Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 9 – Seo Jinhyuk: Prologue

—–CROW—– 

My eyes followed the letters, but the content didn’t enter my mind.

I closed the message window and trudged outside. Bright sunlight was shining down on the village.

I usually sleep until dawn after browsing the community all night, so it was the first time in a long time that I saw the morning sun. Maybe it was even the first time.

I frowned and entered the restaurant with heavy steps. The usual NPC welcomed me with a stiff greeting.

I ordered the first item on the menu and habitually opened the community window. The message window I had just closed opened along with it.

[We sincerely mourn the death of the late Lee Myung-sook.]

Only now did the first sentence catch my eye. Lee Myung-sook was my mother’s name. I had thought a few times that it was a bit of an old-fashioned name.

-Clatter.

As soon as I properly read the first sentence, a plate was placed in front of me. In this restaurant, food comes out as soon as you order. What did I order?

[Bacon and Egg Fry Breakfast]

The breakfast menu of the Western-style restaurant, Rabbit House. The golden brown bacon is exquisite.

It’s very filling for the price. A menu for adventurers on a budget.

Eating it fills your hunger a lot.

It was a breakfast set similar to the one you could get at the inn.

Thick bacon and a sunny-side-up egg with mashed potatoes and brown sauce. I poked the egg yolk with my fork.

My mom hated eggs that were undercooked like this. She said they tasted fishy, or maybe she didn’t like the smell of the eggs.

But the fried eggs at our house were always sunny-side-up. Because I liked them that way.

-Squelch.

I burst the yolk and spread it on the bacon, then roughly stabbed the thick bacon with my fork and brought it to my mouth.

It wasn’t particularly delicious or bad. It was a taste without any emotion. The food went into my mouth without any problems.

[The funeral was held on ○○-○○-○○ as a funeral for the unclaimed due to the absence of the bereaved, and the deceased was enshrined in the memorial hall according to the procedure.]

I skipped a few lines and the next sentence caught my eye. My mom had no relatives, so I was the only one who could be considered family, and I was in the tower.

We were a single-parent family without any relatives, but my mom worked hard to fill my father’s role so that I wouldn’t feel inferior.

-Gulp.

I took a sip of cold water. It was cold enough to make my teeth ache, but I didn’t choke.

The plate was empty before I knew it. The plate turned into particles of light and scattered, just like a defeated monster disappearing.

I left the restaurant and walked for a while.

I couldn’t stand being cooped up in the inn every day, so I sometimes took walks like this. Very occasionally, though.

After walking for a while, I arrived at the bakery. It’s said that challengers who are serious about the strategy buy a lot of bread from these bakeries.

Since I no longer entered the dungeon, I only came here when I felt like having a snack. I opened the door and went inside.

“Welcome~”

The bakery NPC’s greeting was also lifeless. I heard that the elite NPCs you can meet on higher floors feel much more human, I wonder if it’s true.

I smelled the freshly baked bread, even though it couldn’t have been freshly baked. The open community window was shaking in front of my eyes.

[The cause of death of the deceased is believed to be cardiac arrest due to acute myocardial infarction.]

I couldn’t remember which line it was, but a sentence entered my mind. Acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, sudden death.

The bottom of the shaking message interface stated that the cause of the myocardial infarction was presumed to be overwork.

-Thud.

I turned my gaze away from it and leisurely chose some bread.

As usual, without any change.

**

The white rolls sold at the bakery are considered a staple food for Rankers in the Tower of Trials.

This is because they can quickly consume calories thanks to the high sugar content, and they have a high-level luck buff effect.

The luck buff is also attached to other desserts besides white rolls, but other desserts are expensive and the buff duration is less efficient, so they are not preferred.

It’s said that the white roll, which has both the buff level and duration appropriately attached, is the most perfect food item.

I bought a few pieces of bread, including the white roll, and returned to the inn. The most expensive room on the second floor of the inn is my hideout.

“Delicious.”

I had just eaten, but I had no problem eating the white roll.

Some Rankers say they feel like throwing up just looking at them because they eat them every day, but to me, it’s just a normal, delicious bread.

As I felt the sweetness of the white roll coat my mouth, I opened the open community again.

I put the message screen aside and opened the humor board of the community. This is where I spend all day looking.

“Heh, hehehe.”

As I read a few humorous posts, I started to laugh without realizing it. I kept scrolling down the page, smirking.

Before I knew it, I had stuffed all the white rolls into my mouth. I picked up another piece of bread and continued browsing the community while leisurely eating.

After a few hours, I started to feel hungry.

I left the inn and went to the usual restaurant. I just ordered whatever for breakfast, but this time I wanted something delicious.

So I ordered the cheese tonkatsu lunch box that I had enjoyed last time. The crispy tonkatsu and the savory, stretchy cheese were still excellent.

Just like the bacon and fried egg that were neither particularly delicious nor bad, the taste of this cheese tonkatsu doesn’t change at all.

As usual, unchanged. Unchanged…

**

Time flowed and flowed, and it was already night. I lay down on the bed.

As befitting the most expensive room, this bed is very comfortable. If I lie still, I feel like my body is being sucked in.

It’s much better than the bed in my house. My bed’s mattress was completely ruined after a few years, and it wasn’t comfortable at all. My mom’s bed was completely hard.

It’s late at night when most people are asleep, but my eyes are still wide open. I open the open community and, as always, post and comment.

-Thump, thump.

An unbearable urge rose from deep within my chest. As if possessed, I wrote a long post.

[Author: Seo Jinhyuk#2661]

[Title: My mother passed away]

Using a title I had never used in my life, I wrote a post lamenting my miserable situation in the community.

A single-parent family, a dirt spoon, the death of my mother. It was a lament filled with more misfortunes than I had occasionally written about during my job search days.

I hadn’t written a single post in the community today. The other community ghosts must have wondered what was going on.

The comments and reactions of the community ghosts were truly intense. The comment section quickly went over the page, and a loud notification rang.

– Stay strong

– Don’t just think bad thoughts, cheer up. It’s all temporary if you look past it

– I read it all. I can only tell you to stay strong

– I couldn’t attend my parents’ funeral either, so it feels like it could be me.

– Rest in peace. I hope your mother went to a good place.

The reactions were completely different from the flexing posts I used to write, and even from the diary-like posts I had been writing recently.

There were no comments aimed at disrupting the mood, which were usually present in one or two. That’s how serious my situation seemed.

I felt a strange sense of satisfaction as I read the comments, and I stayed up until dawn looking at the community.

As usual, unchanged.

**

I woke up in the afternoon today as well. I closed the community window I had left open and went downstairs.

I ordered food and opened the community again, as if it were a habit. And I stuffed the food into my mouth.

My mom died. Yesterday, the day before yesterday, I don’t know exactly when.

The cause of death was acute heart failure due to overwork, the funeral was held for the unclaimed, and during that time, I.

During that time, I was holed up in my room, posting shit in the community.

-Bang!

I consciously slammed my hand on the table. Not unconsciously, consciously, on purpose.

My mom died. But nothing has changed for me.

The food went down my throat, I went around looking for delicious things to eat, and I wasted time looking at funny posts.

I wasn’t satisfied with just lying on the bed and giggling, so I even felt satisfied while receiving comments on my misfortunes.

I didn’t particularly cry or feel sad. No, even while feeling sad, I ignored reality and just stayed holed up like an idiot.

“Fuck.”

What am I doing? Why am I doing this?

The cause of everything, the nonsense I spouted while waiting for the invitation to the tower, came to mind.

I was waiting for an opportunity, I said. The only chance for me, born with a dirt spoon, to repay my mother, to turn my life around.

If only I could enter the Tower of Trials, I would come back as a Hunter and let my mom live comfortably.

What a load of bullshit, a great filial son indeed.

A guy who thinks so much about his mom is still holed up in his room browsing the community.

I’m an idiot. A fucking idiot who wants to coast through life, completely blinded by self-justification.

I feel like I finally realized it, even though I’ve known it for a long time.

“Fuck.”

I once thought that while waiting for the invitation. That if I continued living like this, my life would be ruined, but that it was unavoidable because I was a dirt spoon.

Half of it was right. The part about my life being ruined if I continued living like this, only that part was right. The latter half was just rationalization.

It can’t be helped because I’m a dirt spoon? Dirt spoons can’t succeed no matter how hard they try? The efficiency of effort is different?

Yeah, maybe those words weren’t wrong.

But I wasn’t a dirt spoon in the first place. I might have been a little poorer than others, but not to the extent of being called a dirt spoon.

“Fuck.”

My mom always worked hard. She worked twice as hard as others because she didn’t want me to feel inferior. And then she died of overwork.

What have I been doing all this time?

I wasted time cooped up at home under the pretext of job searching. I waited for the invitation without any effort, using the excuse of being a dirt spoon.

After receiving the invitation, I thought about becoming a low-rank Hunter by riding a Ranker bus. When I realized that was impossible, I whined that my life was fucked.

I thought about becoming a high-rank Hunter easily by monopolizing the tower’s resources. When I realized that was impossible, I whined that my life was fucked again.

From beginning to end, I only thought about coasting through life. Until the day my mom died.

“Fuck.”

I slowly moved my hand and manipulated the community window. I opened the message I received yesterday again.

I read the short message about my mom’s death over and over again. I forced the meaning of each sentence and word into my head.

Only after reading and understanding it for a long time could I finally shed tears.

Only now, only now.

**

Only after crying for a long time could I organize my thoughts.

I’m a fucking idiot.

But if I just keep crying like this, I’ll be worse than an idiot.

I went outside the inn without any plan. I opened my inventory and equipped the gear that had been rotting for over half a year. And I headed to the store.

I bought a lot of potions and filled my inventory. Then I went to the bakery and bought all the white rolls they had.

I’ve never tried hard in my life. That’s why I don’t know how to try.

If it weren’t for this Tower of Trials, I probably would have just cried without knowing what to do, even after losing my mom.

But inside this tower, there’s an easy-to-understand measure of effort. What I have to do is very simple.

[The Warrior Statue is resonating with you.]

[You can change your job to the normal class – Warrior.]

A system message appeared when I touched the statue in the center of the village. I nodded without hesitation.

[You have changed your job to the normal class, Warrior.]

[The skill system has been unlocked. You can acquire skills by consuming skill points.]

[You have acquired the Warrior’s basic skill: Sword Mastery level 1. You can increase the skill level by accumulating proficiency.]

[You can unlock active skills included in Sword Mastery.]

I cleared away all the loud job change messages and headed straight to the labyrinth entrance.

[Challenger, the Tower of Trials is calling you.]

I passed the message I hadn’t seen in a long time and entered the labyrinth, and as if it had been waiting, a green goblin greeted me.

I took the stance to cast Brandish, the most basic skill that can be learned at Sword Mastery level 1.

The sword shone, and my body was filled with strength.

Soon, my body shot forward as if a video was being fast-forwarded. The vigorously swung sword cleanly split the goblin’s head in two.

-Crack!

As the goblin in the front fell, the goblin soldiers behind it rushed in all at once. I stepped forward with a kick.

Several goblins fell with one kick, and with one body slam, a group of goblins scattered.

In just under a minute, I defeated six goblins.

Because of the level difference penalty, I didn’t get much experience.

But I did get some.

This is a world with a system reminiscent of a game. Then what I have to do is obvious. It’s very easy.

I keep repeating it endlessly. Until I have the stats to defeat the boss alone.

-Thump!

I entered a small room on one side of the labyrinth and kicked a treasure chest. This is a trap disguised as a treasure.

It’s the kind of trap that makes powerful monsters pour out and surround the challenger when it’s touched.

“Come at me, you bastards!”

I shouted at the goblin soldiers that quickly surrounded me and ran towards them, swinging my sword.

I swung my weapon through countless hordes of monsters, and when they were all down, I looked for another trap to activate.

When my body got tired, I ate potions and white rolls and kept repeating the same thing.

“Aaaaaaaah!!”

Through the night, past dawn, until morning came.

—–CROW—–