Coin Market

Ziiing—

As if searching for something Sunghyun would recognize, the interface kept shifting shape.

"What is this, Shinhan? Bank of America? Huh!"

The icon of the trading app he used most often appeared in his field of vision.

"It's called Coin Market, but it looks exactly like the one I used to use."

Sunghyun thought about clicking the app, and the status window launched it for him automatically.

The Coin Market that filled his vision was identical to what he had imagined. Every indicator he was used to was there, and the layout of every function was the same. The only difference was that, unlike the stocks in his old trading app, names he had never heard of were lined up in order of market capitalization.

"What the hell are these?"

"These names feel weirdly familiar."

Sunghyun shifted his gaze, wanting a closer look.

Sunghyun stroked his chin as he studied the alert.

"Hmm… Open it."

"Hmm… a little creepy, but no choice. I consent."

"A hundred coins… looks like that's the currency they use around here."

Sunghyun narrowed his eyes at the interface floating before him.

"What even is any of this…"

He scratched his head and stared at his account. Then, suddenly, he remembered the voice he had heard right before he blacked out.

"Dimensions? Wait—so the way people buy and sell companies with stocks, here you buy and sell dimensions? But does that even work?"

To test the theory, Sunghyun tapped the listing at the very top of the market-cap rankings.

"Huh? It's real?"

It really was a dimension.

"What do I even get if I buy this?"

Curious, Sunghyun read the additional description.

"Ah—so buying shares adds items and skills from that dimension to my shop inventory."

Was Earth listed somewhere?

He typed "Earth" into the search bar.

"Earth… hmm? Nothing? Try English, then. E…a…"

There it was. Earth.

"What?"

Earth was fifth? The dimension where all myths began?

Just to be sure, he checked the market-cap list again—and there Earth sat, solidly in fifth place.

It said "Earth," so for a second I thought it might not be our Earth.

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Then the last line of the description snagged his eye. Hero summoning?

Was this a hero summoning right now?

No, wait—that magic circle or whatever the hell it was had formed under the kid.

Had he just gotten dragged into this?

"Goddamn son of a bitch! When everyone else gets a light-novel plot, why the hell do I get the hard-mode web-novel treatment? Aargh!"

Sunghyun exploded in frustration—and started mashing the interface at random.

"Screw it. I'm going to have to look through all of this eventually, so I might as well click everything now."

Nothing dramatic happened. But he did learn a few things.

One: there was a shop where coins could buy stats, skills, traits, and items.

Two: the dimension he was currently in was called Hermopolis. It was listed on his account. Its market cap sat at a rather adorable 21.65 on the million-C scale—a tiny dimension whose shares cost only 2.6 coins apiece.

Three: he had found a way back to Earth.

Tips appeared on the window from time to time, and one of them was critical.

That was it. He had found his way home.

Ordinarily, a hero summoning worked on a simple premise: defeat the Demon King—or something equivalent—and return to where you came from. But because of the peculiar nature of his trait, as long as he had enough coins, he could go back to Earth whenever he wanted.

"But when am I supposed to gather that much? Doing the math… I'd need almost ninety billion coins. One tiger got me a hundred, so… nine hundred million tigers? Ha… hahaha."

Sunghyun tapped the Coin Shop in the upper left corner.

"So according to what's listed right now, raising Body Level from 1 to 10 costs five coins per level, 11 to 20 costs ten, and it scales by a factor of ten from there? Then a simple calculation with ninety billion coins… ha! Is this even right?"

He stared up at the sky in pure disbelief.

"With numbers like that, I'd just go kill the Demon King myself."

Tears welled in the eyes of the man gazing at the heavens.

"Seed money. I need seed money. After that, I just grow it through investment the same way I did on Earth."

A strange smile tugged at his lips as he looked out over the forest where he stood. His senses told him countless magic beasts were out there. The woods that had seemed so terrifying now looked like a land of milk and honey.

"Seed money."

A bizarre hunger burned in his eyes as the corner of his mouth curled upward.

"First, raise Body Level to ten. And mana… if mana is what I think it is… I should get used to it first."

Sunghyun settled into a lotus position on the large rock where he had been sitting. The posture was familiar. He quieted his mind.

Observe. Contemplate.

His consciousness sank lower and lower. Drawn inward, Sunghyun eventually felt a pleasant coolness wash over him.

Splash—

It was like a crisp autumn breeze against his skin. The corner of his mouth lifted as he focused on the sensation. The pure, refreshing energy retreated as he drew near, shy as a child meeting a stranger.

It's okay. I just want to be friends with you.

He neither scolded the energy that tried to pull away nor raised his voice. He simply reached out, carefully. And the energy, just as carefully, came forward and took his hand.

Hwaaaaa—

In that instant, Sunghyun awakened to mana.

Only then did Sunghyun open his eyes. A strange gray energy swirled within them.

"So this is mana… and you can pick up skills this way, too."

Once he had awakened to it, handling mana felt so natural he couldn't understand how he had ever failed to use it—or even notice it—before.

Whoosh—

He channeled mana into the joints of his legs and leapt lightly. His body shot into the air, light and fast.

"What?"

Jumping higher than his own height, Sunghyun laughed like a child.

"Haha? Better performance than I expected."

He wanted to know his full power. So he ran.

Wheeeee—

The moment he started running, the scenery whipped past in a blur, and he felt as if he were riding in an open-top car.

"Gyaaaaah!"

His lack of experience showed—the mana drained at a terrifying rate, and his head felt ready to split open. Clutching his skull, Sunghyun spent coins to raise his Mana Level to ten.

The mana he had wrung dry to the last drop surged back into his body as if nothing had happened. And yet Sunghyun felt a vague discomfort.

"This doesn't feel right…"

It was like driving over an unpaved road. He began coaxing the wild, thrashing mana into motion with a gentle hand. There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was no resistance—his awakening had purged every impurity from his body. Like a child walking hand-in-hand with a parent, the mana moved exactly as he guided it.

Here like this—along the blood vessels—condense at this point, then rotate.

He simply animated the mana the way his instincts told him to. The writhing energy drifted toward his lower abdomen and began to spin.

Hwaaaaa—

What had been no larger than a bean swelled in an instant. That first size had only been the beginning. The Level 10 mana he had invested was, by simple calculation, already a full gapja of power—and he was containing it in his body through pure talent alone.

A sharp pain flared in his lower abdomen, and Sunghyun's face twisted. But he did not stop. Stopping meant the end.

Introduce a new property of mana here—balance! Balance!

On pure instinct, he briefly expelled the mana from his body and spun it in the opposite direction, then merged it with the naturally circulating flow.

Huuuung—

The reverse principle and the pure principle began to collide. But before they could crash into each other, Sunghyun set the entire mass of mana rotating in a smooth, rounded motion.

Had anyone from the murim been present, they would have cried out at the sight of him:

It looked like Taiji. But it was not their Taiji. Sunghyun's was Taiji in the truest sense—the union of reverse and pure.

"Alright. Mana's settled. Time to earn some coins."

Unaware of what he had just accomplished, Sunghyun simply felt refreshed. At last ready, he stepped into the forest.