As soon as the announcement finished, everyone in the village milled about in confusion and panic.

“Goblins…?”

“We’re fighting?”

“Are we really supposed to fight monsters?”

“I've never fought! I wasn’t drafted! I don’t even lift!”

And in the midst of the commotion, Jay Kim was the calm in the storm, thoughts of gaining currency from slaying monsters and that sweet, sweet deal to be purchased as a personal reward was filling his mind.

Time to earn my keep, I guess. It’s not like this world is any different from the world I came from – if you don’t work, you don’t eat.

But his fear had long since been replaced by the need to make money.

Nothing could stop his pure desire for shopping.

Also, if you don’t eat, you don’t shop, Jay belatedly thought, silently thanking his obsession with shopping that helped him think straight in the middle of all this madness… and yes, it was the Awakening Store.

Though I’ll be damned if I don’t pull my weight and start turning these goblins into greenbacks, he continued. I don’t know, and I don’t care.

The things in my mind right now? Killing goblins, making money, shopping. Simple as that.

Jay made up his mind.

He took careful, measured strides from the town square to the main gate, all the while stretching his limbs.

His imposing manner reflected how determined he was.

A simple discovery that he could still shop in this new environment completely changed who he was; the man shivering in terror was nowhere to be found.

By looking at Jay, people may have thought that being addicted to shopping wasn’t that bad of a thing, since it what what drove him to stay strong in such panicking situation.

“Where does he think he’s going?”

“You going out there? After the monsters we heard were coming?”

There were a lot of other Awakeners who were brought here at the same time this bizarre man was. While some took their time to assess the situation, others were too busy thinking about their reputation, and saw the young man as a cringe-worthy embarrassment.

If there were still a few minutes before the goblins came and experienced players knew to prepare, this man was different. He wanted to slay those monsters – and slay those monsters as soon as humanly possible.

Most of them already checked their status window, but had now gone over the initial shock of ending up in a different world and already had a sense of what this place was all about.

And at the same time, though, they also knew that from this moment on, they would be living a much different life from the world they left behind.

Not long after they were transported to a world taken straight from the standard role-playing game design page, the Awakeners of Brino began to realize that they had to get their act together and fight monsters like characters in the role-playing games they used to enjoy as kids or teenagers.

I guess I need to move and get ahead of others.

As soon as they had a clearer grasp of what was going on, they tried to make their moves.

But unlike their thoughts, their legs felt heavier than ever.

I’m afraid.

Heck, most people never got into a fight throughout their adulthood.

In other words, they didn’t feel comfortable with the act of fighting itself. They just weren’t accustomed to it.

But in a few minutes, they even have to fight against monster, something that they had never encountered.

“What is that guy stretching for?”

“Is he really going outside?”

“Are we even ready for this?”

“Look at him! He looks like a total shut-in!”

Time was being wasted while people were being gripped with indecision.

It was at this moment that someone stood tall in the town square and raised his voice, gaining the attention of the group of Awakeners.

“We’re going to go out there. We’re going to find those goblins and kill them all.”

A female Awakener gasped.

“Haven’t you people understood? Don’t you remember? This town is one of the last lines of defense. And we will hold it. We will work together, we will get stronger together, and we’re going to make those goblins pay for even thinking about taking one step in this damned town!”

“Are you with me?!”

A few cheered.

“ARE YOU WITH ME?!”

More cheered.

“Then let’s move out and kick some goblin ass!”

After even more cheered, out from the gates of Brino walked the first group of Awakeners, headed by someone whose only goal was to make enough money to buy whatever was on sale.

The inspirational speech helped the group in a way he didn’t expect – though the goblins were still a few minutes off, the rest of the Awakeners heading out with him were already doing their own preparations.

“We’re going to fight these guys together. We stick together, everyone of us gets to go home.”

“This is OUR home, now.”

Their morale raised, some of the Awakeners took it upon themselves to lead, picking out groups of Awakeners to work with and share information.

“Seems like I am a warrior class and have a skill called ‘Hardening’, what do you have?” one of the group leaders asked.

“I am a wizard, and I’ve got Fireball,” another man answered.

Elsewhere, many similar conversations were taking place.

“How about you?” another leader asked, this one in a robe and wizard hat.

“I have an ability called ‘Moonlight Slash’, “ a lanky young man – looking like he just got out of his teens – replied. “Haven’t tested it yet, though.”

“Give it a run now,” the leader answered. “Better now than later when your sword is in battle.”

The sword-wielding teen just nodded.

As all this was going on, leading up to the approach of the goblin scouting party, Jay was oddly enough in the forefront, quite a distance away from the ongoing conversation.

By then, he was already close to the main gate of the village, and all that was in his mind was the package he’d get… and, to his shame, the fact that he did not want to talk about his ability to others.

Fireball. Moonlight Slash. Useful abilities, all of them. But I don’t feel like telling them what my skills are. Let them speculate.

It’s not jealousy.

Though I think my skill is the best among everyone here, it’s kind of embarrassing to talk about it right now.

Maybe later, once we drive off the goblins.

To Jay, self-satisfaction and embarrassment were two different things. He already knew how to keep himself from panicking back then, and that was by focusing on the task at hand and what he was planning.

Okay, Jay, okay, Jay told himself. Worry about everything else first. Just take out the goblins, make the money, and buy the package. It’s savings like you wouldn’t believe. You’d have to be an idiot not to go for this.

When your entire purpose of being is to find the best bargains and buy them, you tend to ignore things like necessity and focus strictly on how much you’ll save and how much value you’ll get.

It was a typical shopping addict’s pattern.

By the time he had finished psyching himself up, the gates to Brino were flung open, and he was the first one outside, facing off against his first enemies in this new adventure.

And looming before him was an unrealistic scene that none of the gathered Awakeners had ever experienced in visceral reality.

The fey mood was broken the moment the first goblin in front roared.

“Ka-ah!”

The goblin scouting party was approaching the village, carrying with them their spears and screeching their language.

To most of the Awakeners, the sound chilled them to their bones – but to the already battle-lusted Jay, the goblins’ screeching was nothing more than an annoyance that reminded him of his boss when he was still working in the office.

“Goblins that sound like my former boss?” Jay asked before smacking his fist against his open palm and cracking his knuckles.

As he heard the continuous screeching and posturing, Jay felt the last of his fear melt away, being replaced with a sense of duty as the battle was about to be joined.

The thought of his boss brought Jay back to the fundamental truth that you needed to work if you wanted to eat.

Well, necessities aside, Jay never hid the fact that he went to work just to earn money for shopping; nobody asked.

And while time seemed to slow down as the first wave of goblin scouts stepped up, tensing their arms with their spears, what little hesitation Jay had had vanished.

This isn’t an adventure.

It’s work.

Time to take care of business and earn my keep.