middle Kingdom Online.
They could rant about the balance patches and curse the devs for three days straight.
"Oh, that Nangong keychain is cute. Should I buy it?"
"You don't have anywhere to put it, so wouldn't a poster be better?"
"Gotta hit 50,000 won anyway, so maybe both..."
Cheongpung Young Master had been to the store before, but the rest were first-timers.
"Ah! The effects!"
"Hey, Kkyukkyu, short on cash?"
"Dad only gave me 30,000 won."
"I'll cover it. Pay me back in gold later."
"Whoa! Really?!"
Floating Sky Steps loaded up on merch like crazy.
In-game fine payer me, Beast's Heart 11, and Kkyukkyu perfectly hit the amount for the effects.
"Aigoo, my back."
"What did you do to hurt your back already, Cheongpung?"
After shopping, we lined up at the checkout.
Cheongpung Young Master, who had picked out a pen and was milling around, thumped his lower back.
"Ah, I came from far away. Must've slept wrong on the bus this morning."
"Someone from Busan is here too~. And Kkyukkyu and Divine Physician are fine."
"Can't be helped at my age."
"I'm still in my thirties!"
Floating Sky Steps and Beast's Heart 11 teased him, giggling.
They already seemed pretty tight—must meet up often since they all lived in the capital area.
"Cheongpung? Cheongpung Young Master?"
Then someone right in front of us in line turned around upon hearing us use nicknames.
Looked like a high school freshman or sophomore. A very baby-faced boy.
"A friend of yours?"
Cheongpung Young Master wasn't the type to stir up trouble on the server, so I naturally assumed acquaintance.
"Huh? Who're you?"
Cheongpung Young Master tilted his head, still clutching his back.
"You're from the Sichuan Tang Update Diehards Alliance, right? We're from the Gold Ingot Guild Alliance!"
"Ah, the fourth-ranked guild."
Ha, the nicknames were one thing, but hearing that guild name in real life gave me goosebumps.
"We were third until last week?!"
The kid from the fourth-ranked Gold Ingot Guild Alliance bristled.
I didn't know his face, but I knew the guild name.
First and second were on another level—people for whom the game was life itself—while our guild was the highest-ranked among the more casual ones with lax rules.
We occasionally swapped places with fourth, and lately, our biggest rival was pretty much them.
"Yeah. Gold Ingot Guild's having a meetup here too, I see. I'm Divine Physician."
"Ah, Divine Physician! I know you! Not a meetup, just meeting a guild bro. I'm Central Plains Yeopo!"
A familiar nickname from frequent sparring matches due to similar combat power.
In any other place, it'd be a bizarre introduction, but... inside the popup store, it wasn't that odd.
There were cross-server folks, and even SNS acquaintances calling each other by nicknames.
"If we're done shopping, let's go sit somewhere. My back hurts so much, ugh!"
Meanwhile, Cheongpung Young Master kept slapping his butt, insisting his back was killing him.
"Back hurting? Try acupuncture."
Not me saying it—Central Plains Yeopo.
"Uh... if it still hurts tomorrow, maybe."
Cheongpung Young Master nodded nonchalantly.
"I kept getting shoulder knots from gaming, but our raid party's Korean medicine doc fixed me right up."
Central Plains Yeopo shrugged, bragging—or showing off—a bit.
"Is that so? Must be good."
"Super good! Makes bank too, hands out gifts to the whole party often. Last time, decorative cords and hairpins, even a 9-refine Soy Sauce Demon set..."
"I see. Our guild has a Ko—mmph."
I covered Cheongpung Young Master's mouth.
Apparently, their guild had a big-spending Korean medicine director.
Wasn't it embarrassing to react the same way as a kid bragging about his ranker buddy?
"...If I stay quiet, will you treat me?"
"How do you treat here? Go see Director Kim tomorrow!"
While we whispered, Central Plains Yeopo kept boasting.
He'd gladly invited him to the clinic when his shoulder hurt, the skills were amazing, and Cheongpung Young Master would get fixed up great too.
"Ah, there he is. Our Director Jang! Hyung from mediation!"
Central Plains Yeopo spread his arms to welcome a man.
"Ah, Yeopo. Hi. But who's that group...?"
Slightly sleepy eyes, plump build—middle-aged man.
In a doctor's coat with a soft smile, he'd look kind and approachable, but today his eyes were half-dead.
Not total exhaustion, more like all-nighter gaming fatigue.
"Ran into Sichuan Tang Update Diehards Alliance folks by chance and were chatting. Cheongpung here's back hurts, so I recommended our Director Jang."
Ha, seriously, can't we change our guild name? Sell some rename tokens.
I sighed.
"Uh... uh..."
But Director Jang kept glancing at me.
Lips twitching, pupils shaky like he was anxious.
"Something wrong?"
"By any chance... are you Director Han Yeowon of Seongsu Clinic?"
Huh? Did he know me?
I racked my brain, but no dice.
Senior? Most classmates except close ones blurred together, let alone pre-martial world graduation seniors long faded from memory.
"Sorry, bad with faces. From my school?"
"Huh?"
Central Plains Yeopo alternated looks between us, head tilted.
"Ah, no. Saw your photo in an article."
"Aah... Saudi..."
"Actually knew before that! Subbed to Seongsu Clinic YouTube before the Melon Soda one even started!"
Director Jang explained how he knew me, sweating bullets.
Our clinic's YouTube...
"...You mean Seongsu Martial Clinic?"
I had appeared there sometimes.
"Yes, yes. Thought about trying something like that myself, wondered if it'd work."
Yup, that one.
Being a wuxia gamer, he'd been curious about Seongsu Martial Clinic's success.
"D-Director Jang. You know her?"
"She's the director of that famous chain Seongsu Clinic."
"Whoa."
Central Plains Yeopo's jaw dropped.
"So the 'great treatment' stuff was... ahem."
Director Jang scratched his head, mortified.
* * *
Anyway, we moved to a table together since the ice was broken.
Meeting rival guild from the same server was fate, right?
"Yeopo was hyping you up earlier. Must be pretty skilled."
"No, no. Just average."
Director Jang—or Jang Jungjae—nearly faceplanted on the table in embarrassment.
"But Director Jang, you make good money and spend big in-game."
Seeing Jang Jungjae shrink too much, Central Plains Yeopo pouted and propped him up.
"No. Not really. In-game spending is just... modest, around 200k a month. Rankers all do that. Director Han must spend way more."
"Eh, I've been under 100k lately."
"Heeeek!"
He clamped his mouth, backpedaling.
"Uh, of course, with skills! You can do great without spending!"
Not much of a defense.
He waved his hands, sweat pouring.
"Wait, that sparring rank is pure skill?"
Instead, Central Plains Yeopo marveled, curious about my play records.
Jang Jungjae spent way more than me and played longer, with higher internal energy and combat power, but our sparring ranks were similar.
"Our Divine Physician's pretty good."
"Seeing that Tang alt in raids... damn."
"You nailed the refines first try too."
Kkyukkyu and Cheongpung Young Master praised me, raiding with reinforcement-fail Beast's Heart 11.
No, not that good.
"Haha, whatever. Play as much as I can afford."
"Right. Director Jang's clinic is cool too."
"Ah, Yeopo. Please... feels like strutting in front of a silkworm. Compared to Seongsu Clinic, ours is just a convenience store."
Jang Jungjae sighed deeply again, embarrassed.
"Honestly, might cut back spending soon. Big trouble with that 365 place next door. I'm the type where game's more important than life—cut meals before spending."
"365?"
"No, they're insane. New clinic, two directors doing 365 days 9-to-9 night service, five PT machines?"
Jang Jungjae pounded his chest, venting grievances.
"Ah, we do night service too."
We even opened early. Hmm.
Awkward.
"Heek!"
Jang Jungjae, who'd seen our YouTube, belatedly remembered and gaped.
"Ah, n-no, night service! Convenient for patients! Hardworking, yeah. I'd go to one too. Haha, hahaha."
Post-200k monthly gaffe, he scrambled to smooth another slip.
No need to explain.
Free market—you want 9-to-6 weekdays, but competitors with nights pop up? Frustrating, sure.
"365 nights aside! Real issue's elsewhere."
"Real issue?"
All eyes on Jang Jungjae.
He sighed deeply, opening solemnly.
"Water PT pounding."
"Water PT pounding?"
Kkyukkyu and Cheongpung Young Master, clueless on doc slang, asked.
Central Plains Yeopo gazed at him admiringly anyway.
"Waterbed, those little hammers tapping, TENS, machine chuna body beats... all for under 20k! Trying to kill us all?!"
Jang Jungjae slammed the table, lamenting.
The dreaded "water PT pounding clinic" neighborhood docs hate had opened nearby.
Not skill or patient care—tons of PT for "more value" at same price. Selling point.
Heavy initial investment to suck up local patients aggressively.
Tough for solo neighborhood clinic.
"Ha... might buy machines next month, cut spending—ah, oops!"
Jang Jungjae eyed me again.
Worried I'd think he implied we overdid PT too?
"We only have ICT for PT. Win on skill."
He sighed in relief.
Then...
"Eh... nothing else?"
Startled late.
"Yeah. Bought ultrasound, but PT's minimal."
"Just acupuncture and chuna for two sub-director salaries?"
"Herbs sell well."
Shared rough herb/acu patient numbers; he gaped, impressed.
Soon mopey again.
"Wah, but I can't do nights. No big ambitions—just 9-to-6 hard, hobbies after... world's too harsh."
Medical field's competitive, sure.
But 365 next door that big an impact?
"Newly opened, patients might try and come back. Machines don't matter if treatment works."
"Thought so, but three months quiet. Wondering if it's me. Do all 365s do this...?"
Hmm, three months—post-opening rush over.
Needed countermeasures, clearly.
"Want me to take a look?"
Half gamer sympathy.
Half curiosity if neighbor really tanked sales that hard.
I proposed to Jang Jungjae.