Chapter 50: Chapter 49: How Long Was I Out?! Part II The next day began like any other day.
“Are there any more grapes left?” I asked myself as I chowed down a grape that had fallen down from the tree.
As I looked up at the tree, I could see no more grapes. The grape that had just fallen down was the last one. I had wanted to try the apples, oranges and even the radishes when only the grapes dropped from the tree. I had consistently eaten the grapes so that I could move on to the other fruits, and could only guess how many grapes were left on the tree.
I concentrated and looked for more as I walked around the tree, but could find no more.
“I ate all the grapes…are the apples next?” A shiver ran down my body. After the apples would be the oranges, and after the oranges would be the radishes.
“Please…just kill me now!” I yelled out, kneeling in front of the tree. This place wouldn’t allow me to die. Even when I repeatedly headb.u.t.ted the edge of my greatsword, or even when I ran headfirst into the tree trunk, I couldn’t die. Even when I beat myself up, and even when I climbed up the trunk and jumped down headfirst I took zero damage! My HP were always full.
HP: 733,500/733,500
Fatigue: 0
My health and fatigue never changed. I never lost a single health point no matter what I did to myself.
“I’ve put up with eating grapes every day for 1,496 days already! Why are you doing this to me?”
I remembered a movie scene I once watched. The movie was about a man who was stuck in prison, and only ate Chinese food while he was there.
“I’m not Oh Daesu, I’m Lee Jiwon!” I started kicking at the tree, but it stood resilient. I had nothing else to take my anger out on and kept kicking at the tree.
“After all this, sleep comes for me again.” It felt even more unfair. And so, I fell asleep once more on the 1,496th day in front of the tree.
While Lee Jiwon slept, Danhari’s Treasure Chest came out of his inventory on its own. The treasure chest opened itself up, revealing a purple light shining from within. There was a Rank 10 item inside, oozing a purple haze and light.
[Sleepy Trainer (Rank 10)
One of Joseph Lee’s collection. Created for a king’s lazy son who slept for twenty hours a day and was too weak to be the heir.
The Trainer randomly uses one stage to grant stat points to the user.
When the user awakens, granted stat points can be moved to una.s.signed points.
There is a side effect to the Trainer. Because Joseph Lee created the Trainer in a rush, once the user falls asleep, there is no telling when the user will awaken.
The Trainer’s stored Stat points
Stage 0 – 257,754 points
Stage 1 – 574,334 points
Stage 2 – 7,332 points
Stage 3 – 1,469 points
Has branding effect.
Once used, the Sleepy Trainer returns to the possession of the distraught monarch.]
Soon, the purple light faded and a red light began to emanate from the center of the Sleepy Trainer. The purple light was soon completely consumed by the red light.
The Sleepy Trainer no longer shone a purple light and instead shone bright red.
[Sleepy Trainer (Rank 9)
One of Joseph Lee’s collection. Created for a king’s lazy son who slept for twenty hours a day and was too weak to be the heir.
The Trainer randomly uses one stage to grant stat points to the user.
When the user awakens, granted stat points can be moved to una.s.signed points.
There is a side effect to the Trainer. Because Joseph Lee created the Trainer in a rush, once the user falls asleep, there is no telling when the user will awake.
The Trainer’s stored Stat points
Stage 0 – 257,754 points
Stage 1 – 574,334 points
Stage 2 – 7,332 points
Stage 3 – 0 points
Has branding effect.
Once used, the Sleepy Trainer returns to the possession of the distraught monarch.]
The item had dropped from Rank 10 to Rank 9!
Lee Jiwon had no idea this had just happened and continued to sleep. However, unlike the other times when he slept as if someone was forcing him to, he slept peacefully, snoring away.
A black rift opened in front of the now-red Sleepy Trainer. A hand emerged from the black rift and reached for the Sleepy Trainer.
The hand had no fleshy form and looked like it was just skin on bones. The skin had the darkest black color and the hand itself was five times bigger than that of an average person. There were dark-red rings adorning every single finger of the hand.
“Live forever…in the abyss…thee who…stole my treasure…” a low, bone-grating voice emanated from the rift. The black hand quickly wrapped around the Sleepy Trainer and withdrew into the rift as if it were sucked in by a vacuum.
“Mmm…I don’t want grapes. I’m not a vegan, I want meat. Mmm.” As Lee Jiwon slept comfortably while sleep-talking for the first time since he arrived in this place, the s.p.a.ce around him began to melt away. The wooden shack’s roof began melting, dripping onto the floor like water. The tree’s fruits began melting, dripping down from the branches. As the liquid dripped down, droplets of the liquid flowed into Lee Jiwon’s ears, nostrils and mouth, but Lee Jiwon kept sleeping, never feeling the liquid on his face.
Soon, the strange world melted into one giant sphere of water floating in s.p.a.ce. Lee Jiwon was floating in the middle of it. The sphere of water dropped down, as if the laws of gravity had suddenly taken hold again. The sphere collided with something on the way down and burst, flinging Lee Jiwon’s body off to the distance.
“Mmm. There’s nothing better than meat. Who’d eat fruit when there’s meat?”
My eyes shot open. I woke up while I was stuffing myself with delicious, grilled meat.
“Ah…I can’t believe I was dreaming about eating meat. But, it’s been a while since I’ve dreamt of anything.” Every time I started falling asleep in that place, I didn’t recall ever dreaming. The entire time I was there, it was like my eyelids just became too heavy to keep open and I fell asleep as if I was knocked out cold, before I eventually woke up again. It was like it was almost faked; I didn’t dream, and had barely any recollection of what had happened.
“The meat was so good, though. The way the pork sizzled on the grill…huh?” As I remembered what I was dreaming out, I noticed that there was something off about where I was.
“Huh?” I was in a completely different place than where I had just spent the past four years. I didn’t see the shack or the giant tree!
“There’s a TV? What? This is a bed and that’s a fridge.” I looked and checked every single thing around me. I noticed a calendar on wall. September 2nd, 2027. If the calendar was real, then four years really had pa.s.sed!
“No…no way!” Rather than the fact that four years had pa.s.sed, the realization that I was no longer in that place and back in reality hit me like a truck.
The relief that I was back was greater than the rage and injustice that I felt for being stuck in that h.e.l.lhole with nothing to do.
I constantly felt that I might have been stuck there for eternity. I couldn’t kill myself and had no way out. But now I was out, I had never been happier in my life.
“I’m free. I’m free. I’m free! Ahhh! I’m finally free!” I got up from the bed and danced around in joy. I was just so emotional.
I finally knew what crying tears of joy referred to. My own eyes had burst like a faucet. This was too great.
“Oh, that’s right. Inventory open!” In the midst of my self-celebration, I remembered Danhari’s Treasure Chest. The c.r.a.p thing that stuck me in that h.e.l.lhole!
[-1,003,505 golden rings
-High grade health potions x5
-Shining high grade potions x2
-Bread x5
-Beverage x5
-Orb of Vitality
-Orc Champion’s Unexpectedly Durable Greatsword
-Money case, ring case, notebook, pen
-Luggage carrier
-Remaining slots x1]
“It’s not here?” The Treasure Chest wasn’t in my inventory anymore. Instead, there was something else. Or rather, there was a lot more of.
“There’s a million golden rings in there… does that mean the quest was completed? Quest check!”
[Current quests: 0
Failed quests: 0
Completed quests: 0]
“Check completed quests!”
[Pop-up quest (Rank 5)
Help cure insomnia
Danhari found a very rare treasure, but is losing sleep over it. Danhari is afraid that someone might steal it from her or that she might lose it herself. She has never let the treasure go from her hand and has never stopped thinking about it.
She is afraid that if she falls asleep, the treasure will disappear from her hands and hasn’t slept since.
After holding on to the treasure for 357 years, Danhari is now exhausted.
She is sick and tired of the insomnia that has become part of her daily life and is now looking for someone to take this treasure away from her. She wants to know if there is someone out there who could sleep with the treasure in their possession. She believes that if someone can, then she could, too.
Receive quest item on accepting quest. (Forfeiting or completing the quest returns the treasure to Danhari.)
Losing the quest item requires a reimburs.e.m.e.nt of 1000x of quest reward.
Time limit: none.
Quest reward: 1,000,000 golden rings
Status: Completed]
“I finished the quest.” That was why I had a million more golden rings! “Stat menu open!”
[Name: Lee Jiwon
Level: 32 Death Count: 0
t.i.tle: Earth’s First Deva
HP: 733,500/733,500 MP: 124,700/124,700
Strength: 1,487 Agility: 1,887 Vitality: 1,467
Willpower: 1,247 Intelligence: 1,247
Una.s.signed Stat Points: 4,488
Fatigue: 4
Special Effects: Luck Boost (X+ 1), immune from all status effects, Dungeon Seeker 6 points
Physical attack: 4,911 Physical Defense: 1,567
Magical attack: 3,741 Magical Defense: 1,376]
“What…what the h.e.l.l?” As soon as I opened up my stats, I noticed my Una.s.signed Stat Points, and my eyes shot wide open.
Everything else was the same when I got on the plane to j.a.pan, except for that part. I had 4,488 una.s.signed Stat points now!
“Hold the phone. I was in there for exactly 1,496 days, right? If I received 3 points a day, then that should add up exactly. What for? All I did was eat grapes and sleep all day.” What else could I do, but eat the grapes from the tree and sleep?
I remembered the Orb of Vitality. I took it out from my inventory and checked it.