Chapter 10

I'm an ordinary office worker - Chapter 10 (10/180)

< Chapter 10 >

Thanks to my brother's good defense, no one was bothering me about using the portal.

Except for the research institute staff.

No matter how brilliant Seonghyun was, erasing people's memories was probably too much to ask.

Several people had seen me use the portal that day.

And as the news spread from person to person, it became a rumor within the research institute.

Even employees I had never spoken to before came to ask if it was true.

It was annoying, but since they bought me coffee, I smiled and answered.

"Seonghan."

"Yes. I'm Seonghan, and I'm just an ordinary person without a status window, but I can use the portal."

I answered automatically, as if I were a robot, because so many people asked the same question.

"Hehe. I'm curious about that, but that's not why. They're calling you from the 7th floor."

"Huh? The 7th floor? Me?"

Why the 7th floor all of a sudden?

I thought only researchers were allowed to enter the 7th floor.

"Surely they're not going to dissect me..."

"They won't. Even if they do, I'll provide legal testimony to clear your name, so go ahead."

"If you'll testify, then I guess it's fine."

Even if they tried to dissect me a hundred times, they'd fail every time.

I was a bit curious since I never had a reason to go to the 7th floor, so I headed there right away.

When I opened the door visible right after getting off the elevator, over a dozen eyes turned to me simultaneously.

I was taken aback.

"Hello. You called..."

"Seonghan? Is that you, Seonghan?"

The 7th floor employees swarmed me, bombarding me with questions.

Hold on. One at a time, please.

"Did you really go to La Elta?"

"What was the scenery in Verford like?"

"Can you describe the quest board in detail and clearly?"

"Did you really feel nothing when you touched the quest board? Not even a little?"

Hey, people.

Can't you at least say hello before asking questions?

"Hehe, I apologize. The researchers are so excited to have someone to ask questions to, since they can't ask players."

After enduring the barrage of questions for a while, someone who looked like the 7th floor supervisor rescued me from the chaos.

I get that they're excited.

But the intensity of their questions was like that of journalists.

"Nothing else. Just this... this unusual occurrence."

"You mean the portal travel."

"Yes, yes. That's it. We think it could be very helpful for our research. I've already protested a bit about getting shares."

Shares? My shares?

"So, we've decided to borrow some of Seonghan's working hours. Four hours after lunch. Just that much."

Do I have to endure this every day for four hours?

I didn't say it out loud, but my expression must have shown it, because the 7th floor supervisor immediately offered an explanation.

"Not every day, just when needed. It will probably be once a week, though it's not confirmed yet."

"Ah, once a week."

I didn't even want to do it once a month.

"Actually, if you could bring items back from La Elta, that would be ideal... but I guess that's not possible, right?"

"No, it's not possible."

Players can't bring items from La Elta to Earth.

Of course, they can't bring Earth items to La Elta either.

Usually, when you first move, you appear in La Elta wearing the same clothes you were wearing on Earth.

From the second move onward, it's different.

No matter what clothes you wear on Earth when you enter the portal, you will appear in La Elta wearing the clothes you last wore there.

Similarly, when you return to Earth via the portal, you will be wearing the clothes you had on before you went to La Elta.

It's like logging in and out of a game.

When players first moved to La Elta, Earth clothes became a trend in Verford for a while.

Now it seems to have faded.

Since the only thing that can be moved to La Elta is the clothes you wear during your first portal move.

Players would wear the most fashionable clothes before their first move, sell them, and use the money as startup capital.

I have several exceptional aspects, so I checked if I could bring items back.

I brought a gold coin from the mansion and put it in my pocket, but it wasn't there when I returned to Earth.

I was incredibly disappointed at the time.

If I move back to La Elta, the gold coin will probably still be in my pocket.

"Of course... that's not possible. Sigh, what a shame. Many people want to study things like the soil, crops, and weapons from La Elta. But since you can't bring them back..."

What is this?

The way this person is looking at me is like they're trying to figure out how to bite a piece out of me.

"If you could go there and study it yourself, that would be great. But you don't know how, right?"

"Well, yeah."

I suddenly felt like my life was about to get more complicated.

"Then for a while, you can write reports about what you see, hear, and feel in La Elta, and learn research methods in your spare time. Only four hours a week. It's too short, isn't it? Hehe."

No, wait. I didn't hear anything like this when I joined the company.

Who starts assigning annoying and troublesome tasks all of a sudden?

And even overtime.

"No, I—"

"Oops, it's our meeting time. We'll send someone to the 3rd floor tomorrow to give you a detailed explanation. Have a good day."

He just said his piece and left.

No, I'm not doing it.

I might quit.

The feeling of having more work to do.

I couldn't hold it in any longer and asked my brother as soon as I got home.

"Brother."

"What?"

"I'm thinking of quitting the research institute and living off your money. Can you support me?"

I almost got kicked out of the house.

Brother, you make good money, so why not?

If I could have moved my gold coins from La Elta to Earth, I would have quit.

I could have stacked up some money and pretended to run a business, living comfortably.

"Oh, right. The trading board."

The community board on Laelta.com has a free board and a trading board.

After exchanging cash, you can match your portal travel time and trade items within Verford.

It's a bit like buying in-game items, but the need to match portal travel times is a hassle.

But I don't have that restriction.

I quickly turned on my computer and checked the site.

Of course.

Research institute employees don't have access to the community board.

I was disappointed after getting my hopes up.

I clicked around other sites in frustration.

"What?"

999+ emails?

I hadn't checked my emails for a few months, but did they really pile up like this?

When I checked my full inbox, it was mostly spam and emails from a site called Dalpia.

"Dalpia? What is this site... Oh."

It's the site where I used to write that failed novel.

But why so many alert emails?

Could it be a serialization offer?

No, that's unlikely.

I know my limits.

"Probably just ads."

I deleted all the emails and set up a block.

***

"Did you contact them?"

"Yes, but there was no response."

The Transcend Guild's message was ignored?

Yoon Seung-yeon, the guild master of the Transcend Guild, frowned, thinking they would get an immediate response.

"Why! They said they'd pay just to meet!"

"Seems like they didn't even read the message."

Kim Jin-woo, who was reporting, scratched his cheek, feeling awkward.

I know how hard Yoon Seung-yeon is trying to make the Transcend Guild number one.

But I wonder how much finding a web novel writer with poor writing skills will help the guild.

Yoon Seung-yeon, a tall, fair-skinned, and dark-haired beauty, was famous overseas as the "Cool Beauty Queen."

But she was even more famous for hating the number two title.

The guild rankings: Hero Guild (1st) and Transcend Guild (2nd).

The personal rankings: Seonghyun (1st) and Yoon Seung-yeon (2nd).

Even in the beauty player vote, she came in 2nd after Seonghyun, which was ridiculous.

She even had nightmares where Seonghyun kept shouting, "You're number two, you're number two!"

Kim Jin-woo tried to quickly move on to the next report, but unfortunately, the next one was even more awkward.

"Then, the person who can enter La Elta. Did you find out more about them?"

"Well, that—"

"Still nothing?"

"No, not that, but—"

Kim Jin-woo glanced around before continuing.

"He's Seonghyun's brother."

"What?"

No wonder it was so hard to find information on just one person.

Was the Hero Guild controlling the information?

"Unfortunately. It's going to be complicated."

"He was in a coma from a car accident until a few years ago and now works at the research institute."

"Research institute? The player research institute?"

"Yes. He seems to want to become a player. After being classified as a non-player, he took another player test, and on the day of the portal incident, he immediately took a test upon returning. He must have been quite hopeful."

Yoon Seung-yeon thought deeply as she listened to the report.

Before the car accident, his brother was doing well, but he was just a part-time worker.

After the accident, his brother became a successful player, while he remained a non-player.

He might have a significant inferiority complex.

That's why he might want to become a player even more.

Working at the research institute is clearly a lingering desire to become a player.

"Try to recruit him. If he's comparing himself to that brilliant Seonghyun, it shouldn't be hard to persuade him."

Like a guild master?

Kim Jin-woo only thought it.

If he said it out loud, he'd be executed immediately.

And strictly speaking, Yoon Seung-yeon is more annoyed by people comparing her to Seonghyun than actually comparing herself to him.

"Bringing him to our guild could be a huge help."

"Are you trying to dig into Seonghyun's personal life?"

Yoon Seung-yeon looked exasperated.

"He can move through the portal without restrictions. He's the only one in the world who can do that."

Does this fool not realize how much this could help the guild's development?

"Trading and information sharing."

"Oh!"

Kim Jin-woo finally realized the value of this non-player.

Trading and information sharing.

The biggest restrictions on these two activities are due to the return conditions.

Once you enter La Elta, you can only leave after completing a quest, which makes it risky to enter for trading.

Even if you obtain important information in La Elta, you can't share it until the return conditions are met.

But this man can solve both problems.

He can easily move to La Elta to facilitate trades.

He can regularly gather and report on the activities of guild members in La Elta.

Using this, any guild, not just Transcend, could surpass the Hero Guild and become number one.

But why isn't the Hero Guild using this?

The guild master must know about this.

But if they haven't marked this person as a Hero Guild member...

This brother and sister must have a bad relationship.

Then there's a chance for Transcend...

Yoon Seung-yeon smiled deeply, seeing the changing expressions on Kim Jin-woo's face.

You're finally starting to understand.

"Definitely. Bring him in."

< Chapter 10 > End