Chapter 49: Metamorphosis (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49: Metamorphosis (2)
I gently patted her back, my nose brushing against her cleavage as I quietly took a deep breath.
A scent like baby powder filled my nostrils.
If the ajumma's scent was rich and ripe, this girl's was lighter, more refreshing.
Maybe it's because they're mother and daughter, but I keep comparing her to the ajumma whenever I notice something.
For quite a long time, Shin Yu-jeong's shoulders shook as she sniffled.
Then, her crying gradually subsided.
“Ahem…!”
She released the arms that had been holding my head, gently pushed me away, and stepped back.
Feeling a pang of disappointment as her scent faded, I looked at her face.
Her eyes were swollen and her face was red.
Her eyes darted around, lost, suggesting she hadn't expected to be overcome with emotion and burst into tears.
“Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine, of course!” she replied, a little too vehemently for such a simple question.
A moment of silence fell between us.
I didn't have much to say, so I kept quiet. She seemed to be staring at the box on the desk, deep in thought.
What's she doing?
As if she'd made up her mind, she gave a short nod and walked over to the box.
She took out several potions from inside and placed them on the desk.
A total of nine potions were lined up in front of the monitor.
Shin Yu-jeong pointed at them and said to me, “This is your share.”
After her declaration, she closed the lid on the box, which still had six potions left.
“This is my share.”
So that’s what she was thinking about—how to divide the potions.
Nine for me, six for her… a 6:4 split.
I looked up and stared at her face.
A little surprising. I thought she'd take at least half, if not more.
Shin Yu-jeong's face turned a shade redder as our eyes met.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that? I deserve this much, you know?”
I hadn't said a word, but her reaction suggested she felt a little guilty about something.
That's how it usually is with dividing rewards.
It's incredibly difficult to split things cleanly in a way that satisfies everyone.
Usually, rewards are divided based on pre-agreed ratios for each position, contribution after the dungeon conquest, or, if all else fails, an even split.
Most follow one of these three methods, but each has its pros and cons, making it hard to please everyone.
That's why fixed parties and raid teams break up all the time. In more extreme cases, it can even lead to knife fights.
Shin Yu-jeong had drawn the line well. She suppressed her greed but still took what she felt she deserved.
“Sh-should I give you one more?”
My silent stare must have pressured her, because she started opening the box on her own.
Finding the sight quite cute, I smiled and shook my head.
“No. I was just thinking you took less than I expected.”
“Huh…?”
She looked slightly flustered, as if she hadn't anticipated this kind of reaction.
For a moment, hesitation flickered across her face. The thought of brazenly taking another potion or two.
“Hey, I'm not that shameless, okay? Your contribution to the dungeon conquest was higher, so it's right for you to take more.”
Seeing her decisively cut off her hesitation, I figured it was one of two things. Either she had a conscience and was making sure I got my fair share, or this was a calculated move to get on my good side.
Or it could be both.
Not that it matters to me either way.
“Are you, uh, going to sell the potions right away? If so, I can help.”
I shook my head at her question.
“I'm not in urgent need of cash, so I'll hold onto them for now.”
“Well… suit yourself.”
Shin Yu-jeong tucked the box under her arm.
“I'm gonna go, then?”
“Yeah, get home safe.”
With that, she left my place with a look of relief, like someone who had just completed a smooth second-hand transaction.
Judging by her quick pace, she was either really happy or embarrassed about what had just happened.
“An interesting girl.”
When we first met, she made it painfully obvious she disliked me and was always on the offensive. Now, she gets embarrassed, laughs, and all sorts of things in front of me.
It feels deeply gratifying, and it makes me curious about the near future.
She changed this much just from conquering one dungeon together. I wonder how she'll be later on.
“Ugh.” A pleasant shiver ran down my spine, and I turned away.
“That's a problem for later.”
There was something more important right now.
Looking at the nine potions on the desk, I couldn't help but think the heavens were on my side.
I needed them for the Secret Art of Metamorphosis anyway.
“This should be enough to make this pathetic body somewhat human.”
I've thought this before, but this body is truly a testament to God's fairness.
It has all the talent a magician could ask for, but the body itself is trash.
It's so bad that even the Secret Art of Rapid Growth can't cover for it.
The foundation is inherently poor, so how much better can it really get from here?
In the end, there's only one fundamental solution: to completely overhaul the body's innate bone and muscle structure.
I knew this all along but couldn't do it because I had no way to recover after using the Secret Art of Metamorphosis.
I needed either a healer to continuously heal me or enough potions to fully recover. Finally, I've met that condition.
“Hoo.” Ah, but now that I'm about to do it, I'm getting worried.
“This is going to hurt like hell, ah.”
If I only think about the pain, I don't want to do it. But I have to.
Because if I succeed, this body will gain the things it was never born with.
“Status Window.”
[Status Window]
Name: Kim Do-jin
Sex: Male
Age: 20
Height/Weight: 167CM / 81.6KG
[Strength: 15] [Stamina: 20] [Agility: 11] [Mana: 35]
Traits:
Mutual Non-aggression [2022.06.09]~[2025.12.31]
Disclosure Prohibition [2022.06.09]~[2025.12.31]
The rate of weight loss is starting to slow, and the growth of my stats, excluding Mana, has also become sluggish.
And this is at a stage where my growth shouldn't be slowing down.
This isn't a matter of effort, but of talent.
With a good physical frame, you can grow more than others with the same amount of effort. But with a bad one, you have to work harder than everyone else just to keep up with the average.
That's this body. Its frame is so weak that even with several times the effort, I'd be lucky to even reach the middle.
If that were the only problem, I wouldn't complain. But the issue is that this guy's habits were just completely screwed up.
His body's balance is out of whack everywhere due to a prolonged sedentary lifestyle.
And that's not all. His sitting posture itself was crooked, so his body became crooked along with it.
It's gotten to the point where sitting in a normal posture feels uncomfortable.
Honestly, aside from the physical frame, these are all things that can be fixed without a secret art.
The problem is that correcting habits ingrained over a dozen years is easier said than done.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort. Moreover, it's impossible to return it to its original state completely.
A normal person wouldn't notice, but for someone like me who's an expert on physical structure, it means having to live with a slight misalignment that's just enough to be constantly annoying.
But the Secret Art of Metamorphosis can fix everything after one bout of excruciating pain.
So what choice do I have?
I have to do it.
“My mana is borderline, but it should be possible…”
With the amount of mana I've saved up, a perfect transformation might be impossible, but I should be able to restore the body's balance and solidify its frame.
“Strike while the iron is hot. Let's get this over with.”
I placed all the potions from the desk onto the floor. Then I sat cross-legged in front of them and stretched to release the excess tension in my body.
“Hoo…” I took a deep breath.
It's fine. I've done this before, right?
“…Shit.”
That's the problem. I've done it before, so I know exactly how much it hurts.
Even so, the thought of stopping doesn't cross my mind.
My current appearance makes it nearly impossible to be popular with women.
Things somehow worked out, and I managed to have sex with the ajumma and even get a blowjob from Yoon Ji-an, but I can't shake the feeling that I just got lucky.
To fix all this would mean wasting a good year.
I refuse.
Life's short enough as it is. I need to have fun while I'm still young.
“Let's do it. Let's go.”
So I'll do it. To enjoy the things I've never been able to enjoy before.
I slowly evened my breathing and closed my eyes.
Introspection.
Using the mana in my body, its internal structure appeared in my mind as clearly as if I were looking at it directly.
A weak and misaligned body that makes me sigh just looking at it.
Now, I have to break it all down, piece by piece, and reshape it into the form I desire.
My years and experience as the S-rank Hunter Son Si-woo superimposed an ideal form over this misaligned body.
This form was a combination of the parts of my body I was most confident in, along with the ideals I had for parts I wished were better.
An ideal form that could move gracefully in any time or situation, balanced between instantaneous and sustained power—a body that could excel in any environment, under any restriction.
If I follow that blueprint, I can have it.
The most ideal body I can imagine.
“Hup!”
With a short exhale, I shattered and crushed all the bones and muscles in my upper body that were protecting my organs.
“Kugh…!”
A pained groan I couldn't suppress escaped through my clenched teeth.
I've crossed the point of no return.
A human's bones and muscles can only withstand the Secret Art of Metamorphosis once.
Of course, you can force it more than that. In fact, my old body used the Secret Art of Metamorphosis three times.
You might think three times would result in a more perfect body. You'd be wrong.
The form may have become more ideal, but its strength was much weaker than after the first time.
That was because the human bones and muscles couldn't endure it and suffered permanent damage.
If I had known that beforehand, I might not have been just the number one Hunter in Korea, but a Hunter vying for the number one spot in the world.
So, one regret is enough.
This time, I have to sculpt the ideal body in a single attempt.
Crack! Crunch!
Snap!
Grisly sounds continuously assaulted my ears.
The pain that came with them was beyond what words could describe.
Once, while conquering an S-rank dungeon, I was caught in the grip of a giant monster in place of a comrade. The feeling of my entire body being crushed in its fist was similar to this, if anything was.
Of course, in terms of sheer pain, this is worse.
“Hoo, hah…!”
I used a portion of my mana to protect my organs and the rest to reassemble the finely shattered bones and muscles.
In this moment, my mana is my hands.
Following the image projected in my mind, I kneaded the bones and muscles as if playing with clay.
The things that had lost their form and crumbled were becoming harder, tougher, and changing into a more ideal shape.
Finally, after confirming that all the bones and muscles of my upper body had taken shape, I carefully reached out and grabbed a potion.
Pop!
Right now, the bones and muscles of my upper body had only just formed their shape; countless hairline fractures ran through all the bones.
If I moved even slightly too much, the bones throughout my body would crumble to dust again.
Before that happens, I have to use the potion to heal all the fractures and solidify the new form.
With great effort, I opened the stopper and brought the potion's mouth to my lips, pouring the contents in.
The potion's restorative power flowed down my throat and seeped into the cracked bones.
I could feel it.
The framework of bone and muscle, like a sandcastle that would wash away with a single wave, was growing harder by the second.
“Hoo…”
After a wave of pain washed over me, I looked down at my now-solidified upper body.
I was still fleshy, but the shape had changed.
My weight hadn't changed by even 0.1 kg, yet my belly fat seemed less prominent.
Honestly, the immediate external changes didn't seem miraculous enough to justify the pain I'd endured.
But I was certain. As time passed, my body would show a dramatic transformation.
The solid bones and muscles I could feel beneath the flesh were proof.
“Let's keep going.”
I had to finish the art before the heat in my body cooled. It would hurt less that way.
Snap! Snap!
Crunch!
Crack!
With a series of gruesome sounds, parts of my body were repeatedly pulverized and reformed.
Head, neck, chest, stomach, arms, thighs, knees, shins, feet.
It was becoming more and more like the ideal physical structure I had pictured in my mind.
Gulp! Gulp!
I downed the sixth potion.
Because I'd consumed several in one go, the restorative effects were starting to diminish, but thankfully, they were still effective enough to solidify the bones and muscles.
“Now for the last part…”
The detailed adjustments were finished.
The throbbing pain all over my body made me want to lose consciousness and collapse right then and there.
But it wasn't over yet.
Perhaps the most important final step remained: the joints connecting the bones.
The bones I had arbitrarily reformed were slightly misaligned with each other.
If I twisted them all to fit their new forms…
Snap! Pop!
Along with the pain, I felt a sense of ecstasy.
At the same time, a certainty formed in my mind.
Ah, this Secret Art of Metamorphosis has turned out more perfectly than I ever imagined.
Every time a joint snapped into place, a feeling of elation surged from deep within my bones and muscles.
This was a kind of ecstasy I had never felt even in my S-rank Hunter's body.
Most of the joints and segments settled into their optimal forms for movement.
Snap!
The moment the very last joint clicked into its perfect shape.
[Successfully absorbed information that will influence the search for a suitable Trait for the user.]
[Narrowing the scope of the Trait search based on the absorbed information.]
[The absorbed information has a decisive impact on the Trait search.]
[The scope of the Trait search is greatly reduced.]
[Time remaining until Trait discovery: 335:59:55]
So I'm getting a Trait after all…?
The remaining time, which had been hidden by question marks, finally revealed itself.
336 hours. 14 days. Two weeks.
Coincidentally, that was the same day as the special admission for Korea University.