Chapter 12

Access is restricted for 4 hours.

That was the last thing Ajin heard. Coming out of the capsule, Ajin moved his tired feet and went to the refrigerator to drink water. Then he took off his clothes and went into the bathroom. Turning on the hot water, he saw his reflection in the mirror.

‘How many hours have I been doing this?’

He came out a few times in the middle, took a break, and slept for a while, but he only played the games for more than 30 minutes this time. Ajin saw himself in the mirror and there he saw his thin figure. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t. He placed his head into the pouring hot water. The hot water soaked the hair and warmed him up.

But, his body was already boiling.

“Fuckers…” He said with a low voice. Ajin changed the temperature of the water. The hot water quickly turned into cold water. As he kept his head down, Ajin clenched his fist.

I could have won.

He was certain. He could have killed her. “Did she just say Luke?” If he hadn’t tried to interrupt, Ajin would have killed the woman on the spot and Lucelle too. He could have benefited enough from extracting energy from the two. But he failed. Because of Luke’s appearance, Ajin wore a damage suit until his death, and after that he was crushed under the woman’s buttocks and beaten to a mess.

It was a humiliation. So far, Ajin has never felt the level of helplessness and humiliation while playing any game. Of course, he bowed his head to an NPC while playing a single player game. But he had to kneel down, begged for forgiveness or begged to be a disciple. He once put his forehead on the ground to save his life. But he never felt humiliated from it. Ajin did that to achieve what he really wanted, and finally got it. But this time it was different. He didn’t get what he wanted.

It drove Ajin crazy. As he was hit by cold water, Ajin gritted his teeth. Aside from being beaten and killed, honestly speaking, the four hours of restricted access was so irritating that it hurt him to the core. He lost four hours, and in that time, other players would grow further. Ajin fell behind that much.

“… bitch.”

Again Ajin spat out a curse. He recalled Asella’s face, who was punching in his face. Blue bobbed hair, dilated eyes… A distorted look was on his face as she punched him. The corners of his mouth rose as he recalled the woman shooting him down with an arrow.  As soon as he thought of it, Ajin’s stuff stood up firmly. Ajin grabbed it by grinding his teeth.

‘Bitch, bitch, bitch.’

Recalling her face over and over again, Ajin masturbated. He was also reminded of the face of Lucella that turned into Acacia. The game has produced sexual desire several times, but the body inside the capsule remains the same. Though he was mentally satisfied, his body was still craving. Ajin continued to masturbate by touching the wall with his hands. He recalled Acacia, who was panting under him, and her groans and her legs, which were intertwined with his waist, as she was shouting for death. As he looked down at himself, he reminded himself of Lucella’s face, which he put his fists on.

“I’ll see you later.”

As he washed away the sticky, slippery unpleasant liquid with water, Ajin exhaled. Just before he died, he said so to Asella. It was also a word for Luke. “I’ll kill that fucking bastard one day. Of course, I don’t intend to kill them both comfortably. Luke, the fucker that sprayed ash on me.” Asella humiliated Ajin, giving him the first death in this game.

There was no need to give such monumental chicks the mercy of a gentle and comfortable death. If he logs in again, he would sit there for hours and days and wait for her to show up. Ajin squeezed the shampoo and washed his hair. He also washed his body with lots of body wash. Then he turned off the shower, and came out of the bathroom, wiping himself roughly with a towel.

He lost four hours, but he can’t be offended by it forever. If he hasn’t been able to play games for four hours, he should spend as much time as he could for himself. Ajin immediately boiled the ramen. Then, he turned on his cell phone and went into First’s homepage.

‘There were more users out there who went all the way to the forest of silence besides us?’

He didn’t forget Luke’s murmur. The website, which was released only to beta players, was open to users after the certification. Ajin first went into the bulletin board.

‘…The village of beginning.’

It’s a mistake.

Ajin admitted it calmly. The manual didn’t contain a worldview. It was foolish of him to forget to check the website after knowing it. Ajin scrolled down the screen with his fingers as he clicked his tongue.

After completing the tutorial, the user would fall to the village of the beginning and grow up with a quest from NPCs there. He didn’t know that it was the village at the beginning. Ajin gnawed at the thought of unfriendly instructions.

‘No, it’s okay.’

Ajin thought, soothing his boiling anger. Beginners whose levels were below 10 would go back to the village if they die. Ajin’s level was 9. The place where he was supposed to start was the village. But why did he start in the forest, and not in the village of beginning? He was in the Forest of Silence. Ajin checked the user ranking. The names he was looking for were Asella and Luke. It wasn’t hard to find them as he thought. Their level was at the top of the ranking page.

Asella’s level was 19. Luke’s level was 20. Beta version was only limited to 50. When he thought about it, he only thought of Luke, who shot to a level of 20 over a two-day period, or Asella, a level 19 woman that was close to him, and was already game-wrecking. The top three levels were not open yet, but considering Luke is fourth in the rankings, there won’t be much difference.

‘There was a ten-point difference in level.’

While eating the hot ramen, Ajin thought. He was almost on par with level 19 Asella at level 9, and could have won. The skill level? That might be it, but the reason why he was close to victory was Ajin’s sense of battle. The sense of battle, which has been created by penetrating numerous games beyond the limits, works well in the first.

‘I could use some of the Lion’s Mane Origin.’ Of course, he differs greatly in power compared to the Lion’s Mane Origin! He used the powers of the Breeze of Murim, he did learn Lion’s Mane Origin there to some extent, however, the form can be followed and is quite powerful if the internal cavity of the pyroclastic is used. For now he has not yet mastered that skill, so he thought it would be better to apply the skills he had to master the Breeze of Murim in that way.

“…why did I start in the woods?”

As he dipped the pot in the water, Ajin murmured. “Is it a simple bug, as Asella said?” He didn’t know that either. He thought about arguing with the management, but refused. The level of penalty made him concentrate more. Ajin set the alarm and went straight to bed and lay down.

Three more hours before the death penalty ends. Until then he decided to sleep. Ajin closed his eyes, and fell asleep immediately.

“Primrose must have done something useless.”

A man wearing a high-pointed hat broke into the space of Acacia, and was clinging unto his cane. Acacia eyed the uninvited guest, but did not rise up from the sofa where she sat. She opened her mouth looking at the man with thin glasses.

“Get lost, Chrysanthemum.”

“Oh, my. You must be very angry.”

Chrysanthemum smiled faintly as he lifted his gray hair. And then he moved his head to the side, and he cracked it! The fired current was brushed past his hair.

“I’m not very upset.”

Acacia crossed her legs and lowered her pointing finger. She rubbed her fingertips and buried herself deeper on the sofa.

“Well, it was just a surprise that I didn’t think that the useless honest bitch would do this trick.”

“Surely that isn’t Primrose-like behavior. It’s not just you, it…suits more to Carleya.”

“Ah, yes. There was that, Carleya… maybe. Primrose and Carleya were in collusion.”

“I’ll save my breath on that.”

Chrysanthemum came up to Acacia, waving his cane, with a thin smile. Acacia, dressed in a black hat and a black cape, gazed with a wary look at the approaching man in a far-off, with exaggerated moves that seemed comical.

“Do you want me to get teased?”

“No, I’m just curious why are you keeping yourself silent? Primrose broke the rules. But why are you staying still?”

At the question of Chrysanthemum, Acacia stared at him in silence and smiled. The smile of her lips distorted the mood of Acacia.

“I see why you’re here. Why are you staying still? Why? Do you want me to go into Primrose’s territory right now and attack her? Do you want me to execute her by tearing her to death, and punish her for her sins?”

“The fewer competitors, the better.”

Chrysanthemum didn’t deny Acacia’s question. As he raised his glasses, he opened his thin lips and smiled. The corners of the mouth that go up to the ears, the teeth that she had seen between the open lips, are as sharp as carnivores.

“Then it can’t be any more. I won’t do anything. I’m not going to punish Primrose for touching my toys, and I’m not going to move as you wanted.”

“That’s too bad. I thought it was a good chance to get rid of two annoying competitors.”

“But only this time…”

Acacia certainly drew a line. She opened her eyes thinly and glared at Chrysanthemum.

“This time, I’ll stay still, too. I’m a little bit freaked out that Primrose broke the rules. I’m going to stay still.”

“But, if she ever touches my toy again…”

“If she touches it?”

Chrysanthemum asked, with glimmer in his eyes. The eyes beyond the black glasses, silently glanced on the white thing flowing in between her legs. Noticing it, Acacia took a breath.

“I’ve violated the rules, so I have no choice but to formally propose the execution. Gladiolus will love it.”

At the remark, Chrysanthemum burst out laughing. He twirled his cane and nodded his head as he put it on his shoulder.

“You refer to the great man. But, uh… I don’t want to provoke him. I’m not very interested in your toys.”

Chrysanthemum then turned around. He didn’t seem to want to continue the conversation any more. Acacia asked Chrysanthemum, who was moving away, darting her shoes.

“How’s Hyacinth doing?”

“She’s not very keen on this game. She’s just staying silent. You, her, me… are not like Primrose or Carleya.”

As expected. Acacia nodded her head as she recalled the face of Hyacinth. Hyacinth didn’t even approve of this game from the start. Gladiolus would just follow the orders.

I don’t know, but the other three, including Acacia, would have been somewhat involved in the 300 toys given to them. Acacia gave her body, because Ajin chose energy drain as his professional skill. He would have chosen a fairly likely toy from 300 people to intervene in the right amount. But Hyacinth wouldn’t have done that. She would simply be silent, faithful to her player as an NPC, doing a simple tutorial.

‘You can ignore 300 people assigned to Hyacinths.’

As she glared at the vanishing Chrysanthemum’s back, Acacia smiled thinly. Then she turned her head aside.

“…but not the other 1200.”

In the distorted space, Ajin was seen sleeping in bed.