Chapter 9 (2/2)
“If I have an unread message in a game, how do I open or access it?”.
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“First, you have to open the message box . ”.
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“Open the message box?”.
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ring~.
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The moment he spoke the words “open”, an electronic beep followed the opening of the message box . .
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You have 2 unread messages . .
Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).
[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).
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Jinwoo felt himself being filled with joy . .
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‘It worked!’.
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Surprised by the sudden appearance of happiness in his face, Jinah anxiously asked,.
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“What? What game is it? Do you need my help?”.
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Jinwoo firmly shook his head,.
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“No, I want to try it out alone . ”.
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How would his sister react if he told her everything that was happening to him?.
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‘Don’t want to hear from my own sister that I’m crazy . ’.
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So Jinwoo swallowed the words he wanted to say and bid her goodbye . .
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After confirming that she went down the elevator out of the hospital, Jinwoo returned to his room . .
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‘Can’t repeat the same mistake . ’.
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click-.
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lock-.
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To avoid any unwanted attention, he locked the doors . Finishing his preparation, Jinwoo sat on the side of his bed and started reading the messages floating before his eyes . .
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Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Unread).
[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).
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The first message seemed familiar to him . .
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‘Where was it, I’ve definitely heard this one before . ’.
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He started with the first message . .
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‘Open . ’.
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ring~.
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This System will help with the growth of the “Player” . .
Non-compliance with this System’s instructions may result in a penalty . .
Your reward has been received . .
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“Ah…”.
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He remembered now . It was the words he heard before losing consciousness . .
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‘It said something about a player back then, too…’.
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But just like that time, he had no idea what that meant . .
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System . Growth . Penalty . Reward . .
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It was a parade of unclear meanings . .
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‘Just what is it helping grow, and what is it rewarding?’.
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He found it difficult to apply these words that he saw in video games before . .
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Ignoring the meaning of the words for now, he went onto the next message . .
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[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Unread).
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Gulp . .
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Jinwoo swallowed at the suspicious title of the message . His heartbeat sped up . .
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‘Open . ’.
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ring~.
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Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful.
Do 100 Push-ups:.
(Incomplete) (0/100).
Do 100 Sit-ups:.
(Incomplete) (0/100). .
Do 100 Squats:.
(Incomplete) (0/100).
Run 10 kilometers:.
(Incomplete) (0/10).
*Warning: Failing to complete the Daily Quest will result in a Penalty Quest . .
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Jinwoo moaned after confirming the message . .
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“Sigh… what is this…”.
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Daily Quest . On top of that, a “preparation to become powerful” . He expected more than just simple exercises with a title like that . At least, it was certain if he completed the exercises in the quest, his body would probably improve a little . Was this the growth and reward the System spoke of?.
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‘Now that I think about it…’.
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He recalled reading “those with inner problems should listen to their inner voice” in some book before . .
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‘Guess I’m just hallucinating what my body’s telling me’.
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His urge to become stronger must’ve been so strong that he was now seeing these nonsensical words in the air . More so than how laughable it was, he was disappointed . .
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“If you can just become strong like this, who wouldn’t have done so already…?”.
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He shook his head in disbelief . He felt pathetic in the expectation that he would find all the answers in these messages . .
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‘Eh, I don’t care . ’.
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Jinwoo went to lie down in the bed . He stared up into the ceiling . .
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“ . ”.
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Although he was not doing anything in particular, time passed by quickly . As he began to feel the weight of silence throughout the hospital, he suddenly sat up . .
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‘Still…’.
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What if this did bring about change? Half in anticipation, half in suspicion, the thought of ‘should I just give it a try’ occured in his head . .
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‘Can’t hurt after all . ’.
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What if he just lightly tried out one of the motions?.
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After some thought, he made the decision to give it a try . .
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Lightly stretching after getting off the bed, he attempted do half-hearted push-ups . Instead of getting on the ground, he stood up at and angle and pushed off the bed . .
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“1, 2, 3…”.
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Starting at 1, he rapidly went down the line . .
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“ . 97, 98, 99, 100 . ”.
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Finishing what he started, he reached his 100th “push-up” . Contrary to his expectation, nothing seemed to change . Except for his slightly sore arms . .
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“ . So now what…”.
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He stood up with a smile on his face . .
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Welcome to becoming a [Player] . (Read).
[Daily Quest: The Preparation To Become Powerful] has arrived . (Read).
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The previously “unread” messages had become “read” . The words telling him that he had unread messages had disappeared, but he no longer had any intention to continue entertaining these delusions . He felt he had done enough . .
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Without any regrets, he closed the message window . .
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With a yawn, he returned to his bed . In response to moving after such a long time, he started feeling sleepy . The window outside glowed orange from the sunset . .
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‘Is it this late already?’.
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The man from the Hunter Surveillance Department explained earlier that his hospital bills would be footed by the Association . With that in mind, Jinwoo was not in a rush to be discharged . .
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‘Maybe I’ll have the hospital run some tests, make sure I’m completely healthy . ’.
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He thought as he lay in bed . .
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‘I’m sure the hallucinations should disappear after some time . ’.
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His eyelids slowly closed . Soon, he fell into deep slumber . .
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tick tick tick .
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As he slept, the clock on the opposite wall continued to tick . As time passed, the hands of the clock eventually pointed to 11:59:57 . .
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tick .
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58 . .
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tick .
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59 . .
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tick .
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60 . .
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The clock pointed to 12:00:00 . .
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ring~.
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[You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest . You will be moved to the ‘Penalty Zone’ for a set duration . ].
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SHAKE!~.
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Jinwoo opened his eyes to an intense trembling that shook his entire body . .
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“E-earthquake?!”.
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He shot up and grabbed the bed frame at the foot of the bed . The trembling was so strong that he found it difficult to hold on . .
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SHAKE!~.
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But with each passing second, the tremors became worse . .
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Suddenly,.
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psssh~.
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The bed frame he held onto for his life broke . No, it had disappeared from his hands . His checked his hands, there was no sign of the bed frame . Instead, there was sand on his palms . .
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‘Sand?’.
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psssssh~.
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Rest of the frames on the bed turned to sand, and the trembling became even stronger . .
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SHAKE!~.
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“Uwaaak!”.
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Unable to hold on, he was eventually thrown off the bed . Jinwoo screamed as he bounced up and down in his room . One by one, all the furniture and items in his room turned into sand . .
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“Uwaaaaaaah!”.
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Crash!.
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Jinwoo suddenly found himself embedded in something . His fingertips felt the softness of sand around him . The earthshake had stopped . .
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spit spit.
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As he spat out the sand that entered his mouth, he raised his head . .
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“ . ?”.
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He found himself in the middle of a vast desert . Patting the sand off his body, he stood up and looked around . In every direction, he saw an endless field of sand, stretching to the horizon . .
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“A desert…?”.
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There was no logical explanation for this . Until moments ago, he was resting on a hospital bed in the middle of Seoul . .
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He grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall . The sand fell in a straight line to the ground . .
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‘There’s no wind . ’.
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Not just wind, looking up, there was no sun, moon or even stars . .
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An empty sky like black ink spilled across a canvas . .
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Even stranger, despite the lack of a visible light source, he had no trouble seeing his surroundings . .
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“Where am I?”.
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