Zero Calories
Zero Calories
A long time had passed since the Tower appeared.
Humanity had gotten fairly used to life alongside the Tower.
And to the Awakened who awakened their abilities along with the Tower.
Though feared at first, the Awakened were now stars who surpassed even celebrities.
The Awakened, who received rewards by clearing missions in the Tower.
Among those rewards were many rare goods that could not be obtained on Earth, making the Awakened filthy rich.
It had now become commonplace for the number one dream job among young children to be an Awakened.
Of course, such stories belonged to a completely different world as far as Doyoon was concerned.
Right now, Doyoon was just a poor job seeker scraping by from one part-time job to another.
When Doyoon was young, his parents had the misfortune of getting caught up and killed when the Tower suddenly shot up.
As the number of Awakened grew, the number of Towers also gradually increased, and because of that, it was said there were many cases across the globe of people becoming orphans for the same reason as Doyoon.
Fortunately, the government provided subsidies, but it was not easy to maintain a living with such a pittance of money.
Even if he wanted to get a job, this damn job market had cutthroat competition rates not just for small and medium enterprises, but even for part-time gigs.
"Haah, life is tough. So tough."
Having worked late into the night at a meat restaurant again today, Doyoon flopped onto his bed.
Habitually, he pulled out his smartphone and opened YouTube.
Today, too, YouTube was flooded with videos of the Awakened.
A video of an Awakened incinerating a monster with flashy fire magic.
A video of an Awakened engaging in a contest of strength using a single sword against the hand of a monster that looked three times larger than himself.
A video of an Awakened shooting an arrow that curved its path to automatically pierce through a monster's head.
Among such videos, the most popular ones were those comparing the income of the Awakened.
Even just becoming a C-rank Awakened, making a hundred million won a month was a walk in the park.
Let alone S-rank Awakened where the top rankers were stationed, it went without saying.
The vast majority of comments on the video were expressions of envy toward the Awakened.
"Hyaa, if only I could awaken just once, seriously. I'd be happy with C-rank, no, even D-rank."
Muttering to himself, Doyoon turned off his smartphone, feeling bitterly melancholic before he even realized it.
'Awakening in my situation? What a joke.'
He was suffering like this just trying to find a part-time job, so it was a useless delusion.
'...Should I just sleep?'
His mood having soured, Doyoon no longer felt like watching YouTube, so he lay in bed and pulled the blanket over his head.
Exhausted from his grueling part-time job, Doyoon gradually drifted off to sleep.
The next morning.
When the alarm went off, Doyoon woke up in a half-asleep, half-awake daze.
Today was his day off from work, so no one would scold him for waking up late, but if his sleep rhythm was ruined, he would be the one suffering later.
Shaking his head to clear his sleepiness, Doyoon suddenly realized he saw something right in front of his eyes.
[Kang Doyoon]
Age: 23
Class: Zero Calorie Potion Maker
'Huh?'
He blankly stared at the message window floating before his eyes.
Even after rubbing his eyes and shaking his head, the message window did not disappear.
Could this be...
'Did I really... awaken...?'
Doyoon sat bolt upright in bed.
In a hurry, he pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and searched for status windows directly described by Awakened individuals.
Since status windows could only be seen by the Awakened themselves, they couldn't be photographed, but Awakened with excellent CG skills had long since made public the appearance of the status windows they saw.
He clicked the image tab of the search portal, checked status window images, and compared them to the message window floating in front of his eyes.
They were identical.
Minor details like name, age, or class content differed, but it nevertheless looked exactly like the status windows described by the Awakened.
'R-Really?'
His dazed mind quickly filled with pure ecstasy.
The Awakened living those glamorous lives he had seen on YouTube.
He had reached the same level as them.
'No, wait a minute.'
He suddenly sensed something odd.
'Why doesn't my status window have a rank?'
There was a far-from-small difference between the status window shown on the smartphone and Doyoon's status window.
Doyoon's status window lacked an entry indicating the class's rank.
Doyoon hurriedly logged onto a message board primarily used by the Awakened.
[Awakened Gallery]
[Question] Guys, I awakened, but why don't I have a rank?
I awakened with some class called 'Possessed Cleaner', so why is there no rank on my status window?
Wait;; Why the heck is my class name like this in the first place????;;;;
Lmao this guy stepped on a landmine
Hey, here's a guy who got unranked judgment, it's been ages lol
'Unranked?'
(OP) Hey, explain it to me;; I already bragged to omma and appa that I awakened;;;
That means a dud, a dud
Strange classes that can't even make F-rank don't display ranks originally, yep
The follow-up comments were shocking.
According to the comments, a class that didn't show a rank wasn't unranked because it was some special class, but rather because it was worse than even an F-rank.
Among them were classes with useful skills, but most were duds.
No way, I already told my whole family, what do I do;; Omma and appa said they already went and bragged to all their friends and relatives;;;
Lolol who told you not to look into it properly? lol
Still, looking at the class name, you'll probably be good at cleaning lol go get a job with that kekeke
As comments continuing to mock the original poster poured in, Doyoon closed the message board.
This was because he felt as though those taunts were somehow aimed at himself.
'No. Still, maybe there's some useful skill.'
Doyoon brought his hand to the class entry on the status window.
Then, the status window underwent a transformation.
[Owned Skills]
Potion Crafting LV0: Crafts potions.
He possessed only a single skill.
It was nothing other than the Potion Crafting skill that crafts potions.
'Right. Potions. If I sell potions, it might fetch quite a bit of money.'
Among the Awakened, there were also many non-combat classes.
Instead of possessing combat skills, non-combat classes produced goods and sold them to other Awakened.
He had seen on YouTube that their income was quite lucrative.
Doyoon accessed the Awakened message board again and ran a search.
[Question] Hey, why are potion prices so cheap?
I awakened as an Alchemist yesterday, and crafting just one low-grade recovery potion drained all my strength, but it's only 5,000 won?
5,000 won? A total scammer lol
Look at this guy trying to sell a 2,000-won item for 5,000 won lol
Prices far too cheap for items sold by an Awakened, accompanied by comments jeering that even that was too expensive.
(OP) Hey, Alchemist is C-rank, isn't it? But why is the income like this?
Right, who told you to awaken as an Alchemist? Kekeke
Man, of all things to awaken into, you had to awaken as an Alchemist lol
Reading the comments mocking the original poster made even Doyoon feel utterly bewildered.
This time, he read a post that seemed to be a fairly serious informational article.
According to this post, the reason potions were so cheap was that the supply was far too overwhelming.
Capacity.
An Awakened possessed a volume limit called Capacity, which allowed them to ingest items like potions and doping substances.
Exceeding this volume led to death by toxicity.
Because of that, one could only drink potions to the extent that Capacity was not exceeded, but the problem was that the Capacity consumed by most potions was far too large.
In the case of recovery potions, drinking one once filled up most of the Capacity, yet the degree of health recovery was on the lower side.
On top of that, there were countlessly many cases where seemingly useful potions could not be ingested due to Capacity limitations.
Since Capacity wasn't the same for all Awakened, there were rare Awakened with large Capacities, but for most Awakened, it was beyond their wildest dreams.
Potions made by outstanding Alchemists consumed less Capacity, but even then, the limitation was severe.
The lacking Capacity removed the need for the Awakened to buy many potions, and with the supply from Alchemists far outstripping demand, potion prices had plummeted completely.
Because of this, the Alchemist class—nominally a C-rank class—was practically treated as below a D-rank class.
'What the heck. I got excited for nothing.'
With a sense of futility, he turned off his smartphone and lay back down on the bed.
He knew it felt way too lucky.
Doyoon wore a bitter expression and stared into empty space.
[Owned Skills]
Potion Crafting LV0: Crafts potions.
The status window followed his gaze.
'Still, should I try crafting one just in case...?'
Even if it wasn't a full-time job, it might at least replace a part-time gig.
'Potion Crafting.'
When he shouted it in his mind, the status window changed once more, morphing into a list.
[Zero Calorie Low-Grade Recovery Potion]
[Locked]
[Locked]
[...]
[Increase your proficiency to unlock and craft new potions!]
'Zero Calorie?'
Do potions make you gain weight too?
Then again, seeing as the class name was 'Zero Calorie Potion Maker' in the first place.
It wouldn't be strange if there was something different from regular potions.
Would Awakened who are interested in dieting buy it for a bit more money?
Making silly thoughts, he selected the low-grade recovery potion in his mind.
[Crafting 1 Zero Calorie Low-Grade Recovery Potion.]
In an instant, strength drained from his body.
He had heard that using skills consumed mana, and it seemed that rumor was true.
'It's going to be tough crafting these consecutively.'
It was said that as proficiency increases, the mana consumption of a skill generally decreases.
Until then, it seemed it would be difficult to even replace his part-time job.
After a moment passed, he caught the glass bottle that materialized in front of his eyes.
The glass bottle filled with red liquid looked just like an HP potion from a game.
[Zero Calorie Low-Grade Recovery Potion]
Recovers a small amount of health.
Capacity Consumed: 0
'Huh?'
Reading the potion's information, Doyoon blinked his eyes.
'Why is the consumed Capacity 0?'