Meanwhile, I came out of the capsule while thinking about eating the fruits cut by my daughter-in-law. Prometheus" memories still remained despite coming out of the capsule and I didn"t know why. If I knew then I would"ve been a scientist, not a chef.
"Aldebaran became a demon king..."
Prometheus had no memory of what happened in the world after the war with Pluto. He was sleeping in the last Star Fruit, waiting for me. It was clear that Aldebaran had gone to the Demon World. The problem was that I had to go back to the Temple of the Wind... no matter how I thought about it, I couldn"t come up with a method.
Then my daughter-in-law came into the room. "Father, I"ll be going out for a while."
"Huh? Who are you going to see?"
"I"m going to see Jungyeon. I"ll see her for a short time."
"Ah, yes. Be careful."
This person was a close friend of my daughter-in-law. She had come to the house before and her personality was very good. I went to the shoe box at the front to send off my daughter-in-law when I heard the sound of the pa.s.sword being pressed.
"Eh? Mother, where are you going?"
"Mido, I"m going to meet some friends. Please look after the house."
"I understand. Be careful."
"Yes, my daughter~ I love you."
My daughter-in-law left the house and I met Mido"s eyes. "Grandfather, were you waiting?"
This wasn"t the case but in the circ.u.mstances, I thought I could score more points. I smiled and nodded. "Welcome home, Mido."
I couldn"t help smiling whenever I saw her. Maybe it was because she resembled my dead wife a lot. I took her to the living room and put out a plate of fruit. "Your mother gave this to me but there is still a lot left. Eat some."
"Grandfather, have you eaten?"
"Yes, I"ve already eaten a lot and I"m full."
In fact, I wasn"t full. Still, it was great to see her enjoying the food. There was a crunching sound as Mido ate an apple.
...They looked so similar. Her side profile really looked like my wife as a young woman. I hid my sadness and asked her, "Did you have fun with my friend?"
"Ah, Wolf Mask ahjussi?"
...I"m not an ahjussi.
"Yes, that friend."
"Yes, somewhat, but I owe him once again. He died saving me."
"Ah, really?" I pretended that I didn"t know anything and almost burst out laughing.
Mido hurriedly exclaimed like she suddenly remembered something, "Ah, yes! Grandfather, do you know how to contact him?"
"Huh? I do. Why are you asking?"
"Several broadcasting stations got in touch with me. They want to release what I broadcasted today."
"Broadcasting stations? So what"s the problem?"
"I think I need his permission."
Ah, that was the problem. I think it was possible somehow. No, wait a minute. I was currently hiding my ident.i.ty... was it okay to release the broadcast like this? I worried about it for a moment before answering, "First, leave contacting my friend to me."
"I understand. Will you let me know?"
"Yes, I will."
First, I had to think some more.
"By the way, how did you get to know him?" she asked the question she had been wondering about. I steadily replied with my prepared answer, "I stumbled across him in Mulan. We are both chefs so we shared recipes and became friends."
"I see. By the way, is he really ugly? The article wrote that he is wearing a mask because his face is ugly."
"Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d said that?"
"Huh...?"
Ah, my reaction was too agitated. "He isn"t ugly. Rather, he looks good and manly. He is also tall and chiseled. A gentleman, gentleman. Keke."
"I knew it! He seemed like a good man."
I was praised and my face involuntarily heated up. Mido saw my expression and questioned, "Grandfather, are you sick? Your face is red."
"Uh, no. I"m just a bit hot."
"Isn"t it currently winter?"
"Cough. I just drank hot tea."
"Your ears are red too."
I changed the topic again before I started stammering. "Cough, that isn"t important. When did you start broadcasting? What was it called? Yuttubi?"
"Pfft. YouTube. It hasn"t been long. I actually started because I wanted to make money to play games but it is more fun than I thought."
"Really?"
I was embarra.s.sed when a lot of people"s attention was on me so I couldn"t even imagine it. Perhaps Mido had talent in this area. In my eyes, she was more beautiful than most celebrities. Mido told me, "Today, I got a huge increase in the number of subscribers. I probably won"t have to pay for my university tuition fees from out of my own pocket this year."
"Did you earn so much?"
"Yes. Do you remember the Star Candy?"
"Yes, I remember. Is that money?"
"Yes, you can think of it as one Star Candy is worth 70 won."
If it was 70 won...
"Weren"t there a lot of people who gave 1,000 Star Candy?"
"Yes, so it is 70,000 won."
"...Then how much did you earn today?"
"It is around a year"s tuition fees. Hehe. Well, this is all thanks to that ahjussi."
Hey, that was a lot of money. I didn"t know if I could make that much money. I was tempted to try broadcasting for a moment. Nevertheless, I had no intention to do so. Not only did I have no talent but now wasn"t the time. Still, I thought it was okay to occasionally appear on Mido"s broadcasts to help.
At this moment, I decided to allow Mido to release the broadcast. I went into the room and pretended to be on the phone. For five minutes, I played the Go-Stop [1] game that Mido had downloaded. ()
[Yes! G.o.dori!] [2]
[The other person has shouted to stop.]
[You have been defeated.]
"s.h.i.+t..."
It seemed I had no luck in gambling. This was why I was always the dealer when playing Go-Stop with my family on the holidays. I sighed lightly and came out into the living room. "Mido."
"Huh?"
"That friend said you can broadcast it."
* * *
The next day, I connected to Arkstar. Now it was almost like a routine. After seeing Mido"s level, I felt that my goal had become more definite. I knew I needed to be stronger.
The sight of Windia appeared in my flickering vision. I saw it and realized that I really had died.
...Death. I was still healthy and didn"t feel good about it. I could still feel it. Maybe this was how my wife felt before she died. I was locked in my memories when I heard shouts around me.
"It"s Wolf Mask!"
"Hero Wolf!"
"I"m a fan!"
The people nearby recognized me. They surrounded me like they were looking at a strange animal. d.a.m.n, I needed to change my mask again. At this moment, reporters squeezed through the crowd and jammed their microphones toward me. I looked at them and frowned. It was due to the reporters I met yesterday.
"Did you see the newspaper this morning?!"
"How are you feeling now?"
"Why did you use violence?"
These d.a.m.n guys...
I suddenly remembered this morning"s newspaper article.
[Wolf Mask, a.s.saulting the reporters!]
[Why did he have to use violence?]
[The real face under the mask is ugly!]
I had folded the morning newspaper with trembling hands. I was annoyed and became even more annoyed because I could see a familiar face. I jumped onto the shoulders of the reporters in an instant and smashed all the crystal b.a.l.l.s. The users" cries burst out from the side.
"Wow, it really isn"t a joke."
"How does he have those kicking skills?"
"Kyak, so cool!"
Indeed, people were too tiring. I definitely had a shy personality. My oldest child, Kanghyun, resembled my personality a lot. I felt fortunate that my grandchildren didn"t have personalities similar to me. I turned my head toward the yelling reporters.
"Hey! You! Do you know how much this is worth?"
"Do you want to be in the newspaper again tomorrow?"
"You have been photographed by us! Do you know?"
...Bulls.h.i.+t. I blocked their mouths with cobwebs.
[Your cobwebs have been exhausted. Eat cobwebs to recharge it.]
I already used all of it? I was going to have to recharge it. I leisurely left this place.
* * *
The place I arrived at was the construction site at the east gate. I looked at the surrounding buildings and it seemed that a lot of work had been done in a short period of time. I could see Kerenos approaching in the distance. "Why are you only coming now, old man?"
"Shut up. By the way, why does your face look bad?"
"Don"t you know? I"m sick of the orcs. I"m going to die."
"Do they not listen...?"
"Nope, they hear all the words well. The construction is almost complete."
"Then what is the problem?"
"Hah, you should see it for yourself."
I followed him to where the orcs were and looked fl.u.s.tered. The orcs were all lying down and taking a nap.
"Why are they doing this?"
"They were hungry yesterday and now they are making a collective protest."
"They haven"t eaten...?"
"Nope, I gave them food. The problem is that we can"t keep up with the amount they eat. The rations we can give the orcs have decreased."
"Um..."
I opened the quest window.
[Restore the East of Windia!]
[Difficulty: A
The orcs" invasion has destroyed the east side of Windia. However, you insisted on reconciliation without killing them. Lord Edward agreed with you and commanded the orcs to restore the east. Take charge of the orcs to finish the construction.
-Completion Conditions: Current construction progress: 80% / 100% (suspended)
Rewards: Unknown.
Failure: The anger of the people of Windia will skyrocket and they will rebel. The war between the orcs and Windia will begin again.]
...It was almost all done. This quest was a quest that shouldn"t be failed. If it failed then there would really be a war and Windia would surely perish this time.
I walked straight toward Gorba. "Gorba, why aren"t you moving?"
"Chwik. The meals aren"t tasty, Brother."
"It isn"t a lack of quant.i.ty?"
"It is tasteless and lacking quant.i.ty. Chwik. We can"t help humans anymore in this environment. We are at the limit."
It seemed they had been holding back a lot.
"What do you like?"
"We like the meat of the horned bear and legs of the giant spider. However, we were rejected when we asked the humans to make it. It is already hard to work and now they want us to cook? Guruk. We don"t like it."
They seemed to roughly like meat. The giant spider legs were also delicious. If Solar roasted it then the taste... ah!
"Gorba, I have a good idea."
"Huh? What is it? Chwiik."
"I"ll cook for you."
"You will cook?"
"Yes. Have you tried sun roasted spider legs?"
"Sun...?! No, I haven"t eaten it!"
[The first apostle, "Prometheus," is smiling.]
"I"ll let you eat now. Raise your weapons."
[1] Korean card game. go-stop