Lucas grinned. "Trust me, you're gonna love this place."
But Rex wasn't so sure.
He was quite picky with food—not in the sense that he didn't like certain ingredients, but his criteria for good food were quite high.
After a short walk, heading north, then turning right and then left onto Gayley Ave, they navigated through various eateries and shops until they finally reached their destination—
Gushi, a cozy Korean restaurant with a casual and laid-back vibe.
They casually found a seat outdoors. Sitting outside on a patio-like area, Rex curiously looked around.
The place was bustling with students and locals alike, creating a lively atmosphere. Sitting outdoors, one could enjoy the cool breeze and admire the night sky while savoring a meal.
As he sat down, Lucas placed the menu in front of him. "Here, order whatever you like. My treat. Don't say no, otherwise, I'll get angry."
Rex chuckled. "Okay, I won't be polite then."
Opening the menu, he saw a wide variety of Korean dishes, including kimchi, chicken teriyaki, grilled beef steak with sweet teriyaki sauce, Korean BBQ short ribs, kimchi fried rice, ramen, udon, and side dishes like dumplings.
As he was browsing, a kind, middle-aged Korean woman approached. Lucas greeted her familiarly and placed his order.
"Boss, give me your special Korean BBQ plate, beef teriyaki bowl, dumplings, and a Coke."
"And what about you, handsome guy?" she asked Rex with a smile.
Rex smiled back. "I'm not familiar with the food here, so give me the same as his—just add another portion of short ribs."
"Okay, no problem."
After taking their order, the boss lady nodded warmly before rushing inside.
Lucas chimed in, "Great choice, man. I guarantee you'll love it." He patted his chest in assurance.
"Okay, okay, let's wait and see."
Seeing Rex's nonchalant look, Lucas felt indignant. "Hey, man, It isn't some shoddy shop scamming customers with a Korean name. This is a hidden gem I recently found."
He gestured toward the restaurant. "The lady just now is the owner. She immigrated here a few years ago for her daughter, who used to study here. They serve authentic Korean flavors, their food is as authentic as it gets. Trust me, you'll absolutely love it."
"Okay, okay, I believe you," Rex conceded with a laugh. "Anyway, we'll see. You know I'm quite picky about food. If I don't like it, don't blame me."
Soon, their food arrived. He had to admit that the service was impressively fast.
The table in front of them was filled with a dazzling variety of dishes, all looking absolutely tantalizing. The sight alone was enough to make Rex's stomach grumble. As their savory aroma filled the air.
Without caring much about manners, they dug in.
As they ate, they chatted casually, joking and bragging.
The conversation flowed effortlessly, and before long, Rex gradually relaxed, talking and laughing freely.
An hour later, they finally finished their meal and leaned back in their chairs feeling satisfied.
Lucas raised an eyebrow playfully. "So? Did it pass your test?"
"Okay, I admit it—it's okay. Happy now?"
"Just decent?" Lucas looked ready to protest, but Rex's serious expression stopped him. "Fine, fine. I'll take that."
After some more laughter and banter, they got up, and Lucas paid the bill.
Rex didn't argue or insist. Between friends, this was normal, and neither he nor Lucas was lacking a few bucks.
As they stepped outside, Lucas asked, "Need a ride? I can drop you home."
"No need. My car is still parked at uni."
"Alright then, take care."
"You too. Good night."
"Alright then, take care." Lucas had rented an apartment nearby, so he didn't have to worry about him.
And he made his way back to the parking lot.
Sitting in his car, he started the engine and headed home.
On the way, he stopped by a supermarket and bought some groceries—eggs, meat, milk, bread, and vegetables.
Once home, he carefully stocked the fridge, feeling oddly satisfied as he looked at the now well-stocked shelves.
"At least now I don't have to eat out every day."
No matter how delicious restaurant food was, one would eventually get tired of it, as nothing quite beat a home-cooked meal.
After putting everything away, he took a warm, comforting bath to relax and process everything that had happened today.
Meeting Lucas was a surprise—nevertheless, a good one. And seeing that Lucas hadn't noticed anything unusual, He fully relaxed, letting go of his last bit of worry.
After washing up, he changed into comfortable clothes and lay down on his bed.
Seeing that it was around 10:30 and there was still some time before his daily reward, he opened his phone and randomly scrolled through the internet.
It was also a good way to familiarize himself with this world's norms.
And sure enough, he found some pretty interesting things. For example, the phone he was using right now "Pineapple Series 3" wasn't a brand he was familiar with.
The company behind it was called "Pineapple", with a pineapple logo on the back.
And despite being a top flagship phone, the user experience wasn't very good. It was mediocre at best.
Its specs were underwhelming, its design outdated, and its user experience frustrating. It was worse than third-rate phones from his previous life.
Honestly, even though it was usable, its appearance wasn't anything to praise.
But according to his standards, it was really ugly.
It had large notches on both sides of the screen—just like a decade-old smartphones from his previous world.
Its camera was only around 5MP, and the RAM and storage were pretty low, too.
And yet, this was the "best-selling smartphone in the world."
After digging deeper online, he discovered that, compared to other phones in the market, this one was actually considered pretty good—even beautiful.
Anyway, it was still usable. It's not like he could build his own phone, right?
And the search engine he was using was pretty rudimentary too. The results were all over the place, and the page was practically overflowing with ads.
As for ultimate time-wasting black holes—social media apps—well, you guessed it right, they were unfamiliar too.
After searching around, he did find one that was kind of similar to Facebook but calling it similar was a stretch. It was an obscure app among a multitude of others, and the only thing it had in common was the name—Lookbook.
As he continued his deep dive into this world's internet, time passed quickly.
"Ding!"
[Your daily sign-in reward has arrived.]
[Claim it.]
The sudden system prompt startled him. Checking the time, he saw it was already midnight.
Seeing the bright lights of the system interface, he didn't get excited this time. Who knew if it was just another weird thing like noodles?
Calmly turning off his phone, he took a deep breath and received it.
As he did, he prayed to every Deity he could think of, God, Buddha, Allah—Anyone willing to listen to his pleas.
With the usual dramatic fireworks and loud music, the reward box opened., revealing the content inside.
[Congratulations! You have received the Basic Hacking skill (Penetration).]
Rex's eyes widened.
Then, a huge grin spread across his face.
"Haha! I'm a hacker now!" He couldn't help but laugh in excitement.
And hurriedly thanked all the gods—who knew which one had blessed him?
He then turned to check the skill details.
[Description: The ability to exploit common, low-level vulnerabilities in everyday digital devices and systems. This includes bypassing basic security measures on mobile devices, utilizing readily available exploits for simple software, and understanding how to deploy and use basic malware through physical access. It's about exploiting the weaknesses in the digital world that most people overlook.]
Reading the description, he almost jumped up from the bed in excitement.
Being a hacker was every man's dream!
Who wouldn't want to roam the digital world freely, breaking through barriers and uncovering hidden secrets?
...Wait. That sounded kinda pervy.
'Ahem.' But you get the idea.
However, his excitement didn't last long.
"Ding!"
Another system prompt popped up.
He read it.
And immediately cried out—
"…NO! I DON'T WANT THIS SKILL! SOMEBODY HELP!"
His panicked cry echoed through the room, but the system remained indifferent, its response cold and absolute.
[Skill Acquisition Initiated. Transferring Consciousness to the System Training Realm.]
[████████████████████████████████████████████████]
Before he could react, a strange force pulled at his mind. His vision blurred, and an overwhelming dizziness overtook him. The room around him twisted and shattered like glass, giving way to an infinite void.
But just before everything faded to black, a memory surfaced—a fleeting moment from earlier that day.
Hidden in the shadows of the university hallway, he had overheard two students whispering in hushed, fearful voices.
"I'm telling you, something's off about Professor Clement ," one had said, eyes darting around nervously.
"Shh! Do you want to disappear too?" the other had snapped. "Just forget it. Forget you even thought about it."
At the time, he had thought nothing of it. Just baseless gossip. But now—as he was being dragged into the unknown—a chilling realization crept over him.
Was there more to the professor than he had assumed?
Before he could dwell on it, the world around him collapsed entirely, and his consciousness was hurled into darkness.
The game had begun.
[End of Chapter]