Chapter 2 – Episode 2

No. What is it really?

Quest? System window?

[Happy New Year.]

[I will give you a quest.]

[Accept new people to the studio.]

[0/3]

[Reward 300,000 won per person]

Wishing you a happy new year?

Am I hallucinating now? Did I at least drink soju before going to bed? I heard it’s a New Year’s celebration?

Or maybe I haven’t quite recovered from the alcohol I drank at the year-end party…

No.

That’s not it.

“Driving me crazy…”

I mumbled in bewilderment and stretched out my hand.

Gradually, it passes.

Just in case, I thought that maybe I wasn’t the only one seeing this as a hallucination. It’s popular these days, something called a system window.

No, not these days, but since long ago.

I searched on the Internet with the search term [I suddenly see a system window].

Only fantasy novels related to him are popping up.

That’s not it, if you look at people’s personal writings, they all say things like fantasy galleries, car galleries, and idol galleries, where they say they want to be born as a woman if they are reincarnated, or that they want to awaken as a hunter as soon as possible.

It’s just a very delusional article.

I couldn’t find anyone who could understand my current situation.

“Ouch.”

I pinched my cheek just in case.

It hurts.

“…”

How many times have I wished that my life would change this year? I never imagined it would change so radically.

Who would have imagined it?

A status window message suddenly appears in front of your eyes one morning.

‘Ah.’

No.

A lot of people imagine things like this these days. Could it be that what I am seeing right now is a hallucination created by my desire to escape reality?

“First… Let’s wash.”

Maybe something like dust gets into your eyes, and you are seeing incorrectly.

I washed it with cold water while saying nonsense.

“Uh huh.”

I thought it would be less cold if I took a shower while dazed.

That’s bullshit.

It’s still cold, and I feel like I’m going to rummage.

As if running away again, I took refuge under a blanket covered with an electric blanket and looked straight ahead.

[Accept new people to the studio.]

It disappeared when I washed it.

When I want to see it again, it appears before my eyes.

Is it real? At this point, wouldn’t it be more realistic to think it’s real? It may be that a guy called God really wished me a happy new year and gave me some blessings.

‘What. The quickest way to find out is to try this quest yourself.’

Still.

How?

Accepting new people in a studio?

Should I call a friend?

But maybe that’s what accepting means here, right? Are you saying we should live here together? But isn’t a studio apartment usually for one person?

Well, the studio apartment I live in has a lot of space as the monthly rent is extremely expensive.

Still, it was a small place for the two of them to live.

“Friend. Friend…”

I was searching for a list of friends who would live in this studio with me, just in case, even for a month, when I suddenly felt cold.

[Shin Tae-hoon]

[Park Byeong-hyun]

[Jang Seong-hoon]

…

…

These are all children who have already found decent jobs and become independent through their own efforts.

Now, even if we suddenly asked to live together in a studio, it was absolutely impossible because my workplace was not nearby.

“Under. “Am I the only one unemployed here?”

Well, if you’re already 29, you should get a job.

Even though the average employment age these days is around 30, that’s the average. If you think about it, everyone who wants to get a job has already gotten a job.

I guess I didn’t work hard.

Yes.

Because I didn’t work hard, I was still unemployed, unlike the kids who worked hard. I had no right to say anything to those guys.

Because I am bad at myself.

“…”

Out of depression, I turned my phone upside down and immediately turned on the computer.

When I think about it, I would rather live under the same roof with people who have decent jobs. I didn’t think it would be as fun as I thought it would be in high school.

When we become adults, virtual reality games will come out.

I already knew that it wasn’t as fun as the game fantasy stories we often see, where we live under one roof and make a living together through the game.

[Yesever Café]

[Search for a single room/one room/two rooms]

[Number of members: 435,902]

I didn’t want to worry too much about my depressed mood.

I just unconsciously connected to the café where I got information to find this studio apartment. It was my first connection in 4 years.

As the number of members is 400,000, posts are continuously posted in real time.

[Please look at the congratulatory money.]

[How much does it cost to take a wedding A-Phone snapshot?]

[Which jumper size do you like?]

[Where do I meet men?]

Most of them were lame posts on free bulletin boards.

In the past, I could never understand the psychology of people who looked for answers on the Internet and pretended to be friendly in this way.

I think I understand now.

I don’t know how many years it has already been since I lived alone with a lot of frozen fried rice in the refrigerator.

So it seemed like people were going crazy.

I wanted to feel the warmth of others in this way.

[Finding a housemate]

[Writing]

Of course.

There was also a bulletin board looking for a housemate to save on monthly rent. I clicked write there. A white screen asks you to set the font. The moment I saw that, I hesitated.

Is it really okay to write here?

Are you suddenly going to live under the same roof with someone you don’t know? There’s no chance that person is a proper human being? No, if you were a proper human being, would you bite into such an offer?

[Do you really want to leave?]

[Articles in progress may not be saved.]

I thought this was crazy, so I pressed back, but a warning message popped up. I thought I would just hit ‘OK’ and get ready to go to work at the convenience store.

“…”

If you leave the front door like this.

I had a gut feeling that the rest of this year would be no different from last year. Since when did I become such a coward?

Even when I was young, I wasn’t embarrassed to write shit.

Now why isn’t this writing wrong? Even though I’m trying to write the correct text that fits the format, am I worried about what others might think and try to run away?

That’s because I’m 29 now…

“Fuck.”

Nevertheless.

I wanted to change.

I’m old, but I still haven’t accomplished anything at this age.

[Hello. I am a 29-year-old man currently living in room 303 of ‘Terra One Room’. The monthly rent is around 600,000 won. The size is 11 pyeong…]

I wrote this article with all my sincerity.

The appeal was centered on the space, which was quite large compared to the average square footage of a studio apartment. The situation was explained honestly.

I want to live together to save on monthly rent.

If you are interested, please contact us at Shindong Station, which is about 8 minutes away from here, and we can pick you up.

Or, please come directly to my house.

“After. Nothing strange, right?”

No matter who sees it.

Even though I looked at cooking and cooking, it only seemed like a post to find a housemate to save on monthly rent.

“Perhaps. Just in case… The woman won’t come, right?”

Even after I said that, I burst out laughing.

Nonsense. What kind of crazy person would come to a studio where a man lives alone? It was impossible to do without losing one’s mind.

The only space to change here is the bathroom, which is so small that it feels like you’re going to have to rummage through it.

I will be living with a man.

The military already comes to mind. It’s dark, so men will live shoulder to shoulder. If four men end up living together in this studio to complete all the quests, how will that be any different from the military?

The only difference is that you can use an electric blanket by lining up blankets.

“…”

Just thinking about it makes me feel depressed.

Let’s think positively.

If men gather together, it will be much more comfortable than if women come together. To be honest, I could communicate better than a woman, and I had no hesitation.

It’s cold now because it’s winter.

In spring, the weather gets warmer, and you can just walk around naked. I am free to sleep with only my panties on.

Alcohol, cigarettes…

While I am imagining various positive things, the number of views goes up. 10, 20, 30…

But no one left a comment.

It was still 0.

Instead, several people spoke to me through one-on-one chat. Is the monthly rent 1/N, how are you usually doing, what is your job, etc. Every time I hear a question about something I intentionally didn’t write down because I was embarrassed, I feel like a rock is being placed on my heart.

Still, I didn’t think there would be people asking questions like this.

“…”

People who had been talking to me for some reason also became quiet.

I was wondering if my phone might be contacted with an alarm that I didn’t hear. There were still 0 new messages.

Before I knew it, it was time to go to work.

[Nobel 24]

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Even after changing shifts, I couldn’t sit still.

I checked my phone frequently.

Just in case, I even installed the Neever Café application and waited endlessly for new comments or messages to come up.

I feel like I bought a lottery ticket.

Along with the fear of the unknown, I also felt anticipation.

‘What kind of people will come?’

Isn’t this what it means to drink kimchi soup first? I didn’t even know who would come, but I was already imagining who would come.

And when three days passed and there was no news, I became depressed again.

‘That’s right.’

It wasn’t something that could be obtained that easily.

Just in case, I copied the post I wrote on the second day and reposted it. This time too, the only things that greeted me were hopeless one-on-one chats and spam messages.

Comments were much worse than I imagined.

I thought it was easy to install because I saw it on YouTube and the like.

‘A system window or something. What’s the point if you can’t even do this?’

Today too, I was waiting for the day to turn like a treadmill, eating out of a discarded lunch box and using it in the microwave.

Even though I thought I should do something, I couldn’t do anything.

He is a pathetic human being.

It was then.

“Ding dong!”

I thought it was the doorbell next door.

「Ding dong! Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong!!”

After repeated angry ringing of the doorbell, I finally realized that it was my studio apartment.

What? What is it?

‘Damn it. You can tell my personality just by looking at the doorbell you press.’

Even if it was a pseudo evangelism, I was angry, and even if it was a man who wanted to live in a studio with me, I didn’t like it. If you live with a man with that kind of personality, you’ll get tired. It would be better to live alone on a monthly rent of 600,000 won.

While I was thinking about that and trying to pretend it wasn’t there, the phone rang.

“Hey!! “It’s inside!!”

He shouted angrily outside.

But the voice… Huh?

“What!! On the topic that Ji posted on the Yesever Café! They said they were looking for a housemate to live with! Open the door quickly!!”

It’s a woman’s voice.

It’s also quite young. A young woman’s voice that sounds like something you would have heard when you had just entered university.

Crazy?

I thought it was absurd, but I was holding the doorknob because I was fascinated by the fact that the other person was a woman. Still, I wondered if something might happen. In fact, isn’t it just a woman making a voice, and behind it is a gangster-like boyfriend?

“Open it quickly! Ah. It’s so cold I’m going to die.”

At the bad-tempered urging, I unconsciously remembered the trauma of the truth about the convenience store, so I hurriedly opened the door.

The moment the door opened with a squeak.

In front of me, a blonde woman wearing a brown coat and a designer bag was standing with a coffee in one hand.

Really… A woman came to visit?