The moment I returned to my place behind the counter, the glass door at the entrance swung open.
The customer was, as expected, the man I had been thinking of.
Of course it’s him. What a pain.
I looked at the familiar face of my regular customer and put on a gentle smile that was completely at odds with my thoughts.
“Welcome, Player.”
The tall man who met my gaze gave me a faint smile, warmth in his eyes. That small gesture alone made it seem as though an invisible spotlight had been added for him alone.
Don’t smile. I’ll get attached.
A handsome man in his early to mid-twenties who, before the twelve Cleanups, probably would have enjoyed a happier campus life than anyone else dipped his head slightly.
His brown hair, as though it had held the warmth of sunlight, swayed softly.
“Hello.”
Long lashes fell beautifully beneath his slightly lowered eyes. One of the communication ear cuffs he had bought five days earlier gleamed against his ear like a stylish accessory.
After greeting me, the man watched me for a moment, then walked deeper into the store on those characteristically long legs. With each clean, economical step, the two longswords hanging at his left hip swayed in crisp unison.
Hm?
As I watched him, my gaze landed on his jacket.
It was high-grade equipment and should not have worn down easily, yet its durability had somehow plummeted below half. Five days ago, it had looked pristine, practically brand-new. Now, it was mottled with scorch marks and places where the material had melted away.
The fact that even that looked good on him was deeply irritating.
How much grinding did he have to do to end up like that?
Swallowing the gaming shorthand for “shut up and hunt,” I covertly checked his status window.
Every NPC at a Special Supply Station possessed the Authority of Manifest Sight, which allowed us to inspect a Player’s status window. Presumably, it had been granted so we could actively recommend suitable items to the Players who visited.
Putting that aside, I was curious how much he had grown this time.
The instant I checked his status window, I silently drew in a breath.
<Jeong Uijin Lv.59>
He really is a monster.
He had been Lv.58 only five days ago, yet he had returned after gaining another level already.
I knew he was an obsessive hunter who slaughtered monsters day and night, but even so, this growth rate was enough to make me click my tongue.
The System divided Players into ranks according to their levels.
Up to Lv.19 was low tier. Up to Lv.39 was mid tier. Up to Lv.59 was upper tier. Up to Lv.79 was high tier. Up to Lv.99 was special tier.
At the threshold levels ending in nine, it was not enough simply to gain levels. To advance into the next tier, Players also had to clear a difficult Awakening Quest.
Jeong Uijin had reached one of those thresholds, but he did not seem to need much worrying over. At this rate, he would probably chew through even this Awakening Quest.
District 2’s number-one spot isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
There was no ranking system, so Players starved for information usually had no clear idea of how strong one another were.
But through the NPC-exclusive Trait Myriad Aspects Map, I checked the stats of District 2’s Players countless times a day. It was easy for me to tell who belonged near the top and who did not.
Well, if he levels up that obsessively, it makes sense that he’d be swimming in coins.
In this changed world, there were only two ways to acquire coins, the currency needed for survival.
Complete quests for rewards, or kill the monsters scattered throughout each district.
In that sense, Jeong Uijin was a true Player who diligently did both.
While I was clicking my tongue inwardly, he stopped in front of the shelf holding the rune stones and quietly considered them.
He had done the same thing five days ago, two weeks ago, and even twenty days ago, when the items had first arrived. I was starting to get curious. Which of the five rune stones did he want so badly that he always stood there deliberating like that?
Still, I could not simply walk over and warmly ask him questions, so I waited quietly.
It would be troublesome if, while dealing with a customer, I accidentally acted in a way unbecoming of an NPC. If a red warning window popped up saying, <Act like a Special Supply Station NPC!>, it made me nauseous. There was no need to take that risk.
Maybe he did not have enough coins. Today, too, he eventually turned away with visible regret.
The things Jeong Uijin brought to the counter were two pairs of communication ear cuffs, a leather bag enchanted with mid-grade spatial-storage magic, ten expensive high-grade healing potions, and a heap of jerky and energy bars that were easy to eat on the move.
He always eats this kind of stuff.
In a place stocked with fresh food and all kinds of ready-made meals, this guy was the only one who insisted on buying nothing but flavorless jerky and energy bars.
I glanced at the shelf of kimbap and sandwiches he had not even looked at, then moved the barcode scanner.
As I scanned the white-wrapped items one by one, Jeong Uijin suddenly asked,
“By any chance... do you have any rune stones that can nullify Recognition Interference?”
Judging only by the way he spoke, he sounded well into his thirties rather than someone in his early to mid-twenties.
He had survived two years of every hardship imaginable, so there was not much to say even if he had become overly mature.
“No, we don’t.”
I answered at once, discreetly watching his reaction.
Genuine disappointment showed in Jeong Uijin’s eyes.
Had he encountered a monster with the Trait Recognition Interference?
I could understand it.
If all visual information about a monster remained vague and blurred, it would certainly be a headache for a Player. Even if he analyzed it in preparation for another encounter later, he would only end up with half-complete information.
Well, monsters like that probably exist. I have Recognition Interference myself, after all.
Many Players visited this place, but none of them remembered what I looked like. At most, they remembered my gender, my voice, and my approximate build.
That was the effect of Recognition Interference, an NPC-exclusive Trait possessed by every NPC, myself included.
There was only one reason NPCs had been given Recognition Interference.
To keep Players from recognizing us as people.
Players crossed the line between life and death every day, while NPCs were protected by the System and the Guardian inside safe zones.
What if Players, thrown into such a devastated world, recognized NPCs as the same kind of people as themselves? What if they saw that those NPCs were guaranteed days that were incomparably safer and more comfortable than their own?
For Players unable to bear the resentment born of that unfairness, the target on which to pour their anger would become much clearer.
At that point, the System’s first warning would not be a sanction. It would become a license to commit violence against an NPC about once a day.
Taking advantage of the loophole in safe zones, where murder did not count as murder, there might be a flood of lunatics eager to put bullets through people’s heads.
The System was probably worried about that. That was why it displayed warning windows whenever I dealt with Players in a manner that did not seem NPC-like.
...But that day had been different.
Remembering the day I had first met Jeong Uijin two years ago, I lifted my eyes slightly.
Even now, he was staring intently at my face, which should have looked hazy, as though diluted with paint, under the effect of Recognition Interference.
No. Maybe that day was the trigger.
The System had started warning me as though reminding an NPC like me to know my place.
With a bitter smile to myself, I absentmindedly picked up a high-grade healing potion.
“...Tch.”
A sharp pain shot through my wrist, and I bit down hard on my lip.
The wrist that had been swollen and red since afternoon peeked out slightly from beneath my sleeve.
That damn 181-coin robber.
The moment I reached out again to ring up the items as though nothing had happened, Jeong Uijin suddenly grabbed my arm.
Considering his absurd Strength stat, it would not have been strange for my bones to shatter in an instant. Yet despite the urgency of his movement, his grip was surprisingly careful.
“What happened?”
A chill settled over Jeong Uijin’s face as he held my wrist.
Instead of answering, I looked at him steadily.
Jeong Uijin’s sharpness and instincts, which I had observed through Myriad Aspects Map, were outstanding beyond question. If I had not possessed Recognition Interference, he probably would have noticed my injured wrist the moment he entered the store.
The fact that he had failed to notice until I accidentally revealed it right in front of him made me understand why he wanted a rune stone that could nullify Recognition Interference.
Jeong Uijin sent me a complicated look when I did not answer.
“Who did this? What bastard was it?”
The displeasure in his voice was so clear that it was impossible not to hear.