Hyper Luck

At first, it felt as if I was turning deaf from the sound of my heartbeat.

My mixed emotions of excitement and happiness boiled my blood; The chilly wind contributing to its emphasis.

Worried about the sudden success, I also checked if this was all a dream. The liveliness of my heartbeat, however, rejected the possibility.

I returned from the raid back to Asparagan; My steps were lighter on the way back.

After the raid, my party members and I have all separated.

As soon as we checked our items, we were in a rush to head back.

This was due to the threat of a guild called <Dark>, which gained its reputation for sabotaging other players.

This guild was so infamous, even a player who has only stayed around the beginner town knew.

Sharan was the first to leave. She gave a bummed expression, as she reminded me to give her a call as soon as possible.

Swordsman, along with Gaeil, declared to head over to the magic city “Igla”, north of Asparagan. 

Finally, I hurried over to Asparagan myself.

After encountering the huge castle walls of Asparagan, only after hearing the grandeur music and the text that read <Asparagan>, I let out a little sigh of relief.

It was a huge relief not encountering any members of the <Dark> guild.

I pierced through the crowd in front of me to visit the “Peg-man’s Auction”

As I headed over carefully towards the counter, the bob-haired girl with pointy ears greeted me cheerfully.

“Welcome to the Peg-man’s Auction, where you can’t leave without breaking a leg for carrying all the stuff you could buy!*”

T/N: Korean idiom where it basically means you're gonna buy a lot of stuff from the shop enough to be crushed by its weight.

Judging by how smoothly she introduced the market, it seemed that she was a veteran NPC here.

“I want to use the Auction house.”

After listening carefully to my request, she pulled out something from under the counter.

“Are you making a request to purchase goods?”

“No, I want to register.”

To my answer, she smiled slightly and handed me a chart. As soon as I looked at the paper, there was a pop-up.

< Integrated Auction Goods Registration >

You are automatically registered to the “Arantas Gobling Integrated Auction House” by registering any goods you want to sell.

Caution! As of recently, there have been some fraudulent events in regards to adventurers. Please write your information carefully.

– Head Auction Committee of Arantas –

It was the same paper I used when I sold all of my slime solutions before.

At that time, due to my immaturity, I needed the help of a nearby NPC elder to register. But, I am used to it now.

Back then, selling 100 slime solutions gave 1 gold and 50 silver. Converted to real-life currency, it was the equivalence of a hundred fifty dollars. 

Hunting slimes might sound easy, but it took quite a long time to hunt 100 slimes due to the competition between other users.

Thinking back at the time I wasted hunting slimes, it filled me with grief.

But, I’m different now.

People often talk about others who are gifted, such as their appearance, heritage, or smarts. There is, however, one gift that could be given to just anyone.

“Luck is the best gift.”

This is what happens when you are gifted with luck. The magic item I’ve yearned for a long time. Now was the moment to feel its value with my own hands.

From all the magic items I’ve collected, the one I needed the most was definitely a weapon. Since I’ve gained a magic-rank sword, that was a huge relief.

Since I’ve already equipped the rare item Polorun’s Star, there was no need for accessory items that only give stat boosts.

It would be better to sell them for a good amount of money to upgrade my basic gear.

Confirming my thought process, I’ve opened up my inventory.

The first item that caught my attention.

[Argot Mountain Tendon Ring]

Type: Ring

Grade: Magic

Weight: 0.02KG

Effect: Strength + 2

History: You first dry out the Troll’s tendons, then douse it with wax. Now if I wear it on my fingers, how is it? Now it’s a knuckle breaker disguised as a ring! – Fighter Rabal –

The item outline glowed a blue tint. A ring that boosted the most sought-after stat right now. I carefully placed the ring on the Goods Registration papers.

Soon after, 

The ring that I placed on top of the paper melted away, and on the paper showed a picture reminiscent of the ring I’ve just had.

As soon as the paper absorbed the ring, I lifted up the pen and looked carefully at the blank space below the picture.

“Starting price…”

Looking at the blank space for writing the minimum starting price, my heart started to throb. It was nothing like the slime solutions I’ve sold before.

“Should I ask for more…”

Unlike my aggressive comment, it felt like I had no clue on the current trends of a ring that improves stats.

In the end, I’ve listed for lower than the asking price. Hoping for users or NPCs to increase the bid,

< Starting Price: 80 Gold >

[Request to Auction]

Nearly eight thousand dollars were written off of my hands.

Who would’ve thought I’ll ever have the need to write such a tremendous amount of money? After finishing writing it down, I handed the paper to the receptionist.

The receptionist accepted the papers, and upon inspecting their content, she shined her eyes.

“Sir Adventurer! You’re amazing! I’ll quickly get you registered!”

The receptionist inserted the paper in a complex machine behind the counter.

And soon came the notification.

< Argot Mountain Tendon Ring has been registered >

“Okay…”

I suddenly felt calm. It felt like all the exhilaration leading up to this moment had gone away. But, I couldn’t be at ease until the auction was over.

Like that, I left the Peg-man’s Auction and headed towards the bustling streets. I wanted to find the cheapest inn to stay in.

I found myself a reasonable inn to stay in for Fifteen silver and laid myself onto the bed.

***

***

“Log-out.”

Soon, the countdown began.

< Logging out. 3, 2, 1 >

My vision went dark. This feeling of my consciousness being thrown off a cliff was not something I could get used to.

The scent of mold from my inn slowly faded away.

And the scent more familiar to me assaulted my nose.

My room, my bed, the slight fragrance of detergent. As I slowly opened my eyes, the ceiling of my small room greeted me.

“Hoo…”

Due to the realistic aspect of the game Circuit, it almost makes me feel repelled to the world I’m currently living in.

Carrying those feelings, I felt a little headache as I got up.

“Did I lie down for too long?”

Talking to myself was one of the habits I’ve picked up from living alone and playing <Circuit>.

It might be a bit of a depressing habit, but since I’ve only done it when I’m alone, there was no one to criticize my behavior.

I opened up my fridge to drink water.

I could still taste the rune bread I had before.

I laid down for a long amount of time, but I found myself laying down again after getting some water.

Due to the relative time difference in real life and the game, although I’ve spent nearly two whole days in the game, it had only been in the afternoon in real life.

The time difference stirred up some trouble during the launch as it produced side effects such as dizziness and depression, but since it was a change you could get used to, it did not cause too much trouble.

So, about half a day in real life, and two days in Circuit?

There was a lot that went on in those two days.

In reality, I still felt that if I slept right now, this whole thing would have been a dream.

As I contemplated whether it was a dream or not, I fell asleep anyway.

Although unsure of how long I’ve slept, 

You could tell it was near dawn from the smell.

I got up and picked up my vibrating phone to find no calls, but some messages from my parents.

[Son~ are you taking care of yourself? Don’t starve yourself or fill up with ramen, try some instant rice~ I transferred some money into your bank account just in case,  use it however you like~ From Mother.]

Since my parents were still new to texting, the message was a bit rough around the edges. But, it was the content of the message that made me look down in gratefulness.

I checked my other messages.

[Phone Banking Service] Customer Lee Ki-Ho, a transfer of $100 has been made to your account.

Payment History: Mother

Balance: $174.48

It was the money that my mother sent me. I would have gotten my pay from my part-time job tomorrow. It only made me more grateful.

“She didn’t have to…”

After letting out a big sigh, I checked my next message.

[Phone Banking Service] Customer Lee Ki-Ho, a withdrawal of $65 has been made from your account.

Payment History: PK Telecom

Balance: $109.48

It was due, my payment for mobile service. Though the price was not a light one, I still felt comfortable thanks to the money she sent me. I promised myself to give back the money with a bit extra after getting my pay tomorrow.

“It’s all payments…”

I started to skim through all the messages.

This was due to the fact that my alarm went off every time I didn’t check a message.

Skip, Ski…

I stopped.

It felt as if I’ve just gone past an important message. I slowly moved my fingers back to my past messages.

At that moment, I could not breathe. I held my breath as I rolled my eyes across the screen like a tumbleweed in the desert.

I read the message

Again,

And Again,

And once more.

I was certain.

I was certain of being freed from the looming anxiety of what happened in the past half a day and reconfirmed the extraordinary luck that has been given to me.

My future was here,

In <Circuit>!

[Phone Banking Service] Customer Lee Ki-Ho, a transfer of $58,650.50 has been made to your account.

Payment History: Circuit Currency Auction Service

Balance: $58,759.98