Sorim Grapes is Wronged

29.

On Tuesday, the two of them left early, saying they couldn’t study at home, so I could play games all day, but it still wasn’t enough.

And on Wednesday.

“Hyung, I have a group meeting today, so I’ll be late. I’ll eat dinner before coming home.”

“Okay. It’ll be late. Go quickly.”

“Huh? I have plenty of time.”

“You should go early to review and prepare. That’s a student’s duty.”

“Didn’t you say it’s okay if my grades aren’t good? That I should take it easy?”

“If you’re going, just hurry up and leave, little brother.”

“…Are you trying to play games as soon as I leave?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Alright. I’ll go. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay.”

After my brother left, the front door closed with a click. I rushed to my room and immediately logged into the game on my already-powered-on laptop.

Changmigak hadn’t logged in yet.

I thought the chat window was a bit lonely, but quickly shook my head and proceeded with the quest.

*

The place where the jade seal fragment was located was a crumbling temple that still bore the scars of war.

Until now, the cities, including the port city, had been incredibly well-rebuilt, but the city where this temple was located was as desolate as Angryy’s ruined hometown.

There were sewers, but they stank of rot, and large sewer rats crawled through the alleys. Piles of boxes scattered everywhere were covered in unidentifiable slime, and the crumbling brick houses had windows full of dust.

But people still lived here… A loud-voiced man was selling fruits on the verge of rotting, a wrinkled woman was selling worn-out fabrics, and young people in tattered clothes were selling potions or repairing equipment.

Skinny children ran past me, laughing loudly. I couldn’t understand it. If I hadn’t known about the other cities, including the port, I would have accepted it. After all, it wasn’t long since the war ended. But because the other cities were so clean, I couldn’t understand why there was still a city like this in the empire….

So as soon as the message appeared that Beombiga had logged in, I sent him a whisper.

[Whisper/To Beombiga: Is the Sojisis Empire emperor a bad person?]

[Whisper/Beombiga: Hello lol]

[Whisper/Beombiga: It’s Sojisis, not sausage..]

[Whisper/Beombiga: The emperor is a good person. Why?]

[Whisper/To Beombiga: Then why is this place left in ruins?]

[Whisper/Beombiga: Hmm]

[Whisper/Beombiga: Is that the Shadow City? The story will come out, should I spoil it for you?]

[Whisper/To Beombiga: No]

I guess there’s some kind of backstory.

Whatever the story is, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to understand it.

As I was wandering around doing quests, I ran into someone at a cobweb-covered tavern. The person who ran into me stopped abruptly and sent a speech bubble.

[General/MinoIsMine: Gasp, Angryy is here!!!]

After shouting that, they went quiet. They’re probably in party chat with Gchang and Gakjong. A little later, MinoIsMine spoke rapidly.

[General/MinoIsMine: Where have you been? lol ㅠㅠ We’ve been looking for you for ages]

[General/Angryy: Please stop looking for me]

[General/MinoIsMine: I’m glad to see you too ㅅ_ㅅv]

Has Gchang’s emoticon habit spread to them…

[General/MinoIsMine: Seeing that you came to the tavern, I guess it’s the snack-making quest]

[General/MinoIsMine: Give me all the failed snacks lol]

[General/MinoIsMine: I’ll sell them to Gchang lol]

As the veteran player said, I came to the tavern to make snacks. Beombiga told me that cooking is all about luck, so I gathered enough ingredients to try about ten times.

Due to my low luck, I won’t succeed on the first try.

And as expected… no, even worse than expected… I failed all ten times.

When my character sighed and drooped their shoulders on the tenth try, MinoIsMine was taken aback.

[General/MinoIsMine: Ten consecutive failures???]

[General/MinoIsMine: Is this for real…;;;]

[General/MinoIsMine: Angryy, what’s your luck stat?]

[General/Angryy: 7]

[General/MinoIsMine: No wonder ㅠㅠㅠ]

[General/MinoIsMine: Why is it so low ㅠㅠㅠㅠ You should have at least 20!!!]

This is what happened because I invested in wisdom every time I leveled up. This time, I’ll have to bring… really enough… ingredients to fill my inventory.

As deep as my misfortune…

As I was about to leave the tavern, a window popped up at the bottom.

[MinoIsMine requests a trade.]

[General/MinoIsMine: Let’s trade]

When I accepted, MinoIsMine eagerly put up equipment.

‘Lucky Seven Staff of Fortune’, ‘Lucky Seven Top of Fortune’, ‘Lucky Seven Bottom of Fortune’…. All of them increased Luck by +80.

[General/MinoIsMine: I’m lending these to you specially lol Return them when you’re done cooking]

They’re just lending these?

I quickly typed, not to MinoIsMine, but to Beombiga.

[Whisper/To Beombiga: Are the Lucky Seven equipment items expensive?]

[Whisper/Beombiga: Hmm… Who’s giving them to you?]

[Whisper/To Beombiga: Mi is lending them]

[Whisper/Beombiga: MinoIsMine? They’re good items. Not extremely expensive, but a bit troublesome to make]

[Whisper/To Beombiga: I have nothing to give]

[Whisper/Beombiga: Exchange them for 10 gold]

I’m not a complete newbie anymore, so I know how much 10 gold is worth.

[General/MinoIsMine: Come on, just accept them lol I won’t eat you if you accept]

[General/Angryy: What do you]

[General/Angryy: Want from me?]

[General/MinoIsMine: Aww lol ㅠㅠㅠ It’s just pure goodwill]

[General/MinoIsMine: And I’m lending them!!]

[General/Angryy: To borrow something from you]

[General/Angryy: I don’t trust you enough yet]

[General/MinoIsMine: ???]

[General/MinoIsMine: _…?]

[General/OfficialStance: What’s that supposed to mean lol]

A user in the restaurant jumped into the chat.

[General/MinoIsMine: How can I lend them to you for free]

[General/Angryy: Even receiving something for free requires a big decision.]

[General/Angryy: I’ll think about it]

MinoIsMine made a ‘question mark’ emote and started attacking the tavern furniture with basic attacks. While MinoIsMine was destroying furniture, I pondered.

It’s a bit annoying to gather ingredients again, but should I just borrow them?

But what if they use this as leverage and reveal their true colors?

[General/MinoIsMine: Please borrow them for free ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

While I was thinking, with MinoIsMine crying and begging beside me, Gchang and Gakjong entered the tavern.

[General/Gakjong: ? What’s going on?]

[General/MinoIsMine: Well, Angryy]

[General/MinoIsMine: Keeps failing the quest, so I tried to lend some luck items]

[General/MinoIsMine: But they say they can’t trust me enough to borrow them ;ㅠㅠㅠ;;]

When MinoIsMine explained while crying, Gakjong burst into laughter.

[General/Gakjong: Angryy is never easy lololol]

[General/Gchang: Angryy just take them and sell them on the auction house ㅇㅅㅇ]

[General/OfficialStance: Wow, it’s guild master Chang Gwi lol Hi]

[General/Gchang: ㅇㅅㅇ/]

OfficialStance and Gchang seemed to know each other. Above OfficialStance’s head was the name “Blood Demon”.

[General/OfficialStance: Where are your guild members while you’re here? lol]

[General/Gchang: Our guild members play well without me ㅇㅅㅇ]

[General/OfficialStance: You do have guild members, right? lol]

[General/OfficialStance: I heard half of them are inactive lol]

[General/OfficialStance: Your guild ranking is outside the top 10, right? lol]

[General/Gchang: Why aren’t you playing with your guild members and hanging out here alone?]

[General/OfficialStance: Waiting to clear a 4-person dungeon with Il-Bei lol]

[General/Gchang: Okay, enjoy your game ㅇㅅㅇ/]

[General/OfficialStance: lol]

It might seem like a natural conversation, but… I can see it. How uncomfortable the relationship between OfficialStance and Gchang is….

You can tell just by looking at OfficialStance, who’s still watching without leaving even after Gchang said goodbye with “enjoy your game”.

[General/MinoIsMine: Angryy, please accept them ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

[General/Gchang: Don’t you want to clear the quest? ㅠㅅㅠ]

[General/Angryy: There’s not enough trust between us to just accept]

[General/Gakjong: Trust lololololol]

[General/MinoIsMine: ? ㅠ??ㅠㅠㅠ??]

[General/MinoIsMine: The person lending them says it’s okay?? Why trust ㅠㅠ

[General/MinoIsMine: Please borrow them..? ㅠㅠ??]

[General/Gchang: Angryy, would you accept if I lend them to you?]

[General/Gakjong: What about me? I’m getting competitive]

[General/Angryy: You’re all the same to me.]

[General/Gakjong: Shit lololol ㅡㅡ]

[General/Gchang: ㅇㅅㅠ]

[General/MinoIsMine: Come on, you need to clear the quest first ㅠ Separate public and private matters ㅠㅠ]

Because MinoIsMine kept crying and begging, I reluctantly borrowed the equipment.

And as I was about to go out to gather cooking ingredients, this time Gchang and Gakjong initiated trades.

[General/Gakjong: Come on, honestly ㅠ We worked hard to gather these ingredients, just accept them]

[General/Gchang: If Angryy refuses, it’ll just create food waste…….]

[General/Gchang: You know how serious the food waste problem is these days, right? ㅇㅅㅇ It’s a major cause of environmental destruction]

[General/Gakjong: The Shadow City is already in ruins, want to make it even worse?]

[General/OfficialStance: lol You guys are talking nonsense]

I was going to refuse, but I was annoyed by OfficialStance’s mockery, so I accepted the cooking ingredients from both of them. I didn’t forget to thank them.