The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 378

0.

Meeeem-mem-meeeem———!

At the sound of cicadas crying from early dawn, Seong chuckled and was already out for a morning run.

He had logged out of the game early yesterday, tired, but habit had him up at daybreak to begin his routine with a run.

To start each day with exercise—at first it had been hard, but now, as routine, it gave him more vitality than ever.

That morning too, after a light 10km run, he returned, showered off, and stepped out refreshed—only to find his family looking rather troubled at the breakfast table.

Even his sister, unusually, was awake early, sitting at the table. The side dishes were unusually simple as well.

Still, it didn’t seem anything too serious; the atmosphere wasn’t heavy.

'What’s going on?'

As Seong sat down, gauging the mood, his father, Yoo Gwang-jin, nodded at him and spoke.

“Mm. Seong, it looks like you’ll need to go out for a while.”

“...Huh?”

Go out, all of a sudden?

Seong blinked in confusion.

Then his mother, Lee Na-gyeong, laughed lightly.

“Oh, don’t say it like that, you’ll give him the wrong idea. Seong, the people downstairs called. There was a leak, and they said construction work has to be done.”

“Ah. I see.”

So, money lost, but nothing dire.

Besides, Seong had his own income, and his sister Yu Mina earned plenty herself.

And his father Yoo Gwang-jin did well too.

So it didn’t seem like a real problem.

But—

“The pipes broke, so they’re planning to redo the interior. Since we’re doing it anyway, we thought we should replace the whole plumbing system. We got an estimate yesterday, and the earliest date they had was starting today. So it would be best for us to stay out for a while. I should’ve told you yesterday, but you seemed fast asleep, so I’m telling you now. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I went to bed early because I was tired yesterday. I can stay out for a bit. How long will it take?”

“They said, with modern methods, about a week.”

“Oooh.”

He had expected a month or so, but a week was pretty fast.

Still, even a week was long enough to give him pause.

He had thought of taking it easy today, tired as he was, but he couldn’t go a week without playing.

He’d have to think about where to stay.

He could take the opportunity to move out on his own, but—

He didn’t feel like it.

He had the money, sure, but living alone was just needless hassle.

And renting a place for just one week seemed awkward.

As he pondered what to do—

His sister Yu Mina spoke.

“I’m going to stay at Yujin’s place. Wanna come?”

“Are you crazy?”

His reflexive refusal came instantly.

The idea of crashing at a house full of women left him staring at her incredulously.

Mina tilted her head like it was no big deal—until she caught the ominous look on their mother Lee Na-gyeong’s face, and promptly shut her mouth.

Well, Mina was Mina. But the idea itself wasn’t bad.

'I could just stay at a friend’s place. Didn’t Geon-dong say he was living on his own now?'

He vaguely remembered hearing his close friend Lee Geon-dong had moved out.

He could stay with him for a week, bring a gift, and Geon-dong would be happy.

Something like the newest high-end capsule would probably make him ecstatic.

He’d even heard Geon-dong had recently upgraded to a two-room place after joining Rapid Guild.

'I’ll call him after breakfast.'

After a family breakfast as usual, movers from a storage company came to take away the things from his room.

With his belongings taken care of, Seong called Geon-dong.

-Oh, what’s up?

The ringtone had barely sounded before he picked up. That was Geon-dong for you, man of loyalty.

Seong chuckled and asked,

“You said you started living on your own ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) in a villa recently, right?”

-Yeah, yeah. You coming over for a housewarming? I haven’t really had one yet.

With a grin, Seong asked playfully,

“Not a housewarming—can I just live there?”

-......Huh? Did you get kicked out? Even if you did, why would a rich bastard like you want to stay with me......

Typical nonsense reaction.

Seong laughed and explained.

“They said they’re doing construction at my place. About a week. Thought I’d ask if I could stay.”

-Ah, that’s all? Sure. It’s a two-room and I barely have any stuff, so there’s plenty of space. A week’s fine. Honestly, if you asked, a month would be fine~

“What’s this about a month.”

-Hehe, just saying.

For Geon-dong, Seong was like a lifesaver.

After all, the only reason he could afford that two-room villa was thanks to Seong pulling him into Rapid Guild.

Of course, Seong knew it had only been possible because Geon-dong had talent of his own, so he didn’t think of it as his doing.

But what mattered was how Geon-dong saw it.

Either way, things had worked out, and Seong said brightly,

“Then after lunch, text me your address. I’ll bring a housewarming gift.”

-Okay~ I was just running out of toilet paper anyway. Call me when you’re on your way.

As Seong was about to hang up, Geon-dong suddenly added:

-But hey, my place feels kind of creepy.

“What?”

What kind of nonsense was that?

He thought maybe it was a joke, but Geon-dong’s tone was oddly serious.

'Creepy? What’s that supposed to mean?'

He asked again, and Geon-dong replied,

-No, not like I’ve actually seen a ghost or anything. Just feels like something’s there.

“That’s the same thing, isn’t it?”

-Damn, is it? Anyway, it feels like a ghost’s there.

Seong, who really could see ghosts, had never once met anyone who claimed to sense them who actually could.

Then again, he did recall that fortune-teller his sister and An Yu-jin, An Yu-bin had dragged him to. That one had been the real deal.

Still, was Geon-dong the type to sense such things? Hardly.

Seong chuckled dryly.

“Haha. I didn’t think you were the type to worry about stuff like that.”

-No, I’m serious. You’ll know when you stay over. It’s creepy.

“You’re just not used to living alone yet. Sleeping by yourself feels weird.”

-Maybe... Anyway, I warned you~

“I’ll call you when I get there.”

-Alright~

Ending the call, Seong smirked.

'What a coward.'

Muttering that, he picked up the bag he’d packed and headed out.

All that was left was to buy the housewarming gift.

He got into his car and drove to a capsule store.

Money wasn’t an issue.

Still, just in case, he checked his balance first in the parking lot.

Then Seong blinked at the screen, stunned.

[National Bank]

『Balance: 60,546,871,000 won』

“...?”

Why had it increased by about seven billion won?

Checking the transaction details, he found about three billion had come from Rapid Guild—earnings from the live broadcast tickets—and about five billion from the livestream revenue itself in Eternal World.

“Huh.”

He had spent over a billion buying two Ferraris, and yet here was nearly seven billion more on top of that.

So really, it was almost eight billion that had come in. He shook his head in disbelief.

Not that it mattered much—he wasn’t one for spending wildly.

Still, with this much money, he could afford to be generous with a friend’s gift.

Leaving the car, he headed for the store.

1.

E-World operated Eternal World as its VR service, but its real goldmine was capsule sales.

By developing both virtual reality and the hardware to access it, they had secured overwhelming dominance. Their prestige grew day by day.

Now, the wealthiest person in the world was none other than Park Won.

The capsule company E-World sold was called Yoram.

E-World and Eternal World might have English names, but the capsule manufacturer had a Korean one. Odd, perhaps—but it was the world’s top company all the same.

Employees there took pride in working for such a firm.

Kim Hye-won was one of them.

Not that she lorded it over others like the cliché troublesome staff you saw in novelkisss.

In reality, how many people like that existed?

Hye-won was simply one of those who carried her pride quietly and worked hard day by day.

'Phew... at least I need to sell one today.'

Her sales had been a bit low lately.

Not that it hurt her much—her base salary was high even without incentives. The problem was elsewhere.

“Hye-won-ssi, you okay?”

“Yes?”

“Your sales have been weak lately, huh~?”

“Ah......”

“You should try harder. Otherwise you’ll just let good clients slip to someone like me, right?”

Hye-won could only bow her head at her senior Park Min-ju’s words.

Yes, people like that did exist.

Min-ju judged people by their looks and clothes, dumping those who seemed less promising on Hye-won.

That wasn’t why Hye-won’s sales were down—but it overlapped enough to inflate Min-ju’s smugness.

This time was no different.

The customer who walked in was handsome, but plainly dressed. Looked like a college student.

Still young.

Min-ju glanced at him, then at Hye-won, and gestured.

“Oh my, a customer. Hye-won-ssi, you take this one. Your sales are weak anyway~”

“...Yes.”

A customer was a customer; you should treat them the same. Why did she discriminate like that?

Suppressing her exasperation, Hye-won approached the young man.

At once—

“Do you have the Eternal model?”

“Pardon? Eternal?”

“Yes. The best one right now is the Eternal model, isn’t it?”

The student immediately asked for the top model, the Eternal line.

Startled, Hye-won quickly composed herself.

“Ah, yes. You’re right, sir. Our highest-spec model at the moment is the Eternal Frame grade model.”

“Ah, I didn’t know the grade name, but I’ll take that one.”

So fast?

Hye-won was startled by his decisive purchase, but kept her composure.

“...Understood. Would you like a specific installation date?”

“Hmm. As soon as possible. Could it be today?”

“Ah! One moment please.”

Checking the schedule, she answered,

“Um... looks like we can fit you in an hour from now. Is that alright?”

“Oh, perfect. Then let’s do that. Please put it on this card.”

The customer—Seong—handed over a debit card with a raised limit.

Hye-won accepted it with slightly trembling hands and processed the payment.

A purchase worth 300 million won.

And the card went through without a hitch. Different worlds indeed.

After making the payment smoothly, Seong left.

Later, it was no surprise Min-ju ended up pulling her hair out in the restroom, her frustration spreading among the staff.

And so, an hour later—

Seong arrived at Geon-dong’s place with capsule technicians in tow.

Geon-dong stared at him, stunned.

“W-what the hell is all this?”

“Housewarming gift.”

“...You’re insane.”