I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 2

EP.2 Money Ghost (1)

“This is really the last time. No it’s more or less. Just listen once!”

“It might be a good offer for you, not for me. Get lost. Just hearing it makes my ears rot.”

This guy is someone you can’t convince unless you pull out your sword. I quickly drew my sword from my waist and pointed it at his neck.

– Swoosh! –

“Ah!”

– Thud! –

As I suddenly drew my sword and aimed it at his neck, the mercenaries who were watching with interest around me stood up from their seats. Already, they clearly consider me as an ‘other’.

“Hey, you bastard. Do you find me amusing?”

“Haha, calm down, everyone. I’m fine, so don’t worry. Anyway, since you’re retiring, you’re full of energy. You could do this for another ten years, right?”

“Did you decide to live as ‘Bastard’ just because that’s your nickname?”

“Hey~ I came with a good offer, but treating me like a bastard is too much, isn’t it?”

“Is that a good offer? Is it because you are a bastard, can’t you understand human speech?”

Continuing to confront the guy, the tension inside the mercenary guild was intense.

“You’re obsessed with money. you could earn a lot of money.”

“Do you not understand the meaning of retiring?”

I’ve already achieved all the goals I needed to. There’s no reason to risk my life as a mercenary anymore. Ignoring this guy’s offer is the right move.

“You don’t think at all. Find another guy for the job.”

It’s very rare for a mercenary to retire with all limbs intact. And I was one of those rare intact mercenaries. To the mercenary guild, mercenaries are assets. But now, the highest-quality product has walked away on its own.

From the perspective of the thugs gathered in the mercenary guild, they can’t help but feel regretful, and they’ll want to exploit me to the fullest until the end.

That’s also why this guy came to me and caused a ruckus.

‘The fear of poop makes you avoid it, and the dirtiness makes you avoid it.’

Even without that, I died in the previous request.

I’ve used up all the resurrection stones, and they’re not even available anymore.

By the way, the resurrection stone I just mentioned is the most precious item sold in the store, with the same name and function.

‘The miraculous item that resurrects the dead.’

In the game, it was an item used without much thought, but with the reality patch, it became an incredibly important item.

So, in the game, resurrection stones came out quite often, but when I tried to get items here, it became incredibly difficult to find.

‘If I die now, everything I’ve done becomes useless damnation.’

I’ve only obtained two resurrection stones so far.

One was received as a ridiculous early 30-day attendance reward.

Currently, attendance rewards are not updated beyond 30 days.

And the other one luckily came out from the draw.

However, after that, no matter how many times I tried, another resurrection stone never came out.

‘And those two were used up while living the mercenary life.’

Other mercenaries think I survived by luck, but in reality, I died twice and came back to life.

‘Without a resurrection stone, I have to sell my body, and that bastard tricked me.’

He deceived me by lying about the mission content, making it difficult for me.

It must have been annoying to take on difficult requests while preparing for retirement.

it was said to be an easy request, but there were monsters waiting that posed a life-threatening risk.

‘I really wanted to kill him.’

I somehow succeeded in defeating it, but if he had been close to me at that time, I would have killed him without hesitation.

I was that angry.

The reason I endured it was that this request was my last mission before retirement.

I didn’t want to cause trouble and hinder my retirement for no reason.

If it weren’t for that, I would have at least given him one more scar on his body.

‘Since this is the last one, I endured it.’

This guy stayed quiet, thinking he could easily get away with it, and on the day of my retirement, he came and caused this nonsense.

If I endured this, there’s nothing to say even if I’m treated like an idiot.

In the end, I drew my sword, and he finally came to his senses, raising both hands as if to signal that he wouldn’t touch me anymore.

“Wouldn’t it be disappointing? The money at stake here is huge.”

“Get yourself together. I’m almost at the point where I want to kill you, even if I have to retire.”

“…. “

I sheathed my sword again and left the Mercenary Guild.

To relieve my mood, I wanted to spit in front of the Mercenary Guild door, but it was uncomfortable just to turn around.

“Hey! Wait a moment! Ugh! Hey, wait!”

“Damn. If you don’t want to get hurt, get lost! I said no!”

“No, no! It’s not that. I want to, uh, see you off!!”

From behind, a newcomer who had just joined today came running and blocked my way. He greeted me, saying he just joined today.

“What do you want?”

Does he want to escort me? I was clueless about how to react to this awkward attempt.

“Hehe… Wow, you walk really fast. I didn’t come here with any other intention. Actually, I have a bit of an unfair situation.”

“If you feel unfairly treated, go find someone else. Don’t grab random people and waste their time.”

“I’m really sorry, but could you just listen for a moment? Just up to the city gate.”

He meant he wouldn’t follow beyond that. I decided to ignore him because dealing with him seemed too troublesome.

As I resumed walking, the newcomer started talking while following me from behind. It seemed like he took my silence as permission.

“I’m 16 years old this year. But when I was 10, my hometown was attacked by monsters, and everyone was slaughtered.”

“A common tragic story.”

Who hasn’t lost their hometown and family to monsters? No one sympathizes with such a sob story.

“Hehe, that’s true, right? But I’m the only survivor of that village. It’s not like I was lucky or hiding in a place the monsters couldn’t find. Aren’t you curious how I survived?”

“…..”

I was too emotionally dry to be moved by the fact that he survived.

“In fact, I survived thanks to you, Mr. Mercenary!”

“????”

Me? He survived because of me? Did he finally realize that I was showing interest in him?

The rookie grinned happily.

“I’m really grateful for that time. After you saved me, you even put me in a good orphanage.”

Did I do that? I don’t remember. If I saved him at the age of 10, and now he looks around 16, it must have been about six years ago. The only thing I remember is the crazy guy.

“I also wanted to become someone like you, Mr. Mercenary. So, I worked hard. And thanks to that, I could be here now.”

It’s pitiful. If he planned to throw away the life I saved and aimed to be in the trash, wouldn’t it have been better if I hadn’t saved him?

“If possible, I wanted to work with you, the mercenary who saved me, and today I finally achieved that dream.”

However, the day he entered the mercenary guild was the day I announced my retirement. It must be confusing for him.

“Are you really retiring?”

“Yeah. Why would I continue this annoying mercenary life past my thirties? I’m done with it.”

“Well… it might be disappointing for me, but I sincerely congratulate you.”

“Congratulations? you went in there following me, and the situation turned out like this. You’re not irritated?”

“No!! Actually, it’s something to congratulate. I heard that mercenaries often retire early because they get too injured to continue working.”

It annoyed me to hear such kind and innocent words. I stopped and glared at him.

“It’s irritating. Hey.”

“Yes!”

When I furrowed my brow, the surprised rookie stiffened.

“If you’re aware that it’s a tough job, why bring up my excuses? It’s annoying when people cling to me because of my excuses and end up getting killed. That pisses me off. It’s uncomfortable.”

It seems like he thought I would pat him on the back for admiring me and wanting to be a mercenary. I looked at the dejected rookie and resumed walking.

Instead of leaving as I expected after being hurt and rejected, he started following me again.

“I won’t die. Even if a life-threatening situation comes, I won’t regret it while using your name as an excuse. I promise.”

He’s a naive guy.

‘If he knew it wasn’t what he thought, he should have given up and left.’

I didn’t respond to his promise and continued walking. He then brought up a different topic.

“But retiring at thirty is quite early, isn’t it?”

“What does age have to do with mercenaries retiring? The retirement date is when you die.”

“I also want to retire at exactly thirty. I’ll save money diligently until then.”

If the plan goes as expected, what can’t you do in this world?

“What are you going to do after retiring, Mr. Mercenary?”

After retiring?

In reality, life after retiring from being a mercenary wasn’t about enjoying a carefree life with the money I earned. My post-retirement life would be the opposite of what I just said.

“After retiring, I’ll open my own shop and live off the money I earned until now, forgetting about it.”

My life after retirement will probably be the opposite of what I just said. Now that I’ve earned a considerable amount of money, I plan to use it as seed money to earn even more and become rich.

“Where are you going to open the shop?”

“Figure that out yourself.”

The place where I’ll open my shop? Naturally…

The Academy City, where SSR characters were active in the game.

I will go there and open my shop.