Chapter 4: First Reward is Mediocre
"W-What happened?!" Butler Lee roared, scrambling toward the capsule.
The two bodyguards also didn’t hesitate and acted immediately. They lunged forward and turned to the right, instantly pinning Donape against the counter by his arms and neck.
"Hey—ack! Wait! Wait, gentlemen! Let me explain everything! Help! I can’t breathe!" Donape wheezed, blurting out any bullshit he could think of despite having absolutely no idea what was actually happening.
Even though he had the Origins VR Cafe manual memorized by heart, nothing in the text had prepared him for a customer pissing themselves in sixty seconds flat.
"What are you two waiting for?!" Butler Lee hissed, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "Break his arms and legs!"
Donape’s stomach dropped, a cold sweat breaking across his spine.
The bodyguards tightened their grip, executing a flawless martial arts restraint to snap Donape’s limbs.
Ding!
[Troublemakers detected!]
Swoosh—
An invisible force slammed into the bodyguards, violently throwing them out of the front door. They tumbled hard onto the asphalt outside. Before they could even look up, the next notification flashed in Donape’s vision.
[Initiating: Divine Lightning!]
ZAP! ZAP!
Two blinding bolts of localized lightning crackled through the air, striking the bodyguards at a speed that defied physics.
Their bodies convulsed violently. Their vision flickered. Their limbs stretched, snapped, and warped like glitching video game characters, feeling as if their joints were about to disconnect completely.
Within a second, the lightning vanished.
Their clothes were singed, their skin charred, and the distinct smell of burnt toast drifted back into the shop.
They collapsed onto the street, sports-car-level muscle reduced to a heap of broken bones, third-degree burns, and weeping blisters.
Fortunately, the alley was eerily silent.
There were no witnesses.
Young Master Baek and Butler Lee stood frozen, gaping, staring at the two elite martial artists groaning in the street.
Donape also stood his ground, though his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
’Holy shit. I didn’t actually get beaten to death.’
Externally, he maintained a mask of profound, untouchable calm—but internally, his soul was practically screaming.
Slowly, the two men turned their gazes away from the alley. They locked onto Donape, their eyes wide and dilated.
Young Master Baek’s expression hovered between trembling awe and dazed confusion, while Butler Lee’s face was a mask of cold, calculated dread.
Sensing the terrifying weight of their stares, Donape swallowed hard. He relied on his quick-wit and complete knowledge of Origins VR Cafe manual.
"Ehm! Gentlemen, please don’t misunderstand," Donape managed a stiff, nervous smile, pointing a trembling finger toward the ceiling. "That wasn’t me. It was the shop. I’m alone here—I mean no harm. I’m just an honest shopkeeper. Trust me."
"That doesn’t explain what happened to my Young Master and two subordinates," Butler Lee said in a low, strained tone while maintaining his dignity.
Hearing those words, it wasn’t Donape who was pressed for a response, but Young Master Baek himself.
His face flushed a deep, mortifying crimson. He was absolutely reluctant to explain why he was so terrified, even as his hands instinctively clutched his damp waistband.
It all started when he first entered the VR capsule, and his consciousness was transported to the virtual world. When starting The Path of the Heavenly Martial Arts, he had decided to skip the tutorial.
Playing the game without understanding the mechanics—and being completely overwhelmed by the five-sense immersion—he had lost control and started provoking NPCs off-script.
The result was a strike so hyper-realistic his brain registered genuine death, forcing an inadvertent panic-logout.
Racking his mind, Young Master Baek decided to take that embarrassing secret to his grave.
"Boss, this place works like a regular internet cafe, right? So, can I come back later since I still have some playtime left?" he asked.
Donape, still confused, rubbed the back of his head and replied, "Yes, of course."
"Good," Young Master Baek said, then dragged Butler Lee out. He didn’t want any deep friction to occur.
Butler Lee furrowed his brows. He didn’t understand why his young master had suddenly become polite.
The door opened and shut in a flash.
Outside, the alley was starting to crowd, and passersby quickly steered clear, shocked by the state of the two bodyguards.
Butler Lee took care of Young Master Baek first, throwing his cloak over his master’s pee-soaked pants.
He then checked on the two guards. Realizing they were completely unconscious, he called the Baek family’s security team to pick them up.
After it, Butler Lee stood and asked, frowning. "Young Master, are you alright? Why are you suddenly humble? When something like this happened, shouldn’t you have flipped the table and asked me to flatten the place?!"
"Ahem!" Young Master Baek cleared his throat.
"I’m fine, there’s no need to worry. Besides, could you stop bothering about... this?" He pointed emphatically at the cloak covering his wet pants.
"Anyway, let’s head to a clothing store. After that, I’m coming right back here. It would be a shame to waste my remaining playtime," he added impatiently, his eyes shining as if a new toy had caught his attention.
Butler Lee’s expression turned solemn.
"This place is dangerous," he said in a low, flat tone.
He then gestured to the two unconscious bodyguards on the ground. "Young Master, you saw it yourself, didn’t you? I’m not just saying empty words."
"It’s alright. They’re not dead, right? That’s enough. Just get them to the hospital immediately."
Realizing his young master was deadset on the matter, Butler Lee didn’t press the issue any further.
In just a moment, he and Young Master Baek left after the security team arrived and carried the two bodyguards away.
Although he remained silent and submissive on the outside, he secretly vowed to bring a reckoning down on the shop. When they went back later, he would have several elite bodyguards waiting in the shadows.
Meanwhile, Donape remained silent, trying to process everything that had happened in the span of half an hour.
He rubbed his body and whispered, "System? The Great Me?"
[Noisy.]
"Oh, you’re here. But why didn’t you show up before? Strange."
The System didn’t reply. Instead, a sharp bolt of lightning suddenly struck him without a text notification.
ZAP! ZAP!
For the umpteenth time, he lay lifelessly on the pristine floor.
Only the cold air seeping from the tiles into his skin accompanied him as he sank into excruciating agony.
On the outside, he forced a twisted smile as if he were actually enjoying the torture, but deep down, he was burning with pure rage.
He wanted to tear the System apart, but he knew he currently was no match for its tyranny.
Donape got up from the floor without an ounce of enthusiasm, kneeling on the floor with his shins flat and his buttocks resting directly on his heels like an obedient child who had just received a severe beating.
By now, the System’s antic had engraved deeply within his mind whether about punishing him or appearing at will without any warning.
So, it was better to get straight to the point and avoid voicing any random thoughts.
"System, were you the one who shot lightning at those two men in black suits?"
[If not the Great Me, who else? Don’t worry. As long as you are my subordinate, you are safe here.]
"Is that what ’Invulnerability State’ means in the host status on the interface? Is that also the reason why I’m completely fine now, despite how much that lightning strike hurt?!"
[More or less.]
Donape sighed. He felt like an immortal slave—unable to die, yet completely susceptible to torture.
He couldn’t even find it in himself to be happy about his immunity to outside threats, or that the system was protecting his house-turned-shop.
"Um... this place wasn’t originally mine," Donape muttered. "Changing it like this without permission will cause trouble with the owner."
[Don’t worry. This place will attract an astronomical amount of wealth. A portion of that money will be set aside for you later, which you can use to solve that trivial problem.]
"Okay," Donape replied.
While his mouth spoke with total obedience, his mind was brewing a storm of curses.
’So basically, I work and get paid, but my entire salary is just going to be used to buy this place back?! Ha! This motherfucker is hilarious.’
[Are you swearing at the Great Me in your mind?]
Donape felt his spine stiffen as he heard that. Luckily, he was quick-witted enough to cover it up instantly.
"Of course not! I am merely basking in the profound grace you have bestowed upon me, O Great System," he said, shaking his head fiercely to deny the accusation.
[Hmph. Anyway, you can check the balance by calling out the Status Window. But before that, claim the reward from your very first quest.]
Ding!
[Novice Quest: The First Venture]
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Objective: Secure your first customer and earn your first Gold Coin within 24 hours.
Status: COMPLETED
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Reward: [God-Tier VR Capsule (20% Real-World Synchronization)]
[Description: This VR Capsule is fundamentally different from the ones rented to customers. Due to its high synchronization rate, any abilities, status attributes, or traits gained within the virtual world will partially manifest in the real world.]
Donape’s eyes widened. Having already received the shop’s basic manual directly into his brain, he knew exactly what this description implied.
But at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel the System was being incredibly stingy with such a mediocre reward.