◈ Name
n̶̡̡̛̟̠͈͎̟̍͜͝͡͠ų̢̰̭̲̋͒̓͊̀̒́͘͡l̴̳͙͓̞̻̝͇̥͆̋͂̉̕͡͠͠l̨̛̫̖̝͓̮̳͓͆̃̈̈́̈́͆̈̕
◈ Stats
[Strength 014 A]
[Agility 661 B]
[Intelligence 024 C]
[Luck 149 F]
[Overall C]
◈ Skills
[Legacy 822 A]
[Dragon Heart --- A]
[Psychokinesis 641 C]
[Magic Engraving --- B]
-----------------------------------
My Strength, which had risen from B-rank to A-rank thanks to the Growth Orb I’d just eaten.
I’d finally hit A-rank with pure ability stats alone.
‘Good.’
My growth had been incredibly smooth.
Now I only needed to care about Bak Hayeon’s growth.
I waited in front of Class A to go home with Bak Hayeon.
Class A was still in the middle of homeroom.
Unlike Class B, which ended early because the homeroom teacher was a chronic slacker, Class A’s teacher seemed to have a lot to say about this and that.
“That’s all for today. See you all tomorrow.”
As soon as the Class A homeroom teacher finished, students swarmed out.
I caught Bak Hayeon, who was hurrying off somewhere.
“Where are you going? Let’s go together.”
“Uh, uhh? I have something to tell the class president….”
“Hm… is it important?”
“Ah, no, not really, but.”
“Then let’s just go.”
Bak Hayeon nodded and followed me.
After walking for a bit, as we were about to exit the school gate, I brought up the matter.
“You don’t have anything to do tonight, right?”
“Huh? Well, not really… why?”
“There’s somewhere I need to go with you.”
She stammered, flustered.
“Uh, uhh? No matter how you look at it, this seems too fast…. Are people in Seoul always like this?”
‘What’s with her?’
I couldn’t understand why her face was flushed and why she was so flustered.
“Let’s talk over food first.”
“Y-yeah!”
We went to a restaurant I had scouted in advance.
A Hanwoo beef specialty restaurant.
It was a restaurant that handled only the highest-grade Hanwoo beef.
I spoke up while flipping the meat.
“I mean tonight. Let’s sneak into school.”
“A-at school?! No matter how you look at it, that’s….”
“What, you’ve never done this? You do it with friends all the time.”
“With friends?! S-so Seoul people really are different.”
Bak Hayeon… as expected of the protagonist, she’s quick on the uptake.
Even though I hadn’t brought up the courage test yet, she’d already figured it out.
Of course, the courage test was just a cover.
My actual plan was to “coincidentally” discover and clear a dungeon.
It was all to get her a good skill.
The gate to the hidden dungeon I was going to required meeting special conditions to appear.
There were other requirements too, but first, we had to go to the second-floor women’s restroom in the school annex late at night.
“Let’s go around 10 after we eat. There shouldn’t be anyone then. Want to kill time at a coin karaoke until 10?”
“Got it!”
Come to think of it, there was something I’d forgotten.
“Ah, right. Just in case, send your teacher a message saying you might not be able to come to school tomorrow. Let’s just say you’re sick.”
Clearing a hidden dungeon takes longer than you’d think.
From a user’s perspective it was about an hour, but a considerable amount of time passed in-game.
I wasn’t sure, but when the dungeon was cleared, the protagonist would monologue like this:
Meaning it would take at least until the next morning.
Bak Hayeon made a tearful face.
“I-It’s my first time, how long are you planning to do this!”
“It depends on what we do, but we might be at it until tomorrow morning at least.”
“Hic.”
The school at night.
The combination of pitch-black darkness and the school created a spine-chilling atmosphere.
I even felt like someone was watching me.
“Let’s stop by the temporary training ground first.”
Even I couldn’t clear a dungeon bare-handed.
I grabbed two swords from the temporary training ground.
The ‘Gigantic Forest’ had been closed, and the weapons that had been there were stacked in front of the temporary training ground.
I told Bak Hayeon it was to defeat anything that might appear.
Perhaps because she was scared, she followed without saying much.
We entered the annex.
The empty hallway was truly eerie.
The light from the city was blocked by the main building, and with the mountain behind us, we really couldn’t see an inch ahead.
We turned on our smartphone lights and advanced.
The second-floor women’s restroom.
I hesitated for a moment, then opened the door.
“From what I’ve heard, this is the best spot.”
“D-do we really have to do it here? It’s scary….”
“Yeah. Let’s just go in.”
Bak Hayeon subtly grabbed my hand.
She must be really scared.
I didn’t shake her off and held her hand back.
As soon as I entered the restroom, I flipped the light switch.
.....
The lights didn’t turn on.
The academy was a modern building, so why was this happening?
I took a deep breath and hypnotized myself.
‘Whew. Don’t be scared. I already have one hell of a strong ghost clinging to me.’
[What?]
Now I just needed to perform the ritual to summon the gate, but….
There was something I had to do first.
I’d been suspicious, but now I was sure.
I pretended to go deeper into the restroom, then turned around and reached out.
Toward the place where I felt something.
“Kuk, keok….”
Having reached pure stat A-rank, my ki sense had improved dramatically.
Something had been nagging at my ki sense since the coin karaoke.
I drew my sword and assumed a thrusting stance.
“W-wait….”
A frightened woman’s voice.
It sounded familiar.
The area I was holding became translucent, and Ji Soyeon revealed herself.
She had only canceled her transparency on her face.
“Ji Soyeon?”
I let go of her throat.
If it was Ji Soyeon, there was no threat at all.
“What do I do… I’ve been found out.”
“Why were you tailing me?”
However, the tailing itself was dangerous.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t playing the part of the ‘Dark Knight’ today; if it had been a hunting day, I’d have struck first.
Ji Soyeon waffled and didn’t open her mouth properly.
I grabbed her hair and lifted her up.
Her body floated slightly off the ground.
A-rank Strength allowed me to support her weight with one arm.
Ji Soyeon had to stand on her tiptoes, barely touching the floor.
“Ah, it hurts…!”
“If it hurts, answer quickly. I won’t let go until you answer.”
Tears streamed down Ji Soyeon’s cheeks.
“Stop!”
She resisted, hitting and kicking me with her hands and feet.
‘Is she enduring this thinking there’s no way I’d kill her?’
I felt she needed more intense pain.
I let go of Ji Soyeon’s hair, tripped her, and climbed on top of her.
I pressed down on her throat with one hand and bent her finger back with the other.
“Kyaaack! It hurts. It hurts!”
“Talk.”
Bak Hayeon cut in with a worried face.
“Uh… I think that’s too much.”
“This woman was secretly watching us.”
“Yeah.”
Well, at least the protagonist isn’t a pushover.
In other games, there are protagonists who just smile even when they get NTR’d and betrayed.
I bent her finger further.
Ji Soyeon screamed.
“I’ll talk. I’ll talk! Please stop! It’s going to break!”
I released her finger for now.
Only then did she confess the whole story.
***
After school, Ji Soyeon waited in front of the academy’s main gate.
It was because she had contacted her via messenger saying she wanted to meet.
She had waited about five minutes.
A foreign car radiating an overwhelming presence appeared in the distance.
A Benz Maybach S-Class.
It was a car that looked incredibly luxurious at a glance.
The rear door opened, and Yang Minseo appeared.
“Get in.”
Worried she might get dirt on the car, Ji Soyeon dusted off her shoes before climbing in.
‘As expected, she’s incredibly wealthy….’
The car stopped at the K Hotel.
It was Korea’s most luxurious hotel, where foreign VIPs stayed.
Yang Minseo took Ji Soyeon to the K Hotel lounge.
“Please eat to your heart’s content. It’s my treat.”
“Uh, it looks really expensive….”
“Is it expensive? My aunt runs this place here…. Don’t worry about the price and order whatever you want.”
Ji Soyeon thought it was her chance and, throwing shame to the wind, ordered the most expensive-looking dessert and coffee.
Soon, the refreshments she ordered arrived.
Yang Minseo took a sip of coffee and brought up her business.
“I don’t know about Sin Noda or Oh Haena, but honestly, you know kids on your level are a dime a dozen, right?”
Invisible person.
It was a highly applicable ability, but its limits were clear.
Even Ji Soyeon herself thought she was far behind compared to Sin Noda or Oh Haena.
Yang Minseo continued.
“Still, the reason I picked you is because I thought you’d be fine as my limb, if not as a Hero or Hunter.”
“Limb…?”
“I have so many things I want to do. I’ll tell you this exclusively, Ji Soyeon: I want to reach the top.”
“The top? Don’t tell me… Ch-chairman?”
Yang Minseo placed her index finger to her lips and nodded.
“I have countless rivals. Dirty fights will continue from now on. There, an invisible person can do limitless things. Stealing important documents, eavesdropping in secret, assassinating key figures….”
“N-no. Killing people… that’s what Villains do!”
“It’s just an example. I can change your life, Ji Soyeon. I’ll give you astronomical amounts every time you do me a favor, and even if something goes wrong and you get caught, I’ll get you out somehow.”
Ji Soyeon agonized.
Her family had been ordinary middle-class, but recently her father had incurred a large debt.
He had invested heavily in KOSPI stocks and cryptocurrency and lost it all.
The house was even mortgaged, so her mother cried every day.
Ji Soyeon had a timid personality.
She would never have accepted Yang Minseo’s proposal under normal circumstances.
However, her family circumstances influenced her choice.
“A-alright. I mean… I understand?”
“You don’t need to be so formal. Please be comfortable.”
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll make my first request right away. After the academy ends, please keep an eye on what Sin Noda does.”
Ji Soyeon tilted her head.
“Sin Noda?”
“I had him investigated through an agency, but there are too many incomprehensible aspects. I think I need to find out directly. Even trivial things are fine. What he eats. What hobbies he has. And what he does after school… please find out.”
“Ah.”
“You don’t need to get too close. I mean, for example, you don’t need to find your way to Sin Noda’s house. If you’re found out, it would be problematic, after all. Tailing a classmate… hehe.”
And so she had ended up tailing Sin Noda.
But it was a mistake to close in out of curiosity when she saw him going to school with a girl at night.
His instincts were far better than she’d thought.
She had been caught.
***
Ji Soyeon finished her explanation.
So Yang Minseo had put her up to tailing me.
As expected of the original unlikable character, she’s been scheming behind the scenes.
She’d started looking kind of cute recently, but what a disappointment.
“This is annoying. Running background checks and all. I need to confront Yang Minseo.”
“Th-that. Can’t you just pretend I didn’t say anything?”
“I can’t do that. You’re not getting off scot-free either. You need to be taught a lesson about tailing people recklessly.”
I raised my sword.
“Pick the hand you prefer—left or right. I’ll let you keep your pinky.”