Vol 6 Chapter 36

Only then did Je-hwan return to his usual expression and stand up. Just before sitting down at the table where the food was set in the kitchen, Je-hwan sat down and quietly opened his mouth.

"The reason I examined that..."

As he seemed about to apologize for examining the item too closely without the owner's permission, Kapros quickly held up his hand to stop him.

"No, well. I told you to look at anything, didn't I? Don't worry about it. Since mine is a special capsule, it must have been curious because it's different from regular ones. I understand. I've never seen a regular capsule either, so I was a bit curious too. Is it very different?"

Je-hwan blinked several times, then let out a deep breath as if about to smile and answered.

"The appearance... quite."

Appearance... Come to think of it, Kapros had heard before that regular capsules had many colorful advertisements attached to their exterior.

"What about besides that?"

"I don't know much either... But it definitely seemed to have more connection wire holes inside than normal capsules."

The internal connection wires were the ones that automatically emerged and attached to the body when lying down to connect. According to Saturn, those helped with activities inside the game. If it was a special capsule, perhaps it needed more of these wires to allow movement like a normal person in the game.

Because Kapros only thought that far, he failed to notice the dark light that had flashed through Je-hwan's eyes as he spoke.

After taking a few silent spoonfuls of rice, Je-hwan suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke again.

"Come to think of it, how much did that capsule cost?"

"Cost?"

Kapros tried to recall the price Yoon Seok-ho had mentioned before. Among the answers Yoon Seok-ho had given to Kapros's protest after forcibly sending the capsule when he had initially refused, not planning to play the game, there had been something about that. The exact amount was probably...

"About... five times a regular capsule."

"...Only that much?"

Seeing Je-hwan's expression, which somehow looked very surprised, Kapros firmly shook his head.

"What do you mean 'only'? If I hadn't happened to receive it, I probably wouldn't have used it."

"Received it?"

Ah. Should he say this? Compared to others who had properly paid for theirs, Kapros had literally just happened to receive the capsule from Yoon Seok-ho, so in terms of price, it was practically the same as playing the game for free. If other users knew, he would have no defense even if they complained a hundred times, so he had been concerned and was saving his kendo dojo part-time job money in a bank account until it exceeded 6 million won to send to Yoon Seok-ho's side, but various things kept coming up and he hadn't sent it yet. Although unexpected hospital bills had come up this time, the amount should work out somehow, so he definitely had to send it.

Thinking this, Kapros scratched his head and let out a small sigh, resigned to the fact that he might get cursed at.

"Yeah. Somehow... I received it from Saturn Korea Branch Manager Yoon Seok-ho, and when I tried to return it at the time, he refused, saying it was custom-made and would have to be thrown away if returned."

Seeing Je-hwan's expression suddenly harden, Kapros felt a bit depressed.

"At first I thought I was being forced to buy it since I had no intention of playing the game, but now it's different... I plan to pay the capsule cost once I save enough soon."

"So you received it from Yoon Seok-ho. Why did he...?"

However, seeing Je-hwan's slightly flushed expression as he cut off Kapros's words and spoke quickly, Kapros closed his mouth. Was he disappointed about getting the capsule for free?

"I took it since he gave it to me, but no matter how I think about it, the reason he gave at the time seems like he was just trying to make fun of me, so I don't know his real intention."

"Make fun of you?"

"It's a long story to explain how I got that capsule... But since you're doing the main quest in MIST too, you must have met Yoon Seok-ho at least once. Your video is already out too. So you must already know about Yoon Seok-ho's personality?"

That snake-like personality. That bright smile enjoying himself without listening to others. Kapros felt his fist clench automatically as he thought of that expression that had irritated him from the moment he first saw it. Just thinking about it again made him annoyed.

Fortunately, Je-hwan quietly nodded in agreement with Kapros's words.

"...Yeah."

"Then I think you know how arbitrary he is. I just ended up receiving it after getting caught up in that."

Anyone who had met Yoon Seok-ho even once would agree with these words. Je-hwan also showed an expression of immediate understanding after hearing Kapros's words, but then became deeply lost in thought while eating. Regardless, Kapros just kept shoveling in rice to erase Yoon Seok-ho's annoyingly resurfaced face, when after a while, Je-hwan, who had been mechanically chewing his food, suddenly muttered quietly.

"Even so... would he really suddenly give something like that to someone he's just met?"

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Hmm?"

Though Kapros hadn't heard clearly, he asked back thinking it might have been directed at him, but Je-hwan looked puzzled as if he hadn't even realized he had spoken aloud. Kapros examined that face and slowly shook his head.

"No, if you didn't mean to say it, never mind."

"Yeah... Thanks for the meal. Can I use your computer for a moment?"

"Do as you like."

As Je-hwan stood up and went to the living room sofa to boot up the computer, Kapros quickly scraped up and swallowed all his remaining rice. While he was eating well like this, why did he keep losing weight all over his body lately? Even the nurses had seriously suspected malnutrition when he was hospitalized...

Shaking his head, he gathered the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, then went to the living room to find Je-hwan rapidly manipulating the hologram keyboard in front of a large screen filled with white text on a black background instead of the usual ordinary wallpaper.

- Beep beep. Beep beep beep. Beep...!

"What's that?"

Je-hwan briefly glanced toward Kapros before returning to the screen of rapidly scrolling text and answered shortly.

"Security check."