Praise the Orc

Chapter 26: Goodbye Orcrox (1)

Yi-An disconnected from the server. He went to the kitchen and downed a cold glass of water.

At dawn, the apartment was quiet. He checked that the door to Yi-Yoo’s room was closed and went outside to head to Riverside Park nearby. As Yi-An walked down the trail, he cooled his insides with the cold air.

He was disoriented. Lenox was dead. Hoyt was dead, and Gultai was dead. All of the great warriors he had known were dead. Even after he logged out, this unfamiliar feeling refused to subside, so he decided to get a breath of cold air. However, instead of cooling off, the unfamiliar feeling thickened and coursed through him.

Elder Lord’s NPCs were made with artificial intelligence. Even though their thoughts and emotions were flickers of data from electronic signals, were they really that different from the thoughts and emotions trapped inside human brains? Yi-An refused to blame himself for the pain he felt. Some might say it was his fault for being too absorbed in a game, but Lenox had been his mentor, and Hoyt had been his brother. Yi-An had learned a lot from them. They were more honest than humans in real life, and they understood honor and loyalty better than anyone he had ever met. He could never be like them.

Yi-An covered his face with the palms of his hands. He was still confused. He couldn’t figure out the answer to his question.

Suddenly, he saw something in the distance. Some teenagers, who looked like runaways, were in a fight. They seemed to be the age of high-school students. Most of their voices were raised as they hit one teenager. The beaten teenager fell onto the ground and curled her body into a ball for protection.

Yi-An tried to look away. He didn’t want to get involved in a matter that he had nothing to do with. As Yi-An continued walking on the trail, the teenagers saw him pass by and glared at him with the intention to intimidate. Yi-An glanced over at them with an unconcerned look on his face and went about his way, but then...

“Are you alive?”

“Why?”

“Is it because you are breathing?”

The voice in his memory came alive.

Yi-An stopped. He began to breathe heavily. Lenox’s boisterous voice rang in his ears like a hallucination.

“Just because you are breathing, it doesn’t mean you are alive!”

Yi-An turned his head.

The runaway teenagers were speaking to the teenager they had been bullying.

“Hey, I told you to bring money. Why aren’t you following our orders? Do you want to die?”

“If you don’t have money, sell your body, you bitch.”

Why was the world full of tiresome cliches? Why had all of the numerous targets that Yi-An had to kill committed evil deeds, and why did he have to drive bullets into people’s heads without distinguishing who was innocent or guilty of such extreme crimes? His head hurt because reality was overrun with the cliches of evil. Why had the stories of heroes like Lenox and Hoyt disappeared from reality?

‘Bul’tar!’ Yi-An approached them.

Sensing his presence, the teenagers looked at him. There were two girls and five guys. They all had dyed hair and were excessively covered in piercings, to the extent it was difficult to tell what they had originally looked like.

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The bulky guy with yellow hair spoke first. “Stop being nosy, and just leave, ahjussi.” [1]

“You’ll only embarrass yourself if you meddle in our business, old man.”

Yi-An decided not to exchange words with them. He struck the yellow-haired guy, kicking the pit of his stomach. While the guy was bent over from being winded, Yi-An grabbed his hair and tripped him. Then he kicked the yellow-haired guy’s stomach again.

“Ugghhh!” the yellow-haired guy groaned.

He was overpowered in that short instant. Shocked, the rest of the group charged at Yi-An. Yi-An applied the law of inertia to turn one of them upside down before dropping them to the ground. He made sure the teenager would fall on his back instead of his head so he wouldn’t die.

Then Yi-An used a low kick to counter the guy who charged at him with a low kick. They ended up hitting each other’s thighs at the same time, but only Yi-An’s opponent crumbled to the ground. The guy held his leg in pain while crawling. Yi-An kicked him in the stomach to put him to rest. Next, Yi-An easily dodged the fist that was flying toward him and hit the fist’s owner in the chin. The opponent’s legs gave out, and he crumbled to the ground as well.

Now, there was just one guy remaining. He took a few steps back without daring to initiate an attack, while the girls just trembled with their mouths agape. Yi-An gestured toward the teenagers who had collapsed onto the ground from the fight. Their friends understood what he meant and quickly departed with the fainted and injured guys propped up on their arms.

As Yi-An watched them leave, he began craving the cigarettes he had quit smoking a long time ago. Whenever he witnessed horrendous sights on the battlefield in the past, he would always light up a cigarette.

Yi-An extended his hand to the teenager on the ground and asked, “Are you okay?”

The bullied teenager wore a blank expression on her face. She stared at Yi-An’s hand with her knees still on the ground.

“...Thank you...” she uttered as she grabbed Yi-An’s hand and stood up.

“Um... thank you...” she said hesitantly once more.

Yi-An assessed the girl’s current condition. She needed to apply some ointment as her lips were a bit torn. She had a pretty face though. Yi-An became lost in thought.

“Are you a student?” he asked.

“Dropout...” she said softly.

“Age?”

“...Eighteen...” She took a few steps back, suspicious of his intentions.

However, Yi-An didn’t care if she misunderstood. Maybe it was fate that they had run into each other.

“You aren’t working, right?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“Do you want to do a part-time job?”

***

Han Yeo-Ri didn’t feel so great today.

As a part-timer who had been at Café Reason since its founding, she had believed there was a partnership between her and the owner. However, he had betrayed her and brought in a new part-timer out of nowhere without consulting her. Moreover, the new part-timer was a woman. He said she had dropped out of school. She was a pretty girl who still had the bearings of a child.

“Um... unni?” the new part-timer asked.

“Yeah,” retorted Han Yeo-Ri.

“Is coffee always this bitter...?”

“Of course, if you want to become a barista, you should be able to enjoy that level of bitterness.”

“But it’s really bitter...”

“...”

“Nevermind...”

Yi-An had entrusted Han Yeo-Ri with the task of training the new part-timer. Before this, he had been planning to reduce his hours at the café, and as if by fate, he met a girl fitting for the job while walking at dawn. Han Yeo-Ri had a friendly personality, so Yi-An trusted her to do a good job of training the girl.

He turned on his tablet and began watching Elder Lord Times.

—Recently at the Item Valley auction, an Essence-tier item was sold for a hundred million won.

—A hundred million won is a hefty sum, but it’s not that surprising in Elder Lord. Item Valley has publicly revealed that the highest price record exceeded one billion won.

—Because of these factors, there has been an increase in people who rely on Elder Lord as their main source of income. High-rankers typically do this. Once you become a high-ranker, Elder Saga will pay you extravagant sums according to your achievement score.

Rankings were calculated based on achievement scores. Each player was given a ranking based on the achievements they accumulated in Elder Lord, and the Elder Saga Corporation subsidized the top-ranking players. The top players received periodic payments from the Elder Saga Corporation and earned money from selling items, sponsorships, and video copyright fees. Depending on the player’s talents, they could even get cast in television shows or commercials. Becoming a high-ranker in Elder Lord meant becoming a star.

“A high-ranker...” Yi-An’s eyes lit up.

He decided to invest more time and effort into Elder Lord. He didn’t have financial concerns at the moment, but it was always better to have more money. Yi-An’s plan was to employ a part-timer to run the café while he earned side income through Elder Lord. He wanted to stand out from other players.

—We have the preeminent role-player, militiaman Kim Dal-Kwang, with us here today.

—Hello, I’m Kim Dal-Kwang.

—Kim Dal-Kwang-ssi has requested to be interviewed inside Elder Lord today.

—Yes, because I’m militiaman Kim Dal-Kwang. I don’t think of Elder Lord as a game.

—Does that mean you treat Elder Lord like reality?

—Yes, look at NPCs for example. I spend all day with NPCs, but I have never felt uncomfortable or awkward around them. I even sometimes think of Elder Lord as a portal that connects you to a different dimension. It is a flawless implementation of a new world.

—Based on what you said, we are concerned about Elder Lord’s substantial influence on reality.

—Don’t be. I just do my best as Elder Lord’s Kim Dal-Kwang. It’s how I enjoy the game. Everyone has their own method. I actually dislike the term ‘role-play’. For me, it’s all genuine; it’s not acting.

Yi-An could understand what Kim Dal-Kwang was saying. After having experienced life with the orc warriors, he felt moved by them. If Yi-An hadn’t played Elder Lord and remained his former self, Yoo Soo-Yeon, the new part-timer, wouldn’t be here receiving training from Han Yeo-Ri right now. He would have left her and proceeded on his way as he had done so on the battlefield in the past.

Yi-An cast aside his thoughts and closed the video. He checked out the hottest clips on the home page and clicked on the number one trending video.

“What...?”

Yi-An’s face hardened, and his hands trembled. The video was about a boss mob raid, and the star of the video was a face Yi-An was unable to forget. The NPC boss mob in the video was Lenox. Someone had filmed the process of baiting and killing Orcrox Fortress’ legendary warrior.

The fighting scene began with the orc warriors charging toward the human soldiers. It was a shocking scene. Despite being greatly outnumbered, the orc warriors slaughtered the human soldiers with tremendous fighting power. Lenox’s prowess was unrivaled as he roared and fought at the very front. He swept the humans away like they were leaves, but the tide turned when the earl, an NPC, came to the forefront. His sorcerers began firing non-stop at the orcs, who began to collapse from the damage they suffered.

The player who was filming the scene laughed and commented, “You need to use your brains, stupid orcs.”

Lenox glared at him. His cold eyes were now directed straight at the camera. Those watching felt a chill run down their spines.

“Now, it’s time for Orcrox’s boss mob to die. Look,” said the player.

The earl approached Lenox and raised his blue sword. Lenox swung his axe at him. Their weapons collided, and a fierce battle ensued for a while. Their movements were so fast that they were difficult to see.

The earl was gradually pushed back. Lenox kicked the earl, causing him to fall. However, just when Lenox was about to thrust his axe at the earl, a knight intervened and stabbed Lenox in the back. The knight’s blade pierced through to the other side, and its tip jutted out at the front of Lenox’s torso.

Lenox clenched his teeth. He tried to muster his strength with trembling hands and attempted to stab the earl again, but another knight stabbed him from behind.

“Aaarrghh...!” Blood oozed out from his mouth.

The humans didn’t stop; they continued to stab Lenox, who ended up dropping to his knees. Hoyt, Gultai, Kinjur, and many other orc warriors began crumbling from the onslaught of consecutive attacks.

The player filming the scene explained, “The raid was successful. Isn’t it easy? If you use NPCs, it’s really not that hard. You just have to use your brain with quests. That’s it for the Haedong Balhae clan, which aims to be the best in Elder Lord.” [2].

Lastly, the player filmed Lenox’s corpse collapsing to the ground with open eyes. The video ended with the caption ‘Raid success!’ The reactions to the video were explosive. Some viewers praised the humans for succeeding in killing Lenox, which was a feat everyone had believed to be impossible. Others lauded them for raising national prestige by accomplishing what foreign clans had been unable to achieve. There was also a popular opinion among the viewers that all of those filthy orcs should be exterminated.

Yi-An seethed with anger. He slammed the tablet screen without thinking and accidentally returned to the last video he had been watching. It was a continuation of Kim Dal-Kwang’s interview on Elder Lord Times.

—I arrest anyone who disrupts the city, whether they are a player or an NPC. I’m a militiaman before I am a player. Sometimes comedic scenes are portrayed in the process...

‘Haedong Balhae clan, I will remember you,’ Yi-An thought.

He ingrained in his mind the images of the players who had made assumptions about who was good and evil without knowing the circumstances.

Yi-An’s life had been peaceful so far. After his discharge from the army, he lived peacefully every day while interacting with customers at the café and taking care of Yi-Yoo. Rather than working toward a goal, his days were a continuation of a comfortable daily life. However, these players had given Yi-An a quest. He wanted to crush their eager, excited faces. He would clearly show those underhanded guys what an orc warrior was truly like.

Militiaman Kim Dal-Kwang’s voice continued to ring out from the tablet.

—Regardless of whether they are players or NPCs, we should arrest them if they do something wrong. There are no exceptions.

1. Ahjussi is a term for middle-aged men. ?

2. Haedong Balhae refers to a kingdom established in 698 in present day Korea, Northeast China, and the Russian Far East. It was referred to as the ‘Prosperous Country of the East’ by the Tang Dynasty as it had a sophisticated culture and touted economic prosperity ?