Chapter 31: Teacher

Creak, creak. Creak—

As Khan stepped on the stairs, they screamed as if in pain.

Unlike the light Gorgon who went down ahead, he, who was as big as a bear, was holding the sleeping Paul, so he was quite heavy.

Thanks to that, with every step he took, the stairs kept creaking loudly as if they would collapse at any moment.

For some reason, the sound was a little eerie, and Gorgon flinched and glanced back.

He wondered if the stairs would collapse, so he hopped down the stairs even faster than before.

After going down for who knows how long, lights began to appear one by one, illuminating the darkness.

By the time he stepped on the last stair, the surroundings were so bright that the lamp in Gorgon’s hand was no longer needed.

In the space that looked like a living room, objects of unknown purpose were piled up messily everywhere.

Khan’s impression upon seeing it was, well, ‘It’s messy.’

Books were rolling around on the floor here and there, and dried plants were hanging from the ceiling.

On top of that, an empty bottle was kicked with every step, and a strange smell mixed with the smell of dust, and when he turned around, a black pot was bubbling away in the fireplace.

As he followed Gorgon a little further inside, a light that was distinctly different from the candlelight that had been illuminating the place so far was pouring in.

The surroundings were bright.

Khan raised his head, following the light.

The light was seeping in from a ceiling so high that it was difficult to see where its end was with the naked eye.

“…”

Khan thought once again that it was a very strange structure.

“Here, lay him on the bed, sir.”

The place the small goblin pointed to with its small hand was a small bed.

On the bed, a variety of cushions were rolling around, so was this Paul’s taste?

Gorgon placed the lamp on the bedside table, hopped onto the bed, and made a space by moving the scattered cushions to one side.

Khan carefully laid Paul down in that spot.

“He’s such a handful.”

Gorgon grumbled as he adjusted the cushion Paul was lying on and was about to get off the bed.

Thud!

“Ugh?!”

Paul, who was thought to be asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed Gorgon by the scruff of his neck with a ‘thud’!

“What, what’s happening?!”

At that, Gorgon freaked out and turned around.

Paul, his eyes half-closed, had sat up, half-raising his upper body.

“I forgot…”

“W-Weren’t you sleeping?!”

Gorgon freaked out again and struggled in Paul’s hand.

But regardless of whether Gorgon was making a fuss or not, Paul only said what he had to say in a voice drowsy with sleep.

“That’s Khan, this is Gor. For your information, Khan doesn’t know ‘Arcana-nese’, so please teach him while I’m sleeping. Teacher Gor.”

And leaving only those words, he fell back again.

Thump, with the sound of the bed bouncing loudly, a suffocating silence fell once again.

‘Paul…!’

Gorgon swallowed a silent scream.

Honestly, he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t.

‘Teach ‘that thing’ how to speak? Suddenly? Ah, of course, it would be hard to find a goblin more skilled than me for such a request! It would be hard, but still! Seeing the peacefully sleeping Paul again, Gorgon ground his teeth.’

Just in case, Gorgon poked Paul’s cheek with his small hand.

‘He’s really asleep this time, right?’

Suspicious, Gorgon waved his fern-like hand over Paul’s face and then flinched when he realized the gaze that was staring at him from the foot of his bed.

“…”

“…”

His body trembled like a conditioned reflex.

It was when Khan was nonchalantly reaching out his hand towards Gorgon.

Sit up!

“Oh. Gor, don’t kill him.”

Paul sat up abruptly again and warned Khan.

At that, Khan nodded his head a beat later.

“Okay.”

Thump.

“…”

“…”

Khan and Gorgon watched Paul, who had collapsed onto the bed again, for a long time.

This time, there was no sign of him waking up.

Only then did Khan slowly turn his gaze and tilt his head towards Gorgon.

Gorgon’s face turned pale, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

And he stealthily crawled on his knees on the bed, watching Khan’s every move.

[…■■?]

“Hiccup.”

But he was surprised by Khan’s sudden voice and rolled off the bed.

‘Paaaaul—!’

***

Wriggle, wriggle.

A round lump of blankets on the bed wriggled irregularly.

After a long while, a man with brownish-black hair peeked out from under the blankets, fidgeting.

A man with hair sticking out in all directions like a bird’s nest barely managed to sit up.

Without even properly opening his eyes, he sat still for another long while and then let out a small yawn.

“Haaam.”

Paul from <Arcana Chronicles>, that is, Nam Han Gyeol’s day was extremely ordinary.

On holidays, he would wake up late when the sun was high in the sky, flail around in bed for a long time, and then sluggishly go to wash his face.

With eyes that wouldn’t open properly, Nam Han Gyeol got out of bed, limping on his left leg, and went out of the room.

As he came out into the living room, a familiar voice greeted him.

─ Han Gyeol, good afternoon.

“…Yeah, good morning…”

─ The current time is 1:13 PM, so it’s difficult to call it morning.

“The time I wake up is morning.”

He patted the head of the android ‘Levi’, who was in the middle of cleaning, and then went into the bathroom.

Nam Han Gyeol moved his hand holding the toothbrush diligently.

As the sharp mint scent filled his mouth, his eyes finally became a little more awake.

And he laughed at the reflection in the mirror.

“What’s with my hair…”

He roughly swept his hair back with his hand.

He was going to wash his hair anyway, but it bothered him for some reason.

As soon as he finished brushing his teeth, he took off his pajamas, threw them in the laundry basket, and turned on the shower.

Click.

As he came out into the living room, drying his wet hair with a towel, the android Levi, who came up to Nam Han Gyeol’s waist, followed him.

─ Han Gyeol, there is a missed call message. Would you like to check it?

“Who is it?”

─ It’s from [Ms. Kim].

“…It’s my mom? Play it.”

Beep—.

─ …My son, you woke up late again, didn’t you? Have you eaten? Your mom and your sisters just had lunch! It’s so nice here. Thanks to my son, we get to go on a trip like this, it’s so nice! It’s a shame you couldn’t come with us…

Listening to the message, Nam Han Gyeol trudged to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine.

Soon, the fragrant smell of coffee filled the house.

He filled a mug with coffee and went to the spacious sofa, sinking into it.

Staring blankly and sipping his coffee, Nam Han Gyeol thought of Khan, whom he had left behind in <Arcana Chronicles>.

“I wonder if Gor and Khan are getting along well…”

He had played the game for longer than usual yesterday.

Not only had he stayed up all night during the holiday to go through a 7-story dungeon alone, but he had also been on a ship for a long time, and on top of that, he had gone all the way to his housing…

It was something he couldn’t have done if today hadn’t been a holiday.

In the end, Noah, who couldn’t watch any longer, had forcibly logged him out for health reasons 8 hours ago.

He was already sleepy and tired, so he was going to go straight to bed the moment he was forcibly logged out, but he remembered something he had to say to Gorgon and quickly logged back in.

Noah kept warning him, so he ended up just saying what he had to say and quickly logging out.

As he was crawling back to bed to sleep, he thought, ‘What if Khan kills Gorgon because I’m not there?’, and logged in one more time.

Honestly, by that point, he was so drunk on fatigue and sleep that he couldn’t even remember what he had said before he came out.

“But at least I didn’t log out leaving Khan alone…”

If you log out in a place designated as a rest area, such as your own housing or a village inn, your character doesn’t disappear from <Arcana Chronicles> but remains there in a sleeping state.

This fact was not well known to the public because most players log out anywhere and don’t bother to go to an inn.

Besides, housing was as difficult to obtain as a real house.

So such minor settings were not well known.

And it was even harder for a solo player to know.

Nam Han Gyeol also happened to learn about it thanks to Gorgon, so he remembered.

That’s why he had stubbornly brought Khan to the housing.

“…I’m worried, so I should probably log in today too, right?”

‘Honestly, I’m tired, but I have no choice. Should I go for a walk first and then think about it?’

Putting down the empty cup, Han Gyeol quickly dried his hair with a towel and crossed the room.

He roughly combed his messy hair, put on a pair of faded jeans and a beige hoodie with a small dog embroidered on it that he usually wore, and then threw on a light jumper over it.

Socks were a pass!

He was thinking of going out for a light walk and to buy breakfast.

As he was putting on his sneakers, he shouted to Levi.

“I’m leaving!”

─ Have a good time.