Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: 3. I Was a Grade 4 Extra (3)
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“…Huh!”
Yechan, who had been staring at Young-woo, nearly toppled backward in shock.
It was because Young-woo’s appearance had changed after putting the coin in his mouth.
“W-What is that?”
Yechan blinked his eyes wide as he asked.
It was clear as day. A translucent dotted line outlined Young-woo’s body.
The dots even flowed in a steady direction, like blood circulating through his veins.
Young-woo took the coin back out of his mouth and examined his own body.
“Some kind of custom mode… something like that, maybe.”
“Custom mode?”
“You know, like in games where you tweak your character’s appearance.”
“Huh? So right now…”
Just as Yechan started to say something, a new interface appeared in Young-woo’s vision.
「Character Settings Change」
|Appearance
|Stats
“Yep. Looks like putting the coin in your mouth activates it.”
At Young-woo’s words, Yechan quickly snatched up a coin and pressed it to his lips.
Peeing!
“Whoa, seems like it works just touching your lips.”
“My lips?”
Young-woo looked awkwardly at the saliva-covered coin.
But at least they knew how to use it now.
‘Doesn’t look like anyone else is coming yet.’
Young-woo glanced up to see the timer had ticked down to 11 minutes. He then shifted his gaze back to the interface.
|Appearance
|Stats
Just two menu options.
Appearance and Stats.
‘I’m really curious how the appearance one works, but no time for that.’
Young-woo skipped Appearance and selected ‘Stats’.
A guide screen popped up first.
Paaat!
「From now on, you can enhance your physical abilities using Karma. Familiarize yourself with each stat’s description and choose wisely.」
[Strength]
|Affects physical power and speed.
[Stamina]
|Affects sustained and repeated actions.
[Durability]
|Affects the toughness of skin, bones, muscles, etc.
[Senses]
|Affects reflexes, balance, and overall body control.
There were only four physical abilities that could be enhanced with Karma: Strength, Stamina, Durability, and Senses.
It didn’t take long to memorize what each one meant.
‘The Durability concept is a bit unique. So what’s next?’
As Young-woo thought that, the guide text naturally faded, revealing the main settings page.
『Character: Jeong Young-woo07』
[Strength] 19
[Stamina] 21
[Durability] 13
[Senses] 24
* Each stat point costs 1,000 Karma.
* Available Karma: 153,000
‘1,000 Karma per point? That means I can boost my stats by 153 points?’
If he dumped it all into Strength, his power would jump eightfold.
‘…Insane.’
Young-woo felt every cell in his body awaken.
He was finally grasping the true value of Karma as currency.
‘This must be how you surpass your innate grade.’
As long as he kept securing enough Karma, even a Grade 4 could become stronger than anyone.
The presence of an ‘Appearance’ option suggested he could probably alter his looks or build too.
With enough money, anything was possible in this world.
“…….”
Young-woo swallowed dryly and checked the timer in the air again.
[00:06:22]
Monsters and mutants in six minutes.
‘If I can’t beat them, my head’s coming off right here. So I should spend every bit on stat growth.’
Now, which stats to invest in?
‘I don’t even know what kind of monsters or how many. So…’
Distribute as evenly as possible.
But skip Durability and Senses.
‘Even 50 points in Durability won’t let me bounce blades or claws off bare skin.’
Senses wouldn’t help much early on either.
He’d felt the lack of Strength and Stamina far more than Senses so far.
‘Split it between Strength and Stamina. Better Strength makes handling the shield easier, boosting survival.’
Decision made, Young-woo started allocating points right away.
77 to Strength, 76 to Stamina.
An all-in, not even leaving enough for tomorrow night’s tax.
Then.
Paaaat!
Numbers began climbing on his once-pathetic settings screen.
『Character: Jeong Young-woo07』
[Strength] 96 (19+77)
[Stamina] 97 (21+76)
[Durability] 13
[Senses] 24
And with that, Young-woo felt the change in himself.
“……!”
His body didn’t suddenly bulk up or sprout new muscles, but even sitting still, he could tell.
His power and endurance had skyrocketed.
‘…The Early Bird weighs almost nothing now.’
The shield in his left hand felt ridiculously light compared to before.
Flick.
Even standing up felt different. No need to push off the ground with his hands—his legs alone sufficed.
‘What is this? It’s too different.’
Strength up from 19 to 96.
A fivefold increase on paper, so the difference was obvious.
“A-Are you okay?”
Seeing Young-woo’s flushed face, Yechan asked with concern.
Instead of answering, Young-woo jumped straight up with full power.
Thud!
The friction from his sneakers was so intense he worried they’d rip, and his body shot into the air.
“Huh……!”
Young-woo’s shadow passed over Yechan’s wide-eyed face.
Young-woo himself was looking down at Yechan from far higher than expected.
By eye, at least 1.5 meters.
Suddenly, fear hit Young-woo.
He was far from athletic and knew nothing about landing techniques or high drops.
Whoosh!
Gravity yanked him down brutally.
“Uh-oh!”
His center of gravity tipped forward for a split second, but luckily his feet hit the ground first.
No cushioning, though—the pain stabbed from his heels to his knees.
“…Ugh!”
Young-woo clutched his knee reflexively, realizing his mistake.
‘That’s why Durability and Senses are separate stats.’
Say his Strength let him leap 5 meters now.
Rising was fine, but landing? Could legs with 13 Durability handle the impact?
Same for swinging a sword at monsters or blocking attacks with a shield.
‘If I survive this, I’ll tweak Durability and Senses too.’
As Young-woo resolved himself, Yechan called out in a slightly urgent voice.
“Mister…! What about me? Which stats should I raise first?”
“Huh?”
Turning around, he saw Yechan also wrapped in a translucent dotted outline.
“How many points can you spend?”
“73 if I use everything.”
“Then 30 each to Strength and Stamina, 10 to Durability, 3 to Senses.”
Fresh from his own trial and error, Young-woo gave the best advice he could.
Yechan adjusted his stats without hesitation.
『Character: Kang Yechan306』
[Strength] 44 (14+30)
[Stamina] 52 (22+30)
[Durability] 27 (17+10)
[Senses] 22 (19+3)
Soon, he wore the same expression Young-woo had moments ago.
“…Gasp, what is this.”
“No idea how much more Karma we’ll get, but at this rate, supermen will appear soon enough.”
“Y-Yeah, you’re right.”
“So if possible…”
Young-woo trailed off and checked the timer again.
[00:00:49]
49 seconds left.
“Better if we’re those supermen. No downside to being strong.”
Actually, it was more than no downside.
They had to get strong.
Young-woo hadn’t forgotten.
Being surrounded by total strangers at the exchange, slapped, arm twisted.
Even now, entering combat brought back their furious glares and heavy fists vividly, making him shudder.
He never wanted to be under their feet again. Never.
[00:00:21]
21 seconds.
Yechan stopped swinging his spear and stood rigidly in place.
Young-woo scanned the surroundings widely for possible ambushers.
[00:00:10]
When the timer hit 10 seconds, both stared at the blue pillar of light.
Would they pour down from the top?
Or spawn where it meets the ground?
Lost in such thoughts to calm his nerves, the timer reached 3 seconds.
…3.
…2.
…1.
And then.
BAAAAAAAAANG!
A massive horn blared, and from the top of the sky-touching light pillar came ominous whooshes.
Screeeee!
Screeeeeee!
“Mister…! Something’s coming down!”
“I see it. Better fall back.”
Young-woo spotted several small lights inside the upper pillar.
And they were growing oddly larger.
Screeeeeeeee!
The ‘things’ rode the pillar down in seconds, landing one after another right in front of Young-woo and Yechan.
Thud thud thud, thud!
“…….”
Exactly 12 of them.
They cracked the ground on impact—Young-woo easily guessed a person underneath would’ve been shredded.
‘Not too many, lucky.’
Of course, 12 per pillar meant hundreds across Gumi City.
Somehow protected during the fall, each was encased in an oval white orb.
The problem? The orbs were way bigger than expected.
“M-Mister…?”
Yechan muttered in a tone that said something was wrong, backing away.
Young-woo was just as rattled.
Every orb was about 2 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide.
‘What the hell’s inside…’
Crack!
Before Young-woo could finish the thought, the orbs split open in unison.
Then.
Boom!
Twelve heavily armored goblins kicked off the inner walls of their orbs and strode out boldly.
“…….”
Young-woo and Yechan could only gape and look up.
Because the goblins stood 2 meters tall.