Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: C-Rank Adaptation Pain
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[You have purchased "Decent Combat Sense" (E, Lv.1).]
[You have purchased "Fairly Sharp Throwing Skill" (D, Lv.1).]
"See? See? Going all-in was the way to go!"
Jeong-hyeon's voice brimmed with excitement.
Until now, he'd been lucky to scrape together just over 10 points each time.
That meant after a few refreshes and grabbing whatever caught his eye, he often ended up regretting it.
But now, Jeong-hyeon held a whopping 35 coins.
And the biggest payoff of all wasn't even that—it was something else entirely.
["Slight Enhancement of Physical Abilities" has been upgraded to "Physical Ability Enhancement."]
The Physical Ability Enhancement trait, which he'd bought with zero expectations, had jumped straight to D-rank.
That had cost him 23 coins—not a small sum by any means—but to Jeong-hyeon, it was an incredible return that didn't feel wasteful at all.
The Physical Ability trait boosted his overall physical stats across the board.
Since it even applied to his lacking strength, it was actually more welcome than most other traits.
As a bonus, he'd snagged an F-rank "Storage Slot Expansion Ticket."
It wasn't something he needed right away, but surely it'd come in handy someday.
'If I want to use magic later, I'll probably need a ton of storage slots too.'
That left him with 12 coins still.
It was like that classic glass-half-full-or-half-empty dilemma.
He'd spent 23 coins and still had this much left?
Or he'd blown through everything and was down to just 12?
'Obviously the former!'
To Jeong-hyeon, it wasn't even worth asking.
Especially since spending coins didn't make them vanish into thin air.
They steadily accumulated as proficiency experience for the "Trait Shop," even if the visible effects weren't immediate.
With that in mind, he felt utterly carefree about burning through the remaining 12 coins.
"Now even if nothing good shows up, it'll be a win. Refresh!"
The list refreshed at his command.
As if it had heard him, nothing particularly useful appeared.
Still, just in case, as Jeong-hyeon scanned the five lines, a sudden thought crossed his mind.
'Come to think of it, where's the neighbor uncle been lately?'
He'd shouted excitedly quite a few times up to now, so it wouldn't be surprising if the man reacted.
But for some reason, the apartment next door was dead silent.
'Now that I think about it, it's been a while...'
Jeong-hyeon felt a twinge of guilt for having forgotten amid all his dungeon runs.
Had he moved out?
But such worries didn't last long.
Jeong-hyeon refocused on the Trait Shop.
If something serious had happened, he would've noticed, and if the guy had just left the rundown neighborhood, that was for the best.
It wasn't something Jeong-hyeon needed to worry about, at any rate.
"Refresh... Huh?"
Pushing thoughts of the neighbor aside, he refreshed again.
Jeong-hyeon's eyes widened round.
"See? The uncle really is the goddess of luck!"
There, second on the list, was a trait framed in bronze.
And its contents were exactly what Jeong-hyeon needed most.
"Equippable Slot Expansion Ticket" (C), 4C
Just thinking about it was enough to deliver a C-rank Equippable Slot Expansion Ticket.
Neighbor uncle, what kind of existence was he, really?
Anyway, with it on the list, there was no need to hesitate.
Equippable slots were always the right choice.
[You have purchased "Equippable Slot Expansion Ticket" (C).
Equippable slots expanded: 5 → 6.]
"It's just unbelievable."
Unbelievable in the best way possible.
When he'd first bought an expansion ticket, he'd worried whether high-rank ones were pointless or if he'd skip over needed traits.
Fortunately, nothing like that had happened yet.
It almost seemed like they appeared in rank order.
Having such thoughts, Jeong-hyeon suddenly felt a chill down his spine and shook his head vigorously.
'Thinking like that will jinx an S-rank one next!'
Words could become seeds—better not to even think it.
Expansion tickets didn't save for later; they applied immediately, based on experience.
He didn't want to shell out 7 coins later and cry over it.
Either way, that left Jeong-hyeon with one empty equippable slot.
His brow furrowed.
Four coins remaining.
One trait in storage.
'Should I... put the movement speed one in?'
It was C-rank, after all—better than leaving the slot empty.
But it still felt like a letdown somehow.
"Well... with four coins left."
Theoretically enough for one refresh and an E-rank trait.
Right now, a Blunt Technique trait would be ideal.
"Argh... shoulda grabbed one when it popped."
Of course, during the 35-coin spree, several Blunt Techniques had appeared.
A D-rank would've been tempting, but with no empty slots and E- or F-ranks feeling too cheap, he'd passed—only for this to happen.
But that was just hindsight.
If he'd grabbed a Blunt Technique and then lacked coins for the C-rank expansion?
Or couldn't even refresh this far?
Pure regret, nothing more.
In the end, he had to bet everything on one last refresh.
"Refresh."
But despite his desperate wish, no Blunt Technique appeared.
Not even a single melee trait.
"R-Refresh! Argh!"
In a daze, he'd burned the last 2 coins too.
"Fairly Decent Archery" (F, Lv.1)
Of all things, F-rank archery skills.
"Can't even buy it with 1 coin left, and no bow anyway... so frustrating..."
Jeong-hyeon flopped face-down on the bed, pounding it a few times before sitting up.
"Sigh. Honestly, saying I got nothing from this rollover would be ridiculous."
Getting worked up over this made him seriously question his own sanity.
Two traits were one step away from upgrading, and one had actually upgraded.
Plus, he'd expanded an equippable slot.
"Let's see."
["Trait Shop" (Lv.3)
Coins needed for next level: 21
Equippable Traits / Storage Traits: 1 / 6
Trait Rarity Probability: F 40%, E 30%, D 18%, C 7%, B 4%, A 0.7%, S 0.3%]
The 70 coins to level 4 had seemed impossibly distant.
Now, after this spending spree, it was a realistic 21.
Leaving a freshly expanded slot empty would be idiotic.
At this point, it felt like the situation was forcing him to make a choice.
His gaze lingered on one spot.
"Excellent Movement Speed" (C, Lv.1)
Movement speed.
Was it some kind of poisoned chalice?
Equipping it was fine.
C-rank wasn't bad, better than an empty slot.
But...
'Having to go through adaptation pain for crap like this hurts my pride the most!'
He hated the ripping, tearing agony that came with every new trait.
And C-rank pain? How much worse would that be?
But after glaring it down, Jeong-hyeon finally squeezed his eyes shut.
[Equipping "Excellent Movement Speed" (C, Lv.1).
High rank detected. Prepare for pain.]
As if acknowledging the high rank, the system even gave a warning this time—unlike before.
"You don't have to tell me—aaargh!"
Jeong-hyeon screamed mid-sentence, his body convulsing before he collapsed unconscious.
But his body, strengthened by recent hunts and shopping, stubbornly refused to let him pass out easily.
He had to endure the overwhelming pain—too much even to scream—wide awake for a while.
A few system windows popped up, but he had no time to read them.
'If this doesn't get me from Seoul to Busan in two hours flat, I'm seriously gonna die!'
Spitting endless fury at the movement speed trait, Jeong-hyeon's mind finally faded into the haze.
***
Here was someone who first awakened as F-rank, then reawakened to C-rank.
Her name was Ha Yun-seo.
When her reawakening went public, it even made portal news sites, and since she was active on MyTV, she had decent name recognition.
"Ha Yun-seo Hunter, what did it feel like when you reawakened?"
CraneTV interviewed one unique or famous hunter weekly.
The host, Crane—a B-rank hunter himself—asked Yun-seo.
She glanced upward in thought, then smiled brightly and began.
"A lot of people say reawakening is great, especially since you hit the jackpot with a rank-up life reversal—like winning the lottery."
They both laughed.
Yun-seo shivered playfully before continuing.
"But honestly, the first thing you feel during reawakening is the adaptation pain. They say it gets worse the higher the rank, and I'm one who experienced it firsthand."
"Ah, adaptation pain. That stuff's insane."
"Well, Crane Hunter's B-rank, so I might sound like I'm exaggerating."
"Nah, no way."
After bantering with Crane, Yun-seo leaned toward the camera with a solemn tone.
"For reference, C-rank adaptation pain? It hurts like hell."
In the grand scheme of MyTV's wild stories, this video wasn't anything special.
The comments echoed that sentiment.
- Hope I get reawakened even if it hurts!
- Damn, Yun-seo ㄷㄷㄷ
- Lucky... you should be grateful... for reawakening... Of course, thanks for hunting for people... but think more about your hunter attitude... over streaming... In that sense... not that impressive...
If Jeong-hyeon, just now rising from bed, saw those comments?
He was certain.
Wherever they were, he'd track them down and make them pay.
To him, this wasn't even worthy of the word "pain."
Pure agony that could send you to the Jordan River—how could anyone call it mere pain?
Rubbing his still-throbbing back, Jeong-hyeon sat up.
"Ugh, seriously, if S-rank comes later, it might not even feel good..."
And to suffer this much just for a movement speed trait? Still infuriating.
To balance it, they should discount movement speed traits by 1 coin per rank and eliminate the adaptation pain.
"Whew... I think something popped up before I passed out. What was it?"
He vaguely remembered.
Couldn't read it through the pain, but equipping the trait had triggered a notification.
"If it's some crap like 'Congrats on getting movement speed,' I'm killing someone..."
Grinding his teeth in unresolved rage, he reopened the notifications—then froze.
"Wh... what the hell is this?"
The notification's contents were something Jeong-hyeon had never even dreamed of.