Chapter 9

I'm an ordinary office worker - Chapter 9 (9/180)

< Chapter 9 >

"Really?"

"What?"

"That you can portal travel. Is it true?"

Brother, you start asking questions as soon as you get home without even saying hello.

"How did you know?"

"When a player is confirmed during the awakening test, the top few guilds get notified. It's like a benefit to recruit before other guilds."

"Really? Isn't that an invasion of privacy? Can they just send your personal information to other guilds?"

"You sign a consent form before the test. If you read it carefully, there's a section about it. There's a list of which guilds get the information. If you don't express disagreement, it's considered automatic consent."

But who reads that stuff carefully?

"Isn't that almost fraud? Wouldn't people be upset if they did that?"

"I've never seen anyone get upset when our guild contacts them about this."

"Still, isn't that something that could cause controversy?"

"Well, if you think about it, it's like a big company automatically submitting job applications for you. Who would start a controversy over that?"

"I would!"

I'm not even a player, so why did my information get sent?

"Don't change the subject. So, did you really go to La Elta?"

"Yeah, I really did. There's no status window or quests, but, Brother, I'm still super strong without those."

"Stop talking nonsense. Since you're not a player, the federation contacted me first. They asked if it's okay to share your information with other guilds. I said no for now."

Why are they asking me instead of you about sharing your personal information?

Are they discriminating against ordinary people?

"Without a status window or quests, going to La Elta out of curiosity is like jumping into a fire. You know that, right?"

I'm too lazy to explain.

I just nodded.

Actually, I don't have a status window, but I do have strength.

I've thought about showing my strength.

I don't need to go through the trouble of proving myself to organizations; I can just show Brother, and he'll take care of it.

If he asks, "How?" I could just say, "Because I'm Sung-hyun's brother," and it might pass.

But then articles like "Player Sung-hyun has the ability to awaken ordinary people" might start popping up.

Having Sung-hyun as an all-access pass is good, but it would be too troublesome for both of us, so I'll put it on hold for now.

"We'll handle it so your information doesn't leak. We'll control the media too."

Brother added that I should focus on my research and then went to take a shower.

Is he worried that I might be having some futile dreams about becoming a player and getting to use portals?

I can't say it's completely impossible.

After confirming that Brother and Mother were busy with their own tasks, I quickly headed to the kitchen.

"Where's the meat, meat?"

I was caught by Mom a while ago when I secretly took meat from the freezer and got a good scolding.

She lectured me for a long time about why I was trying to eat secretly in the middle of the night.

She still seems suspicious about the meat disappearing bit by bit, but since there's no evidence of me using kitchen tools, she's just suspicious.

She probably thinks, "No matter how crazy my son gets, he wouldn't eat raw meat."

"I found it, meat."

I took out a few pieces of meat that were hidden deep inside.

I don't have a weird habit of eating raw meat.

This is for Kkamang.

"Arf, arf!"

I took the meat to the backyard, and Kkamang jumped up to greet me.

This is the feeling of having a pet!

At first, I tried giving him dog food, but he didn't eat it.

I just wasted my money.

I often buy raw meat on my way home to give to him, but when we don't have plans on weekends, I secretly take it from the freezer.

If he bites someone passing by because I didn't feed him, it would be a big problem.

***

While Sung-han was taking care of Kkamang and enjoying his weekend, the free board on LaElta.com was buzzing.

The free board on LaElta.com can only be accessed by logging in, so only players can read it, and even research institute staff don't have access.

It's usually filled with posts sharing knowledge about quests and monsters and seeking advice.

On this board, where most people post anonymously, a post with a revealed ID appeared.

Author: June

I'm sure everyone knows about the side quest "Find Sir Ian."

I've learned about Sir Ian!

I recently got a book about the current emperor, Edward Alvaro.

The current emperor ascended the throne at the age of 28, about 25 years ago.

Surprisingly, there had been a war that lasted almost 10 years before that.

To cut a long story short, the book mentions the most active knight during the 10-year war.

He was a commoner knight from Verford.

The current emperor, when he was a prince, appointed this commoner as a knight and helped him excel in the war, which led to the end of the war and his ascension to the throne.

Do you see where this is going?

That's right! It's Sir Ian.

He still goes by just "Ian" without a title.

The current emperor offered him a baron's position and land, but he declined and returned to his hometown, Verford.

Of course, everyone treats him like a noble, but...

Anyway, he is a hero not only in La Elta but also in Verford.

Verford was a dilapidated and abandoned place, always at risk of being destroyed by monsters, but Sir Ian almost wiped out the monsters, allowing Verford to exist today.

A resident of another town told me that he left Verford for a while to clear out monsters.

The largest house in Verford is Sir Ian's residence.

I went there first, but I was told that Sir Ian was absent.

I think the timing is important.

Good luck to everyone on your quests!

Additional comments:

-Another piece of wrong information...

└No, no, this is real. The author, June, is known as the "Reading King" and provides quite accurate information.

-Thank you.

-Thanks for the information. I'm off to complete the quest!

-This is an anonymous post.

Has anyone read the novel "50 Years in La Elta" on Dalfia?

Probably not, lol.

Link <- This is it?

I thought I recognized the name Ian from somewhere. I was floored after reading the post by the Reading King.

Name: Ian. Hometown: Verford. Commoner knight.

The novel mostly talks about the war and monster hunting.

He refused the baron's position and returned to Verford, just like in the novel where the main character insists the large house belongs to him.

But when was this novel written?

Three years ago.

Additional comments:

-After reading the post, I just left my eyes behind.

-It looks like he read a history book and copied it, lol.

-So, this was written by a player? What a waste of time, lol.

-But if this is true, everything in the post is real?

└No way. Only the basics are true; the rest is fiction.

-I read this novel. Only the first chapter, lol. I asked the NPC about Ian in the first chapter, but they didn't know anything.

-Next, your turn to get aggro.

Similar posts appeared, and the board was noisy for a while.

Most people thought it was a hastily written post by a player who happened to get some good information.

Two more days passed, and another post appeared.

-This is an anonymous post.

First, I'll verify that I'm a member of the Transcend Guild.

(Blurred ID card photo)

Can you see the guild name, Transcend?

If you don't believe me, I'll do a mission screenshot.

I read the controversial novel yesterday.

In chapter 23, it mentions that the blacksmith who made Ian's sword is in Verford, so I went there.

If you go straight down the left path from the quest board, you'll find the blacksmith.

I asked for the name mentioned in the novel, and the current blacksmith is the son.

His father is bedridden, but I completed 10 side quests and finally met him.

When I asked if he made Ian's sword, he was shocked and asked how I knew, as only he and Ian knew.

The sword's name and materials in the novel are correct.

But how did the author know this?

This doesn't seem like an ordinary novel.

Our guild is also looking for this person.

Additional comments:

-Transcend Guild? Ha.

└(Author) I went on the day I was scheduled to.

└(Author) If you don't believe me, request a mission screenshot.

-Can you put a sticker on the guild leader's forehead that says "I'm the guild leader"?

└Are you crazy, lol?

└You're a lunatic, lol.

-Draw a bear with a V and today's date next to your ID card and post it.

└(Author) Here. (Blurred ID card with a sticker showing the date and a bear)

└You're a terrible artist.

-So, this is verified as a Transcend Guild post.

-If this is true, shouldn't we start analyzing the novel?

-Just because you're a Transcend Guild member doesn't mean we should believe everything.

└There's no guarantee that Transcend doesn't have trolls.

└No, there isn't.

-Why can't the author of "50 Years in La Elta" write better? :(

-This is an anonymous post.

If the blacksmith and Sir Ian were the only ones who knew about the sword, and the blacksmith never told anyone, it must have been Sir Ian who told the author.

This means the author knows Sir Ian.

The possibilities are:

1. The author is a high-ranking player.

Maybe an unofficial high-ranker or a top player who secretly nurtured a dream of being a novelist.

The most likely scenario is that they met Sir Ian and heard the story directly.

They wrote the novel based on that, but sadly, no one read it.

However, considering the novel was written three years ago, even if the author was an early awakened player, it's unlikely they met Sir Ian and got to know his personal story.

I don't think even Sung-hyun's grandfather could have done that.

2. The author has a related skill.

Like a prophecy, but instead of seeing the future, they see the past.

They keep seeing Sir Ian's past in their dreams and mistake it for inspiration for a novel.

They might not even know they have this ability.

Sometimes there are hidden skills that don't show up in the status window.

They unlock under specific conditions.

3. The author is a time traveler.

A player from the future who has completed this side quest and related quests.

They know all the details and are giving us hints.

They want us to complete the side quest about Sir Ian and the La Elta quests well.

4. Sir Ian has dimension-traveled.

Sir Ian has either dimension-traveled to Earth or reincarnated as an Earthling.

Why can't he write better?

He's only ever held a sword, not a pen.

Additional comments:

-3 and 4 are ridiculous, lol. Stop reading the novel.

-Has anyone around you been talking about reading memories or mumbling nonsense? Suspect them; they might be Ian, lol.

-2 is the most plausible, but... Isn't that just a rumor?

└Yeah, just a rumor. It came from a kid in the US who claimed to have a hidden skill that unlocks by spending $100 million and asked the government for help.

The novel, which received no attention when it was first published, suddenly saw a surge in views and comments.

The author received dozens, even hundreds, of messages a day.

But Sung-han, the actual author, had no idea about any of this.

He couldn't even access the free board because he wasn't a player.

He hadn't logged into the novel site in the past three years.

After a pleasant weekend, Monday came, and Sung-han went to work.

At the office, he was just yawning and organizing Excel files.

< Chapter 9 > End