# Chapter 8
“Hueeh?”
Wonyoung was more shocked by the pathetic sound he made than by Taerim embracing him. He just wanted to disappear somewhere, anywhere.
Meanwhile, Taerim, who had picked up Wonyoung, headed straight for the elevator. His secretary, surprised by this sudden action, followed closely.
“D-Director? The foundation anniversary is about to start. The Chairman is expected to arrive soon…”
“I’ll be back before the event begins.”
Taerim closed the elevator doors, leaving the bewildered people behind. Until the doors completely shut, everyone left behind—from hotel staff to the secretary and manager—stared blankly as Wonyoung was carried away in Taerim’s arms.
By this point, Wonyoung was genuinely curious. How much more was this damned dream planning to torment him?
What sin had he committed to endure such things? Or if not that, what kind of unfulfilled desire had manifested into this ridiculous dream? If he had known this would happen, he would have paid more attention to his inner self.
While Wonyoung was lost in regret and shedding tears of resentment, Taerim carried him to a car. The chauffeur was startled to see Wonyoung in Taerim’s arms, but Wonyoung, whose mental state had completely deteriorated, no longer had the energy to feel embarrassed.
Taerim, who disliked even brushing clothes with others, was carrying a complete stranger, and a man at that. The driver’s eyes widened at this unusual situation, but after receiving Taerim’s icy stare, he quickly opened the car door.
As Taerim seated Wonyoung in the back, the driver asked:
“Where shall I take you?”
“Take him home…”
Taerim, who had been speaking, paused to look at Wonyoung, who was still sobbing with shaking shoulders. With a short sigh, he got into the seat beside Wonyoung. He closed the car door with a thud and said:
“Let’s go to the officetel.”
Suddenly, what officetel?
Hearing this unexpected destination, Wonyoung, who had somewhat regained his senses, wiped his tears and said:
“My clothes are at the hotel. I can just put them on and go home.”
“You want to go back to that hotel?”
“…”
‘If it weren’t for you, my pants would have been fine.’
“Those clothes looked too big for you anyway.”
Wonyoung, who had been grumbling internally, immediately widened his eyes at Taerim’s additional comment. Is he mocking me? Does he find others’ misfortune amusing?
Taerim turned away, covering his mouth, as Wonyoung glared at him with his already large eyes opened to their fullest.
‘Huh? Now he’s laughing?’
He had just experienced what would likely be the greatest tragedy of his remaining life, and the one who caused it was snickering.
“Look here. I’ve been really patient, but…”
Wonyoung began speaking confrontationally but then paused. His words were coming out according to his will.
‘The penalty… has ended.’
That was it! The damned penalty finally seemed to have ended. Come to think of it, his tears had also stopped.
Wonyoung barely managed to hold back what would have been tears of joy. He had never known that freedom was such a precious thing. This sense of liberation was something he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
Taerim frowned as he watched Wonyoung suddenly beaming. Just moments ago, he had been crying as if the sky had fallen, and now he was smiling with the happiest face imaginable. With furrowed brows, Taerim slightly regretted bringing this person along.
But Wonyoung, unconcerned with Taerim’s reaction, was joyfully organizing what to say first. All the words that had felt bottled up were now fighting to be the first to come out.
However, Wonyoung decided to hold back his anger toward Taerim. If he received another penalty, he might truly not survive to his natural lifespan.
‘Going home is enough for now.’
Even if it was a house built with poverty instead of cement, he desperately needed that place right now. Wonyoung sincerely wanted to be alone. He had a lot to think about, and also… he just wanted to sleep. Because if he slept, he felt he might be able to return to reality.
[Your stamina is low. Please rest.]
‘That’s exactly what I intend to do. At home.’
Ignoring the notification window that appeared before his eyes, Wonyoung spoke.
“I want to go home.”
“…”
“And for the pants incident and for mistaking me as some kind of spy, you’ll have to provide ample compensation. Since you probably won’t apologize anyway, I should at least receive some money.”
Taerim stared at Wonyoung, who suddenly spoke so assertively, with a coldly frozen face. He wondered if that dumbfounded appearance earlier had all been an act.
Regardless, Wonyoung continued speaking while trying to suppress a yawn.
“If you give me your contact… I’ll get in touch later. Preferably your personal contact.”
“Hey, you.”
“I’m not ‘you,’ I’m Heo Won… Narae. Anyway, you must compensate me, and you must give me your personal contact, and for now, I’d like to rest…”
Perhaps because the tension had eased, sleep was overwhelming him. He didn’t even have the strength to continue speaking. He needed to say he wanted to go home. His body wasn’t moving as he wanted. Something felt wrong.
Wonyoung blinked slowly, but his vision remained blurry.
Then a notification window appeared before him.
[Your stamina has reached 0. Action terminated.]
“What…?”
With that feeble question, Wonyoung’s eyes slowly closed. His limp body collapsed onto Taerim’s chest beside him.
Unintentionally rubbing his face against the broad chest, Wonyoung fell asleep with the sentiment ‘F*ck’ in his mind.
* * *
Soft mattress, gentle bedding. Wonyoung, with eyes still closed, smiled happily and thought:
‘I’ve finally woken up.’
Given that this wasn’t the brick-like mattress feeling, he must have returned to his Han River-view officetel bed. The vibrating scent of poverty he sensed even with his eyes closed was completely gone.
Wonyoung opened his eyes with excitement. Sure enough, the familiar ceiling…
‘…Wait, that’s not right?’
What his eyes beheld was neither the ceiling of his real home nor the stained yellow ceiling of Narae’s house. Rather, an even more luxurious ceiling than his original officetel was above him.
“What’s this?”
Wonyoung sat up abruptly and looked around. Through the window, he could see the urban skyline along the river, and the afternoon sunlight gently illuminated the room.
‘Where am I?’
After carefully stepping onto the gleaming marble floor and looking around the apartment, Wonyoung frowned.
‘…This must cost several thousand in monthly rent.’
From the interior design to the furniture, nothing was less than premium. It was truly a dream-like, luxurious officetel.
And naturally, the identity of the owner became clear. After all, there was one person who came to mind when thinking of wealth and luxury.
‘This seems to be that insufferable Kyung Taerim’s officetel.’
It wasn’t strange, considering he had tried to take him to his officetel at the end. Although the owner himself wasn’t present, he must have gone to attend the foundation anniversary.
What Wonyoung didn’t understand, however, was his own sudden sleep. It was too abrupt to be simply due to stress relief and accumulated fatigue. Hadn’t he fallen asleep almost as if he had fainted?
After pondering for a moment, Wonyoung cautiously opened his mouth.
“System?”
“Did you call?”
At the system’s appearance, Wonyoung wore an “as expected” expression. This cursed dream still hadn’t ended. Though he had somewhat anticipated this and could accept it calmly, that didn’t mean his heart wasn’t aching.
‘When will I wake up? Or perhaps… can I never wake up?’
“Oh my, Player-nim. What is that indecent appearance? Don’t tell me you’ve already progressed that far in just the prologue stage?”
“What nonsense…”
Irritated by the system’s lively voice that gave him no time to be lost in thought, Wonyoung paused and looked down at his lower half. He had no pants on.
“Ah, damn it! Where are my pants?”
“Why are you asking me? You took them off yourself.”
“I did not!”
Damn. Damn the underwear-clad Narae.
Wonyoung angrily looked around. He found his uniform pants bunched up inside the blanket on the bed, and also discovered what appeared to be a new pair of pants placed on the bedside table.
Suddenly becoming rich in pants, Wonyoung discarded the loose uniform and put on the new ones. Although they were slightly loose at the waist, they wouldn’t slide down like the uniform did.
‘I need to gain some weight. This match-stick figure.’
Having safely escaped from being just in underwear, Wonyoung sat on a chair in one corner of the bedroom and asked the system:
“Let me ask you one thing. Earlier, I saw a message saying my stamina had dropped and action was terminated. What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it said. Your stamina dropped, so your action was terminated.”
“No…”
About to burst out in irritation again, Wonyoung calmed himself and coaxed the system with a gentler tone.
“Now, System-ssi. As you said, I’m a novice to games. Though it might be troublesome, I’d appreciate if you could explain in simpler terms.”
“Oh my, I guess I have no choice!”
From that response, Wonyoung felt as if the glowing sphere’s invisible shoulders had puffed up proudly.
“Stamina literally means the power that allows Player-nim to engage in physical activities. So when stamina is depleted, physical activity naturally becomes impossible.”
“Ah.”
“And to recover the depleted stamina, the body enters forced sleep.”
“I see.”
Wonyoung pretended to nod sincerely while internally thinking what an excessively annoying game this was. Now he even had to worry about stamina levels. But he soon changed his mind. He had been planning to train his physical stamina anyway.
