<Third Awakening - In Progress>
<Seed of the Sky - In Progress>
<Reclusive Benefactor - Conditions Met>
Of the three Quests Jeong Uijin had in progress, two had already begun.
The remaining one, Reclusive Benefactor, had only met its conditions. Jeong Uijin probably did not even know such a Quest existed. After all, Players could only see related information after accepting a Quest.
According to what I saw through the Authority of Manifest Sight, the clear rewards for Reclusive Benefactor were quite good.
It would give him a hefty amount of coins, of course, but it also granted a personal skill tailored to the Title and stats he possessed when he cleared it. In a world where personal skills were just as important as stats for survival, there was no need to explain how valuable a Quest like that was.
But at this point, Third Awakening was more important than Reclusive Benefactor. The rewards for Reclusive Benefactor were determined based on the moment it was cleared. It would be far more profitable to obtain a higher-ranking Title and improve his stats through Third Awakening first, then complete Reclusive Benefactor afterward.
“If you go to the Great Tree at dawn, three gatekeepers will appear.”
Jeong Uijin looked puzzled at my sudden mention of the enormous tree rising at the center of every District.
I continued purely to ease my own lingering discomfort.
“The clear condition is for all three gatekeepers to die at the same time. They’ll disappear three hours after they appear, and if you miss that window, your Level will go down. Be careful.”
A Level decrease meant no longer meeting the requirements to progress through an Awakening Quest. The Quest would disappear at that point and would not appear again until the requirements were fulfilled once more.
Jeong Uijin’s eyes widened as he realized that I was handing him a hint for his Awakening Quest.
No, not a hint. I was practically spoon-feeding him the answer.
Normally, Awakening Quests did not give Players a straightforward direction. They would throw out incomprehensible lines that read like academic papers and tell them to find the clue, or send them running all over the place to barely scrape together the items needed for the Quest.
I had just given him a shortcut that would let him skip that tedious, difficult process altogether. I could see exactly which Quests Jeong Uijin had accepted, how far he had progressed, and what he needed to move on to the next stage. That was why I could give him advice like this.
Of course, killing the three gatekeepers simultaneously would not complete Jeong Uijin’s Awakening Quest outright.
Still, at least he would no longer need to spend ages agonizing over how to get that far.
After mulling over the information I had given him, Jeong Uijin smiled with warm eyes. His face was so bright and pleasant that it looked as though he were having a magazine photoshoot with a convenience store as the backdrop.
“Thank you.”
Jeong Uijin bent deeply at the waist to express his gratitude. Apparently, he had been struggling with the obscure wording of the Awakening Quest for quite some time.
As always, Jeong Uijin turned to leave just as his maximum stay time was about to run out. I watched him indifferently as he strode out of the safe zone. His steps looked much lighter than before.
Leaning against the counter with my chin in my hand, I looked down when something pleasantly soft brushed against my skin. The handkerchief around my wrist felt soft and ticklish, like the fur on a puppy’s tail.
I didn’t do anything pointless, did I?
The System had given me the Authority of Manifest Sight to help with things like this, hadn’t it?
If there had been a problem, red warning windows would have flooded my vision the instant I opened my mouth.
I nodded to myself and went over the information I had given Jeong Uijin once more.
But why would there be gatekeepers at the Great Tree?
A gatekeeper was, as the name implied, someone who guarded a gate.
Why would monsters with that role appear around a Great Tree rather than a gate?
After tilting my head for a moment, I quickly pushed the thought from my mind.
I’m not even a Player. It’s none of my business.
What I needed to worry about right now was restocking the shelves Jeong Uijin had emptied. I could not just leave the potion shelf looking bare. It was not as though there were only one or two Players who threw tantrums because an item was out of stock.
I dug through the pocket of my employee vest and pulled out a key.
The metal key hung from a gold bracelet shaped like a chain. Gold-and-blue geometric patterns wound across its surface.
I stared at the key for a moment, then pushed it forward and turned it as though I were inserting it into empty air.
The entire key glowed faintly.
Then a sound rang out.
Click—
It was the familiar sound of a door unlocking.
When I pulled the key back to retrieve it, a straight seam formed in midair and began to spread apart.
As though tearing through another dimension, I opened an invisible door. Before me was a small storeroom, no more than five pyeong in size.
I called it a storeroom because wide shelves lined the walls in a U-shape, their surfaces neatly stocked with Special Supply Station inventory. A steel cabinet locked by some unknown security device sat in one corner as well, making the room feel even more like a proper storage area.
I stepped inside and reached for the high-grade healing potions first.
To restock the ten Jeong Uijin had taken, I had no choice but to disturb the rows of potions that had been lined up without a single gap.
The moment I pulled out ten high-grade healing potions at once, the shelf looked noticeably empty.
But once midnight came, it would be full again as always.
That was the rule of this spatial-storage space.
*****
After that, only one person visited the convenience store.
The customer had barely escaped a monster attack and hurriedly stuffed potions and several food items into a bag.
His hands had been so frantic that the shelves he swept through were left in quite a mess. If not for the System’s warnings, I would have given the back of his head a good, solid smack.
The moment the customer left, I straightened the disordered shelves and habitually filled the scattered empty spots with products.
The store would be cleaned spotless when the day changed, but empty spaces on the shelves would remain. If I did not want to be inconvenienced tomorrow, it was better to put everything in order before going to bed.
While I was arranging the stock, I checked the time.
<23:59>
It was already almost midnight.
Naturally, the side effect of Mental Stability came to mind.
I set the basket of products down roughly on the floor, then headed toward the office beside the counter with slightly hurried steps.
Just as I reached for the office doorknob—
<Store Closed.> <Good work today.>
Another message appeared immediately afterward.
<The secondary effect of Trait: Mental Stability has been activated.>
Damn.
The secondary effect of Mental Stability was the blackout that came at midnight.
As expected, before I could even open the door, my vision went completely dark.
My body collapsed limply to the floor, and a dull ache ran through me. That was exactly why I had been trying to dive onto the bed before the blackout hit, but I had been one step too late.
When I lost consciousness and opened my eyes again…
<07:00>
It was a bright morning, sunlight pouring in.
It’s always so exact.
No matter where I fell asleep in the store, I always woke up on the office bed like this. And no matter how badly I was hurt, not a single wound remained.
I untied the soft handkerchief from my pain-free wrist.
For a moment, I wondered whether Jeong Uijin had gone to the Great Tree at dawn, just as I had told him to.
But the thought did not last long.
<Notice: Preparatory Work for Main Quest Update>
The moment I stepped out of the office, a small notification window I had never seen before flickered into view.
The instant I thought about checking its contents, a new window appeared before my eyes.
<Due to update work, supply stations in all Districts will close simultaneously.>
<Please leave the Special Supply Station within 1 hour.>
“What…?”
More absurd than the sudden update or the closure of the supply stations was the fact that I had to leave this place within an hour.
After keeping me locked up and using me as unpaid labor for nearly two years, it was going to throw me out without a second thought?
What a vicious employer.
<Time Remaining Until Closure: 54 minutes 29 seconds>
Apparently, the hour had begun when the notice was issued, not when I read it.
The System was a pretty petty bastard after all, wasn’t it?
I stared at the notification window in disbelief, then belatedly checked the other window that had appeared.
<As compensation for your service, you may choose and keep three types of desired items from the Special Supply Station.>
<The selected items will be permanently bound to ‘NPC Lee Jaeo.’>
My brow furrowed on its own.
Three types?
It was suddenly throwing me out onto the street, and it thought it could wash its hands of me by giving me only three things?
So it isn’t just petty. It’s completely insane.
There was no way I could stop myself from swearing.