Hyper Luck

“Woah, can I really use this?”

“Yes, you really can!”

“That’s so cool!”

The three students who were having a loud conversation in front of the convenience store went straight inside.

I also had to stop by a convenience store for a reason, so I followed them in.

As soon as I walked in, a student carefully picked up a black pack displayed at the counter.

The letters ‘5G’ were written in gold on the pack.

“I’ll buy this 5 gold.”

The student immediately handed out the black pack, and the employee took it, scanned the barcode, and answered in a dry voice.

“That will be 500,000 won, please.”

With that, the student immediately pulled out his phone. The employee took the barcode scanner close to the screen of the phone.

“Wow! 5 gold, are you serious?”

“Yo, can you buy me a dagger?!”

“You’re getting online when you get home, right?”

The students chit chatted, unable to hide their excitement, and immediately went out of the convenience store.

Without the noise they were making, the convenience store became silent, the only sounds were the music playing from the speakers.

I quietly withdrew money from the ATM in the convenience store, grabbed a glass of water, and headed to the counter.

After finishing the checkout, I went out of the convenience store and looked at the path that the students who had already disappeared would have walked.

<Circuit> was already taking part in real life.

Or rather, it just blended into reality in a very ordinary way.

Because of gift card-like products such as what existed in the past.

However, since the subject was virtual reality, it was true that there was something more appealing.

Because the dagger they were talking about was actually tangible and could be wielded.

After a while, I got on the bus at the bus stop.

To be honest, like the students I met earlier, I myself was very excited.

Perhaps this will be the first ‘spending spree’ I’ll be doing with the money earned on <Circuit>.

I’ll be seeing my friends again after a long time, so I decided to buy some pretty clothes

As I was having a thought, a luxurious car passing by caught my eyes.

Realizing once again that I had enough money to buy a car such as the one that just passed by made my heart race faster in excitement.

Lights on the road from the busy traffic at 7 pm sometimes pricked my eyes.

The thick jeans and the old padded jacket worn over them were like a symbol of the old Lee KiHo.

In fact, if I had paid attention, I would have bought clothes and decorated myself with the money I earned from my part-time job.

I didn't have time to invest in myself because of the pressures of the future, such as getting a job, preparing for marriage, savings, and student loans taking margin from me.

Of course, this was nothing more than just some excuses I was giving to myself. Clearly, there were other people my age who were incomparably better than me at self-management.

However, I was sure that there were more people like me than the people who’d excel in self-management.

In my experience, it was very hard to find someone my age that had the margins in their lives to invest in themselves.

But it’s a completely different story for me from now on. Whether by extremely good luck, or by skillfully detecting and grasping opportunities, I made huge money.

Although, it may be a little too early for me to declare this a ‘life-changing event’, it was a clear fact that I did make a huge amount of money to declare something like that.

Of course, I was already aware that the temptations caused by this huge money will come to me one day, so I could never let my guard down.

Even so, the reason why I decided to overspend today was,

Just because I wanted to reward myself.

You’ve done so damn well so far, KiHo!

A reward and a compliment for myself.

Since I had the ability to complement myself as of now.

I was just doing what I had always wanted to do in my 20s.

By myself, I was absorbed in all sorts of thoughts. I laughed and then stopped, and then I fiddled with my thick wallet before taking out my cell phone.

I started to read several threads posted on Circuit Master, which I had been reading focused on before I left home.

To be honest, even the mundane posts written by any player were precious to me

Their vivid <Circuit> experiences made me feel connected to the game indirectly.

A significant number of players did not belong to a group and ventured on alone, just like me.

Even though this was a virtual reality game, it was not easy to meet in the same place at the same time practically because it was still a reality in a virtual space.

In addition, there were a lot of NPCs who were no different from the people in the real world, so it seemed that there were many people who went to explore with like-minded NPCs.

I too had never even dared to imagine myself with another partner other than Khea.

Not just as a colleague, but literally as my ‘partner’.

***

After reading through the threads for a while, I noticed an article written by an overseas player. I immediately clicked the article that had soared in views in an instant.

[Translating.]

A system window popped up. The article that appeared after a while contained very interesting content.

[Things I found out about Hidden Quests]

Hello! My name is ‘Jerry’. I live in the UK. In <Circuit>, I live in the northern part of Toico, called the ‘Sharamphe’, and I’m referred to by the name of ‘Tom’ there. Haha!

I have a class called the ‘Astrologist’. In <Circuit>! I got the job of my dreams, which was impossible in real-life! As I started digging deeper, I started to see a new thing that most other players couldn't see.

Due to the nature of my job, I meet many players and NPCs in <Circuit>. In this world, supernatural phenomena are as natural as our physiological phenomena. That's why my job as an astrologist also exhibits great supernatural powers.

In real life, the word ‘scammer’ would be suitable to describe an astrologist, but an astrologist in the world of <Circuit> is considered a ‘mystery’ itself!

That is why players or NPCs in <Circuit> come to visit me curious to know about their future.

And I answer their questions.

I answer with the information that they tell me about themselves, and the stats that I see with my ability. Stats aren’t just numbers, but they are the crystalized result of the efforts and hardships from your adventures! And those numbers are seen to me as your fate.

Now then! As I’ve told you before, there is something that only I can see but not others!

It’s a very secret ‘stat’!

This stat is called the ‘fate’!

I am very well aware of the stories you are talking about these days.

I know that the Ormachon tokens, also known as the Circuit Coin, is the topic most talked about among the players, and that there are many people out there struggling to find and complete so-called ‘Mining Quests’.

Many players nowadays come to visit me to ask if I can see Mining Quest or Ormachon tokens awaiting in their future.

But one day, I met this one certain particular player.

Unlike the other players who would only ask questions I mentioned above, there was a stat called ‘fate’ on his status window, and his number on that stat was ‘3’.

I can still remember what his first question was.

‘When would the hatred toward players from Lid-Tel disappear? Will the day when we will be able to understand each other truly come? Will I be able to carry out that role well?’

The expression on his face, while he was asking such questions, was completely different from the other players that I met in <Circuit>.

Furthermore, his level and equipment were on a completely different level than other average players. How did he end up like that?

After putting many serious thoughts into this topic, I decided to leave on a journey. I left Sharamphe and studied many things.

And I figured it out.

It was the ‘Hidden Quests’.

I am certain that many of you are already aware of this through receiving one or listening to stories from other players that have.

It's a great quest that bestows the incredible coincidence and opportunities as its reward to the person who completes it.

These hidden quests are the biggest factors that affect your fate stats.

I found out that, when you clear one hidden quest,

1 stat is added to your fate stat.

And the more the stats that this ‘fate’ accumulates, the more coincidences and opportunities you get as rewards for clearing hidden quests, and your future will be intertwined with unbelievable coincidences and opportunities, and it will even multiply to become even larger.

An unrealistic coincidence that transcends the laws of causation to the point it will make you realize that <Circuit>, after all, is also a game and not the reality.

I am very well aware that many of you are looking for mining quests. The act of simply raising your level and upgrading your equipment for the mining quest is just as dumb as digging down straight into the ground with just a pickaxe.

What you must truly aim for are the hidden quests. At first, they will come to you suddenly, out of nowhere. After that, another hidden quest will come out through many other coincidences.

Only by clearing it will naturally lead you to a vein full of tokens.

Do not play the game so mechanically!

Immerse yourself into the reality of <Circuit>.

Don't hesitate to become so-called ‘roleplayers’!

You must create your own characters, like a knight guarding for honor, a priest who worships a great god, or a mercenary with a certain belief!

The hidden quest only activates through ‘proactive’ participation into the game.

Everyone!

Become proactive players.

Become a self-acting player!

Chills went down my spine after reading that article.

Even a streak of cold sweat passed through my back. What he said was true. Because I have experienced it myself.

When you mention ‘hidden quest’ I can still vividly remember it.

The first was a quest to resolve the tyranny of the Valley family that took place in a small town called Silver Valley.

Ultimately, the quest provided me with an opportunity to possess a rare class called a Sworder.

Viewed in that perspective, the fact that Lairo ‘ultimately chose’ me may have been due to the coincidence that I had been rewarded through completing the hidden quest.

Furthermore, the reward of the 2nd hidden quest was even greater.

It didn't stop at the coincidence that there was Lavogher's diary in the secret library of Azharus, but I even got a clue for a new engraved sword in my next destination.

As a result, not only did I get a new engraved sword, but I also got an incredible number of Ormachon tokens.

It was a huge coincidence that could not even be compared with the reward of the first hidden quest.

Considering what Jerry had said in the post, I should have ‘2’ stats in fate. And the reason why the reward of the 2nd hidden quest was so big must’ve been because of the stats I had in fate.

The fact that I was genuinely angry and boldly opposed to Giratin’s misdeeds, and the unfortunate events that happened to Khea’s colleague caused Circuit to bestow me with hidden quests.

To be honest, now that I think back on it, the whole causations and its relationship were so complicated that it gave me a headache.

The coincidence given by the hidden quests,

And the ‘fate’ stat that was explained in the thread posted by a person named Jerry...

It was enough to explain literally everything that had ever happened in my adventures.

Even so, the comments showed many different reactions.

[Stay strong, Miners! The man’s only trying to make us stop believing.]

[Stop harassing people who are working so hard to mine for the tokens! T^T]

[I can honestly relate really well with what you said. Don’t mind the people who replied above me. They probably had never seen a single hidden quest in their lives. I have also cleared a hidden quest before, and I was rewarded with an unbelievable miracle. He’s said nothing wrong. Stop trying to instigate against him.]

[‘Many of you are aware’? I’ve never even heard of such a thing before.]

[You should stop gaslighting others lol]

[The price of tokens dropped because of the White Tower. Should I HODL?”

[Just sell it. HODLing doesn’t get you anywhere.]

‘Distrust makes even gold look like scrap metal.’

That was the old saying that suddenly came to my mind.

However, I couldn’t blame them.

They were free to choose how they played the game. But, as always, watching the comments was more fun than watching the fire spread.