Chapter 1

I am an ordinary office worker - Chapter 1 (Prologue) (1/180)

< Prologue, Chapter 1 >

C-Rank player Hanbi Kim stood still, staring at the large monster in front of her.

To be precise, she was looking at the shattered remains of the monster.

"What the...?"

This is unbelievable.

In Korea, no, anywhere in the world,

I have never seen a player who can shatter a large monster with a single punch.

If such players existed, the number of monsters would be half of what it is now.

Hanbi turned her head toward the man who had caused this chaos.

For some reason, the man, who had a black plastic bag over his head, was dusting off his suit and getting on a bicycle.

"Ah, blood splattered. Bloodstains are hard to remove."

"Excuse me..."

The man, who was rubbing the blood on the bicycle with his finger regardless of who was watching, turned his head at the sound of his name being called.

Of course, Hanbi faced not a face with eyes, nose, and mouth, but only a black plastic bag.

How did you kill the monster? Did you know the monster would appear? Was what you just used a skill? Why are you wearing a plastic bag?

All sorts of questions swirled in her mind, but the one that finally came out was:

"Who are you?!"

In response to Hanbi's desperate question, the man in the plastic bag answered cheerfully.

"I'm an office worker."

"Huh?"

"I'm an ordinary office worker."

——————————

I, Seonghan Lee, have a very busy daily life.

When I wake up after a good sleep and look at the clock, it's at least 11:00 AM.

If I lie down to digest my breakfast within 30 minutes, it's time for lunch.

After lunch, I browse the internet to see what exciting events happened today, and by the time I grab a few snacks, it's time for dinner.

Starting from dinner, I have at least two or three TV programs to watch every day.

I had to change the channels on time and rush to the bathroom during commercial breaks.

"Alright, now that I've finished dinner, let's tackle my busy schedule!"

Just as I got into a comfortable position on the sofa to watch TV busily,

the nagging came as usual.

"Oh, you good-for-nothing. The only thing you do after eating is lie down and watch TV."

"No, I also go to the bathroom?"

"Stop lying down!"

"Alright, I understand!"

I shouted confidently and stood up to watch TV from there.

And then I was chased out.

Even though I stood up as told, getting scolded is an unreasonable treatment!

I shouted inwardly and trudged to a nearby playground, sitting on a swing.

I just need to hold out until my brother comes.

"Kuung!"

While sitting on the swing, a black dog approached from a distance.

It was a bit smaller than a large dog, with slender and long legs. It came up to my feet, sniffed around, and then lay down in front of me.

When I gently stroked its head, it panted happily.

"Sit, lie down, roll over!"

It understood my commands as if it had been trained for ten years.

Excited, I threw a stone and told it to fetch.

The stone rolled far away, and the dog wagged its tail and ran toward it.

"What are you doing?"

If I hadn't heard the shocked shout, I could have even told it to bark.

Turning to the direction of the loud voice, I saw a man shouting for me to come over quickly.

"Is this dog yours?"

"There's no way, it's a monster!"

I thought. I almost felt sorry for telling someone else's dog to fetch a stone.

"Come over here quickly. It's dangerous."

The man kept shouting loudly, as if something was very urgent.

Isn't it more dangerous to shout loudly if there's a monster?

Scratching my head, I walked toward the man.

"I thought it was a tame dog."

My fun was ruined by the interruption.

I could feel the dog returning with the stone from a distance, but ignoring both the dog and the man, I started walking toward home.

By now, my brother must have returned home.

From a distance behind, I could hear the man's scream and the fierce barking of the dog, but I rubbed my little finger in my ear and went home.

***

About 3 years and 6 months ago, the world changed.

Monsters and dungeons, which were commonly seen in books and games, began to appear in the world.

Although the world was in chaos, some people began to gain the power to fight against the monsters.

People called them 'Players.'

Players could travel to a different world called 'La Elta' through randomly generated portals.

Everyone who returned from there said it was like a game world.

They said you could receive quests from a 'Quest Board' and level up by completing them.

Leveling up increased your stats, and if you were lucky, you could learn new skills.

Players began to use the abilities they gained to hunt monsters and clear dungeons on Earth.

Player, Hunter, Awakened.

These terms are familiar to people in South Korea who have read a lot of fantasy novels.

While some argued that terms like Awakened or Hunter were more serious than Player, the government decided to call them Players because the world of 'La Elta' was no different from playing a game.

In fact, the reason was more to encourage people to take on quests actively, as if they were playing a game.

The more strong players there were, the safer the world would be, of course.

However, in South Korea, many people took this situation too lightly and rushed in like moths to a flame, only to die.

Familiar with this type of fantasy novel, ordinary South Korean citizens jumped into quests, excited.

The 'La Elta Quest' allowed you to choose the difficulty level, and everyone, thinking they could be the main character of a fantasy novel and find hidden pieces to become the hero of the world, chose the highest difficulty level of 10.

Most of them died without completing a single quest.

Still, because a significant number of people survived, South Korea remains a country with a high number of top-tier players.

After spending the past few years exploring the internet, I can recite this basic information by heart.

My job has always been to browse the internet and watch TV.

What kind of job has watching TV and browsing the internet as its main tasks?

I'm unemployed.

***

There's no point in hiding it.

Until three years ago, I was in a vegetative state.

I was an ordinary second son in an ordinary family in South Korea.

I didn't have a tragic backstory or come from a poor family.

I wasn't from a wealthy family either, just an ordinary person from an ordinary family.

Right after turning twenty, I decided to enter society to earn money instead of going to college, which I had no interest in.

No company welcomed someone with no experience, no college degree, and no military service, and since my goal was to save money before enlisting, I chose part-time jobs.

At least, I thought, doing part-time jobs would add something to my resume after discharge.

I worked in cafes, PC rooms, and restaurants.

I chose a night shift convenience store job for a simple reason.

First, it had a decent hourly wage.

Second, and the real reason, was that even part-time jobs required experience, and this was the only one left.

Why would a part-time job require experience when it's not a company, doesn't offer good benefits, and doesn't pay much?

Where are new employees supposed to start their careers?

Right after the evening shift, many office workers came to the convenience store, even late at night.

Office workers with dark circles under their eyes, saying they were working overtime and would be leaving soon, buying a pack of cigarettes.

Office workers buying hangover drinks after drinking at company dinners.

Since the convenience store was in an area with many small and medium-sized companies, I saw office workers suffering from overtime and company dinners every day.

Still, I envied them.

Even if they worked overtime, being an office worker was better than a night shift convenience store job.

Sighing, I thought, when suddenly, it happened.

It.

Or, in other words, a troublemaker.

A drunk who came in, vomited in the corner, and left.

A troublemaker who ate a cup noodle, tried to throw it in the trash, but spilled the broth in front of the bin and ran away.

A troublemaker who, holding a 5,000 won lunch box, got angry and demanded to pay only 1,000 won, asking why it was so expensive.

The difference between an ordinary office worker customer and a troublemaker customer was just a hair's breadth.

Office workers who were bullied in their office buildings became troublemakers in this building.

That day, as usual, a very drunk troublemaker sat in front of the convenience store, shouting and cursing, leading to a complaint.

After struggling to get rid of the troublemaker, the next customer who came in got angry, saying they had been waiting for a few minutes.

What a miserable life.

When I first started part-time jobs, I was excited to finally have an income.

I thought I could invest time for the future.

After finishing work and coming home, I would sleep quickly, wake up early, and study for a qualification.

Maybe I could learn English or Chinese.

If I worked 10 hours a day and slept 6 hours, I could dedicate at least 5 or 6 hours to preparing for future employment.

Nonsense.

There was no glimpse of the future in reality.

I knew I couldn't keep this up, but after coming home from work, I would lie down on the bed.

It was hard.

I would fall asleep, convincing myself that it was okay to rest a little.

When I woke up, I would play computer games, thinking I deserved a reward for working hard.

Before I knew it, it was time to go to my part-time job.

Even though I knew that spending my days like this would lead to no progress,

I would feel stressed and then lie down, playing phone games to relax.

What a miserable life.

Even as I complained and cursed, I knew I would go home, take a quick shower, and grab my phone or laptop mouse instead of a book.

Was the cause of this apathetic life me, or the world?

Lost in these thoughts, my part-time shift ended, and another day passed aimlessly.

While others' days began, mine ended.

Dragging my tired body, I trudged along.

I glanced at the traffic light, which had turned green, and crossed the street.

And then,

I was hit by a car that didn't stop at the changing light.

The moment I realized something had hit me, my body was already in the air.

The realization that I had been hit by a car came before the pain.

At that moment, the thought that came to mind, absurdly, was whether the car that hit me was a bus or a truck.

Thinking that in novels, being hit by a bus or a truck often leads to extraordinary events like dimensional travel.

Later, I found out that the car that hit me was an ordinary sedan.

***

Regardless of the type of car that hit me, the result of the dimensional travel and fantastical elements was successful.

When I regained consciousness and opened my eyes, I was in a world I had never seen before.

Even the clothes I was wearing were not the jeans and white T-shirt I had on before the accident, but leather clothes.

Cheap leather clothes, the kind you'd see in a fantasy movie or game.

For a moment, I thought I had entered a game, and I was relieved that the clothes were not made of straw or grass.

At first, I was confused and wanted to go back.

But gradually, I got used to the place.

For the first 20 years, I honed my sword skills and trained.

I had a talent for it and became strong quickly. Once I reached a certain level, my body's aging stopped, and I maintained the appearance of a man in his late 30s.

For the next 10 years, I participated in wars and earned the title of war hero.

For the following 10 years, I bought a large house in the village where I first woke up and secluded myself there, mostly training or looking for a way back to Earth.

For the last 10 years, I traveled around the country, hunting monsters.

And like a common protagonist in a fantasy novel, I became stronger than anyone else there.

Still, I couldn't find a way back to Earth.

One day, as usual, I lay alone on the inn bed.

I felt lonely.

Suddenly, everything seemed meaningless.

I had once dreamed of a life like this while reading fantasy novels.

But after several decades, everything felt meaningless.

I regretted not appreciating the value of an ordinary life.

I desperately missed my family, whom I hadn't seen for so long.

Thinking about this, I fell asleep, and when I woke up,

It was as if everything had been a dream, and I was back on Earth.

< Prologue, Chapter 1 > End