The Incredible Ability That Came to Me
It was a miracle.
That was what the attending physician said.
Seong-min rose from his seat and walked across the room like any ordinary person. Hye-suk stared in open astonishment. The nurses did the same. Right there in front of everyone, Seong-min strode forward with complete confidence. Nothing hurt. When he bent his knee, when he took a step, he moved as freely and healthily as if the accident had never happened. Then he sat back down.
According to the doctor, this level of recovery was extraordinary—calling it a miracle would not be an exaggeration. They had planned to keep the cast on for about a month, the point at which the injury would have healed enough for rehabilitation. Seong-min needed no rehabilitation at all. His knee ligaments, leg muscles, bones—every part of him had healed cleanly and completely.
The doctor said he had never seen a patient recover this well and found the whole thing genuinely remarkable. He pulled the examination images up on the computer screen and explained in careful detail how everything had mended—the bones, the ligaments, the joints, all of it. Hye-suk listened and could only marvel along with him. No rehab was necessary. All Seong-min had to do was go home and let his fully restored leg settle back into everyday use.
With the doctor’s congratulations and a final round of farewells, Seong-min received a clean bill of health and left the hospital.
“I’m so glad. Aren’t you?” Hye-suk said as she climbed into the car and fastened her seatbelt, glancing over at Seong-min.
“I really am. I was so worried about rehab, and about maybe living with a disability for the rest of my life.”
“That’s why I told you, didn’t I? You never know until the tests come back. Don’t go getting disappointed early.”
“It really was exactly like you said…!”
Seong-min felt a quiet joy, yet he was still half in a daze.
Could it be… because of that?
For a moment he wondered whether this impossible recovery was connected to the unbelievable thing that had happened to him. If it wasn’t, nothing else made sense.
“So, is there anything you feel like eating?”
“Something I feel like eating?”
“Yeah. To celebrate getting better, Auntie’s treating.”
“Then how about a bowl of gomtang?”
“Gomtang?”
“Yes. They say it’s good for the bones. Since I’m all healed, I want to eat a solid bowl of it and make sure everything’s perfect.”
“Sounds good. We’ll go to a famous place and have a proper bowl.”
Hye-suk pulled out of the hospital parking lot and, by way of celebrating Seong-min’s full recovery, took him to a thirty-year-old grandmother’s gomtang house. True to its long tradition, the broth was deep and richly savory—the kind of flavor that made you feel the bones would knit even stronger.
After a satisfying meal they returned home, and Hye-suk thoughtfully sent Seong-min toward the bathroom.
“How long has it been since I had a real bath?”
The doctor had said a soak was perfectly fine now. Once the tub filled with warm water, Seong-min rinsed himself lightly under the shower and stepped in, bare as nature intended.
“Ahh… this is nice.”
Sinking into the steaming heat left his body loose and relaxed.
It’s truly amazing.
His leg had healed so cleanly that he almost doubted the accident had ever happened. Getting out of the car and walking into the gomtang house, stepping through the front door at home—he had moved exactly as he always used to. No more crutches.
How is this even possible?
His future had looked bleak. He had steeled himself for a lifetime of limping, of struggling under the aftereffects of the accident. But that was not what happened. His leg was completely whole again. If he wanted to, he felt he could even run.
He held back for today, though. Pushing too hard too soon might undo the good.
Who on earth was that old man?
The mysterious grandfather in the white long robe, sitting calmly and sipping his medicinal liquor. Seong-min still had no idea who he was, yet he could not shake the feeling that the old man was the reason his leg had healed so perfectly.
A sudden thought struck him. Glancing around cautiously, Seong-min opened his mouth.
“Um…?”
He looked about the bathroom.
“Was it you who fixed my leg, Grandfather…?”
He checked again, waiting.
“……”
Only silence answered him.
What? No reaction at all.
It almost made him wonder whether he had simply been seeing things.
Status Window.
He called the words inside his mind.
“Huh?!”
He gasped without meaning to, startled.
I—I wasn’t imagining it?
Right before his eyes, a translucent window like a hologram appeared.
Name: Lee Seong-min
Age: 24
Education: Graduated from Hancheon High School
Level: 1
Points: 0
Appearance: 10
Vigor: 10
Martial Power: 10
Physicality: 10
“Huh?”
Something had changed. The experience bar that had clearly been at zero now read five.
What is this?
He rubbed his eyes and looked at the bar again. It was definitely five, not zero.
It went up?
Seong-min was bewildered. His experience had risen a full five percent.
What on earth is going on?
He could not understand why the experience had increased.
Think it through.
The first time he had seen the bar, it had been at zero percent. Now it sat at five. It would not have risen for no reason. This window looked a lot like a game character screen, so the experience must have gone up because of something he had done.
Let’s think. What did I do today?
He retraced his steps. He had gotten out of bed, used the crutches, eaten breakfast. After a quick wash he had changed clothes with Hye-suk’s help, gone out for the hospital visit, received treatment, and been declared fully healed.
Nothing special…?
He kept turning the day over in his mind. It could not have risen without cause. Deep in thought, Seong-min suddenly hit on something.
Right. Reality isn’t a game. You don’t raise experience by hunting monsters. So what’s a realistic way to raise experience?
When he laid his actions of the day against any realistic method of gaining experience, only one possibility overlapped.
Exercise.
In an otherwise ordinary day, the only thing he had done differently was move around a lot. The logical conclusion was physical activity—in other words, exercise.
Is it really exercise?
Even so, he could not be certain yet. Whether this “experience” truly rose through exercise remained to be proven. And there was another question.
If I raise those stats, will something actually change?
He wondered whether increasing the attributes, the way you would with a game character, would produce real changes in himself. This was reality, not a game. He had no guarantee that pumping the numbers would transform him the way a game avatar transformed. Yet the Status Window was clearly displaying his own condition, so dismissing it outright felt wrong.
What if…
If raising those stats really did produce change—
Then I’ve gotten my hands on an incredible ability.
Something utterly unbelievable, something that should never have been possible in the real world, had happened to him. Hye-suk did not seem able to see the window at all. That meant only he could view it.
It was astonishing. That this kind of fortune had found him.
Hmm…
On another level it was simply fascinating. In the end, this was the power that mysterious old man had given him.
Anyway, there’s a lot to figure out. And this… this is a good thing for me, right?
No matter how he looked at it, if everything was true, there was nothing for him to feel bad about. A special, tremendous ability had essentially appeared in his life. Seong-min soaked in the tub, replaying everything that had happened and turning over in his mind how this translucent, hologram-like Status Window was meant to be used.
“Really?”
“Mm-hmm. Even if you’ve been declared fully healed, sending you straight back up to the rooftop room right away feels a little much.”
“But I’m only being a burden on you, Auntie…”
“Don’t think of it as a burden. Seeing you this healthy again actually makes me feel proud. If it still bothers you, how about this?”
“How?”
“Stay just through this week. Starting next week you can go back to the rooftop room. That way it won’t feel so heavy, right?”
“Is that really all right?”
“What’s not all right about it? Anyway, I’m just so glad you got the all-clear.”
Watching Hye-suk smile brightly and rejoice for him, Seong-min felt a little shy. He spent the rest of the day that way, then went into the guest room and lay down on the bed.
She’s truly a good person.
Pulling the blanket up to his shoulders, Seong-min felt deep gratitude toward Hye-suk.
Even for a tenant, going this far to help and look after someone isn’t easy at all.
In Seong-min’s eyes, Auntie Hye-suk was like an angel. Helping and caring for a mere tenant to this degree was only possible if someone had a deep well of understanding and a genuinely warm heart.
I’ve received far too great a kindness.
He had thought he was lucky just to have found a decent rooftop room. Only today did he realize the real fortune was having crossed paths with such a good person.
I can’t keep living off her goodwill forever. Now that I’ve been declared healed, I need to pull myself together and start over.
Until now the future had looked dark, but no longer. He had his healthy body back, and with it the chance to hope again. As long as the body was sound, he could do any kind of work and earn money. Other people might call gombang work brutal, back-breaking labor, but to Seong-min the simple fact that it paid was something to be thankful for.
If I tell the team leader and the gombang guys this news, they’ll celebrate with me.
They had come to visit him in the hospital, fretting over him and offering comfort. Even while listening to their encouragement—get well and come back so we can work together again—Seong-min had felt a heavy weight in his chest. He had not been able to promise that his leg would ever recover enough for gombang work again.
But that was no longer true.
More than anything, I need to understand what this Status Window can do.
He still did not know the details, but he was certain he had gotten hold of something extraordinary. It might bring a huge change to his insignificant life. No—he believed it would.
The next day.
Seong-min woke early, got out of bed, and stepped into the living room.
“Sleep well?”
Hearing the door, Auntie Hye-suk came out from the kitchen in her apron and greeted him warmly.
“You’re up early again today.”
“Hohoho~ That’s just how I am. How’s the leg?”
“Fine. See? Walking like this.”
Seong-min strode forward confidently and gave Hye-suk a broad grin.
“They took the cast off yesterday because you’re healed, so don’t overdo it.”
“I won’t~”
Seong-min headed for the front door.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s been a while since I had healthy legs. I want to step out into the yard and breathe some morning air.”
“Breakfast will be ready soon, so come back in, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Watching him answer so brightly and head outside, Hye-suk’s eyes curved in a smile.
I’m so glad.
It felt as if the cheerful Seong-min she knew had returned. Before, he had forced smiles in front of her, but she had clearly seen the gloom underneath. Now he seemed like his old self again, and that made her happy too.
An orphan who never let himself be crushed, who worked hard and tried to make a life—Seong-min had always struck her as both pitiable and admirable. That was why the news of the accident had hit her so hard. And the more heartbreaking part had been realizing that even after he was hospitalized, there was not a single family member who could be called as a guardian. Looking after him like a guardian herself had come from that feeling as much as anything else.
“Huuuaah~!”
Outside, Seong-min spread both arms wide, drew in a deep breath, and let it out. In the early-morning yard where sparrows were chirping, the air he pulled into his lungs felt wonderfully fresh.
“To think I’d be standing here healthy again, breathing morning air.”
This moment felt like a dream—standing once more in this yard on two perfectly good legs.
Something unbelievable has happened to me.
And right now, if he simply called “Status Window” in his mind, a window only he could see would appear.
This is an important chance that has come to me. Even if I never learned much and have only ever made a living with my body… I’m going to work so that my life can change.
Above all, Seong-min had one firm resolve: he had to repay Auntie Hye-suk.
She’s not even family, yet she’s looked after me and helped me this much. So… even if only to repay her, I have to live hard…!
Breathing in the new morning air, Seong-min steeled his heart.
This was the beginning of a new life given to him.