Chapter : 04
Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming
Constellation Game [Laika]
In fact, the Forest of Beginnings is quite a dangerous place.
Of course, that’s assuming you’re level 3.
[You have taken damage from ‘Wild Reindeer’.]
[Health has decreased.]
But if it’s Rice-Eating Hero Dave, armed with an iron shovel and wearing a Purinkle boneless chicken necklace…
[You dealt critical damage to ‘Wild Reindeer’!]
Even at level 3, the situation was a little different.
[Successfully defeated ‘Wild Reindeer’!]
To him, the savage reindeer were nothing more than excellent ATMs that spat out a single cabbage leaf every time they were killed.
[Obtained item: ‘Rough Beast Hide’.]
[Obtained item: ‘Broken Beast Horn’.]
Why just a single cabbage leaf?
Well, the average value of items dropped by the Wild Reindeer is roughly equivalent to 1 LP.
“Ugh, already cleared them all?”
It was a little disappointing.
Wild Reindeer weren’t exactly common monsters.
Ordinary Reindeer without the “wild” prefix were everywhere, but Wild Reindeer appeared only once in about every five.
Because of their rarity, the trash items they dropped had slightly higher market value…
But if just a few more appeared today, that wouldn’t hurt at all.
“Still, I made quite a bit.”
Looking at the items looted so far, he estimated that selling everything would bring in over 7 LP.
Two hours of work, which translates to roughly 35,000 KRW per hour.
“Ha…!”
If he spent the whole day burning through deer, he could earn over 300,000 KRW in a day.
Dopamine suddenly surged like an endless fountain.
Is this… the Rice-Eating Hero?
Maybe the reason I never unlocked my talent was simply a lack of motivation.
If a fairy had handed me a few coins with every level-up, I might’ve already defeated the Demon King and returned centuries ago.
“…”
Enough daydreaming—back to reality.
Killing reindeer continuously wouldn’t yield endless profits.
Monsters don’t spawn infinitely like in real games, and if I oversupplied the market with reindeer byproducts, prices would inevitably fall.
So it’s time to stop the foolish thoughts and move toward the next plan I had in mind.
Honestly, hunting more Wild Reindeer here would be a loss.
He was nearly level 5 from experience.
And from level 5, the “next step” designed for rice-eating efficiency would become available.
So first, he needed to reach level 5…
Ding!
[Gained experience.]
[Level up!]
[Reached level 5.]
[‘Traits’ tab unlocked.]
[You can now use ‘Trait Points’ to acquire traits.]
He immediately opened the Traits tab.
[‘Traits’ tab opened.]
[Remaining ‘Trait Points’: 1]
A long list of traits appeared, but he didn’t need to read it.
Why?
He had memorized them all long ago.
He had already decided what to pick before even entering the gate.
So he invested his point immediately.
Ding!
[Acquired trait: ‘Dissection Expert’.]
[You can now ‘dissect’ monster corpses.]
This seemed to be on the list of “traits you should never pick” in the Awakened Wiki…
Dissection Expert
Trait Rank: F
Unless you plan to open a butcher shop in Laika, this trait is completely useless.
The low rating was likely because it offered no stat upgrades.
“Hoho.”
But that was fine.
He wasn’t interested in saving the world—he was a Rice-Eating Hero.
I’m not exactly going to hunt Death Knights, am I?
Selling future glory for triple the current pay… that’s the true path of rice-eating, isn’t it?
Besides, traits can always be reset later. For now, it was all about enjoyment.
[This is the corpse of the looted ‘Wild Reindeer’.]
[Trait ‘Dissection Expert’ can be activated.]
[Proceed?]
Two lootings from a single corpse!
Money duplicating itself?
[Starting ‘dissection’ of ‘Wild Reindeer’ corpse.]
[Corpse condition is good; success rate increased.]
Later, if he farmed Wyvern nests, only players with the Dissection trait could collect Dragon Bones.
Apparently, almost no one on the Earth server knew this yet.
If they did, they would never rank this trait F.
Wyverns are stronger than Orcs or Ogres, right?
Of course.
Among dragons, they’re low-tier, but still dragons—no comparison with Orcs or Ogres…
Hmm, maybe he got a bit carried away.
After earning some money, he already lost his sense of perspective.
Better to be cautious.
[Progress: 0%… 1%… 15%… 100%! ]
[‘Dissection’ successful!]
Humming to himself, he suddenly encountered an unexpected problem:
[Loot damaged due to using unsuitable equipment for dissection.]
[Obtained item: ‘Broken Antler’.]
Using a shovel for dissection… the omakase broke.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, ordinary job-seeker Si-yul Lee was having another grueling day.
Early morning jog, a refreshing shower, then straight to the study room.
Morning lectures online, lunch, job-study group, then academy classes…
By the time she returned home, she was completely exhausted.
“Come on, relax today. Why such a grim face after so long?”
Today was her rare day of indulgence.
Instead of kimbap for lunch, she had mala soup.
Instead of the job-study group, she went to see a movie with her best friend, Hyun-woo…
Even that made her uneasy. She knew very well her family’s situation as an adult.
Sigh… I can’t even enjoy it fully. My parents are watching me.
The positive thing recently was her family’s mood had improved.
Her older brother, missing for ten years, had miraculously returned. Her parents’ faces brightened for the first time in years.
“So things at home are a bit better now?”
“Yeah… they are.”
Although she once resented her brother’s sudden disappearance, she was genuinely happy he returned.
Still, seeing him act recklessly recently worried her.
Lately, he’s been searching ‘Gate’ stuff online… Is he planning something weird?
Her brother claimed he’d earn money through his hero skills.
Not even an Awakened could enter a gate, but it was naturally worrying.
She didn’t know whether to trust him—he seemed sane at times, but his words sounded insane.
Her friend then started talking nonsense:
“Don’t worry, Si-yul. Soon, this brother will provide for us.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This is a secret… that’s why I wanted to meet today.”
“What…?”
It made her uneasy.
“Last week, I went into the Gate.”
“What?”
“I’ll become a ranked player soon, so wait a bit. He’ll hire me as a manager.”
“Are you crazy?”
Si-yul was shocked.
It was the first time she learned her best friend, Hyun-woo, was Awakened.
“Promise me you won’t tell my sister, okay?”
“What? I’ll call Yeoreum right now.”
“No! Seriously, please!”
At the same time, a chilling suspicion crossed her mind.
Could it be that this Isiyul guy’s hero stuff wasn’t a joke either?
What if her mom and brother were Awakened too?
Cold sweat ran down her spine.
Despite the horrible antler incident, everything went smoothly after that.
After acquiring a pocket knife, no further accidents occurred.
The Dissection trait performed better than expected, and the inventory quickly grew heavy due to the self-loot 2x effect.
He hunted without noticing the time.
Thinking back to beta playthroughs… this was insane.
Grinding in the Forest of Beginnings is fun… How is this possible?
In all sections of Laika’s world…
The dullest part had always been the Forest of Beginnings grind.
From the exponentially increasing XP required at levels 4–5, up to the maximum pre-class-change level of 20,
With no quests, endless repetitive hunting was the hardest memory even in an endlessly repeating hero life.
So this situation was incomprehensible.
Ding!
[Inventory opened.]
Hunting forest prey, dissecting corpses, diligently farming,
And organizing loot in the inventory…
He never imagined this routine could be so enjoyable.
Wow, this might be close to 50 LP already.
First-day results were outstanding.
Earning 50 LP in a single day from nothing far exceeded his target.
Ding!
[Gained experience.]
[Level up!]
[Reached level 9.]
Leveling up so quickly was unbelievable.
Player Information
[Info]
Name: Dave (Dave#GARQW)
Race: Human
Age: 26
Level: 9
Class: None
Title: Giant Slayer
Even though he spent a lot of time dissecting,
“Already level 9?”
He had no idea he could perform this well.
Why underestimate himself? In the beta, he couldn’t do this.
Level 9 on day one… I’ve never been this fast in any playthrough.
Even in his most recent beta playthrough, reaching level 9–10 took 2 days.
Sleeping 6 hours daily with a fairy, it took almost 30 hours to reach level 10.
So now, he was roughly 3x faster.
Was it a mindset difference?
Even then, this seems too big a difference.
Honestly, he didn’t know how it was possible.
The official server shouldn’t be easier than beta.
Maybe some hidden talent bloomed while returning to Earth.
Good enough, I’ll take it.
So now, was he capable of hunting the Demon King instead of Wyverns?
Unlikely.
An F-rank hero awakening would only make him E-rank, at best.
He was just able to earn money a bit more easily. That was enough.
“Hmm.”
With that, he returned to town, organized his inventory, and had exactly 53 LP.
[Current LP: 53]
Satisfied, he recorded his work log.
Keeping a ledger is essential to steadily earn money without waste.
Day 1 Work Log
Total Sales: 71 LP
Expenses: 18 LP
-Expenses-
Baleshirt Return Scroll: 10 LP
Sturdy Iron Shovel: 5 LP
Sharp Pocket Knife: 3 LP
Operating Profit: 53 LP
Where he spent the money mattered more than how he earned it.
No way would he let money leak.
Today’s log was perfect. Spending 3 LP on a dissection knife was a justified investment.
After roughly 10 hours online,
Ding!
[Logout location: Village of Beginnings – Baleshirt]
Finally, he decided to log off.
[Dave’s connection has ended.]
Outside, the sun was already setting.
He hadn’t planned to stay this long.
But it was fun, so…
“Heh heh heh.”
Logging off didn’t mean the day was over.
One task remained.
He boarded the subway and headed to Seoul Station.
Even though the sun had set…
He was going to exchange the money he earned today.
He preferred KRW over LP.
Ding ding- Ding ding-**
-Next stop: Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station.
It was only around 8 PM, so parents wouldn’t worry yet.
Exchanging LP for chicken might make his dad happy.
If asked where the money came from, he’d say a friend’s company day job.
He would only tell them about earning from the gate after making at least hundreds of millions.
Before he knew it, he arrived at Seoul Station.
Finding the destination was easy.
[Constellation Tower – Gate Administration Office]
The gigantic white light pillar in front of Seoul Station square was impossible to miss.
