“We didn’t know even know that and we-.... I’m sorry! Hey, hurry you too..”

“We’re very sorry!”

Both the douchebags bowed down to me at a 90-degree angle.

Their whole attitude changed after coming to know that I’m close to the player association’s president.

It really is scary huh, power that is.

“I get it so both of you, please stop it.”

It’s true that it feels satisfying, but that doesn’t mean I have an evil hobby of watching someone keep bending their back.

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ is frustrated and says “If it were me I would’ve beaten them to death, it’s a problem your personality is too gentle!”]

If I kill them as my temper pleases then your son will socially die, mom.

“..Ahem. I apologize once again for my unnecessary disrespect when you’ve put in so much effort for public safety. For now, it has been confirmed without a doubt that you, Mr. Hwang Jae-min has rescued everyone from the herd of orcs.”

Only then did the boss, straighten his back and said what he should have said earlier.

In short?

“Is there anything else you are curious about or anything we can help you with?”

“Hmm..”

Looks like he wants to help with whatever possible just in case any issue arises later.

There’s no reason for me to necessarily refuse when he’s offering to do me a favour.

I wonder if there’s anything?

Suddenly, I remembered what uncle said earlier before ending the call.

– Come to the association first. We need to talk.

..For the time being, I wanted to hide the fact that I woke up from him. But fine, now that things have turned out to be like this, I guess I’ll have a proper breakthrough.

I opened my mouth to speak, glancing at the black sedan which both these guys rode and came here.

“Then give me a ride till the association.”

When I have the chance, I gotta save that transport money.

***

“You play with uncle here. We’ll be right back”

10 years ago, when Germadon descended.

The words mom said to me with dad waiting in the front.

Soon after, my mother quietly looked at the president of the association standing next to me.

Nothing was said, but that glance definitely meant this.

‘Please look after my son.’

After that, I became an orphan and grew up at uncle’s residence.

He raised me like his biological child.

He didn’t forget my mom’s last request and carried out her request throughout his life.

I also treated uncle sincerely as my real father.

“After feeding and putting you to sleep for years, I doubted my ears when you suddenly said you want to move out.”

“....”

“And when you called after half a year saying you awakened, I wondered if this was really the reality.”

“....”

“Well, it’s good I guess. And awakening is not something you can do as you wish. “

A skyscraper, located behind the assembly hall main road.

On the top-most floor in the association’s headquarters, I was going through the emotions of becoming a sinner.

He’s so good at talking gently but brutally hitting a person with facts.

In the past though, he would first start by nagging violently at-

“But going on a death match with so many orcs alone is just not it,

you reckless punk! You think you’ve got two lives?!”

Nevermind. He just saved it for later.

Uncle, who had just entered his old age, said it while frowning even when he had so many wrinkles.

I was scared to look him in the eye so I kept glancing at the nameplate on the table for no reason.

Mmh, President Lee Tae-ho. You’re very cool.

“President, if you get worked up like this then your hair will-”

“Don’t talk about hair in front of me!”

A young pretty lady standing next to uncle, touched his sore spot with a calm face.

She is uncle’s secretary and I already know her from my 1st life.

I think her name was Yoo Su-yeon.

Her eyes are kinda scary so I’ve never had a proper conversation with her though.

“Not even a goblin but a D rank orc..! My heart hurts even now just by thinking about it! Hyun-sook, watching from above must be cursing out loud at me saying what kind of an irresponsible bastard!”

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ bursts into laughter and says “This guy has lost a lot of hair since the past huh!”]

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ can’t control her laughter and says “I need to find if there is any hair loss medicine in the Hall of Fame!”]

She’s currently saying things that would make you curse out loud though..

“Look!”

Uncle shouted and turned the PC monitor towards me.

On the screen, a news article with a video attached was displayed.

The title read,

-[Breaking news] ‘Outbreak’ in Gwanak District, Seoul, In just 10 minutes an unknown player-...

Ah.

“You’ve become a celebrity!”

Click.

-[Report 1] Mysterious player known to have awakened on the same day..Estimated to be at least B-class.

-[Report 2] Who is the mysterious player? Witnesses currently on the move to the association testify..

It’s not even been an hour and the news is already spreading like wildfire.

And what do you mean by at least B-class..I’m an F-class though.

“I’ve told you so many times that it’s best to live quietly!”

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ wipes her tears and says “I’m so proud of you son!”]

..Who should I follow? I’m dying of dizziness.

“Huu..”

After cooling the heat on his head with a sigh, Uncle suddenly asked.

“What’s your Guardian Deity’s name?”

“Um, it’s..”

I was in a dilemma.

Is it okay to tell uncle that mom is my Guardian deity?

“Cough, cough.”

It would look suspicious if I didn’t say anything for long so I pretended to cough.

In the meantime, mom is being silent.

Does she mean I can do whatever feels right?

In that case.

“The nickname is ‘Joong-won Sword Deity’. Have you heard it before?”

Even if it’s uncle, I don’t think he will easily believe the absurd story of mom being my Guardian deity.

He’ll probably be like what kind of crazy nonsense is that.

It will be a bother to explain it to him so let’s just hide it.

“Joong-won Sword Deity..? Judging by the nickname sounds likely a very high ranking Guardian deity.”

If trash like that is a high ranking Guardian deity then the ‘Hall of Fame’ should just shut down.

“Leave that..”

Uncle tapped the table with his thick fingers, making a?da-da-dak?sound

That’s a sign that we’re going to start a lengthy lecture starting from now.

Ah, I’m already about to lose my mind.

“You have talent as a player, I’m sure of it. My eyes don’t lie. No wonder, you’re their son..”

No. It’s because of the vitamin pill though.

Because I didn’t have any of that damn talent, during my 1st life I kept hearing “Did you throw away all of your parent’s good genes as soon as they cut your umbilical cord or what?!’ to the point I was sick of it. Damn it.

“But Jae-min..I still wish you would lead an ordinary life. Please at least you. Player? Sounds good. You get to earn a lot of money, have a high social reputation but the problem is you can die young in the blink of an eye! If it was me, I would never do it.”

Is that what the person in charge of the player’s association has to say?

Until now the pattern of the conversation is pretty similar to the one in the 1st life. Except for the talent part.

If I keep going along with it the same way then my freshly found 2nd life will turn into ‘dog shit’ like before.

During that time, regardless of my opinion, uncle handed this official letter to the association.

‘If a player license is granted to Hwang Jae-min, then disciplinary action will be followed based on the newly enacted association regulations.’

Even if you awaken and register yourself as a player, you can’t enter the gate unless you take a test organized by the association and get a ‘license’.

It was only about 1 and a half years later that the absurd notice handed by him was taken down.

I can’t let this life, which is only going to be better, turn that way.

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ suggests ‘Now that it has come to this, how about we come to a mutual agreement using hair fall medicine?’]

..That doesn’t sound too bad but mom, I think there’s always the danger of him feeling hurt instead.

It’s okay. I’ve already thought of a plan.

“I understand what you mean, uncle. I totally do. But I still want to choose this path. I’m sincere about it.”

“Ha! I think you’ve become too confident just by killing a few orcs alone, but there’s a lot worse-”

“I know it too. That’s why I have a suggestion.”

“A suggestion?”

Uncle raised one of his eyebrows.

“Isn’t there that thing in the association. The training program. What was the name again..?”

“Hm? Are you talking about Cyber Field? How do you know about-”

“Yes, that. CF. I heard that it’s been covered with dust because there’s no one who’s doing it nowadays? How about I clean that dust?”

“No, I’m asking how do you know about that?”

“The internet is pretty scary nowadays, isn’t it! See. Just because I caught a few orcs, my whole identity is about to be revealed already.”

That’s obviously a lie.

No matter how wide and open the internet is, official information only known to a few people doesn’t spread around like that.

On this day, after I lost my home, with uncle’s help I started staying in a dormitory dedicated to players who belong to the association

And naturally, I would come to know a lot of things too.

“..A guy who has just awakened wants to do CF? Killing the orcs was probably a lot easier you know?”

“Just know that’s how desperate I am. Isn’t it sad to just end it after killing a few orcs after you’ve woken up?”

“.....”

“If I end up doing it and it still doesn’t please you? I’ll clearly give up on it then.”

If this was the first life, nothing I say would have persuaded him.

But this time, it’s different.

Because this time I have the title ‘The one who killed more than ten orcs by himself on the day he awakened’!

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea, president.”

Just then.

The charming beauty broke the silence.

Uncle and I turned our heads in the same direction at the same time.

Towards secretary Yoo Su-yeon.

Huh, why is she suddenly..?

“This is my personal opinion, but I don’t think killing orcs alone on the day of awakening is an ordinary talent.”

“W-what..?”

“It felt like you were going to let such a talent rot away, so I ended up talking without realizing it. I’m sorry for the rude behaviour, president.”

Yoo Su-yeon bowed her back with her hands politely gathered.

As the silence continued,

Deep inside I was happy to have earned one more ally who sides with me.

Nice! I thought her personality would be scary because of her eyes but turns out she’s nice. This is why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

“Yoo Su-yeon, if you act like this too then..”

On the other hand, uncle, who just gained a foe, had a more haggard expression than before.

Heh, that’s nice to see. I just hope your hair doesn’t get more haggard.

Me and Yoo Su-yeon waited for a moment for uncle’s answer.

“..You can’t take your words back later.”

“Of course!”

Along with my immediate answer, Yoo Su-yeon secretly clenched her fist.

Then our eyes met, but she immediately looked away by pretending to cough.

..She’s kinda cute huh.

***

“There are five waves.”

20th floor of the association headquarters, Capsule Room where the CF program takes place.

The first thing uncle said to me while lying on the connecting module that looked like a bathtub and going through the manual.

He already said it before coming to the capsule room but he repeated it once again to make sure I never forget it.

He still looks like he doesn’t want me to be a player.

“If you pass all the five waves, I don’t care if you become a player or not. But if you fail before it then-”

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ shakes her head and says “Repeating the same thing over and over is a sign of ageing.”]

Don’t be like that, mom. He’s just saying it because he’s worried for me.

Actually, I didn’t want to listen to his nagging either, so I roughly put the manual away and quickly put on my helmet.

The sound of driving was so loud that I couldn’t hear a word of what uncle was saying.

Mhm, finally I can get some inner peace.

“Did you go through the manual properly?!”

..I can hear it faintly.

“Somewhat.”

“Somewhat..don’t come crying in tears to me later.”

Pshhh-!

Water vapour rose from the bottom of the capsule and the metal lid began to come down slowly.

Upon my view gradually getting blocked from the top and bottom, I could see uncle’s back while he was giving instructions to the researchers in the capsule room.

Soon after, as soon as the lid covered my whole body, my consciousness flickered for a moment.

<Connecting to ‘Cyber Field’>

<Creating ‘Avatar’. 1%.. 15%.. 47%.. 81%.. 99%.. >

<Creation complete. Connecting avatar with current user’s consciousness.>

Flash–

At the end of a neutral mechanical sound, my dark consciousness suddenly flashed brightly.

My eyes were blurry like a camera that is out of focus.

I blinked a few times to correct my foggy vision as if wearing glasses.

Only then did I realize that I had entered a space that was white everywhere.

It looks like some kind of mental ward.

‘My body..’

An alloyed armour was added over the extremely tight navy blue spandex I was wearing.

It’s probably the bodysuit that is automatically given to the avatars who enter the CF program.

I remember seeing it at a glance in the manual earlier.

It’s just called an avatar, but in fact, it feels as if it were my real body.

This is fascinating.

<3 minutes before the start of the 1st wave>

<Please choose your weapon>

Hm-

In a corner, weapons appeared in a floating manner.

From the left, there was a sword, dagger, long spear, axe, mace, bow-arrow and a whip.

What should I choose? I’m confused.

‘For now, a bow, whip and dagger are all a big no.’

In that case, the safest bet would be a spear or a sword.

[‘Sung Hyun-sook’ is surprised at an unexpected discovery and says “They had something like this too?!”]

“Hm?”

My mom suddenly said something random.

An unexpected discovery? What are you talking abou-..

[Sung Hyun-sook thinks for a while.]

[Guardian deity ‘Sung Hyun-sook’ makes a resolution wishing for the bright future of ‘My Son ?’]

[Sung Hyun-sook advises to choose any weapon.]

“No, I don’t get what you’re talking about..”

Aside from not understanding mom, I had to choose a weapon within 3 minutes.

Until the end, I agonized between the spear and the sword but my final decision was the sword.

I asked while swinging around the moderately long sword.

“So, what is it that you discovered?”

But mom didn’t reply.

Instead,

[Guardian deity ‘Sung Hyun-sook’ sponsors a ‘skill’ for ‘My Son ?’!]

Huh?

[A skill ball containing the talent of the Guardian deity will be given to the representative!]

[Sponsorship list: Skill ball – <Passive: Blood is thicker than water (Ex)>]

She answered back with a sponsorship.

“.....”

Wait a minute.

Sponsors what?