Chapter Four

"You know, It would be helpful if I knew the penalty."

Dae-Seong muttered as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. the training got harder and harder each day, but the rewards stayed the same. It was like the small quest to get you strong enough for the real thing.

And these were the daily quests.

He moved to the side, letting a blonde-haired man carrying a box pass him as he opened the stat panel. He had twenty-seven free stat points that he was gathering. He still had no idea if he should even out his stats or just complete the requirements one by one.

Humming slightly, he turned the corner and raised an eyebrow at the sight of his mother conversing animatedly with another woman. Absently, he noticed the man that passed him moving the box a few doors down from theirs.

New neighbors?

Oh, no. He knew what was coming now, he was going to be asked to help them move. Ugh.

Resigning himself to his fate, he moved closer to the open door of his apartment. As if by some previous agreement, both women turned their heads to in his direction, creeping him out immensely.

"Oh, Dae-Seong, this is perfect, if you don't mind, could you help out new neighbors move their belongings?"

... He took a deep breath, and...

"Yeah, sure mom, just let me take a quick shower, I'll be right out."

He ignored the frustration of doing something completely unnecessary by enjoying the way her face brightened at him. God damn, the original Dae-Seong must have been... a bad person... an asshole, a giant asshole.

Nodding at the black-haired woman behind his mother, he walked inside his apartment and straight towards his room to get a towel and some clothes. Quickly taking a shower and absently distributing his stat points.

_

STR:20

VIT:20

AGI:15

INT:30

SEN:10

-

... What?! He needed those int points for studying, you think studying in English was hard? Try doing it in Korean! People here are crazy, man!

Drying the water off of his head, he reached down for a shirt and quickly put it on, and exited the bathroom, still drying off his hair. With a quick fling, the towel landed in the basket of clothes that needed to be washed and he finally closed the door.

Turning he slightly jogged towards the exit of the apartment again.

As he was getting close to the door, he noticed a tail of blond hair, causing him to raise an eyebrow. They had a child? The position of the ponytail was too low for it to have been the man... and he had short hair... Oh god, he was going to have to put up with a curious teen.

"Hey, mom, so, where do you need me?"

He asked casually, exiting the apartment and leaning on the door frame. Sending a bright smile his way, his mother just motioned toward the man standing on the other side of the hallway. He could see the older man's gray eyes glance over him, inspecting him, evaluating him... or maybe he was just looking too much into a passing glance.

Nodding at the blonde, he got one in return as they started heading toward the stairs.

"Cha Jeong-Ho."

The older of the two offered his name as they both fell in line, walking towards their destination.

"Moon Dae-Seong."

There, just like that, all the conversation was over. No need to comment on how much they liked each other's shirts, no need to complement the other's hair, and no awkward need to continue the conversation to pass the time.

As they walked down the stairs in silence, he glanced at the older man. He was wearing a simple green shirt, he had no beard but he could tell that he shaved it since it was growing out. He was either a worker or he worked out judging by his muscular build and it was evident that he didn't skip leg days... in conclusion... this guy was jacked. of course, he was no slouch either but he was cheating, it didn't count.

"You work out?"

Looks like he wasn't the only one inspecting the other, as the question didn't escape from his mouth. Not thinking much about it, he nodded in agreement.

"Yes, sir."

He hummed thoughtfully and silence descended once more. As they reached the bottom floor, they turned the corner to head toward the exit and he spotted who he suspected to be the man's daughter.

How did he know? Well, she looked like her mother and had her father's hair and eyes.

Her blonde hair was brought up into a ponytail with two bangs coming down to right below her shoulders, she wore a pink shirt with a green zip-up sports jacket that was zipped halfway up. She was holding a medium-sized box in her hands as she walked back inside the building.

Silently resigning himself, he followed Mr. Cha. Hopefully, she wouldn't be annoying, or nosy.