Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Monitor (2)
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“Before they beat us to the punch somewhere else, we need to establish some kind of connection, right? What the hell else does this bastard know?”
Brian lowered his head under Martin’s sharp gaze.
“If he needs financial help, offer that too. Just go for it—do whatever he asks! And bring him to this exact spot by next week!”
Martin bellowed, and Brian and Lily quickly responded.
“Yes, sir!”
“Get out!”
The two scurried out, and Martin picked up the paper again.
「Title: Damn System 1(869) - Author: K
Content: In place of this damn system that doesn’t even provide proper information, I’m sharing some key details for playing this game.
First thing I want to say before the explanations: there are no automated functions in this game.
Practice is essential to use the mana gained from hunting and the skills bought from the shop.
Abandon any delusion that it’s like a regular online game where you just shout the skill name.
I’ll divide the game explanations into mana and monsters.
1. Mana.
1) Usage methods and effects by stage
Mana obtained through missions can presumably be ‘recognized’ once you reach at least 50.
Once recognized, you can circulate mana within your body, enabling ‘Mana Operation.’
This means you can acquire skills without going through the shop.
It’ll automatically appear in your skill tab, so I hope no idiots waste 500 mana buying it from the shop.
Once you can operate mana, your physical abilities will improve dramatically.
Consider this the minimum level needed to clear 1st-level missions relatively safely.
I recommend not challenging missions until you can use it freely.
Remember that showing off when you’re not ready will leave you in the same state as the dead ones.
If your mana is below 50, gather more. You can also extract mana from plants.
Or fill a mission zone with 10 people. If two or three properly act as bait, you can hunt even with under 100 mana.
Hunting details will be covered more thoroughly in the monster section.
Next after Mana Operation is ‘Materialization.’
This splits into two methods: overlaying on the body or on objects. The latter is harder.
First, pull mana out of your body and concentrate it on a specific area to enhance destructive power, attack power, and defense.
Breaking a cement wall with mana-clad fists…」
What was written there was a guide for playing this game.
* * *
Dozens of monitors displayed a person from multiple angles.
It was Ethan, back at his lodging.
“Pupils dilated. Appears to be using the system window.”
“Continuous eye movement suggests a high proportion of visual activity—likely a community or shop service.”
“He seems to spend more time using the system window than speaking what he’s seen…”
David, watching Ethan on the monitor, asked.
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“We can’t report based on guesses alone.”
Selena, the deputy director, answered the question.
“I told you to report everything unusual.”
“Not reporting means there was nothing unusual, right?”
David’s eyebrow twitched at the repeated responses.
‘Playing it like this, huh?’
Directly observing Ethan and blocking information by keeping those close to him isolated.
He knew there were people in the organization who didn’t align with his methods.
But to show hostility this openly.
‘Fools.’
David secretly glared at Selena. Truly foolish.
Players were monsters who had shattered all human records during the tutorial’s limits.
Moreover, their self-healing was a step above humans.
And they had an environment for further ‘growth.’
Could such beings truly be considered human?
‘Absolutely not.’
Having stepped beyond human bounds, they were merely monsters wearing human skins.
They needed to be eliminated before growing further.
Yet the prime minister and agents like Selena spouted naive nonsense about human rights.
‘Tch.’
As David clicked his tongue inwardly, it happened.
“Director!”
An agent burst into the monitoring room with urgency.
“K has posted on the community.”
David’s eyes widened slightly.
He held out his hand, and the agent handed over an A4 sheet.
After reading it all, David’s brow furrowed faintly.
They had just discovered other players as the new tutorial progressed.
Thanks to that, they could verify the community content more accurately.
‘With that monster bastard being uncooperative, no choice.’
Ethan had refused orders to type out everything from the community.
He was busy enough digesting training—when would he have time for that?
So he only verbally reported anything noteworthy.
‘Now we can check whatever he deliberately omitted.’
They could finally peek properly into the players’ world.
Thinking of the community furrowed David’s brow faintly.
‘A nest crawling with those monster bastards.’
His head already ached.
How many dangerous ones among them?
And who was the most dangerous?
“Tch.”
David openly clicked his tongue, shoving the paper aside as he spoke.
“No search results?”
“Yes, the candidate pool is too broad.”
“Assume Asian for now and keep investigating.”
Based on known info, K was the one with unparalleled solo results.
He was the most dangerous player.
“That guy’s a bomb. We must find and monitor him.”
If surveillance deemed him a threat to the nation.
‘We kill him.’
Beyond the surveillance cameras, David stared at Ethan and another player, his eyes mixing fear, contempt, and disgust.
* * *
Even as I came out of the shower, I’d been pondering how to explain it.
But Jae-hyuk didn’t ask a thing.
He must be curious about what happened, yet his attitude was the same as always.
A silence solely for my sake. Today, it felt incredibly grateful.
But I turned down his offer to walk me home.
I wanted to sort my thoughts while walking.
So I headed out using invisibility.
Unfortunately, unlike planned, I couldn’t dwell deeply on my thoughts.
「You have indirectly contributed to increasing player survival rates. Fame +0.3.」
「You have indirectly contributed to increasing player survival rates. Fame +0.3.」
「You have indirectly contributed to increasing player survival rates. Fame +0.3.」
….
My head throbbed from the notification sounds.
The fame accumulation messages were no longer welcome—they grated.
“Hoo…”
I let out a deep sigh that seemed to cave the ground, grinding my teeth as I muttered.
“Please update the notification settings, you damn system.”
It seemed the voyeuristic pervert system planned to annoy me to death with sounds.
Otherwise, why spam thousands of notifications?
Resisting the urge to plug my ears, I checked the post I’d uploaded to the community.
‘Already 3,000 comments.’
The staggering number made checking them one by one impossible.
So I just returned to the community main page.
The reason I, who’d never shared info before, did this was fame.
‘Fame points come from actions listed in the achievements.’
Checking the list, a somehow unsettling line caught my eye.
「All actions that directly or indirectly intervene without ignoring other players’ crises, increasing player survival rates.」
It felt targeted at me, for some reason.
Whether guilt made me overthink, or the system really aimed at me.
Nothing certain, but I knew what to do.
I curated info for the community, and my choice proved right.
Notifications still flooded the message window.
After posting, my fame score piled up at a terrifying rate.
‘Already 1593.’
The post views exceeded 5,000.
Each time a player viewed it, +0.3 fame.
Considering player numbers, one post could net over 2,000 fame.
Seeing the fame and views lightened my mind somehow.
A chuckle escaped.
“Ha.”
I planned to ruthlessly shake off any lingering unease.
No need to carry unnecessary baggage in a life-or-death situation.
Good intentions and actions don’t greatly aid survival.
That’s why I hadn’t shared info despite being able to anytime.
If not for shop discounts tied to fame, I wouldn’t have posted.
I acted purely from cold calculation for gain.
But like everyone living in this world, I’m inevitably a gray person.
“Hoo.”
It must’ve lingered in my heart unbeknownst.
That’s why posting felt so relieving.
‘Not all, but some will survive.’
My mind eased, fame accumulated.
The gains weren’t light, more than enough to help in this game.
That suffices. Shifting from the post, I focused on the chat with Ethan.
- Ethan Lembron: Discounts with fame… The higher fame, the easier to reinforce abilities or gear. Neat structure.
I’d just explained fame to Ethan after he found my post and messaged.
- Ethan Lembron: Achievements emphasize player survival a lot. Why does the system prioritize this?
- K: Whatever the reason, it gives us something to exploit. Do whatever seems feasible from your achievements in advance.
- Ethan Lembron: Got it. I’ll think about achievement methods. Potions were burdensome anyway—discounts are a relief.
- K: Yeah, long-term, potion costs won’t be negligible.
Even I had bought potion bundles three times already.
450 mana just in price—not a small amount.
Pile it up, and it’ll quickly hit thousands, tens of thousands.
Since mana only gets consumed, not aiding combat power growth.
‘Fame reduces mana spending.’
More mana means higher survival odds. So save every bit.
‘Need attack skills soon too.’
For that, really grind mana.
Mulling future steps, I soon wrapped the chat with Ethan.
As I moved to close the community for the shop, a post caught my eye.
「Title: Password is Tutorial #1 Reward - Author: Sultan」
Clicking it prompted a password entry.
After hesitating, I entered five question marks.
Unexpected content appeared.
「Content: Yesterday, my ????? trait suddenly vanished. Anyone know info related? No point thinking alone—want to exchange opinions.」
‘Yesterday?’
No exact time given.
Still, I stopped walking, deep in thought.
‘What does this mean?’
His ????? trait disappeared, while mine activated conversely.
‘Trait activation, support type, detection, update, National Intelligence Service, bounty mission, tutorial #1 reward…’
Rolling fragmented info, a flash of memory hit.
“Monitor…”
I clung to the passing thought.
When my ????? trait activated, I’d thought of monitors too.
That the ????? trait monitors, so when deactivated, the system could only grasp my surroundings based on me.
Why give this ????? trait only to #1s?
‘As the saying goes, promising sprouts differ from the start.’
If they intensively monitored anyone who hit #1 even once in the tutorial?
But that left inconsistencies.
If ????? is monitor, why remove from other #1s?
‘If the trait finds game bugs and enables updates, wouldn’t more observation points be better?’
The system gave ????? traits to others besides me.
Why remove them now?
Especially around when mine activated.
‘Just this issue makes monitor seem absurd…’
The system doesn’t seem to need monitors anyway.
Game admins should oversee players overall, right?
Why attach monitors to specific individuals?
Too many mismatches assuming ????? is monitor.
But dismissing it felt off.
Damn system