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Chapter 55: Yi-Yoo’s Revenge (4)

“Yes, a dream.”

The man looked around him, but he couldn’t find his friends and the orc, who were hiding somewhere. His two friends had been taken hostage by the heinous orc. One of his friends had been given the task of giving a gold coin to children in the slums, and now his mission was to get his portrait drawn while conversing with the artist.

This elf was an artist who drew people’s portraits at the public square. Even though she only charged fifty bronze coins, no one sought her services. He seemed to be the only customer.

“I actually tried to become a sorcerer,” said the elf.

“A sorcerer?” questioned the man.

“The academy even asked me to enroll because my grades weren’t bad. I was a good student.”

“Then, why...?” The man had to swallow his words; he wanted to ask why she was just drawing pictures here.

“Ultimately, I still wanted to become an artist. When I was a kid, I saw Marquis’ Kaelthas Sanctuary—the one at the museum.”

“Yeah...”

“I can still vividly remember the shock I felt at that time. When I saw the painting, I realized I wanted to create art that moved people the way Marquis’ work did, so I decided to pursue what I truly wanted in life.”

The man nodded. He had a dream like that in the past, although it was an absurd one compared to the elf lady\'s. His dream had been to become a warrior of justice who defeated the bad guys. Even now, there was a framed picture in the corner of his house that he had drawn as a kid for an assignment, which required him to draw what he dreamed of becoming. Inside the frame was a drawing of his childhood self wearing a cape like Superman.

“Did you have a dream in the past?” asked the elf.

“It wasn’t really a dream... It was something weird...”

“Who cares? Isn\'t it pretty absurd that I want to become a great artist like Marquis?” said the elf as she looked at him with an earnest gaze.

She gave off a fresh charm that wasn’t very common these days. Her elven beauty won the man over, and he ended up confessing his inner thoughts to those beautiful blue eyes.

“My dream was to become a warrior who fights bad guys...” he said.

The man felt self-conscious and glanced at her warily.

However, instead of laughing at him, the elf nodded her head sincerely. “I see. That’s a cool dream.”

“...!”

The elf continued, “There are lots of bad people and people who struggle in this world. I hope you will become someone who helps them.”

The elf artist then raised her pencil to the canvas again. “It’s almost done.”

The elf continued drawing while the man tried to sort through his complicated feelings. Not everyone could have a dream, and most people couldn’t achieve their dreams. He had forgotten his dreams for a long time.

“All done!” the elf announced and handed over the completed drawing.

The drawing wasn’t a regular portrait. It didn’t focus on the man\'s face. Instead, it showed him dressed in a suit of armor and pointing a shining sword toward a roughly sketched dragon. He didn’t look tired in the picture as he did in real life. Instead, he was wielding his sword with determined eyes.

“This is...”

“You didn’t know? I don’t just draw faces,” said the elf as she beamed. “What should I do? I don’t give refunds.”

“No, it’s alright. Thank you.” The man clasped the drawing to his chest. For some reason, it felt difficult for him to stay longer. “Thank you for your time.”

“Yes. Please live the life you dream of!”

The man felt some strange emotions as he turned around. He didn’t understand the meaning behind his friend’s donation earlier, nor did he understand the point of this portrait sitting. He was just doing it because he was forced to, so he could just leave and immediately return to his friends.

Yet, something kept egging at him. He felt like he would regret it if he just left. The man just wanted to say one thing. The impulse kept growing larger until he finally turned back.

He walked back up to the elf and said, “Ms. Artist.”

“Huh, yes?” The elf’s eyes widened.

The words didn’t easily part from the man’s lips, but he managed to say, “Earlier, you said that it was absurd to dream of becoming a great artist like Marquis, but...”

Now, the man looked the elf directly in the eye. “It’s not absurd. It will come true.”

The elf’s eyes trembled at those words. Then she smiled beautifully in a way that evoked the image of a blossoming flower. It was a face as bright as the sun that he had never looked at directly before.

“Thank you,” said the elf.

The man turned around and headed toward a corner of the public square where his two friends and the orc and his two friends were hiding. He couldn’t say a word to them though.

“You’re back already?”

“...”

The orc asked, “Won’t you show us the drawing?”

The man wordlessly showed them the drawing he had received. The orc nodded approvingly. On the other hand, the man’s two friends looked at the picture for a while and then lowered their heads.

Although the man was once again bound by the orc, he no longer had the will to resist. The three scoundrels were again tied up and dragged to yet another destination by the orc.

***

This was the third time. Like his friends before, the third scoundrel received a mission. It was at a first-aid station at a temple this time. The first-aid station had been built by followers of the Goddess of Benevolence to help the poor and sick. The workers there were startled when the orc arrived while dragging some men behind him, but after they exchanged a few words and a donation was given, the orc and the men he was dragging were allowed to go inside.

The orc headed toward the deepest and most secretive part of the temple—a hospice where the elderly resided. It was the place where those who were going to face death soon were cared for.

“Ten minutes,” said the orc. “Have a conversation with someone, just for ten minutes.”

“...”

“It’s the last task.”

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

The man’s feet refused to budge, but he forced himself to move. His two friends and the orc waited outside the hospice to listen in on the man and his conversation partner.

The man vowed to not do something embarrassing like what his friends had done earlier. He made up his mind to not get swept up in the orc’s ways and then went inside the hospice.

Everyone died when they grew old anyway. It was the cycle of nature. Moreover, why would he sympathize with NPCs in a game? He just had to listen to an old man complain and whine.

Yet, as soon as he entered the hospice, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks. A boy who lay on a hospital bed was looking at him. While grinning widely at the visiting stranger, the boy closed the book he had been reading and put it down on his chest.

Hello,” greeted the boy.

“...”

“Please sit comfortably,” the boy said, pointing at the chair beside his bed.

The man hesitated but sat down in the chair that was next to him. He hadn’t expected a child to be here.

The boy asked, “What did you come here for? I heard you wanted to talk to me briefly.”

“That...”

“It’s okay. I occasionally have people who visit me—people who want to know the thoughts of someone who is about to die. They find it encouraging.” The boy’s expression was bright as he spoke. “What do you do? Are you an adventurer?”

“I’m...” the man began hesitantly.

He was just a bad guy who reaped joy from harassing players and earned money from hunting in the game, but those words couldn’t emerge from his mouth. The boy stared intently at him. When such lifelike characters looked at the man, he had trouble distinguishing between the game and reality, especially in an emotional situation like this.

So, he ended up blurting out the truth to the boy, “I own a bar.”

The man ran a bar in reality.

“Ah, I thought you were an adventurer, going by your outfit,” said the boy.

“Hmm...”

“It must be really hard to own a bar. Drunk people can get violent... throw fits...”

It was true. Facing drunk people was exhausting. Most of the man’s patrons returned home in good spirits after drinking quietly, but he always felt mentally fatigued due to the occasional nuisance. He was done with taking their shit day after day. Every day was frustrating.

So, he played Elder Lord

to release his stress. It gave him a strange thrill to commit evil anonymously.

“I didn’t think I’d become like this,” said the boy suddenly.

“...”

“I was just returning from school like I did every day, but when I opened my eyes, I was at a hospital. The priest said it’s an incurable disease.”

It was a common story. The man had often seen stories like this on television, so why did he feel a pang in his heart upon hearing the boy’s story?

This was because of mirror neurons. Humans had mirror neurons that made them empathize with other people. Right now, the man’s mirror neurons were acting on their own and making him react to this boy’s story. The man was just getting tricked by his own body; he shouldn’t pay attention to it.

“Do you know what I regret the most now that I’m in this condition?” asked the boy.

“...What is it?”

“What do you think it would be?”

The man replied curtly, “Well, things like... why didn’t I take care of my health? I should have eaten more delicious food and gotten a girlfriend.”

The boy burst into laughter and then shook his head. “No, I don’t regret those things at all.”

“Then...?”

“I regret that I hadn’t been kinder to my parents, friends, and the people around me.”

“...”

“Fighting with my friend and saying something mean the day before, complaining to my parents about breakfast, not saying thank you to friends I am grateful for... Things like that.”

The man looked away. “Is that so?”

“I don’t regret why I didn’t eat more tasty food or that I should have gotten better grades. I don’t regret those things at all.” The boy grinned. “You should think about it too. Think about what you truly want to do if you don’t have much time left—the things you would really regret when the time comes.”

The man couldn’t reply to the boy’s words.

‘My last days,’ he thought, ‘probably wouldn’t end well.’

The man got up from his seat, unable to continue the conversation. That orc dude was making him do such useless things; the orc was such a ridiculous guy. The man turned away from the boy. He felt the boy’s gaze behind him, but he walked away.

“...think about it too. Think about what you truly want to do if you don’t have much time left—the things you would really regret when the time comes.” The man couldn’t stop thinking about the boy’s words and stopped in his tracks.

Regret... Some things were irreversible, and the most irreversible things were death and farewells.

The man began to have thoughts that were out of character for him. He knew that if he left right now, he would regret it. Useless thoughts like ‘Maybe I would regret this moment in the distant future’ kept popping up in his mind.

The man continued walking again but slowed his steps. Then, he came to a stop when he reached the exit.

He called out to the boy, “Hey, kid.”

“Yes?”

“Do you believe in heaven?”

When the man turned around, he saw that the boy was smiling as he said, “No.”

“You old soul,” the man replied. Then he couldn’t help but smile in return as he gazed at the boy’s smiling face.

“Hey,” the man said.

“Yes?”

“There is a heaven.”

That was the best consolation he could give the boy.

“See you there,” the man added.

The boy smiled brightly. “Yes.”

The man left the boy’s room. When he closed the door, the man saw the eyes of his two friends and the orc gleaming in the darkness of the hallway. His friends were no longer tied up.

“Let’s go,” said the orc.

They followed after the orc in silence.

***

The three men were free from the orc’s grasp, but they followed behind him willingly. The orc’s back looked even larger than usual. They had assumed that he was a heinous and dumb orc, who was brutishly strong, and that they would be tortured. However, the orc just made three requests and freed them after those requests were fulfilled.

The orc came to a stop. They were now standing at a fountain in the city’s public square.

People passed by. Some were smiling, and others had solemn faces. Under the lights of the city that never slept, people lived out their lives with their unique circumstances.

“There’s a legend surrounding this fountain,” said the orc. “It says that if you toss a coin into the fountain and make a wish, your wish will come true.”

Then he grinned. “Let’s all toss a coin.”

This time, he didn’t give a coin to any of the men.

While the men were looking for a coin to toss, the orc continued, “The legend was made up by the temple. They collect the coins from the fountain and use them for people in need like those you met tonight. I will go first.”

The orc brought out a glistening gold coin. It was a huge amount of money worth a hundred silver coins, which was enough money for those in poverty to live comfortably for two months.

He tossed it into the fountain and said, “You guys as well.”

The men each found a coin and tossed it toward the fountain. Then they bowed their heads and made a wish with the orc. When they were done, they didn’t ask or say what they had wished for.

The orc then looked at the men with a deep and hollow gaze.

“This is it,” said the orc. “Regardless of what you guys have done so far, I know that you guys are not actually evil.”

The three men were speechless.

The orc made eye contact with each of them in succession and stated, “We will meet again someday. Stay alive until then.”

Then he turned around and walked away.

The three men stared blankly at the orc’s back as he walked farther and farther away.

One of them yelled out, “Wait!”

The orc stopped in his tracks.

“Please, at least tell us your name.”

The orc turned to look at them and grinned. “Crockta.”

“...!”

After that, the orc was gone.

The three men stood there dumbfounded. They had heard of the name ‘Crockta.’ It was a name that was gaining a lot of attention in the Elder Lord community. Those in the community said Crockta was an orc who appeared out of nowhere and carried out acts of justice that others were unable to. Some also said that he was an NPC that had been created by the developers for a special event.

Yet, that couldn’t possibly be the case. Such an NPC wouldn’t have spent the night with mere players like them. Just like how the NPCs whom they had met that night had their own stories, this orc also was living his own life as an Elder Lord citizen. Each citizen of Elder Lord lived their own special and unique life.

“Crockta...”

The men kept thinking about his name and turned around. They didn’t speak to one another, as they were each reflecting on what they had seen and experienced that day.

Then, one of them suddenly asked an NPC standing near them, “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes?”

“Is there a legend that if you throw a coin and make a wish at the fountain, the wish will come true?”

The elf who had been passing by tilted her head. “What? There’s no such thing. It’s just a fountain.”

“...”

“Why would you waste your money like that?” said the elf.

The expressions of the three men turned blank as they watched the elf turn and leave. Then the three of them laughed. Contrary to when they had laughed at Yi-Yoo and Stella, they laughed as if they were letting go of something.

The three men walked away from the fountain.

The four gold coins inside the fountain gleamed and added to the stars of light that lit up Maillard’s nightlife.