The Heart-Fluttering Commute
Kang Seojun had received a decent sum of money from Jin Serin.
For someone as frugal as Seojun, the amount could have sustained him for years from his own home.
Thanks to that money, he had been able to devote every waking hour to rigorous training until the day he entered the academy.
Physical conditioning had been completely abandoned.
The efficiency of any workout was abysmal thanks to his monstrous traits—hunchback, twisted limbs, and clubfoot—plus the fact that the Parasitic Growth skill already granted him automatic leveling.
Instead, Kang Seojun poured every second of his time into mana training.
**[You have reached a proper state of concentration! The fruits of mana growth have manifested! Mana stat +1!]** **[Your mana has solidified into a hard foundation! The fruits of resistance growth have manifested! Resistance stat +1!]** **[Despite the debuff of Mana Insensitivity Lv. Lowest, your training proceeded without major issues thanks to the buffs from your Luck and Willpower and the assistance of the Mana Slime. Your mana detection has sharpened noticeably with each repetition.]**
The faint glow of mana now felt almost alive under his skin, a constant, steady hum that encouraged him forward.
He knew that once he mastered this, the **Mana Blessing** trait would eventually awaken.
At that point, even pure magic would place him among the top 0.1 percent of the world’s strongest.
The experience points streaming in from Parasitic Growth were equally generous.
**[The host’s efforts have been plundered! Health stat +1!]** **[The host’s efforts have been plundered! Stamina stat +1!]** **[The host’s efforts have been plundered! Senses stat +1!]** **[Special effect of Parasitic Growth activated! Choose a trait to plunder from the host or transfer to the host!]** x3
Thanks to Park Sinhu’s diligent training over the past two weeks, Seojun had acquired three Trait Transfer Tickets.
The experience required to level up had grown heavier as stats increased, however. It was becoming noticeably harder to push his own growth. From now on, he would have to use those tickets far more carefully.
Transferring Mana Insensitivity to Park Sinhu would have accelerated his mana training, but he had rejected the idea after careful thought.
Park Sinhu needed to keep training; if Seojun suddenly “cured” the debuff, his own physical growth would stall and the stream of Trait Transfer Tickets would dry up.
The most sensible course was to quietly dump one of the more troublesome debuffs onto Park Sinhu as a mild penalty.
**[Selected trait to transfer to the host: Weak Constitution Lv. Lowest.]** **[Weak Constitution Lv. Lowest has been weakened to Weak Constitution Lv. Low.]** **[Host Park Sinhu’s trait Healthy Constitution Lv. Rare has been upgraded to Healthy Constitution Lv. High.]**
**[Weak Constitution Lv. Low has disappeared!]** **[Healthy Constitution Lv. High has disappeared!]** **[First, two Trait Transfer Tickets were used to remove Weak Constitution. Unfortunately, Park Sinhu’s upgraded Healthy Constitution was also removed, which will only accelerate the spread of his terminal cancer.]**
‘Hospital visit before his cancer reaches stage three would be wise.’
Park Sinhu was a precious experience shuttle. Seojun intended to milk him for as long as possible.
‘When the time comes, I’ll transfer serious tinnitus and one-eyed debuffs and send him to the hospital.’
In that sense, Seojun kept the remaining Trait Transfer Ticket as a safety net.
For two weeks, Seojun’s only food had been a bland vegetable porridge.
His terrible metabolism and failing organs left him with almost nothing else to eat.
**[High Obesity Lv. Lowest has been weakened to High Obesity Lv. Low.]** **[High Obesity Lv. Low has been weakened to Obesity Lv. Low.]**
Ironically, the debuff had melted away faster than expected.
The Mana Slime and pure mana cultivation were probably the main culprits.
After two weeks, Seojun’s status window looked like this:
His overall stats were still rock-bottom, but every single number had seen meaningful growth—especially stamina, which made even short movements feel manageable.
With this, he could survive academy practical classes without shining, and that was enough for now.
‘First things first—removing the hunchback, clubfoot, and twisted-arm debuffs is the highest priority.’
Simply dumping them on Park Sinhu would have been easy, but Seojun had reconsidered.
The parasitic host was far more troublesome than he had anticipated.
Park Sinhu had to keep training, and Seojun could not afford to reveal that he was transferring debuffs.
‘If only there had been another debuff-carrying villain host…’
Parasitic Growth only allowed one host.
‘Well, that can be fixed with dimensional currency later.’
The traits he could not transfer would simply be bought from the Dimensional Shop.
‘Which means I have to shine at the academy.’
The constellations earned their favor by granting me their chosen avatars in the real world—destroying villains, being praised by the public, and winning over heroines.
And the academy had all three of those things waiting for me.
‘No need to rush. Opportunities will come when they’re meant to.’
Three days ago, Seojun had torn open the package and pulled on the cadet uniform.
“Ha…! Heup…!”
The massive lump on his back prevented the shirt from buttoning properly.
Still, the two weeks of weight loss had made it… barely functional.
Seojun stared at his reflection one last time and straightened his tie.
A half-rotten, swollen corpse-like face stared back at him, utterly mismatched with the clean cadet uniform.
It didn’t matter.
He was ready to walk into the academy.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Seojun’s single-room office at the studio apartment was on the twenty-seventh floor.
He had taken the elevator all the way down.
As he stepped out of the elevator and headed toward the lobby exit, an unexpected figure suddenly stepped into his path.
Jin Serin.
“U-um… h-hello?”
Serin greeted him with an awkward mix of a bow and an awkward wave, clearly unsure which to use.
“……?”
Seojun froze like stone.
This was an event he had never encountered in the original timeline.
When his body turned to stone, Serin hurried to continue, clearly making up an excuse on the spot.
“I’m… uh, going to the academy, right? If it’s okay… I thought I’d join you! I stopped by!”
Behind Serin, a sleek luxury sedan was parked. A driver waited obediently beside the open door.
Ah, just a pickup.
“Good.”
Seojun did not decline.
His stamina stat had risen a lot over the past two weeks, but every debuff still made even short walks exhausting.
If this was a chance to conserve stamina, he would be an idiot to say no.
Serin beat the driver to the door and opened it herself.
“Get in! I’m going back to change!”
Seojun slid into the backseat.
Serin closed the door carefully, then walked around the car with oddly stiff steps, opened the opposite door, and climbed in.
The driver followed last, and the sedan glided smoothly toward the academy.
Seojun scrolled through his phone, looking for missed messages or calls.
“If you were going to pick me up, you could have called first.”
“U-um… I was a bit busy…!”
In truth, Serin had called him three times during the two weeks, but Seojun had blocked the calls to avoid disturbing his mana training and never read her messages.
With no way to contact him, she had no choice but to come in person.
“U-um… nothing happened over the past two weeks, right?”
Serin tried to lighten the awkward atmosphere with a slightly strained voice.
“Thanks to the money you sent. I didn’t have any living expenses.”
“Ah… I see? Good thing, then?”
The conversation ended quickly, and an awkward silence fell inside the car again.
The driver cleared his throat once, loudly, unable to bear the tension.
Serin twisted her hands in her lap, unsure what to say or whether to stay silent.
‘There was no need to force it.’
Proposing to be “best friends” or “people who look out for each other” was one thing, but deciding to be close while stressing each other out was another.
‘Still, I do need to make an effort if I want a more comfortable relationship going forward.’
I was the one who originally suggested something stronger.
It would be wrong for me to behave as if everything was suddenly fine.
While Seojun was thinking this, a Quest window suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Twitching! Flustered Commute to the Academy!
📍 Location: Academy Commute Route
🎁 Reward: Random stat +3
📍 Location: Academy Commute Route
🎁 Reward: Random stat +3
“W-what?!”
A startled scream escaped Seojun’s mouth.
“Eh!? What?!”
Serin’s eyes widened in surprise beside him.
“U-um… I…”
Seojun mumbled something and fell into deep thought.
He had simply denied it, but his expression made it clear he was far from convinced.
How could he not?
‘This… this is a disaster…!’
Romance-related constellations.
How cruel.
With this grotesque appearance, how was he supposed to make a woman’s heart flutter?
And not just anywhere—until he reached the academy! In the next ten minutes!
Furthermore, Seojun had never properly conversed with a woman in his previous life—nothing beyond 2D.
However…
◆Failure Penalty Romance-related constellations’ favorability –30
“Ugh…”
Even with the Favored One trait giving 100 favorability to all constellations, a 30-point drop was devastating.
This was over…
Seojun’s face paled in real time.