episode_0002

When I came to my senses, I first checked to see if my body was okay.

Fortunately, nothing had changed compared to when I looked from the roof of the building.

The wing that the gargoyle had torn off earlier was still intact. Unlike the ‘Bong!’ sound, it really hurt.

Anyway, to sum it up, I survived because I was a vampire!

‘It’s fortunate that all you need is blood to regenerate.’

Meanwhile, sounds of laughing and chatter were heard from downstairs.

Now that I think about it, whose house is this? Is it the house of the two people who helped me?

The faint sweet smell that I could still feel in my mouth made me feel comfortable for some reason.

‘Is this really blood?’

Obviously, given the setting, there was something about blood being found to be sweet to vampires or something like that.

I got up.

“Ah….”

But even though the location was different, it didn’t make sense for me.

As I fell to the ground, the blood that had splattered all over my body hardened and I felt an uncomfortable feeling that I couldn’t describe in words.

It was obvious that they had brought him here in a hurry. First of all, he wanted to at least wash his face.

It’s a bit weird to use it without telling the owner, but I headed to the bathroom.

I guess it’s because Dream City is a game made in the West.

This house had a separate shower room and toilet. If it were our house, they would have been in the same space, right?

-Puak phuak.

My right hand wasn’t just threatening.

It was larger than my left hand, so it was suitable for holding more water in my hand.

“Oh.”

And now I was finally able to leisurely check my face.

I caught a glimpse of it reflected in the station field earlier as I was coming down from the company building… but honestly, I was too distracted at the time.

Snow-white hair of the right length, not too long, not too short.

Instead of the red eyes befitting a vampire, the eyes shine in a turquoise or emerald color.

It’s not like an elf, but it has pointed ears that stand up.

Red eye makeup painted around the eye area? No, it didn’t seem like makeup since it didn’t come off even after I washed it with water.

“Heeing….”

It didn’t feel good to keep looking at my face in the mirror.

Is it because the broken status window was a similar color to my eyes? It felt like the status window kept flashing before my eyes.

‘How could the status window be broken in the first place?”

I didn’t feel like I would feel better even if I kept looking at the mirror, so I left the bathroom.

Well… should I even take a shower?

Despite the momentary temptation, it seemed that it would not be too late when the landlord returned.

Anyway, I’m not that rude.

‘By the way, was he a popular troubleshooter in his past?’

It was clear to see the medals and trophies displayed on shelves throughout the room.

Is it the male side or the female side? I don’t know if it’s a home for that or both, though.

-Chiiik.

I was startled by the sound I heard nearby.

No, why do I hear the force field?

As I headed towards the place where I heard the sound, I saw flying insects dying as they tried to pass through the force fielded window.

If you think about it, the derogatory name for vampire characters was mosquito.

It was a strange feeling watching the flying insects crumble as they passed through the force field.

Of course, there have been times in my life when I thought it would be nice to have such a comfortable item!

A life without worrying about being bitten by mosquitoes. That alone was sufficient benefit.

For a moment, I was distracted by the sight of flying insects crumbling.

I started looking around again. I needed to get some information about the landlord.

I found a place where photos taken with other problem solvers were gathered… but I couldn’t figure out who the owner of the house was.

‘Looking at those medals from earlier, do you think he is roughly a mid-level problem solver?’

If my landlord tries to do something to me, will I be able to respond?

While thinking about that, I repeatedly opened and closed my vicious right hand.

Although I was defeated earlier, I cut one of the gargoyles like slicing tofu.

Even in the status window, it clearly said ‘Hyeolju’.

There are three major classes of vampires in Dream City.

There are many if you look at the details, but roughly speaking, the order was blood ghost, true ancestor, and blood lord.

Blood demons are people who became vampires after being bitten by Jinjo.

Jinjo are like noble vampires who have been vampires since they were born.

Among those true ancestors, those who are strong enough to lead their own blood relatives are called blood lords.

Perhaps the reason I survived falling from that height was because I was a bloodsucker?

You can say that the basic stats themselves are high. Still, I think a status window is still needed.

‘I miss you. Taechang….’

-Chiiik.

While I was thinking this, another mosquito ascended to the sky.

“….”

No matter how you look at it, it feels strange, right?

By the way, I thought that if I could at least hit first, I might have a chance of winning against the landlord.

Of course, it is extremely impure to harbor such feelings toward the benefactor who saved my life.

This city, Maguspol, is definitely not a place with only good people, like the landlord who helped me or the office workers from earlier.

There was even a joke that the idea of disregarding human life was basic.

“Ugh… what should I do?”

I caressed my face with both hands and sighed to myself as if I was lamenting.

‘Should we just go downstairs?’

That moment.

-Kkii Iik.

With the sound of the door opening, someone appeared.

“Have you come to your senses already?”

“Uh….”

The person who appeared was a woman with impressive shoulder-length red hair.

“Thank you for your help.”

I first bowed my head to her and expressed my gratitude.

I thought I had a chance of winning or something, but since the person involved was right in front of me, my body moved without realizing it.

When I raised my head again, I noticed her impressive clothes.

A black vest, a white shirt under the vest, and even a black ribbon around the neck. Are you… a bartender?

“It’s good that you are polite. My name is Sylvia.”

[The character Silvia Radomir is added to the character book.]

huh?

The voice that echoed in my head as soon as she revealed her name.

what? Wasn’t the status window completely destroyed?

“Status Window.”

-Ding!

‘Oh, damn it.’

Just in case, I made a very small call to the status window. But the result was the same.

Meanwhile, a voice was heard calling her from downstairs.

“I only came to check on the condition for a moment, so I guess I’ll have to go again. Is it okay if I come back later?”

“Uh, that… whatever is convenient?”

“And just in case, I didn’t wash it arbitrarily. Still, I still think I need a shower.”

As she said that, she pointed in the direction of the shower room. Then she disappeared in an instant.

It feels strangely cold and hard, but the words coming out of your mouth say otherwise, right?

‘Still, are you glad you can take a shower?’

I was already planning on getting permission though. After gathering my clothes, I headed to the shower room.

It’s a strange feeling to be naked.

Now that I was naked like this, I felt a strange sense of immorality. There is a real gap between the image I see in the mirror and the body I know….

There’s nothing hanging from the bottom, right?

In addition, I was surprised by the skin that was so pale that it wasn’t white. Compared to my original skin, I wondered if this was really the same person.

‘Ah, this is not the time.’

It was really cold to be naked like this.

I turned on the water in the shower with the intention of washing my hair first.

-Chaaa.

Hot water at the temperature I wanted came out without the slightest delay.

‘Keuuu! As expected, magic engineering! ‘Crazy!’

It was an indescribable feeling to actually experience things that I had only enjoyed through text while playing games.

My hair isn’t that long right now, so I finished washing my hair quickly.

I hope that what I poured into my hair was the right shampoo.

Next, I turned on the water in the bathtub. But one thing has been coming into my field of vision ever since.

That rubber duck next to the container containing the hairbrush.

While I was wondering if Silvia liked things like that, I took the rubber duck.

Dream City’s rubber duck is a little special. It was definitely not just a rubber duck.

The water in the bathtub seemed to be somewhat cold, so I went into the bathtub with the rubber duck in my hand.

As I went in, a little water overflowed and flowed out of the bathtub.

“Ugh… I will live.”

Now I can finally deal with the blood that has hardened and accumulated on my body.

‘Oh, indeed. Rubber Duck.’

I subconsciously placed the rubber duck I was holding tightly in my hand on the water… and lightly touched my head.

Then, blue sunglasses appeared in the rubber duck’s eyes.

At the same time, numerous rubber ducks appear in the bathtub!

Although there is only one substance, it looks as if there are dozens of rubber ducks!

“Keuuuu! This is real magic engineering!”

A few minutes later, I was able to come out of the bathroom after a really enjoyable shower.

I only roughly wiped my head with a towel, but I wiped my body properly.

I don’t have long hair to begin with, so it seems like it will dry easily if I brush it roughly, so I guess it’s okay.

Of course, the clothes were covered in blood because they were the clothes I used to wear, but there was nothing I could do about it.

-Chiiik.

As if welcoming me after getting out of the shower.

Other mosquitoes were crushed as they passed through the force field.

‘Aren’t those guys even tired?’

Since I had nothing else to do, I sat on the sofa in my room and waited for the landlord.

But are all children’s bodies like this?

I felt like I couldn’t maintain thoughts and actions for any length of time, and ended up repeating this and that.

I just sat on the sofa and fell asleep.

….

-Just right!

“Wow!”

I couldn’t help but be startled when I suddenly heard a loud noise near my ear.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to surprise you.”

Then, Sylvia was in front of me, wearing comfortable clothes rather than the bartender outfit from earlier.

But do you usually wake me up like this when you say you don’t intend to startle me?

“So what is your name?”

“K, Chris?”

“You seem unsure about saying your own name.”

In fact, I couldn’t help it because I just built it.

I usually used this name when playing male or female characters in Dream City. Because it is a name that can be a male name or a female name to begin with.

“No, that’s…”

“It’s a joke. You don’t have to be so nervous.”

Sylvia then sat down next to me on the sofa.

Then he told me that he and an employee from a nearby fixer-upper office had brought me here together.

“Hey, by any chance… then what is the location here?”

“Would you understand if I said Cabrini Green?”

Oh, is this the place?

Cabrini Green.

One of the districts in the eastern part of Maguspol, Cabrini ‘Green’ was home to many green-skinned races such as goblins and orcs.

In Dream City, you could recruit colleagues in other ways than existing fellow NPCs.

It was an attempt to recruit a fixer from one of the unspecified number of NPCs living in Magusfall.

This felt a bit like a companion gacha, right?

Among the colleagues recruited in this way, Cabrini Green was the most suitable place to recruit a mixture of goblins and orcs.

Goblins with smart minds and Orcs with strong bodies.

Users who valued appearance and performance were shocked, but in the early and mid-game, there were few companions more reliable than this.

In the first place, the difficulty of recruiting was easy because all you had to do was find an orc with long ears like a goblin.

Sometimes, a guy with great stats, but because he was a mix of goblin and orc, had a face like mung bean paste cake, and it was posted in the comments on game sites.

“Where is Cabrini Green?”

“It is the Silver Side in the southwest.”

I feel like I heard it somewhere.

It seems like it was a place where mostly retired troubleshooters lived?

“But what happened to you to end up like that?”

Sylvia asked, pointing to my clothes that still had blood on them.

I tried to explain it, but she just got up and got some suitable clothes.

“I think it would be a good idea to change into these clothes first.”

“….”

There’s no reason not to take this since it’s already been given to you.

To be honest, I liked the sweet smell of blood, but it doesn’t look good.

When I went to another room for a while to get dressed, Sylvia looked at me and said something.

“…It’s so long, as expected.”

That’s right! I’m a kid now!

Still, I thought it was better than nothing, so I returned to the sofa. Then he answered what Sylvia asked.

“So to sum it up… I came to this city to become a problem solver. How did you end up trapped on the roof of a high-rise building and then attacked by a gargoyle?”

“Yes.”

After hearing my explanation, Sylvia seemed a little distraught and covered her mouth with her delicate hand.

Still, perhaps because he was a troubleshooter, he had many scars on his hands and arms.

“Did no one tell you about the statues before you came to this city?”

“No, I know about stone statues, but this is my first time seeing something like a gargoyle.”

As Maguspol is a city of magic engineering, magically animated stone statues maintain security in the city.

There are also police officers who act as police officers, but they are not enough to cover this large city.

But the stone statues I know are usually in the shape of monsters from Greek mythology, right?

Like Hydra, Minotaur and Centaur!

“Gargoyles attack people who fly above a certain height.”

“Uh, where is that law?”

That’s a complete vampire sniper!

Fuck races that can fly in the air, like vampires and harpies.

While I was playing Dream City, I had never even heard of such a statue.

Is this really not the original setting, but the setting of that crappy novel?

“That’s the law in this city.”

Sylvia spoke as if she had no choice. Although he doesn’t agree with all the laws in this city… they exist for a reason.

“Anyway, you said you came to this city to become a problem solver… You know the conditions for becoming a problem solver, right?”

“Uh… It’s not perfect, but roughly?”

Actually, you don’t need to know since you are the problem solver from the start in the game anyway.

I played this game for over 3,000 hours so I knew that much.

To become a solver, you can either go through a formal training course… get the endorsement of three active solvers, and then go through an apprenticeship alongside the active solvers.

The safe one was the former.

But compared to the 7 months for the regular training course, 3 months is enough for the latter, right?

“There are many people on the silver side who were problem solvers in the past like me.”

“…So?”

“Most of the customers who come to the bar I run are of that type.”

Since Sylvia had said that much, I felt like I knew roughly what was going to come next.

“I will help you, so how about you help me too?”

Oh, isn’t it?

I asked in detail just to be sure.

“Help? What and how?”

“By working at my bar. If you are visible to customers, wouldn’t you be able to meet someone who can vouch for you?”

Ah… I guess it’s the same as expected.

But is it okay for me to work as a waiter at a bar like this?

I don’t think that’s right!