11. My Buff is a Drug
11. My Buff is a Drug
[ Choi Hye-yong : Got a minute to talk? ]
As soon as he got back to his dorm room, he flipped open his terminal and sent a message.
[ Bwitgwitgak : What is it? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Saw something interesting today. A character that looked almost identical to one I made for a sponsor request. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : You must be talking about the custom characters. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Yeah, those. There aren't any freaks among them, right? Like ones that blow up the planet or compress the universe or something. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : You don't have to worry about that! They weren't made that sloppily. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Figured as much. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes. From our perspective, custom characters are like impurities left over after filtering the power of recognition, so only traces of them would remain. Obviously there aren't any entities with the power to annihilate the universe. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I see. ]
That was answer enough.
[ Choi Hye-yong : So I can assume there aren't any entities in this world that would suddenly threaten my life. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : That's not quite true either. Psychopathic murderers and random killings exist in every world. You could also die in a freak accident. Normally I would prevent it, but right now that's impossible...... so you have to grow strong enough not to be threatened. ]
So that's how it was.
As Bwitgwitgak said, that was exactly what Hye-yong had to worry about.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Got the gist of it. By the way, this thing about forming relationships — any tricks to it? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Tricks? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Like, which methods are useful for gathering the power of recognition. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Hmm...... well, for starters, it's better to firmly imprint your existence on one person than to have a vague influence on many. If there's someone who thinks only of Creator-nim all day and whose entire life revolves around Creator-nim, then a steady supply of recognition power becomes possible. ]
'Someone who thinks only of me all day and whose life revolves around me?'
Wouldn't they have to be something like a lover?
And one with a very deep bond at that.
'Yeah, that's tough. No way it'd be easy.'
If not that, then.......
[ Choi Hye-yong : So if I became a celebrity or started a cult, I could farm it like crazy? There are plenty of people who go completely insane over their idols — fanatics, obsessive stans. If they get hooked properly, they'd think about me all day and their whole lives would revolve around me. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : That could be an effective method, but....... ]
Bwitgwitgak's reaction was lukewarm.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Simply receiving blind faith and love from an unspecified mass of characters like that won't let you acquire proper recognition power. What matters more than anything else in gaining recognition power is the relationship you've built with that character! However, laying that groundwork would certainly set the stage for building relationships! ]
Groundwork for building relationships, huh.
That made sense.
If your favorite celebrity — your so-called "ultimate bias" — asked you out, hardly anyone would refuse.
'So admiration or faith born from appearance is only useful as a way to get closer.'
In the end, only building a direct relationship had any real meaning.
[ Bwitgwitgak : The method I recommend is conditioning! Making it so they can't endure either body or mind without Creator-nim! Isn't that much easier than building goodwill and developing a relationship? If you could take someone who absolutely loathed Creator-nim and turn them into a drooling wreck by the end of conditioning, that would be the best! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( emoji of a blonde female character wearing a dog collar, thrusting a leash forward )
'This one really isn't right in the head either.'
He'd had a feeling that was the case, but he hadn't expected it to be stated so blatantly.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Haven't you been reading too many comics or novels? That's hard to pull off. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Ah...... is that so? I would think Creator-nim's ability makes it plenty possible? ]
"Yeah?"
Now that he thought about it, this ability.......
Couldn't he cast something like hypnosis too?
Hadn't he just experienced it earlier?
Hye-yong clearly had no particular talent for shooting.
Yet as soon as he cast a buff on himself that raised his proficiency and accuracy, his body moved on its own as if the talent had suddenly manifested.
The Buff Custom ability was nearly identical to the ability to create traits.
Allure, fascination, and even mental domination — it was a world where traits like that wouldn't be strange at all.
What if he changed the buff content to something like 'falls in love with the buff caster'?
[ Bwitgwitgak : Oh, that won't work! ]
When he pitched the idea to Bwitgwitgak, the response was a flat rejection.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Why? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Mental domination and hypnosis aren't the person's true feelings. It's nothing more than manufacturing a fake personality, dragging it out, and controlling it. You can't plant a Seed of Recognition that way. What matters is sincerity — sincerity! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Then what am I supposed to do. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Swallowing food in one bite gives you indigestion. You have to chew it! The more thoroughly you chew, the more nutrients you absorb and the less trouble it causes. Rather than manipulating the heart itself with your ability, it's better to "guide" the other person so those feelings arise on their own! ]
Guide them so those feelings arise?
'This is hard. Really hard.'
Since it was hard, he figured he'd just make some kind of hypnosis-like skill first and think about it later.
There was absolutely no personal motive — purely an experiment to gather recognition power.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Ah! And the more influence someone wields over the world, the more recognition power you'll secure when you plant a Seed of Recognition in them. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Hm, well, that's obvious. This was helpful. Thanks for answering all my questions. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : You're the one helping me, Creator-nim! Call on me anytime! ]
And so the conversation with Bwitgwitgak ended.
'Hypnosis. So it's hypnosis, huh.'
Why hadn't he thought of that yet?
'Guess I really was pretty rattled. Other world means hypnosis, hypnosis means other world.'
He'd gained the ability to use the hypnosis app he'd only ever fantasized about.
He couldn't stop his heart from pounding at the realization.
Whether it wasn't genuine, whether it didn't accumulate recognition power — none of that bothered him in the slightest.
Wasn't the point simply that he could do whatever he pleased?
'I was living a perfectly normal life and then got kidnapped into another world. Huh? Don't I at least deserve to enjoy this much? Huh?'
Thinking about women brought back the vivid sensation he'd felt through Baek Yun-seo's pajamas when she adjusted his posture.
As for Hye-yong's life story: boys' middle school, boys' high school, started university at 20, military at 21, graduated at 25, got a job right away, worked about a year and a half, quit, then started making mods.
It felt like he'd done nothing at all, and yet here he was, 27!
The only time he'd had a girlfriend in his life was a mere two months when he was 21.
On top of that, Hye-yong's current body had reverted to the fresh, youthful physique of his high school days.
Body and mind both in their prime — as a man, thinking about women was inevitable.
If he'd never experienced it, maybe it'd be different — but the problem was that he had.
And on top of that, when it came to Awakened, there were hardly any ugly people, were there?
Once you Awakened and became a new kind of human, your skin and even your bone structure shifted toward the ideal.
That's supposedly why most celebrities were Awakened.
He didn't even need to look far — just his own party members were all cute and pretty enough to turn him on.
That rule applied to Hye-yong himself, too. Looking in the mirror, he could clearly tell his skin had improved and he'd become fairly good-looking in his own way.
Of course, getting younger probably played a part too.
'Ah, hypnosis! Who should I test it on first.'
As if he already held the hypnosis app in his hands, Hye-yong eagerly opened the Buff Custom window.
[ Impossible! ]
"Hm."
But he'd been counting his chickens way, way too early.