System Installation

What the hell does “installing” even mean?

I’m not some computer.

I tried to work out how I’d suddenly ended up in this mess, but my thoughts froze solid. I couldn’t think of a single thing. My whole body locked up with my hand still shoved inside the bag. I couldn’t move an inch.

How much time had passed since I’d screamed from the pain? My heart was hammering like mad, blood surging toward my head with every beat. Then, at some point, the agony came flooding back. The extreme pain that started in my skull defied description—like someone was driving nails into me with a hammer and then carving me open with a knife. I felt death coming.

Is this what it’s like when people die? Completely different from anything I’d imagined. Unable even to scream, I begged to be saved. I had no religion, yet I called out to God, pleading that I’d do anything if He would just spare this life. Please… please.

Suddenly darkness swallowed everything. I couldn’t see. Then light again… then darkness… I wondered if I was losing my sight amid the pain. Save me… save… please… My cries went nowhere, and in that state I blacked out.

With that, I was certain I had died. Or maybe I really had. Only now, I’d opened my eyes again.

“Where is this…”

What filled my vision was the familiar ceiling of the tent. I could make out the metal pillars and frames of special material that held the structure up. The lights were painfully bright. My entire body ached as if I’d been beaten black and blue, yet compared to the torment I’d just endured it was nothing. This kind of pain felt laughable—like a mild fever at worst.

How much time had passed? Still lying down, I tried to force myself upright. The world immediately began to spin and a sharp ringing filled my ears—beeeep—

“Ugh…”

I couldn’t sit up. The head I’d lifted crashed back down. Thankfully a pillow was waiting for it. Realizing I couldn’t rise, I turned my gaze sideways. At least I could still move my neck.

“Huh?”

Someone was lying next to me. A woman. Her back. All I could see was the rear of a black-haired woman’s head. I reached out to shake the person in front of me, intending to ask what had happened after dinner. Quite a bit of time seemed to have passed since then.

“Hey… hey.”

“Mmm… what.”

A woman mumbling in her sleep. Damn it. Of all people, it was Kim Isol. Why the hell was this bitch sleeping next to me?

Then my vision flickered again. My heart rate suddenly spiked and my breathing turned ragged. My body was starving for oxygen—for air. I dragged in a deep breath. Please calm down. What the hell is going on?

I had no choice. I needed help. I reached for Kim Isol once more. Shoving her back produced no reaction, so my hand finally went for her hair. I have to live. With my struggling fingers I barely managed to grab a fistful of Kim Isol’s black hair and was about to yank hard when—

What is this?

I noticed something blocking one corner of my vision. ON and OFF. I had no idea what it meant. I gently released the jet-black strands of Kim Isol’s hair that were wound between my fingers. The thing floating in front of my eyes slowly blurred and then vanished completely.

What the hell was that? I couldn’t make sense of the situation at all. I pulled my right hand back and stared at it blankly. The same right hand that an Awoken had nearly crushed, the same hand Lee Donggeul had healed—what exactly had happened to it? It was definitely this right hand that I’d shoved into the bag.

“Oh? You’re awake, Team Leader.”

Jang Yong’s voice floated down from above. I turned my eyes toward the sound but couldn’t actually see him. I forced the words out with difficulty.

“Jang Yong. What the hell happened?”

At least my mouth still worked. Nothing was more frustrating than being unable to talk.

“Ah, you don’t remember? You collapsed. Scared the living daylights out of us. We heard a scream from inside the tent right in the middle of dinner and thought you were choking. Or that a Red Devil had somehow gotten inside.”

“Can you give me the exact details? What happened to me?”

“Do you really need to hear it right now? Everyone just managed to fall asleep. I only stepped in for a second while on watch. If you can move, maybe we should talk outside?”

He’d taken the watch on his own even after I passed out. Admirable. Well, they’d taught him that at the Academy. I asked him the time. I’d taken off my watch along with the protective suit.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“It’s only just past one in the morning. Get some more rest.”

Less time had passed than I expected. From my perspective it felt like a switch had simply flipped my life off and then back on again. The memory of that hellish pain still felt as fresh as if it had happened a minute ago.

I sat up again. This time there was no ringing, no dizziness. My whole body felt drained and a chill like a fever washed over me, but I could move. On the left side the company people were sleeping; on the right, the women. I had no idea why they’d left every light blazing while people were trying to sleep.

I quietly left the tent and walked over to Jang Yong standing in front of the barricade. I lit a cigarette while I asked him for the full story.

“When we went inside you were just sitting there, completely out cold, hand still stuck in the bag. We freaked out, checked the pulse at your neck the way they taught us at the Academy, and only then realized you were still alive. The older guys said if an expedition manager ends up like that we should just turn around and go home, but Kim Isol stopped them.”

“Kim Isol?”

“Yes. She said you’d only fainted. That we should wait one night. The older guys tried to convince her it might be an emergency, but she absolutely refused… even threatened them…”

I could guess why she’d said that. It was because of the things I’d told her during the day. She didn’t want her first F-rank dungeon expedition to end in failure.

“Even so, the older guys wanted to call a doctor, but Kim Isol said there was no need. She pointed at Lee Donggeul.”

“Lee Donggeul?”

“Yes. She still had one heal left, so she could just use that… Right after that Lee Donggeul used her heal on you, Team Leader. You didn’t react much, but you were breathing fine, so we just laid you down.”

Was that really everything? Then what about my right hand? Still unable to resolve the mystery, I stared at the hand holding the cigarette. On… Off… What exactly was it turning on and off?

When I’d put my hand in the bag… No. It must have been yesterday, when I touched that capsule with my bare hand. Bare hand? Suddenly I thought I understood why this bizarre situation had started. That strangely shaped capsule. The first time I’d touched it I’d been wearing the suit. I hadn’t touched it bare-handed, and nothing had happened. Because of the thin suit? Or because of the mana coating on the suit? I couldn’t know the deeper reason, but every thread pointed back to that capsule.

Anyway, that was one thing. Next came the ON and OFF. What was it turning on, and what was it turning off? There was no one who could explain this to me. And I could hardly go around telling people that something like that had suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. So I needed to test it…

“Jang Yong. Mind if I touch your head for a second?”

“Huh? My head?”

Too abrupt, maybe. Screw it.

“Just for a moment.”

Jang Yong looked at me suspiciously, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was too eager to check right then. I lightly smacked the back of his head—just hard enough that it wouldn’t look like anything weird.

“Wh-what are you doing, Team Leader?”

“Ah, sorry. There was a little bug.”

I figured simply stroking his hair would only invite stranger misunderstandings. Whatever reaction Jang Yong had didn’t matter to me. I was desperate to confirm this. It had only appeared the instant I made contact, then vanished almost immediately.

I suddenly wanted to try other experiments. Still staring at me in disbelief, he listened as I spoke.

“Sorry. Just a joke. How about a handshake as a peace offering?”

“Excuse me?”

After getting smacked on the back of the head he was now warily backing against the wall. But it was just a handshake. We’d already shaken hands that morning at the café; it would be weird for him to refuse now. I wanted to snap “I’m not gonna eat you, you crazy bastard,” but I held it in. In the end I managed to shake his hand.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of dungeon expeditions together. Looking forward to working with you, Jang Yong.”

“C-could you… let go now?”

Had I held on too long? He yanked the hand I’d been gripping back behind him. What kind of misunderstanding was this lunatic having? Irritation flared, but I didn’t show it. Keeping a completely straight face, I relaxed my grip and gave his shoulder a couple of light pats.

“Looking forward to working with you. You even took the watch on your own while I was out cold.”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I just did what I was taught…”

I’d just run two experiments. First the handshake. The whole time I held his hand, those suspicious letters stayed floating in front of my eyes. When I patted his shoulder through his clothes, nothing appeared. Skin contact: OK. Hair: OK. Over clothes: NO.

What I needed to find ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out next was whether I could flip this switch whenever I wanted—and exactly what it was turning on and off. I ground out the cigarette under my heel and started considering who to test first. The answer came quickly. Overthinking wouldn’t help, and flipping it to ON wasn’t going to kill anyone. I had no intention of testing it on Jang Yong, though. He already looked at me like I was suspicious; no point making things worse. There were plenty of other test subjects. A whole tent full of sleeping people.

I told him I felt dizzy, left Jang Yong on watch, and returned to my sleeping spot. Then I looked over the sleeping faces of the people who would become my experimental subjects. I chose you. Just in case of any emergency, I settled on Kim Isol. Whatever happened to this devil of a woman, I didn’t care. I couldn’t hide the smile that kept tugging at my lips as I imagined what might happen. You should’ve treated me better first, you narrow-minded bitch.

I sat back down in the spot where I’d been lying and carefully rested my hand on the sleeping Kim Isol’s hair, making sure not to wake her.

The suspicious selection window appeared again. Wondering if it was touch-based, I absently waved at empty air. No. Feeling a little embarrassed, I tried imagining it instead.

ON! ON! ON!

Something changed. The selection window moved exactly as I’d thought. Heart pounding, I waited to see what would happen next. Nothing dramatic occurred. Other information simply began appearing in front of my eyes.

What is this?

I examined each piece of information floating in front of me one by one. Magic Capacity F-1—that had to mean the absolute lowest grade. No wonder she’d ended up at our company. The profile I already had on her floated up in my mind. The information from the Academy had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠basically the same; only the presentation was a little different. But Synchronization? And one Point? I had no idea what those meant.

“Ugh…”

A sudden headache hit me. It wasn’t severe enough that I couldn’t endure it, but I started to worry. After what had happened earlier, what the hell was going on inside my head? Then, as the headache gradually faded, information began flowing into my mind—as if I were a computer and someone was uploading data. I could use those Points? No one had told me; it simply felt like knowledge I’d always possessed. Even though a moment ago I’d known nothing about it. Completely absurd…

I organized the new information that had suddenly poured into my head. Using what I’d just learned, I focused my thoughts on the starred sections of Kim Isol’s information window. First, Synchronization Rate. The only data I had was that raising it would increase the Points I held, so I skipped it for now. Next I checked Magic Capacity.

The star disappeared. And the same marker that had appeared when I selected ON attached itself to the words “Magic Capacity.” Even more detailed information began to show. Potential probably meant latent ability. F… her current level was laid bare. But the idea that Kim Isol still had six more stages of potential left to climb was a little ridiculous. An Academy graduate stuck at F-class was somehow going to grow that much?

Hmm?

One thing caught my interest. There was another ON/OFF button here too? According to the information that had just entered my head… Heh.

I made an expression I’d never worn once in my entire life—a strange, thoroughly vile smile that anyone who saw it would have found repulsive.

“Kim Isol. You’re fucked now.”

It seemed I could freely turn her mana on and off whenever I wanted.