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Chapter Text

[Kim Suho]

17 - 27 year old in history.

A fair, honest and hardworking man. Although he comes from a common environment, he has an extraordinary character and talent. As a genius who became known in the military academy, he has a sense of justice and other righteous characteristics typical of a hero. He carries a special secret that he hasn't revealed to anyone.

[Shin Jonghak]

17 year old in history.

The fourth-generation descendant of Jinsung Corp, one of the largest chaebol in Korea, who competes for the number one position. As the son of a chaebol family, he is narcissistic and elitist. Due to his personality and the sense of inferiority he feels against Kim Suho, he later becomes a villain.

'I have to be the best. I can't tolerate anyone being above me.' With such obstinacy, he confronts Kim Suho.

---------

The previous two were the two main characters of my novel.

Although the novel had many more personal ones, writing them all was impossible. Within the world line of my novel there were billions of characters. So unless the characters have "Important Roles" or are part of the plot, it isn’t necessary to give each character a name. There was a limit to the configuration.

Why was I saying all this?

Agent of the Heroes Association Graduation Branch of the Seoul Military Academy, Class of 2024, Cadet of Rank 1, Kim Suho.

It was because the story in my novel was happening in front of my eyes.

Called to the stage, Kim Suho approached with a stiff face as if he were nervous.

We were in a huge auditorium with the design of a temple. There were 3,000 cadets and thousands of spectators. All his eyes were directed at a single person, Kim Suho.

"Is he Kim Suho? Wow."

"He’s so handsome...."

Several women looked with admiration and adoration at his beauty and charisma.

"...That's why people say that Talent is the only thing that matters. Who cares if you make an effort? People like him end up taking the first place anyway."

"That guy was very lucky with his Talent."

And naturally, he received the jealousy and envy of young teenagers, like any great guy.

"It is said that his grades are the best of the last 10 years."

"Yes, I've heard of him. Your talent was also announced, wasn't it? What was it again... Sword Saint?"

The associates of the guild, who came to see the best cadet in recent history, were impressed.

They were looking down from the highest seats in the auditorium. However, I could hear their voices. They had to be at least a kilometer away, but as I looked in his direction, I could hear their words clearly.

Not only their words, but I could also see their faces, almost as if I were right in front of them.

Maybe this was my Talent.

"Yes, as far as we are concerned, it is said that he receives the protection of the world."

"Hm... That's a pretty vague description, but I guess the information from the academy is like that."

"We marked that boy, so don't touch him."

I recognized one of the whispering faces.

Yun Seung-ssi. An important assistant of the main character and one of the heroines who almost becomes the lover of the main character. Just when the two got along well - in fact, the main character got along well with many of the heroines, he has an incredible personality - I suspended my novel. Therefore, the two never became lovers.

Making a little memory, Dad complained for hours about this cliché in the plot while Sooyoung Ahjumma was very proud.

"Ask? What did you ask for? When it comes to cadets, there is no such thing."

Before the insensitive words of another associate of the guild, Yun Seung-ssi smiled sweetly and refuted.

"Is that why 'Essence of the Strait' can't escape second place?"

I knew Yun Seung-ssi's face. Surprisingly, she had a resemblance to Sangah Noona. [That was probably because I thought of her when I was describing the character of Yun Seung-ssi. Although, to be completely honest, she is much more beautiful than Yun Seung-ssi.]

"... Can I take that as a challenge?"

"I'm joking, of course. In addition, we still have three years left before we can explore any of them."

"It's two years."

"... You know that contacting them before they graduate is illegal, right?"

"That's only if they discover you."

Yun Seung-ssi and the man stared at each other. With their staring contest as a starting point, the atmosphere of the VIP seats began to heat up.

And so, the fight for Kim Suho had already begun.

-Class of 2024, cadet rank 2, Shin Jonghak.

In the meantime, the other main character stood up.

He was a descendant of the Jinsung clan. His appearance also rivaled Kim Suho.

The audience was agitated when Kim Suho approached, but unlike Kim Suho, envy and jealousy did not exist this time. There was only admiration and adoration. With Kim Suho, they thought: 'Why is he better than me?' But with Shin Jonghak, it was: 'He was better than me since he was born'. The scenario was completely different.

As if to show his noble blood, Shin Jonghak took the stage completely serenely.

Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak.

Standing next to each other, the two looked at each other. The electricity seemed to come out of his eyes.

Undoubtedly, these two were characters from my novel.

So, where was I?

I was not on the stage, but in the rear seat furthest from the auditorium. I was not a 'one in three thousand', but a member of the 'three thousand'. No associate of the guild looked in my direction.

So different from my original world.

"Chundong, what rank do you have? I'm in the 2,900 range."

Next to me, a boy who looked like an adorable little pig, asked. On his label with the name were the characters 'Kim Ho Sup'. This meant that he had an eventual role in the plot. Although he could not be a Hero due to his non-existent physical abilities, his Talent was exceptional for collecting information.

"Chundong-ssi?"

"... I don't know."

I didn't know who I was. I didn't even know why he called me Chundong.

If something like this had to happen, shouldn't I be one of the two on stage?

Sooyoung Ahjumma would be so disappointed with this development.

"Hey, come on, if you don't know that..."

"I don't know."

Once again, I didn't know. This world was the novel I wrote, but it was in the body of a character I had never written before. In addition to being a cadet at the Military Academy of Agents, I was the most common character with no connections, the guy whose name would not exist anywhere in the novel. In other words... I was an extra.

... No, in this world, I was nothing more than a speck of dust.

Chapter Text

One day, I received an email. The sender asked if they could redo my novel.

At that moment, I was stunned. It is possible that I had a small hiatus, but asking to redo a novel that was in serialization pays...

Of course, I refused. In fact, as a good son of my parents, I didn’t even bother to answer.

It was partly because doing something like that without permission would go against copyright laws, but also because I was ashamed of the state of 'hiatus' in which I found myself, no matter how much my family said otherwise.

The web novel I was writing was called, 'The Returnee Hero'.

It wasn't a sensation, but it was a pretty popular novel and the biggest success so far of my short writing career.

But by the time I received the email, I had been on hiatus for three months.

The reason was simple. The words didn't come to me.

At first I poured my passion into writing. With the help of Dad and Sooyoung Ahjumma, I managed to create the first few chapters.

My personal note on the world stage approached 50,000 characters, and I poured my heart into every chapter I wrote. But after a year of writing, I fell into a terrible depression. Even so, the novel continued for six months, reaching the late-middle stage of the story. But because I forced myself to write hard, the story was full of holes in the plot and the personalities of the characters had collapsed. As expected, the number of readers decreased day by day. I ended up being too scared to read the comments.

I tried to force myself to continue writing until I accidentally heard Dad comment on how worried he was about me with Sooyoung Ahjumma. I didn't want to bother them with any of my problems.

In the end, I chose to pause.

But no matter how much I rested, I couldn't continue with the story, not even a single sentence came out. I wallowed in misery when I realized my lack of writing skills, in the disappointment that I would cause my family concern....

I received another email asking me again to redo my novel.

[[email protected]]

[Please. This is for personal satisfaction. I will not reveal the new version of the novel anywhere. It will only be between you and me. Who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired by the new version and think of a way to continue the story...]

It was a fairly short email that consisted of six sentences, but what they asked for was simple.

They wanted to redo my novel for their self-satisfaction.

How much did you like my novel to send an email like this? As I was not particularly proud of my work, I agreed, grateful and very embarrassed.

.... In that case, was that the cause of the situation?

Thinking about it now, maybe I should have discussed it with my parents before accepting, especially since I was still a minor and there was a high probability that I was getting scammed.

But I, Yoo Hajin, was upset.

While I was in my growing depression, I noticed that my parents seemed very distressed, having secret meetings with Noona, Hyung, and the rest of the family. Then one day they just left, without saying more than “goodbye, take care of yourself, and don't leave the house until we get back.”

Now, I understand that my family are all the ‘saviors of humanity’ (a title of which they are not very fond of, in friendly terms) and they have many duties to fulfill, I am aware.

What I definitely can't accept is the overprotection they have over me.

The rumors of the beginning of new scenarios by the Star Stream became much stronger every day, and if Biyoo asked for KimCom's help for this, then there was a very serious problem.

I asked my dads if I could come with, wanting to help the family. "You're not ready yet" They answered.

In the end, I said goodbye to them, asking them to take care of themselves, and annoyed, I went up to my room, and I may have impulsively accepted the email in an attempt to distract me.

Not even a minute later, I fainted.

And now I was here.

Without a doubt, it was a very stupid course of action on my part.

It is said that the probability of winning the lottery is 1 out of 8,145,060. So what was happening to me at the moment had to be an opportunity of 1 in 7 billion.

Of course, if you don't involve the Star Stream.

Now, I was in front of a normal family home.

But the world I was in wasn't my world, and I wasn't me. Although one might think that I was being very dramatic, I really wasn't. That was the best way to describe the situation I am in.

I had become an extra of my novel. An extra that I don't remember ever writing about.

Kim Chundong.

Chundong lived in a common apartment, but he didn't have parents. As for why, I (of course) didn't know.

According to the information I managed to collect in the short time I was here, at the age of 9, Chundong was admitted to the Military Academy of Agents, a place to nourish the elites to fight against monsters and Djinns.

What capacity did Chundong have to pass his entrance exam?

I don’t know, I don’t know anything about him, I don’t even know his face. I'm not even kidding, I really don’t know.

When I try to look at myself in the mirror..

(?)

That's what I see. An oval with a question mark.

This crazy possession of a body(?) Or transmigration was completely unreasonable.

At times like this, I wish I had raised this type of plot to dad and listened to his strategies, maybe Sooyoung Ahjumma, Sangah Noona, and father would also have given me some suggestions.

Maybe Heewon Noona would’ve taught me a few defense techniques to protect my shoulder.

At first, I had 2 suspicions.

First, they were pranking me.

But that idea was knocked down in just five seconds after blinking, after all my family was much better than this.

When it comes to causing disasters, I mean.

Second, I was dreaming.

But I naturally discarded that idea. As everyone knew, the idea of being in a dream usually never occurs to people who dreamed, more importantly, no dream continued for two weeks with such a clear sense of reality.

I briefly came up with the idea that I was in some kind of scenario, but I had not received any kind of indication or message from the Star Stream since I woke up, so I discarded it.

As a result, I spent the last two weeks thinking about whether the 'world within the novel' should be treated as the 'reality I was in'.

Although, thinking about it a little, they certainly shared a lot of similarities, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to adapt to this place.

*Ding Dong*

Tatatatatata--

Just as I have been doing for the last two weeks, I was sunk in a mountain of books, (like a good son of a reader) when the alarm on my smartphone began to sound. Taking a peek, I saw that it was time to go to school.

These last two weeks, I had spent most of my time learning more about the world of my novel, so my sleeping schedule was becoming as bad as Dad's. Father would be completely horrified if he knew about the amount of coffee I have consumed recently.

"Why the hell do I have to go to school?"

13 days ago, it was the graduation of the Military Academy of Agents. But those who graduated were only non-combatant cadets, and non-combatant cadets did not meet the requirements to have the title of Heroes. The cadets of the combat class had to attend the academy for 3 more years.

These three years would be spent in [Cube], an Academy of Heroes. Unfortunately, this damn Chundong was a combat cadet. Again, I had no idea who he was.

In my world, I finished school at a very young age, so it had been a long time since I had interacted with other boys my age.

It wasn't so much the case that I was some kind of genius, but rather it was the discomfort school generated for me.

Growing up with your whole family being so popular and incredible, people immediately wanted to stick to you, wanting to please you, and get your attention. Most were hypocrites about it, some were fine, and some aggressive. The only people truly sincere did not dare to approach me, and in the end, I just made an effort to finish quickly, and be able to do other things alone.

"Ah.... How frustrating."

I barely left the house during these two weeks. I was too busy updating myself regarding the setting to care. I read books I found on the shelves, make myself some coffee, I would read articles on the Internet, prepare myself another coffee, and I would prepare food when I was hungry, since I didn't have much funds for instant food, and Father would be very angry if I got intoxicated with noodles again, and again, I would make myself more coffee......

Anyways, the only event I did worthy of being mentioned was just going to Seoul for two days, for the three-hour Cube Entry Ceremony.

I didn't want to go, obviously, but I had no other choice, since they told me that I would be expelled if I didn't attend.

"I have to go, but..."

I couldn't imagine who left me here, for what reason, and with what power. But after living as a hermit for two weeks, I come to accept my destiny easily, after all, you have to easily adapt to each situation.

Something I learned from my family.

It seemed that I would be living here indefinitely. In that case, I needed to start saving funds.

In my novel, being a hero was a dream job for everyone. Although things were criticized halfway because of the 'Villains.'

Especially if you had a good talent and a lot of practice.

I just had to survive until then. When the time came, I was sure I would come up with something.

On a side note, I couldn’t see my stats or use any my skills, so I was somewhat limited in the physical sense.

[7:33 am]

There were only 57 minutes left until I had to go to school.

I got out of my mountain of books and walked to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror again, Mr. Question mark said good morning to me.

"..... To hell with this question mark. Is it ever going to disappear?"

It wasn't funny, my face was a huge question mark, and I didn't know why.

Obviously it wasn't because I didn't describe my face. If that were the case, it wouldn't make sense for the other billion of people to have their own faces.

So the question was, why did only Chundong have a question mark on his face?

"I don't understand."

With the little information I had, I couldn't draw a conclusion, only pure theories. I reluctantly washed my face, I could feel my skin, I also had hair. That made things even more creepy.

After cleaning myself a little, I put on Cube's uniform, which they gave me at the entrance ceremony. Other than that, I had no other luggage.

The people who saw me in this uniform undoubtedly sent looks of envy, but at this point in my life, I was already used to it.

I had a more important problem to solve to care anyway, my face was still a question mark.

Far apart from the problem of facial recognition. I had not inherited the incredible beauty of father's ‘protagonist face’, but instead the average appearance of dad. (Although secretly, father thought that dad had a kind of hidden beauty) So although I was not handsome, I liked my appearance, and I wanted to get it back.

Turning the handlebars of the door, I looked back.

My house, for the last two weeks, was simple compared to the original. It is a small apartment room, which I barely found thanks to the address written on my cadet card.

It seemed that I had grown fond of it in this short period of time. I feel like I would miss it.

Cube floated in the middle of the East Sea. Once I left, I probably wouldn't come back.

"Ehh"

Leaving behind the small room of the apartment that I was happy to have, I went into a dark and unknown world.

Chapter Text

The largest training institute in the world that tells the latest information in magic, science, and engineering.

[Cube]

Cube is the name of a huge island located in the East Sea. This artificial island is twice as big as Yeouido.

On a separate note, this is a large island located in Seoul, 8.4 square kilometers in size, and with a population of 31,000 inhabitants.

In this huge island, there were only about 5,000 Heroes cadets, of which 1,300 were in the first year. While 2000 non-combatants graduated two weeks ago, elite cadets from around the world gathered here, making it more competitive than ever. If you look at it from another perspective, the place was too hard, and a depressing school to be the home of young people ranging from 17 to 19 years old.

But who was I to judge them, after all, I grew up spending most of my time at the KimCom base, or with the constellations.

And from the second year, the magicians who chose to become Heroes would come from the National University of Magic, so there were 200 to 300 more cadets among others.

In addition, there were training instructors, cafeteria ladies, cleaners, recruits who visited occasionally, government associates, engineers who did maintenance and operations, soldiers dispatched as securities, doctors, investigators for the care of cadets, convenience store workers located in different parts of Cube, and much more...

With all these people, about 50,000 people lived on [Cube].

Thinking about that now, when I started the Cube configurations, I was quite proud of the amount of details that I had written for this place.

Naturally, this place was a focus point, very important to the storyline and plot, and where all the attention of investors was concentrated. Since some configurations of my novel were still standing, I could tell Korea was a fairly important world power.

I seemed to remember I had justified it with several reasons, but the most obvious was because of the similarity with my original world.

In any case, Chundong was a member of the Cube so it could be said that he was an elite. But I didn't assign any story to Chundong.

So Chundong's destiny should have been to live in areas far from the main argument. Even if he would not have lived the important, and overwhelming life of the protagonist, he would probably have lived a comfortable and carefree life.

.... Another marked contrast to my original world, but I wouldn't prefer it any other way.

And from what I could deduce from Dad's anecdotes, being inside the main story would be important here.

Looking at the class door, I sighed.

[Novice – Veritas]

Novice referred to first-year cadets, while Veritas was the name of the class. In a nutshell, I was in year 1, class 1.

I knew what this class was.

Shin Jonghak and Kim Suho were in this class and, as groups formed around them, many schemes, mostly initiated by Shin Jonghak and his followers, would make the class noisy. As a member of the class, I will most likely be involved regardless of my will.

"Haa."

After catching my breath, I opened the door slowly and carefully.

The interior was elegant; white with no trace of dust and three long cascading desks.

Where do I sit? I looked around the classroom and found Shin Jonghak sitting in the farthest seat, with his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets, an imposing posture. Next to him was his childhood friend, Yoo Yeonha, chatting.

They both didn't pay attention to me.

How lucky.

Honestly, I don't think I'm emotionally prepared enough to meet the main cast in person without having an attack or two in the process.

Again, how did Dad manage to act so naturally when he met the characters he loved to read so much?

Maybe the fact that they were literally at the start of an apocalypse helped a lot.

In the end, I opted for the usual and sat on a seat at the edge of the middle row.

As a good son of my Dad, I tried to act as normal and average as possible.

After all, I still didn't know what Chundong was like, it was better to avoid problems.

Looking ahead, there was no blackboard, but a projection screen to show holograms.

Looking at it, I couldn't help but sigh. After all my effort to finish high school as quickly as possible, I couldn't believe I had to come back here. There couldn't be a worse punishment.

"... uaaaaah".

Cube's semester began in February. The exterior was cold, and the warm interior naturally made me sleepy.

The fact that I haven’t slept for 6 hours didn't help.

Currently, it was 8 a.m. The class started at 8:30.

In truth, I didn't plan to arrive so early. Going from Seoul to Cube was quick using the 'Portal', but I expected to get lost once I got here. However, there was something called a Cube Bus, a bus that passed every 10 minutes around Cube that didn’t exist in my original story.

Thinking about it now, it was a mistake on my part to make the main characters walk around the huge campus all the time, after all, not everyone had that lifestyle.

Since the novel became a real world, it seemed that it was fixing the plot holes on its own.

.... Anyway, let's get some sleep. I don't want to think anymore.

Maybe I can follow some of my parents' advice from their school time.

Which ones were useful?

Closing my eyes, I dropped my head on the desk.

-Now!

A thunderous scream woke me up. When I opened my eyes, the instructor was behind the podium.

... Oh, true, "For no reason do you sleep in class, unless you want to take a big scare." (Told by Dad Dokja)

"Today is the first day, so there will be no special training, but I hope everyone has done their morning training. Training is never bad, especially in the morning when the mana density is high."

Morning training?

.....

"It will never be bad for you to do a little training, it helps a lot in the mornings." (Said by Father Joonghyuk)

Again, if Father finds out how I abandoned my healthy lifestyle so easily, that it cost me so much work, he would give me a lecture on how I should not copy Dad's bad habits (Of course, all this in his own way, and ironically with Dad's support, because he was the only one who was allowed to do that kind of thing, in his words)

The training camp in Cube opens from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. I had put it in the story to give the main characters the opportunity to get to know each other.

Maybe I could go early tomorrow. After all, I didn't like to receive more scoldings than necessary.

"Now, let's start with the introductions. I'm Kim Soohyuk, the instructor in charge of all of you this year"

I could vaguely remember that name.

"My classification point is 3850. World ranking 9,737. According to the Association's classification, I would be in the medium-high rank, grade 5"

All the students' eyes lit up. It was understandable.

There were more than two million people with the title of Heroes in the world. The 9,737 range was a show of how skillful he was.

"I think that’s enough for my presentation"

Kim Soohyuk seemed to like the reaction of the students as the corners of his lips curled into a smile.

"The first day will feel special. Some may have not slept due to emotion and worry, or maybe some feel very good about being able to improve. Ohhh, maybe some are happy to see their lovers again."

The cadets laughed out loud. But the instructor froze his expression sternly.

All aside, this reminds me of how I felt the first time I was taken to the KimCom base.

"But Cube is no longer the same as before. I promise you that there will be no time for relationships. In Cube, you will experience several real combat situations. We hope you all experience how fearful the real world is."

"Next, Cube is a target. The only indicator of your success will be on your ratings. The guilds will only look at our notes. Therefore, we will rate it accurately and strictly. If you don't perform well enough, you will be retained. Statistically, less than half of Cube's cadets graduate without repeating a semester. Even then, you can only be held back for two years. More than that, and you will be expelled. If you can't become a hero, you will become agents or mercenaries. I guess that's not what you want."

After scaring the students, the instructor paused and scrutinized the faces of the students.

Tilting my eyes to the right, I put on a slightly disinterested posture.

It's not that I don’t think that his threat is not real, in fact, it is, and his data is very accurate too.

But when you have trained for most of your life with people who teach you that there are greater threats than expulsion, such as death, and not just yours, somewhere along the way you become insensitive to this type of speech.

"I can already see some faces that I'm familiar with."

It was the same for me. Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, Rachel, and Yi Yeonghan.

These six were the important characters that I could see at a first glance. Shin Jonghak sat down with Yoo Yeonha. As Kim Suho and Chae Nayun saw each other as rivals, they distanced themselves, Princess Rachel sat alone, and Yi Yeonghan sat behind Kim Suho.

"I repeat. In Cube, you will have to confirm the things you have learned so far and perfect your skills to use them in combat. There won't be any kind of training here. Remember that."

With that, Kim Soohyuk announced.

"Now get ready. What is scheduled for today will not take much time. The first task is the 'selection of the main weapon.'"

*

"Any weapon you can think of should be here."

A main weapon was exactly what it sounded like. High-ranking Heroes called their weapons 'purified weapons', while weapons above the [Unique] rank received the title of 'armaments'.

But, I didn't know what my main weapon was. I didn't know anything about Chundong's past.

"Stand in front of the weapon you want. We will provide you with the training weapons, but don't belittle them just because they are training weapons. The market price for them is 5 million won."

There were all kinds of weapons, more than I could ever have imagined. Sword, spear, saber, dagger, rapier, halberd, sword, zweihander, bow, pistol, whip, gauntlet, etc...

The 100 students of Veritas' class stood in front of the weapon they wanted.

"Choose carefully. Once you choose your main weapon, you will not be able to change it for at least 6 months."

The sword and the spear were obviously the most popular option. Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak stood in front of a sword and a spear respectively. 70 out of 100 chose the sword, the spear, or the sabre, the so-called Holy Trinity of arms. On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha chose the whip, Chae Nayun chose the bow and Rachel chose the rapier.

However, I was simply stunned.

"Kim Chundong, why are you standing still?" Kim Soohyuk asked.

I looked inexpressively at the only weapon that no one looked at.

The favorite weapon in the world before the apocalypse, one that did not require an instruction manual, and that anyone could use with a click. In this world, this weapon was the weakest piece of metal, a weapon avoided by each Hero. They were, most likely, only here for the sake of having all kinds of weapons.

But this was the only option I had.

Thanks to my training, I am able to handle all kinds of weapons with relative ease, but my statistics were not only blocked, but also the rest of my skills and arsenal were not available.

Grabbing a weapon that has some kind of physical requirement would be counterproductive in a short time.

Even if Chundong had talent in one, I still knew absolutely nothing about him, and that included his combat style.

"Kim Chundong."

The instructor's voice went down and the eyes of other students landed on me. Shin Jonghak and Kim Suho were among them.

I don't like being the center of attention.

I quickly approached and grabbed my weapon.

I could feel the weight of the metal in my hand while the smell of rust tickled my nose.

More eyes rested on me.

The weapon in my hand was a gun.

Chapter Text

Pistols were still an excellent weapon in this world, but that was usually only for ordinary soldiers who couldn't use mana.

Instead of traditional bullets, the weapons of this world used 'magic bullets', bullets that contained mana compressed with the power to kill low-intermediate grade 8 monsters. In comparison, the training saber that is said to cost 5 million won can only kill low-ranking monsters on average. So, the firearm was a more powerful weapon on its own.

But the Heroes and mercenaries who could exercise magical power did not choose pistols. That was because the 'magic power' could not be applied to pistols, so no matter how strong the user of the gun was, the pistol had a clear power limit.

When choosing a main weapon, the most important aspect is its origin. In short, the higher grade of a weapon, the higher its origin was.

For example, weapons were divided into three grades: Mass-produced, custom-made, or masterpieces. The swords, on the other hand, had much more levels; artifact, weaponry, treasured, mystical, legendary, etc...

The sword was a weapon with a long and deep history. Naturally, many swords had descended from myths and legends. Sword of Freyr, demonic sword Muramasa, magic sword Tyrfing, sacred sword Durendal, sword of King Excalibur, etc. In this world, many swords of legends remained undiscovered in 'Mazmorras' or 'Torres'. Each of them was an invaluable treasure. Of course, these treasures could only be used by those who dominated swords.

Consequently, the Heroes chose older weapons. Even if they reached a bottleneck in their growth, a high-grade weapon could help them make their destiny.

That note aside, this part of the configuration was made after an extensive talk between Dad and Sooyoung Ahjumma about equipment and parts of the plot, I even managed to get Father to give me a few tips about weapons and his experiences with them.

"... Kim Chundong."

Kim Soohyuk said my name once again before activating his smartwatch. For some reason, despite having restrictions on my skills, I was also able to see the information hidden by the information protection system. It was information about me, cadet Kim Chundong.

"Didn't you use a sword?"

As expected from an extra, Kim Chundong was an ordinary swordsman.

"I decided to change my weapon."

"After arriving at Cube?"

"Yes."

Kim Soohyuk didn't seem happy with my choice, but he nodded, slightly frowning.

"It's okay. Cadets can make their own decisions in Cube. Instructors will not interfere at all. But that also means that the responsibility lies with the cadets."

Kim Soohyuk went ahead, but the whispers among the students did not stop. Whispers that should have been too low for me to hear them in my current state, but for some reason, I could hear them clearly. It seemed that this was Chundong's gift. How conflicting.

The Talent itself was good for gathering information and other things, but it was really annoying to hear negative rumors about me again. [Sooyoung Ahjumma would say that you should not pay attention to what the stupid speak, while Sangah Noona would say more reasonable words, but the same message, like there was no need to listen to them. Dad would wrap me in his arms, giving me comfort and Father would most likely give them one of his deadly looks, making them run away....

I miss them a lot.]

"A Gun? Is that guy crazy?

"Why did he even come to Cube if he wants to become a mercenary?"

Before entering Cube, the cadets tested all kinds of weapons. It was to find the weapon that was right for their Talent. But you didn't need a talent to use guns. You just had to put your finger on the trigger and squeeze.

"You can easily change the main weapon you chose today. And regardless of what you choose, you will go through the same training and tests. That means that the weaknesses of a weapon will be yours to handle."

Kim Soohyuk announced while glancing in my direction.

I understand, damn it. I just had no other choice! The cadets here had been attending military academies since they were 7 or 8 years old. In other words, they had been practicing cutting, slicing, breaking, and shooting for 10 years.

But I was different.

Quite apart from what was mentioned above, I didn't want to get involved in the evolution of the main cast.

Each main character had an incredibly powerful talent for a type of weapon, in addition to the ability to be at the top of their field.

Hell, they don't know how frustrated I am for not being able to grab a sword and bring out all the training that my parents gave me for more than 10 years, but I couldn't face Kim Suho in a duel, much less be his rival, that was Shin Jonghak's role.

In the end, I had to settle for the gun, hopefully I could recover a little of my skills and face Chae Nayun, so she could return to her old weapon ahead of time.

These were still just floating ideas.

"Now, we will assign your rooms, and your personal belongings will be sent there. Afterwards, you are free. Classes will start four days from now, that's next Monday."

Kim Soohyuk spoke as he looked at me with sorrow, I turned around, completely determined to ignore him. And so, the selection of the main weapon ended.

*

"You, gunner, are you serious?"

"I just don't understand. Are you one of those attention seekers? This is the first time I've heard that someone chose a gun in Cube."

On the way to the bedroom, a group of boys started a conversation. I simply ignored their sarcastic comments and practiced what my Father taught me. I put on a mask of cold indifference to their comments.

Seeing me unbothered by their provocations, the group left after laughing at each other. As expected from the teenagers, they were more interested in the other students.

Even I turned my eyes to see them.

Chae Nayun, Rachel, and Yoo Yeonha. The beauty of these three girls had far exceeded my imagination.

But being completely honest, the beauty of my Noonas and Grandma Persephone took the biggest award. Of course, Sooyoung Ahjumma didn't count for this.

While I was thinking about that, we all got into our bedrooms.

"Here are the bedrooms for the first years."

Six extravagant skyscrapers stood in front of me.

According to Kim Soohyuk, each building had 100 floors, each with 5 rooms. The rooms were distributed according to the grades, but even if one's grades were at the very bottom, they still had their own room. The three best male and female cadets of the Agent Military Academy obtained the penthouses. Kim Suho was the only one who gave up the offer, saying that it was too big for him to use, very fitting of his personality.

"The boys are on the right, the girls on the left. The key to your rooms will be stored in the smartwatches that you will receive now."

While Kim Soohyuk started calling out names, other first-year classes arrived. If I remember correctly, the classes of the first year were Veritas, Acceptance, Intelligence, Wisdom, Cultivation, Honor, Virtue, Friendship, Potential, and World - a total of 10 classes. Should I try to look for other main characters? Some of them should be antagonists...

..... Why do I feel a shiver?

"Chundong, Kim Chundong!"

Despite the fright it gave me when he shouted my name, I kept my mask of indifference.

"Huh, me?"

"..."

Kim Soohyuk was calling me. I was only distracted for a moment, but Kim Soohyuk's eyes narrowed like a hawk. His fierce look made me go back a little. Apparently disappointed by my reaction, Kim Soohyuk closed his eyes and sighed.

"... Your smart watch, come and take it."

"Ah, yes."

My body suffered from an imperceptible tremor when I walked forward. I could hear other students laughing behind me.

Do you dare to laugh at your creator? I got angry momentarily, but I generously chose to forgive them.

As Grandma Persephone once said, one had to be generous with their subjects to be a good monarch.

The room I was assigned to was larger than Chundong's apartment, and had a sofa, a bed, a rice cooker, a TV, a computer, and even magical tools.

"... I still can't get used to it."

Only my room was three times bigger than this.

Leaning on the comfortable sofa, I reflected.

The size of the gun in my hand felt too small.

Thinking about it now, it would have been better to leave Cube if I was going to choose a pistol. Having been a cadet in the Military Academy of Agents should have been enough to let me live without going hungry, until my family came for me, or until I found a way to go back.

I am completely sure that my parents would like me not to risk more than necessary.

But my problem didn't end there.

Why I was sent to this world and how could I return. To find out, I had the feeling that I needed to be close to the main story.

.... Although, I doubt that I could get too close just with a gun. Should I try to shoot it to see it’s power?

"Mmm..."

I thought of something good. Jumping off the couch, I pointed at the wall and closed my left eye, putting myself in position. Just as I was about to pull the trigger...

—Ding dong

The doorbell rang. An electronic voice resounded beyond the door.

"Rang 934, Kim Chundong, take your luggage.

It was a robot. Placing the gun on the sofa, I opened the door and saw a fairly large box on the floor.

It was said that Chundong sent his belongings in advance. I took the box and the suit.

[Agent Military Academy Rank 1543, Hero Military Academy Rank 934 Kim Chundong. Personal belongings.]

Rank 934, wasn't that too average?

With a curious look, I removed the tape.

"... Hey?"

There was only one item in the big box. But I knew what it was. This wasn't from Chundong, it was mine.

This was from my previous life.

.... However, now that I think about it, thinking of my life as a 'previous' life just made me nauseous.

Anyway, this was the laptop I had used in my world to write my novel.

.....

As an extra note, this laptop had been given to me by Sooyoung Ahjumma when I told her about my desire to become a writer.

Chapter Text

Eight students were gathered in a large room on the highest floor of bedroom 1. Everyone was sitting in an arrogant and delinquent way, laughing out loud for even the smallest things. From time to time, they stole furtive glances from the one who called them. But the person in question remained silent, as if he couldn't care less.

"Oh, of course, Jonghak, isn't there a gun user in your class?"

A man asked him. He was a generic attractive guy with a friendly smile. Shin Jonghak narrowed his eyes and looked back at him.

"... Ummm, I just heard it from somewhere. Did I hear wrong?

"I don't know. I'm not interested in garbage."

"C-Correct. I'm not very interested either, but I was curious to know who the fool was, haha."

"Hanjun, I'm sure you're curious about the strangest things"

A captivating voice made its way. Jin Hanjun turned his head and saw a long-haired girl smiling charmingly. It was Yoo Yeonha.

Feeling his heartbeat, the nervous Jin Hanjun let go.

"O-Oh, Yeonha. You know, I was always like that.”

"What was his name? Chunn? Chunbun? It was a rather old-fashioned name. Anyway, don't pay too much attention to it."

"But I'm sure it was pathetic. Why did that son of a bitch come to Cube if he was going to choose a gun?”

The obscene language came from Kim Horak. Bulky muscles, an intimidating expression and a great physique. Even with just one glance, it was easy to see that he specialized in short-range combat.

Jin Hanjun asked Kim Horak: "Do you know him?"

"I'm in Jonghak's class, idiot. I'm going to destroy him in combat training. I will incapacitate him and throw him out."

Everyone knew Cube's schedule. There were classes four days a week and combat training three days a week.

The classes referred to the integral training of magical power, and physical training, while combat training referred to battles, monster hunting, rescue missions, and more.

[In another world, a large group of incredibly powerful people felt the sudden need to beat a group of narcissistic, rude bastards, especially a certain reader and protagonist, who felt that certain people were, 'Going to have a strong desire to abandon life']

"I will destroy that son of a..."

"Don't waste your time."

With a single sentence, Shin Jonghak cut off the rude talk. Kim Horak, who was growling a moment ago, was silent.

"Even if you win against someone of such a low rank, you will be the one who loses points. It's better to challenge the higher-ranking cadets that you can safely win against. For example..."

"Chae Nayun, try to fight her. I'm sure you'll win."

Yoo Yeonha interrupted. Shin Jonghak narrowed his eyes and looked at her, but Yoo Yeonha remained undisturbed.

"Fist against bow. It's easy."

"... Eh? Oh, yes, I can win. But..."

Challenging her was easy. However, he swallowed his words, wanting to look good in front of Yoo Yeonha.

"But?"

"... It would be too unfortunate. You know, my opponents often end up half dead.”

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"... eh?"

"Stop."

Shin Jonghak stopped his conversation. Although Yoo Yeonha was disgusted, she feigned indifference. She silently repressed the unpleasant feeling that arose from the corner of her heart.

Shin Jonghak liked Chae Nayun. ‘I'm not so stupid as to be jealous. I just find the situation funny.' Yoo Yeonha consoled herself.

"I'm leaving now. It's almost ten o'clock.”

In Cube, male and female students could only interact until 10:00 p.m. After showing a bright smile to mask her wounded feelings, Yoo Yeonha stood up.

"Oh, good night."

"Good night, Yeonha!"

"See you later!"

All the male cadets, except Shin Jonghak, accompanied her to the door.

*

Five minutes from bedroom 1, there was a training center called 'Novice Fitness Center' [Rookie Fitness Center]. This 1000-square-meter facility was full of magical devices and equipment for exercising and training. The amount of money needed to build such an environment would exceed one hundred million won, but almost no one used the facilities.

But the fact that the training facilities were empty did not mean that the future of Heroes was bleak.

Although the cadets were aspiring Heroes who would receive the admiration and envy of billions of people, they were still teenagers. In a nutshell, there weren't many high school students willing to do everything possible to train on the first day.

"I knew you'd be here."

But there was always an exception. Every Heroes Academy had a madman who enjoyed training from day one. Kim Suho, who was soaked in sweat and struggling with an exercise team, opened his eyes wide to the sudden voice.

"Chae Nayun? Are you also here to train?"

"Yes, but I won't be as barbaric as you."

With an ironic smile, Chae Nayun pointed to the gravitational room. Seeing the terrifying cylindrical room, Kim Suho frowned.

"That's a difficult one. I can never last long in there."

Kim Suho wiped his sweat with a towel he had brought.

"It's not that you can't, you just don't need to do it. I'm an archer, so I need to train there. Besides, it's not that difficult. I've been doing it since I was 8 years old."

"8 years old?"

"Yes. I have one in my house."

"... Aha."

Installing a gravitational room costs several hundreds of millions of won, at least. From what Chae Nayun said, it can be inferred that she came from a very wealthy family.

Like Shin Jonghak, Chae Nayun was a fourth-generation chaebol. But instead of a twisted superiority complex, she had a fair sense of rivalry. She believed that she could overcome her rivals through hard work and self-cultivation. But in front of the monster standing in front of her, her belief always seemed to falter.

"... Oh, right. Now there is another sniper in our class.”

Kim Suho mentioned, to which Chae Nayun tilted her head with curiosity.

"... Sniper? Oh, that Chudong guy or whatever?"

"Uh, yes, he... What's with with that look? Do you not like him?”

As Kim Suho pointed out, Chae Nayun's face was hardening terribly.

"He is not a sniper. Weapons can only shoot up to a kilometer at best. I still don't understand why that guy, Dongchu, chose a gun."

Without knowing it, his name had changed from Chudong to Dongchu, but Kim Suho was not stupid enough to point out her mistake.

"I think he gave up. Maybe there were problems at home or something like that. Since being a Cube cadet will not remain in your records even if you leave early, he will probably only stay for a while."

[Chae Nayun, unknowingly, was causing feelings of annoyance in a certain group of people from another world, while pronouncing aloud Yoo Hajin's main desire at this time]

"Did he resign? Don't say something like that so easily."

"... Who are you to tell me what and what not to do?"

For a moment, a slight anger emerged from Chae Nayun's eyes. Kim Suho's teaching tone didn't please her, who saw him as her rival.

"... Kuhum. Excuse me."

"Anyway, if you don't want to lose, keep working hard. I'm going."

"Yes, see you later."

"Please, I'm right next door..."

Chae Nayun smiled and entered the gravitational room.

The gravitation room multiplied gravity by a certain factor, thus increasing the pressure on the bloodstream itself. Training in this cylindrical room required one to operate the magical power under a strong gravity, and it was easily one of the most painful training methods.

For Kim Suho, just looking at the room made him shudder. Seeing Chae Nayun enter with indifference, he could only shake his head.

*

Inside Kim Chundong's (Yoo Hajin’s) room, I stopped breathing while looking at the screen of a familiar laptop.

I still couldn't process what I was seeing. I could see it, but my brain refused to believe what was in front of me. It seemed too absurd.

"... What is this?"

I said, after a long silence, with a slightly trembling voice.

A familiar, yet so unknown, window appeared in front of me.

===[Synchronizing... 70% completed]===

1. Kim Chundong

[Current SP: 54]

▷Statistics

* Variable statistics

[Force 4]

[Resistance 4.3]

[Speed 4]

[Perception 5]

[Vitality 4]

[Magic power 3.5]

* Invariable statistics

[Intelligence - 4/10]

[Perseverance - 4/10]

[Good luck - 4/10]

[Charm - 4/10]

▷Talent...???

▷Arts...???

...???

...???

.... Supplement....

.... Table of scenarios...

===[Synchronizing... 70% completed]===

"...What is this?"

This window on the monitor, this format, I recognized it. It was the format of my 'Configuration' book. But without a doubt, I had never written or thought about a scenario like this.

This incomprehensible phenomenon made me shudder. My hands and feet were shaking, and my heart began to beat hard.

Thousands of questions were formed in my head.

How did they manage to enter my room? How did they get through the security at home? How did they manage to bring me here?

....

Have they met someone from my family? Father, Dad, Sooyoung Ahjumma, or Grandma Persephone maybe?

Did they come back from their meeting? Are they okay? Are they injured, hurt?

Are they worried? Anguished? Were they looking for me? Was I making them suffer because of my immaturity?

I hugged myself while suffering from a panic attack.

This strange object, who sent it to me, for what purpose, and for what reason?

.... Dad and Father were right, I wasn't ready yet.

It was very reckless of me to believe that I was.

At that moment...

The laptop screen turned off.

From the black screen of the laptop, a face was reflected. It wasn't Kim Chundong's question mark, but my face, Yoo Hajin's face.

Without giving me the opportunity to be surprised, the laptop turned on again and the words began to appear on the screen.

[Kim Chundong, complete synchronization with Yoo Hajin.]

[Re-establishment of all states.]

[Uniform authority, 'Configuration intervention', acquired.]

While I read that with my eyes still clouded by tears, the only thing I could think of was...

..... What the hell?

Chapter Text

In this world, there is a phenomenon of awakening called 'enlightenment'. Often considered the first requirement to become a Hero, enlightenment was a form of personal perception that is said to occur when a person exceeds their limits.

The Heroes in active service were all enlightened. But because numerous experiences and training are required to achieve enlightenment, most cadets have not yet experienced enlightenment. Of course, there were exceptions such as Kim Suho or Shin Jonghak.

They were illuminated at the age of 15 and 17, respectively.

An enlightened person could see his Talent, abilities and abilities objectively and, therefore, train more efficiently. In addition, the enlightenment allowed one to acquire 'clear rewards' from Towers and Dungeons.

The Association of Heroes called this phenomenon the 'status window'. It was an established fact that a status window could only be seen by its owner.

But since I liked the exceptions, I also put exceptions to this configuration.

Instead of the eyes, other sensory organs, or other means, such as a book or a weapon, can be used to see their own state. Special lighting came naturally with special powers. Although it was a bit of a spoiler, the main character would suffer two illuminations due to this scenario.

".. Is this that?"

According to my configuration, it could be said that this laptop is a means for enlightenment.

I started to get a little excited. I was finally getting some answers. But instead of being happy, the first thing was to analyze the situation. Straightening my posture and wiping my tears, I approached the laptop.

When I pressed the Enter key on the keyboard, several windows appeared.

===[Complete synchronization]===

===[Restoration of Kim Chundong's status. Yoo Hajin's status was transferred.] ===

===[The entire state was restored. 10 Points acquired.] ===

Suddenly, the screen was filled with red and a warning message appeared.

===[WARNING: Because the user's statistics are very high for the first act, they will be temporarily restricted]===

===[WARNING: Because some of the user's talents are very high for the first act, they will be temporarily restricted]===

===[Restricted statistics can be used 2 minutes per day, keep advancing in the main story to unlock them]===

[Yoo Hajin]

[Current SP: 64]

▷Statistics

* Variable statistics

[Strength 1.2]

[Resistance 1.3]

[Speed 1.5]

[Perception 2]

[Vitality 1.3]

[Magic Power 1]

*Invariable statistics

[Intelligence - 8.018/10]

[Perseverance - 7.010/10]

[Lucid - 6.330/10]

[Charm - 5.250/10]

Point: 10 (Points will disappear in 10 days if it is not used)

▷Gift

「Observation and reading」[Null attribute]

- Observation

You can observe the characters in your vision.

—Reading

At any time you want, you can read the laptop configuration book without a medium.

▷Arts (0/3)X

▷Physical (0/3)X

▷Configuration intervention [Authority]

Using SP, you can modify or add settings to a non-living target.

Using SP and relating it to the 'Yoo Hajin' objective, you can modify or add settings to the statistics, Talent, Art and Physical.

*Recent consideration: only once, you can write a gift worth 10,000 SP at no cost.

*SP (history point): as the importance of Yoo Hajin in the world increases, he earns more SP. You can exchange Points with SP.

▷???: it will be unlocked when the main story is completed.

===

The first words that caught my attention were "synchronization" and "reboot".

Due to the different format, I had just confirmed that it was not the Star Stream, but some other type of system that used the format of my 'Configuration' for itself, but I did not know who they were, only that it was why my name was changed from Kim Chundong to Yoo Hajin, and returned my face. All my statistics were reduced and I even had my skills restricted.

Compared to Chundong, it had become up to more than 10 times his statistics, but the system was different in both worlds.

At least the invariable statistics were similar.

I got 10 extra points as compensation for that. With Points, I should be able to increase the statistics I want.

Although the situation was not the best, it could always be worse.

"... The points are good."

As the creator of the world, he was very aware of the importance of the points. An average adult had 1.5 points in each statistic. In addition, this world didn't have a concept like leveling up. So, the 'Points', which could increase the desired statistics, were extremely rare and expensive, and could only be obtained from Towers or Dungeons.

But above all, there was no Star Stream's coin system to increase one's statistics.

Kim Suho's current magic power statistic should be around 9. In other words, if I put the 10 points I had to increase my magical power, my magical power would surpass that of Kim Suho...

"No."

That wasn't the best plan. With only a stupidly high magical power, I would have become a magician, but being a magician was exhausting. Not only was it expensive, it also required extreme effort and memorization. It would have to increase both intelligence and perseverance, but the invariable statistics could not be increased even with points.

In addition, I would be very far from the main story.

In other words, being a magician was off the chart.

"... What about the three question marks?"

The next line that caught my attention was obviously the suspicious question marks.

===▷???—It will be unlocked when the main story is completed. ===

It was what caught my attention after the synchronization and restart.

It is unlocked when the main story is completed.

Maybe, this was the key to coming back. Even if it wasn't, it was the only clue I had.

The problem was that I didn't know when the main story would end. If it was referring to the story before doing hiatus, I would have to wait at least 10 years....

Calm down Yoo Hajin, first analyze your situation and then draw conclusions. You just got out of a panic attack, there's no way I can stand another, or a stronger one.

First, I had to find a way to go home. To achieve this, I needed power or authority. To achieve power or authority, I needed something called 'SP'. To get SP, I needed to get involved in the story. To do that, I needed to be stronger than my current self or stand out.

"... My pistol. It looks like it wasn't a bad choice after all.”

A gun met both conditions.

First it was the power.

A gun did not require high statistics to be useful in this world. Short-range weapons, such as the spear or the sword, required an equitable distribution in all statistics. Although the importance of the resistance statistics was less for an arc, the other statistics were still necessary. On the other hand, speed, perception and a little magic power were enough to use a weapon.

In other words, it was easier to meet the "minimum force" requirement with a weapon.

The second was the specialty.

No hero in this world used a gun. That was more than enough to make me stand out.

".... What has my life become?”

I, Yoo Hajin, the little hermit of KimCom who hates to stand out, is obliged to stand out.

The irony of my life.

Anyway, I had to continue using the gun. At least, until my statistics increased and I unlocked the rest of my abilities.

With my main weapon decided, I could move on to the next topic.

Talent.

"... I can create my Talent."

A Talent had a special meaning for heroes, but it still retained its meaning in the dictionary. The natural ability, or talent, for something.

But the standard for this skill was high. At the very least, a Talent had to be like a psychic ability.

Talents were separated into many categories. The five most common were 'weapon', 'physical', 'element', 'magic' and 'nature'.

As for the main character, he deserved to have two Talents. The Talent that he currently awakened was the Weapon Class Talent, 'Sword Saint'. He was a super deceptive talent who gave him the protection of the world with respect to swords. In a nutshell, his sword could cut water. This Talent alone was enough to make him the greatest Hero in the world.

That's how important Talents were. It didn't need to be complex. A stronger and more efficient talent was better. Sitting down, I started writing.

First I would try to see if I could recover my statistics faster.

===▷Talent

"Every day is getting stronger."

[Null attribute]

Every 24 hours, it increases all the statistics by 0.1.

===

"... Will this work?"

Even I, Kim Dokja's son, found it shameless and too unreal. Thinking a little, Kim Suho's strength statistic was 16. With this Talent, you would get 36.5 in all statistics in just 365 days. But since I still felt it was too good to be true, I decided to check first.

[Renewbie consideration activated. A gift worth 10,000 SP will be created.]

[10 000 SP is not enough to create this gift. Its quality decreases.]

===▷「Waking stronger every day」

[High-intermediate range] [Spiritual attribute] [Static]

Physical Culinary

Every 24 hours, it increases all the statistics by 0.0015.

===

[Do you want to save the modified result?]

I immediately canceled. 1.5 in all statistics in 1000 days. In 10,000 days, or 25 years, I would gain 25 in all the statistics, but it would be too long.

It seems that my only option was to pursue the plot.

Next, I wrote a Talent that I thought about before, it was similar to one of my restricted skills.

===▷Talent

「Master Of All Weapons」

[High-intermediate range] [Null attribute]

You can handle all kinds of weapons well.

===

I didn't give it a lot of details. Thinking a little, I realized what this laptop could do. No matter what he wrote, the laptop would modify it appropriately.

[Renewbie consideration activated. A Talent worth 10,000 SP will be created.]

[10 000 SP are not enough to create this Talent. Its quality decreases.]

===▷Talent

「Master Of All Weapons」

[Intermediate range] [Null attribute]

Master Of All Weapons training method

*Unconditional competition in all weapons

"Eyes of a thousand miles"

*You can see further in more detail and accurately predict the movement trajectory of the target.

*Increases accuracy and speed by 2.

-Increases of senses

*A 50% increase in the sense of perception of the environment'. ===

"Wow?"

It was quite decent. I especially liked that it was applied to 'all weapons'. With this, I could use a bow or a sword if I wanted to. The Eyes of a thousand miles seemed quite clear, and Increases of senses probably increased my accuracy in the target or something similar. It was good, but in the short term it would be counterproductive, it would be better to focus on the shot.

===▷「Master Sharpshooter」

[Low-intermediate rank] [Spiritual attribute] [Evolution - Grade 10] [EXP 0%]

-Master shooter training.

* Familiarity with all long-range weapons

"Eyes of a thousand miles"

*You can see in the distance and predict a little the movement route of the target.

-Bullet time

* Only in combat and once every 24 hours, you can spend 3 seconds in 'Bullet Time'.

===

"Mmm...".

He fell from an intermediate range to a low intermediate range and the abilities weakened were different from the previous one, although there is still one, but in the great scheme of things, an evolving Talent was much better. Not to mention that the main story would continue for at least 7 years.

.... Ah, I'm getting sad again.

“Damn."

With that, I shook myself to focus.

[Point 10]

Next, it was time to return to the statistics.

How should I spend these 10 valuable Points?

Since the invariable statistics were 'invariable', I shouldn't be able to change them. In that case, I had to choose between variable statistics.

However...

It was time to prove why I was Kim Dokja's son in all the law.

If what I think is true, I might be able to modify invariable statistics.

"...Should I exchange them for SP?"

Points can be redeemed with SP. Perhaps, it was possible to change the invariable statistics using SP.

But before making an irreversible mistake, I decided to try it. Fortunately, I had 64 SP, so I tried to change the perseverance statistic from 7.010 to 7.500.

[Using 64 SP, you modified an invariable statistic.]

[You don't have enough SP. The value will be adjusted. Perseverance was changed to 7.060.]

"Did It Work?"

My eyes opened and a small smile formed on my lips. If this worked, what I should do next was obvious. I had to convert my Points into SP and invest in invariable statistics.

The question was which statistic to choose...

Intelligence. Perseverance. Good luck. Charm. To be honest, despite being the son of a protagonist, I was very satisfied with my average charm.

"Good luck is."

But I knew very well how important luck statistics were in this world. I remembered a line from my novel.

[Luckiness statistics not only affect the possibilities of finding treasures in the dungeons. It also affects the chances of obtaining bonus training statistics, the chances of dealing a critical blow from the attacks and even the chances of winning the lottery. It was the best statistic that applied to all kinds of situations.

... Life was like that. Luck was what mattered the most.]

Without further hesitation, I used 10 Points to earn 10,000 SP. Using all the 10,000 SP, I increased my luck to the maximum. What I wanted was [Good luck — 10/10]

[You don't have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]

The laptop rejected my ridiculous desire and returned a reasonable commitment.

[Good luck — 9.100]

"9.1 is the highest I can get, eh."

Since 9 was the limit for humans, 9.1 was extremely high. But I didn't press 'save' and canceled the modification. Although it would take a little longer, there was a more efficient method to perform.

[Good luck — 6.4/10]

First I raised my luck from 6.3 to 6.4 and I saved. Next, at 6.5. Then, at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8... Doing this repeatedly...

[A mysterious luck applies! Your luck statistic increases even more by 0.01!][ A strange luck applies! Your luck statistic increases even more by 0.05!] ......

[Good luck — 9.100/10]

With this method, I got my lucky statistic to reach 9.1 with only 9000 SP. I had saved 1000 SP.

As a reference, the 'Great Sage' of this world had an intelligence statistic of 9.5. Since 9 was the limit for "normal" humans, it was unlikely that spending the remaining 1000 SP would further increase my luck.

In return, the highest invariable statistics had an exponential effect. But now, it was better to use the remaining SP elsewhere.

"Perseverance should be good."

In my current situation, since I refused to increase charm and intelligence I was already over 8, the logical thing was to increase perseverance, In addition, I needed to be more persevering if I wanted to return home.

At this time, even doing a little exercise reminded me of training with my Father.

Without hesitation, I put the remaining 1000 SP in perseverance. I wrote, [Perseverance - 9/10].

[You don't have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]

[Perseverance — 8.600]

Although I wasn't too satisfied, I pressed save. The effect of luck is only applied after saving.

[Incredible luck applies!][ Your perseverance statistic increases from 8.600 to 9.207!]

"Wow."

Now I was satisfied. But I didn't feel any different. 4 was the standard for an average person. 7 or 8 must be at the level of a talented individual.

In any case, I was happy. As I increase my invariable statistics every time I win SP, I was sure it would be as deceptive as the main character, Dad would be so proud....

Immediately after I had such a blissful thought...

[An error has been detected that could greatly affect the plot. From now on, invariable statistics cannot be modified with SP.]

"... What is this?"

A warning window appeared on the laptop screen, closing my plan for the future.

"Mmm."

Intervention of the world?

Although I was upset, I had no other choice. Nothing would change even if I argued with the air. In addition, I was already full of luck, which was what I wanted.

In the end, I got away with it, and that was the important thing.

"Whatever~"

I spoke with a voice similar to Dad's when I did business, my own scammer's smile.

Without thinking about it, I closed the laptop and smiled.

Now, it was time to try the Talent I created.

Chapter Text

In the middle of the night, I snuck out of my room. Years and years of practice of this stealthy art made me an expert. Of course, Father could still find me. Dad had made sure to teach me all his techniques to sneak out, until he stopped when he realized that it was getting increasingly difficult to find me, even for Father.

Thinking about it, I think it was after the scare I gave him a few years ago, when I hid in the forest until night.

That note aside, most of my family lives together, so our house is huge, well distributed, and a little far from the city. Of course, everyone has their own space, but it has always been really great to live together.

The gun in my pocket vibrated awkwardly, being already accustomed to the sword, that was reasonable.

But I can't do anything about it with a gun.

My destination was the shooting range.

Located east of bedroom 1, the shooting range was a dome-shaped building consisting of 20 training rooms. The targets were strangely distributed from the place where the sniper would be. This was because, unlike bullets, magic arrows could easily change their trajectory.

[Rank 934, Yoo Hajin, confirmed]

When I held my smartwatch against the entrance to the shooting range, an unknown robotic voice called my name. In fact, my name had changed from Kim Chundong to Yoo Hajin.

Although it wasn't the Star Stream, the system of this world was fast with updates in the system.

Calming myself, I went in.

Beyond the large circular lobby, there were ten equally separate doors. I lifted my smartwatch against one of them.

[Rank 934, Yoo Hajin, confirmed]

The door opened.

The shooting range seemed quite simple. In the center of the circular space of 130 square meters there was a scaffolding for the shooter. I walked to the center.

When I got into position on the low scaffolding, a courteous robotic voice resounded from the ceiling horns.

[Starting objectives. Choose the number of goals you want]

[You must choose a minimum of 2 and you can choose a maximum of 20]

Thinking quickly, I decided not to take many goals, I just needed to test my Talent.

"Ten"

My voice sounded, and blue objectives similar to insects appeared from the ground.

I looked at the objectives that surrounded me.

A monster that didn't look like a monster, a mole cricket. They were similar to the mole crickets that everyone knew, the only difference was that they were much bigger.

[Choose your training difficulty]

[You can choose from stage 1 to stage 9]

A higher level naturally meant faster moving targets. In stage 9, the targets will even attack. Although the attacks should only sting at best, it was going to take a little time.

I needed to finish this as quickly as possible.

"Stage 4"

First, I set up the difficulty for stage 4 and loaded my previously delivered magic bullets with the weapon. If I had my magical power unlocked, I should be able to compress it into bullets without having to obtain physical bullets, but my current self did not have that access. And even if I could do such a thing, using a bow was much more destructive and less efficient.

"Begin"

First, I notified the system to turn on and pointed my gun at the leftmost target.

The mole cricket that was moving slowly seems to have noticed my hostility when it began to accelerate. It slipped away without an established movement pattern, but I could see it’s trajectory. It was as if I was seeing a secondary image, but it was it’s future journey.

It was fine, but the Talent could always get better.

Foreseeing it’s movement by one step, I pulled the trigger.

A blue flare shot out from the canyon. There was no loud noise like from a common gun. Leaving the barrel in silence, the bullet should pass through the mole cricket.

I don't mind verifying the result with my eyes. The moment I shot, I immediately went to the next target and shot.

My hand moved on its own.

One, two, three, four...

And so, I completed the 10 objectives.

The trigger was activated ten times, and the mole crickets that were shot were dispersed in mana particles.

No goal survived.

"Oho"

I was satisfied with this for now.

Just using my Talent, and with a little muscle memory, I managed to hit all the mole crickets, including the two farthest.

[Your training is over. Elapsed time: 1.37 seconds. Aiming score: 100/100]

Now my mark was 1.37 seconds.

"This is going to be fun."

An eternal truth, when something stops you, people have to act in three ways: surrender, try and surrender later, or try until you achieve it.

In my case, I, Yoo Hajin, am going to destroy that something until there is nothing left but dust, it is my own challenge.

*

An honest truth, you won't always get everything at the first opportunity.

Approximately 3 a.m., I stopped my shooting practice.

I would have continued practicing until dawn, but the moment I saw the time, a silly fear invaded me.

It doesn't matter where, with whom or what I'm doing, if I was ever to skip sleep time, Father would eventually find out.

Now, I know it's an irrational fear to think that my Father specifically would knock on the door to scold me for my bad behavior, with him being a world away, but I also thought about the last time I spent the night arguing in novel forums and he discovered me.

It was better not to risk it.

As a side note, the last time I took that risk, Father put tomatoes on all my meals for a week, and no, no matter how small I cut them, I can still taste their flavor.

Imagining a worried scolding from my Father, I left the shooting room. I was relaxing my sore finger when I heard a noise next door.

-Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

The faint sound of shock waves. It was the sound of arrows cutting the air. The fountain was the next room. Curious, I went to take a look.

I shouldn't have been able to see anything because of the closed door, but I could see through it.

The door became weak and the interior was revealed.

Will this be a 'Eye of a Thousand Miles' skill? Or will it be from 'Observation'?

The scene beyond the door showed why the archers were superior to the guns in this world.

"It's Chae Nayun.."

Chae Nayun practiced while having a serious face on. Four arrows were placed with her bow. They were magical arrows woven with magical power.

Because her magic power technique was deficient today, she could not perform 'di divided shots', which multiplied a single arrow in multidirectional shots.

-Whoosh!

Chae Nayun released the rope from the bow. Their arrows left a blue trail of magical power as they threw towards the twenty targets. As if they were alive, their arrows erased the targets.

"... Amazing"

I exclaimed slightly excited.

She was really incredible, and you could see the amount of time and effort she had invested to get where she was today. It was a pity that her true aptitude was not for archery, and that she had only restricted herself out of fear.

Again, what kind of configuration did I write for her?

As I tried to remember, Chae Nayun suddenly turned around. Her eyes met mine and although there was no way she could see me through the wall, I could still feel the strong disgust in her gaze.

Feeling uncomfortable, I quickly escaped.

*

[Accurats aiming training increases the ability of your talent by 3%]

[Repeat accurate aiming training increases the level of competence of your talent by 2.9%]

['Good luck' applies! Your perception and speed increase by 0.1!]

[Repeat accurate aim training increases the level of competence of your talent by 2.8%]

...

...

...

The previous messages were written by the laptop. Master Sharpshooter's ability[1] skyrocketed, and the statistics I won with luck were an additional advantage.

「Master Sharpshooter」

[Low-intermediate range] [Spiritual attribute] [Evolution - Grade 10] [Domain of EXP 50%]

-Master shooter training

* Familiarity with all long-range weapons

Eyes of a thousand miles

*You can see in the distance and predict the target's movement path a little.

Bullet time

* Only in combat and once every 24 hours, you can spend 3 seconds in 'Bulle Time'.

===

The more I thought about it, the more I liked this Talent, especially how it applied to 'All the weapons in range'. In this world, it was easier to increase dominance with a gun than with a bow, but since the bow was stronger, it would have to change it over time.

"But what about the SP?"

[You got 0.2 SP!]

[You got 0.2 SP!]

[An amazing talent! You got 1 bonus from SP]

[You got 0.2 SP!]

....

After practicing for twenty rounds, I only got 5 SP. Choosing a firearm as my main weapon gave me 64 SP, which shows me that standing out gave me more SP than training in silence.

"Tsk"

Disgusted, I frowned slightly.

.....

Wait a minute....

SP.. Doesn't it look much like... Secretive Plotter?

Covering my face for a moment, I laughed in silence.

Father and SP Ahjussi usually didn't get along, leave them alone without supervision and soon they will be at each other's throat, it's no joke.

They only behave when Dad, OD Hyung, and I are in the middle, and even so, scathing comments are made.

I wonder, how will the kkomas be?

Letting a small smile appear on my face for the memory, I kept moving forward.

I hope everyone is well.

Although I only received a little bit of SP, I still have some for that.

The long-awaited combat training was tomorrow. To get a decent score on the lists, I needed to make up for my missing physical skills.

Why couldn't they leave me with Chundong's numbers?

Another question I had without an answer.

The biggest problem was resistance.

Before, I could have done up to 20 laps on the Cube campus and I wouldn't even sweat. Now with only one, I was already out of breath.

I was weaker than an ordinary person.

===

[Training sports tennis]

Specially designed tennis.

*Adds 0.3 points in resistance and speed.

===

"Maybe with this..."

The easiest way to solve my problem was with the laptop.

I started typing on the keyboard.

===

[Sports tennis with mystical training]

Specially designed tennis. It contains a mystical power.

*Adds 0.3 points in resistance and speed.

*Improves energy and resistance recovery.

===

[You don't have enough SP]

But this time, the modification I made was canceled without adjusting it.

I wasn't very surprised. After all, I only had 5 SP.

But it was still too early to give up.

As Dad says, there is always a way.

===

[Sports tennis with mystical training]

Specially designed tennis. It contains a mystical power.

*Adds 0.3 points in resistance and speed.

*When the user wants it, the recovery of energy and resistance improves for 1 hour. After use, this effect cannot be used again for 24 hours. This 'effect' disappears after a month.

===

To save SP, he put a total of three restrictions. A cooling time of 24 hours, duration of the effect of one hour and dissipation of the effect after a month.

[You used 5 SP. Would you like to save?]

"It worked!"

I pressed the Enter key quickly.

Immediately, a blue light shone from the laptop. The dancing light melted with the sports tennis, and a strip of color was marked in the white tennis.

Chapter Text

'Outcall': An explosion of magical power that occurred 50 years ago and shook the world. After this event, mysterious entities such as Towers, Dungeons, and monsters began to appear in the world. These existences of chaos shook the very foundations of humanity. The blue planet of humans turned into hell. Monsters devoured humans, while Towers and Dungeons incessantly produced monsters like factories.

In the face of these new calamities, humanity's science and technology lost their meaning. Society collapsed and the rule of law returned back to the law of the jungle. The survivors of the tragedy crumbled to their instincts, losing the virtues that made them human.

Inside this fire of hell, the Heroes emerged as bright stars.

With transcendental powers, they corrected the chaos. The world was rebuilt as quickly as it collapsed. Using the talents bestowed by heaven, they caused miracles with a blink of their hands. With this help, humanity regained its lost virtue, joining the Heroes with revitalized technology and science. "Magical science" and "magic engineering" were born like this.

At least, this is how society perceives what happened.

...

Finally, Towers, Dungeons, and monsters were designated as targets to be destroyed. However, the differences between them were abysmal.

The Towers required a lot of people, and long period of time to be conquered. On the other hand, depending on its difficulty, Dungeons could be conquered by a single person, as long as they knew their location.

However, the Towers gave better rewards, containing treasures that humans had never dreamed of.

So, what was the name of the Tower conquered by the Apostle of Holies guild on August 17, 2023, and what was its reward?

"Minor questions like these do not appear often, but they must still know about the conquests of Towers, Dungeons."

The morning class was 'History after the Outcall'. Although my novel went into hiatus, I could still remember that there were many pages with respect to the background story, in the end these ended up becoming books of more than 400 pages.

Things to remember were rewards from Towers, names of monsters, locations of Dungeons in Korea, conquerors of both Towers and Dungeons, and countless other things.

Although some things remained as they were in my settings, even as the author of the novel, there was still too much information to process.

Fortunately, it was not a big problem for me, all thanks to my talent 'Observation and Reading' and the two weeks I spent researching this world.

[On August 17, 2023, the Apostle of the Saints conquered the Tower of Floods and obtained an ocean stone].

Every time I looked at something, I could get the information about it, so I had nothing to worry about.

However....

I couldn't trust this skill, I had to know in depth how much the configuration of the world has changed. That would allow me to act more naturally and be more aware of my environment. Again, the last thing I wanted was to create a problem because of my lack of understanding.

"Huu..."

On the other hand, the girl sitting in front of me scratched her head and sighed.

Looking at the character I made, I couldn't help but let out a slight snort.

Chae Nayun hated studying. She had the ability to occupy the first place among the female cadets, but because the written exams were holding her back, she had to give the first place to Rachel. Even if she gnashed her teeth in a mortifying defeat, the written exams were still too big an obstacle for her.

At that moment, Chae Nayun turned his head towards me. Her sharp eyes looked at the person who was sitting behind her: me.

My body shuddered instantly, but I didn't give in.

She must have heard my laugh. After all, the Sharpshooters had sharp senses.

I pretended to be calm while I lowered my head and concentrated on taking notes. Chae Nayun clicked her tongue and looked straight ahead.

The lesson continued.

Places with high mana density, monster behavior, Djinns [1] on the search list...

The bell rang only after two hours had passed.

"Be sure to go back and read the notes you took today. Otherwise, you will cry in the exam."

The gray-haired teacher with round glasses left with those words.

"Argh, so annoying, why do I have to learn all this? The written exams are very annoying."

Chae Nayun began to complain the moment the teacher left. However, her face was full of smiles.
It is due most likely due to the fact that it is time for the next class.

Anti-monster combat training.

Like its name suggests, it is combat training against monsters. The monsters used in the class were mana puppets, but their appearance and destructive power were true to reality. Of course, they were weaker than their real counterparts, but there was still a great chance of getting injured.

But....

"We will meet in the field in 20 minutes!"

A loud voice sounded in the classroom. I turned to the voice.

Oval face, small and soft eyes, and a muscular body that did not match his face. He was Kim Suho's supporter, Yi Yeonghan.

Knowing the conflict between Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak, the instructor in charge of the classroom chose Yi Yeonghan to be the president of the class.

"Ehew."

While I was saving my notes and making a mental note to review later, I would be very restless. It was as if every part of my body warned me of an imminent danger....

...Anyway, it's never too much to take any precautions.

*

After a 20-minute break, everyone in the Veritas Class gathered at the Beginners Field. With 100 people here, it seemed quite crowded. The cadets shared their half nervous and half excited expectations with their friends, but I was alone.

I was literally alone.

"..."

For the first time since I got here, I really felt calm.

While I was walloing in a completely happy loneliness, the instructor, Kim Soohyuk, appeared. The cadets immediately stood in ten columns in front of him.

"I am sure that you all know what this lesson is about, so I will announce the equipment without explanation. Unless something special happens, this team will be the same until after the intermediate exams."

Team building. The cadets became restless in the face of the exciting but distressing process. A team usually consisted of five members: two Warriors, a Sharpshooter, a Support, and an Utility player. The Warriors were generally close-range fighters such as lancers or swordsmen, the Sharpshooters were the long-range attackers, and the Supports were people like Yoo Yeonha and Yi Yeonghan who attacked or supported the main attackers.

Finally, the Utility player was usually the position of the magician, so they were excluded until the end of the first year. When a magician was added, Support would have an additional role in the protection of the magician. After all, magicians were important.

My role here was a little dubious. The roles were assigned based on the main weapon we chose, and although I was not a Warrior, I lacked too much to be a Sharpshooter. The weapons had a much shorter range than the bows, and the weapons were weaker compared to the melee weapons that could attack from afar.

[Sharpshooter (long range) - Rank 4 Chae Nayun, Rank 9 Im Yeongjin... Rank 934 Kim Hajin, Rank 945 Oh Jiyun]

In any case, it looked like I was assigned as a Sharpshooter.

Good for me, I guess.

Kim Soohyuk continued.

"The team members will be selected fairly. Lower-ranking cadets will be paired with higher-ranking cadets."

Cube's training classes were administered by the artificial intelligence developed by the Great Sage. As a result, there was no place for corruption or persuasion.

I could see the unfortunate result with my own eyes.

[Team 1]

[Kim Suho / Kim Lang]

[Sung Seung-Un / Paine]

[Team 2]

[Demian / Rosen]

[Chun Lee / Chae Nayun]

...

...

[Team 5]

[Jin Hoseung / Hazuki]

[Kim Hajin / Yoo Yeonha]

"..."

Looking at my assigned team, I was speechless.

Isn't my luck supposed to be completely unreal?

What happens to this development?

Yoo Yeonha.

Yoo Yeonha was on my team. In my novel, she was one of the most loved and hated.

Looking around, I looked her in the eye. His eyes like gems shone with deep contempt and disdain. But that was only for a moment. By the time I blinked once, the negative feeling in her eyes had disappeared.

Instinctively when I saw her aggression, my body became tense and my posture became rigid. My mind preparing for an eventual humiliation.

Surprisingly, she walked towards me with a smile. Her long hair fluttered with each of his worthy steps. Her beautiful lips moved modestly.

"Nice to meet you."

"Ah, um, I..."

Out of nowhere, I started stuttering. My brain had completely turned off.

However, they were for the wrong reasons.

It wasn't some kind of ecstasy for meeting my characters, or joy for talking to a beautiful girl, it was scary.

A stupid and irrational fear, but that left me paralyzed anyway.

.... OD Hyung, how did he survive this?

"Hoseung-ssi".

Fortunately, I wasn't the one Yoo Yeonha greeted. Meeting her was also an illusion. She was talking to the guy standing behind me.

As I had thought, it wasn't ready yet.

"Ah, hello."

"Weren’t we on the same team as before?"

She spoke too politely for a 17-year-old girl, but that's how Yoo Yeonha liked to keep her distance.

"Yes? Oh, right, haha."

After exchanging only two sentences, Jin Hoseung burst into cold sweat. Yoo Yeonha was difficult to speak, and it wasn't just because of her background or her crazy personality. Yoo Yeonha and Shin Jonghak were officially a couple, but unofficially. At this point, it should be more like a one-sided crush on Yoo Yeonha.

"Ah, Hazuki-ssi is coming too."

"Hello..."

As her name suggested, Hazuki was a Japanese cadet. She approached with eyes that seemed to be about to cry. Yoo Yeonha looked at her slightly disgusted, then spoke.

"Who is the other person?"

"It's me."

Yoo Yeonha didn't like people who lacked confidence and self-esteem. As such, I intensified with confidence, trying to make my previous panic go unnoticed. Hazuki and Jin Hoseung turned to me first.

"Uh..."

Hazuki bowed his head as if he didn't know who I was.

"Ah, the guy who chose a gun."

When Jin Hoseung mentioned my previous feat, I checked Yoo Yeonha's expression. Unexpectedly, she didn't show any emotion. But that was even more terrifying.

Unconsciously, I shuddered again.

At that moment, Kim Soohyuk shouted aloud.

"There is no time to chat. You should have obtained the coordinates and information of the monster you will need to kill on your smartwatch. Get going!"

A total of 25 teams. Including the other classes that participated, there were a total of 100 teams. Our mission was to go to the coordinate that had been given to us and kill the monster there. Then we were classified according to the speed and safety with which we completed our mission.

-Wiing

As soon as the instructor's voice sounded, Yoo Yeonha projected her smartwatch into the air.

[Black Octopus 37 ° 31 '32 "N]

The name and coordinate of the monster were written there.

Yoo Yeonha spoke succinctly.

"Let's go. We can talk while we move."

*

I was running through a field. Beyond this ocean of golden reeds should be the Black Joroba Octopus.

But running was extremely difficult due to my horrible physical statistics. The tennis shoes I created last night seemed useless. Its one-hour duration had not been exhausted yet, but my endurance had already hit rock bottom.

In the end, I fell while running, and the team stopped because of me.

.....

On a side note, the last time I had fell in such a shameful way was when I was 5 years old, and I was walking around the city with my parents, as an extra fact, I was chasing a game of stuffed animals of them.

"It's okay. What matters is whether or not we can kill the monster."

Seeing me gasping on the ground, Jin Hoseung said, as he handed me a bottle of water.

"He's right. Apparently, this is common when you work with magicians."

Hazuki also comforted me with his mediocre Korean.

I was grateful for that, but I was looking for Yoo Yeonha's reaction more.

Contrary to my expectations, which were really low, she didn't seem very upset. She was simply sitting modestly on the floor, reading information about the Black Joroba Octopus on her watch.

I also got the necessary information out of my head.

===

[Black Ooporpus]

Low-middle-ranking monster

-Special features

* The main body is not strong, but numerous baby octopuses come out of the hump in their head. When dozens come out at the same time, it's not easy to deal with them. Baby octopuses can suck human blood and turn them into mummies in just a second. They are classified as low-ranking monsters.

-Strategy

* Eliminate all baby octopuses. Alternatively, destroy the black hump where the magical power of the main body is created.

-Weakness

* Black hump

-Strands

* Suction cups and baby octopuses

===

Perhaps because I was the one who wrote the scenario for the Black Pout Octopus, there was complete information about the monster, as if it were a description.

"I'm going to deal with the babies while you two deal with the main body."

Soon, Yoo Yeonha turned off his smartwatch and told Hazuki and Jin Haseung.

.....

Oh, I understand it now.

Yoo Yeonha was acting as if I didn't exist. I was on the same level as the air, so she didn’t’t scold me or seem disgusted.

Honestly, I didn't know whether to feel strongly upset or incredibly relieved.

"... Let's go now."

In the end, I couldn't help but see it as a challenge, so I forced myself to get up again. Thanks to my tennis shoes, my endurance had recovered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'll go first. Hup!"

I ran in front of them. If I compared my current physical condition with the one I had less than a month ago, running to the goal would be like taking a walk.

But exactly 10 seconds later.

I found myself far behind the other three. Again.

.....

At the end of this, I will definitely add a training session in the treadmill.

Chapter Text

Just when my legs were about to give way for the tenth time today, we found our target monster. A giant octopus running out of control near the beach. He had a black hump that gave the impression of having two heads.

"I'm ready."

Yoo Yeonha spoke as she lowered her body into the thicket. Jin Hoseung and Hazuki drew their sword and axe, respectively.

Then, she began to order.

"When we run, the baby octopuses will come out of their hump. When that happens, you two should back up and remain on hold until I kill them all. Warriors need to keep their magical power as much as possible. Black Octopuses have a high regenerative power, so we must remove the hump in a single blow..."

Yoo Yeonha's explanation continued.

Actually, it was better to leave me the baby octopuses. A gun had a high base power, so it could kill any number of baby octopuses in a single blow in a short period of time, which would give it the opportunity for a quick but deadly attack. On the other hand, it was difficult to damage the main body unless a critical blow occurred.

However, Yoo Yeonha didn't tell me anything.

So I stood still, avoiding the urge to yawn. If she didn't want me to get into her affairs, then I would simply give her a quick advantage at the beginning, and let them deal with the rest.

I could even take advantage of this and get some rest.

..... However, against all odds, even with my damn 9.1 of luck in my statistics, something terrible had to appear.

I was frozen in the air, desperately trying to make sense of what I saw.

..... No, damn it, please don't...

"Then let's start."

The moment her words fell, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki ran. After closing in a fair amount, Jin Hoseung straightened his throat before roaring.

"Kueeeeek!"

My ears felt hot, but I managed to get myself out of my daze. The Black Jup's Octopus lowered his head after discovering us. Then he pointed his cannon-shaped hump at us.

-BOOM!

A thunderous sound sounded, and dozens of creatures shot out of their hump. Apparently soft lumps appeared over us from the sky.

As planned, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki stepped aside, while Yoo Yeonha held her whip, clearly running with magical power.

But I held my gun before Yoo Yeonha could make his move.

"Hey, you don't have to..."

Yoo Yeonha tried to stop me in shock, but I ignored her.

In the air, there was a screen that looked terribly familiar.

+

(Main Scenario 'Marine Hunting')

Category: Main

Difficulty: F

Clear conditions: Kill the 'Black Octopus' without burning yourself with the acid of ictysaurs.

Time limit: 10 minutes.

Compensation: 1 answer, 500 coins.

Failure: Death.

+

Stomach acid of ictysaurs.

If it mentioned an ictysaur acid, it must have been that one. Now....

Where was it?

Taking another look at the monster, I thought about the large number of baby octopuses that it would expel, maybe, instead of its usual sticky substance, it would have acid?

Well, in any case, I wasn't willing to take a risk. If the scenario mentions it, then it should become notorious soon.

Let's save the questions for later.

Now was the only time I could act without being stopped.

I activated 'Bulle Time’. Immediately, the blood in my body began to boil. My vision became clearer, and the world slowed down. I was able to see and predict the trajectory of the baby octopuses raining. Their one-dimensional movement made them much easier targets than mole crickets.

There were twenty magical bullets loaded.

It was simple. I just had to look at where I was shooting and pull the trigger. The added luck was just the icing on the cake.

Magic bullets silently cut the air, leaving behind a blue trail. A bullet for a target. The charger rained in an instant, but the unloading and recharging were also instantaneous.

I fired another twenty bullets, then another twenty.

After firing 60 bullets non-stop, the world slowly returned to normal.

Without even waiting a second, I activated my 'Daily Opportunity'. I wanted to name my recovery of attributes, skills and statistics for the limitation of 2 minutes a day.

The plan consisted of 2 steps.

The first thing to take care of the baby octopuses to prevent any substance splashing on us, and if my theory was correct then this was a priority. For that...

[The path of the wind, level 5 has been activated]

Dropping my gun, I slightly moved both palms of my hands to guide the wind, the purpose of this was that the blood of those baby octopuses did not fall next to us, while I hid the evidence.

If someone asked later, I could always answer that my hands and wrists were sore from shooting so fast, there is the movement.

"... Huh?"

The creatures that cover the sun disappeared without a trace in less than 3 seconds, and in full view of everyone, the shot was so fast that it made all the octopus babies fall backwards, on the target.

The sudden change caused Yoo Yeonha and the others to get confused.

And now, the second part of the plan is set in motion.

"YOO YEONHA, NOW"

Jumping quickly from her daze from the sudden scream, Yoo Yeonha instinctively threw her whip forward, ready to strike a blow.

After shouting the names of Hazuki and Jin Hoseung, the two Warriors began to run towards the main body. Yoo Yeonha's long whip shot out and grabbed the hump of the giant octopus.

The target itself did not have especially hardened skin, what's more, as mentioned before, the reason why it is problematic is because of the number of octopus babies it expels. Then, with the help of magical power, I reinforced both Yeonha's weapons and the two Warriors.

The first blows would have to be powerful enough to be able to kill him quickly, and hopefully [Wind Road, level 5] would be more than enough so that the weapons are not destroyed in the process.

After all, the next priority on the list in addition to the scenario itself and avoiding collateral damage when fulfilling it, was to prevent the transformation that the target had undergone from being evident.

Under no circumstances could I reveal the existence of the Star Stream now.

The moment her elegant whip crushed the octopus's hump, a mole cricket shot out of the ground.

-Kieeek

Screaming voraciously, the mole cricket jumped on Yoo Yeonha. With a quick movement, I picked up my gun from the sand and fired the last bullet I had in my barrel. Hitting the mole cricket on the back, the magic bullet detonated inside and splashed the blood and mucus of the mole cricket on Yoo Yeonha.

Before she was covered in sticky substance, Yoo Yeonha quickly extended her magical power. The mucus of the mole cricket fell off after hitting her barrier.

"Uk..."

But she couldn't block everything, so with my remaining hand, I sent a little wind to help her just in case. Yoo Yeonha gave me a murderous look, but I knew that now was not the time to complain. She threw a whip at the octopus once again.

A beastly whip joined the sword and the dance of the axe with tentacles.

*

Case closed. Elapsed time: 5 minutes and 40 seconds.

Yoo Yeonha had brilliantly cut four of the eight tentacles. All that while standing next to me and not moving more than one foot. She had thoroughly fulfilled her two duties: supporting the Warriors and protecting the Sharpshooter.

"..."

Now that the battle was over, Yoo Yeonha had her eyes closed.

The whole area around her was covered with sticky substances, but she was completely clean. After letting out a sigh, she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and cleaned the non-existent dirt. Then, she turned to me.

Now that I think about it, I think I configured her with a strong repulsion to germs.

"Excuse me."

Her eyes were smiling, but she didn't seem so friendly. I looked her in the eye without being able to answer. The anger hidden in her eyes was like blades sticking inside me. Yoo Yeonha was a woman with a fearsome character. More than anything else, she hated her body and her clothes being dirty.

"You don't need to bother. I can take care of a taupe cricket well and very clean."

"..."

"Because of you, my clothes ended up getting dirty."

I was stunned, she didn't have a single stain on her white uniform!

Damn, she didn't even have dust on top of that!

At that moment, the two extremely dense Warriors approached me.

"Wow, that was quick thanks to you. I saw it. You killed the baby octopuses, didn't you? Guns have their advantage, eh?"

"That was incredible!"

It was Jin Hoseung and Hazuki, both completely clean.

Fearing to dirty her clothes with non-existent dirt again, Yoo Yeonha slowly walked away.

*

[Team 5 - Total time: 5 minutes 58 seconds. 12/100]

12th out of 100 teams.

Although she ended up in the upper half of the teams, it can't be said that Yoo Yeonha's expression was happy.

But, since the ratings were based on individual performance filmed through drones, she didn't care too much. Understandably, Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak's teams won first and second place, respectively. But I was bitter that Chae Nayun's team was more higher.

"The drones filmed everything. The videos will be sent to your smartwatches, so you can see if you were quick or slow to hunt your monster, your team's compatibility with the monster, and study how you could improve for the next time. It will be part of your qualifications."

Kim Soohyuk gave a long-term statement. Yoo Yeonha turned her head slightly and looked back. An average-looking man yawned tired.

It was his fault that her team was late. Because he lacked resistance, they couldn't reach the monster quickly. What should have taken only 10 minutes ended up taking 50 minutes.

In addition, he had dared to yell at her, such an asshole.

But, it was also thanks to him that they managed to finish in 12th place. His quick serenade of bullets eliminated all the baby octopuses in 3 seconds. Since Yoo Yeonha was prepared to fight with them for 15 minutes, it could be said that he played an important role.

But, of course, she still played the most important role, since she was the one who crushed the hump of the main body.

"..."

Yoo Yeonha repressed her urge to blame someone. But that only increased the irrational feeling of jealousy and envy she felt towards Chae Nayun. She looked forward and looked at Chae Nayun at the head. If only she wouldn’t be discovered, she wanted to hit the back of her head badly.

Yoo Yeonha's hands trembled, reaching for Chae Nayun's head.

But instead of taking such an extreme action, she lightly touched Chae Nayun's shoulder.

"Nayun, how were you?"

"Hm? Ah, that's what you want. 4th place, what a shame. I wanted to beat Shin Jonghak and Rachel. What happened to you?"

"I'm... 12."

"Oh? Wow, did you get the 12th place with that Sharpshooter using a gun?"

"We had the Black Pout Octopus. We just had to remove the hump."

"And that's what you did, isn't it?"

Yoo Yeonha nodded with a bright smile.

"Yes."

*

Late at night, after the end of the regular classes, I was training in the training room.

After completing the stage, I felt like I was dying. But training was something I had to do, so I concentrated on training for at least 3 hours. Fortunately, the training team was not very different from that of my world before the apocalypse. It was just that the weights were heavier. For example, the leg extension machine went from 15 kg to 500 kg.

"Ugh".

After completing a training round, I went back to the locker room like a zombie and collapsed in the seat. After catching my breath for five minutes, I took my laptop and a fatigue recovery drink out of my bag.

First, I checked today's results with the laptop.

[Good luck applied! Since the enemy is just a low-ranking monster, your accuracy increases a lot!

[All the attacks hit the target! The competition of your talent increases by 20%!]

[The perception increases in 0.03.]

[Good luck applied! Your eyes and ears seem to work better!]

[You have won 27 SP].

As expected, I seemed to have been lucky with the precision I showed during today's combat training. And thanks to highlighting Yoo Yeonha, I also got some SP.

[Through exercise, your strength increases by 0.02.]

[Through exercise, your endurance increases by 0.02.]

[Through exercise, your vitality increases by 0.02.]

[Mana mysteriously melts into your torn muscle fibers! Your strength, endurance and vitality increase by 0.03!]

The amount of statistics I got when training was more than I expected. Enlightenment and luck must have played a role in it.

...

After receiving the reward of the stage, the Star Stream disappeared again, as if it had never been there in the first place.

And as much as I try to open my attribute window over and over again, nothing.

Again, as if it had never been there.

I had so many questions in my head, but I knew I couldn't waste my reward.

Now I knew that, although the system of this world influenced me, so did the Star Stream. And because I didn't receive any configuration alerts from the system, they worked separately.

Or at least with a time difference.

In addition, when Star Stream was active, I could use all my attributes without limitations, but if I spent the two minutes a day once the muscle pain was gone, it was present.

I unconsciously wondered how much pain I would have to endure when using it for a long period of time.

And if it was the Star Stream that my parents knew, then wouldn't I go home right away, especially since they were just starting the stages. Now that I think about it, if I follow the previous line of thought, why didn't the any of the constellations appear?

Would it be that, as if it were a computer program, it is being downloaded? That would explain their limited participation, despite their chaotic nature.

Again, I had many questions in mind, with their respective theories about it ,eager to be verified. But with the sharp pain all over my body, I wasn't sure I could get up tomorrow.

Of course, I already had a solution in mind.

===

[Fatigue recovery drink]

-Restores the body from fatigue. It contains a small amount of warm mana.

* Current SP: 36

===

This was a fatigue recovery drink provided by Cube.

I planned to modify its effect.

Of course, something like 'completely restoring the body from fatigue' would not work. Even if I did, it would be a waste to use all my SP. But with the right amount of restrictions, you could get a decent product.

I added a line to the description of the fatigue recovery drink.

-If 'Yoo Hajin' goes to sleep within 2 hours of use, he will slowly recover from physical fatigue over the course of 8 hours.

I put four restrictions.

Only Yoo Hajin.

Sleep within 2 hours of use.

Physical fatigue only

Not instant recovery, but slowly over the course of 8 hours.

[You can save the modified configuration using 0.5 SP].

Because the drink already had a similar effect, the amount of SP required was exactly the amount I got when training.

After saving the modified effect, I swallowed the drink.

"Bulp"

Now, I had to go back and sleep.

Otherwise, the drink would have been a waste and I didn't want that.

"Agh, my joints."

I staggered like a zombie again, with my bed as the final destination.

*

At the same time, Yoo Yeonha was analyzing the video of the day's combat training. With several drones filming each team, she could see the battle from multiple angles.

"... At least he's fast."

The more she saw it, the more curious she was.

The Black Octopus deployed a total of 59 babies. But before they could even touch the ground, they were eliminated by the Sharpshooter bullets. Black Ooze Octopus usually reabsorb the babies they fired to recover their energy. Then, they would shoot more from their hump. Due to this annoying trait, Yoo Yeonha was ready for a prolonged battle, but the fight itself had ended in just 10 minutes.

"I don't remember seeing him at the Military Academy of Agents."

The more she thought about it, the stranger this Sharpshooter seemed. His endurance was abnormally inferior to that of other cadets, and he had also suddenly changed his weapon... That was all that Yoo Yeonha got in her notes on Yoo Hajin.

She received a sudden message.

[What's going on?]

It was Shin Jonghak. With a smile, Yoo Yeonha touched the hologram keyboard.

[Analyzing today's video~]

[Why are you doing that now?]

[I'm going to inherit a guild in the future, so I have to look for promising talents]

[There are none on your team. They are all garbage].

Yoo Yeonha laughed surreptitiously. He was right, but he was also arrogant. If he were someone other than Shin Jonghak, she would have found such behavior detestable. But only the fact that he was 'Shin Jonghak' turned his arrogance and impertinence into elegance. It was not a logical explanation, but the reason why Yoo Yeonha liked Shin Jonghak was far from logical in the first place.

[How is that guy who shoots a gun?]

"Haha."

So he was curious after all. He also had a pretty nice side.

[He's good. He did a man's job. Exactly what I would expect from range 934.]

2.78 seconds. In that short period of time, that man had fired 60 bullets and hit all of them. Yoo Yeonha made a traction movement with her index finger. Was it possible to pull the trigger 20 times in a second? Or does that gun have an automatic firing button?

Also...

She could have sworn that, after dealing her first blow, the blood of the Black Pigeon Octopus was burning her own skin, but it seems that it was part of her imagination seeing that there was nothing like that on cameras.

-Ding dong

In the middle of her thought, the bell rang.

[Ah, my room service is here.]

Yoo Yeonha jumped towards the door.

When she opened the door, she saw her neatly dressed butler waiting in front. She was happy to see the butler that her father chose for her.

"Thank you, Sechan-ssi."

The butler bowed respectfully.

Yoo Yeonha took her food and went back to her seat.

[I came back. Were you waiting?]

Yoo Yeonha opened the dome-shaped lid in her elegant silver fountain.

[No].

There was normal food in it. A hamburger between two muffins, the iconic symbol of the commoners. On the side there were fries and a bottle of coke.

It was a set of hamburgers.

First, she ate a fry.

[What did you order?]

Shin Jonghak asked just at the right time.

Yoo Yeonha answered casually.

[Only the usual. A little foie gras entier].

Chapter Text

Wednesday's first class, 'duos training', started.

This two-hour class simply had two cadets forming a pair and fighting each other. The spacers were made with training weapons, making the fight less painful and easier to classify. In this class, Kim Suho paired with Yi Yeonghan, and Shin Jonghak paired with Kim Horak.

"Uwoooh".

"Rank 934, Kim Hajin, get up!"

"I can't."

As for me, I was fighting with the anti-personnel combat instructor instead of a cadet. It was because there wasn't a weapon to train. Since a real gun could not be used in combat for fear of involuntary injuries, it was attached to the instructor.

Although for different reasons, it was not very different from the treatment of my previous world.

"What do you mean you can't?!"

The instructor ordered me to give everything I had.

Exactly a minute later, it was the instructor who gave everything. It seemed that my 'Talent' was more threatening than he had anticipated.

I didn't really understand it. If he increased the level of training at the slightest reaction on my part, how is he supposed to expect me to cooperate?

"Get up!"

Seeing that my bullet slightly scratched his forearm, he got angry and grabbed me by the neck.

Now that things had come to this, I was so sorry that I had spent the first two weeks without moving a single muscle. I should have spent my time exercising.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the thought that, maybe I shouldn't have gone too far in completing the scenario, appeared, and like a light breeze, I quickly made up my mind about it.

"I can't continue."

I kept repeating. It was true.

My body was at its max, and it didn't answer to me anymore. I hadn't rested properly last night because I was thinking about the appearance of the Star Stream, and now I was paying the consequences.

I had even been exhausted enough to not allow myself to go into crisis.

It didn't help that he was so aggressive with me.

"Yes, you can!"

"My body won't move."

"Continue!"

The instructor pushed me with the amount of force that you are supposed to use with an equal rival, not in an inferior cadet.

"Be on your guard and do something!"

He instructed me to do something, but the gun in my hand felt heavy, and I felt my body slowing down quickly. I half-tiled the trigger. The instructor blocked the bullet with his hand. Then, he approached me. Unable to resist, I stumbled and fell. An electrifying sensation ran through my body.

"I give up, I give up, please, let's take a break."

I begged him.

"You didn't move after shooting. I said you should do something!"

-Chak!

He slapped my face, without any kind of contemplation. The strength of the impact was enough to leave a notorious red mark on my face, and made me fly backwards.

He’s starting to bother me. Now that I think about it, was there any need for this?

"GET UP!"

-Chak!

With a hand buried in my hair, he forced my body to get up and slapped me a second time.

That's when I saw it.

Anger, resentment and indignation. His eyes burned deeply with these three. Then, everything began to clear up before my eyes.

He thought I was playing, that I wasn't taking 'Cube' seriously enough and that's why I had changed my weapon. Like the rest of the people, he thought of me as an attention seeker, and that it would not take long for me to quit.

Through this beating, his message was clear. 'This is not a place to play, either you line up at once or you leave.'

"I said, UP!"

I refused to take it for the third time. I barely grabbed his arm, managing to interrupt his blow.

This was part of being a student of 'Cube', although you receive attention and admiration, there was also jealousy and resentment. Everyone believed that they had the right to demand you, to give you expectations and that you had the duty to fulfill them.

So...

"You son of a bitch, do you think you're the owner of everything? Fucking bitch."

I immediately grabbed the instructor's hair with my teeth and pulled.

A cold numbness ran through my body, desperately trying to turn off the destructive heat of my emotions.

Couldn't I just close my mouth? I would have gladly allowed him to get away with it, what's more, I could have even followed the game for a while and had fun.

It didn't have to end up like this.

When you were part of an incredibly powerful family, people tended to put expectations on you. At first they were general, as if you were strong, intelligent or capable.

But as I grew, they became more and more meticulous. My way of dressing, speaking, my actions, behavior, etc. Even the smallest detail was analyzed.

Throughout my 17 years of existence, I have met many people like that. But I didn't really pay attention to them, I had the self-esteem and confidence in myself to stand in front of them and look at them with disdain.

And when they saw that they couldn't get away with it, they went to the most unpleasant place and went as low as possible.

Insulting my parents.

Talk contemptuously about Dad's appearance, about a Father's personality, about his ability to raise me, to spoil me, and give me everything I ask of them, and 'that'....

If he even had the right to proclaim his son to me.

"Ah! What are you doing!? 934... Ak! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"

Grinding his hair, I backed up as if my life depended on it, and that's how I felt it.

My strange actions made the environment silent, but I didn't have time to pay attention to something like that.

I loved my family and admired my parents, I liked my life and they had no right to judge that.

Preferential treatment?

Don’t make me laugh!

Do you even know how much I had to fight for each of the KimCom members, including my parents, to make them agree to train me? What I had to do to prove to them that it was worth investing in me, that I refused to stay under their shadow, and be aspired to one day walk by their side?

"E-This is a warning! Let me go! I said, GO!"

He screamed loudly, his voice completely sore.

This hair, I'll bite it. I swear I will bite him, and no one will be able to stop me from doing it.

"Y-you...!"

I could see the instructor's fist in front of my eyes, advancing quickly.

I had no memories of what happened afterwards.

But since I managed to take a look at his face full of fear and tears, as well as winning 40 SP, I didn't think it was such a bad conclusion.

......

[A universe away, only the fact of the apparent impossibility of crossing the universes stopped a furious pair of parents, in matching coats, from attacking when the slaps began, and like the terribly petty people they were, 3 people smiled proudly when they saw the end of the scene. The rest of the spectators, however, were worried.]

*

Cube had 'clubs' like any other. The main instructor, Kim Soohyuk, told us that we couldn’t enjoy our youth like everyone else, but I didn't make Cube to be such a horrible place. While it was completely normal to be covered in the blood of monsters, or kill Djinns from time to time, Cube encouraged cadets to enjoy their hobbies for their mental and emotional health. Being in a relationship was technically prohibited, but it was usually allowed by all teachers. So, yes, they also had their advantages.

Cube's clubs were no different from college or high school circles. The promotions of the clubs took place in the second week after the first-year cadets entered.

I set the number of clubs in my novel at around one hundred, but considering that there were only 5,000 cadets in the entire school, it might not have been the most realistic. In any case, there was a club for almost any topic. There were hobby clubs, such as bowling, billiards, and virtual reality, while there were also academic clubs such as studying, martial arts, and training.

I planned to join more than one club.

Obviously, the purpose was to stay close to the main characters, and if someone said that it was actually because of my lack of experience in clubs and how excited I was to have more social experiences, they would never be able to make me admit it out loud.

I already knew who was in which club.

Kim Suho and Yi Yeonghan were in the Travel club, Chae Nayun in the Travel and the Hunting club, Yoo Yeonha in the Travel and the Academic club, Shin Jonghak was not in any, and Rachel was in the Reading club.

Clearly, the Travel club was an obvious choice. Then, I had to choose between the Hunting Club, the Book Club, and the Academic Club.

Since the students could join several clubs, I could join the four of them if I wanted to.

But that was very difficult in a realistic situation. I only had one body to work with.

Among these, the easiest club to win SP seemed to be the Academic club. And of the Academic clubs, the academic circle called Veritas had an antagonist who played an important role at the beginning of the story.

"VR Club, Villa Folklore... Interesting."

Suddenly, I have a strange feeling.

Unconsciously run a hand over my cheeks. Despite the fact that I put ice packs on them, they were still swollen and the pain had not gone down much.

It was at times like this that I really hated the current state of my body.

Sitting on a bench in Cube's Hero Park, I looked around. Probably because all the classes were over, the park was full of people.

I had a strong feeling of discomfort. The scenario and configurations I had scribbled had taken on a life of his own, filling plot holes, and creating this world. There were a lot of things that were new here. The VR club I mentioned was one of them, and so was that couple hiding behind the bushes.

*

"Hey, that's a little..."

When I saw that they were starting to get crazy, I got up with a frown and left.

I was uncomfortable.

I, Yoo Hajin, son of the 'Returner' who, at some point, had a son and a wife, who has hundreds and hundreds of forums only dedicated to his beauty, and how they would like to be his lover.

Son of the constellation 'Demon king of salvation', which has so many simps, fans, admirers, and many people fantasizing about being my stepmother/stepfather.

I have never been in a relationship, like any type of affective relationship with people in my family.

I have never experienced the feeling of being someone's crush, having a simp, or a fan.

Dad always says don't worry, that at my age he didn't have any of that either, that over time people would see how incredible he was, and some more comforting words I didn’t really pay attention to. Now, if only he could finish the lecture without laughing with Sooyoung Ahjumma.

Giving a little sigh for my non-existent love life, I continued with what I had planned.

For a long time, I was very busy, asking for the application forms of the chosen clubs to fill out in the park. Four forms. I didn't get a favorable look when I asked for them, but I had achieved it anyway.

"I need to join the Travel club safely."

Four main characters were in the Travel club. It was the result of my desire to unite them for major and minor events.

But compared to the importance of the club in history, it was not popular with students. I only had 20 people from the three grades, and the third grades were mainly busy interviewing with guilds and internship missions. Realistically, the club only had about 14 people.

I couldn't explain why. That's how I established it because having more people seemed too problematic.

In any case, the Travel club was confirmed. After thinking about the others, I decided to join just two more. Leaving the Book Club aside, unfortunately, I chose the Hunting Club, and the Academic Club.

The clubs started after all the classes ended, and these three clubs did not overlap at all. The Academic club met on Tuesdays, Hunt club on Thursdays, and Travel club on Saturdays or Sundays.

Rachel ended up being excluded, but she was an untouchable existence anyways, for the moment at least.

Another small sigh came from my lips, while I regretted not having join the book club, so that it did not overlap with the rest.

"Well, what can be done now."

-Thwack.

After shaking the application papers with my fingers, I stood up. Now was the time to receive even darker looks from the club leaders.

*

The capital of Korea, Seoul, was full of guilds that competed for the world's first position. Distinguished guilds such as 'Essence of the Strait', 'Desolate Moon' and 'Frost Shrine' were located in the collectively established guild district in Seoul, making it the center for requests for subjugation of Djinns and monsters, technological advances and business.

"The visit to the guild is scheduled for Friday, two weeks from now."

The union district of Seoul was full of skyscrapers, but an especially bright building was not as tall. The geometric design of this building caught the attention of any passer-by. It was the building belonging to the 'Holy Grace of the Creator' guild.

With cutting-edge magical engineering technology, the interior of the building was twice as large from the outside, while its mana density was always above grade 3.

"Mm, I understand."

In this optimal environment for even Heroes, vice-leader Yun Seung-Ah took her secretary's report.

Currently, Yun Seung-Ah's attention was devoted exclusively to finding "promising talents."

It was a widely recognized fact that the first-year students of Cube this year were exceptional. It was said that some had Talents that could alter the classifications of the guilds. If she let her competitors steal them, the first-place position that she had worked so hard to achieve would be compromised.

Consequently, Yun Seung-Ah's eyes were glued to the guild's intranet database, which contained videos of Cube's first combat training.

"Kim Suho really is something."

Currently on his screen was the first classified combat training, Kim Suho. Fighting a monster, his Qi sword stood up abruptly. But his Qi sword wasn't the only amazing scene. His fluid movements made it look like his sword was water. His skill with the sword was not similar to that of any other, almost like a formless sword technique. With this technique, he seemed to tear the space along with his target monster.

"Yes, he doesn't seem to be close to any guild either. He is the first in our priority."

"I want to bring him in no matter what... Oh? Is someone using a gun?"

Kim Suho's video ended, and Yun Seung-Ah's eyes, scanning the remaining list of cadets, shone with curiosity.

"Yes. There were conversations about it in the guild community."

"Was I not there? I'm sorry, I've been too busy lately."

"It was uploaded from the Cube community. He was on Yoo Yeonha's team, so he gathered a lot of points in the first place. According to internal information, he’s quite strange."

"Mm... strange, huh?"

Curious about this unique individual, Yun Seung-Ah played the video.

[Team 5]

[Jin Hoseung, Hazuki, Yoo Yeonha, Kim Hajin]

Although not to the point of astonishment, the 7-minute video undoubtedly caught his attention.

"Even if he was using an automatic rifle, how was he able to shoot 60 shots in 2.78 seconds?"

It was physically impossible. Even if he was fast enough to pull the trigger 60 times, the gun wouldn’t be able to stand it. In other words, a trans-physical power was at stake.

"Yes. It seems that he changed his weapon from sword to pistol as soon as he entered Cube."

"...He enlightened..?"

"I think so too."

Enlightened at only 17 years old...

Leaning back, Yun Seung-Ah plunged into deep contemplation.

Change one's weapon after going through the enlightenment.

Although strange, it happened.

The Talents presented cadets with individuality, but before the enlightenment, it was impossible to know exactly what the Talent was. In cases like this, where you have to switch to an unknown weapon, it takes three years to catch up again.

This was also the reason why Cube's lower academy, the Military Academy of Agents, encouraged cadets to use a variety of weapons. Knowing how to wield several weapons made it easier to transition from one weapon to another if necessary.

"He experienced early enlighting, but if using a weapon is all his Talent can do, I can't say that it's too desirable."

"Correct, if his Talent could be used with a bow, he would have chosen a bow."

Yun Seung-Ah agreed, but being enlightened at the age of 17 was still a strange thing.

"We should at least keep an eye on him. Is there a free recruiter?"

"No. Due to how exceptional this year's cadets are, everyone is at their limit."

Yun Seung-Ah hesitated. Nowadays, recruiters are expensive. Even if she hired a new recruiter, without attachment to the guild, they could simply flee to another guild with the guild's information.

"... Then leave it that way. If he's really special, I'm sure he'll stand out again."

In that decision, her secretary nodded without objection.

Chapter Text

I needed to earn money. It was not a want, but a complete necessity. When I looked at the bill that arrived in my room this morning, I almost lost consciousness. I had a debt of 300 million won. In other words, I had taken out all of the loans that a Cube cadet could get. It had to be Chundong's work, damn it.

The loan only had a low annual interest rate of 1%, but since I wasn't making money, I was simply just losing money. Unfortunately, the bank account left by Chundong only contained 3 million wons. It didn't come close to the amount needed to live in this world, where power and money were everything for society.

Fortunately, I had thought of many ways to enrich myself.

First, it was the stock market. Towers and Dungeons were constantly created in the world. I knew the names of the guilds that would discover or conquer them. The guilds in this world were treated as companies, so one could buy shares of public guilds from the guild stock market.

Today was March 2, 2025. My configuration book must be full of juicy information.

I opened my laptop

▷ List of configurations

[March 15, 2025. The newly discovered guild, 'Master Packhorse', is made public. July 4, 2025, they conquer the Dungeon, 'Suwon Royal Devil's Nest'.

Actually, the 'Master Packhorse' guild was established by Djinns. Since they would play an important role in the story, I made sure to write them down in the configuration book. The conquest of the Real Devil's Nest Suwon would skyrocket its stock prices by 1000%. It would not be until three years later when it was discovered that they would be removed from the list, so I could take advantage until then.

[December 8, 2025. Guild, 'Holy Grace of the Creator', announces its plan to conquer 'Miracle Tower'.]

This incident would become the lowest point for 'Holy Grace of the Creator' currently classified 1. It was also the decisive event that made Yun Seung-Ah become the leader. This plan, which Yun Seung-Ah opposed, would reduce her rank to 7.

I had two chances to earn large amounts of money with this incident.

First, was before the plan was announced, and the second was before the plan failed.

Without having to know a lot of information, with only these two, however, these two were the only early financial incidents noted in the configuration book, I was able to make a fortune.

"The problem is..."

I didn't have the money to start.

"Do I have to go to the countryside?"

Field refers to the danger areas where the monsters appeared. Unlike Towers and Dungeons, the level of danger in the Fields was enormously dependent on their degree, so one did not need permits to enter the least dangerous ones.

You should be able to enter the Camp in Gangwondo.

"Wait."

I remembered something about Gangwondo. There was an environment that I fixed in Gangwondo. I wonder what it was.

Using CTRL + F, I searched for a specific word.

[The year 2026. Djinn, Tomer, discovers Aether from the Gari Mountain Dungeon of Gangwondo].

I found it. Shapeless weapon of mystical grade, Aether.

I wanted to take it for myself, but without Aether, Tomer would be left without a gun. Not to mention, Tomer was an important antagonist in history.

Of course, without a weapon, the story would be easier. But if I took Aether just for that reason, it could affect the future in an unknown way. I was afraid of that uncertainty...

"Well, whatever."

Tomer was strong even without Aether, so I wouldn't have to alter the plot much. Once all my statistics grow to around 3 or 4, I should take Aether.

-Wiring

At that moment, I felt a vibration in my wrist. It was a message.

[Announcement of the Travel Club]

-There will be a small trip on Sunday to serve as a first-year orientation.

"... Right."

That was one thing. Immediately after remembering information about the traveling club, the smartwatch vibrated once again.

[Academic club announcement]

-There will be an orientation on Friday for first-year students.

"And there was also this. Seriously, why couldn't I place the incidents with more time separation between them?"

I thought I could get some rest on the weekend, but there were clubs over the weekend. Not to mention that the Academic club was tomorrow.

*

Cube's combat training was on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. As such, I should have been able to relax on Mondays and Fridays, but on this beautiful Friday, I was walking to a certain social room. A little later, Yoo Yeonha was showing her elegant step.

The social room of the Academic club was room 304.

When I entered, I saw many first years as I expected. There were about 30, and 23 of them were girls. Most should have been bewitched by the beauty of the club's president.

At that moment, I found myself wondering what it would be like if my parents came to visit 'Cube'. Releasing a slight snort, I thought 'They sure would be in charge of leaving a strong impression'.

After taking a look around the social room, I turned to Yoo Yeonha's direction and sat behind her. I could smell a floral aroma from her hair, unconsciously I found myself thinking about Grandma Persephone for some reason.

I was flying in my imagination for a while until the president of the club finally showed up.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Yun Hyuk. Welcome to our academic club, Veritas."

The president of the club was 'Yun Hyuk', a third year.

I didn't enter this club just to follow Yoo Yeonha.

Yun Hyuk was a Djinn. Soon, several incidents would occur in Cube, including an invasion of monsters. Yun Hyuk would be the brain behind this.

Of course, I had no reason to bother me shouting: 'That guy is a Djinn-!'

That would only give the impression that I am an envious liar, and not that I have scruples in making accusations without any proof. My reputation in this facility was already bad, and as much as I didn't care, I knew very well when to control my words.

However, that would probably give me a decent amount of SP.

What a dilemma, really.

In any case, Yun Hyuk was hired by the Devil of Enchantment, Lilith. In exchange for selling his soul to the devil, he obtained a beautiful appearance and a skill called 'Enchantment'. At this moment, he should be attentive to Yoo Yeonha. That was the reason why Lilith gave him a high-ranking ability such as Enchantment.

"Since today is only the orientation, we will briefly talk about what our club is about."

Upon hearing his charming voice, the eyes of the cadets were already shining as if they were stars.

The benefits of being someone beautiful, again.

"In Veritas, we investigate and analyze the classification, weaknesses, behaviors, and attributes of monsters. Topics include the classification of monsters, how they behave, where their vital points are, what their attribute is, and how to deal with them efficiently."

What Yun Hyuk mentioned was an important issue in modern society. The 'monster analysis' was one of the biggest, most competitive university topics, and there were even non-combatant heroes who emphasized the investigation of monsters. These Heroes, who did not have the Talent for combat, were still treated as Heroes because they had Talents that helped in transhuman knowledge.

"I'll give a quick example. Let's take a look at this monster. As I'm sure you know, it's a Viera."

A hologram image appeared. Like its suggested name, the Viera was a pectin that produced a pearl. Having great intelligence and being able to use magic, the Vieras were high-ranking intermediate grade 3 monsters. Fortunately, they were friendly and did not attack as long as one remained outside their territory.

But like the pearls produced by ordinary scallops, the Vieras have an incredible value, so they are the goal of guilds everywhere.

"As you know, the Vieras are extremely difficult to kill. However, a careful analysis shows that they are not classified differently than an ordinary scallops. But because no other monster shares similarities with them, it's hard to guess where their vital point is."

Yun Hyuk's explanation continued. But since it was all I already knew, I couldn't help but yawn with boredom.

"Huaaaam..."

A little sleepy, I leaned back.

Immediately, Yun Hyuk's eyebrows were raised, sending me a funny smile and other female cadets sent me offensive looks. I wouldn't be surprised if they really attacked me if I yawned once again, they were that fanatical. Only Yoo Yeonha kept her gaze on the screen.

"Kuhum".

Yun Hyuk let out a dry cough to regain attention before continuing his explanation.

"Due to its ambiguous attribute and behavior, the vital point of the Vieira has not been discovered. But for other monsters like the 'Knight of a Thousand Miles'..."

*

The orientation ended 40 minutes later. This time, I got up yawning inwardly because I didn't want to be savagely attacked.

I was about to leave when I saw Yun Hyuk approaching where I was with Yoo Yeonha. I paused to listen.

"Cadete Yeonha-nim."

"Yes?"

"You forgot this."

Yun Hyuk gave Yoo Yeonha a role that she left behind. This wasn't something I wrote in my novel, so I didn't know much about the paper. But I knew he was scheming in some way. Instead of Yoo Yeonha forgetting the role, Yun Hyuk probably took it out with his magical power.

"Ah, yes, thank you."

Yoo Yeonha took the role with a smile. That seemed to be the end of their meeting, so I turned around to leave. But....

"Cadete Hajin-nim, would you give me a moment?"

Confused, I nodded, turning around. As I followed him to a more remote corner, I could see Yoo Yeonha casting 'indiscreet' glances in our direction. That's good, at least I wouldn't have to chase her afterward.

"Excuse my daring, but I couldn't help but notice your slight boredom on today's subject, I suppose you had already studied the subject before?"

Even more confused, I answered.

"In fact, I did it."

"You must be very intelligent, would you mind passing me your contact? You know, to share information and maybe chat a little, honestly, I would like a star like you to be able to enjoy this club as much as possible."

Smiling brilliantly, he asked me.

Well, now, I was very confused about this course of events, it's true. But if he thinks that just by smiling like that I will pass my contact to him, he is very wrong.

Well, to tell you the truth, he could always get it from anywhere else, but that wouldn't stop me from being petty.

So, putting on my best smile, I responded with the softest voice I could make.

"Yun Hyuk Seonbaenim, sorry for my discourtesy, but I'm not as intelligent as you seem to believe, in any case, although I would like to continue talking to such a charming person as Seonbaenim, I'm a little short of time, so if you'll excuse me..."

In all honesty, most of my 17 years of existence had been spent with people and beings of dazzling appearance and beauty, and like what happens when you expose yourself to something for a long time, I became immune.

....

[Secretly, I completely agree with Father Joonghyuk about Dad Dokja's beauty, what's more, I even spent a good time of my puberty fighting in forums with strangers until 5 in the morning just to prove my Dad to be an absolutely better match than any attempt at a stepmother and/or stepfather they could think of, of course, I was so ashamed of this that I never told anyone.]

[And without Yoo Hajin knowing it, Kim Dokja had found his threads of conversations in the forums because he also used to get into them, but instead of fighting it was to 'share information'. When the squid discovered this, he didn't hesitate to get presumptuous with the plagiarist and the bastard moonfish.

Turning around, I walked to the door before he answered back.

Overcome by curiosity, I took a look back. His face was dyed a deep pink and his eyes seemed to shine, will he be suffering any collateral damage from being a Djinn? I didn't remember writing something like that, but since all my plot holes were being covered, maybe that also changed.

After leaving the club room, I went to a nearby vending machine and took out a Cola and a Sprite. When I looked at their names, I couldn't help laughing. I called them Coin Cola and Spring Sprite to avoid brand problems, and that's exactly how the names appeared on the cans. Meanwhile, Yoo Yeonha left the club room.

With the cans of Cola and Sprite in my hand, I stood in front of her as if to block her way. Then, I passed her the Cola.

"Here."

“...?”

Yoo Yeonha's face was full of confusion.

"I'm in the same club. The same team and now the same club. Funny coincidence, isn't it?"

This was a test. Even exercising, as if my life depended on it, I only got 4 SP. So, how much SP could you get by talking to a main character?

"... Do you think I'll drink something like this?"

Yoo Yeonha's eyebrows wrinkled and her lips protruded as if she were furious. But since it was the reaction I expected, I took the matter casually.

"I just got it from the vending machine."

Yoo Yeonha was probably attracted to bad guys. Of course, being 'beautiful' was a requirement as well.

Unfortunately, I didn't meet any of the requirements.

"Ty it. It's cold."

"I'm fine. You can have it. Also..."

I could feel hostility for the look she gave me. But that was most of her true feelings revealed by the fake mask she wore.

"Don't talk to me so casually. This is the first warning."

That was it. Yoo Yeonha walked next to me without waiting for my answer. Seeing that her perfect figure was moving away, I opened the can of Sprite.

-Psssh-Gulp, I swallowed, delighted with the flavor.

Yoo Yeonha's shoulders trembled when she heard the sound. According to my configuration, Yoo Yeonha loved unhealthy food such as carbonated drinks, hamburgers, fried chicken, and ramen. But she couldn't buy them to save her face, so she had her trusted butler or assistant buy them for her. Even then, she could only enjoy it once a week.

The reason was simple. Not only did she hate to show that side of her to others, but her mother also hated uncommon and unhealthy foods.

We had something in common, since I was very capable of preparing food almost as delicious as his father's, I was a complete addict to kimbap and soft drinks from the convenience store. So, if my Father couldn't prepare the food and I couldn't cook, I was just intoxicated by anything I found, like Dad. The fact that I'm a little reluctant to cook doesn't help.

To compensate for the unfortunate environment I gave her, I threw the can of Cola in her luxurious branded bag. Drawing a clean arch, the Tail was able to land inside.

"Invite me next time too."

Faced with these words, Yoo Yeonha looked back. Then, she walked away murmuring quietly to herself. However, I could hear her voice very well.

- Who is this madman?

*

Yoo Yeonha's sharp senses soon noticed the slight change in his bag. The water from the surface of Cola's can was soaking the textbook in her bag.

"... That madman."

Yoo Yeonha pulled out the Coin Cola can with a frown.

When did he put it in? That little rat.

[Ironically, he was actually the son of a bastard rat, so...]

"Huu"

After a deep sigh, Yoo Yeonha launched her magical power. Filtering the paper, its magical power separated the moisture from the textbook and sent it into the air. When she retracted his magical power, the accumulated moisture fell to the ground.

"Ehew."

With a sigh, Yoo Yeonha burst into a cold sweat. At the same time, she felt proud. The application of the magical power that she has just shown was difficult to achieve even for Heroes. It was apparently simple, but in reality, it was a mysterious and very difficult technique.

"When I see him again..."

After the sense of pride came anger. Yoo Yeonha thought as she twisted his lips, 'That lazy talker, I'll have to ask the boys to educate him...'

But that idea only lasted a moment. Touching Cola's can in her bag, she looked around. There was no one nearby.

-Kuhum.

With a dry cough, she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wrapped it with the can of Cola before putting it back in the bag.

"Hmm".

Then, as if nothing had happened, she accelerated the pace.

Chapter Text

After spending the rest of Friday working and training, it became a Saturday without a single moment of rest.

[Announcement of the Travel Club]

-There will be a small trip on Sunday to serve as a first-year orientation.

The orientation of the Travel club was today. The meeting place was 'Cube Portal Station', which connected Cube to Seoul.

After putting my gun in my crossed bag, I walked to the meeting place. Many of the main cast characters, namely Kim Suho, Yi Yeonghan, Chae Nayun, and Yoo Yeonha, were already present.

They seemed completely unaware of my existence, but being with them still made me very nervous. Today in Seoul, an unexpected incident will occur. This would be the first major incident in history.

While I was organizing in my head about today's imminent incident, the president of the club arrived.

"Hello, I'm the president of the club, Oh Hanhyun. I didn't believe it when I saw so many club applications, but... it's real. Who would know that such incredible cadets would join my club?"

With his average height and his first gentle impression, Oh Hanhyun looked at the members of the club as he scratched his neck.

"First, I will give a brief introduction about the Travel club."

With a shy smile, he took a piece of paper out of his pocket. It seemed that he had a speech prepared. I described Oh Hanhyun as a shy person, so I was not too surprised by his actions.

“Kuhum. Once or twice a month, we will leave Cube to travel. The purpose of the trip is to relax. Therefore, training during trips will be strictly prohibited. That's also why our club is called 'Healing Rain'."

-Kuhum. After clearing his throat once again, he put the paper away. What, that was it?

Previously, he had not been a member of any travel club, so he had no experiences to compare.

However, KimCom had established certain safety rules for the participants of its raids, so it was normal to clarify the list of limits and restrictions when releasing a decent crowd of young people, especially if you could not keep an eye on them.

"Today, as part of the orientation, we will take a short trip to Seoul."

This is what I wrote. The members of the club would form groups of 2 people and go to Seoul.

"We will have a theme for each trip. Since today should be an orientation, we will have a free trip without anything complicated. But instead of traveling alone, we will divide into groups of two."

Here, Kim Suho would pair up with Chae Nayun and find himself in trouble as they looked around a museum. As for that problem, I could experience it first hand soon.

"Then we will start with a draw."

The draws were completely based on luck, but I could choose my destination. Thanks to my Talent, 'Observation and Reading', I was able to clearly see the content of the cards. With my hand on my chin, I kept thinking. Should I choose Kim Suho? Or maybe Chae Nayun?

Then, the bells of death were present.

"I'll go first."

At that moment, Yoo Yeonha stepped forward. I saw her get a name without thinking much about it. A second later, I realized that I was overlooking vital information. It was the rarity known as Yoo Hajin.

And how the world loved to make fun of me over and over again, luck wasn't present today either.

The file extracted by Yoo Yeonha had the following name.

"Yoo Hajin."

My heart immediately fell to the ground. But there was no change in Yoo Yeonha's facial expression. With her usual mask in her place, she looked at me with an ice-cold calm.

*

Fortunately, everything else hadn't changed. Kim Suho became a duo with Chae Nayun, and Yi Yeonghan became a duo with the president of the club.

After finishing the draw, the members gathered for their partners and stood in front of the Portal.

Portal, the cutting-edge technology that uses science and magical engineering. With a height of 15 meters and a width of 30 meters, this giant gate was built in more than a hundred places throughout Korea. With that, moving from Seoul to Busan took less than 3 seconds.

"Cadete Yoo HaJin. Confirmed."

The operator of the Portal gave us a stamp. This stamp would resonate with the Portal and take us to Seoul.

"Let's go."

The president of the club was the first. The next to enter the oscillating blue portal was Kim Suho, Yi Yeonghan, Chae Nayun... and finally me.

A familiar feeling enveloped my body, but only for a moment, it was nostalgic at this point.

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding landscape changed to an unknown place. A futuristic mix of blue and gray, it had to be the Seoul Portal Station. With just two steps, I crossed the East Sea.

"It's 12 P.M. right now, so we'll meet here at 6."

Because the Portal we were on was connected to Cube, there was no one nearby. But the portal next door that connects Seoul with Busan should be full of people. After all, both were global cities.

"For now, follow me."

Following the president of the club, we received another stamp from the Portal employees before leaving the Portal Station.

After leaving, I could immediately see the words ' Yongsan Station'.

"You can go wherever they want as a duo using the public transport system. For today, we will not ask you to write a report, but make sure you are back at 6. If you arrive late, you will be penalized."

With a warning from the president of the club, the cadets left in pairs.

And so, with a surprisingly worrying ease, I was still a little stunned where I was, with no limit until 6 pm.

Yoo Yeonha didn't tell me anything, but I followed her anyway.

While I was reviewing how Yongsan Station changed from what I knew, Yoo Yeonha suddenly stopped. After turning around quickly, I let go without any touch.

"We are going to divide ourselves."

"... Hm? Oh, yes, of course."

Yoo Yeonha probably planned to visit the guild that her father ran. I'm fine with that. I planned to join Kim Suho no matter what Yoo Yeonha does anyway.

"Again."

But as if I were doing something to annoy her again, she looked at me with one hand on her hip, frowning.

"Don't talk to me so casually."

"... Huh?"

"This is the second warning. There won't be a third time."

I knew she wasn't bragging. If I did it for the third time, she could really take revenge on me in an unthinkable way.

Was that how it felt to be intimidated by someone of higher status?, thinking about it now, it was nice and even funny. But since I didn't want to provoke his anger so soon...

"Yes, I understand. I apologize."

"... Tsk".

It seems that she didn't like my answer either.

The young Yoo Yeonha then left without saying goodbye. It was clear how much she didn't like it. Therefore, Yoo Yeonha and I separated after only 5 minutes of arriving in Seoul.

*

"Wow, I thought I was lost."

After changing buses three times, I was finally able to look at the facade of the National Museum of Arms. Replicas of weapons excavated by Korea were exhibited in this museum.

As I was on my way there, my eyes ran into a silhouette that was too familiar.

Kim Suho

Then, a sudden reckless impulse took hold of me, and before I could reflect, I found myself acting.

Approaching him furtively, I heard his murmurs about different weapons that are in the museum. Fortunately, there was a weapon I knew.

"Are you interested in the famous Seven-Ship Sword?"

Before the Korean Peninsula was still unified, the king of Baekje, the then most powerful kingdom, had given this iron sword to the Japanese emperor. It was a historical weapon that is said to have been found in the final room of the Wiryeseong Dungeon.

"Hm? Ah..."

Kim Suho's attention turned to me immediately. However, it seemed that he had no words. I had a good idea of why.

"Kim Hajin."

"Oh well. I'm sorry, I didn't expect to find you here, Kim Hajin."

Trying to lighten the uncomfortable environment, joke a little with it.

"Neither did I, but Yoo Yeonha decided to abandon me, so I thought it would be more interesting to be here."

While we were chatting, we arrived at the door of the museum.

Today, an incident would happen here. With a slightly trembling heart, I entered.

-Dad, what is that?

-Oh, that's the Sword of Four Tigers...

Maybe because it was a weekend, the museum was full of parents and children who hoped to become heroes.

But regardless of the size of a crowd, there would surely be people who stood out. Chae Nayun and Kim Suho were those examples, I could find Chae Nayun at a glance.

"...I want it."

Grinding her lips, she was looking at a bow on a glass screen.

But my goal today was not Chae Nayun. When I looked next to me, I let out a slight smile. The high and extremely attractive characteristics of the main character were easily highlighted.

We crossed glances for a brief moment, in silence.

Then, with a friendly smile, he pointed to another section of the museum.

"Apparently, the rifle that Napoleon used is here. Did you want to check it out?"

What? Did my company also bother you?, and just when I was making my effort to seem pleasant.

"... Napoleon's rifle?"

"Yes. Apparently, it was a reward for a dungeon in France."

According to my world configuration, any weapon used by a legendary figure could become an artifact. As that was the case, it was not uncommon for there to be a Napoleon rifle, although I didn't mention it in my novel.

Of course, there were also exceptions.

Although I was a big fan of weaponry, I wasn't really interested in a replica at the moment.

Besides, I liked swords more.

I looked into this boy's eyes for a moment, but I didn't perceive any discomfort or discomfort, just a warm kindness.

Was he mentioning the rifle for me? Wasn't it a better option to abandon me too?

"Don't worry about that."

I inadvertently answered without zeal. I felt extremely strange talking to the main character I wrote. I wasn't sure how to describe this feeling, but it definitely wasn't totally pleasant.

Kim Suho was very handsome, exceptional in martial arts, and had a really fantastic personality. He was too perfect, so he felt a little inhuman. That was the reason why some readers took root in Shin Jonghak.

But the biggest problem of all was that I knew everything about him, including the past that he was trying so hard to overcome, it all made me feel really guilty.

Like every protagonist, he had multiple difficulties in life and at times, he had been really bad with him. He was a little terrified of how reactionary he would be when he found out that I was the one who imposed all his misfortunes on him.

What if he thinks that I am some kind of pervert sadistic maniacal person, who enjoys watching the suffering of others?

I wasn't going to follow that line of thought.

Anyway, it should be time. I hit the floor with my sneakers, impatient.

"So, if you're interested, we can..."

Just when Kim Suho was saying something...

-BOOM!

A thunderous sound resounded through the museum. In an instant, everyone shut up.

-Koong. Koong. Koong-. Repeated blows pressed through the deadly silence.

The sound that resembles the footsteps of a giant creature soon led to the sound of something that broke. The atmosphere in the museum took a quick turn.

"Kyaaaak!"

"What is that!?"

The unknown led to anxiety and anxiety quickly led to panic. Ordinary visitors shouted and began to run. However, only the arms of death waited outside. The safest place was the interior of the museum at this time.

"Stay here! Don't go out!"

Knowing that it would be dangerous outside, Kim Suho shouted, trying to get his attention.

Of course, it failed.

Currently, the exterior of the museum was being attacked by an intermediate-ranking monster and its subordinates.

Only a single intermediate-ranking monster represented a small threat. A hero would arrive in less than a minute, and 20 minutes were enough to take care of the whole situation.

But that wasn't the only problem.

Djinn.

There was a Djinn here. In a nutshell, it was a double-edged attack. After arriving at a scene, the Heroes went to the most dangerous area. Since the museum had security guards, it was comparatively less dangerous, which gave it a lower priority. Taking advantage of this fact, the Djinn Association dispatched a murderer to target a child considered by the Association of Heroes to have a special Talent.

-Clang

A high-pitched sound resounded. It was the sound of glass breaking. The source of the sound was not far away. Turning in the direction of the sound, Kim Suho shouted.

"Chae Nayun!"

Chae Nayun had broken a showcase and was taking the arch out of the interior.

"Are you crazy!?"

"No, I'm perfectly sane."

Although it was only a replica, it was still an item on display. The museum's siren sounded and its defense mechanism was activated. In just three seconds, all the exits were closed. People panicked even more, but fortunately, even an intermediate-ranking monster could not break the barriers that blocked the exits.

"This is better than stopping people one by one and warning them."

With that, she cleared her throat and yelled at the citizens in panic.

"Everyone! Stay still! It's safer here! We are also heroes!"

Well, I had to congratulate her on this. The quick way she came out of the state of panic and her intelligent response were worthy of praise.

"Hey, you..."

"Shut up. Don't stand there, grab a weapon too."

"What? Why should I?"

Seriously, Kim Suho? Can't you feel the atmosphere?

"Because the outside is not the only thing that is dangerous."

Looking at us... No, looking at Kim Suho, Chae Nayun created a magic arrow in his bow.

Another point in her favor, undoubtedly her perception skills in battles were good, as expected from an archer.

"Look there."

She pointed with her eyes. A man wearing a black coat was standing there. Before Kim Suho could say anything, Chae Nayun fired his bow without a hint of hesitation.

"Hey, I don't think..."

His magic arrow pierced the man's throat. Immediately, Kim Suho froze. He seemed stunned by the sudden murder of Chae Nayun.

Any ordinary person would have died to his arrow. However, the man grabbed the arrow that protruded from his neck and took it out. The black magical power then rose from his hand, burning the arrow in ashes.

-Tap, tap-.

The man turned around, looking in the direction where the arrow was coming from. His eyes turned red, while a fierce hostility came out of him.

"..."

Undoubtedly, he was a Djinn.

Kim Suho's face paled when he understood the whole situation. Then, like Chae Nayun, he destroyed a showcase.

He took out the Sword of Seven Branches. Although it was a replica, its faithful reconstruction made it similar to a high-grade weapon. It should be strong enough to destroy a Djinn of this level.

"Oh, that's a good weapon. I heard that it is divided into seven branches."

Chae Nayun approached with a smile and stood next to Kim Suho.

I also took out my gun. I thought about standing next to them, but after considering them, I took two steps back.

I was still too weak. If I showed too much and I was attacked by the Djinn, that would be the end to go unnoticed.

In addition, I wanted to have a good view of the development of this scene that came to life in front of me.

A thought was suddenly present. Until now, Chae Nayun was taking the lead over Kim Suho, I was eager to see how this conflict would end.

Chapter Text

A blue Qi sword rose around the Sword of Seven Branches. The purity of the blue mana illuminated the sword. Taking a look at Kim Suho's Sword of Seven Branches, Chae Nayun asked.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

In the meantime, I slowly began to retreat. There was nothing I could do here. Kim Suho would reveal his hidden power and easily take care of this Djinn. Overwhelmed by Kim Suho's strength, Chae Nayun would give up on seeing Kim Suho as a rival and, instead, would come to admire him. That was the plot in this scene.

"Support me."

Fixing his grip on the sword, Kim Suho spoke.

"Support? Please, I'll be the one to kill him."

Playfully rejecting, Chae Nayun threw another magic arrow.

"Guooo!"

But before she could shoot, the Djinn ignited his magical power. An evil jet-black Qi was thrown at them like the fire of hell. But a single line of light annihilated her. A Holy Sword could cut off fire, wind, and magical power.

Chae Nayun's arrow then flew through the raised magical power. The arrow that contained condensed mana pierced the Djinn's shoulder.

Kim Suho didn't miss this opportunity. Jumping upwards, he cut diagonally with his Seven Branch Sword.

Without a doubt, they did good teamwork.

This attack should have cut the meat of the Djinn, immobilizing him.

But even though his meat was cut off, the Djinn smiled. Kim Suho instinctively felt that something was wrong.

Immediately after, a fierce magical power came out of the cut.

As if he were under a torrential rain, Kim Suho was swept away by the magical power. He didn't even have the opportunity to scream. He flew through the museum and was trapped inside the museum wall.

"..."

"..."

Both Chae Nayun and I were speechless.

Strange.

Something was definitely strange here. This shouldn't have happened. After being rejected for a while, Kim Suho should have released his hidden power and overwhelmed his enemy, until he took the victory ...

"Uuu..."

Fortunately, Kim Suho got up. But he didn't seem to be in good condition.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine... Kuu."

Kim Suho needed time to repair her wounds. Now, the Djinn was walking towards Chae Nayun. Her face became stiff.

-Chweek-

-Chweek

Chae Nayun fired two arrows. But none of them was effective. Although she continued to shoot arrows until the Djinn was compared to a porcupine, she didn't stop.

"... This is not regeneration."

Chae Nayun murmured stunned. As she said, this Djinn did not have a high regenerative power. He simply had a robust body. First of all, I didn't design it to be an opponent that Chae Nayun could defeat, that wasn't my role here.

Chae Nayun's face turned pale, as fear and horror began to emerge inside her. The impotence of being will be overcome by the enemy, and not being able to do anything about it was a familiar feeling for her.

"Just support me!"

At that moment, Kim Suho jumped in front of her, blocking the Djinn's path. However, the Djinn kept his eyes on Chae Nayun. Condensing black mana on his arm, he produced a giant beast. A wolf-like creature showed its fangs as it shot at Kim Suho.

"Uuuk!"

The Djinn fought Kim Suho with one hand and held Chae Nayun's face with the other.

"Are we screwed?"

I murmured, in increasing panic.

For now, I had escaped to the back of the exhibition. However, this place was already occupied by what seemed to be a father-son duo.

"... Go that's over there."

"Y-yes?"

"There, go further back. It's dangerous here."

Placing myself in front of them, I adopted a protective mentality.

I could feel my voice tremble slightly, and to be honest, I was more afraid of the duo's panic than the attack itself.

"P-But..."

"While the Djinn is too busy fighting, hurry up!"

Scream in a tone of command, which fortunately, they obeyed.

At my behest, the two of them quickly slipped away.

I took my laptop out of my crossed bag.

The Djinn in my environment shouldn't have been so strong. What was that arm? Taking a look, I saw Djinn's wolf arm fight Kim Suho in pairs. I didn't have any memory making that adjustment.

Something, I have to do something. At this rate, both Kim Suho and Chae Nayun could die. It's not something I can afford.

I couldn't help but reprimand myself, for not providing this, for not being one step ahead, for allowing this.

If I remained negligent, I would never reach the end of this novel.

I had to put together a quick plan.

When unloading the warehouse, I put a bullet in front of the laptop. My damn hands were shaking.

With the laptop, I checked the configuration of the bullet.

===

[Ball of Mana]

「No attribute」 「Power of attack (3/10)」

A bullet with condensed mana. It is much stronger than a gunpowder bullet.

===

It wasn't enough. With an attack power of 3, even scratching that Djinn would not be possible. But would it be enough to increase the attack power? That was another question.

Fortunately, there was a clue in my environment.

The reason why this world required a variety of heroes was the concept of 'attributes'. Depending on one's attribute, an attack could have various effects. Contradictorial attributes such as water and fire could allow one to overcome a difference in power to a certain extent.

Now, the Djinn in question clearly had an attribute of darkness. What drove back the darkness was undoubtedly 'light', and I could have access to that.

I just had to change the attribute of the bullet.

===

[Ball Of Mana]

「Attribute of light」 「Power of attack (5/10)」

A bullet with a condensed essence of light. Starts a secondary explosion after reaching its goal.

===

[This modification requires 104 SP. Would you like to save this setting?]

It was expensive. 104 SP was 80% of what I gathered last week. But I still wasn't sure if this was enough. Instead of being an understatement, it was better to exaggerate.

I tried to adjust the attack power to 6.

[You don't have enough SP. The value will be adjusted.]

「 Attack power (5.6 / 10)」

[Would you like to save the adjusted modification?]

I have to save. At that moment, a white light emerged from the laptop before merging with the magic bullet.

A silvery white light shone in the iron casing of the bullet.

Complete modification.

With just this loaded bullet, I took a deep breath. Then, I looked beyond the wall.

Chae Nayun was still struggling to escape the clutches of the Djinn, while Kim Suho was fighting against the right arm of the Djinn. No, Kim Suho was driving the Djinn away. We were at an advantage. It seemed that he would beat the right arm soon.

The problem was Chae Nayun. Since she couldn't breathe or because the magic power of the Djinn was poisoning her, the area around her neck was purple.

When I clicked on my tongue, I jumped to the front.

"Hey!"

Then, I shouted out loud, becoming a target.

"Make an opening!"

Without even turning around to look, Kim Suho rolled to the side. The Djinn's right arm came chasing him, but that only increased the surface area for him to hit.

With a slightly calmer mind, I pulled the trigger. A bright light radiated from the gun's barrel as if a bomb exploded.

The light ball emitted pressure and heat according to its brightness. Unable to resist the power of the bullet, the gun exploded in my hand. The broken components of the gun fell off, while I writhed with unbearable pain from the recoil.

Fortunately, the trajectory of the bullet did not change. It flew along the planned trajectory, hitting the Djinn's left shoulder.

-Bwooo

A burst of light emerged from Djinn's arm. The secondary explosion of the bullet had detonated. The light disappeared, purifying the Djinn's arm. The Djinn had lost his arm.

Chae Nayun, who was on the verge of death, fell to the ground.

Kim Suho didn't miss this opportunity. A magical power of metallic attribute rose from his sword. The technique of the cutting sword of the Holy Sword was finally activated. It should be limited to once or twice a day for now, but that was enough.

I could just look from the side now.

It was finally finishing.

"... Hm?"

At that moment, a boy approached me. He was the boy I met before. The boy had a pretty face, but the short hair made it difficult to identify his gender. Suddenly, the boy grabbed my injured hands.

In an instant, my hand healed completely.

I see, this must be the boy that the Heroes Association barely managed to find. The child with the Healing Authority.

"Thank you."

With a smile, I stroked the child's hair.

Still without letting go of my hands, he looked up and looked directly into my eyes, putting an expression that was difficult for me to understand.

"What are you?"

Being taken completely unprepared, my body became rigid because of the question.

Was he asking what role I play in this world? What was I, the reason for my existence?

..... Unfortunately, I didn't have an answer to any of those questions.

-Guuuu!

At that moment, a deep growl sounded. I quickly turned my eyes to the direction of the noise. The Djinn, who had lost an arm, was panting as he knelt in front of Kim Suho.

It seemed that Kim Suho managed to win.

I felt my body relax, relief flooding my being. It was done.

It was then...

An explosion of ether shook the room and condensed in the air, this was so much so that black flames began to form in showcases, floors, ceilings, walls, etc.

An aura of fear was present, causing people to start crying and convulsing, or simply fainting.

The atmosphere, the attention in the room, the ether, the black flames...

Guardian of darkness....

A kind of grade 7 demonic, 'Celador of darkness'....

"Cover his ears and his eyes, and hide"

I passed the trembling boy to the man who I thought was his father.

"Uh-uh, eh?....."

"Protect him and hide!"

Screaming, I tried to make him react. Fortunately, although the man seemed like he was about to faint, he grabbed his son and did whatever he ordered.

That's when a heartbreaking scream went through the room.

"AHHHHH!"

I turned my eyes instantly, looking for the origin of the scream.

It was the Djinn.

Making a quick analysis, in itself he was not a 'Guardian of Darkness', these appear when there is a dark root, in addition to being directly connected to a demonic king.

Any kind of transformation? Imitation, perhaps?

But if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that the Star Stream was 100% related to this.

While the Djinn continued to scream in pain, several viscous bodies with the appearance of tentacles came out of his back, trying to reach people.

Knowing about the functions of these, I quickly set out to give instructions.

"Everyone, try to avoid at all costs that those things don’t reach you, try to be out of it’s sight and hide!"

The demonic species impregnated other species to give birth to their young.

Although I couldn't reveal much information, this should be enough for them to protect themselves.

As little by little people began to hide, dragging the unconscious people, I saw Kim Suho trying to attack the Djinn.

It won't work.

Despite Kim Suho's 'Holy Sword' ability, this guy will not be defeated only with the attribute of cutting.

'The sword of faith' was the most effective weapon against the demonic species. But there wasn't a sword like that in this place.

....

However....

I quickly ran in the direction of a corner, as I mentioned before, I love exceptions.

So, with what I got from my parents about weapons, I added a few to my novel.

They weren't the most striking or powerful, it was only there for a kind of 'details' on my part.

Who would say that this would help me now.

Searching inside a drawer full of old swords, I found it.

'Broken Faith', a sword with a broken and ancient appearance was in my hands.

Without wasting a second, I ran in the direction of the Djinn.

"It's dangerous, stay away!"

Kim Suho screamed while holding Chae Nayun, he was visibly tired and exhausted, and although he had gotten up to face the Djinn again, he had been knocked down very easily.

Ignoring his warning, I kept moving forward.

When you enter your radar, activate my 'Daily Opportunity' while running after one of your tentacles.

So....

[Personal skill 'White Star Aura' activated]

The sword in my hand was quickly surrounded by an aura of light, temporarily becoming the 'Sword of faith'."

Because he wasn't really a 'Guardian of Darkness', they didn't have the same attack pattern. So activating the abilities [Sense of combat] and [Mastery of all weapons] I began to cut their tentacles, while dodging their attacks.

I couldn't prolong this fight much, so, at the first opportunity, I impaled my sword in his heart, killing him instantly.

The Djinn gave a final cry for the pain, and while he was dying in my arms, he quickly examined his body.

His body was completely destroyed, apparently either they were not compatible, or the Djinn refused to accept possession.

In any case, once I made sure I was dead, the tranquility returned to me.

Feeling the strength leaving my body, a sigh of relief came out naturally. I lay on the floor, completely exhausted.

*

"Gueeek!"

Upon hearing the sound, Kim Suho quickly came out of his daze and turned in the direction of Chae Nayun.

Nayun, who had already regained consciousness, was emptying her stomach with her face down. From her small mouth, the vomit continued to fall. The food she still had to digest soiled the soil, while a pale yellow liquid piled up around it.

Nayun continued to vomit, as if she were coughing up blood. Looking at the horrible scene, I couldn't help but empathize with her pain.

I couldn't help but think that she was an excellent user of the bow, undoubtedly one of the best of the year, in addition to the fact that she was full of magical power. That she is in such a bad state was just another proof of the strong battle they have just survived.

"..."

He approached her to pat her on the back with the intention of helping her. But Nayun hit his hand fiercely. Kim Suho reluctantly backed down, letting her be.

Nayun, still shocked by what happened, began to demand answers.

"You, you, fucking stupid, what a demo... Gueeek!"

When she began to vomit again, he approached to help her, being rejected again.

"Nayun, please, allow me-"

Rejected again.

"Don't bother with her, Kim Suho. If you have enough strength to start talking nonsense, then I'm sure you can take care of yourself"

Kim Hajin advised him, an expression of disinterest on his face as he got up from the floor.

Nayun's bloodshot eyes stabbed Yoo Hajin, but he responded with a look of cold indifference.

Kim Suho knew Chae Nayun well, she knew that what she valued most was the fighting spirit, and since she had a strong determination and conviction to overcome her rivals, she firmly believed that all people should always be giving their best against her.

"... You-"

"I'll go out first."

I tried to say something, but it had quickly been discarded, with no other option, I screamed as loudly as I could with the fatigue and pain still persistent in my body.

"I promise I'll keep your secret!"

Kim Hajin didn't even turn to look, but I already saw it coming.

Kim Suho was the type of person who considered sword fighting an art, that's why he had tried so hard to perfect his technique so that they could transmit his ideals, putting a lot of effort and dedication into the process.

Seeing Kim Hajin facing the Djinn, he couldn't help but think that his technique was a type of art, one that like his was based on talent, effort and dedication. So, although he thought it was very sad that he had changed his weapon with so much talent, he couldn't judge him.

They all had secrets that they were desperately trying to keep, including himself.

While helping a Nayun who cursed between gasps to get up, he couldn't help but think so, and only if he managed to be persuasive enough, maybe he would get Kim Hajin to accept a small practice.

However, he couldn't help but have the feeling that it would be very difficult to talk about it.

*

With a single turn, a thin blade cuts the air. But from the tip of the sword, an unidentifiable white magical power wavy, firing in all directions and annihilating all monsters.

A clean execution.

Yun Seung-Ah took her sword and turned around. Her hair fluttered in the soft breeze. Dozens of ordinary people, who saw her attack, were left speechless. In her eyes, you could see an unwavering respect and admiration. Seeing the attack of the most popular Hero in the world would become a great bar story for a long time.

"You can rest safely."

"Vice-leader!"

A harsh voice interrupted Yun Seung-Ah's prayer. Yun Seung-Ah was slightly surprised.

The man who ran over quickly released a bomb.

"A Djinn appeared in the National Weapons Museum!"

"... What?"

"You should go right away... What? What?"

But soon, he bowed his head and focused his ear on the transceiver in his ear.

"... Oh, yes."

"What's going on?"

"Um... Apparently, the Djinn has been taken care of. Three Cube cadets were in the museum..."

"Oh? That's great. Who were they?"

"Kim Suho, Chae Nayun, and... Ugh!"

Before it could end, a violent storm rose, blinding him momentarily. When he opened his eyes again, the heroine who had decimated dozens of monsters had disappeared.

Running at the speed of light, Yun Seung-Ah arrived at the museum. An ordinary-looking man left the museum at the same time. Seeing Yun Seung-Ah, the man was surprised for a moment before bowing quickly.

"Hello."

'Do you know me? Well, there aren't many who don't.’

Although something felt out of place, Yun Seung-Ah greeted the man without much thought.

"Ah, yes, did something happen inside?"

"Yes. A Djinn appeared. However, he has just died."

"I see... What about you?"

In Yun Seung-Ah's question, the man answered with indifference.

"I'm a cadet."

At his word, Yun Seung-Ah was surprised. He finally discovered the previous strange feeling he had. Although he was acting humble, Yun Seung-Ah was one of the most popular heroes in Korea. As a result, most cadets would freeze in front of her or act nervous at least.

"...Oh, I see."

"Then, I'm leaving. The ones you're looking for should be inside."

But the man who presented himself as Yoo Hajin walked away without a hint of nervousness in his body. Yun Seung-Ah watched him walk away for a moment.

"Who is he?"

Very daring for a young cadet. But Yoo Hajin...? I wasn't familiar with the name. How did he know who I came for?

Thinking like this, Yun Seung-Ah quietly entered the museum.

The interior of the museum was a disaster. The tile floors were full of signs of battle and traces of burns, and an ominous magical power still latent in the air demonstrated the existence of the Djinn.

"Nayun!"

At that moment, a vehement voice resounded from the entrance. Yun Seung-Ah returned. There, she saw a middle-aged man looking around the museum with red eyes. It was someone she knew.

Chae Nayun's father, Chae Shinhyuk.

"Chae Shinhyuk-ssi?"

"... Vice-leader Yun Seung-Ah?"

"Ah... You must be busy lately. It's been a while. Should we go together?

Pointing further into the museum, Yun Seung-Ah smiled.

*

I literally ran away from the museum, responding rudely to Chae Nayun. I wasn't in the mood to endure questions or insults to my name.

A curved phone pole and a car sticking out of a window, in this strange place that couldn't be normal, I managed to grab a bank. The heroes were busy running to clean up the situation, but I had more important matters to attend to.

The story was changing. I knew in advance that this was no longer the world I once wrote, but what happened today was outside the limits. Of course, a rarity known as 'Kim Hajin' had already intervened, but his role had been minimal. Everything had also been fine until now.

Until now, although there were certain moments of strong tension, most of the time was very quiet.

Completely busy, yes, but quiet.

I certainly hadn't done anything that could have affected...

Suddenly, a line of thought crossed my mind.

"... Ah, that's right."

I had forgotten until now.

I had thought, naively, that the only fluctuations I would face were the Star Stream scenarios and system instructions, and although I still did not know why this was present in this world, I thought that it would simply modify the scene and give notice of the scenario.

Today, although the scene developed differently from the novel, it still fell into the category of this world.

Then, a completely incoherent idea appeared before me.

I wasn't the only author of this story.

To be precise, this world was not the novel I wrote.

To be even more precise, this world was the remake version of my novel.

So, was this mysterious co-author the reason why the Star Stream was present?

Were they rewriting the novel so much that they had inserted scenarios that could only happen in my world? Or were they completely random?

.....

Was this co-author belonging to my world?

"Who are you co-author…?”

After thinking that, an unknown feeling of emptiness rose inside me. Why had he allowed me to be negligent all this time? Do you live a quiet life? No, that was impossible from the beginning. Just like when someone prevented me from modifying the invariable statistics, that "someone" would not allow that to happen.

As long as I was in this world, my life was literally in his hands.

It wasn't a pleasant thought.

-Wiing

At that moment, the laptop vibrated like a phone. When I opened it, I saw a message.

[Failure. There is no semblance of danger for the main character and others. If the story continues this way, readers would get bored thinking: "The main character will win anyway."]

..... I couldn't help cursing.

"... This crazy son of a..."

Is there no danger? Of course there was danger. But the readers didn't like extreme danger! This thoughtless fan... However, there was another line below.

[Improvised solution. Even if things become a disaster, the power of the antagonists increases].

After reading the notification, I couldn't help but sigh tiredly, completely exhausted from all this, not for the first time.

Chapter Text

[Around 1 P.M. today, a group of monsters appeared in Seoul, leaving 500 injured, and 7 dead.]

A new reporter presented on today's incident. With a deep sigh, Chae Shinhyuk stroked the bedridden patient. Her pale complexion seemed to stab her father's heart. Although she was an adult who would soon become a hero, Chae Nayun was still like a little girl for Chae Shinhyuk.

[... According to the investigation, the group of monsters was led by the grade 1 intermediate-ranking monster, 'Inciting Beast'. This badger-shaped monster the size of a man had never appeared in Korea before. The Association believes that the monster was brought by a third party and a search has been established.]

"... Mmm".

At that moment, Chae Nayun opened his eyes. Chae Shinhyuk immediately got up and called a doctor.

"You're awake. How do you feel?"

"...Good."

Chae Nayun lifted her weak body. A doctor came running to check her pulse, but Chae Nayun drove him away with a smile.

"I'm fine, Dad."

"Really?"

"Of course. I'm not hurt, didn't the doctor tell you?"

"I did."

The doctor spoke inadvertently. Chae Shinhyuk was a powerful figure who had the country's economy in his hand. He knew that being on the bad side of this man would only make his life more difficult.

"... She seems to be fine, so you can leave now."

"Yes, sir."

The doctor quickly ran away. Looking at the closing door, Chae Nayun spoke briefly.

"...Dad."

"Hm?"

Chae Shinhyuk responded kindly.

"About Oppa."

Her moody voice evoked the dark past that he desperately wanted to forget. Remembering his son always caused him a sharp pain in his heart. With a friendly smile, Chae Shinhyuk held his daughter's hand.

"... What's going on?"

"Can I go see him when I get discharged? I'm on sick leave anyway, right?"

"Of course you can."

Chae Shinhyuk easily agreed.

Chae Nayun rested her head on her father's shoulder and remembered what happened that same day.

The Djinn of the museum, the black hand that strangled her, and a look of absolute indifference...

At that moment, Chae Nayun's fury revived.

"Dad, by the way..."

Chae Nayun's tone was dark. Her voice had a great emotion. Chae Shinhyuk asked worried.

"What's going on?"

"...No, it's nothing."

Suddenly, she began to disgust someone from the bottom of his heart. But she couldn't tell his father how she felt.

She thought about when her stomach was boiling from being poisoned by the magical power of the Djinn. Even as she writhed in pain and the shock of what had happened dominated her body, she could clearly hear that man's voice.

Don't bother with her, Kim Suho. If you have enough strength to start talking nonsense, then I'm sure you can take care of yourself.

She just couldn't understand. Why, if he had that kind of skill, would he settle for a gun? Why put so much effort into being mediocre?

For someone like Chae Nayun, who since she grabbed her bow for the first time, had done nothing but train tirelessly, with the sole objective of surpassing her rivals, did not understand how someone could simply voluntarily choose to be stupidly mediocre, who after all the effort and dedication put on, simply threw everything away and chose a completely useless weapon in terms of potential.

She couldn't understand how he gave up so quickly.

As a cadet at the Hero Academy, that man was obliged to exploit his ability. Even so, he had intentionally decided to ruin himself.

Chae Nayun repressed the fury that rose from her heart and engraved the man's name in her head.

Yoo Hajin, Yoo Hajin.

From this day on, Chae Nayun would no longer forget this name.

She promises herself, to surpass Yoo Hajin and get him back on the road.

[Chae Nayun tried fervently to deny the resemblance between them, as both had renounced their true potential so easily. She convinced herself that the bow was really her thing, that there was no one inside Cube better than her in that weapon.

She firmly believed that, if she repeated it enough times, then at some point they would become true.]

*

The sky of Seoul was tinged with a beautiful orange hue. The movement of the sun was no different from the usual, but the scene reflected by the setting sun could only be described as a pandemonium.

Pieces of asphalt covered the road, while a child cried under a broken phone pole in half. The ambulances traveled back and forth, carrying injured people, or corpses.

Although the situation had been addressed by the sent Heroes, the aftermath of the chaos still remained.

"Kim Suho, Yoo Hajin. We listened to the story."

Kim Soohyuk was waiting in the Portal that connected Seoul and Cube.

"We will ask you for details later, so go back and rest for the moment. The agents will take care of the rest."

For the record, the agents were different from the Heroes. The agents were those who graduated from the Military Academy of Agents but did not enter Cube. In other words, they were non-combatants. Most of them had skills that were very useful in everyday life. For example, I saw a man on my way back, who was fixing the broken asphalt with a movement of his hand.

"Um, instructor. Chae Nayun is..."

Kim Suho asked, to which Kim Soohyuk gave a brief answer.

"She is taking sick leave. She is with her family right now."

"Yes, I understand."

Kim Suho didn't ask any more questions.

"Let's go back."

Other cadets seemed to have helped with the unexpected emergency, since even Yoo Yeonha seemed tired.

One by one, we walk to the Portal. The feeling of exhaustion that enveloped my body was still present, but less persistent, so I was fine. After a short sigh, I found myself back in Cube.

Without words, the group walked to the bedroom.

"...Hey."

On our way back to bedroom 1, after the girls got ahead, Kim Suho stopped me.

Although I was no longer as tired as before, I still had things to do, so wasting time talking to the protagonist didn't sound like an exactly attractive idea at the moment.

"What?"

I answered rudely, wishing that he understood the hint and backed down in wanting to talk.

"Why did you say that?"

"... Say what?"

"To Chae Nayun."

What was he suddenly talking about? When I frowned in misunderstanding, Kim Suho suddenly became a little uncomfortable about it. The atmosphere was strange.

"I know that Nayun can be intrusive and a little rude at times, but I promise you that she is a good friend, so if you tried."

"No. “

Before he could tell me any really stupid excuse, I cut it.

Really, I'm really not in the mood for this Kim Suho.

I could literally see the expression of a puppy that has just been reprimanded by its owner on Kim Suho's face, but he didn't plan to give in.

......

Damn, it doesn't matter.

Using my last strength for the day, I gave Kim Suho the best smile I could make.

"Kim Suho, you don't have to apologize for her, that's not your responsibility."

Kim Suho put his hand to the back of his neck, embarrassed. I kept talking.

"If you really want us to get along, then convince her to apologize"

Of course, he knew very well that she wouldn't do that, her pride was too great to give in. And apparently Kim Suho also knew it, if the expression he was making said something to me.

"Anyway, eh-um, about your secret, I promise to keep it, but..."

Secret? How secret is it...?

Oh, I understand. Did you think that 'Big Opportunity' was some kind of big secret?

In a way, he was right. However, I couldn't help but find it funny.

"I see, are you going to blackmail me?"

Mention in a mocking tone. Kim Suho's face quickly turned red as he waved his hands.

"No, it's not that. I swear!, just eh- I wanted you to accept to be my practice partner, but I knew you wouldn't, so I thought that if I..."

He remained silent, surely thinking about how silly this course of action he had taken was. I let out a snort, funny.

"I accept, you can send me the details later"

After saying that, he watched me for a while, maybe thinking I was playing. Seeing that I didn't retract my statement, he gave a little sigh.

"Well, I'll write to you later."

Kim Suho quickly passed by me and went up to the elevator, finally ready to leave. Under his dazzling eyes there were thick dark circles. Since he used that ability, he had to be tired.

Even though he was as tired as he was, he still had the strength to secure a practice partner. Truly a training madman.

After it was gone my smile disappeared, all the tiredness that I had been repressing coming back to me, and since I had exhausted the last of my energy, it felt twice as much as before.

Since my room was on the first floor, I didn't need to go up to the elevator, so I could get there in less time.

*

The moment I sat on my couch, I turned on my smartwatch. An Internet window appeared in the air. The main search engine in this world was Neighbor. The interface was no different from what I was used to, so getting used to it did not pose any problems.

First, I looked for Chae Nayun.

I already knew about the modification of her background story, but I wanted to confirm something.

===

[Chae Nayun] (Cadet Hero)

Family - Father: Chae Shinhyuk, older brother: Chae Jinyoon

Education - Military Academy of Agents

Rank 4 - Currently attending the Military Academy of Heroes (Cube)

===

All that remained the same as in the novel.

"....."

Chae Jinyoon, what the hell happened to you?

Even as I bowed my head, I looked at Chae Jinyoon.

At the same time, I felt the tension forming in my body, a bad feeling becoming present.

“....”

[Chae Shinhyuk's son, Chae Jinyoon. In critical condition due to an attack by Djinn].

[Djinn's suppression operation, 'Fireflake', is successful... However, the rookie hero, Chae Jinyoon, falls into a coma].

There were headlines with plots that were not in the novel.

"....."

Djinn suppression operation, 'Fireflake'. I knew what it was. It was the first operation that made Chae Jinyoon famous.

By leading this operation to a success and rescuing three comrades in the process, he would have been promoted to an intermediate-ranking hero. Chae Nayun, who was only 13 years old at the time, would have always boasted of his older brother, who suddenly rose to fame.

No, that's how things should have been.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the story here.

"What the hell is going on?"

Unable to get rid of this feeling, I took out my laptop. If there was a clue, the laptop had to have it.

[Thanks to your good luck, the light bullet does critical damage to 'Lucius's Dog'.]

[With a lot of luck, your understanding of the light attribute increases!]

[With a lot of luck, you absorb some of the magical power emitted by the light bullet! Your magic power increases by 0.03 points.]

[You have inflicted critical damage on a more powerful enemy. The skill, 'Reverse Sharpshooter', has been added to your Talent 「Master Sharpshooter」.]

[Your SP increases by 131.]

There were many nice alerts, but I turned them all off, they were not important at this time. I thought about looking for my configuration book, but I quickly discarded it. This configuration book was something I wrote. Since what happened today was not part of my environment, looking for my configuration book would not do anything.

However, I had received a message on my laptop.

[Chae Jinyoon - In the original story, he was Chae Nayun's reliable older brother and Kim Suho's reliable assistant. However, it has been judged that the main character has too many helpers and, therefore, this configuration was modified.]

[Modified configuration: in his first mission as a hero four years ago, Chae Jinyoon receives a Devil's Mark and falls into a coma. Currently, he is a seed of the devil].

[Note: the modified settings will be provided as messages once the target, 'Yoo Hajin', realizes it.]

Without realizing that my mouth was open, I looked at the screen stunned.

The moment my jaw started to hurt, I could barely find a voice.

"Damn..."

And that was all I could say.

If this message was true, this was an extremely serious problem.

Devil's Seed was something that only appeared in the second half of the novel. If it sprouted, the current Kim Suho was not strong enough to stop it. A hero of master rank could stop him, but most of the master ranks had left the secular world.

Even if high-ranking Heroes were sent, some of them would surely be sacrificed.

That couldn't happen. His strength was necessary in the last parts of the novel.

In other words, everything would go wrong if this Devil's Seed sprouted. Of course, things had already gone wrong, but it was still a manageable degree.

Here was the answer to the feeling of apprehension I had for a while.

So, what could I do? There was only one answer, so I didn't need to think for a long time.

"... He has to die."

Fortunately, the Devil's Seed had an incubation period. As I remember, it should be 5 or 6 years.

Four years had already passed.

As quickly as possible, before the Devil inside Chae Jinyoon's body woke up, Chae Jinyoon had to be killed.

The problem was 'who'.

Who should kill him?

I can't hire a murderer. Even if I offered billions of wons, no mercenary was crazy enough to accept a mission to kill a fourth-generation chaebol, much less someone who belonged to Chae Nayun's family.

Not to mention that, because the Devil's Seed was undetectable, no one would believe me, even if I told the truth. In fact, I was sure that I would be treated like a madman or crazy person. They would probably kill me without even listening to me.

But I had no other choice, I hadn't written a cure.

In the end, if I wanted to get to the end of the story, I only had one way to go.

He needed to die.

And there was only one way to do it.

"I have to kill him."

With a deep sigh, I closed my eyes.

In the world of my novel, Chae Jinyoon was a reliable friend and assistant of Kim Suho, although he was an idiot when it came to his sister. But in this world, he had become a character who had to be killed. Although this complete change was shocking, it was not really unrealistic.

At this moment, I felt afraid. It was not a light or momentary fear, it was one that clung directly to my bones and entered my soul.

Of course, being an 'Incarnation' I took the lives of hundreds of monsters and different types of creatures just to improve my statistics. But I have never killed a human being.

It was no longer in an apocalypse, nor did we have scenarios stalking us every day. The world had recovered from its previous disaster, so there was no need to fight to survive.

So, why?

When thinking of killing Chae Jinyoon, I felt neither sadness, nausea, doubt, nor even regret, or remorse.

Emptiness, everything I could feel when thinking, when imagining myself taking a person's life was a complete emptiness.

It was a kind of emotional numbness that was only provoked after strong amounts of trauma, despair, and completely unpleasant situations.

But I hadn't been through any of that. I didn't have a difficult life, only difficulties in life, like any other person.

I, Yoo Hajin, had been born like this, and I was afraid of the kind of person I would become in the future because of that.

I got up. My body felt especially heavy. The feeling of familiarity I felt with the world I created was transformed into greater anxiety.

But perhaps thanks to my great perseverance, my legs were not going to the bed, but to the physical training room, and it would allow me to get a little distracted.

Chapter Text

When I, Kim Dokja, left the house that morning, I expected a lot of things.

The warning had been short, but urgent. Just a few simple words...

'Star Stream'.

I quickly contacted all the members of KimCom, informing them of the emergency meeting. A little more, and I flew away, saying goodbye to my son and sending a quick message to my sister-in-law to stop by to take a look at him if I didn't come back soon.

I didn't expect it to end relatively quickly, exactly 3 days from starting. But this was due to the lack of information they had, in addition to the fact that, no matter how much they reviewed, there were no signs of 'Star Stream' activity.

The message that mentioned an 'update' was our only clue so far.

I could feel the number of sleepless days coming and his husband's many scoldings for this.

Well, I thought at that moment, whatever happens, we will overcome it together, as a team.

No matter what obstacles appeared, Kim Dokja felt that, with the support of his family, they had a chance.

So, when he returned home, his son was not there.

Now, he knows very well that his little writer is not the most obedient child in the world. Damn, he even escaped when he was only 7 DAMN YEARS OLD, seriously, was his, oh, so dear boy, a kind of cosmic karma?

[The plagiarist has always told him that yes, that this is the revenge of the universe for all the idiocies he has done in the past, he obviously ignored her.]

So, I wasn't particularly worried. Possibly, he escaped to wipe a dungeon to burn energy, or was taking a walk in the forest near home. If Kim Dokja was lucky, he went with Mia to the mall to change his wardrobe. Only God knows how much she hates his sense for making dress outfits.

[Mia doesn't call it fashion, it doesn't meet the requirements, she says.]

[Actually, Mia and Hajin don't have the best relationship in the world, but for Joonghyuk's sake they learned to get along, their personalities usually collide many times.]

Then, in a quick movement, he took Joonghyuk-ah's cell phone and threw himself on the couch. Unfortunately, his had turned off after surviving another marathon of nocturnal web novels.

[He had been caught by his son on the spot, and in a mutual agreement not to betray each other, he forgot to charge it.]

[Sooyoung knew about this, and was waiting for the exact moment to blackmail them.]

He knew that the most reasonable thing was to wait for his son to get in touch, possibly he was already on his way if he was told that they were back, and if he was cleaning a dungeon he could not answer him.

He knew, he couldn't be on top of his little writer all the time, he had to give him his space, let him learn to be the same, have his own life experiences, let him accumulate knowledge. But something felt really bad. And Kim Dokja was always unlucky.

Obviously Hajin had been upset when he left, he was a reasonable boy, so he didn't make scandals or tantrums, and he put his parents' safety before his desires. That was true.

Most of the time, of course.

But neither his cell phone, nor that of the bastard sunfish, was full of squid and fish stickers, or silly gifts that would make him laugh when he saw them, knowing very well that this was his son's way of bothering them when he was resentful of them.

Not even a message in 'Midday Meeting', absolutely nothing.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that Joonghyuk-ah was not in sight, he marked.

Not a single bell rang when his sister-in-law answered.

"Oppa? Is that you?"

"Sister-in-law, hello!, it's me-"

"Ugly Ahjussi, what's going on?"

Always being so charmingly direct...

Although he had already been married to his brother for more than 15 years, Yoo Mia had not changed his nickname. According to his beloved husband, that was her way of showing her appreciation, while he was very convinced that this was her way of bothering him by committing to her Oppa and not letting him be in the hand request, but that was really not a place for children, so...

Anyway, what we were talking about.

"Didn't you go out with Hajin somewhere?"

"What? No, I didn't do it."

"Oh, well, it's just that since we didn't find it here and you didn't write to me..."

"Why did I have to write to you? Don't go there."

"Huh? Didn't you stop by to take a look at Hajin?"

"I was thinking of going later, but no, I haven't done it"

"Sister-in-law, the message I sent you..."

"What message? You didn't send me any recently?"

"Mia, if this is a joke, then..."

"Kim Dokja, I've been keeping an eye on my cell phone all day, I haven't received any messages from you"

"....."

"Dokja? What's going on?"

"I'll call you later"

I quickly dialed Hajin's number, but even after ringing 3 times, he didn’t answer. It was then...

He answered! He finally answered!

Leaving the relief aside, I quickly speak.

"Listen to me well Yoo Hajin, I swear that, if you escaped again, I..."

"Dokja...."

The feeling of discomfort is present again.

"Eh?, Joonghyuk-ah?, are you with Hajin....?"

"Up..."

"Eh?"

"The phone is upstairs..."

In less than a second I throw myself off the couch and take a quick trip uphill, almost falling several times on the way. When I see the room, I slam open the door door, the anxiety slowly becoming present.

Even if our son only goes out to the door to receive something, there are two things he always carries with him, ever since he got them.

One, his cell phone. Not only to communicate and report any incident as much as it provokes or witnesses, it is also a vital part of him. He literally has half of his life in it.

[The drafts of his novel are there, stored under multiple encoded folders.]

[Secretly, he also has some conspiracy files.]

Two, his coat. A coat given by Sooyoung 3 years ago, he is literally in love with it. He never goes out without him.

[This is because the design is a kind of mixture of his parents' coat.]

[After giving away that coat, Sooyoung had become his favorite person for a whole month, even more than his parents. Kim Dokja refuses to remember that month.]

So, if both items were present, but without their owner...

"Joonghyuk..."

"I'm on it"

Our charismatic returner entered the desktop of the room, hurriedly making his way to the security cameras.

While waiting impatiently, the mouse fell from the backer's hands, giving a dry blow to the ground.

It seemed that he had leaned back with everything, including the mouse. Whatever He had seen, it impacted him to the point of taking a step back, staggering.

"Yoo Joonghyuk!"

I quickly held him and moved him aside, anxious to know what happened.

Then, as if it were a slap in the face, I saw it.

I saw my son faint in his seat, his unconscious body falling from the chair.

I saw a deformed figure dragging my little author, crossing a kind of portal, and disappearing...

The harsh reality had suddenly hit me, leaving me breathless....

My son had been kidnapped, someone had taken him 3 damn days ago, and I didn't know where he was.

I didn't even know if he was still alive.

*

And now I was here, sitting in the same place where I start everything after two full weeks of insomnia and stress, the body completely surrendered to exhaustion.

....

No, it was not tiredness, it was an instinctive and primary fear that grew inside him, despair, the despair of a father who’s son was taken from him.

Who?

Who would even dare to try it?

Kim Dokja didn't enjoy killing, but at that moment, he longed to put his hands on the damn bastard who had caused all this.

He couldn't help but think it was his fault, he had left him alone and no matter how much he looked or checked the bedroom, he couldn't find any trace. If he had only made sure to send that damn message, the child was his responsibility, and he ruined it completely.

What if he was scared, alone in an unknown place? Maybe tired, looking for ways to get home?

Was he eating well? Had he managed to fulfill his dream of adopting a sedentary life?

I can't help but think that, all this wouldn't be taking longer to find out if I had the power of 'Oldest Dream', if I hadn't resigned from office at that time.

Guilt, worry, and anxiety were beginning to consume Kim Dokja, throwing him into such a lonely, but familiar emptiness, one that was similar to the one he had had throughout his life. Dragging him down, he couldn't help but think, not for the first time, what would have happened if, at that time, he had managed to fragment his soul, maybe the world would be a better place, his friends could live a better life, his children would have continued with their lives, without being dragged by him, his little son would have had a better dad, one who would not allow them to take him, maybe...

Then, everything stops.

The warm and cozy feeling of being wrapped in strong arms, large, rough hands full of scars that caress both his waist and his cheeks. The affectionate and comforting words, full of concern, said in the softest tone I have ever imagined Yoo Joonghyuk using.

Except that he has been using that tone for more than 17 years, but Dokja still feels that he will never be able to get used to it.

.....

No, he still feels that he is too good to be real, to be his.

As he clings to the embrace, to the comforting feeling that surrounds his body, he only becomes aware of the state he was in. Small tremors run through his body, while his hands cling abruptly, hurting his forearms.

A warm hand gently holds his chin, trying to make him look up. He does it.

Then he realizes.

He is not the only relative of Yoo Hajin, Joonghyuk-ah is his father, and he is also worried about him. He is being selfish, he is making his returner to also have to worry about him too, that he has to comfort him as if he were a small child, he is being nothing more than a burden to him, Kim Dokja should-

"Whatever the truly stupid idea that is beginning to form in that head of yours, eliminate it now"

......

How did Yoo Joonghyuk know that he was thinking about creating clones, fragmenting his memories, and using a strong amount of probability to expand the search ground?

Grumbling, he replied.

"It's a good idea to start"

With an expression of disbelief put on that beautiful face, He answered.

"And who participates in it?"

I was about to say that it wasn't really a plan for many staff, only I was enough. I close my mouth instantly, feeling that I was only going to earn more scolding if I continued that line of thought.

"So, no"

Looking at his eyes, they shine full of sweetness and affection, and like his voice, they have been with me for a long time. Only dedicated to me, to our family.

Approaching my ear, he whispers.

"My star."

So, pronounce the words that I have been longing to hear so much, but I don't have the courage to tell myself.

"We will find him, there is no other option."

Kim Dokja is the type of person who loves his family so much, that he is willing to sacrifice his life over and over again just to be able to protect them, to be able to take care of them as the only way he knows. That's why he feels so bad when he doesn't have things under control, when he is overcome by the situation and others can get hurt. Yoo Jonghyuk knows this, so instead of showing his concern by putting a sword in his neck, he tries to get him out of his spiral, convince him to take other ways to solve the problem, make him see that he is worried and his idea of sacrificing should not be taken as an option.

[Yoo Hajin, his son, takes more drastic measures regarding that, the words 'Remember that I am always behind you, no matter where your steps take me.', still cause chills in Kim Dokja. The memories of that time are like nightmares for him]

"Thank you."

Whispering softly, looking fondly at this sunfish bastard he married years ago.

He remembers.

Remember why he's here. Remember who brought it here.

Remember that, although to this day he doesn't know how, he won this love.

And he can't help but love him more when he does.

Then, someone decided to break into the room, literally slamming the door against the wall.

"Pair of bastards, you have visitors!

With the moment ruined, an annoyance is formed inside Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Fear yourself."

An unknown voice is heard as an answer.

"What about that kind of greeting?"

"Can't you notice the atmosphere? It's not the time, get lost."

The witch tried to get rid of the intruder, but they stubbornly refused to leave.

Then they broke into the room.

"'Oldest Dream', you're causing a lot of fuss about an item"

"Damn bastard!, You-"

They both fell instantly from the couch when they saw it.

Blurred figure, similar to a distorted spot in the air.

In front of them was the bastard who took his son.

"At that time, the item was delivered to her with an instruction manual, you should have read it."

"How did you expect me to do it when it has more pages than 'Ways of Survival' and it's in letter 9!!”

Sooyoung screamed, complaining.

Although the ‘item’ was given to Dokja and Joonghyuk, Sooyoung received from the instruction manual. After Hajin was born, she simply thought she was some kind of child creator, and forgot about him. His current whereabouts are unknown.

"Whatever it is, it is no longer in this world."

.....

What?

Was my son, my little writer, no longer in this world?

Many ideas crossed his mind after hearing that prayer, the most persistent of them was 'death'.

A strong blow fills the silence of the room, and Dokja immediately knows who it is. He quickly approached his husband, trying to bring him back with his presence and give him as much comfort as he received just a moment ago.

Yoo Joonghyuk is the type of person who has seen people die, who appreciates again and again, pierced his soulmate's heart while begging him not to die, witnessed his star, the most precious person in his heart, die again and again, hurt himself again and again, always without being able to stop him, always without being able to avoid it, without being powerful enough to do anything.

That's why he can't help but worry about the people he appreciates, that's why, even if he has zero social skills, in his own way he tries to show his concern and how much it matters to those he considers his peers. Kim Dokja knows this, and he can't help but think that, although it was necessary, he ended up hurting the people he wanted to protect more, the protagonist to whom he fervently dedicated his deaths as a form of atonement.

That's why I prioritize Yoo Joonghyuk right now. Don't get me wrong, that bitch will definitely pay for what they has done, he will torture them with his own hands and will not allow them to die. Fuck morality and ethics, that bastard was going to pay for them.

But Joonghyuk-ah was important at this time, so, first he comforts his husband, and then captures the bastard.

"Why are you like this?

"How could you say that?!, The rookie writer is-"

"Isn’t it so much trouble that I had taken the item with me to another world?"

.....

Wait, what?

"As I said, you should have read the instruction manual I gave you."

Even the witch, usually sarcastic and grumpy, was perplexed with a face full of snot.

Unexpectedly, a chair was thrown in the direction of the floating entity.

[Han Sooyoung has no idea where that flying chair came from, she wasn't in the room after all, and she’s afraid to ask where it came from]

Dokja's arm was in the air, silently betraying him. The look in his eyes was dark and evoked an instinctive fear in every person in the room.

Yoo Joonghyuk gently approached him, with the intention of calming him down.

A moment later, the tension in the room slowly calmed down.

Exhaling a sigh, Kim Dokja spoke.

"Let's make a deal"

"I won't return you the item, if that's what you will ask for."

Very irritated by the nickname, Dokja responded.

"He’s not an item, he’s my son, the person you kidnapped."

"If you want to call the item your ‘son’, it's your business, but I need you to return to your position."

Although Kim Dokja, when he got off the train, resigned his position as 'Oldest Dream', he still had to fulfill his duties, after all, his friends could not find a way to get rid of that, just to bring him back without destroying the world.

"I won't do it until I can see my son"

The entity, clearly not a constellation, snapped their fingers, fully exasperated.

It would be easier to decipher their emotions if they had a face, Dokja thought.

Instantly, a screen appeared in front of him.

"Then we have a deal, it will appear at any time, that's all I can do for you."

When they were about to get up, they spoke again.

"Just to inform you, if I ever feel my life being threatened, I will destroy the bridge that connects both worlds, and it doesn't matter if you use the power of 'Oldest Dream', you will never be able to bring it back, and don't try to look for me, I literally don't exist."

After saying their warning, they disappeared, leaving the room in silence.

Three days after that, Kim Dokja sat back on the couch again, a tray of food in his hands. The transmission was only seen about 4 to 5 hours a day and was only full of shorts of the time it was shown, so, against all odds, he had managed to be present in them until now.

After confirming that it wasn't a constellation, they didn't know its whereabouts, and it literally didn't exist, they stopped trying to hunt it. At the moment, of course.

He knew he wouldn't be able to be in all of them, especially now that they were working to find a way to bring their son back from another world. But it was his duty to ensure the well-being of his little writer, so one or two glances, and even sending the record of the transmission’s would be enough.

[A few days later, Yoo Joonghyuk sent a call for an emergency meeting at KimCom's offices, trying to figure out how to progress faster. After all, the longer it took, the longer that damn entity would have to breathe. They had someone to kill.]

Chapter Text

Tower of the Hero, located in the heart of Seoul.

On the 103rd floor of this Heroes Association headquarters, Yun Seung-Ah was reading the records of the recent incident without authorization. The video she was watching was filmed by the museum's camera. Naturally, it contained the battle between Cube's cadets and the Djinn.

Although she was a little indecisive, knowing that she could get into trouble if she was discovered, the words she heard from an agent of the Heroes Association prompted her to move forward.

-A trace of a mana light attribute was found in the scene.

Mana of light attribute. It was not only strange, it was also extremely valuable. The heroes attributed to the light played a vital role in the suppression of the Djinns, since most of the Djinns had the attribute of darkness.

The fact that the attribute of light was detected in the museum naturally meant that one of the three cadets who defeated the Djinn had the attribute of light.

Yun Seung-Ah, who often emphasizes the importance of attributes wherever she goes, wanted to meet the owner of that strange mana.

"But this person..."

In fact, there was a man who caught his attention. From head to toe, he was ordinary in every way. Inside the video, the man in question was talking to Kim Suho. When the Djinn appeared, he retreated stealthily and simply watched the fight.

But when he saw that Kim Suho was repelled, he hid and began to take strange actions. He unloaded his gun, leaving only one bullet behind. Then, he began to touch the air.

After about a minute, he loaded the bullet into his gun and went to battle.

What happened next was even more mysterious.

His weapon exploded at the same time he fired his weapon, while a bright white light stained the environment. Due to the light, the camera froze for three seconds. By the time the screen returned to normal, everything was resolved.

"... Hmm".

Most people assumed that the attack was by Kim Suho, but Yun Seung-Ah was doubtful. No matter how he thought about it, the light had to come from the man's attack. Even Kim Suho admitted in his report, 'Yoo Hajin covered me'.

"Yoo Hajin. I remember it now. He is the cadet who chose a gun... So there was a reason why he chose it."

Thud!

At that moment, the door slammed open.

Startled, Yun Seung-Ah turned to the door.

There, there was the executive of the Association, Aileen.

Although she had a small complexion and was only 153 cm tall, Yun Seung-Ah knew that a 10 m tall giant resided inside her. Unfortunately for her, Aileen looked at her with terrifying eyes. Yun Seung-Ah's face paled when she jumped in horror.

"Un, Unni?"

"I knew you were here. Get out."

"Ah, wait, Unni. I can explain it. I can..."

"Shut up and follow me."

Yun Seung-Ah didn't want to follow her, even if it cost her her life. But her body moved by itself. It was Aileen's unique class talent, 'Speech of the Spirit'. Of course, despite how powerful it was, the price she had to pay was equally bad. There was a high risk of regression of magical power and her underdeveloped body was also a price she had to pay. But still...

"Unni, I'm also a hero! Please, give me some face!"

Her ability was honestly too much of a kind of trap.

"Only the Heroes of the Association are authorized to come here."

"I know! I'll just leave, so let me go!"

"You'd better hurry up before throwing yourself out the window."

In the end, Yun Seung-Ah was expelled from the recording room.

"You have two options. One, to be punished. Two, help me with something."

"I'm sorry. Please, let me go this time. I don't want to do either of the two things."

"You have no choice."

"Save me!"

Only the video that Yun Seung-Ah was watching was left to play in the empty room. And without either of the two women being able to notice it, after the scene of Kim Suho cornering the Djinn is shown, the recording is cut and in less than a second, the Djinn appears again on the screen, dead.

*

[Tuesday combat training, exploration of the labyrinth.]

Inside a dark cave created by Cube, Yoo Yeonha, me, and the rest of team 5 were in the middle of our combat training.

"Hoseung-ssi, Hazuki-ssi, can you see anything?"

Yoo Yeonha asked with a frown, clearly dissatisfied with the situation.

We were in an artificial dungeon designed to look like a dark labyrinth. The objective of the training was to go through the labyrinth full of undead monsters and reach the center of the labyrinth in the shortest possible time. Because the fog was created through the mana of darkness, even the heroes found it difficult to illuminate the cave.

"No, I can't."

"Neither do I..."

Jin Hoseung and Hazuki responded.

"... Tsk".

Yoo Yeonha snapped her tongue and didn't ask anymore. She still treats me like an invisible person, even after helping her in the previous exam.

Shaking my head in disapproval, I thought.

The unfortunate Kim Suho had decided to call me to train at 6 in the morning, I thought it was going to take longer, but it seems that he was excited. I thought about rejecting him at that time, but if the story continued as it was, I may need his help, so it was better to start establishing the foundations for a solid relationship of trust with the protagonist. With that idea in mind, I dragged myself to the gym.

It wasn't a long section, he was still exhausted, masking him with positivity and a friendly smile and I, all I wanted to do was throw him a sedative to go to sleep, and seriously, what kind of madman doesn't take a break after almost dying less than 24 hours ago?, Kim Suho, that's the bastard.

In the end, before we could reach a real fight, we fell prey to body numbness, he apologized for being an obsessive bastard of training, and we agreed to postpone it for another time.

However, I was still tired.

I was tired, and no matter how much I slept, I felt like I wasn't recovering a drop of energy. If I had to convert my energy into a cell phone battery, it would be approximately 40%. Therefore, I didn't want to continue walking in a dark, humid and cold place longer than necessary, and if I can shorten it with the help of my eyes, much better. So I offered to help.

"I can see."

"Huh?"

"Really?"

Jin Hoseung and Hazuki were surprised, but Yoo Yeonha ignored me. A very common reaction in her.

"I said, I can see."

Annoyed by her attitude, I said out loud to the back of her head. I didn't care if she threw her terrifying look at me again, I just wanted to get to the finish line and sit down.

"I can see through the darkness."

At that moment, Yoo Yeonha quickly turned with dazzling eyes. However, she was facing Jin Hoseung, not me.

"Stop wasting your time."

Reprimanded out of nowhere, Jin Hoseung was bewildered, while I replied casually, the pettiness overflowing from my voice.

"I'm just saying that you're going to fall if you go there."

"What nonsense, kyak!"

Yoo Yeonha lost his balance at the right time. When it started to plummet, I jumped and grabbed her arm. Yoo Yeonha grabbed my shoulder with trembling hands from the fright.

"... Kuhum".

After going back up using my body as a rope, Yoo Yeonha let out a dry cough as if nothing had happened. I couldn't help but snort funny.

"... It looks like you're not lying. How can you see?"

Giving a simple answer, I was not interested in unconsciously sharing my information.

"I have good eyes."

It was thanks to my 'Talent' that I was able to do this. The Eyes of a Thousand Miles were not hindered by distance or obstacles. That, of course, includes lighting. It was really very useful in practice.

"... Well, at least you should be able to do this. So, where should we go?"

Should I at least be able to do that?

Although it is true that my physical condition is not on a par with theirs, and I can delay them a little. I have satisfactorily completed my role as Sharpshooter so far, even exceeding his non-existent expectations.

I wanted to refute her, but I didn't have the energy to argue with her, so I decided to ignore her, responding indifferently.

"Just follow me."

"Oh~ how reliable~"

Jin Hoseung put his hand on my shoulder as if we were friends, I felt uncomfortable, I ignored him again. It was for the sake of the exam anyway.

Taking his hand, I walked forward.

Things were quite easy from that point.

He just had to walk, dodging what he could dodge and notifying Yoo Yeonha what he couldn't do.

If the inevitable enemy was a fluid spirit, Yoo Yeonha's ruthless whip took care of it, and if it was an undead, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki took care of him.

My endurance had increased thanks to exercise, so there was no problem there. Although not having to run played an important role, this particular training was very easy.

And now, I could see the result with my own eyes. My goal achieved.

We managed to get to the center of the labyrinth. There, we only saw 8 people. In other words, we got third place.

"Yoo Yeonha?"

"Hey, Jonghak."

Shin Jonghak, who was sitting on a rock acting unnecessarily great, called Yoo Yeonha. She ran towards him with a friendly smile. How she treated Shin Jonghak was clearly a strong contrast to the way she treated me. Priorities, I guess.

"Here."

Kim Soohyuk, who was waiting, read our time without paying attention to the moving meeting of Yoo Yeonha and her one-sided love.

"Team 5: 48 minutes and 10 seconds. Third place."

At the same time, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki cheered.

"Whoo. It's all thanks to you. You really have great eyes~ "

"You did it, you did it!"

While they sat on the floor, I was getting ready to take a short break.

Yoo Yeonha was chasing Shin Jonghak, and Kim Suho was sleeping on the floor. It seemed that he was still suffering from unleashing his skill in the museum and not resting properly.

Then, taking advantage of the lack of present problems, I relaxed.

But as always, I wasn't so lucky.

In about five minutes, another team arrived. Even if I didn't pay attention, I already had an idea of who they were. Sharpshooters generally had good eyes after all.

"It's Nayun."

Seeing Chae Nayun's silhouette in the dark, Yoo Yeonha approached, pretending to be happy.

Curiosity ingrowed me, so take a look.

For some reason, Chae Nayun was covered in dust. It seemed that she fell into a trap. Walking in my direction, she rested her eyes on me and stopped. Her cold eyes seemed to pierce me.

"...Nayun?"

She didn't answer Yoo Yeonha's call. Ignoring her completely, Chae Nayun walked towards me and suddenly asked.

"What was your time?"

It was a short and rude question, but I wasn't in the mood to argue again, so I returned a brief answer.

"... 48 minutes."

Chae Nayun clenched his teeth. Sharpshooters often acted as pioneers of a team. Chae Nayun rightly thought that I was guiding my team.

"It seems that you even have something you're good at."

It was a clear provocation. I hesitated to answer. Should I return the blow?

I had a good reason to do it.

Leaving aside any personal resentment, I thought.

The antagonists of the novel had become stronger, so it was necessary for our side... although the current Chae Nayun might not be on my side... Anyway, it was necessary for the main characters to also become stronger.

To do that, Chae Nayun needed to quickly leave the arch. In this world, her potential was only surpassed by Kim Suho. But with a bow, its potential will be wasted.

"...I guess you're right."

But I still didn't find the need to respond to her provocation and, again, I didn't want fights today.

Between negative motivation and positive motivation, Chae Nayun was more affected by the former according to my configuration. However, the motivation agent was important. A weakling like me provoking her would most likely not have much meaning for her, it would only irritate her more and begin to harass me.

I didn't want that, of course.

Now was not the time. In addition, I was sure that it wouldn't be long until he surpassed Chae Nayun in archery.

I just had to wait until then.

"Hmph".

Chae Nayun seemed bored because of my lack of initiative, when she came back with a snort.

I shook my head, internally satisfied with myself for not falling into his games.

At that moment, my eyes met those of Yoo Yeonha. For some reason, her eyes showed a slight hint of interest that had not existed before.

"Hmph".

... But soon, she walked away with the same disdainful snort as Chae Nayun.

Forgive me for my life, Yoo Yeonha.

At this point I was coming to think that until I breathed it was a nuisance for her.

At that time, do I configure my personalities like this?

Chapter Text

Today's combat training came to an end.

Although I was now more exhausted, I still had to go to the Academic club. After that, I had to do my daily routine. Thinking about the agony of my current life, I got depressed. If I knew this would happen, I would never have been involved in this.

[That was a blatant lie, of course]

... In any case, I was currently going to the club room of the Academic club. Maybe because this was the usual path I took or because fate deeply hated me, I could see Yoo Yeonha in front of me. Bad time.

Yoo Yeonha herself didn't see me and kept walking, hopefully, she wouldn't notice me until we were there. When she arrived at the club room, she stood in front of the door and took out a hand mirror. He checked slightly to see if there was something in it or not. But at that exact moment, her eyes met mine. My bad again.

Putting on a casual tone, speak.

"What a coincidence, isn't it?"

"..."

Ignoring me as always, Yoo Yeonha came in. I also followed her. Yoo Yeonha sat in a sunny place, while I took the dark seat in the corner.

Yun Hyuk, the president of the club, was already on the podium. Wearing his glasses, he seemed to be organizing the notes for today's conference.

Not long after, 43 first-year students arrived along with 20 senior students. At seven o'clock, Yun Hyuk began the first conference of the Academic club.

"Good afternoon everyone. The weather is starting to get..."

Any useless conversation he gave went into one ear and went through the other. I didn't feel like hearing his sweetened words so soon.

"Today we will discuss the vital points of the monsters. As I'm sure you all know, the location of a monster's vital point is important information to defeat a monster. You can see how critical this information can be when you look at Seo Youngji. Upon reaching the pinnacle of this ability, she has reached the top of the 2000 rank of Hero."

A hologram of Seo Youngji's specifications appeared on the projection screen.

The specifications of a hero were summarized in strength, dexterity, durability, constitution and magical power. Apart from dexterity, Seo Youngji's specifications were all in the intermediate range, but her dexterity was in the Master's rank. For the record, only 300 heroes in the world had a skill of mastery.

"Senior Seo Youngji even hunted a high-ranking monster by herself."

As he said, Seo Youngji was a very popular character in this world. Although she had a somewhat introverted personality, I was sure that I would get to know her at some point, since she played an important role in the story.

"But don't think that the vital points of monsters are the same as those of humans. For us, the eyes, the heart and the head are vital points, but that is not always the case with monsters."

To add, the vital point of a monster became stranger the higher the rank. It was interesting to write at that time the different ways in which the main cast had when hunting high-ranking monsters and looking for their weaknesses.

"Now, let's take a look at an example."

In an instant, a hologram of a monster appeared on the screen.

Although it looked similar to a mountain tiger, its giant body, bloodshot eyes and ferocious teeth clearly indicated that it was not a normal tiger.

"This monster is called a Tryant. It can be classified in any range, from intermediate to high range. As one of the first monsters that appeared since Outcall, it has been known for 50 years, but it’s vital point has not yet been discovered."

With that, Yun Hyuk stopped and made a meaningful smile. I felt like he was smiling at me.

.....

What is this bastard intriguing with all this?

"... At least, that's how things are in public. In reality, even if an individual or a guild knew their vital point, they would not reveal it to the public. They probably weren't allowed to either."

He was right. In this world, information was an industry and a good. There were large corporations focused exclusively on collecting and investigating information about monsters, and on a smaller scale, private detectives and detective agencies collected and sold information. As such, leaking that information was severely penalized.

Of course, demanding that this information be public would greatly help humanity fight against monsters, but the power of capitalism repressed any debate on this issue.

Even I, Yoo Hajin, had been consumed by his immeasurable power.

"Now, where do you think is the vital point of this Mountain Tyrant?"

Yun Hyuk gave Yoo Yeonha a meaningful look. The vital point of a Mountain Tyrant, Yoo Yeonha probably had no idea. Even I just created the configuration and never used it. There was simply no possibility that the main character would go hunting tigers.

Again, what was-

Oh, I see. He's really cunning, I can't deny it.

"..."

As I thought, she didn't seem to know. Seeing that she was playing with her hair and looking around, it seemed that she was embarrassed for not knowing the answer.

"Would anyone like to guess?"

I, of course, knew the answer. It was a good opportunity to stand out, but I didn't raise my hand. Yun Hyuk was acting like I did now, he was bothering me. Although his pretentious face irritated me, I wanted to see what he was up to. And if I could confirm my suspicions, the better.

"I..."

At that moment, a girl raised her hand. I was surprised. Who the hell was she? Did she really know her weak point? How did she-

"Is it his nose?"

She guessed with an extremely blushing face.

She was simply an extra who fell in love with Yun Hyuk, apparently. I was getting scared of nothing.

*

The Academic club continued for two hours. Unexpectedly, there was a lot to learn, such as the vital points of the monsters, the compatibility between the attributes and the difference between a magic and a spell. I learned in detail about things I had explained in my novel in a few chapters, while watching cadets literally drool over the speaker.

My mind is so late.

"We have a party planned at a nearby restaurant! It will be great if you can come!"

Anyway, after the club ended, Yun Hyuk announced that there was a party afterwards at a nearby restaurant.

Yoo Yeonha seemed to have fallen and was interested in going. Feeling a little worried, I followed her. Although it was necessary for the plot, I hoped they would not deceive her so soon.

"Hey, are you going?"

I casually approached her again and asked her.

She didn't answer, again.

Thinking it was because of the way he spoke, I asked again.

"Yoo Yeonha, are you going to go?"

She ignored me again. This time, I asked with even more decorum and propriety, just wanting to get an answer.

"Are you also going to the after party, Yeonha-ssi?"

Only then did Yoo Yeonha respond with a slight nod, although reluctantly.

"Why? Aren't you busy?"

"... Tsk".

'This fool.' That was what Yoo Yeonha's eyes were saying, I could see it clearly.

"Why are you going?"

"Aren't you curious about the vital point of the Mountain Tyrant?"

"... Huh?"

And with that, confirm my suspicions.

Public information about the Mountain Tyrant was scarce, to say the least. Not only did it’s strength vary greatly from person to person, but it also lived in an extremely remote place. Although the leather of the Mountain Tyrant was sold for a considerable price, it was difficult to plan a hunt when one could not be sure of the efficient number of people one would bring.

Yoo Yeonha was the successor of an important guild.

So, the reason why Yun Hyuk acted as if he knew the vital point of the Mountain Tyrant throughout the afternoon was to attract her. Since I didn't write my novel from Yoo Yeonha's point of view, I didn't write exactly how Yun Hyuk managed to convince Yoo Yeonha. It seemed that 'guild' was the key word to get her attention.

Yoo Yeonha had a guild lineage. Her clan had risen to power during Outcall 50 years ago, thanks to the massive success of the head of the family of the first generation of her family.

Her family was still a clan of successful heroes, but Yoo Yeonha had an inferiority complex. Compared to a true noble clan, she felt that her family was missing. This was the reason why she saw Shin Jonghak favorably, and that's also why she was too obsessed with face and decorum.

"... The vital point of the Mountain Tyre?"

Was this a good opportunity to make a short-term investment? There was a lot to gain by maintaining an investment relationship with Yoo Yeonha. With great competition in the management of business and in the calculation of profitability, she was destined to become the 'Queen of Seoul' in the future. She was going to be so excellent in the management of his guild and business, obviously he had to start investing before her popularity skyrocketed.

In a casual tone, I answered.

"I'm not curious. I already know."

"What?"

Yoo Yeonha asked again as she frowned. She seemed completely upset in addition to being incredulous.

At that moment, I made my decision. Using this information that would be advertised one day, it would arouse Yoo Yeonha's interest and instill in him a sense of mystery, but without really committing to anything. Considering the SP and the additional benefits it would get, it was an acceptable operation.

I lowered my voice to a whisper and transmitted the information to her in a serious tone.

"The vital point of the Mountain Tyran is in the heel of his hind leg."

"What nonsense you are..."

"There is a blue mark on the heel of his hind leg. But its DNA determines whether it is the right or the left. That is probably the reason why his vital point has not been discovered so far."

I was the one who created the stage for the Mountain Tyre. I was inspired by the story of the Achilles Heel when I made the adjustment. It was unlikely that this configuration would be changed, since the small details seemed not to have been touched. But anyway I wouldn't mind verifying it, and if it brought me profits in the process, much better.

"The body of the Mountain Tyran is hard, but this blue mark on the heel is the only place that is soft. That is the vital point of the Mountain Tyrant. If you try strategies around it, it should be easy to strip it of its two hind legs."

The value of this information had to be tens of millions of won. But taking into account my current credibility, it is likely that it will not exceed 100 won.

"... Head of a walnut."

As expected, Yoo Yeonha gave a disdainful look as if she were looking at a miserable insect. She then began to walk away. I followed her, insisting.

I couldn't let that money be lost.

"It's true. Believe me."

"Would you believe me if you changed our positions?"

"..."

I, of course, wouldn't have believed her.

Or at least, I would have checked it before saying that I believed it.

"It's your choice whether to believe me or not..."

I expected her to do it, it was a beneficial treatment for both of us after all.

"Hey!"

At that moment, Yun Hyuk suddenly got between Yoo Yeonha and me.

I thought he was going to walk away, but surprisingly he just stayed there, as if he were a wall.

"Don't you think you're very close, young cadets?"

Due to the height of that damn bastard, my field of vision was considerably reduced. Then, I turned to Yoo Yeonha, looking for support.

"Am I bothering you?"

"Yes."

“Heh”

She gave a cold response from the heart, typical of her. I got angry with Yun Hyuk's mocking laugh. What was this idiot making fun of?

"By the way, are you also coming to the after party?"

He spoke with too much interest for my taste. I shook my head.

"I won't do it"

"What...?, Yoo Hajin-ssi, if you gave me a moment, I could... ”

Before he finished talking, I went to the exit. By that time, Yoo Yeonha had already begun to move away.

"Heh"

I returned what I received. With a distorted face, Yun Hyuk tried to chase Yoo Yeonha. Unfortunately, she and I were going the same way, so I had to witness his futile efforts. We were both leaving the place, but there was always the possibility that she would come back later. Well, it doesn't matter, it's her decision anyway.

I gave Yoo Yeonha valuable information, but I didn't know if she would use it or forget it. In the case of the former, he would win a possible ally and a lot of money, in the case of the latter... nothing would happen.

In any case, I had nothing to lose.

But I secretly hoped that she believed me. I was a little short of income, so I could use her help.

....

Well, it doesn't matter, whatever luck wants, let it happen.

Thinking like that, I continued on my way.

*

On a dark winter night, Yoo Yeonha was immersed in her thoughts as she hit her desk with her pen.

Tomorrow, the elite team of the 'Essence of the Strait' guild would go out to hunt a Mountain Tyrant.

They had secretly bought information about a lone Mountain Tyran who lived on Kumgang Mountain, and had already confirmed its size with an explorer.

It was estimated to be of high intermediate grade 1. The strength of his fur reached Promentium, a difficult mineral found after Outcall. As such, the guild would obtain an astronomical income if the hunt was successful.

But Yoo Yeonha was worried about one thing. It wasn't for the safety of the elite hunting team. The current vice-leader of 'Essence of the Strait' had too much power. She felt her seat of the successor of the guild threatened.

Well, Yoo Yeonha's concern was about this. To succeed the guild without any problem, I had to start making contributions.

In the end, Yoo Yeonha activated her smartwatch. Using her communication functionality, she made a phone call. Soon, the receiver picked up, and a hologram screen appeared.

"... Um, hello?"

"Yes, young lady."

Kim Sangho was on the screen. He was a forty-year-old veteran, who was her father's most reliable right arm. Since I was a child, Yoo Yeonha treated him as if he were a real uncle.

"What's going on?"

Although she made the call, Yoo Yeonha was too embarrassed to say anything.

A blue mark on the heel? Can you injure it’s two hind legs by attacking it? What was she doing, deceived by that madman's nonsense?

"Um, I'm saying this just in case..."

But the possibility was not zero and it didn't seem to hurt to try. Although it came from that madman, there had to be a reason why he was so sure. Justifying herself, Yoo Yeonha held her breath.

"Yes, young lady?"

"Um, I know it sounds crazy, but..."

Closing his eyes and clenching her fists, she spoke.

"If things look rough, try looking at the heels of the hind legs."

"... The heels of the hind legs?"

Kim Sangho frowned.

Yoo Yeonha knew what that meant. But if it could be of help, and if this information were real...

"Yes, his hind legs... heels. Whether on your left or right heel, there should be... well, I'm not sure if it's true, but..."

Yoo Yeonha continued to risk being embarrassed.

"If there's a blue mark there, try to point to that place."

Chapter Text

Later that day, Yoo Hajin found himself seriously evaluating pros and cons. It was a difficult situation.

'I shouldn't go to training'.

It's not that I wanted to skip training, really, but I was still exhausted and training like that would only cause frustration. So it was advisable to take a short break and, recovered, go back to training. More than the number of sessions, I focused on efficiency and quality after all.

But if I skipped a session, he might not be able to play his role as an extra, his responsibility to follow the main cast. I was not in a position to be left behind.

In the end, after weighing his options, he decided to go for a quick workout, a little stretching for his stiff muscles and rest again. I didn't think there were any negative effects on his plan, so feeling satisfied with my idea, I came out.

A moment later, when he entered the training room, he immediately dropped the unopened can of coke on the floor.

In front of him, Kim Suho was doing the most strenuous and laboriest training throughout the room. Literally no one wanted to approach that specific place with only the terror caused by looking at all the equipment he chose, and for objectively reasonable reasons.

The small space consists of multiple types of weights, runner, elliptical and other gym machines. Of course, the level of this equipment was the most difficult in the room and it used more than 500 kilos to carry.

And that was just the warm-up.

Yoo Hajin, really annoyed by the situation, went directly to him.

With a terrifying voice, he pronounced.

"Kim Suho, what are you doing here?"

At any other time, Hajin would find Kim Suho's expression of bewilderment funny, but at this moment, he was very upset about the lack of personal care present here.

Yoo Hajin was not the epitome of self-care, but he thought he was doing a good job in that area, so seeing Kim Suho crawl into this when he was about to faint on the spot disgusted him a lot.

Firmly declaring, he went straight to the negotiations.

"Let's make a deal"

Kim Suho put an expression of confusion, but let it continue.

"I've seen your techniques with the sword before, and with the morning meeting, I think I can give you a decent analysis of your skills. I will give you 3 observations, and if you are not satisfied with these, then we will have a one-on-one battle, with swords and with your rules, of course."

Kim Suho, now interested in my words, asked.

“... And, what will I be giving in return?"

With a cold expression, as if he were dictating his death sentence, proclaim.

"You will rest for today, and until your body is recovered, you will train again."

He could see conflict on his face, possibly evaluating his options.

Actually, it wasn't very different from a punishment for Kim Suho.

To begin with, he loved to train, he literally lived in love with his sword and equipment and gave him the highest priority, at the expense of himself.

Although he invited me to join his training, I never promised to have more than a decent performance in it. And I knew perfectly well how enthusiastic he was about comparing our skills, so if he didn't like my evaluations, he could always challenge me. So, if the amount of interest I had managed to gain with my words was what I believed, then we weren't going to be here for long.

And when he answered, he agreed with me.

"Okay, just let me finish with this and we can..."

Interrupting abruptly, I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and dragged him to the exit.

"We are leaving, Kim Suho, there are no objections."

And so, we left the training room together.

We got a lot of looks as we went out, but I totally ignored them and Kim Suho made sure to divert interest, so we were fine.

*

After asking for directions, we managed to get to his room. After I opened the door, I threw him to the ground, my arm sore from having to drag him all there.

On the way. His weight was a lot for my current self.

While he was doing slight push-ups of this, I ordered him.

"I'll go for a walk, and I swear by any deity you believe in Kim Suho, that you don't want to know what will happen if I come back and I don't find you lying down."

Without giving him the opportunity to answer, I went out and closed the door.

'Going for a walk' was just an excuse, I couldn't stand to continue with this without a little caffeine in my system, so I was going for a can of Coca.

As I walked to the nearest vending machine, I thought.

Yes, I was completely an annoying and intrusive cadet, Kim Suho should be thinking at that moment about the unfortunate type of training partner he chose.

[He doesn't do it, actually, he was more worried about being scolded again, for some strange and inexplicable reason, he can't help but think about how funny the situation is, and how the infamous 'Yoo Hajin' was worried about him.]

Shit, even he himself hated nosy people.

But he couldn't help but worry.

He can blame the lack of sleep, caffeine and energy in his body, but in the end it was his impulsiveness that brought him here.

Kim Suho as the protagonist was, a cadet dominated with a 'Talent' trap very efficient in combat. That he loved swords and equipment, and tended to be very reckless, naive and excessively courteous.

So, Hajin, knowing well that if he tried to force him to rest, he would only ruin the non-existent goodwill that he was struggling to build, decided to go for the most recommended option in his eyes. A deal.

As in any other place, the world where the deals came from were widely used, but it took a slightly different concept from the one Kim Suho knew.

To make a deal, there was no better product to negotiate than yourself. Skills, statistics, information, everything that comes from itself and has enough reputation, was extremely sought-after.

Of course, the only insurance accepted in this type of treatment was one's life in the same way.

In more summarized words, if you accepted a deal, you were the merchandise and the insurance to negotiate.

So, if I could offer him something about me that could weaken Kim Suho's stupid conviction for today, it was to promise him a fight, of course.

While I was picking up the can from the dispenser, a thought passed in my mind.

'I could train Kim Suho to help me deal with the Star Stream'

It was an absurd idea if you saw it superficially, but the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced.

At this time, due to reasons that I don't know, although 'Star Stream' was present, it was not working completely. In the end, the time will come when I tried to immerse this world in a new apocalypse, so I had to start taking precautions from now on. Of course, this meant that I had to strengthen the main cast for this possible disaster.

Ignoring the part of myself that said that, the recklessness of the protagonist ignited some kind of post-traumatic effect, I walked back.

The moment I set foot in Kim Suho's room again, I found him lying down and ready to sleep.

Satisfied with that, I finished entering.

From the smile on his face, I knew he was waiting for me.

"So, Hajin-ssi, will you fulfill your part of the deal?"

“.... Yes."

Hajin-ssi? Where was 'Yoo Hajin'?

Grabbing a book from one of its shelves, I sat in a nearby silo and leafed through the book.

"To begin with, I could tell you that you have an outstanding 'Talent', that you are an exceptional cadet or the best student of this generation, but I guess you heard that before, right?"

Looking uncomfortable, Kim Suho nodded.

As I turned pages, I continued.

"At that time, in the museum, you did not analyze the situation quickly enough, if the Djinn of that time had decided to attack head-on as soon as Chae Nayun blocked the doors, several people would have died. You're amazing in sword combat, but that's not all. Learn how to analyze the environment, objectives, possible plans to make. With enough intelligence and cunning, you can always go around a lost battlefield."

Raising my gaze from the pages, I could perceive the repentance in him, I couldn't help but sigh.

"Kim Suho, your skills and abilities are incredible, they are forged with talent, effort and dedication. I can see your love for swords, I can only notice some openings in your defense and small hesitations in combat. But remember, the moment you decided to become a cadet, you put your life in the game line. Always have a second, third, fourth, fifth, as many options as you can create. Your 'Talent' is powerful, but that's not the only thing you have, you can try training with a second weapon, looking for equipment, expanding skills, etc. It's a matter of creativity, I suppose."

Looking at him directly this time, I tried to get my words to him, so that he could understand the meaning of these and be prepared.

Kim Suho, as a character, could only trust his sword. He had many colleagues, helpers, friends and almost a lover, but the only thing he used to defend himself was his strong determination and his sword. There was nothing else.

"Rest, although having a constant practice is good, your physical condition also influences the results. After all, you want your body to exceed its own limits, don't start building new ones. Your health is as important as your sword, always remember."

I was sure that there was no need to mention the incidents that only occurred today, the point was clear.

Giving a little smile to this reckless protagonist, I thought it was time to leave. With a brief silence, let Kim Suho assimilate everything said.

With a smile and faking a serious look, he answered me.

"Your recommendations are very good, Hajin-ssi undoubtedly has an innate dexterity in observation that his words support, but I think you've already heard that many times, right?"

..... What?

With a stunned look, I thought.

Receiving a compliment from the protagonist that you tried so hard to set up should feel incredible, but I only felt a bitter taste in my mouth.

The difference between us was very clear.

Kim Suho had a natural ability with the sword, was born with the protection of the world and was destined to become a powerful Hero, being the epitome of sword handling. He was born with talent, always being recognized for that.

I, on the other hand, had not been born with one.

I don't want to go into details, but to be where I am today, I put a lot of effort and dedication into this, having to see from different perspectives to avoid continually stagnating. However, people never saw it that way.

'He was better than me since he was born,' they said. 'You assume so much of what isn't yours,' they said.

What an irony of life, I had to fall into another world so that someone could notice my effort.

As I left his room, after placing the book I had in my hands on the armchair I sat on, I answered him.

"Yes, that's right"

It was a lie.

*

In the middle of the night when the owls came out to howl, I came back from my little afternoon lesson and collapsed in my bed.

Since I came to this world, it was difficult for me to fall asleep. My body was tired, but countless random thoughts arose in my head that prevented me from falling asleep.

How could I survive in this world? What actions should I take? Should I continue to get involved with the main characters, or hide? Or should I become a villain and execute the bad side from the inside like in that movie I saw?

.....

Eliminating the last option, tiredness was undoubtedly wreaking havoc on me.

Then, suddenly I became curious about my current statistics. I looked for my laptop.

===

▷ Statistics * Variable statistics

[Force 1,735]

[Aguante 1,845]

[Speed 2.15]

[Perception 2,605]

[Vitalidad 1.65]

[Magic power 1.3]

===

Indeed, my statistics were increasing. All the statistics in addition to the magical power had exceeded the average of an adult man (1.5), and it could be said that my perception exceeded what a normal person was capable of having.

But I was still a long way from restoring my past statistics. I needed money, it wouldn't be long until the Master Cargo Horse guild was made public.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

In fact, going to the hunting ground was the most honest way to earn money today. I had been postponing it because my statistics were very lacking for my comfort, but after thinking about it carefully, there was a way to avoid it.

I could compensate for my statistics without using the laptop to strengthen my weapon. Like Kim Suho, who would later use a single sacred sword to cut a mountain...

It seemed like the fastest way to get stronger. But it was also a big waste of SP.

I currently had a training gun provided by Cube and 380 SP that I got by destroying my non-existent goodwill with Chae Nayun. Now, let's suppose I also have the famous gun, Desert Eagle.

Even if I invested all my SP in strengthening my training weapon, it is very unlikely that I will match the Desert Eagle.

In other words, SP was more efficient when modifying weapons with a more powerful base performance.

"Hm..."

Speaking of Desert Eagle, I suddenly felt curious. It was the only firearm I had in my environment today.

Without getting out of bed, accepting any rest crumb at this moment, I turned on my smartwatch and entered the website of a weapons distributor.

[Essential Armory]

It was an armory operated by the 'Essence of the Strait' guild. Since weapons that exceed the artifact grade were sold at auctions, Essential Armory was the most popular website for mass-produced weapons.

[Welcome to Essential Armory.]

As expected from the website of the most popular weapons distributors, it was well designed. The home page showed new elements, while the top bar had categories such as sword, spear, bow and rapier. Perhaps because mercenaries often used the website, it also had a good selection of weapons.

I clicked on [category - weapon].

There were different types of weapons, such as pistol, assault rifle and sniper rifle. For now, a handgun was very useful to me since it didn't require a lot of statistics. The Desert Eagle seemed to be a popular choice among handguns, since I found it quickly.

===

Desert Eagle

-Feel the transcendental power! Integrated into the Desert Eagle is a magical amplification device that increases the power of magic bullets! Due to its large recoil, Desert Eagle is only recommended for the most skilled Sharpshooters.

* Weight: 3.5948kg (1.2938kg with magic effect of adding weight reduction)

* Length: 333 mm

* Identification and contract required to purchase.

===

Desert Eagle. It’s image on the website looked much more beautiful than the original design. The barrel had an elegant platinum color, while a majestic eagle was inscribed on the handle. While it looks like a work of art, this weapon sported a heavy weight and a voluminous size.

With just a glance, I could say how efficient it was. I only had one problem.

"It's very expensive."

It was very expensive for my miserable wallet. Its base price was 20 million won, and the price doubled when I clicked on a checkbox that said "complete attachments". I needed a good weapon to make money, that's true, but buying it now would be counterproductive.

"... Ehew".

I tried to think about what to do, but my brain refused to work now. My conscience was clouded and I felt drowsy. It seemed that he would finally succumb to fatigue.

I turned off the smartwatch without hesitation and trusted my instincts. Thinking about this, I could wait until tomorrow.

... When I opened my eyes again, it was Wednesday.

The bright morning light shone through the curtain.

It was an unpleasant light no matter how many times I looked at it.

Another tiring day had begun.

"Ugh"

I wasn't feeling better than yesterday.

With a sigh, I got rid of the negative emotions that came to me every morning. After walking to the bathroom and washing, I put on my uniform and left the bedroom. 10 minutes was enough for this routine.

Once outside, I saw other cadets getting ready for the class. It was still early in the morning, but they were busy laughing and chatting. Seeing them enjoying their school life, I couldn't help but feel what many call 'envy'

I didn't have a friend in this world. I didn't even have anyone to talk to. Being able to go out with friends was the only thing that prevented the academy from being boring in history.

Should I try to find a girlfriend?

No, it was too useless for that. If I use too much of my energy in unnecessary human relationships, my condition could get worse.

Yes, I should be happy to die alone. After all, it wasn't much different from my academic life before, you just had to get used to it again,

With that, I rushed my way to the classroom.

*

"As you know, a guild's database contains a lot of useful information. But most of the time, they must reach a certain range to have access to it."

I thought about that weapon while listening without enthusiasm to the lecture of an old teacher. The figure of a majestic eagle shone in front of my eyes.

How could I earn the money to buy it?

The first thing I thought was to sell information.

I had designed most of the monsters myself, so I knew their vital points and attributes, if they hadn't changed, of course. As each guild had a different collection of data, if it sold them the information they didn't have...

No, this wasn't the best idea.

First of all, it took an information broker 5 years to build his reputation. It also didn't seem like a good idea to alter the world balance just to earn some money.

As tempting as the idea sounded, I had to contain myself.

"... Now, let's continue after a little break."

Before I knew it, the rest time began. I immediately turned on my smartwatch to enter Essential Armory once again, but I received an unexpected message.

[Excuse me].

I was familiar with the name of the sender.

Rank 7, Yoo Yeonha.

Because the cadets' smartwatches were connected to the Cube intranet, it was possible to send messages to other cadets without knowing their exact contact address. This was the first time someone used this feature with me. At least the first person I desired to answer, of course.

Yoo Yeonha was sitting in the front row. After taking a quick look at her, I answered his message.

[What?]

[What are you?]

What kind of shit was this? Did you want to bother me even by message?

[What do you mean?]

She didn't answer for a while. I wondered how the hell I had come to that conclusion, and then I remembered what I told him before. I took a look at the time. It was 1 p.m. Did I give her the information yesterday and she already confirmed that it was true?

[Ah, is that what it's about? I'm surprised that you believed me]

[What?]

[So what? Wasn't I right?]

In truth, I was also dying to know if the environment of the Mountain Tyrant hadn't changed, but I wouldn't admit it even if she pointed his whip at me. If this unknown co-author wanted to change everything I knew, it would be difficult for me to get ahead.

More difficult than it already is with 'Star Stream' and sudden system failures lurking, of course.

[...Yes].

"Ugh."

Fortunately, it seemed that that was not the case. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally some good news.

[How did you know?]

[Do you think I would tell you?]

......

Was she, the heiress of a guild, the arrogant and cold young Miss Yoo Yeonha, really naive enough to think that?

Yoo Yeonha's shoulder twitched. Immediately after, she returned a brief answer.

[No].

A smile appeared on my face, of course, she was better than that. When I was about to finish the conversation, I remembered something.

Desert Eagle, the elegant and dignified bird of prey.

I had almost forgotten it. The reason I gave him the information was at times like this.

Coincidentally, Essential Armory was operated by Yoo Yeonha's guild, 'Essence of the Strait'.

[Anyway, if you benefited from the information I gave you, I would like to ask you a favor].

Yoo Yeonha suddenly turned around. As if she had been watching my seat, she knew exactly where I was. Although her gaze was still sharp, it seemed to contain less weight now.

How should I say it...

Right, for her it seemed like a big bag of money.

You can't blame me on this, since I perceived her the same way.

Chapter Text

[What do you want?]

I knew that Yoo Yeonha would agree. She was the type who couldn't stand unilateral favors after all.

Now, I was wondering if I should ask.

Asking for money directly wouldn't look good on me. It was Yoo Yeonha I was talking about, but she was still a minor. She probably couldn't freely spend tens of millions of won on her own.

However, when it came to her, who could stop her?

[It's simple. I need a gun].

After sending her the previous message, I sent her the link to the Desert Armory Desert Eagle. Yoo Yeonha looked at the link I sent her and looked back at me. She didn't seem to have any hostility.

[I think it's quite cheap].

[...I understand].

Of course, for someone like her it would be like that. But it was a good start for me.

It was good that she agreed.

[Is it possible to get it tomorrow?]

The faster it was, the more money I would earn quickly. Even if tomorrow was too difficult, I expected to get it by the end of the week.

[Yes, I'll take care of that]

Surprisingly, she responded without hesitation or signs of annoyance, despite the fact that her parents should still be in charge of the guild's work. I was impressed by her quick decision.

It seems that it would be a good investment after all.

"Go back to your seats."

The break ended at the right time, since the old teacher resumed the class after drinking a little water.

*

Wednesday's theory class ended. And at 3 p.m., anti-personnel training began.

In a fairly large training camp, each cadet met with others who promised to train. In the meantime, I looked for the instructor lazily.

"Hey."

A high-pitched voice stabbed my ear in the back. I had to answer her now, damn it. I turned around and gave her an indifferent look instantly. Chae Nayun was looking at me with terrifying eyes. She said:

"Fight with me."

Hostility in its tone, bordered on haughtiness.

On any other day, I could just ignore her and pretend she didn't exist. But she looked persistent, and I didn't have much patience at the time.

As the saying, 'a word causes a debt worthy of a thousand taels of gold', I had made a terrifying enemy with a simple sentence. In fact, Chae Nayun was too dangerous a person to have as an enemy in the novel. To live a peaceful life here, I should be thinking about repairing our relationship even at the cost of kneeling and begging for her forgiveness.

Of course, I was proud and too petty enough to even consider it.

But looking at Chae Nayun, I kept thinking for a moment. Could she be able to forgive me for my hasty insult just because I apologized?

The answer was no, of course.

Seeing me in silence, Chae Nayun pointed to my gun and spoke.

"Your pistol. Grab it."

The first training gun broke when I fought the Djinn. This was a new one. I looked down at my gun, then I looked at Chae Nayun again.

And being a little petty, I answered.

"I don't want to."

"...Are you afraid of me?"

These two words had a great echo, causing the eyes in the training camp to fall on us. That included Kim Suho's.

.....

Shit.

How do I respond to Chae Nayun without seeming haughty with her, when I'm holding back to shoot her with all my strength?

The answer was, short sentences obviously.

"No."

... Besides, it could be better for me to remain a bad guy for Chae Nayun. My first and main goal, and the reason why I work so hard without resting, was all to kill her older brother within a certain period of time.

Even if I resolved my relationship with Chae Nayun by magic, and we even became friends, my actions would only leave her with a cruel sense of betrayal and hatred.

No matter how rude and impulsive she was, I couldn't do that to her.

"I'm afraid you could hurt yourself. This thing uses real bullets, you know?"

I mentioned as if I were talking to a small child, my pettiness being present.

Immediately, the weight of the atmosphere changed. Chae Nayun squeezed her bow. I could see the amount of force she put through with the veins that came out of her hand. She was starting to get angry.

"I don't think your bullets will hurt me even if they hit."

Chae Nayun strongly repressed her anger and replied with a cold grimace.

My answer was simple, but there was a little mockery in it.

"You won't get hurt. You will die in this place."

"... Ha, say that again, brat."

Brat? Who is the real brat here?

[Both are, of course. Another thing that no one is willing to admit it]

Chae Nayun approached me. It seemed like she was going to explode at any moment, I couldn't help but laugh.

Technically, she was 165 cm when I was 174 cm, so seeing her angry and grumbled made her look like a spoiled girl demanding new toys.

Suddenly, I felt someone's gaze on me.

In all the scandal, he only glanced at me before, but now he was moving, as if wanting to intervene, I quickly shook my head, throwing a cold look at him, like saying 'I can handle this'. I knew that if it wasn't direct enough, he would ignore my order and jump to the front.

Kim Suho, looking like a scolded puppy, stepped back, becoming a spectator again.

It was at this moment that Chae Nayun decided to speak again.

"Seriously, who do you think you are?"

The atmosphere became gloomy by her words and more spectators gathered to watch the fight. I was getting ready to respond when...

"Chae Nayun, come back."

The instructor intervened. I let go of my frustration with a sigh, grateful that they arrived before I did something I was sure would bite my ass later. Chae Nayun turned to the instructor, annoyed.

"Why should I?"

"Before he get’s a weapon to fight, no one can train with cadet Yoo Hajin."

As if she were a little girl, she began to complain.

"But I don't care."

"I care."

"Why-"

"Failure to comply with an instructor's order will lead to being punished with disciplinary measures."

“...”

The words of the instructor were direct and absolute, with no room for refutation. Chae Nayun gritted her teeth with a completely offended look. But in the end, she gave me one last look before leaving, it seems that it's all for today, I guess.

The spectators also dispersed and returned to their training.

Everything had returned to normal.

It looks like I was in luck today. But, as usual...

"Draw your gun."

A single sentence shattered my hopes, turning them into nothing but dust and sending them to fly.

The instructor spoke while wrapping his hands in bandages. His name...

Park Hyun-Ah, right? I didn't remember correctly.

I asked out of curiosity.

"Is there a weapon for combat?"

And he had to respond rudely, of course.

"How the hell am I going to know?"

Isn't that what he's supposed to be here for?

-Crack, crack.

The instructor made his knuckles and neck creak in front of me.

"Now come."

Then, with a smile, he gestured with his finger. This person... was he enjoying this?

With a sigh, I put myself in position. I could only wish it didn't end up like the previous one.

Thinking about it now, Kim Suho was really good listening this time, with his Hero complex and all that, I was pretty sure that he was going to intervene.

With that in mind, I gave the first shot.

*

Thursday was the orientation of the Hunting club. But since the cadets were not required to go to orientations, I decided to skip this it. It was partly to avoid Chae Nayun and make another fuss, but the main reason was to test the weapon I would receive as quickly as possible.

"Ah, I can't wait."

I was currently at Angel Box, a coffee shop near Seoul. I was waiting for the delivery of an item in this place. For registration, cadets could use portals 5 ~ 6 times a month, as long as they complete a form in advance.

Time has passed.

5: 29: 55... 5: 29: 56...

While I was drinking my third glass of coffee, it arrived.

5:30:00.

Exactly at the promised time, the door of the store opened.

A young man with a black suit and sunglasses came in with a suitcase. After looking around for a moment, his eyes met mine. I shoot my hand so that he would notice me. The man's expression didn't change. Walking with his long legs, he walked towards me.

"Yoo Hajin-ssi?"

"Yes, it's me."

I felt like I knew who this young man was. Only one person appeared in my head when I thought of Yoo Yeonha's assistant: Jin Sechan.

The man who was supposed to be Jin Sechan placed the suitcase on the table without sitting down.

"Here is the article. Please take a look."

"Are you in a hurry? You can sit down."

I pointed to the chair in front of me. It would be very rude of me to keep him up, after all. My grandparents taught me better than this, of course.

In addition, before accepting this article, I wanted to do a quick test and it was going to take a while.

"... Hm."

He sat down without a complaint, better for me.

I took the laptop I just bought out of my bag. Yesterday, I made some changes to this laptop. Now, I could use this laptop to modify the 'Laptop' without having it nearby.

"Are you doing anything?"

Confused by your question, I answered.

"What do you mean?"

The man bowed his head, for my greatest confusion.

"Why are you hitting in the air?"

... Can't you see the laptop?

I picked up my laptop, waiting for a reaction.

“...”

He looked at me, waiting for an answer.

I see, he had a little suspicion before, but it seemed like I was right. Only I could see this laptop. It must be because of the configuration I made for it.

"It's nonsense, don't take any importance to it."

That was good with me. Ignoring his incredulous look, I continued what I was doing.

I turned on the laptop. The additional configuration I put on my laptop was this.

[When the user 'Yoo Hajin' is within 50m of a target with an altered configuration, the content and summary of the change will be sent to Yoo Hajin's laptop].

[* It doesn't work on objectives that have passed a certain level of importance].

The reason I added this configuration was because I thought it would be more efficient if they informed me about a change through an objective medium instead of having to notice it and then having to confirm it on the laptop.

Either because the system didn't care or because it encouraged the modification I made, I only had to pay 200 SP. It was much less than I thought it would be, if I'm honest.

[Change in the settings has been detected.]

And currently, there was an alert on the laptop as expected.

[Jin Sechan - His feelings for Yoo Yeonha have deepened].

I didn't care about this change, of course. I could think about the romantic relationships of the main cast at another time.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence that had been created, I finally answered him.

"Anyway, I'll take a look now."

I opened the suitcase.

Click. Click.

With an elegant sound, the case opened. A bright light exploded from the inside.

"...Wow."

Sitting on a luxurious red velvet there was a platinum gun and a bedroom. It was even more beautiful than what I saw in the picture.

Then, Jin Sechan began to explain.

"As promised, it is the Desert Eagle with complete attachments and a chamber of 60 rounds of maximum grade magic bullets."

"Thank you. You can leave now, sorry for the inconvenience."

I rushed him out quickly, I didn't want to waste his time.

I didn't care about Jin Sechan anymore. Using my laptop, I checked the configuration of my new weapon.

===

[Desert Eagle] [High Range] [Metal Attribute]

A masterpiece gun. It contains several aggregate effects.

「Amplification of attack power – 1/10」

「Magic of low-rank weight reduction」

「Magic of backward control in between range」

===

=== [Magic Bullet]

[Pinnacle Degree] [Nulso attribute] .

44 Macon steel mana bullet with high purity condensed mana. 「Power of attack – 4/10」

===

I felt much better when I could read the descriptions. Without having to modify the weapon or bullet, I felt that I could easily kill a low-intermediate monster. I should also be able to get Aether out of the Real Suwon Devil's Nest.

"Then I'll leave."

Are you still here?

"Ah, yes, take care of yourself."

After Jin Sechan left, I checked the amount of SP I had left. 250. Now, how should this happen?

*

After leaving the cafeteria, Jin Sechan contacted Yoo Yeonha. She asked as soon as she answered the call.

-Did you deliver the item?

"Yes."

-Was there anything special about him?

"Thats..."

There was nothing "special", but there was something he found strange. No matter how much he thought about it, the man's behavior was not what a 17-year-old should have. Not to mention that it was almost as if he had known who Jin Sechan was...

-Yes?

"...No. There was nothing in particular."

But he couldn't make a decision with just that brief exchange. After all, he was a Cube cadet. Even Yoo Yeonha had an air of dignity and elegance that did not suit her age.

-Yes, I understand. Thank you for your work, Sechan-ssi.

"The pleasure is mine."

With that, the call ended. Although he wanted to talk to her a little more, he decided to restrain himself and continue respecting the rules.

Chapter Text

"... 170,000 won?"

My tone rose when I heard the unexpected price.

The Portal worker repeated, a little unfazed.

"Yes. From Seoul to Gangwondo Wonju, it's 170,000 won."

Unlike going from Cube to Seoul, going from Seoul to Gangwondo had a price. I brought the transport card with me, but 170,000 won was not a small amount to pay, especially now, when I was trying to save money.

"Mm..."

I kept thinking a little, maybe the prices were like that because of the distance? Or was it because the means of transport was a portal?

"Customer, there are people waiting online."

The Portal worker gave a cold warning to indecision. When I looked around, I could see many people waiting in line. Seeing that everyone had a gun with them, it seemed that we had the same goal.

Since I wasn't in a hurry, I ignored her warning.

I was waiting for someone anyway.

"Hajin-ssi, this way!"

It seems that I invoke him with thought.

Turning around, I could see Kim Suho entering the station.

This morning, when I left 'Cube', I received a message from him, asking me if I had time to train. Of course, I refused, I had to go hunting to earn some money.

The moment I mentioned it to him, he asked to accompany me, when I refused his request, he wrote that he would pick me up at the station and he won't stop writing until I accepted.

I knew that in reality, he was going to follow me either way, and since I didn't want to get attention with a scene, I answered that if he managed to reach me before I crossed the portal, then I would allow him to accompany me.

And now I was here.

Unlike me, who had a lot of time to walk quietly here, Kim Suho surely flew out of 'Cube' in order to fulfill his whim. And yet, he looked so fresh and calm that no one a mile away would think he had to run here.

Or maybe they would, but since he was a well-known cadet, they were more interested in getting closer to him.

Just like now.

The portal worker practically shot out of her cubicle the moment she heard Kim Suho's voice. Driving away the crowd that was beginning to crowd around him, she guided him forward.

"Cadete Kim Suho-nim, it's a pleasure to meet you in person, I saw you at the graduation ceremony of the 'Seoul Military Academy' and I have admired you since then, you are such a talented and incredible young man."

And so, the worker kept talking and talking. Praise after praise, time kept passing, getting Kim Suho to be more embarrassed with every word that came out of her mouth.

I couldn't help but think, shouldn’t it take shorter, because there were more people waiting?

However, no one complained, everyone here knew the talented cadet Kim Suho, and with his warm and pleasant personality, the only thing he did was bring more crowds.

That's how it was, although many of Cube's cadets felt envious and jealous of him, there were many civilians outside who deeply admired him. After all, he was the number 1 in practice in the whole degree, there was no way to deny that the boy had talent.

Bored of waiting, and, knowing that if I didn't act now, I wasn't going to leave here soon, I tried to get the worker's attention.

"Um... Can you do anything with this?"

Before I reluctantly paid the price, I showed him my Cube cadet card. I remembered that Kim Soohyuk said something about Cube's cadets having benefits, but since this wasn't an adjustment I made, I didn't know the details of this.

In any case, you can always use the fanaticism I had for Kim Suho to get a discount.

"Huu..."

The Portal worker sighed as if she were upset by the interruption, but she still accepted the card, after all it was her job.

Kim Suho took advantage of the interruption to stand quietly at my side. Bowing slightly, looking into my eyes and giving me a victorious smile, he spoke.

"So, will Hajin-ssi allow me to accompany him?"

Looking at him with false confusion, I responded.

"Isn't that why you came? Stand behind me, we're leaving now."

I noticed how shame turned into discomfort, so I thought it was a better course of action to cover him until we got out of here. With a little laugh on his part, he gave a silent gratitude and stood behind me.

When I saw the worker again, her eyes widened and a much kinder voice than before was presented.

"Ah, you're a Cube cadet. Cadets are allowed 6 free passes per month."

Being a little petty, I answered.

"Oh, really? That's so great, really."

Uncomfortable, the worker asked.

"Would you like to use one now?"

"Yes."

The Portal worker took my wrist and sealed a badge.

I wasn't really surprised by her change of attitude. After all, being a hero was really one of the best jobs in this world. But that didn't mean that I came to appreciate this kind of thing in my day to day.

Walking to the side, I asked.

"Thank you. Do you mind if I wait for him? We have the same destination at the end of the day."

With a smile, the worker answered me.

"No problem."

I stood aside while they did the same process to Kim Suho, I approached again when it was time to leave.

"Have a safe trip, cadet Yoo Hajin-ssi, cadet Kim Suho-ssi."

The Portal worker had even memorized my name now. Kim Suho, being the gentleman he is, turned to say goodbye. Nodding my head, I turned around.

With a bitter smile on my face, I entered the Portal. Kim Suho behind me.

Apparently, there were things that would never change, no matter where I am.

**

The landscape of Gangwondo Wonju could be summarized with just one sentence.

"Hajin-ssi, there are so many people here."

As in my environment, Wonju was a global city. Although its buildings had a limited height due to the threat of monsters, the city was full of modern and solid structures. Foreigners of all skin colors walked with their weapons, while the agency's employees, who supported them, hard-hit their tablets. They were probably calculating the price of the day's transport.

Although it is different from Seoul and Busan, in fact it was an unusual scene.

From where I was, I could listen to all the conversations.

A foreigner seemed to be talking to his partner.

"We took a good amount today. How much do I get?"

Listening to the clumsy Korean, I couldn't help but snort.

English and Korean were the shared language of this world. Naturally, this demonstrates the importance and authority of Korea in the international community. Although this sounded very good for Korea, Korea was only one step away from hell, literally.

The Korean peninsula produced infinitely new Towers and Dungeons. The textbook contained several explanations for this. There was a scientific and geological explanation for this, and there was also a more religious explanation that said that Korea was blessed or cursed by heaven. In truth, none was close to the real reason presented in the story.

In any case, the numerous Towers and Dungeons of the Korean Peninsula produced many monsters. If it weren't for the heroes who could turn them into marketable resources, Korea would have been destroyed a long time ago.

However, the Nine Stars, which were nine of the strongest Heroes, had five members who were Korean. One of them even served as the 20th president of Korea. Any additional explanation was not necessary.

"You killed three hobgoblins, so after the taxes and processing fees, it should be about 600,000 wons."

Under the tax law, foreigners had to pay more in taxes. Even so, foreign mercenaries and heroes went to Korea, because the hunting process was safe enough to compensate for the high taxes.

If things became dangerous during a hunt, they could simply send a distress call, and the Heroes or agents would arrive in less than three minutes. Korea was the only country in the world with that system in use.

"Take this. You will feel better later. It's a troll blood potion."

"Ah, thank you."

When I saw the world I had written turned into reality, I could do nothing but keep walking.

Kim Suho next to me was curious about my answer from before, but he didn’t ask. Instead, he take a look around, with overflowing curiosity.

The city was full of interesting things: blacksmith's workshop, potion shop, alcohol bar, etc. With stores that seemed to belong to the Middle Ages that operated in modern buildings, for a moment, I couldn't help but feel that I was back home. I quickly discarded that thought.

The phrase "Wonju is a famous tourist city," which I wrote without much thought, seems to have caused this situation.

We continued walking and, before I knew it, we were at the entrance of the 'Camp'. There were a lot of people waiting nearby. I would have to go to Hamgyong province if I wanted to hunt in a quiet place, but Hamgyong province was too dangerous for me.

"E-excuse me?"

Just as I was about to get in, someone started a conversation with me. Being the curious person he is, Kim Suho came a little closer, bowing his head as a sign of confusion.

He was a tall, normal-looking man with dropped shoulders and circular glasses.

I didn't recognize him. He was probably an agent.

"Yes?"

"Are you here to hunt monsters?"

Confused by his question, I answered.

"... Are you an agent?"

"Oh, yes, here's my business card."

I took the business card for now. I didn't know who he was, but an agent was needed to sell the bodies of the monsters. It seemed that Kim Suho knew the same thing, since he came over to take a look.

When I looked at the name and logo of the company written on the business card, I was bewildered.

[Head of SH Agent, Park Soohyuk]

Without allowing my bewilderment to be noticed, I asked.

"... Sr. Park Soohyuk?"

"Ah, yes, nice to meet you."

Next to me, Kim Suho responded, shaking his hand.

"I’m Cadete Kim Suho, nice to meet you, Park Soohyuk-ssi."

The man smiled as he fixed his squeated clothes and returned the squeeze.

Park Soohyuk. I knew who he was. In fact, he looked like how I described him in my novel.

Park Soohyuk should be the agent with the most appearances in the novel, since SH Agent would become the best agency in Korea in the future.

"Haha, you may not have heard of me. I started this job not so long ago."

But for now, he didn't seem to be very well.

I couldn't help but smile internally.

Connections were one of the most important aspects of one's life. A person's future was often the result of bad relationships and good relationships that one made.

As this world was still in its initial stage, there were many who were currently weak but who would become prosperous in the future. The best way to approach a famous person was to make friends before that person became famous. So, when the necessary time comes, you can count on their help.

My future was still uncertain, so it was better to start preparing.

"SH Agent, I don't think I've heard of it before..."

The only thing that bothered me was that this connection was supposed to be Kim Suho's.

But since the agents generally had several customers, there were probably no problems. In addition, I had managed to get to know each other before, so I guess it was fine.

I quickly listened to Kim Suho comment.

"It feels like a reliable name."

The smile on his face conveyed the sincerity of his words, and it calmed the nervous Park Soohyuk a little.

"Hahaha, thank you."

With a trace of doubt, I commented.

"Ah, by the way..."

I took out my laptop naturally and checked if there were any changes in the Park Soohyuk settings. Fortunately, there were none, which means that his extraordinary ability had not changed. I let out a sigh of relief.

"My main weapon is a firearm. Are you okay with that?"

"I don't think that's a problem. Pistol or sword, mercenary or hunter, I don't care! New customers are always welcome!"

Park Soohyuk extended his hand with a bright smile. At my side, Kim Suho gave me a brighter smile.

It seems that he intended to hire him for the hunt, and he was satisfied that we agreed.

*

Eight bullets were loaded into my weapon. Each pinnacle-grade magic bullet costs about 150,000 wons. Since each low-ranking monster was 300 ~ 400,000 won, I couldn't use more than one bullet per monster due to the agent's fee I would have to pay.

With that in mind, I entered the field.

Park Soohyuk followed me from behind and Kim Suho stayed by my side. It seemed that he really was in a desperate moment, considering the fact that agents without a vehicle usually waited outside the field, but I wasn't going to make fun of that.

I offered a bottle of water that I had to Park Soohyuk when I saw him tired, but he politely denied my offer.

"Ah, there's one there."

After about 30 minutes of wandering aimlessly, we finally found a monster.

It had a large body and protruding teeth, it was a low-rank monster of grade 9 called an iron pig. The "iron" part of its name was not because it was covered with iron, but because its skin was stronger than iron.

Quickly, Kim Suho stepped forward.

"I can take care of this."

He seemed excited to start hunting, I couldn't help but snort, amused by his attitude.

"I'll cover your back from here, then."

Kim Suho didn't seem to have any objections, but Park Soohyuk stopped me. I asked, really confused.

"What's going on?"

"...Yes?"

Park Soohyuk's eyes seemed to say: 'Do I have to explain this too?'

I couldn't help but get more confused, what's going on?

"You can't kill an iron pig with a gun. Even piercing its outer skin will be difficult."

.....

Oh, I already understood what he was worried about.

"But it's expensive."

The price of a monster faithfully followed the law of a free market economy. Monsters like the undead did not give any benefit and, therefore, had no value. Consequently, monsters like these were subsidized by the government.

"I'm sure Kim Suho-ssi could easily take care of it, please, you don't need to take risks. Even if it's expensive, attacking with a gun is..."

Kim Suho took this opportunity to comment, issuing security.

"Park Soohyuk-nim, don't worry, Hajin-sii is truly impressive."

......

Where did this child's blind faith come from? Wasn't he going too fast?

Anyway, I had more important things to do.

With a firm voice, I spoke.

"Kim Suho"

The named one saw me again, giving me his attention.

"You won't be thinking about starting hunting like that, will you?"

The confusion was all over Kim Suho's face when he responded.

"....Eh?"

He wasn't the only one, of course, Park Soohyuk also looked confused.

Giving an exasperated sigh, I opened my backpack.

Before coming hunting, make sure I get everything you need to get ready just in case. This is where I got my cadet card.

He wasn't a hand-to-hand fighter, so I wasn't really going to need it, but I packed it as a precaution.

And fate gave weight to my precautions when Kim Suho asked to join me today.

Taking out a long waterproof coat, I went towards him. While I was delivering it to him, comment.

"The hunting of this moment does not represent a real challenge for you, so it's okay if in this case you focus on practicing sword techniques and styles. But believe me, you don't want to go all the way back to 'Cube' with dry monster blood on all your clothes."

After giving him the coat, I went back to my place. His face was a little embarrassed when I looked at him again.

It seemed that his emotion had not diminished a little when, after adjusting his coat, he prepared to ambush his prey. Before he jumped, speak again.

"Kim Suho"

Standing up, he turned his face and gave me a look.

"Hajin-ssi?"

With a small smile, I said goodbye to him.

"Have fun and try not to get too dirty."

There was nothing in this world that Kim Suho didn't get more excited than going hunting monsters, after all.

Giving me a bright smile, he answered me.

"Of course, don't forget to cover me, okay?

I don't expect an answer. At the end of his words, he jumped straight to the iron pig.

After a short time, Kim Suho had already formed a small mountain of monster corpses, but I was starting to get bored of just observing.

It seemed like it was time to act.

I took out my Desert Eagle and pointed it forward. The cannon of the weapon shone under the burning sun.

Park Soohyuk tried to stop me, possibly thinking that it would complicate things.

"E-E-Wait just a minute-"

Park Soohyuk made a little fuss, but I didn't hesitate. I pressed the trigger. The bullet fired directly into the middle of the head of the iron pig behind Kim Suho, and before the pig could even notice, it broke its iron skin. There was nothing it could do with its brain shoot. It fell to the ground without remedy.

"Perfect."

Both the power of the weapon and my ability were satisfactory. It had hit the vital point of the iron pig with millimeter precision.

"...Wow."

Next to me, Park Soohyuk exclaimed in amazement.

Oh, and by the way, the configuration I added to my Desert Eagle was simple and effective.

===

[When a monster is killed with a single shot by Desert Eagle, its attack power is amplified.]

-Using the low-intermediate range as standard, it increases the attack power to 1% per death.

-The repeated death of monsters of the same rank will slightly decrease the amount of attack power increase.

===

By putting in a restriction that required me to make an effort, I added a comparatively good effect to compensate for the SP I spent when creating it.

"So what? Clean, isn't it?"

Once again, I was sure of my choice of weapon. Shooting from a distance without approaching, was the perfect hunting method with low risk and low voltage.

Park Soohyuk also seemed to believe it.

"Uh... It's a great weapon! Your aim is incredible too."

"Thank you."

After a short time, Kim Suho came back with us, looking satisfied.

"It seems that I hunted a lot of iron pigs down there, Park Soohyuk-ssi, do you think we can take it all?"

Before the aforementioned could respond, I approached him.

Although I had given him the coat, he still managed to splash his hands, face, and hair with blood. Feeling defeated, I took a couple of handkerchiefs out of my backpack.

"Hands, please."

Since he had already gotten rid of his coat, and his clothes were clean, Kim Suho seemed to believe that everything was fine, so he asked confused.

"What's going on?"

Without answering him, I took one of his hands.

Checking that the handkerchief is wet enough, I started cleaning his hands.

First, I ran the handkerchief through the palm of his hand, then I wiped finger by finger, making sure not to press hard enough to irritate the small cuts that were on them. Finally, I took his forearm and gave him a pass.

I did the same with his other hand.

Taking out another handkerchief, I made his hand tilt a little so that it was at my height.

The difference wasn’t a lot, but it would be very annoying to have to be on my toes until I finished cleaning the blood.

Checking the handkerchief again, I cleaned his jaw, cheeks, nose, eyes, and forehead, and when I was satisfied enough, I checked his hair.

With a new handkerchief, I gave him a quick pass.

After finishing, I took a step back, looking satisfied with the result.

Ignoring Kim Suho's stunned look, I went back to my place.

Taking another look back, I noticed something. Was he blushing from the heat? It seems that next time I would have to make sure to bring enough water for him.

For now, I still had things to do.

I spoke as I pointed out the corpse of the iron pig.

"So, how much is this? Each one is going to make a separate contract, of course."

Looking bewildered, Park Soohyuk responded.

"Well, iron pigs are already expensive and since this corpse is in such good condition, even after the rates, it should be at least 600... no, 800,000 won."

Slightly impressed, I replied.

"Wow."

"Wait. Let me store the corpse first."

Park Soohyuk took a bag out of his bag. It should be a magic bag with a magic of space expansion.

When I saw him fight to put the pig in the bag, I grabbed the pig's front leg.

"I'm going to help."

Thankful, he answered me.

"Ah, thank you."

"... This is really heavy."

But thinking about that now, my strength statistic wasn't that high either, because it was heavy.

"Uuk, uk, God."

"Wow, it's really heavy."

"The agents do this, don't they? You should have known in advance, shouldn't you? I'm new to this, so I'm curious."

I scolded him a little, so that next time he won't be so careless.

"...You're right"

It seemed that Kim Suho came back to his senses, because he came to ask.

"Can I help you? Do you have a lot of strength?"

I know you have a high statistic in strength, don't boast much. In addition...

"I think you should first worry about how you will carry all your prey."

That was true, he had a mountain of dams that he wouldn't be able to transport alone.

Returning to my thing...

"I'm going to hold his hind legs. You hold the front. Wait, don't we have to take the bag afterwards?"

A little shy, Park Soohyuk answered.

"Ah, don't worry, anything inside the bag will have its weight reduced by half."

Confused, ask.

"...Only half?"

I couldn't help but sigh for this. In fact, Kim Suho only met Park Soohyuk in his third year. Park Soohyuk was in bad shape even then, so now... well, I could only be grateful that he didn't die of hunger.

"Ugh."

"Uuu"

To encourage him, I commented..

"Come on, put more strength on it."

Looking embarrassed, he answered me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't eat..."

I couldn't help but breathe another sigh.

After an hour of moaning and complaining, we finally managed to put the pig in the bag.

"Uf..."

I collapsed on the floor, exhausted. My strength and endurance statistics had to have increased with that.

"... It's already 7 o'clock."

Before I realized it, the sun had set and the darkness had descended over the field. A terrible cold enveloped my body.

Apparently, today's hunt would end with this death on my part.

Although I felt a little regret for the huge waste of time, I wasn't too sad because I was able to make a valuable connection.

Taking a look at Kim Suho, he was still standing in front of his prey. It seemed that he still didn't know how to carry them all together.

Pointing to Kim Suho, I asked Park Soohyuk.

"So, how do we do all that?"

Not worried, he answered me.

"Oh, don't worry about that. We just have to call 119 and ask for a couple of ambulances. We just have to reimburse them for the trip."

"That's ingenious..."

We laughed together. At that moment...

"...Wait."

-Rustle.

A faint sound resounded from a tree.

"Shh."

It seemed that Kim Suho also picked up the sound, since he quickly drew his sword.

I took out my gun once again with my index finger in front of my mouth. Then, I fired in the direction of the sound.

-Thud.

There were no screams. Only the sound of a stundy body that was collapsing sounded.

"Huh? What happened?"

"It's a black pelican."

"Yes?"

Park Soohyuk might not have been able to see anything, but I could see it clearly. My eyes could see thousands of miles away.

"... black pelican?"

"Yes. Fantastic, we should take this too."

I felt like someone was looking at me, so I turned around.

Kim Suho was standing there, in the middle of the dark sky, giving me a bright smile.

For some strange reason, I couldn't help but think that this one felt sincere.

Chapter Text

I opened my eyes while I was still in bed. My whole body began to hurt right away.

The iron pig and the black pelican...

As much as I thought about it, the monsters I was hunting yesterday were too heavy.

After the ambulance arrived, we transferred the monsters inside and, after discussing the terms of the contract with Park Soohyuk, we left. It was already getting late anyway.

Fortunately, we came back before the curfew. Otherwise, we would have faced a disciplinary punishment in addition to negative points.

"Argh"

Fortunately, today was Friday, so there was no class that required me to use my body, so I could rest.

Tiredly getting up, I first looked at my smartwatch. There were three unseen messages.

[810,130 won has been deposited].

[450,270 won have been deposited].

[Here is the payment of yesterday's monsters. I hope to work with you again. Head of SH Agent, Park Soohyuk.]

The payment was faster than I expected. At this time, Kim Suho should also have received his share.

If I remember correctly, exclusive contracts have monthly payments. In my case it must have been quick because it was a one-time deal. But even so, the fact that he can take care of them overnight...

Without a doubt, he was quick with his work. As expected from Park Soohyuk.

Thanks to Park Soohyuk, I now had something to do during the day, so I lifted my sore body. It doesn't require any physical effort anyway. Besides, it wasn't something I could postpone.

First I had to open a brokerage account and buy the shares of the Master Cargo Horse guild. A million won sounded like a good start to me.

I went into the shower with several thoughts and ideas creating in my head.

After washing my sleepiness and remaining tiredness with cold water, I dried myself, put on my cadet uniform and went to class.

On the way, I went over my notes, just in case. A feeling of restlessness took hold of my body as I advanced.

.....

We have an exam today, right?

*

The class of the first period on Friday was about 'Analysis of the Kingdom of the Phenomenon'. From what other cadets said, it seemed that we had been assigned the most difficult theory class to compensate for the lack of physical training today. Of course, this does not apply to me.

I sat in a random seat and took out my laptop. After making sure that only I could see it, I decided to make the most of it.

I played openly with the laptop in class while the teacher still didn't arrive.

===

「Master Sharpshooter」

[Low intermediate range] [Spirit attribute] [Evolution - Grade 8] [Competition EXP 13%]

Master Sharpshooter Training

* Familiarity with all long-range weapons

-Eyes of a Thousand Miles

* You can see very far and predict the movement path of a target.

* Increases speed and perception by 0.3 points.

-Bullet time

* In combat alone and once every 24 hours, you can spend 10 seconds in 'Bullet Time'. -Reversion Sharpshooter

* According to Yoo Hajin's invariable statistic, "lucky", you can inflict extra damage on a stronger enemy.

===

Reversion Sharpshooter, a low-ranking skill that I got by defeating the museum's Djinn, was quite decent. Master Sharpshooter had also reached grade 8. Of course, its speed of growth would decrease as its rating progresses. But I would already find a way to move forward when the time comes.

"Sit down."

While I was looking at my current statistics with approval, the professor came in.

"Today there is a written exam, as I mentioned last class.”

A test was announced out of nowhere, or at least that's how it was painted by the atmosphere that his words generated. Moans of sore hearts exploded from the cadets. It seemed that I was the only one who remembered the notice of the start of classes.

"Really? I didn't study at all!"

Instead, Chae Nayun murmured, full of despair. Kim Suho, who was sitting next to her, immediately took out his notebook, offering it. Chae Nayun coughed with embarrassment and accepted it.

"Yeah, now, shut up."

The teacher cut the complaints of the cadets in a cruel tone before delivering the exam sheet. After some paper sounds, I also received an exam sheet.

Problem 1. Describe the monster, 'Pygmalion'.

Problem 2. Describe the Nine Devils (Djinns).

Problem 3. Indicate the attributes that humans can manifest in the Kingdom of the Phenomenon.

Problem 4. ...

The difficulty and ambiguity of the problems were lower than I had anticipated. I could hear other cadets sigh the moment they took a look at the problems. Thinking a little, I started working.

With just a few minutes of searching, I had answers to all the problems on my laptop.

[The Pygmalions are Fallen Ghosts whose intelligence exceeds that of humans. They cannot be seen in the Kingdom of the Phenomenon, and they act like humans after possessing them. Due to this behavior, some argue that they should be classified as Djinn...]

I would answer half of the questions with the information provided by the laptop.

Of course, I would be wrong if the settings were changed, but that would be even better. It meant that I would learn more about the configuration that had changed.

I would answer the other half, of course. I could use this exam as a test to evaluate what amount and quality of knowledge I have managed to learn so far.

As a separate note, I wasn't really good at studying. The problem is that, not only did it not connect with the way teachers teach, I just could not retain information using conventional study methods.

To finish school quickly, I had to look for my own study method that would allow me to acquire a lot of information in a short period of time and that the retention was not short-term. Then, as if it were a divine message that came directly from a fantasy novel, I found it.

I used curiosity, which was innate in me since I was born, as a starting point. From there everything went uphill. When the subject did not catch my attention, I came up with a way to attract my curiosity, and from there I absorbed all kinds of information that I could find about it, making me obsessed with it.

The more curious I was, the more I was obsessed.

In the end, it became my definitive method of study, and I managed to fulfill several of my objectives thanks to it.

"...What?"

While I was finishing up writing all the answers on the paper...

What's going on?

My laptop suddenly turned off. That is, the only opportunity I had to find a way to get home was closed. I began to tremble because of the unexpected situation, sinking my fingers into my palms so that my mind didn’t become clouded. And because I was in the middle of an exam, I couldn't afford to panic. Then, suddenly blue words appeared on the LCD screen.

[It's been a month].

[The functionality of the laptop will be updated.]

[Yoo Hajin's Observation and Reading Talent will be strengthened].

.........

Letting out a sigh, which sounded more like misery than relief, I returned my attention to the exam.

Trying to get rid of the feeling of fear that was still in me, I tried to distract myself by answering the questions.

*

There was a meeting every Friday that gave a stop on the calendar. Yoo Yeonha called this social leadership meeting, 'Noble Society'.

Yoo Yeonha wanted 'Noble Society' to be a source of vital connections once she graduated, but Chae Nayun, who was the most important connection in it, didn't think much about it. For Chae Nayun, 'Noble Society' was like a kind of gathering of former students, where she could meet up with her childhood friends.

Today's Noble Society meeting was in a cafeteria in Seoul.

Yoo Yeonha asked happily.

"How are your grades?"

The answer she got was brief.

"It's good enough."

Trying again, she spoke again.

"The Jonghak I know is not happy unless he gets the first place."

Only Shin Jonghak and Yoo Yeonha were in the cafeteria. No other client was present. It was a popular cafeteria, but Yoo Yeonha had talked to the owner to rent the premises for today.

Full of disinterest, Shin Jonghak responded.

"As I said, good enough."

Giving up, Yoo Yeonha responded.

"...Yes, okay."

-Clang

The bell rang at the door of the cafeteria. Yoo Yeonha and Shin Jonghak turned to the door.

It was Chae Nayun, who wore a simple but attractive outfit, blue jeans and a black jacket over a slightly transparent white shirt. She walked like a man, but her elegant figure was more charming than any other woman.

"Chae Nayun, you came today?"

Shin Jonghak waved his hand in greeting, excited about her arrival. Chae Nayun approached and spoke after looking around the store.

"Hey, where did your lackeys go?"

In the eyes of Chae Nayun, Shin Jonghak was the kind of person who liked to attract lackeys. These followers of Shin Jonghak were generally children of large corporations or guilds, and despite the fact that Shin Jonghak classified them as 'friends', the hierarchy in their relationship was clear for everyone to see.

Happy to be able to start a conversation, Shin Jonghak responded.

"They are training now, the midterm exams are soon."

"Oh, do those guys also prepare for the exams?"

Chae Nayun made a sarcastic comment and sat down.

Still happy, Shin Jonghak continued talking.

"Instead, how did it go in the last written exam?"

Slightly annoyed, Chae Nayun responded.

"Are you making fun of me?"

As if to justify himself, Shin Jonghak responded in a relaxed tone.

"No, it's just that you asked if the other boys were preparing for the exams."

Still annoyed, Chae Nayun grumbled.

"...That's different. I'm talking about the combat test. Who cares if you're good at theory..."

Unlike when he was talking to Yoo Yeonha, Shin Jonghak actively attracted topics of conversation. Chae Nayun's answers were no different from when she talked to the rest of her friends.

Yoo Yeonha saw the two of them speak in a low voice. She didn't think much about it. They were just talking like friends. But the look on Shin Jonghak's face when he was talking to Chae Nayun, his soft smile and his kind eyes, which were aimed at her. Yoo Yeonha didn't find it very pleasant.

-Krrk.

Yoo Yeonha clenched her teeth slightly, jealously filling her mind as she grabbed the cup of coffee she ordered for Chae Nayun. Because she ordered it thirty minutes ago, it was warm. She threw a little magic power into the cup, warming up the coffee.

"By the way, do you know Yoo Hajin?"

But at that moment, her focus dispersed completely and her eyes opened. Yoo Yeonha involuntarily joined the conversation, now interested.

"Yoo Hajin?"

Nodding, Chae Nayun answered.

"Yes."

Feeling more curious, Yoo Yeonha asked.

"...What about him?"

Chae Nayun's face was distorted in anger, and with an unpleasant tone, she replied.

"What do you think of that bastard, Yeonha?"

Yoo Yeonha felt her heart fall.

Yoo Hajin. Normally, I wouldn't have had to think of someone like Yoo Hajin. Even if she did, her evaluation of him would have been 'I don't care' or 'That crazy psychopath'.

But the circumstances had changed. There was something about him. She wasn't sure exactly what he was, but she was starting to think that he wasn't as simple as he seemed to be. But Yoo Yeonha purposely hid her inner thoughts and in a condescending tone, she responded.

"...What do you mean? He's just a normal guy."

Annoyed, Chae Nayun responded.

"It doesn't matter."

Chae Nayun grabbed his cup of coffee abruptly, possibly to try to contain her anger. Yoo Yeonha swallowed her saliva at Chae Nayun's strange reaction.

With an annoying tone, she continued talking.

"That bastard is hiding something for sure."

"What are you so angry about?"

This time, Shin Jonghak asked. His face was full of smiles, as if he enjoyed seeing an angry Chae Nayun.

"Don't you know? There was a Djinn at the National Weapons Museum during the recent monster incident in Seoul. So, that bastard..."

As if she remembered something unpleasant, Chae Nayun swallowed his coffee in one. She immediately spat out.

"Aak! Hell, it's hot! Water! Water!"

Panting, she looked for cold water. Yoo Yeonha comforted her carefully, feeling a knot in her heart loosen.

With a kind tone, Yoo Yeonha spoke.

"... Nayun, that's coffee, not cold water."

"You haven't changed, have you?"

Shin Jonghak laughed, while an employee quickly ran to them with cold water.

Looking extremely scared, the employee handed the glass of cold water to Chae Nayun.

"H-Here."

Chae Nayun quickly grabbed it and swallowed it.

After drinking, she complained.

"Aagh, I burned my tongue."

Then, she held her breath before continuing where she had left off.

"Anyway, that Djinn was stronger than Kim Suho and.. Even me..."

At that moment, Chae Nayun stopped once again and stared at her two listeners. Because what happened back then was embarrassing, she didn't want to talk about it in detail with anyone.

"... I even fought a little in the process. Kim Suho is a different story, of course, but how can an ordinary cadet like him do such fatal damage to a Djinn?"

Curious about her lack of details, Yoo Yeonha asked.

"What exactly happened?"

Evading the question, Chae Nayun answered.

"I don't want to explain it in detail. I just know that he made a Djinn's arm explode. With a gun in it! A weapon! How does that make sense?"

Exploding a Djinn's arm with a gun. In fact, it was hard to believe without seeing him in person.

Yoo Yeonha reflected as she rubbed her chin. She had seen Yoo Hajin fight. It was true that he was fast, but it was difficult to say that he had the attack power to break a Djinn's arm.

She continued.

"And then, things became even more annoying!"

Chae Nayun grumbled, she complained.

She had not managed to understand how that bastard had managed to defeat the Djinn, when obviously the situation had reached a point where they could not counterattack. Due to the unconsciousness and the nausea that followed, she could not see very well how that fight developed, so she had to hope to get details from the news.

Imagine her surprise when the incident was cut to the part where Kim Suho cornered the Djinn, and when she wanted to ask, everyone thought that the subsequent events were only signs of hallucination by the suffocation she had suffered.

There were no witnesses, there were no recordings, there was nothing, as if it hadn't happened.

Even when she asked Kim Suho, he responded as if he didn't know anything. Obviously he was lying, but she hadn't managed to make him talk.

In the end, she could only file this in her mind.

"Ah, wait."

At that moment, Chae Nayun suddenly set a serious tone. Her eyes looked nervous and she seemed hesitant to speak. Naturally, the attention of Shin Jonghak and Yoo Yeonha fell on her.

Then, she said one of the theories that had been raised.

"Could it be that he is... a Djinn?"

"... Nayun, if he were a Djinn, he wouldn't have attacked a fellow Djinn."

But Yoo Yeonha quickly broke the atmosphere with a prayer.

Resigned, she responded.

"I guess you're right. Anyway, there's something about that guy."

"So you're telling me that you don't like him?"

At that moment, Shin Jonghak, who was listening without saying a word, broke his silence. Chae Nayun and Yoo Yeonha understood the hidden meaning behind his words.

Chae Nayun reflected on how to respond. She knew Shin Jonghak's personality well. Depending on her response, that man's future would change greatly. After a little contemplation, Chae Nayun responded briefly.

"... I'm not sure, but something like that."

Although her words sounded vague, they were an affirmation for Shin Jonghak.

And so, a new problem was starting to arise for Yoo Hajin.