Contract Proposal, Investment

I responded to the gallery head admin's suggestion to chat. There was no penalty for ghosting or ignoring him, but since he'd gifted me a whopping three psybugi, the least I could do was hear him out.

The head admin was proposing we team up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on a project. He said details were only available after signing on, but I already knew what it was. And its outcome.

KAIST—the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology—was running a "Mana Pattern Manipulation Research" project. Simple name, explosive results.

It drew inspiration from hunters converting their mana properties and aimed to weaponize pure mana from mana stones against giant monsters. Noble goal, horrific end.

"One whole research lab got vaporized, if I recall."

Good intentions, catastrophic failure. Mana stabilization went wrong, wiping out Korea's premier research facility in a disaster costing over 2 trillion won.

The gallery head admin was in a collaborator role on that project.

"This is a problem that needs fixing, too..."

Korea's research capabilities regressing was something I had to prevent. It was definitely part of Union’s plans.

But still.

I turned down the head admin's offer. Even with strong anonymity protections for hunters, a government-led core research project wouldn't guarantee it.

If I showed my worth, the government might clean up my identity... but identity aside, now wasn't the time to reveal myself. Not until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this charisma-minus elementary girl look had some persuasive power.

I needed overwhelming fame and support first before stepping into the public eye.

"Research help? I can do that anonymously."

Korea's researchers are top-notch. Send emails incognito, and they'd figure it out.

Oh, but one pure curiosity.

What? 300 million won per person just to participate? That's 57,692 psybugi!

This was a massive honey pot.

"Shouldn't have asked..."

Now I felt depressed. Give me back my 300 million.

Shhhhh—

Water sprayed from the worn-out plastic showerhead, pattering against the bathtub.

"Ahh, I feel alive."

How long had it been since my last bath? Just two days, really. Still, it felt like a month.

Having wiped off the day's sweat and blood with rough stream water left me grimy as hell.

I had 2.27 million won to my name now. Basically rich. No skimping on the electric boiler's monstrous bill—I cranked the hot water to max.

Shhhhh—

The all-nighter march had melted my weary body and mind into the water. I could've stayed submerged like a slime and slept right there.

"Ahhh... all my fatigue is melting away..."

Glug glug.

I eased deeper until my face was half-submerged. Then...

"Pha~!"

Bath time over. My smartphone clock said I'd been soaking for a full hour—felt shorter.

I wanted to towel-dry my hair and dive straight into bed. But chores first.

"Telekinesis for this..."

I dried my hair completely with telekinesis.

Slipped into the elementary school skip-day pajamas I'd bought on the way (only indoor clothes that fit), then blanketed the whole room with telekinesis.

Even eyes closed, I sensed every object like they were open. Wow. This place was bad.

Dust bunnies, food crumbs everywhere, week-old cup ramen containers, snack bags, hair strands, mystery bug legs, scattered keyboard keycaps...

Keyboard might salvage, so skipped those. Telekinesis swept the rest into a trash bag.

Telekinesis OP? Nah. Only possible for me.

I wasn't randomly picked for regression from that elite Last Stand squad.

I was born with mana flow sensitivity down to the cellular level. Thankfully, it survived the girl body swap.

Goblin mana barriers sliced like tofu? That sensitivity in action.

Anyway. After telekinesis mopping and bleach-cleaning the moldy apartment (plus airing it out), total talent waste.

I burrowed under the fluffy blanket, holding my smartphone above my face.

"Hmm."

The black screen reflected a total elementary kid in skip-day PJs.

...Yeah, objectively cute.

Hated admitting I'd lost the masculinity that reeled in femme fatales, but facts were facts.

Girl-me saving a world doomed to girl-me. Which was worse? ...Both disasters.

Anyway. Not checking my looks.

Powered on, opened an app I'd installed but never used: the stock app.

HeroEra. What kind of name is that for a stock app? Bothered me every time.

Installed it unused because of the name—ironically good marketing?

I'd left emergency cash in the app and dumped the rest into my cash card. Money's easy from towers—max out seeds into investments.

Saving the world on a small loan? No chance.

"First, snag those undervalued future giants no one knows about yet..."

100k, 50k, 200k, 300k won.

Didn't remember exact dates, but surefire mega-hits. Diversified there.

Later, they'd balloon thousands, tens of thousands-fold, fattening my account.

"Hey Genie, what's 1 million won times tens of thousands?"

"Ooh."

10 billion. Laughably small for world-saving, but scalable. Solid return.

"Tch."

Dilemma time. Spent 650k on stocks. 1.35 million left. Kimchi it into another honey stock, or flip some now for more ammo?

"Worth a shot?"

Me. Second life, nearly saved the world once, regression knowledge galore, danced with death plenty.

That spec sheet? Stocks should be cake.

Day trading: ultra-short scalps, second-by-second trades chasing tiny profits. Pure physical showdown.

"Physicals? My jam."

Check this banner stock—hottest right now. No clue why, but graph jiggling every second.

Small swings, but buy at -0.5%, sell at +1%, repeat—snowball city.

"Totally doable?"

Planners warned against day trading, but they doubted my reflexes.

This kid body's dynamic vision was sharper than before—graph changes felt tangible.

"Just once."

Smooth buy at my timing.

And.

"Ack."

Triple, quadruple confirmations. Fingerprint too.

By the time I finished, trade log screamed -10%.

I nearly blacked out. What? It was only -0.5% before—why now?

Unfair!

"Fine. Got it. Stocks' real secret."

Bad luck, poor recon. Settings halved confirmations.

Result...

"No, why again!!! Why's fingerprint 10 seconds late?!"

-30%. Massive dump.

After deep breaths, accepted my day-trading flop.

Dumped remaining 945k into safe stocks. App deleted till next hunter cash.

"Stocks, you bastard. Boo hoo."

I blamed stocks for inching away from world-saving.

Investments wrapped up solidly.

"Yawn..."

Sleep creeping in. Eyes heavy, body limp. This body slept more since the change, and after pulling an all-nighter...

No resisting fatigue anymore.