The Shop Unlocks

Fun times have a habit of slipping away far faster than you'd ever expect. I learned that for certain today. Going out with the two of them had been even more fun than I'd imagined.

"It's been so long since I've been somewhere with this kind of atmosphere."

"How did you even find a place like this?"

The restaurant I'd scouted out ahead of time for dinner earned plenty of praise. Watching the two of them across the table, the city lights glittering beyond the windows, they looked more beautiful than usual.

By the time we'd finished dinner, said our goodbyes, and I'd come home alone, a loneliness I'd never felt before settled over me — which was really just another way of saying the day had been that much fun.

And then there was the quest reward that had been sitting there since around dinner. It was time to decide where those points were going.

No — if I was being honest, I'd already decided.

"Invest all five points into Planning."

Planning, which had been sitting at five, had finally hit ten.

The achievement for getting every stat to ten, fine, that I could understand. What I hadn't seen coming was a notification announcing an entirely new system.

"A shop? What the hell is a shop?"

There must have been some kind of unlock condition sitting on it — hit ten in every stat you hold, and the door opens. If the status window was the thing that made my wishes come true, then the shop was probably full of supporting tools to go with it.

"If I'd known this was here, I would've dumped points into it ages ago."

I couldn't help feeling like I'd taken a bit of a loss. Still, sitting around thinking about it wasn't going to help. Better to just look.

"All right. Let's see it. Shop."

Three kinds of shop, apparently. A Talent Shop, an Item Shop, and an Exchange. I figured I'd take my time and look through them one by one, so I opened the Talent Shop first. I already had a rough idea what I was going to find.

The list stretched on and on. It was exactly what it sounded like — a shop where you bought talent. I tapped the first thing I saw, Singing, just to check.

"Anyone whose status window has been activated, huh…"

So I could just hand these out to whoever I wanted? Activating a status window was as simple as looking at someone and turning it on. It didn't cost a stat point or anything.

"That's insanely expensive, though."

It made sense, in a way. The thing could awaken a talent that wasn't there at all. Of course it cost a fortune. And there wasn't some separate shop currency, either — it ran on the same points I used for everything else.

Which meant I wouldn't be touching this for a good long while.

"I'm busy enough raising my own stats."

Not that I was ruling it out forever. Once I'd built myself up enough, I fully intended to raise Dayeon and Eunchae's stats and bloom a few new talents for them. But that only worked if I got myself established first.

"Forget this. Let's look at the others."

Besides the Talent Shop, there were two more. The Item Shop and the Exchange.

"Exchange first."

The Talent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Shop used points as currency, so the Item Shop almost certainly did too. That made checking the Exchange the important part.

Exchange. The word meant converting one kind of money into another. And if a shop like that existed, it meant there was something I could convert into points.

Simple. No clutter, no fine print beyond the rate itself, and conversion running both ways.

"One million won for one point, huh."

Exchange rates usually moved around in real time, didn't they? Did that mean this one would shift too?

The shop had apparently seen that question coming, because the answer was sitting right at the bottom of the screen. A fixed rate. Nothing complicated, then. This ratio was locked in for good.

One million won per point, though. Was that cheap, or was that expensive?

"Should I just be happy I have a way to get more points now?"

If I thought about it honestly, it wasn't that much money. This was a path to growing my abilities, and once those abilities grew, making more money was a foregone conclusion. It only looked expensive because I didn't have much cash on hand right now. Just this month's salary from working as Dayeon's editor would be enough to buy one or two points on the spot.

"…I'd have to subtract living expenses, though, so two points would be a stretch."

But if I factored in taking over all of Park ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Woojin's work, plus the bonuses that kicked in once the view counts climbed past a certain point…

Hmm. Maybe. That's actually pretty good.

I'd already planned to work hard. This was just the moment I found a reason to work even harder and make even more money.

"Might as well check the Item Shop too."

I didn't have a million won sitting in my account, so I couldn't actually test the exchange. No point staring at this screen any longer. I closed the Exchange and opened the last shop.

A lot more items than I'd expected, scrolling on and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on. Most of them looked like gear meant to support a particular stat.

The stranger entries were the ones you could actually eat. A Guaranteed Fatigue Recovery Potion — drink it and the tiredness just lifts, I supposed? And an eel rice bowl… well, that sounded delicious.

"More useful than any of that, though, is probably this."

If one stat point cost a million won, then raising Speed by ten the permanent way would run ten million. This thing did the same job for three million.

But a mouse was a consumable. It even had a durability stat sitting right there, as if the shop wanted to make sure I didn't miss the point. Stack it up against a permanent stat increase and the comparison got a lot less flattering.

"Hnn."

If I wanted a cheaper boost right now, buying it wouldn't be the worst idea. I just wasn't sure it was worth it. Wouldn't I be better off putting those points into a stat that never went away?

The Item Shop didn't look efficient enough to bother with, so I put off buying anything. Not that "putting it off" meant much — I had two points to my name and no cash, so I couldn't have bought anything anyway.

"The fatigue potions would actually be more useful."

I couldn't see a fatigue gauge or anything, but I'd feel the difference once I drank one. And on nights I couldn't be bothered to cook, grabbing an eel rice bowl didn't sound half bad. Both of them came in packs of ten, too, so I'd get ten uses out of a single purchase.

Or… no. Even sold in a bundle of ten, spending points on stuff like that felt like a waste.

"Ugh. Nothing here really does it for me."

With a list this long, there had to be something actually useful buried further down. I wasn't planning to buy anything tonight, though, so I could dig through it later. I closed the shop window without another word.

"Money, huh…"

The biggest thing I'd walked away with tonight wasn't an item or a talent. It was the Exchange. A way to turn cash into points.

"Time to work hard."

Raise my stats, take on more work, make more money. There was no reason to be disappointed just because I couldn't convert anything today. Down the line, I could even pick up editing jobs from streamers besides Dayeon. As long as I kept her schedule on time, I doubted she'd mind me taking on extra. Asking her to introduce me to a few people later… that wouldn't be a bad idea either. Work that came through someone you knew was work you could trust.

"For now… I should sleep."

Maybe it was all the people I'd been around today. I felt more worn out than usual. Then again, tomorrow was a day off, which made going to bed this early feel like a waste.

I'd just raised my Planning Stat. Maybe I should try thinking in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that direction for a while. Someone had brought up vlogs earlier, too.

"Hmm. Hmm…"

I wasn't sure exactly how the stat was supposed to work, but I figured it would be like the others — something that made ideas come easier whenever I sat down to plan.

"…Nothing's coming to me."

Hoping for a miracle at a mere ten points had been, in hindsight, a little ambitious.