"How do you know this?"
I had found his weak spot. My second question came out as his voice softened dramatically.
"You're here because of that sin, aren't you?"
The angry facial expression of the man, who previously thought I was just making guesses, was replaced as if by a massive astonishment emoji.
"I can tell you're a bit tense, but hear me out without interrupting, you'll get all your answers!"
I told the man everything that had happened, starting from my last night up to this moment. Even though our first contact had some sparks, ultimately, there was an adult in front of me; he would definitely calm down and understand what I was saying.
"Wow, so that's how it is. Now you know your strength and stats, and you even got a skill on top of it!"
I was right. The man, looking at the text above my head, was taking me and what I said seriously.
"Max, is that your name? I think I have the same thing above my head, what does it say?"
Since I guessed he didn't know, I hadn't addressed him by his new name at all. Now I was curious how he would react when he heard it for the first time.
"It says Sukrucuk above your head, Big Bro!"
I was talking on one hand and struggling not to laugh on the other. Man, was this really a name you stick on a grown man?
"Ah, it's all because of that fag-looking brother-in-law of mine! I told him so many times I don't know how to dance!"
The poor guy was distressed. Playing to his tune, I tried to find out about his last night.
"Tell me about that last night, why did you fall to Hell?"
"Don't even ask, my friend. Our wives are three siblings, two girls and a boy. It was the wedding of the middle sister-in-law that night. We had no choice but to go; we're practically the hosts of the wedding!"
"The youngest one, the brother-in-law, is a total good-for-nothing, a jinx, a menace. The groom's side brought a male belly dancer, and he kept insisting we had to dance, go belly-to-belly with him!"
The story was getting juicier as he told it. Once we got past the beginning of the wedding and approached the end, the real bomb was going to drop.
"We had a bit to drink too. With all the pushing and pulling, next thing I know, I'm on the stage dancing with the belly dancer. One of our relatives came up and stuck some money on my forehead. Man, not even ten seconds pass, and you, the clown in a skirt, swing your hand trying to snatch the money, and your finger goes right into my eye!"
"Such a pain, it felt like my brain was pierced; before he could even say 'Big Bro, I'm sorry,' I headbutted him right there. The woman is screaming on one side, this prick is braying while writhing on the floor—all hell broke loose, you know!"
"Last thing I remember, we were at the police station. Just as I was saying, 'My God, take my life so I can be free of this,' my vision went black. Next thing I know, the reckoning happens, and because of that last headbutt, we fell down here!"
"Your name makes sense then, Big Bro. Around Kayseri, they also call a male belly dancer 'Sukrucuk'. They gave you this as a punishment!"
Even though I found it weird at first, I was thanking God for the name Max right now. Compared to the title stuck on this grown man, mine sounded like a stage name.
"What do we do now? You're saying I have to go and kill one of these things, right?"
"Exactly. You stood among them for hours, were they able to do anything to you? Just don't make it obvious you're going to attack. Do you see that crazy one popping off by himself?"
With my hand, I pointed to a Fallen that had separated slightly from the crowd.
"Yeah, I see him!"
"We'll wait. Once he's completely separated from the herd, you'll calmly walk up to him and plant a headbutt right in the middle of his forehead!"
"If we're lucky, this mob might drop a skill book for you too!"
After my last word, the middle-aged man brought his eyebrows close together, pouted his lower lip, and looked at me in a way that made it clear he didn't understand.
"Big Bro, this place is set up like an online game, and over there, they call monsters 'mobs' for short. Just a habit of speech!"
I was willing to explain. A voice inside me said it was going to work this time; luck was on our side too. When the crowd the isolated mob had separated from switched to a rhythmic group dance, he was completely cut off from the environment.
"I'm going. I'll take his life and come back!"
As Sukrucuk stepped outside the shield, I couldn't resist getting one last word in.
"Big Bro, imagine you're hitting your brother-in-law. See him in the face of the Fallen!"
The man was already distressed, but after what I said, he completely lost it. With calm but long strides, he slowly entered the attack range of the mob named Street Thug lvl 1.
Being lvl 1, this creature had no way of knowing that Sukrucuk was, so to speak, enchanted. It immediately turned to him and started performing a dance move, crossing its hands and arms.
They approached each other step by step. When there wasn't even a meter left, our guy grabbed him by the collar, let out a solid curse, and planted a headbutt.
"Look at this bastard! Writhing like a snake in front of me! Oh man, brother-in-law, if I get my hands on you, I'll tear your head off, ah!"
It had worked. As the Fallen slowly faded into nothingness, there were a few metal coins and a hand-sized book on the ground, just like there had been for me.
"Help me out, lovv!"
As the last trace of Street Thug lvl 1 disappeared, it did something unexpected. With its dying breath, it let out a cry for help, trying to draw its friends to the middle-aged man who killed it.
"Big Bro, grab the book and run inside the shield, they're all coming at you!"
Intoxicated by victory, Sukrucuk kept throwing curses. If he didn't snap out of it soon, we'd have to start everything all over again.
"Big Brooooooooo, grab the book and run, they're comingggggg!"
I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Even like this, I could barely make my voice heard to our fierce tough guy; the man was thrilled to pieces after landing that headbutt.
"That's a lot of mops, man!"
As Sukrucuk snatched the items on the ground and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, I was experiencing mixed emotions. I didn't know whether to laugh at the man calling the Fallen "mops" or be glad he was trying to adapt this quickly.
While I was thinking, the Big Bro had made it right next to me. The Fallen chasing him were yelling at us with hatred from outside the shield.
"You're gonna come out here, boyyy!"
"We'll turn a man into a madam, madam!"
"You saw us like this and thought we were just Karamürsel baskets, man! We've got just as much underground, boyyyyyy!"
They were screaming in anger, throwing all sorts of hand gestures, while Sukrucuk was still panting. Unable to stand his knees trembling, he slumped to the ground. Because he couldn't get enough oxygen, the color of his face was turning slightly purple.
"You made it, Big Bro. Catch your breath for a bit, and when you recover, you can learn the skill in the book!"
His eyes were glued to the book he gripped tightly with his claw-like hand. I guess rather than the thought of escaping the torment he would suffer, escaping from here and the skill he would gain interested Sukrucuk more.
But I had forgotten something. After killing his first Fallen, there was somewhere the man needed to go. Before I even had the chance to answer him, he suddenly vanished.
I was curious about the name of the book and the attributes of the skill. I figured I might as well mess around with these types, but the Hood Zone mobs gathered in front of the shield also began to disperse after Sukrucuk disappeared.
For an hour, I lay on my back, lost in watching the sky above us. There was a sense of peace inside me, however small. I would share a destiny with the middle-aged man, at least until we left the beginner village. Knowing I wasn't alone felt good to me.
I wasn't sleepy. I felt as if I had never slept before. There were no issues regarding basic needs here; I just had to fight for a purpose.
"Goodness points received +5!"
"First guidance bonus +5!"
Two notifications echoed in my mind during the moments I was happily thinking about a calm afternoon. In the following process, another panel would appear before my eyes.
There was a massive book opened in the middle in front of me. On one side, it said GOODNESS, and the page color was powder blue; on the other side, it said EVIL, and the page color was dark red.
I saw the exact same words that had just rung in my head being written slowly on the section that said goodness. The black letters emerged from within the paper, and the two sentences were completed in a short time.