Episode 113: Downtown (4)
Does your boss like spicy food?
The calligrapher chose the gift with pure intentions, but did she end up with a Hellfire Pizza Bread?
Or is it just a joke?
Many questions came to mind, but it already felt like it wasn’t something I should be involved in.
For now, let’s just wait and see what happens.
The next destination, as decided while eating honey toast, is a game center where you can get dolls.
I left the bakery and walked leisurely as if I was taking a stroll with a calligrapher.
As I approached the center of the downtown area, a pinging sound effect began to ring in my ears.
As I continued to walk, the sound effects became clearer, and soon an arcade filled with flashing lights and various amusement machines came into view.
The noise became even more serious as I stepped into the arcade, with various sound effects as well as shouts, screams, and cheers that were difficult to understand all coming together in one place.
– Did you get a new record?
– No, stop using the spade!
– That’s not how you do it.
– We lost, but we fought well.
“… … .”
And the calligrapher quietly covers his ears with both hands.
There is a strong look of dissatisfaction on his expressionless face.
‘I had a feeling it would turn out like this.’
Of all the places we’ve been together so far, this arcade is the noisiest.
I don’t think it’s right to stay too long.
He spoke to the calligrapher with gestures and lip movements.
– Let’s just look at the doll quickly.
– huh.
First, I looked at the doll grabbing machines that were relatively easy to play.
I was wondering if I could get something out of the pile of dolls that were piled up like a mountain.
“… … .”
The calligrapher looked into the claw machine for a long time, but nothing caught his eye.
‘This won’t work.’
– Rattling,
But I can’t just go.
I put 1 silver into the claw machine and got a shark doll in one go.
He is quickly carried into the arms of the calligrapher.
Here are the dolls displayed in the prize corner.
These are slightly more difficult items that can be obtained by clearing several minigames in succession.
Giant pandas, long anacondas, starfish, penguins… … .
“… … .”
The calligrapher’s interest gauge seemed to rise slightly as if he had been briefly curious, but then quickly plummeted to the bottom.
‘This won’t work either.’
– Shushu shushuk!
I cleared the minigames at the speed of light and wrapped the anaconda doll I received as a prize around the calligrapher’s neck.
And then we moved on to the next and final location.
A special area set aside in a corner of the game center.
If you look inside, the facilities are similar to other places, but this area is strangely quiet.
There are less than ten people playing the minigame inside, and even they are all students.
Ordinary people either did not set foot in there at all, or if they did, they would come out right away.
The calligrapher tilted his head and asked with his eyes, ‘What is this place?’
“Student Corner.”
This game center is also a place reserved exclusively for Yongsal Academy students.
The moment I entered the student corner, the noise that had been filling my ears was noticeably reduced.
This is because the interior and exterior are isolated with soundproofing magic.
Of course, there are a lot of arcade machines here and students playing them, so it is far from quiet.
Still, it was an acceptable level of noise, so the calligrapher took both hands off his ears.
When you look at the students playing the game… … .
Mostly third graders, sometimes second graders.
As with the shuttle bus, there is no first grade bus at all.
Also, unlike other areas, there was no atmosphere of having fun, but everyone was approaching the game with a very serious attitude.
Why?
‘They didn’t come here to play.’
First of all, the biggest factor that makes them serious is the ‘Yongsal Academy Token’, the coin used to play the game in this student corner.
This token is only sold in the Student Store.
And the price is,
‘1 piece 300 points.’
It’s a pretty large amount of money for just one game.
If we compare this week’s strategy battle, after brainstorming with Song Cheon-hye and thinking of all sorts of strategies and going through all sorts of trial and error, the score I got was 925 points.
I multiplied the ground floor attack ratio by 0.8 and received 740 points.
However, if you play a couple of games at the game center and then give up, all 600 points will disappear.
Although there is more income coming in from selling replays, it is still undeniable that 300 points per token is quite a burden.
It would be more constructive in the long run to burn 500 points for each special performance room entry.
So, first-year students don’t even dare to challenge themselves, and second- and third-year students also play the game with a lot of weight on their shoulders.
Then why do they get so absorbed in minigames that they burn 300 points in real time?
The calligrapher and I looked at the bulletin board set up on one side.
[Transparency Scroll – Armor]
[Equipment Enhancement Stone]*2
[Random Rank Up]*3
[All-in-one skin whitening cream]
… … .
The prize list is updated randomly each week.
Nine out of ten of these items are cosmetic items that have little to do with the player’s actual strength.
Good examples include [Transparency Scroll], which makes armor that you don’t like the look of transparent, and [All-in-one Skin Whitening Cream], which has skin whitening and other beauty benefits.
On the other hand, prizes directly related to performance are also often listed.
[Random Rank Up] randomly ranks up one of your skills and characteristics.
[Equipment Enhancement Stone] is literally one of the few ways to improve the performance of equipment items.
Of course, I came here aiming for these performance items.
At that moment, the calligrapher who was looking through the list together put one of the prizes in his mouth.
“Tiger doll?”
It may be that the word ‘doll’ simply caught my eye rather than having any great meaning, but I felt like I wanted to check what it was since it caught my eye.
And then my eyes met with the tiger doll sitting majestically on the prize display stand.
It is quite large, about the size of a large dog, and the details from its facial features to the tip of its tail are extremely well-realized.
At first glance, you might mistake it for a real, living tiger.
“… … .”
The calligrapher approached the tiger doll and stared at it for a long time, engaging in a staring contest.
Then, press your nose, cheek, etc. with your index finger.
Judging by the soft feel of the fingertips, it is definitely a doll.
“… … .”
A calligrapher who can’t take his eyes off the tiger doll.
It seems like I’ve really caught people’s attention.
I asked the calligrapher.
“Do you want that? Tiger.”
“huh.”
It’s good that you somehow found the doll you wanted.
So the next question is how to get it.
The second reason why these seniors are so seriously engrossed in minigames.
[Tiger doll]
▷Acquisition Conditions: View ending credits
This is because there are conditions for obtaining the prize.
The condition for obtaining this tiger doll is to view the ending credits.
No matter which game you choose, you must complete it to the end.
And if you die in the middle, you have to ‘continue’, and tokens keep going in each time you do that.
That means, every time you die, you have to spend an additional 300 points.
After I explained everything up to this point, the calligrapher listened quietly and then said.
“I have a lot of points.”
“Really? How much?”
The calligrapher took out her student ID and checked the points balance on the back.
“20 thousand.”
“There are quite a few people here.”
As of now, the only way for first-year students to earn points is through clearing ground floors and selling replays.
However, the fact that 20,000 people gathered means that, although not as many as Go Hyun-woo or other promising artists, Seo Ye-in’s replays sold quite a lot.
Of course, even if you have a lot of balance, if you keep dying like eating, you can lose 20,000 points in an instant.
“Let me just call you briefly.”
So, it wouldn’t hurt to secure some more tokens in advance.
Before entering the main game, I took the calligrapher and approached a slot machine in a corner.
The way slot machines work is simple.
When you insert a token and pull the lever, the result will appear and you will be returned tokens equal to the result.
Sometimes you get 5, 10, or if you hit the jackpot, 30, but if you have average luck, you get 0.
It means that you just swallow up 300 points and it’s over.
‘But what if our lucky charm pulls?’
What if you were a calligrapher with luck that was never mediocre?
It’s worth looking forward to.
The calligrapher who exchanged glances with me bought a few tokens at the student store.
Then, with a jingling sound, several coins fell from the air.
As the calligrapher inserted one token into the slot machine and pulled the lever, the slot machine shook violently and spat out four tokens.
‘It started out okay, but… … .’
The calligrapher inserts another token and pulls the lever, and this time the slot machine spits out two tokens.
On the third try, I put one in and got one, my principal.
‘I see, this is how it turns out.’
It seems that the hypothesis I had when opening the Heuksabang random box has become somewhat more credible.
Among the characteristics of calligraphers, there exists something like a virtual ‘lucky battery’, so once they hit the jackpot, the total amount of luck decreases significantly.
As you continue to try your luck there, your remaining battery will decrease more and more, and eventually you will become similar to a person without any traits.
Then, after a certain amount of time, your luck will recharge like a battery and you will hit the jackpot again.
‘Today is a big success.’
I just got two A-rank bracelets, so it would be shameless to be greedy.
From now on, it is right to get through it with your own skills.
“Then let’s do it.”
“huh.”
We took a quick walk around the student corner and decided which game to challenge ourselves with.
The first and most important thing is that a calligrapher should go for the genre in which he or she is most confident.
If you suddenly become a swordsman and tell him to fight, how can he possibly do it properly?
So the genre was decided as a shooting game.
Secondly, it is important to go with a two-player co-op game.
This is a space for aspiring future heroes.
The difficulty of the minigame has also increased significantly, so I don’t know, but there is no answer for the calligrapher alone.
I’m more likely to burn through 20k points before I see the ending credits, so I’d rather drive the bus to some extent.
Games carefully selected based on this premise.
In the screen, a man and a woman were posing while holding pistols.
And there before us were two pistols that looked exactly like the ones they had.
After each person picked up a pistol, the calligrapher was the first to insert a token into the arcade machine.
And he handed me a token, but I shook my head.
“I’ll use mine.’
For me anyway, it doesn’t matter whether I spend a lot or a little points.
Because the conditions for obtaining the prize I’m after are a bit more stringent than others.
[Random Rank Up]*3
▷Acquisition Condition 1: View ending credits
▷Acquisition Condition 2: Consume 5 tokens or less
The conditions for viewing the ending credits are the same as for the calligrapher, but you must give up this reward once you have ‘continued’ more than 4 times.
It means that you must play while cherishing each and every life.
It’s usually a level of difficulty that even second and third graders wouldn’t be able to tackle.
From my perspective, it was just laughable.
‘There’s no need to go up to 5.’
Going all the way with one coin.
At this point, let me recall the various nicknames I had in
S-class production factory, graduate production machine, #1 ranked, strongest supporter, god of the fix zone.
and,
‘Minigame Demon King.’
