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1-1. Koreans do a lot of grinding in games, too. (6)
Translated by Yonnee
“Do you even know that these are all top of the line plants?!”
“Miss Leticia, it was a mistake! Just this once… please forgive her!”
“Hilda’s the one who wasn’t in her right mind all day and wouldn’t even apologize, so why are you the one asking for forgiveness?”
Leticia turned to me as she said this, a terrifying glare directed at me. Oh, then if I ask for forgiveness, will you let it slide?
“I’m s—”
“Forget it! I won’t forgive you even if you prostrate on the ground! Just get rid of this mess! The rest as well!”
I was about to say sorry already, but the moment I started, she quickly shut me down. Emily also glanced towards me with a sigh, but I continued to stand there without a clear sense of reality.
No matter how much ‘they’ talked to me with human faces, I knew that they weren’t actually human. They were just pixels drawn by someone, and they moved according to data computed with zeroes and ones.
The wind brushing against my cheeks and the warm sunlight shining down on me were all so realistic that it’s creepy. But in the end, these were just pixels.
That’s why there’s no way she could exert any emotions for them. It was like not feeling sorry for an NPC even if they die.
…But I did feel a little apologetic towards Emily.
With the gazes of the other servants gradually fading and with Emily’s comforting words, I cleared up the piles of ruined weeds.
* * *
As a result of running around all day and getting some EXP, I managed to get to level 4. Meanwhile, one thing I learned was that every action I did in this world was ranked according to the level of difficulty, and the appropriate EXP would be given.
I got my EXP from manual labor today, but if I’d think about it more broadly, talking and accompanying someone were tasks that could also be converted to EXP.
As if I was opening a gacha prize, I got pumped up. If this was a real game, then it’s all the more reason to be excited!
“Hilda, go back and get some rest.”
The kind-hearted Emily must’ve been greatly disappointed in me, but she took me back to my room nevertheless. Her compassion must be a programmed trait in this character, right? The way she looked at me, too, and even the goodwill she extended to me. Everything.
“Emily.”
“Yeah?”
Emily turned around and looked back at me. My emotions overtook me, so I belatedly thought up what to say.
“I’m sorry about today.”
“……”
“It seems like I just caused you a lot of trouble.”
Apologizing to an NPC? I scratched my forehead, feeling complicated. As Emily was still looking at me, she smiled tenderly.
“It’s fine. What’s something like this between us. Sleep tight now, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After saying this, she turned around once more and walked along the corridor. She was an NPC, but she’s really nice.
I watched the back of her head until she disappeared. Soon, I opened the door and went in, and I was back in the room I found myself in the moment I opened my eyes. Its size was a bit more than twenty square meters, and it was densely occupied by a small cabinet, a dresser, a bed wide enough for one person, and a desk.
When I entered the room, a notification window popped up as though it was waiting.
「 The daily rewards have arrived. 」
「 Gold +30G 」
Oh, there’s a daily reward, too? When I glanced up, I saw ‘330G’ floating above next to a gold coin icon. I guess this means I originally already had 300 gold…
But at that moment—white letters twinkled in the air along with the sound of a beep.
「 Losses have been incurred due to the garden being ruined. 」
「 Gold -250G 」
And that very instant, the floating white ‘330G’ was reduced to ‘80G’.
I gaped blankly at the status window. This was the dreadful reality. I got paid chopped liver, and it was exactly the same as my bank account—everything inside would just be eaten up by credit card dues.
I can’t believe it. My entire fortune vanished just because I dug up that kalanchoe and a few others. This meant that those few flowers were more expensive than the cost of my labor for an entire day.
Will I need to live like this from now on? Trapped in this unfamiliar world, not getting paid properly, and without a smartphone!
I don’t know how high the difficulty of the game is, and I can’t level up easily. I have no skills. Earlier, I wondered if I’ll be able to get out of here if I level up fully, but at the rate I leveled up today, I just might be able to get the max level when I’m fifty. No, maybe I can get out of here at like level 10, right?
“Seriously, just please let me go home!”
I tried pressing here and there on the menu with my eyes on the lookout for a way back. I saw only one ‘Exit’ button that looked kind of like a logout option.
“Please! I want to go back!”
Every time I pressed the button, a warning window would pop up, saying that it was an action that could not be executed. But without any care for this, I continued to press ‘Exit’ like crazy.
There were some games that had a bug that would get triggered when a deactivated feature got clicked on dozens or even hundreds of times. Every game was bound to have a bug, and it had always been up to the player to discover and use these bugs.
“Come one, please work, please.”
As though on the verge of crying, I pressed the ‘Exit’ button, but only a warning window continued to appear. What the, it really won’t work? Then how am I gonna go back home?
I still continued to press on ‘Exit’ with disappointment, but at that moment, my hand slipped.
I pressed ‘New Game’ instead, and unlike before, I didn’t realize until the button shone brightly.
Light was emitted from the letters, and its brilliance devoured the dark room.
I opened my eyes widely. N-No way.
“N… no… no…”
My small murmurs diminished in volume. When the bright light shining over my eyes disappeared, the first thing I heard was the sound of bird singing first thing in the morning.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.