Im Nayeon (4)
Im Nayeon (4)
[Ring-ring, ring-ring.]
Startled awake by the ringing alarm, I opened my eyes. Faint light was peeking through the gap in the curtains beyond the window. Checking the clock, it was 5:30 AM. I rubbed my face with both hands and debated. Should I indulge in two more hours of sleep, or get up now for morning training?
Actually, waking up is a given since I have to do morning training. Because training is the only way to raise my rock-bottom stats.
"Life."
Sighing heavily, I headed to the bathroom.
I turned on the cold water and waited for the hot water to come out, but got annoyed and just washed my face with cold water. Damn, it's cold! Still, it woke up my groggy head.
I wiped my face with a towel, took off my shorts, changed into sweatpants, put on socks, grabbed the jersey hanging on the rack, put on my shoes, and quickly went outside.
Outside, many students are already focused on training. Just looking around, there are about 300 people. Considering this is the freshman [Dormitory] and there are 1,000 freshmen, that means about 30% are outside exercising. The number would be even higher if you count those using indoor private training grounds or gathering mana. What did I do when I was a student? I remember struggling to get more sleep, that much is clear.
After loosening up my body with some light stretching, I used my special ability. Special ability, Mask of a Thousand Faces. I equipped the Mask of the Gym Rat that I had saved beforehand. A mask focused on growth rather than physical stat boosts for efficient training. Feeling something invisible being placed on my face, I ran to the training ground.
While running, I saw an unwelcome face.
"Exercising from the morning? You're diligent."
Im Na-yeon, wearing workout clothes with her hair tied back in a neat ponytail, asked me.
"My physical, huff, ability, huff, is low."
I've only been in this world for a month, so my physical ability is extremely weak. Even though some compensation was applied, compared to the lowest-ranking students in the [Hero Academy], I have lower agility and lower strength. My mana is, naturally, low enough to be crawling on the floor.
The reason I'm considered top-tier in the [Hero Academy] despite that is all thanks to my special abilities. Mask of a Thousand Faces (S), Knowledge Browsing (S), and Thousand Hands (S). I became the first student in the [Hero Academy] to get a perfect score on the written exam thanks to Knowledge Browsing (S), and I won using the Mask of a Thousand Faces (S) to boost stats or by referencing videos to use the Swordsman's Mask or Spearman's Mask, combined with Thousand Hands (S), the ultimate cheat for dexterity.
'What a sigh-inducing synergy of special abilities.'
Mask of a Thousand Faces (S) is a bit ambiguous, but Thousand Hands (S) and Knowledge Browsing (S) are definitely good special abilities. If I had Thousand Hands (S) with Sword Demon (S), Sword Lord (S), Heavenly Martial Body (S), or Limitless Body (S), I could probably beat even the decent melee-specialist professors at the [Hero Academy]. If I had chosen Knowledge Browsing (S) with Demon Lord (S), Demon Sect Master (S), a mana-synergizing ability, or an elemental ability like Thunder God (S) or Wind God (S), I would have made a name for myself as a mage.
...If you ask how I know so much about special abilities after just glancing at them.
'Damn status window.'
▼
Name : Lee Si-woo
Strength : 8
Agility : 10
Stamina : 8
Mana : 5
Unique Ability : X
Traits : Mask of a Thousand Faces (S), Knowledge Browsing (S), Thousand Hands (S)
A clean-looking status window caught my eye. And the empty Unique Ability slot at the bottom of the status window. Every person in this world has a status window and can see it. And if you awaken your status window and put in the effort, you can awaken something called a Unique Ability.
Unique Abilities vary wildly from person to person.
A Unique Ability is a kind of individuality and a guide that tells you how far you can grow. Of course, this isn't absolute. It's a part that changes depending on what traits you obtain.
I thought about the special abilities.
Special abilities were the ultimate versions of Unique Abilities. Sword Demon (S) is the best among those who handle rapid swords, and Demon Emperor (S) had the trait of dominating the surrounding mana.
In other words, I haven't awakened a Unique Ability yet, but in reality, I possess three evolved forms of Unique Abilities. Though there are downsides. The fact that I can't raise them to the higher Ex-grade, and because of these, no other traits can take up space in my trait window.
Well, since you can only see two Ex-grade ones even if you go to the true ending, it doesn't matter, but... Speaking of the true ending, the route where everyone is slaughtered by the Demon God came to mind.
I really hope this world isn't an ending that reaches the true ending.
"Good morning, Na-yeon."
A greasy voice came from somewhere. A handsome man appeared, cutting in between Im Na-yeon and me, widening the distance between us.
Han Jong-woo.
A supporting character who appears as the Hero's rival. The son of Gwangseongja, who leads Changcheon, one of the three major guilds in Korea.
He has the largest faction in Class A, where the ratio of main characters to supporting characters is very high... and he currently accounts for a high percentage of what makes my school life miserable.
I glanced behind me and saw Han Jong-woo's cronies rushing over here. There are about 20 of them. This is seriously too much. I stopped running and sat down on the spot to catch my breath. I took off the Mask of the Gym Rat and equipped the Mask of Rest, which increases recovery. The breath that had been rising to my chin was slowly recovering.
"Are you okay, Si-woo?"
"What, are you tired already?"
I heard Im Na-yeon's voice filled with concern and Han Jong-woo's voice filled with mockery. When Im Na-yeon glared at Han Jong-woo, Han Jong-woo glared at me. Well, whatever.
Han Jong-woo's subordinates who were following behind started to read the room between Im Na-yeon and Han Jong-woo. They were hesitating because Im Na-yeon was shielding me, making it hard to criticize me like they usually do.
"I've felt it since last week, you keep picking fights with Si-woo?"
"Picking fights? I'm just stating facts."
Han Jong-woo said, frowning. In the game, he was a bit of a chuunibyou, but he was a bold guy with some leadership skills, so he was somewhat popular, but he always gets petty when it comes to Im Na-yeon. Jealousy is ugly.
"Do you really have to swarm him and say things to one person?"
"......That has nothing to do with you."
Han Jong-woo said with a sulky expression at Im Na-yeon's words. A man making that kind of expression. That's kind of terrible.
"You...... sigh. Forget it. I'd rather talk to a wall than talk to you."
Im Na-yeon stomped on the innocent playground floor and approached Han Jong-woo's faction.
"Let me say this here, if you bully Si-woo from now on, you're dead by my hands?"
"U, uh. Okay...."
Im Na-yeon said, glaring at Han Jong-woo's faction.
At those words, Han Jong-woo gnashed his teeth and glared at me.
This is kind of satisfying. But as someone closer to a commoner compared to Han Jong-woo or Im Na-yeon, it becomes troublesome if I make an enemy of Han Jong-woo. But there's nothing I can do about it here. If I went over there and stopped them, Im Na-yeon would listen to me, but Han Jong-woo would hate me even more.
"Oh, what's this. Everyone is training hard from the morning?"
A delicate, beautiful voice cut through them.
Lee Ji-ah, running over with her brown hair fluttering. Han Jong-woo's subordinate B, Kang Hannam, who secretly liked Lee Ji-ah, waved his hand and greeted her while pretending to be dignified. He was a likable, handsome man who looked masculine enough to be popular with women.
"Ji, Ji-ah, hello. You're also working hard training from the morning."
"U, uh. Well, yeah....... You're working hard too?"
Lee Ji-ah accepted the greeting, looking bewildered by the greeting from subordinate B, whose face had turned red. I know that reaction.
It's the kind of greeting you give so the person who greeted you doesn't feel embarrassed when you accept a greeting thinking someone you don't even know greeted you.......
Suddenly, I felt depressed.
"Ah, Si-woo. Eat this."
Lee Ji-ah approached me as I sat down to rest, smiling. She stuck right next to me and took a transparent bag out of her pocket. She handed me some beautifully packaged cookies. I was bewildered by her affectionate behavior and accepted the cookies. Is it because I helped her in various ways at the beginning of the semester? She treated me very affectionately.
"I went to a cafe yesterday and thought of you, so I packed some cookies."
"Oh, thanks. I'll enjoy them."
"Ahem. You two look good together."
Han Jong-woo looked at us with satisfaction at Lee Ji-ah's words. Im Na-yeon looked at me and Lee Ji-ah with complicated eyes.
Han Jong-woo's subordinate Kang Hannam, who had secretly had a crush on Lee Ji-ah, looked at me with burning eyes, then sent a bitter look at Han Jong-woo's words.
"Then I'll get going. Everyone, train hard (meaning: train diligently)."
Feeling uncomfortable staying there for no reason, I went back to my room to wash up.
After roughly filling up on cookies for breakfast and heading to school, I saw a scene where a pink-haired woman was surrounded by three girls.
"Hmm."
Looking closely, they were all smiling brightly and chatting happily. At first glance, it doesn't look like a scene of bullying, but as someone who knows the original work, I know. That this scene is a scene of bullying.
In an Academy to become a hero, one doesn't lament about bullying. In the first place, except for someone like Han Jong-woo, most of the people who are the cause of bullying end up dropping out along the way.
I started walking. I am, of course, not a righteous person who can't turn my head away after seeing a sight like this.
Because the pink-haired girl being bullied, Kim Harin, is a somewhat important person to me.
Even if I didn't save her, the Hero would save her on his own, but... I started to worry. She is a somewhat helpful person. Even though she is infamous as a newbie killer and has all sorts of bad ending routes, and later has a route where she falls as a villain.......
There is also a route where she joins the Hero's side.
If she joins the Hero's side, she becomes a somewhat useful companion. Above all, if you can make her a companion early on, theoretically, it's simple to easily clear top-tier dungeons.
'It's just that the route where she becomes a villain is too much of a problem.'
She is very tricky in the route where she becomes a villain. Because her unique trait is the ability to counter the traits of the top-tier heroes among the "heroes on the side of justice."
'And above all, her personality is also shitty.'
But I soon decided to help her. Because it's very tricky if I make her an enemy. It wouldn't be bad to owe her a small debt.
"Harin-ah."
The pink-haired girl turned around quickly.
"I was looking for you, where were you?"
"Oh, uh...?"
"Na-yeon and Ji-ah have been looking for you since earlier."
"I, Im Na-yeon and Lee Ji-ah?"
One of the trio who was bullying the pink-haired girl, Harin, said. A noticeably flustered expression. As expected, it was good to sell them out.
"Yeah. Ah.... Sorry. Were you talking about something urgent?"
"Ah, no. Take her away quickly."
Waving their hands, they started to sneak away.
-Hey, hey, there was no mention that she was close with Im Na-yeon and Lee Ji-ah!
-I, I don't know either, damn, what happened?
Looking back, I can see Kim Harin 'trying' to make a 'look' of relief.
"Ah, thank you. You're Si-woo, right?"
"Don't mention it, we're classmates."
I said, shrugging my shoulders. I want to tell her to speak comfortably since we're the same age, but Kim Harin, who is 'pretending' to have a timid personality, doesn't seem like she would speak comfortably right away.
Is it an additional effect of the Mask of a Thousand Faces? Or is it because I know she's acting? The way she 'acted' looked awkward.
"I helped because it looked like bullying, was I being a busybody?"
"Ah, no... thank you. For helping me.."
She trailed off with a dark expression. A face that anyone could see wanted some help.
However.
I am not fooled by her acting. If I help this nasty-tempered woman, she uses this as an excuse to roll the protagonist around. And then she enjoys rolling the protagonist around while giggling inside. If you choose the wrong route here, she stabs the protagonist, the Hero, in the stomach and hands him over to the villain side.
If I were the one to suffer, I would surely meet my death.
But the protagonist is different. He somehow overcomes the crisis with his own unique traits, clashes with her, and eventually, after being 'saved' while 'pretending' to be moved by his character later, she enjoys wealth and glory while using the Hero, which is the sixth ending.
'There really is no dream or hope.'
But if I don't help her, that's a problem in itself. Before long, those girls who get expelled might end up as corpses one day due to Kim Harin's venting and return to their parents.
If so, there was only one choice for me.
"Come to think of it, do you know the silver-haired guy in our class?"
"Silver-haired guy? Yes, he stands out a lot."
Kim Harin answered, looking puzzled. I said to her with a smile that looked like I was a good person.
"That guy is an expert at this kind of thing. Try consulting him."
It was immediately passing the buck to the protagonist.