013. One Week
013. One Week
The low ceiling of the studio apartment came into view.
When he had returned after devouring his first sample, the Elven Saintess Erin, he had to stare blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds to regain his sense of reality. But this time was different.
It was already his second time. Sitting in his chair, Song Jae-pil blinked lightly and checked the sensations in his body.
The vivid feeling of Cha Ye-rin sucking his dick just moments ago was still clear. The scent of Ylang-Ylang oil brushing past the tip of his nose, her beast-like screams of pleasure, and even her flushed face lit by the orange indirect lighting of the massage room.
Only the vivid memories remained, disappearing without a trace. Only the memories of sex etched into his mind proved this wasn't a dream.
Song Jae-pil picked up the cellphone on the desk and checked the screen.
"6:19. Less than a minute hasn't passed."
It matched exactly the time he had noted down before entering The Catalogue.
"As expected..."
It was the same result as with Erin. The time he had spent at the Ether Center this time was about three weeks.
The suffocating battle of nerves with Cha Ye-rin, the sex massage sessions with VVIP married women led by Kim Hye-jin, and the three bets to conquer Cha Ye-rin.
During all that long time, not a single second had passed on Earth. While inside The Catalogue world, Earth's time stops.
"Which means the amount of usable time increases..."
The very fact of gaining more time, which is supposedly fair to everyone on Earth, is an enormous privilege in itself, isn't it?
He opened The Catalogue app. As soon as the familiar interface unfolded, the first thing that caught his eye was the red stamp imprinted on the D-Class Catalogue card [Fitness Scandal].
[CLEAR]
The thick, bold red letters were stamped across the card. As if an official seal had been stamped on a public document.
And a notification popped up that a new tab in the UI had opened.
[Clear List]
- Cha Ye-rin (Fitness Scandal)
Currently, only one name was registered. The corner of Song Jae-pil's mouth lifted slightly. The first conquest of his first official catalogue. Not a bad start.
"Hmm...?"
Then, beside the Clear List, Song Jae-pil cocked his head at another icon that was still locked in gray.
It seemed the functions of The Catalogue didn't end here.
"I'll probably find out naturally when it opens. But... why aren't the other catalogues clickable?"
Feeling something was off, he went back to The Catalogue's home screen, where a window he hadn't seen before was displayed.
[Cooldown]
[6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds]
57 seconds. 56 seconds. The timer was decreasing in real-time. The numbers on the screen flickered slightly each time the count went down by one second.
One week. He had to spend one week in reality before the next Catalogue entry.
"A cooldown, huh? They're making it tantalizing."
A bitter smile tinged with regret hung at the corner of his lips. Honestly, if it weren't for the cooldown, he'd have gone straight into the next catalogue right away.
He wasn't tired at all, and his mind was clearer than ever.
Above all, before the thrill of conquest had even cooled, he wanted to find the next prey and taste their skin.
"If I have to rest, I guess I have to rest..."
However, he wasn't going to rest idly. Song Jae-pil's gaze changed. The regret vanished, replaced by greed and calculation.
Song Jae-pil got up from the creaking chair.
"Can't just let this week go to waste. First, a shower..."
He stretched. The moment he stretched his arms overhead and twisted his waist side to side, the range of motion in his shoulders had widened.
The stiffness that used to catch when he twisted his waist was gone. His hip joints rotated smoothly.
"Huh...? Ah!"
Come to think of it, he remembered the existence of the 'Flexible Body' reward from the Complete Conquest that he had forgotten about.
When he read it as text, he just thought, 'I guess my body gets a bit softer,' but actually moving his body, it had become much more flexible than he imagined.
Curiosity piqued, Song Jae-pil found a spot on the narrow floor and sat down.
He tried spreading his legs to the side. Slowly, wider, even wider.
Whoosh-
Both legs split perfectly straight, touching the floor in a perfect line.
"...What the hell."
The muttered exclamation of surprise echoed in the room. The old Song Jae-pil was the very definition of stiffness. It was a body where even slightly spreading his legs would make his inner thigh muscles scream as if they were tearing.
But now, that body was perfectly flat against the floor in a straight line. There was no pain whatsoever; it felt natural, as if this was how his body had always been.
In that position, he leaned his upper body forward, and his chest touched the floor directly. As if he were performing a very flexible yoga pose.
"This is insane..."
The reason was a single skill. If one reward earned from conquering a catalogue could change his physical body to this extent, what about the other rewards he would obtain in the future?
Gathering his legs and standing up, Song Jae-pil once again felt the power of The Catalogue.
Having finished his shower, Song Jae-pil sat back down in his chair, opened the app, and checked his point status.
[Store Point: 4]
[Skill Point: 1]
A whopping five points total. The income was pretty sweet.
"But what exactly is the difference between the two?"
Song Jae-pil began his analysis by opening the Store tab and the Skill Tree tab in turn. First, he needed to sort out the difference between the two currencies.
"Hmm... Skill Points..."
Scrolling through the screen, the categories of the Skill Tree were listed. Control, Technique, Sensation, Intelligence, Martial Arts, Weapon Arts—all intangible abilities.
On the other hand, the things purchasable with Store Points were tangible: cash, items, physical dimensions of the body, muscle mass, appearance adjustments—things you could see, touch, and measure.
"Feels like the difference between software and hardware..."
He didn't know the exact criteria for the distinction. The Catalogue app had classified them that way, so that's just how it was.
"Then, where should I spend them?"
Points were, after all, an investment to conquer the next Catalogue more certainly and swiftly.
He dealt with the most definitive thing first.
Song Jae-pil's gaze fixed on the Body category within the Store tab.
[Enlargement - 1 Store Point]
[Penis Length +1cm / Proportional Thickness Adjustment]
The evaluation Kim Hye-jin had given upon entering the Fitness Scandal came to mind.
'Pass.'
It meant it wasn't large, but it was an adequate size. For a D-Class, adequacy might have been enough.
But as the grade rises, the standards of the conquest targets will also rise. Adequacy is not a weapon. To be a weapon, it must be overwhelming.
An overwhelming monstrosity capable of making a woman lose control just by knocking against the entrance of her womb.
"And... if I buy skills later on..."
Recalling the skills he had seen in the Skill Store, Song Jae-pil purchased Enlargement twice.
Click.
2 Store Points vanished, and simultaneously, a heavy, hot sensation began deep in his lower abdomen.
Along with the feeling of his pants becoming taut as if about to burst, a tent began to pitch in his trousers.
"Whoa, it's instantaneous."
Considering the proportionally increased thickness as well, a weapon that wouldn't lose to anyone's was now equipped between his thighs.
"Nice, perfect."
Pulling up his pants, Song Jae-pil looked down at his fully erect member and smiled a satisfied smile. Even if it wasn't a monstrosity yet, wouldn't it soon become one?
Next were the skills. Branches extended in all directions, most locked and grayed out, but only the items purchasable with 1 Skill Point glowed yellow.
[Predator's Gaze - 1 Skill Point]
[Instills a sense of intimidation when making eye contact with a target. Passive skill.]
Not bad. No, it was a good skill. If just making eye contact could create a crack in the opponent's psyche, the speed of conquest would increase.
But.
[Enchanting Writing Skill (Stage 1) - 1 Skill Point]
[Guarantees professional author-level readability and engagement that keeps readers hooked.]
On the spot where his finger had stopped, his heart beat one beat faster.
This skill definitely wasn't for the Catalogue world. It was a skill for reality.
"A skill tailor-made for me... but."
A web novel writer who made a living by writing. Moreover, hadn't he just gotten a call from his editor right before obtaining the Catalogue?
Saying it wasn't interesting.
"Predator... Enchanting Writing Skill..."
The weighing scale began to tilt between the two skills.
Choose efficiency in the Catalogue world, or choose a skill that would help in reality.
"Sigh... I can earn points again in a week."
And if reality collapses, there won't be any Catalogue or anything else.
[Enchanting Writing Skill Stage 1 - Purchase Complete]
After a brief deliberation, as Song Jae-pil purchased the skill, a new branch in the Skill Tree began to glow.
Just like when he had purchased the Source of Vitality, a faint heat rose from somewhere in his brain.
A strange sensation of his mind clearing arrived. The fog in his brain lifted, a weird feeling of his tangled, complex head becoming transparent.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, he felt like he understood the problems with his writing that the PD had mentioned.
"Keeper for now."
He still had 2 Store Points left, but he decided not to act hastily. He didn't have to decide where to spend them right away, and he had a week's time.
Closing the app, he opened the word processor on his computer. Suddenly, he wanted to write.
"Hmm, hmm... I guess I'll start from scratch."
Song Jae-pil deleted all the content he had written so far.
A blank white page. Normally, he would have endlessly agonized over what to write, how to write it, and started writing by squeezing out words in agony, but now it was different.
The experience with Erin, the experience from the Fitness Scandal breathed vividness into him, and simultaneously, the Enchanting Writing Skill began to assist Song Jae-pil.
For the first time, Song Jae-pil found writing to be immensely enjoyable.