Chapter 932

“Open System window.”

At that brief command, the dam holding everything back gave way.

Ding. Ding. D-d-ding!

Chimes rang out, one over another. At the same time, countless holographic windows surged toward me like a giant wave. My mouth fell open.

Holy shit. Why are there so many?

It felt like facing all the homework I’d put off over an entire summer vacation in elementary school. No—this was worse.

Even at a glance, well over a hundred holographic windows filled the air.

It’d be nice if they were all Level-up notifications.

Wishful thinking, of course. There was no way they’d all piled up in just the past three days.

I started with the first System message to appear and read them in order.

System Congratulations! The Update is complete!

We sincerely regret any minor inconvenience caused by the Update.

“……”

Minor inconvenience. Sincere regret.

What a way to piss me off right from the start.

I vividly remembered nearly dying because of that “minor inconvenience.” But the next message quickly cooled my anger.

System Therefore, as an apology, we would like to provide you with an appropriate Reward.

“Oh.”

Right. That’s more like it.

This System was fundamentally different from those garbage games that wielded the Four Great Swords—scheduled maintenance, unscheduled maintenance, extended maintenance, and emergency maintenance—like an heirloom blade.

Giving users fitting Rewards for all their hard work and doing everything it could to make their experience enjoyable—that was what a kingly, god-tier System was for.

System Update Reward has been delivered to your Inventory.

Would you like to check your new Item?

Y / N

Reward. New Item.

Those two little words awakened the childlike wonder I’d long forgotten.

I was more excited than I’d been opening my Christmas present at seven years old. With excitement and joy mingling inside me, I answered.

“Open.”

Ding.

System Item Window

Pocket Watch of Unknown Make

Type: Item
Grade: None
Restriction: None
Description: A pocket watch made by someone unknown. Very sturdy. At a glance, it looks like an old, broken watch. On closer inspection, it still looks like an old, broken watch.

“……?”

What the hell is this?

My brain stalled. I stared blankly at the pocket watch in my hand.

It was exactly as the Item description said. At a glance, it looked broken. On closer inspection, it still looked broken. I could’ve written a poem about it on the spot.

Title: Pocket Watch.

Old, even on closer inspection.

Broken, no matter how long I look.

Fucking sucks.

“……”

I felt like I was going insane.

It was on par with the betrayal I’d felt when Santa Claus—the old man who’d brought my Christmas present when I was seven—had punched in the front door’s passcode and strolled in like he owned the place, then kissed my mom right in front of me.

This is my… Update Reward?

My head still reeling, I tried to pull myself out of the shock.

No, no. This can’t be right.

There were only two possibilities. Either the System had prepared a surprise hidden-camera prank for me after everything I’d been through, or there was something special about the watch that I hadn’t found yet.

There was only one notification, so it’s not a prank. Which means…

I gathered my wits and examined the watch carefully. Before long, I noticed something I’d missed on its back, worn shiny by someone’s hands.

Wait.

It was a faint mark, almost completely rubbed away—probably too faint for an ordinary person to see. I stirred up my internal energy and channeled it into my eyes. With my enhanced vision, I made out a dim inscription.

“N-no way…”

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

“That doesn’t mean a damn thing, you bastards!”

BANG!

I hurled the pocket watch with all my strength. It flew like a cannonball and struck the wall.

Or, to be precise, it smashed through the wall.

Rumble!

The wall crumbled. Beyond it stood Hyuk Mujin, staring at me with his mouth hanging open.

“What the—Gasp! Was that an assassination attempt?!”

In a way, it was.

I’d taken a hit to the back of the head without warning, and now my insides ached as if I’d been stabbed.

“Mujin. I’m dizzy. Mujin.”

“Captain! Stay still! I’ll protect you!”

“You? Protect me?”

Hyuk Mujin hesitated, then cautiously offered, “Should I bring Great Hero Jeok over?”

“……If you call him, we’re the ones who’ll get put through the wringer. Don’t.”

“Oh, come on. You scared me. It wasn’t an assassination attempt, right?”

“Yeah, idiot. So quit making a scene and pick that thing up.”

Coughing in the cloud of dust, Hyuk Mujin cautiously retrieved the pocket watch.

“C-Captain. You don’t mean this piece of iron junk, do you?”

“……”

“Sorry. I guess you do. And, just in case, I take back the ‘junk’ part.”

Like an unlucky member of the Ten Attendants,¹ Hyuk Mujin sensed my foul mood and hurried over to hand me the watch.

“But what exactly is it?”

“A broken watch.”

“A watch? This little thing?”

Hyuk Mujin eyed the pocket watch’s unfamiliar shape. I answered mournfully.

“It’s still junk. Very sturdy, completely useless junk.”

“Why would you keep something like this? It’s even broken.”

“……I got it somehow, okay? Watch your mouth.”

Every word was a blade digging into my heart. Having confirmed the watch’s durability by accident, I swallowed back my tears.

The Item description was telling the truth after all.

Some truths were unbearably cruel. Right now, this pocket watch was one of them.

But why would the System give me something like this?

This wasn’t some ordinary Quest. It was the Reward I’d received for completing an entire Update, and it was garbage like this.

Clinging to one last sliver of hope, I examined the watch again. All I found was more reason to despair.

This thing really is broken.

For starters, the time was completely wrong. It was already nearing midnight, but the hour hand pointed somewhere around five. Even that was only a guess—the numbers that ought to have been there were missing.

And where the hell did the minute hand go?

At this point, I wasn’t sure I could even call it a pocket watch. Pocket time? Pocket piece? Even those seemed too generous.

I can’t adjust the time, either. And it doesn’t seem to keep moving. What the hell is this thing?

I shook it this way and that, then held it close to my ear. There wasn’t so much as a tick—not even the faint noise of parts moving inside.

It had exactly one advantage. I couldn’t crush it no matter how hard I squeezed, or even leave a scratch.

Did they give it to me as a weapon? Or a shield for emergencies?

A familiar scene from a war movie flashed through my mind.

A sharp gunshot rang out. Private Johnson collapsed.

Certain their comrade was dead, his squadmates rushed over. But what they found was a bullet lodged in the little Bible that the devout Private Johnson always carried over his heart…

“Wow. It’s already driving me insane.”

Hyuk Mujin, who’d been watching me warily for a while, cautiously spoke up.

“Um, Captain?”

“Don’t call me in that sly, eunuch-like voice. I’ll kill you. Seriously.”

“Yes, sir. May I ask you something?”

“Spit it out.”

“Um… are you going to throw that away?”

Hyuk Mujin pointed discreetly at the pocket watch in my palm, then went on as though he were making casual conversation.

“If you are, I’d like to humbly suggest giving it to someone who’s your right arm, your heart, and unwaveringly loyal to you.”

“Was that supposed to be humble? You sound pretty confident.”

“Well, I’m just saying. If you’re not going to use it, there’s no reason to keep it.”

“Why the hell do you want this thing?”

“It’s a watch, isn’t it? And judging by the look of it, it’s a rare item from the Western Regions. Even if it’s broken, wouldn’t it look good to carry around?”

Hyuk Mujin made a surprisingly coherent argument. I smacked my lips.

I guess it wouldn’t really matter if I gave it to him…

But something about it bothered me, like a fish bone stuck in my throat. If I handed this godforsaken pocket watch to Hyuk Mujin right now, I’d feel even less satisfied than I would eating fried rice at a Chinese restaurant without a bowl of spicy jjambbong² broth.

There might be something I don’t know about it yet. I can wait and see. If it really is junk, I can give it to him then.

It wasn’t as if the System always gave out incredible Rewards. I didn’t know exactly how it decided what to hand out, but I’d received plenty of useless junk Items from the countless Quests I’d completed. Little by little, enough had piled up in my Inventory to fill a truck.

The one thing I couldn’t get past was that the broken pocket watch in my hand was a Reward for completing an Update.

“Hmm.”

I nodded without saying anything. Then Hyuk Mujin’s sly voice reached my ear again.

“Um, Captain?”

“What?”

“Could you say something…?”

“Not yet. Wait a little. A month—no, fifteen days.”

Fifteen days. Half a month.

That was the final trial period I’d settled on. Hyuk Mujin’s face lit up.

“So you’ll give it to me in fifteen days?”

“Yeah. Assuming I’ve confirmed it’s useless to me.”

“Come on. It came from the Western Regions. There probably isn’t a craftsman around here who can fix it. At most, you could carry it because it looks pretty.”

Hyuk Mujin grinned unpleasantly as he went on.

“But what do you call it?”

“Pocket-watch, shi—pocket watch.”

“Wow. Even the name’s pretty. Thread a leather cord through that ring and wear it around your neck. You’d draw eyes wherever you went.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Shiny silk would look even better than leather.”

“Oh, yeah?”

It was a suggestion worthy of the eldest grandson of a wealthy textile-merchant family. It was a good one, too. Without hesitation, I tore a strip from the gold silk robe I was wearing, threaded it through the ring, and hung the watch around my neck.

“How do I look? Pretty?”

“Whew. Is your name Mr. Golden Sun? You’re practically glowing.”

“They’d like it if I gave it to them like this, wouldn’t they?”

“Captain, you’d go that far for me…”

Hyuk Mujin’s eyes trembled with emotion. I gazed fondly at the pocket watch hanging around my neck.

“Not you. Young Lady Ju.”

“……”

“Maybe Young Lady Ju would be less upset if she got a gift like this. Don’t you think?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

“……I’m sure she’d love it. Yes.”

His eyes went cold in an instant.

As Hyuk Mujin silently berated me with his gaze, I sensed dozens of people approaching the pavilion. I leaned out the window.

“Stop! Stop! Stop! Move and I’ll cut you down. Pocket!”

At the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, their torches flickering, Jeong Hogun fell silent for a moment before replying.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“You stupid, useless Embroidered Uniform Guard bastard! You showed up without even learning the password!”

“No, I mean, what is this all of a sudden…?”

“Shut up! Say ‘watch’! Hurry!”

“……Watch.”

“I said shut up!”

“……”

His eyes were full of venom, like an angry pufferfish. I supposed I’d better stop messing with him.

Generously letting him off the hook, I asked Jeong Hogun, who’d clamped his mouth shut, “So, why are you here?”

“You need to come with me for a moment.”

“Am I someone who comes and goes just because you tell me to? Besides, I’m really busy. I’ve got a lot to do.”

“His Majesty has summoned you.”

“Oh.”

Then I’d better go.