HG Ch 10

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“I’m a newbie, so I don’t really know the market prices. Could you just take care of it and give me a fair deal?”

However, Eunho was merely impressed; he had no intention of playing along with Milk-Selling Youth’s role-playing. Even doing it with NPCs was excruciatingly embarrassing—how could he possibly keep up a persona in front of a real person? Call it boring if you must; he couldn’t help it. Some people were just born that way. If you accept that you’re naturally unfunny and live with dignity, at least you won’t embarrass yourself. He had seen plenty of people who tried too hard to be funny, only to end up stacking a mountain of cringeworthy memories. Let’s not do that. LOVE YOURSELF.

“How much do you have on you right now?”

Wow. This guy was the real deal.

Eunho was once again impressed by Milk-Selling Youth’s unwavering commitment to his role, even when no one else played along.

“I have 54,280 jeon^[1]. That’s all I’ve got. How many bowls of tarakjuk can I buy with that?”

Milk-Selling Youth seemed to contemplate Eunho’s words when he finally parted his lips to speak—

Ding!

[SYSTEM] Fatigue: 300/300 [SYSTEM] A status effect will persist until your fatigue level drops below 150.

[Status Effect] Fever (Time Limit: – )

“Gasp…“

In an instant, a wave of heat surged through his body. His eyes burned, his head throbbed, and it felt like he had caught a severe flu. He staggered slightly from the dizziness, but when he tried to speak, all that came out were ragged breaths.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Ugh… Just… Hold on… Tarak… Ngh…”

His legs gave out. As Eunho openly swayed on the verge of collapse, Milk-Selling Youth leaped up from his stall and caught him.

The man’s dopo brushed against Eunho’s cheek, tickling his skin. As he staggered and lifted his head, his gaze met a pair of eyes peering out from beneath a gat.

A strange glint flickered in those eyes.

At the same time, the man’s face flushed bright red…

Oh, shit. Emergency! Emergency!

“Tarakjuk mukbang, initiate!”

“Urk!”

Feeling an imminent crisis, Eunho shoved Milk-Selling Youth away with all his might. The moment the support holding him up disappeared, he collapsed onto the stall with a thud and scrambled desperately toward the tarakjuk.

Then, without hesitation, he plunged his face straight into the bowl and started lapping it up. Had this been a wuxia novel, even beggars from the Beggar Sect would have been impressed by his sheer lack of dignity.

[SYSTEM] After a hearty serving of Tarakjuk, all accumulated fatigue melts away. [SYSTEM] Fatigue: 80/300

Only then did Eunho finally relax. Lifting his head, he wiped his face, now smeared with tarakjuk. Thick, milky-white porridge dripped down from his brow bone to the bridge of his nose.

“Ahh, that really hit the spot. I gotta say, this place is legit. Anyway, how much do I owe you?”

It was a virtual reality game, so he couldn’t actually taste anything. But still, he let out a hearty sigh of satisfaction, like an old man finishing a bowl of soup. He wiped his face with his ragged sleeve, but the high viscosity of the porridge only made it cling to his skin rather than coming off cleanly. It was a little gross, but whatever. In a few seconds, the auto-clean system would take care of it.

“……”

Wait. Why was Milk-Selling Youth so silent? He had asked for the price. Was he mad because Eunho had eaten first without paying?

Eunho looked up. His gaze locked directly with Milk-Selling Youth’s.

It was clear now—the man had been staring at him this entire time.

Suddenly, the background noise of the bustling street seemed to fade.

It felt like the entire Jukmuljeom Street had vanished, leaving just him and Milk-Selling Youth…

The place is wide open, and people are passing by—how the hell does it feel like we’re the only two left?

Eunho shook his head vigorously and hurriedly got to his feet.

What the hell? I made such a scene to break the mood, so why does it still feel like…

Just then, a hand grabbed his wrist.

…Crisis.

Milk-Selling Youth, his face flushed, smiled as he held onto Eunho’s arm.

“May I… ask for your name?”

Goosebumps prickled along Eunho’s wrist.

“No, sir. I’d really just prefer if you told me the price of the tarakjuk.”

Eunho barely managed to answer, flustered.

“There is none. Or rather, to be precise, it no longer exists.”

“What?”

“…Because for the rest of your life, I have decided to provide you with my milk for free.”

The elegant young scholar smiled like a blooming flower.

Ding!

[SYSTEM] You have encountered “Milk-Selling Youth.” [SYSTEM] Your blatant seduction has struck the innocent “Milk-Selling Youth” in the heart. [SYSTEM] “Milk-Selling Youth’s” favorability has increased by 20. [SYSTEM] Favorability: 45

A pink-tinted system window floated in the air, while a mutant butterfly flapped its wings around it.

「Impressive. To capture someone this easily… You have a gift.」

“…Lovely.”

And with that, Eunho used a teleportation spell.

“W-Wait! Where are you going? Not just the tarakjuk—take me with you as well…!”

Even in the midst of his retreat, Eunho managed to swipe all 20 bowls of tarakjuk from Milk-Selling Youth’s stall into his inventory. It was a pure survival instinct.

* * *

“Elder! Please, take a look at the item I found!”

Like Jean Valjean^[2] stealing bread, Eunho—now a Tarakjuk thief—headed straight for the main quest NPC. The old woman was still standing at the entrance to the forest outside Nonyeok Village.

Waving the trinket like an official badge, Eunho ran up to her in haste.

“You always seem to be in such a rush.”

Wouldn’t you be if another love interest had popped up out of nowhere when you thought there was only one?

What the hell kind of novel is this?

Was there ever a romance novel this chaotic? Why was he simultaneously entangled with multiple love interests? Wasn’t this just perpetuating the discriminatory stereotype that all gay relationships were promiscuous?

A flood of unjust resentment surged within him, but he knew that breaking the fourth wall would be pointless. The old woman would just ignore him. Eunho didn’t have time to waste.

“I just have a really bad feeling—like some great calamity is about to befall the nation!”

“What are you talking about?”

[SYSTEM] You have given the “Worn-out Norigae” to the old woman.

The old woman took the norigae from Eunho and immediately stiffened. She then stared at him intently, as if assessing him.

It had been said that only those with sufficient spiritual power could proceed with this quest. It seemed she was evaluating Eunho’s stats.

Having put in a lot of effort leveling up, Eunho puffed out his chest confidently.

At last, the old woman nodded, as if she had come to a conclusion.

“So, it is as I thought. In the end, the words of the prophecy… were true.”

“What do you mean?”

Eunho asked. However, the old woman simply brushed past him and hurried toward the village.

Is this for real? Not only did she send me on an errand just to have an epiphany on her own and leave, but I literally can’t go back to the village right now because of that milk-selling lunatic. That newbie pervert might even be awake by now.

Still, should he follow her for the sake of progressing the main quest? As Eunho hesitated, a system message popped up.

[SYSTEM] Something has fallen where the old woman was standing.

The moment the notification appeared, a bright yellow light shimmered from the ground. It was the same glow that had once marked the old woman as a main quest NPC. Curious, Eunho quickly approached and picked up the item.

「It’s a Cheokdok^[3].」

Eunho picked up the letter and examined it. It was severely damaged, with only a few discernible phrases: “Boatmen disappearing even in clear weather” and “Seonyeok Village”…

“Huh?”

[Main Quest: Strange Traces (In Progress)] [SYSTEM] You have discovered the letter the old woman dropped. However, due to its severe damage, you cannot make out any details. Return to “Nonyeok Village” to gather more clues…

Before the system window could even finish typing itself out, as if someone were typing in real-time, Eunho spoke up.

“Wait, isn’t this the first dungeon unlock quest?”

[SYSTEM] Return to “Nonyeok Village” to gather…

“What clues, idiot? This is obviously the first dungeon unlock quest. The one where you take a boat from Seonyeok Village to that uninhabited island dungeon entrance. That one.”

[SYSTEM] Return to “Nonyeok Village”.

“I’m not going. Why would I? I already know everything. Why waste time looking for clues? Is this VR game really so rigid that it can’t allow even a little flexibility? And you expect to survive in Korea’s cutthroat gaming industry like this? The player count will drop, rankings will tank, and when the game dies, do you think the game novel will magically survive?”

Eunho glared at the system window, his expression practically screaming, “Don’t ever underestimate your readers again. We may not know everything, but we sure as hell know what we do know. Now, are you going to let me skip or what?”

[SYSTEM] Loading…

[SYSTEM] All clues have been found. [Main Quest: Strange Traces (In Progress)] [SYSTEM] Something strange seems to be happening in “Seonyeok Village.” You will proceed there immediately.

Nice. He had forced the skip through sheer willpower.