As Ivan's words left his mouth, it felt as if a deafening silence had fallen upon the entire coffee shop. Iris was left speechless, struggling to put her words together.
"How did you..." Iris stuttered, her confusion evident on her face.
"You know, you look quite innocent. No one would assume you could poison someone you've only just met," Ivan remarked, his eyes darting around the coffee shop.
"How did you know?" Iris asked, her expression painted with bewilderment.
"I took a guess," Ivan replied with a shrug.
"It doesn't matter. You've drunk the poison, and you won't be given the antidote until all my questions are answered," Iris declared firmly.
"I see," Ivan responded, taking another sip of the coffee and nodding his head in delight as he savored the taste.
[Game developer privileges: Poison nullified (source: coffee)]
"Why do you keep drinking it if you know it's poison?" Iris exclaimed, unable to comprehend Ivan's actions.
"Like I said, it's good coffee," Ivan replied nonchalantly.
"You know, I have a couple of questions myself. We entered together and both ordered at the same time, so I wonder how you managed to get them to serve me poison. After all, it did seem like a normal coffee spot," Ivan stated, taking another sip of his coffee.
From the moment they walked in, Ivan had noticed something peculiar. Above the heads of everyone in the coffee shop were names and levels. He had already come to terms with the possibility that it was a result of the "eye of the creator" skill, accepting the fact that they were all Awakened.
Still, the fact bothered him. Awakened weren't just ordinary individuals; you wouldn't randomly find a gathering of them in a simple coffee place.
"I have to say, it's quite unusual for this many Awakened to be in a place like this," Ivan stated, his tone taking on a menacing edge as he locked eyes with Iris, whose shock only seemed to multiply.
She couldn't grasp how he could have possibly figured out the others customers were also Awakened.
However, it was the other people present who reacted most drastically to Ivan's words. In an instant, they all drew concealed weapons, pointing them at Ivan with an unmistakable sense of hostility.
"Sigh, such hostility. Must everything be solved with violence?" Ivan sighed, taking another sip of his coffee, showing no concern for the weapons pointed at him.
Ivan remained calm, almost too calm. He knew that all the people present were Awakened—the elite few who had escaped New Oasis. Their levels surpassed the one Ivan had acquired in the game.
Regardless of whether he had maintained his game stats or not, he understood that these people were more than capable of killing him.
However, they didn't know that, and he wouldn't let them find out. Bluffing his way out of this situation seemed like the best course of action now.
"Does this mean I can't go home?" Ivan asked.
"Why the hell would we let you leave?" Iris retorted.
"For the last couple of days, I've been through a lot of fighting, witnessed death, and even caused some myself. I had hoped to leave that all behind," Ivan said, his tone growing darker.
"Of course, I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the sweet symphony of droplets of blood from my sword hitting the ground. Oh, how pleasant it was," Ivan continued, his words laced with menace.
His words hung heavily in the room, and the air of hostility shifted to uncertainty among everyone present.
"I assume we are done here," Ivan stated as he got up from his seat.
Having sowed the seeds of hesitation and fear with his threat, it was now time to see what they would yield.
"If you're not against us, why won't you just tell me who you are?" Iris asked, her voice tinged with resignation, unwilling to continue the tense exchange.
"I'm Ivan, and like I said, I'm just a jobless guy desperately in need of work," Ivan replied as he left the seat.
"It was great coffee, it really was," he added, walking towards the shop's exit.
"What about the antidote?" Iris asked.
"Don't worry about it; I'll be fine," Ivan assured her, reaching for the door to open it.
"Ivan," Iris called out just as he was about to walk out, causing him to turn back.
"You can have the job, so if you want come to work tomorrow at 8," Iris informed him.
Ivan nodded in acknowledgment before walking out of the coffee shop into the serene street outside, while Iris leaned back in her chair, letting out a long sigh.
****
Ivan slammed his alarm and groggily turned back into bed. He was not a morning person; most days, he woke up deep into the afternoon, but today was different. He needed to be early for his new job.
Although he wasn't exactly excited for his first day at work, the steadily diminishing food stock served as motivation. Ivan sluggishly got out of bed, determined not to die of hunger, and made his way to the shower.
On his path to the shower, he navigated past the destroyed Oasis Pod he couldn't be bothered to get rid of. He quickly readied himself, putting on some decent clothes, leaving behind the phase of dressing like a homeless person. With that done, he headed to his new workplace.
One of the reasons Ivan struggled to wake up early was that he spent last night contemplating. He couldn't seem to decide whether it was wise to work at a store owned by Iris's dad or to be associated with her. He feared she could bring trouble, but in the end, his desire for money outweighed his ability to care.
Furthermore, after lifting as many heavy objects as he could find, Ivan had come to the conclusion that he was Awakened. However, he had no way to check his level or stats. After all, this wasn't a game where he could just swipe and see his status screen, or so he thought.
Initially, he dismissed the possibility of seeing his status screen, considering it absurd. But then again, the eye of the creator skill, leaving the game, and possessing game developer privileges were all equally absurd.
So, last night, he tried a few times to open his status screen, swiping his fingers every which way, but nothing worked. Yet, he was convinced that there must be a way since he did receive a system notification at the coffe place.
As Ivan's mind raced with thoughts during the walk to the store, the time seemed to pass quickly. The sound of bells greeted him as he pushed open the door and entered.
Inside the store, Iris wore a light green jacket over her normal clothes, her silver hair pulled back into a messy bun as she diligently stacked items on the shelves from various boxes.
"Good, you're here," Iris said, looking at Ivan.
"Morning," Ivan replied, making an effort to ignore any awkwardness from the previous day, as Iris had done.
"Put on the jacket behind the counter and come help me with restocking," Iris instructed.
Ivan walked over to the counter, grabbed the jacket bearing the store logo, and put it on before joining Iris.
"Just put everything where it's labeled to be. The letter and number correspond to a specific place on the shelf," Iris explained, picking up some tin cans from one of the many open boxes and placing them on the shelf.
They both worked in silence for some time until Iris broke it with a question.
"So, you're an Awakened not associated with a guild, right?" Iris asked.
"How do you know I'm not with a guild?" Ivan questioned.
"Well, you wouldn't be poor and jobless if you were," Iris remarked.
"It's kind of hurtful when someone else says it," Ivan replied with a sigh.
"Oh, sorry," Iris said, offering a small chuckle.
"Don't worry about it. I've come to terms with being off low status and..." Ivan began before suddenly pausing and staring.
"What's wrong?" Iris asked as Ivan stopped talking, his gaze fixed on something in the distance.
"Well, isn't this great," Ivan said, his eyes locked onto the blue floating status screen before him.