Chapter 25: Unexpected Encounter (1)

"We will send the C-rank Player license to the address that you've written down tomorrow."

"Hmm… You can't give it to me right now?"

"Correct. For licenses ranked C and above, there is a special identification device created with mana stones embedded into it, so it's impossible to issue it immediately."

"Understood."

The morning after the incident with the Andras Guild, Oh Kang-Woo went to the Player Management Office and requested a C-rank Gate access permit. After all, he had long since surpassed the required amount of mana stones to exchange to be promoted.

Kang-Woo went to the level assessment device, received confirmation that he had achieved his Third Awakening, and then walked over to the entrance to receive his license. However, the answer he received there differed from what he'd expected. They said that they would send it to him the next day.

'I wanted to go to the C-rank Gate immediately.'

His original plan had been to take a few days off after achieving his Third Awakening. Nonetheless, that plan changed after meeting the demon worshipers, who had been evangelized by a member of an organization called the Demon Cult. Kang-Woo wanted to become as strong as possible before finding out in detail what that organization was, what they were aiming to do, and how strong their forces were.

"Hmm." Kang-Woo wondered if he should use the Authority of Blindness to bypass the Gate security.

His demonic energy had increased a lot recently, so he was sure that he would be able to pass through stricter security measures than what was used at the Gate at least once.

'I shouldn't do that.'

Kang-Woo ultimately shook his head after thinking about it for a while.

It wasn't like the Demon Cult was highly active at the moment, and finding information about them was going to take time anyway. He couldn't just do nothing, but there was no need to move as if he were being chased.

'I guess I'll just do what I planned on doing and take a break.'

Kang-Woo had some unexpected free time, so he thought taking a day off and enjoying life on Earth wouldn't be a bad idea.

'I haven't taken a day off since returning to Earth.'

There were many things he wanted to do, but he hadn't taken a proper break ever since his return.

Kang-Woo began feeling excited at the unexpected day off.

"But…"

Kang-Woo was standing alone in front of the Player Management Office, which was in the middle of a city where hundreds—no, thousands—of people walked hurriedly and with purpose.

He stood still in silence.

"What should I do?"

Kang-Woo scratched his forehead in confusion, as he was unfamiliar with recreational activities. He'd lived in poverty in the past, so his only forms of entertainment had been eating out and reading manhwa or novels on his smartphone at night. Even then, he would read only the free chapters. Things became even worse later when he went to Hell.

He had dreamed about returning to Earth, but he hadn't thought about what he wanted to do in detail. After all, he couldn't miss doing things he had never done.

"Hmm…"

Kang-Woo sat down on a nearby bench and immersed himself in his thoughts.

'Now that I think about it, I lived a boring life while on Earth.'

He tried to think about what he used to like doing, but since he never really had any hobbies, nothing came to mind.

"Hmm… Should I just go get some fried chicken?"

Kang-Woo thought about the fried chicken and beer he had eaten recently. He hadn't been eating anything else because Han Seol-Ah's food was too delicious.

'But it's too early.'

He'd gone to the Player Management Office early in the morning, so it wasn't even lunchtime yet. It was unlikely that there was a place selling chicken and beer so early in the day.

"Oh!"

Kang-Woo suddenly thought of somewhere he could go. He had never been to a place like that before, but he'd really wanted to when he was a kid.

"Yes, I should go there."

Kang-Woo stood up excitedly and looked around. If he remembered correctly, he should be able to find what he was looking for easily.

'Found one.'

Kang-Woo's eyes lit up when he spotted a certain sign. He quickly walked toward it.

[Yaience Internet Cafe ~

Death is like the wind - always by my side

~][1]

"I'm finally getting to enter an internet cafe!" Kang-Woo said loudly while looking up at the sign.

Back when he was a kid, he'd always felt envious of the kids who got to spend time in internet cafes. Then, when he became an adult, he never had enough time to go due to being too busy working.

'I should experience these things one by one.'

During the last ten millennia, Kang-Woo endured a lot of pain and almost died more than a thousand times. Seeing as he had finally returned to Earth, he should reward himself for everything he had gone through. Kang-Woo was planning to experience and enjoy everything he hadn't had the chance to.

"Let's go," Kang-Woo said in a voice resembling a warrior about to go to war.

A bell chimed as he pushed the door open.

"Let's see… Do I just register and add money into my account like this?"

Despite this being his first time in an Internet cafe, he finished the registration process smoothly. However, he couldn't help but gasp in excitement while looking around, just like someone from the countryside visiting Seoul for the first time.

Kang-Woo looked at the monitor and clicked on a button at the top that said 'Order Food.'

"Whoa… I can also order food?"

The neatly-organized menu reminded him of a restaurant.

He thought about it for a while and selected 'Set A.'

'I heard you had to try the instant noodles when in internet cafes.'

Kang-Woo had often heard that the instant noodles served in internet cafes were delicious.

"Then…"

After that, he looked for a game to play. However, he'd never played games before, so he didn't know which game to choose.

'How can I choose if I don't know anything?'

Kang-Woo pondered for a while and ultimately just chose a game from the 'Popular Games' folder. He clicked on a game with a logo consisting of the capital letter 'L' and created a new account.

"Hmm?"

After he completed the registration, an advertisement window popped up.

[Startup Package - 5 Rune Pages, 100K IP, rise to Level 30!]

"Whoa."

It advertised the benefits of the game's startup package and how much money it cost.

'If I'm going to start playing, I guess it's better to start at Level 30.'

He didn't understand what levels meant in this game, but he thought he had nothing to lose by starting at a higher one.

Kang-Woo bought the startup package and began playing the game. He clicked on a button that said 'Ranked Solo.'

"Support… There are different kinds of classes?"

While tilting his head, Kang-Woo chose a character—a wind mage.

'Am I supposed to go there now?'

Kang-Woo's wind mage walked along the bottom lane while following behind a hot blond male character.

One minute and thirty seconds after the game began, monsters started to pour out from both camps, and a 2v2 match began.

"Ah. So, if I kill these monsters, I'll get money."

Kang-Woo understood how to play the game after playing for a short while. Upon realizing that he would get money if he hit the monsters, Kang-Woo began moving the mouse and hunting the monsters down.

Then he received a chat message from the user playing as the hot blond male character.

[Izreal: y u killing em]

Kang-Woo tilted his head and sent back a chat message.

[Channa: u get money if u kill em]

[Izreal: ur not supposed to kill the minions u dumb f***]

[Channa: u hurry up n kill em too. free money]

[Izreal: eat a f****** d*** u m***** f*****]

He didn't understand why, but the other person seemed angry.[2]

"Here is your Set A. That'll be 4,000 won."

"Oh, thank you very much."

When Kang-Woo was served the instant noodles meal set that he'd ordered, he paid the employee and then stared at his instant noodles with bright eyes.

'It smells amazing.'

instant noodles had been the food that he'd eaten the most back when he was poor. He'd eaten so much of it that he had become sick of it, but smelling it in the internet cafe made him drool.

Kang-Woo grabbed the chopsticks and began eating the instant noodles.

"

Slurp!

"

The sweet and spicy aroma and the unique flavor of the instant noodles spread through his mouth.

'Delicious!'

With the instant noodles before him, the game became his second priority. He just placed his character next to a turret and focused on eating.

"I never would've imagined that pickled radish went so well with instant noodles!" Kang-Woo exclaimed in surprise after tasting the included side dish of pickled radish.

It couldn't be compared to kimchi, but pickled radish was also good in its own way. Following the pickled radish, Kang-Woo smiled and happily ate the kimbap that was included in the meal set.

[Izreal: hey do something!! please!! this is my promotion matchhhhhh!!]

His partner sent him a desperate message, but Kang-Woo didn't notice it since he was too busy eating.

"Internet cafes don't really meet the hype."

Was it because he had never played video games? He didn't understand what made internet cafes so popular.

"Like I'd thought, eating is better."

Rather than playing video games, he better enjoyed eating the instant noodles that the internet cafe served. He even thought that it would be worth going to an internet cafe again just for the food.

After finishing the instant noodles, he emptied his canned beverage. The taste of the carbonated drink lingered in his mouth as the liquid slid down his throat.

Then…

Slam!

"CHANNA, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!! AARRRGGGHHH!!"

Kang-Woo heard someone shout angrily behind him.

He turned around and saw a woman with short red hair, who was wearing a baseball cap, get up angrily. She had thick eyebrows, full lips, a sharp nose, and fair skin. The red-haired woman was wearing a tracksuit, but that wasn't enough to hide her beauty.

Her eyes met Kang-Woo's, and she glared at him.

"What are you looking at? Got a problem? I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now, so—" the red-haired woman said angrily until she noticed Kang-Woo's game screen. "…Huh?"

She looked back and forth between Kang-Woo's screen and hers.

Then the corners of her mouth curled up in a sneer. "Wow. Coincidences like this really do happen, huh?"

Strong energy poured out from her body as she said, "You'd better step outside while I'm still asking nicely, you son of a bitch."

1. Yaience (????) is a term coined by Korean League of Legends players that combine Yasuo and science. It basically means that people play Yasuo mainly because they want to be the main character, but get tilted when they aren't the ones carrying the game and just let themselves be killed. He is a difficult character to play, so they would rather just lose the game than be carried. Hence, it has basically become a science that you are 100% going to lose the game if you have a Yasuo player on your team. 👈

2. This is far too complicated to explain to people who don't play LoL through a reference note, so maybe someone in the comments who's knowledgeable in the game can explain for people that don't understand. Plus, the summoner names are altered, but I'm sure ppl who play the game can figure it out. Long story short: Channa is a support hero and Izreal is the ADC. The support hero should let the ADC take the last hit to get more money. 👈