Praise the Orc

Chapter 52: Yi-Yoo’s Revenge (1)

Yi-An disconnected from the server and exited the capsule. Then he replayed his memory from last night. It had been a long journey.

He had begun at Orcrox, the edge of the continent, and had gone past Anail, Arnin, and Chesswood to punish the Haedong Balhae clan, ultimately reaching the center of the continent. Now, he had become strong enough to not lose to anyone who wasn’t a high-ranker. His revenge toward the Haedong Balhae clan was wrapped up for the time being as the damage he had inflicted on the clan was enough for him to temporarily push aside his desire to seek out Hyun-Chul and the Haedong Balhae clan's master.

Now that Crockta could take a breather, he thought of the reason why he had started playing Elder Lord in the first place. His sister Yi-Yoo was the reason[1]. He had heard that his sister’s character was at one of the elf starting points in the center of the continent.

“My sister Yi-Yoo is the reason Elder Lord I pursue...” Yi-An began rapping some weird lyrics to himself and then stopped.

This was unlike his usual self. Had he been infected without him knowing? It had to be because of Jeremy who always said and sang silly things around him. In fact, all of the characters Yi-An had interacted with in Elder Lord—including Necromancer Iron who confidently enjoyed the game, the F4 who were completely immersed in role-playing, and the orcs—were changing the real Yi-An.

Upon realizing this, Yi-An couldn’t help but laugh. The change didn’t feel unpleasant.

Yi-An stretched his body as it felt stiff from sitting and playing games all day. When was the last time he had gotten out of his seat to stretch or exercise? He began slowly stretching out and relaxing his muscles, but his body was unexpectedly supple. In fact, it felt more flexible than it had been before. Yi-An tilted his head in confusion. For some reason, he felt energetic. What was going on?

He looked at his palms and suddenly got down on the floor, facing downward. Yi-An got into a push-up position and leaned his weight into his hands. He began to gradually transfer the weight from his lower body to his core and lifted his legs from the surface.

Yi-An’s mouth gaped open in shock. He had succeeded in doing the planche, the pinnacle of calisthenics. Yi-An was supporting his whole body with his arms while the rest of his body was suspended parallel to the floor, almost like a Superman pose. He hadn’t thought it was possible because he had taken a break from exercise for a while, but it was actually easier than before.

As Yi-An relaxed his body, he thought to himself, ‘It’s all thanks to Elder Lord.’

He had heard that image training could elicit the same reactions from the body as exercise. Perhaps Elder Lord had produced a similar effect on his body.

Yi-An showered and got out of the house. After visiting the café and dropping some food off for Han Yeo-Ri and Yoo Soo-Yeon, Yi-An headed to Yi-Yoo’s college. He planned to treat her to some good food because it was almost lunchtime, so he let her know to meet him at the Japanese restaurant in front of the school.

“Oppa,” called out Yi-Yoo.

“Hey,” answered Yi-An.

They entered the restaurant, and each ordered a sushi and udon set from the menu. Yi-Yoo liked sushi. When she was a kid, she had been inspired by the manga Mister Sushi King and dreamed of becoming a chef one day. However, she seemed to have given up on her dream after realizing she didn’t have any talent for cooking.

“What’s going on? Why are you buying me food?” asked Yi-Yoo.

“What do you mean? I’ve treated you to food many times,” replied Yi-An.

“Not recently. I thought you didn’t care about me anymore. Have you been busy meeting up with the pretty unni from last time?”

Yi-An grinned and tapped Yi-Yoo’s forehead with his finger hard. Yi-Yoo furrowed her eyebrows.

“It hurts,” Yi-Yoo complained.

“It’s supposed to hurt.”

Yi-Yoo grumbled under her breath and shifted her gaze to her phone. She seemed to be texting someone.

Yi-An propped his face in the palms of his hands. ‘This is nice.’

Even just a year ago, Yi-Yoo used to be uncomfortable around Yi-An because he had been gone for seven years. Yi-An had been exempted from mandatory military service in South Korea because he was the sole provider for a dependent. So, after Yi-An became an adult, he immediately joined the foreign troops on Baek Han-Ho’s recommendation. Yi-Yoo and Yi-An exchanged letters over the years while Yi-An was overseas, but they were unable to talk to each other on the phone due to time differences and the foreign troops’ security measures. During those years, Yi-Yoo was forced to stay with relatives while Yi-An funded her living and educational expenses from overseas. The relatives weren’t mean to her, but she didn’t grow up in a loving environment.

Yi-An was later discharged from the foreign troops, and he returned to South Korea a year ago. By then, Yi-Yoo was already all grown up. Yi-Yoo had been only thirteen when she last saw him, so she felt uneasy around her brother. When they reunited after the seven-year separation, she timidly said that she would find a job as soon as she graduated from high school and that Yi-An wouldn’t have to worry about her. It made Yi-An sad to see the kid who had been so cheerful in the past behave like she was walking on eggshells, so he hugged her and told her not to worry about those things and to attend the university of her dreams.

His father had always used to say, “You have to protect your sister because your mom and I are busy. The bond between siblings is stronger than that between parents and children. You have to rely on each other until death. She’s your closest kin, so you have to protect her. I trust you.”

Yi-An and Yi-Yoo’s parents had passed away due to an accident and hadn’t been able to leave a will, but Yi-An refused to cry at their funeral. Instead, he promised his smiling father in the funeral portrait that he wouldn’t let him down.

Since then, Yi-An sometimes wondered whether he was living up to his father’s expectations, but his resolve remained firm.

“Oppa, why are you snickering to yourself?”

“...”

“Ah! It hurts!”

Still, his resolve wavered sometimes.

Their meal was served, and Yi-Yoo chewed on her sushi slowly.

“How’s school?” asked Yi-An.

“Good.”

“How’s studying?” asked Yi-An.

“...I don’t know,” said Yi-Yoo with a sigh. “Ah, oppa, I don’t know what my dream is. I thought if I studied economics, I would get an idea, but I have nothing.”

“I thought becoming a sushi king was your dream?”

“Ah, not that...”

“Do what you want,” said Yi-An.

“You can’t just do what you want. You need talent.”

“Talent?”

“Yeah. For example, even if all soccer players practiced the same amount, they wouldn’t all turn out like Pele Maradona, Ronaldo, or Messi.”

Yi-An laughed.

Yi-Yoo raised her eyebrow and said, “What?! What?”

“You don’t have to become the best.”

“Then what?”

“There are many soccer players aside from those three. You don’t have to be the best. Even if you can’t become a soccer player, you can at least do what you like and teach soccer classes, become a coach, or open a local gym with your past training experiences.”

“Is that so...?”

“Being happy doing what you like is enough.”

Yi-Yoo looked at Yi-An with a strange expression and ate another piece of sushi. Then she suddenly began coughing.

“Ah, wasabi, wasabi. Spicy,” she muttered.

Yi-An handed her water, and she calmed down a bit.

Yi-Yoo asked, “But oppa, what should I do if I don’t know what I like?”

“You don’t know what you like?”

“Yeah, I don’t know. If I continue like this, I won’t be able to live a fulfilling life before I die.”

“That’s okay.”

“You always say everything is okay.”

“Who cares if you live carelessly? You’ve done fine until now. No one will scold you even if you do.”

“You scold me about my GPA.”

“I do it because I should scold you as your guardian.”

“Then, from now on, don’t ask me about my grades, okay?”

“No.”

“Say yes. Yes.”

“No, no, no.”

“Hmph.”

They focused on eating for a while. The food at this restaurant was quite good. Yi-An thought about bringing his part-timers to the restaurant next time.

Then he cut to the chase.

“You play Elder Lord, right?” asked Yi-An.

“Huh?”

Yi-An let out a dry cough. “Hmm, I’m actually...”

“I quit,” interrupted Yi-Yoo.

“...a really strong— What?”

“I quit playing Elder Lord,” said Yi-Yoo.

Yi-An stared at Yi-Yoo, but she didn’t even look at him and continued slurping her udon.

“I don’t want to play it anymore,” said Yi-Yoo.

Yi-An hesitated for a second because she seemed bent on the idea. “Why all of a sudden...?”

“Just cause,” replied Yi-Yoo.

Yi-An recalled that during their childhood, Yi-Yoo would silently pout and sulk at home whenever something bad happened to her. She wouldn’t reply even when Yi-An asked her if something was going on. So, Yi-An always had to pry until she eventually confided in him.

Seeing Yi-Yoo’s sullen face now, Yi-An couldn’t help but worry.

“Something happened, right?” asked Yi-An.

“I just don’t want to play anymore.”

“Tell me what happened,” insisted Yi-An.

“...”

Yi-Yoo continued to keep her mouth shut, so Yi-An snatched the tuna sushi from her plate. It was her favorite.

“Ah, what?!” exclaimed Yi-Yoo.

“I’m gonna eat it if you don’t tell me.”

“Ah, why?! Stop being childish! Give it back.”

“I’m gonna eat it.”

“Okay. Okay! Fine.”

Yi-An returned her tuna sushi.

“I’m just scared,” Yi-Yoo said.

“Scared?”

“Because...”

Yi-Yoo was easily scared and couldn’t be heartless. According to her friends, she had been killed by a rabbit in Elder Lord. Essentially, she had been Elder Lord’s Gandhi. As an Elementalist, she had summoned spirits and just wandered around Elder Lord with them. However, one day, a group of players approached her. They had been high-level players. High-level players were normally an uncommon presence in the beginner area Yi-Yoo hung out in.

Accompanied by her spirits, Yi-Yoo was grooming sheep for a part-time job that day. The high-level players began pestering her to join them so they could help her level up, but Yi-Yoo refused. Despite that, they continued to demand that she join their party. When Yi-Yoo got pissed off and firmly rejected them, their attitude changed abruptly.

“Ah, fuck. You just look pretty cause of your customization, but you are playing hard to get. Do you actually think that you are an elf because you are playing an elf character?” they said as they began attacking her.

Yi-Yoo fled, but they laughed among themselves and chased her as if they were hunting her. Her spirits resisted, but they were ruthlessly attacked and writhed in pain as they returned to their spirit worlds. Then, the players began swinging their weapons at Yi-Yoo, who was left all by herself.

She hadn’t experienced much pain because her assimilation rate had been ten percent. Nevertheless, the memory of them encroaching on her as if hunting an animal was engraved in her mind, so she no longer wanted to play Elder Lord.

“I was so sad when my babies were attacked,” said Yi-Yoo. She referred to her spirits as her babies. “Anyways, I decided not to play because there are lots of weird people like them. Sorry that I quit when I begged you to play the game.”

“Why are you sorry? It’s totally fine.”

“You should quit too. Elder Lord is too dangerous. Just focus on running your café instead of playing a dangerous game.”

Yi-An laughed. His sister had no idea that her brother was the most dangerous of them all.

“Where was the place you were attacked?” he asked.

“I think it was... Maillard? Oppa, this tuna sushi is good. I want to order more.”

“Go ahead.”

While Yi-Yoo ordered more sushi, Yi-An recorded the name Maillard in his mind. He discreetly questioned Yi-Yoo and found out what her attackers had looked like. As he did so, Yi-Yoo got into a better mood because of the sushi and ate excitedly with a smile on her face.

Maillard, the city of elves, was close to where Crockta was currently located in the game. Unlike Arnin, other species were able to enter Maillard freely. Elves had a wide selection of starting points to begin their journey, and Maillard was the most popular one among the beginner players.

Yi-An intended to go to Maillard and show the attackers the rage of an orc warrior.

He grinned widely.

“Yi-Yoo?” Someone approached them.

Yi-An raised his head to see who it was.

“Oh, hi, Yun-Ji,” said Yi-Yoo.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to run into you here. Are you eating lunch?” asked Jung Yun-Ji.

“Yeah, you too?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since we last saw each other,” said Jung Yun-Ji.

Yun-Ji seemed to be Yi-Yoo’s friend. She glimpsed at Yi-An and asked, “Is he your boyfriend?”

“No, he’s my brother.”

“Really?” Yun-Ji stared at Yi-An’s and Yi-Yoo’s faces. “Now that you mention it, you guys do look alike. Hello, I’m Jung Yun-Ji. I’m in the same year as Yi-Yoo.”

“Hello, I’m Yi-Yoo’s brother.” Yi-An exchanged greetings with Jung Yun-Ji.

Jung Yun-Ji was polite. A group of girls was waiting for her at a table some distance away. Their heads poked out as they watched her speak with Yi-An and Yi-Yoo. Jung Yun-Ji headed to that table after greeting Yi-An.

Somehow, Yi-An thought Jung Yun-Ji seemed strangely familiar. He seemed to have seen her somewhere. In fact, he felt like he had seen her face many times before. Yi-An had a vague impression that he had seen her sullen face complaining and grumbling at him. He furrowed his eyebrows. Who was she? Where had he seen her?

“Ah, I hate carrots.” Yi-Yoo spat out a piece of carrot that had gotten stuck in her teeth while she was slurping up her udon.

‘Carrots. Carrot...’ Yi-An wondered inwardly.

“Hmph, will it make a difference?”

“...!” He remembered something.

“Will carrots magically turn into beef? Hail the merchant!”

An old memory suddenly popped up in his mind. Yi-An turned around and made eye contact with Jung Yun-Ji, who was busy chatting with her friends.

“...?” She seemed to be startled by Yi-An’s gaze and began blushing. Then, she swept her hair back behind her ear and lowered her head.

“Why, are you interested in her?” asked Yi-Yoo in a disgruntled voice.

Yi-An turned back toward Yi-Yoo and shook his head. “No.”

“Then, why?”

“She seems familiar.”

“Hmm...” Yi-Yoo tilted her head.

Meanwhile, Yi-An just stuffed sushi into his mouth. He was certain. He even got goosebumps from seeing her in real life.

Regardless, he now felt an intense gaze boring into the back of his head for some reason.

1. In this sentence, the author is doing wordplay because the word reason in Korean is pronounced like ‘Yi-Yoo’ ?