2. My Buff is a Drug
2. My Buff is a Drug
"W-will I be a-able to do it th-this time... I have to do w-well, I r-really, r-really have to..."
Inherently timid, easily frightened, and a stutterer whose halting speech grew genuinely painful to hear whenever she got nervous — that was Seo Ha-yoon.
She suffered from hemophobia and had a constitution that made her faint from acute anemia at the mere sight of fresh, vivid crimson blood. And yet, astonishingly, she was this party's tank.
"Hoooh, I'm starving..."
Han Geon-hu stood barely 160 centimeters tall, but her weight had to be well over 120 kilos.
Physically, she seemed far better suited for the tank role. But Han Geon-hu was a mage — the party's sole ranged dealer.
After firing off a single spell, she immediately became ravenous and had to cram something into her mouth before she could ready her next spell.
At first glance, you might think she was slinging magic so mighty it burned through all her calories in an instant, but...
The only spell she could use, amazingly enough, was a single Class 1 Wind Blast — just a sharp little gust of wind.
"Hahaha! This time will be different. I can feel an unknown power churning wildly inside me!"
Chae Hwa-ra laughed with one eye theatrically covered and her voice forced into an exaggerated low register. The act was so painfully awkward that it was instantly obvious she was playing a role.
She spoke as if she'd gained some tremendous power, but the only ability she could use was a lone self-buff that raised strength and stamina by about level one.
Which meant she had zero offensive ability and a chronic case of chuunibyou delusions.
She held the melee dealer position, and her specialty was charging in with a full dramatic flourish before being sent flying spectacularly in the opposite direction.
"......."
The man standing there in silence, head hung low, was Choi Hye-yong, who suffered from aphasia.
This guy couldn't utter a single word. Literally.
Not that he made any effort to communicate by carrying paper and a pen, or by learning sign language.
He simply handled every exchange by nodding or shaking his head. To the people forced to coordinate with him, he was a walking tumor — a source of extreme frustration and incurable headache.
If he'd at least had outstanding ability, that might have been one thing. But as a Blessing Mage, the only buff he could use was a single flimsy, barely-there shield.
'Aah.'
Surveying the members one by one, party leader Choi Ah-young intuited with absolute certainty: they were fucked.
This was the all-time nightmare party.
Four members so hopelessly useless that having even one of them on your team would make you want to die.
'God, what exactly did I do wrong?'
Choi Ah-young didn't follow any particular religion.
But today, more than ever, she desperately wanted to believe.
'Sniff... why on earth...!'
She'd once heard the famous saying: wherever five people gather, at least one is guaranteed to be trash.
Recalling that, Ah-young thought to herself:
If only one of them were trash, like the saying goes — how wonderful would that be!
This party's deadweight duel was a circle of hell with no equal.
Stuck here as the leader, her own situation felt unbearably miserable and pathetic.
If there hadn't been eyes watching, she probably would have bawled until her sleeves were soaked.
But Choi Ah-young swallowed her tears with effort.
She wasn't excessively timid, she was close to a normal weight, she had no chuunibyou, and she could speak just fine.
Unfortunately, however, her luck was utterly abysmal.
Strangely, every time they went on a raid, every kind of misfortune descended and nothing ever went well.
She hadn't done anything particularly wrong, but as it kept happening, her peers began avoiding her until she fell all the way down here.
She liked to think she didn't belong among these dregs, but objectively speaking, Choi Ah-young was treated as a loser castoff all the same.
"Hah."
She let out a small sigh and resolved to find some kind of breakthrough.
No matter how much she despaired and cried, the situation wasn't going to change.
Choi Ah-young decided to try speaking with the one person who was at least somewhat helpful: Choi Hye-yong.
"Hey, Hye-yong... we..."
But Choi Hye-yong's state seemed a little off.
He was standing there blankly, as though staring at a ghost, his unfocused eyes fixed on the floor.
"Choi Hye-yong?"
"Gnh..."
Choi Hye-yong groaned, his face scrunched up tightly.
Sensing something was wrong, Choi Ah-young asked with concern.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Guh... fuck, my head."
She flinched.
"Ch-Choi Hye-yong. D-did you just... did you just speak?"
"What are you talking about, you fuck! Ghnrghk!"
"Wh-what... you, you just called me a fuck..."
Stunned, Choi Ah-young was completely ignored. Choi Hye-yong, who had been clutching his head, suddenly snapped his chin up.
His eyes flew wide open and he frantically scanned his surroundings.
"This place... where is it?"
"......."
Dumbfounded, she lost her words.
Still, Choi Ah-young decided to answer him.
She'd known for a long time that Choi Hye-yong's mental state was a little unusual.
"This is the Otherworld Waiting Room."
"The Otherworld?"
"Yeah. We agreed to do a raid, remember?"
What the hell kind of bullshit was that.
A raid? Why would I go on a raid?
That kind of thing... that's only in a game...
Choi Hye-yong paused mid-thought and asked with a jolt.
"You... don't tell me you're Choi Ah-young?"
At that, Ah-young gave him a puzzled look.
"Who else here would be Choi Ah-young?"
"How on earth... are you... here?"
"How am I here... I'm the leader of this party."
"No, that's not what I'm saying! You, you're a ga..."
Choi Hye-yong broke off mid-sentence and clutched his head again.
"GKRK!"
What was wrong with him, seriously.
The one person she'd thought was somewhat normal had completely lost it, and Choi Ah-young felt the tears she'd been holding back beginning to rise again.
Just then, Seo Ha-yoon cut in.
"U-um, Ah-young... Hye-yong s-seems to be in a really weird state r-right now. H-how about we... m-meet again t-tomorrow maybe?"
His state did look genuinely bad.
"Hoooh, I wanna lie down in bed."
"His state does appear rather poor. Had he received 'That Person's' blessing, such a thing would never have happened. Though I suppose rest might improve it!"
Both Han Geon-hu and Chae Hwa-ra agreed with Seo Ha-yoon.
Heading into a raid in this condition was untenable, so they had no choice but to go back.
'Haa, another day gobbled up with no meaning whatsoever.'
A deep sigh escaped her, but what could she do.
They had to go back.
"Are you feeling a bit better now?"
"Yeah... uh, what was your name again?"
"I'm Seo Ha-yoon."
He'd said he didn't know where his room was, so Seo Ha-yoon had escorted him all the way there.
Right, Seo Ha-yoon.
That name did exist, didn't it.
"Thanks, Ha-yoon. Go on in and rest."
"Okay. Um... but... we really have to go on the raid tomorrow. We don't have much time left... especially Ah-young — if things keep going like this, she might get expelled soon. She's desperate, I think..."
"Uh-huh, right."
After giving a vague answer of acknowledgment, Choi Hye-yong sent Seo Ha-yoon off and sat down on the bed in his dorm room.
Then he grabbed his own cheek and pulled hard.
It hurt with crystal clarity.
He used to curse in novels and comics whenever something absurd happened and a character would pinch their own cheek, saying how could everyone do the exact same thing. But now, Choi Hye-yong realized that when a person is thrown into a truly absurd situation, the range of available actions honestly wasn't that wide after all.
'Thinking. Let's try this thing called thinking.'
First of all, this place was inside the Modpack Hye-yong had created.
Just moments ago, Hye-yong had been about to go on a raid with four characters that he himself, the creator, could claim ownership of.
He had no idea why it had turned out that way, but regardless — it had.
'That was the situation I experienced just now.'
Then why?
Why did he have to go through this situation?
— Data 100% Match Confirmed
— Search Target Discovered
— Would you like to enter the world?
Recalling the memory just before he'd lost consciousness, Hye-yong squeezed his forehead with his right hand.
It was truly, truly hard to believe, but some strange entity seemed to have dragged him here.
He'd thought that maybe everything would go back to normal after a night's sleep, but that hope hadn't panned out in the slightest.
Choi Hye-yong decided to simply accept the situation he was in now.
'If it's a dream, I'll wake up eventually. But what if it isn't? Then what? Then I live here. Shit.'
Let's stay calm and take stock.
'I am Choi Hye-yong.'
Choi Hye-yong wasn't merely the name of a game character.
It was also his actual name.
Why were his real name and the character name the same?
Because the character Choi Hye-yong was created using the actual mod creator Choi Hye-yong as a motif.
Of course, aside from the appearance he'd rendered with graphics, there wasn't a single resemblance.
The real Choi Hye-yong had never once in his life suffered from aphasia.
If the character was based on him, why had he made the character like this? Because if the character modeled on him came out looking cool, it would have been a bit embarrassing.
In-game, Choi Hye-yong was blatantly a cancer character.
In the early tutorial of the Modpack Hye-yong had made, you had to slowly raise the affinity of the five-member group — Seo Ha-yoon, Chae Hwa-ra, Choi Hye-yong, Han Geon-hu, and Choi Ah-young — a little at a time to advance to the next chapter.
But Choi Hye-yong never responded with a single line of dialogue when spoken to, so you had to carefully select from the choices that occasionally popped up in order to raise his affinity. Hye-yong had deliberately twisted those choices around to make the affinity grind harder.
In the end, if you didn't follow a guide, you were forced to drag him around while grinding for affinity. His abilities were weak, he never offered a single warning like "I'm in danger," and he just up and died, sometimes forcing a save reload. A thoroughly malicious character.
Because of this, on community sites discussing this Modpack, assassinating Choi Hye-yong after the chapter ended became an outright meme that always held a spot among the top recommended posts.
At one point, Hye-yong had considered deleting him, but by then he figured the character was a piece of content in its own right. And since he was just a tutorial character without much narrative weight, he'd left him as-is.
Choi Hye-yong himself was also a deviant who'd snickered while watching the character based on him die in all sorts of ways.
And as a result, the real-world Choi Hye-yong had ended up possessing the in-game Choi Hye-yong.
'If this is the game world and I've actually become the character itself, what's the best way to survive here?'
BWEE-REEK! BWEE-REEK!
At the sudden noise, he flinched in surprise.
"Ah, the hell."
The sound was coming from his pocket.
Not a smartphone... but rather the 'Terminal,' an in-game item issued to him.
In the setting, it was a device containing the information and messenger functions necessary for school life.
There were plenty of other settings related to it, but more importantly, he needed to focus on the new messages floating on the screen right now.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Thank you so much for agreeing to help my world in its moment of crisis! ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : You're the best, Creator! I will never, ever forget this kindness! ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : I love you! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( emoticon of a blonde female character blowing a finger kiss )
What buzzed was the messenger.
Someone with a name written in garbled nonsense text had messaged him.
That way of speaking, calling him Creator.......
Choi Hye-yong was certain.
The person who sent the message was definitely 'that author.'
From Choi Hye-yong's perspective, it felt like spotting the last lifeline he could cling to.
He furiously typed into the newly generated 1-on-1 chat room.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Who said! When! They'd help! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I don't know what this is, but send me back! I was dragged here against my will! ]
A new message immediately popped up.
[ Bwitgwitgak : What!? But I clearly explained everything? Didn't you understand and accept? ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I didn't hear any explanation! It just said "will you enter" out of nowhere, what acceptance is that—I got dragged in because you misspoke! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character pressing both cheeks with her hands, mouth open, screaming )
[ Bwitgwitgak : That can't be! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I don't know your circumstances, but just send me back. I don't want to be here any longer. ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character fidgeting with her index fingers together )
[ Bwitgwitgak : Well, uh. It seems there was an error and the delivery didn't convey properly...... until I regain control of the world, you, Creator, cannot go back either. ]
What the fuck?
What did you just say!
Can't go back!?
[ Choi Hye-yong : There's no such thing! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character doing a dogeza bow of apology )
[ Bwitgwitgak : I'm, I'm sorry. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Is being sorry gonna cut it? At least try to find a way! ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Sob sob! Summoning you, Creator, was my last power. I've had everything stolen from me. I have nothing left now! ]
Claims of having everything stolen, of having nothing left—to Choi Hye-yong, it just sounded like nonsense.
He had truly been dragged here without knowing anything.
Seeing them apologize like that made him feel a bit harsh, but he was desperate too.
[ Choi Hye-yong : I'm telling you again, I can't help! What can I possibly do? Stop trying to deceive me and just send me back! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character with a gloomy expression taking off a suit jacket )
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character wearing only black underwear, neatly folding the removed clothes and laying them out in front of her )
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character wearing only underwear, doing a dogeza bow )
Seeing that, he smacked his forehead with his palm.
He dragged his hand down his face.
Good lord.
He really can't go back?
"Ha, fuck."
Letting out a soul-drenched sigh, Choi Hye-yong calmed himself down and decided to try chatting again.
[ Choi Hye-yong : What do I have to do? Start with that explanation you said was omitted. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Ah, aaah! ]
Bwitgwitgak began the explanation.
No matter how he listened, it was an utterly absurd case.
For starters, it was incredibly surreal.
[ Choi Hye-yong : So, you were born to create one world in this dimension, but to fulfill that mission you needed something called the Power of Perception, so you approached me, a human from a higher dimension? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : That's right! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : You failed at this and that, then tried me out on a whim, and it went better than expected. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes! The internet, it turns out, carries a purer concentration of the Power of Perception than I thought! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Thanks to that, you made the world, but something strange got mixed in? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Exactly! The evil Virus! If left alone, it'll devour the world I built with so much effort! I used up all my power halting the Virus's main body from spreading and now I can't even manipulate the world. If the Virus eats my world, I'll be extinguished, hweeeng....... ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Ah right, I heard that earlier. Anyway, so you were trembling on the verge of extinction, and you thought maybe I could do something, so you kidnapped me? ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character with her hands clasped to her chest, on the verge of tears )
[ Bwitgwitgak : I didn't mean to kidnap you! I was going to explain everything and ask a favor! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Ah, what's the use. I got kidnapped anyway. ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character with her hands clasped to her chest, bursting into tears )
It was hard to believe and confusing, but cutting out all the bullshit and summarizing it simply, the situation was this.
She had somehow managed to stop the Virus from spreading across the world with her remaining power, but because of that, she herself was bound and could do nothing.
Therefore, she wanted Choi Hye-yong to do something.
Choi Hye-yong thought.
What the hell am I supposed to do?
[ Choi Hye-yong : If you had the idea to summon me, you must at least have a plan? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : I thought since you were coming to help, you'd have a plan...... I assumed you, Creator, would handle it on your own. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : You stupid bitch! ]
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character getting punched by a fist flying from somewhere )
Bwitgwitgak : ( An emoticon of a blonde female character with a black eye, crying with a pitiful expression )
[ Bwitgwitgak : Sob...... It's not that I have no plan at all. ]
"Hoo."
Okay, calling her a bitch was too much.
Apologize, and calm down.
Let's talk again, Choi Hye-yong decided.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Sorry for swearing. So what's this plan? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : It's to form relationships with the people of my world. ]
Form relationships?
[ Bwitgwitgak : The people of my world weren't born through normal reproduction. They were all originally spirits without egos—when the world was constructed, they were granted personalities and bodies to match it. Even so, they aren't really different from real humans born of sexual reproduction...... but they have one essential shortcoming. ]
This sounded a bit complicated.
Was she saying they're like dolls with egos?
No, from the sound of it, that wasn't the case.
They were just humans, but with a slightly different nature—that kind of feeling.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Namely, they cannot generate the Power of Perception. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : You keep saying Power of Perception, Power of Perception—what the hell is it. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Hmm, it's hard to explain. Roughly, think of it as existential force touching the universe? Something like that. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : I have no idea what you're talking about even after hearing that. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Anyway! Since you, Creator, clearly came from a higher dimension, possess existential force as a human, and had a profound influence on the construction of this world, you can plant the Power of Perception in my world's people. By forming relationships with them. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : What exactly do you mean by forming relationships? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Engraving your existence in their heart. A close friend, or a lover—they're always in one corner of your heart, right? The more special the bond, the more Power of Perception you can plant. Once you plant the seed, that Power of Perception will flow into me bit by bit and become a means to suppress the Virus. And then, I'll be able to offer you various kinds of help, Creator! ]
Ah, he felt like he was finally getting a rough understanding.
[ Choi Hye-yong : In short, just make a lot of friends as I live, right? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes! It'd be even better if it develops into lovers, a master-servant relationship, or something very special! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Does it matter if they hate me? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Hatred can also plant the Power of Perception...... but almost no power will flow to me. A seed planted by negative emotions yields extremely unstable power. But if you can change that negative emotion into a positive one, you can acquire even greater Power of Perception! I think they call this love-hate? ]
Haah, why did he have to just accept this.
Choi Hye-yong felt his future was incredibly bleak.
'Engrave my existence in their heart...... no way that's gonna be easy. Unless I'm doing bad things or weird shit.'
But doing that held little meaning, they said.
Was there no other way?
[ Choi Hye-yong : Honestly, this is incredibly convoluted. Easier said than done, how am I supposed to make friends in this state? Aren't you giving me some kind of special ability? ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Hing, I'd like to, but I have no power left at all. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : The character I possessed, this guy's a genuine trash-tier. This is impossible as I am now. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : In any case, Creator, you are also an existence that greatly influenced the making of this world. If you look hard, isn't there at least one thing!? ]
'Irresponsible as fuck. How would I know if I ask myself if there's something?'
Still, he decided to give it some thought.
"Hmm."
Thinking.
"Hrrrm."
Thinking again.
But the answer wouldn't come easily.
'Ah, fuck. My head's starting to hurt again.'
Feeling like whatever happens will happen, he just threw a guess out there.
"Mod Inventory."
An in-game function that called forth usable mods and stored them as items in a separate inventory.
Naturally, he thought it wouldn't work.......
"Huh?"
< Personal Mod Inventory >
[ Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom ]
A list of usable personal mods was output.
It had come out as Personal Mod Inventory instead of just Mod Inventory, but anyway, it did come out.
This actually worked?
This mod called Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom was a mod Choi Hye-yong had made personally.
Choi Hye-yong had made the character based on himself—Choi Hye-yong—intentionally cancer-tier because he thought it'd look pathetic if he made him cool or high-performance, but he still had a small bit of pity for him.
So at least for himself, he'd made the Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom to secretly play as a hidden powerhouse.
He'd never released it anywhere, and he'd stopped making it halfway, so it was unfinished.
But the fact that it was unfinished wasn't important.
The fact that the Mod Inventory reacted at all was important.
Because if the commands worked, forming relationships and such would be nothing!
"Console! Debug! Beginner's Gift! Showmethemoney!"
For about an hour, he shouted every command and cheat he could think of.
But nothing happened.
The only reactive keywords were Mod Inventory and Mod Apply.
"Ah...... goddammit."
In the end, the only thing Hye-yong could lean on was the 'Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom.'
'Can't be helped. Even if it's unfinished, its performance is decent.'
The Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom, staying true to its name, allowed him to customize the buff skills he possessed.
If he could just tune the performance properly, he'd be able to get by in this strange world.
It'll work out, right?
It'll work out.
It has to.
"Apply Mod."
Carefully, Hye-yong applied the Choi Hye-yong Buff Custom mod to himself.