Chapter 24 | Omni Tales

My work schedule was quite tight. I worked as a convenience store clerk from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m., then went to the factory. It was Wungnyeo Steel, a subcontractor for Huanwoong Company, known for manufacturing gigas.

‘The name is really…’

Anyway, I performed relatively simple and strenuous tasks at the factory until 7:30 p.m. Normally, people finished work by 5 p.m., but I agreed to additional cleaning duties for extra pay, increasing my monthly salary.

By 8 p.m., I arrived at my third workplace of the day.

“Hey, you’re the new guard?”

“My name is Han Jaeyeon.”

“Yes, yes. You must be ex-military, no doubt about it. But remember, one mistake and you’re out immediately! Here, your compensation is strictly daily, paid at the end of each shift. If you leave early, you won’t get a cent.”

“Of course.”

I started working at Star Gate, a medium-sized club located in Gangnam, wearing the uniform provided to me.

Guard or bouncer… It was a type of doorman role for entertainment establishments like bars and casinos.

‘I thought my discharge certificate would be useless but it is useful here.’

This job required clear identification and expectations of physical strength since violence could break out at any time. As someone known as an entry-level ability user, I wouldn’t have dared to apply for this job if not for my discharge certificate. The entertainment establishment didn’t require extensive background checks like corporations.

‘Well, this is just a probationary period anyway. If they suspect anything, they can fire me anytime.’

I started work but not alone, as there was a senior with me. The system required that I fully learn from my predecessor before they could judge if I could perform the bouncer role by myself. Only then would the senior be able to leave their position. In other words, this entire process involved a senior searching for and training their successor.

“Oh, this new successor seems quite good? Indeed, military veterans are different.”

The name of the senior was Al Lundegran. As his name suggested, he was a foreigner, and an impressive elderly man with slicked-back white hair.

‘Wow. Why does he look so old? Even drunk, no one would dare cause trouble seeing this face.’

It was natural. If someone misbehaved here, they might get scolded severely, especially if it turned out he was just doing this part-time job due to boredom.

‘But no.’

His posture, stride and breathing…he was far from being just an elderly person. The level of his inner force ability seemed to be between proficient and expert. Based on his breathing, I guessed that he practiced martial arts from the evil sects, which might’ve caused his premature aging. Or perhaps he was an immigrant settled from another planet.

‘Approximately…it seems like Hamlon.’

I recalled the orc berserker I defeated not long ago. My intuition told me their combat power was similar. Maybe this man was also a practitioner of Kyunggong.

“Yes. Good work.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

The handover time with no issues occurred at 2 a.m. After finishing all tasks and leaving the club, it was 2:30 a.m. I immediately moved to the convenience store. Since I had planned my route initially, the distance between the club and the convenience store was quite close.

“Huh? Why did you come so early?”

“My work ended earlier. I roughly finished and came here.”

“Thank you, oppa! Yay!”

After leaving the previous time, I took my place behind the counter. It had been exactly 24 hours since starting my convenience store part-time job.

‘My daily routine has come full circle.’

Six hours at the convenience store, ten hours at the factory, six hours and thirty minutes at the club, with approximately one hour and thirty minutes scattered in between for breaks.

‘This is what each day will be like moving forward.’

If someone saw this schedule, they’d probably freak out, exclaiming, “There’s no time for sleep, you madman!” But it doesn’t concern me.

‘Login.’

All I needed was to enter Ardenia and sleep there. Even better, after waking up well-rested, I could run Auto all day, feeding the villagers with wild boar meat obtained during that time, categorizing new soldiers based on their specialties, and training them accordingly.

In Ardenia, I slept while distributing meat and equipment. During this time, the villagers and soldiers ate well, slept soundly, and gradually grew larger as they accepted refugees. Occasionally, goblins would gather but were forced to retreat due to the solid defense of the villagers, who fought fiercely from their encampment.

The goblins, with their own knowledge of tactics, set up a distant siege, waiting for our supplies to run out… However, naturally, they never did. As long as the characters of Revenge continued hunting, there would be an endless supply of wild boar legs.

I logged in.

Then logged out.

One day in Ardenia equaled one week in reality. After confirming that the wild boar meat was starting to pile up, I moved my hunting grounds from Killian’s Spur, which had become too easy.

Here were my criteria for choosing new hunting grounds:

High-grade items would drop frequently.
Other players would abandon many items.
The abandoned items would be useful.

As a result, I established myself in one location:

“Ha ha. It is here after all.”

The Killian Mountains.

[Vulcan Orc Raider (Advanced) Drop Items.]

General Class Summoning Stone (No Rank), Orc Raider’s Axe (Advanced), Battle Cry Vision Book (Advanced).

Healing Potion (General), Steel Chestplate (General), Steel Boots (General).

Yawning Iron Ingot (Material), Orc Clan Seal (For Sale), Gold.

There were quite a few classes among the Vulcan orcs: Vulcan Orc Warrior, Vulcan Orc Scout, Vulcan Orc Raider, Vulcan Orc Shaman, Vulcan Orc Hunter, etc.

Among them, I chose the Vulcan Orc Assault Class.

“It is buzzing.”

I took advantage of a break when there were no customers at the convenience store to manipulate Killian’s sport mode. In the hunting grounds, hundreds of orcs stood while more than a dozen players were fighting against them. Among these hunting grounds, I picked the place where people were most densely concentrated. The efficiency of hunting was somewhat reduced due to pushing my way through, but instead, there was another efficiency.

[You have acquired Steel Chestplate (General)!]

[You have acquired Steel Boots (General)!]

[You have acquired Steel Chestplate (General)…]

I wildly gathered up the chestplates and boots scattered everywhere. Nobody said anything about it.

The reason why these people were automatically hunting here was to gather iron ingots, while the steel chestplates and boots were just heavy miscellaneous items. They had little value but weighed a lot due to their heavy armor—literally trash!

‘I guess that’s why they didn’t bother picking them up.’

[Your inventory weight has exceeded 100%!]

[Since your inventory weight exceeds 100%, your movement speed will be extremely slow, and your stamina, health, and mana will gradually decrease!]

After filling their inventories to bursting, the Ardenians lined up with the heavy armor. That wasn’t all. I instructed some of them to dismantle parts of the steel chests and add metal plates to their leather shields.

From the system’s perspective, it’s pointless.

Despite adding metal plates to leather shields, there was no change in their status window. Neither defense nor weight values were affected. However, things worked differently in reality.

Klank!

“These seem sturdy.”

“Well, of course, with all those metal plates attached!”

“But they’re too heavy now. Quite a few of the young recruits can’t even hold them up properly.”

“Still, have them train with these. Once they acquire their classes, they’ll be able to wield them in battle.”

The captain observed the training soldiers for a moment and nodded.

“All right, keep at it. I’m going to bed.”

“You’ve been sleeping a lot lately.”

“It’s an important time. Please do your best.”

“I will do my utmost.”

Log out.

…Log out.

Killians Three changed hunting grounds. Then Killians Two and finally even Killians One moved to new hunting areas. As I shifted their hunting grounds based on lower levels first, all four characters eventually reached level 38.

“Wow, leveling is barely increasing anymore.”

At some point, it was almost as if leveling had stopped altogether. Even spending an entire day defeating orcs only raised experience by about 10%. However, it didn’t matter.

Unlike Revenge’s characters, which saw no growth, the villagers and soldiers were transforming into elite troops each passing day.

Log in. Log out. I sorted out my situation whenever I worked as a convenience store clerk, which guaranteed me personal time compared to other jobs.

‘The convenience store pay…is around 2.2 million won due to night work. And with additional factory work, it is 3.8 million won.’

In fact, this alone was no small amount. Six million won per month. I had never earned so much before in my life.

‘And there…the club prayers give 130,000 won per day. They even said it would increase after the probationary period ends.’

I didn’t have a single day off and scheduled everything for prayer, earning 3.9 million won per month just from praying. In other words…

‘Wow. One month gives 9.9 million won?’

Earning 10 million won per month—it seemed like something only possible in dreams! However, upon closer thought, it wasn’t strange at all.

‘With no days off for an entire month… And above all, working non-stop without any sleep.’

People often talk about pushing themselves to their limits, but this schedule was beyond human endurance. Even with my Ardenian ability to catch up on rest quickly, it was still grueling.

However…

“Good work!”

“The job is done! Ahh, Han-ssi is reliable. I was worried, but you cleaned everything neatly by yourself.”

“Wonderful. You have patience and handle people well. It might sound funny coming from me, but…you don’t seem like someone who should be dealing with drunks at such a place.”

The labor on Earth…

It was more enjoyable than I thought.

Is manual labor…such a healing experience?

My robust physique made physical tasks easy, and emotional labor wasn’t much of an issue either.

Dealing with people? Compared to his time as a mercenary captain, where he had to placate and cajole a crazy noble who once cut off a subordinate’s leg for stepping on his shadow—and later threatened him if he didn’t pay jae-yeon what was owed—it felt like child’s play now.

It feels surreal compared to how I struggled to find work before.

Initially, jae-yeon planned to assign jobs using the hundred class cards he’d drawn and mobilize his army. It would have been possible even after spending two million won. However…his plans changed gradually as he worked.

He made more money than expected. And surprisingly…he found fulfillment in this job.

“You’ve done great these past four weeks. Nights are hard to fill lately, so thank you for not taking any days off. As a token of appreciation, there’s a little extra for next month.”

“Young people these days can’t handle stress and quit on me at the drop of a hat, so I really appreciate you sticking with it. Keep up the good work next month too.”

“It’s already been a month? You’ve handled customers better than I expected, so I think you’ll do just fine on your own now. Since your probationary period is over, your daily wage will be two hundred thousand won starting today.”

The scorching sun had lost its vigor as autumn arrived without my realizing it.

“Ha-ha!” I laughed behind the counter.

Work was fulfilling. It felt great to overcome problems or challenges and receive recognition from others for doing so. But nothing beats the pinnacle moment when all that hard labor pays off: payday.

G-Bank Savings Account (Account No.: 1173-5511)

Balance: 11,573,988 won

“Wow…”

I couldn’t help but smile again.

Indeed, it had been one month since I started working here. I had managed to save more than ten million won for my military fund.