10. My Buff is a Drug
10. My Buff is a Drug
"Flying Kite Pistol. That's the one I recommend for total beginners."
The pistol wasn't too big and looked lightweight.
Clack—
She rummaged through the drawer right next to where she'd been sleeping, fished out a magazine, loaded it, and handed the gun over.
'She's handing a loaded firearm to a first-timer? Just like that?'
Did that mean pulling the trigger would actually fire a bullet right now?
Not a single safety measure in sight.
It practically radiated confidence that getting shot a few times wouldn't kill you.
"Here, put the earmuffs on. The Level 1 training targets are about to pop up in front of you. It's beginner stuff, so if you can't even handle this, you'd be better off quitting early."
She said that as she put the hearing protection earmuffs on me herself.
And exactly one second later, the targets appeared.
Up, then down.
Small targets popping up at random spots and vanishing in an instant. It did not look easy to hit them.
This was... beginner stuff?
Apparently Awakened really were built different.
'Hm, so I just shoot those, huh.'
Hye-yong glanced at the woman.
She was looking back at him with a face that said, What're you waiting for? Shoot already!
'What's the worst that could happen.'
Bang—!
He aimed and fired in what he thought was the most natural stance possible.
The heavy recoil jarred through both hands.
The pistol looked light, but the recoil was considerable.
He'd definitely fired, but the target gave no indication it had been hit—no flip-down, nothing.
"Stop, stop. That's a mess from top to bottom. I'll fix your stance."
The woman pressed right up against his back and adjusted his waist, his arms, his whole posture.
'Oh, oh wow.'
Her first impression had been so carelessly casual that he hadn't really registered her as a woman, but with her touching him all over, a distinct softness made itself known—and suddenly he was very aware of it.
"There. Try firing again from that stance."
Bang—!
Clack!
This time, one target properly flipped over.
'Wow, changing one posture adjustment and the shot lands like magic. What the hell.'
This person really was a genuine instructor.
The woman stopped the training sequence and explained.
"The stance I just adjusted you into is textbook. Literally the standard form you'd find in a manual. If you can manage it, it's better to find a stance that suits you personally. If you can't, then you drill the textbook form until it sticks. Now then, let's try aiming for the head."
Beep—
She pressed the remote and the targets came back up.
So now he had to hit the head...
Bang—!
Miss.
Bang—!
'...Still a miss, huh?'
Bang—!
Two shots outright missed. One shot did hit, but it wasn't a headshot, so the target didn't flip.
Bang—!
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
Somehow his pride got involved and he kept shooting...
Click click!
"Uh."
Did he seriously dump a whole magazine already?
"Whoa— you really are god-awful at this, aren't you? Zero talent. Absolute zero. You can't even hit the thing, what're you gonna do with a gun? Gonna shoot your F-rank buddies in the back of the head with that? Just look for something else, man."
She mocked him with a grin that was genuinely infuriating.
It stung his pride enough that backing down was not an option.
"I'm a first-timer! Being bad is completely normal! I'm starting to get the hang of it, okay?"
"Oh, really? Then by all means, keep at it!"
She brought a fresh magazine and reloaded for him.
'I'll just delete every buff I had saved. Screw it.'
Even if he wiped them, he could just remake them, no big deal!
It was a hassle, sure, but the indignant frustration boiling up inside him massively outweighed the annoyance.
Hye-yong quickly created a new buff.
[ Firearm Proficiency Increase ]
Pistol Proficiency +3 levels
Pistol Accuracy +3 levels
Self-cast only
'Let's start light with 3 levels each. I'll raise it gradually and feel it out.'
The moment he applied the completed buff to himself, a massive wave of change surged through him.
'The feel of the gun in my hand... it's so natural!'
His grip had improved in an instant.
The solid feel of the pistol in his hands felt so good it was almost pleasant.
His grip technique began subtly adjusting to fit his hand size.
It felt as if proper shooting form had been ingrained in his body through long training.
'I feel like if I shoot now, I'll hit it.'
The moment that confidence surfaced, he pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
Clack!
A red light lit up on the head, and the target flipped over.
"Oh, it was a little off-center, but you did hit the head."
"Told you. I'm getting the hang of it."
"Let's see if that was a fluke."
The targets came back up.
It felt like the distance had increased, but Hye-yong focused as hard as he could and aimed at the emerging targets.
Once again, the targets came back up.
He opened Buff Custom and quickly modified the values.
He bumped the proficiency and accuracy further up.
'Holy shit, this is fucking incredible.'
After raising the performance and reapplying the buff, it was like a whole new world opened up.
He'd seen flaws in his previous shooting too.
Fwip!
A stance that felt like instinct delivering instructions painted itself in his mind.
It suited Hye-yong himself better than the textbook form the woman had set him in.
Hye-yong translated the mental image into reality and readied himself to hit the targets.
'This guy...'
Oblivious to the woman's eyes fixed on him, he pulled the trigger with an expression full of confidence.
Bang—!
Clack!
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, a red light flashed on the target's head and it flipped backward.
"Oh, clean."
That one was a full clean hit.
'This kid's skill keeps going up the more he shoots, doesn't it?'
The woman, as a firearms instructor, felt the urge to test him further.
"This time it's Level 2 training. The distance increases and the targets move a lot more erratically. Think you can handle it?"
"Let's find out."
Beep!
The targets popped up at a visibly much farther distance.
'Wow. Trying to hit them makes them look really small. Just how much further away is this?'
He had no choice but to push the numbers higher.
This time, all the way to the max.
[ Firearm Proficiency Increase ]
Pistol Proficiency +11 levels
Pistol Accuracy +11 levels
'11 levels. Full cost.'
Once he applied the buff he'd made, he felt like he could hit them all and then some.
Confidence surging out of control!
Hye-yong quickly aimed and pulled the trigger.
Bang—!
Just like before, the target spewed red light and collapsed.
Exactly seven targets went down—the full magazine capacity of the Flying Kite.
'Oh, so it wasn't a fluke?'
Baek Yun-seo, the firearms instructor, was quietly impressed.
She hadn't thought he'd pull this off so easily.
It made her genuinely question whether today really was his first time holding a gun.
'No point making him shoot the same difficulty twice.'
Curious to see how far he'd go, Baek Yun-seo grinned with interest.
"Next, Level 3!"
Hit.
"Level 4!"
Hit.
"Level 5! If you clear this, I'll admit it. I'll say my eyes were trash for not recognizing a guy like you sooner."
Level 5.
True to the instructor's words, the distance was absurdly long, the targets seemed even smaller, and their movement was outrageously fast and erratic.
Even Hye-yong, buffed up as he was, wasn't sure he could pull this one off.
He'd probably need to bring an even stronger buff.
'Still, I'm gonna try.'
Hye-yong began focusing to the utmost limit.
'Here? No, a little more...'
The muzzle shifted.
Up. A little more to the side.
A tiny adjustment downward.
"Well, I'll be."
The woman watching let out a dry chuckle.
'Is he drawing the bullet trajectories in his head? A guy who says today's his first time...'
Was this really the same person who claimed he'd never shot a gun before today and had absolutely no firearm-related traits?
If everything he said was true, he was genuinely a genius.
'This is it.'
After his fine adjustments, the moment certainty clicked into place, Hye-yong pulled the trigger.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
Gunshots rang out in rapid succession.
Five out of seven bullets hit their targets.
"Haah."
He hadn't hit all of them, but Hye-yong figured he'd done more than well enough. The moment the tension broke, a sigh escaped him.
"I take back what I said about you being garbage! You seriously don't have any traits?"
"I checked just in case I had one, but nope. Nothing in particular."
"You, you son of a bitch. You shouldn't have been born now! Should've been born before the Heterogeneous Species invaded. Back when Awakened weren't even a thing!"
The instructor who'd been praising Hye-yong clicked her tongue at the same time.
"Tsk, what rotten luck. In the end, what's the point of shooting well? No traits, so you can't even infuse bullets with mana. A guy who shoots on par with A-ranks through pure skill, and he's stuck at F-rank because of bad luck."
Her regret was a non-issue as far as Hye-yong was concerned.
In a sense, this Buff Custom ability was basically the same as manufacturing traits.
If he wanted, he could just spend the cost to add a buff that infused mana into bullets, and that would be that.
Sure, doing that would mean he couldn't pull off the same performance he'd just shown, but that was something he could fix by gradually expanding the power of his custom buffs later.
Shooting on par with A-rank, though.
Hearing that brought a certain face to mind.
"That A-rank. A girl, right? Carries a pistol strapped to her thigh, long navy-blue hair, looks kind of young..."
"Yeah, that's right. Nishimoto Kana. How do you know her?"
A Japanese name suddenly popped out.
It wasn't impossible, setting-wise.
Sure, it was located in Korea with a mostly Korean student body, but this was unmistakably an international academy. She could easily be an exchange student.
It was just... a bit uncanny.
Because he suddenly recalled the memory of creating an anime-style character with an image extremely similar to this Nishimoto Kana.
'She might be a custom character.'
A custom character was exactly what it sounded like—custom.
A character built to a sponsor's exact specifications.
Demon Lords, Great Archangels.
Strongest on Earth, Planet Destroyer, Absolute Reflection, Total Invincibility No Matter What!
There were plenty of characters packed with all kinds of insane settings that turned into total clusterfucks.
If all those custom characters existed in this world, it would definitely be a complete disaster zone.
'Well, it's probably fine. The entity that constructed this world wouldn't have just sat back and let universe-god-tier characters run loose.'
...Could the Virus use that to wreak havoc?
He'd ask about it separately later.
"Hey! Student!"
"Ah, yes?"
Lost in thought, Hye-yong flinched at the instructor's shout and answered.
"I'm asking you. How do you know Nishimoto Kana? She's a second-year."
"Ah, I only saw her face. I was leaving the shooting range and saw this small girl carrying a big gun. It looked cool. That's actually why I came in here."
"Yeah? Well, figures. No way you two would know each other. A-rank and F-rank live in different worlds."
With that, the instructor reached over and took off the hearing protection earmuffs Hye-yong was wearing.
"What's your name?"
"Choi Hye-yong."
"Come back tomorrow. I'll get a decent pistol ready for you—something good. With this level, even without traits, you won't have any trouble up to the upper ranks of E-rank."
"Ah, thank you."
"I'm Baek Yun-seo. Officially the firearms instructor. As you saw, the number of Awakened with gun-related traits is tiny to begin with, so I'm free all day, every day. It's off-season for classes, but I'll treat this like private instruction. You caught my interest."
Private instruction.
From Hye-yong's standpoint, this had worked out very well.
Beyond just learning how to shoot, he could be taught reloading, handling, maintenance, and even how to deal with Heterogeneous Species.
"Then I'll come again tomorrow."
"Yeah, go on. I'm gonna sleep more."
Hwaaaahm!
Baek Yun-seo let out a huge yawn, sprawled out over her chair, and promptly buried herself in a blanket.
'If she's gonna sleep that openly, why not just lie down somewhere comfortable? Why sleep like that?'
Harboring that question, he returned to his room.