23. My Buff is a Drug
23. My Buff is a Drug
"I'm here......."
"What's with the long face today?"
For once, Baek Yun-seo was wide awake and brimming with energy.
She was even dressed sharply in her full instructor uniform.
"You've got the look of a guy who just got dumped by a girl."
"Huh?"
Hye-yong had been about to put on his gloves as usual, but he was so genuinely startled that he let out a choked sound and spun toward Baek Yun-seo.
Baek Yun-seo saw his expression, froze for about 0.3 seconds, and then burst out laughing.
"Bahaha! This bastard! You got dumped, huh? Dumped!!!"
Still laughing boisterously, Baek Yun-seo hooked an arm around his neck in a headlock.
"Hey, hey, don't let it get you down. This place is crawling with women. Don't cry over getting dumped—consider it a stroke of luck you became a male Awakened in the first place!"
"Gck! Gck! Let go of my neck first before you lecture me!"
"Whoops, my bad."
Baek Yun-seo released the headlock with a toss of her arm.
Ugh, his neck went stiff in an instant.
"Instructor, you didn't, like, dig into my background or put me under surveillance or something, did you?"
"Pfft, surveillance, my ass. It's fucking obvious just looking at you."
Well, she probably had a point.
His relationship with Na Hee-yeon had definitely made significant progress, if anything, so he hadn't been dumped at all.
He was just taken aback that she'd guessed it was girl trouble from his face alone.
Yeah, it was probably just that obvious.
"If it really doesn't work out, why not scope out the Middle Division? I hear the ratio of male Awakened dropped even more, and they've started just going at each other."
"The Middle Division is a bit......."
"You're over twenty, and so are they. You're all legal adults. Even marriage isn't a problem."
"Come on, hitting on your juniors is still kinda sleazy, isn't it?"
At those words, Baek Yun-seo fixed him with a dead serious stare.
"What the hell did you just say?"
What's this? Had he committed some kind of faux pas?
"They're younger...... so they're juniors, right?"
"You crazy bastard. Good thing I stopped you. You were about to step on a landmine."
"Why, what's wrong?"
"Hey, you think the Middle Division are your juniors? There are no juniors in the Middle Division for you. They're all either your classmates or your seniors."
What was she talking about?
It was the sort of statement that automatically prompted that question.
Hye-yong's eyes went wide like a startled owl, and Baek Yun-seo let out a baffled laugh of disbelief.
"Wow, you really don't know. This isn't just failing class—this is next-level. What kind of cadet doesn't know the basic ecology of the Facility? Even some random civilian living off the island would know this. You're not, like, actually intellectually disabled, are you?"
Hye-yong seemed to be missing some piece of common sense so fundamental it was practically instinctual.
Which was entirely plausible.
He was a person from another world, after all.
But Baek Yun-seo didn't know that.
Hye-yong must have looked like a complete lunatic.
"Uh...... er...... um."
"You! You're twenty-three years old. An adult, right?"
"W-well, yes?"
"Minimum enrollment age is twenty. Underage aside, every single student in this Facility is a legal adult! This isn't some normal school; it's an Awakened training institution, so we don't go by school year. We use a military-style cohort system."
A military-style...... cohort system!?
Did that mean, since they were all adults already, nobody cared about age and it was all about seniority by year of entry?
Hye-yong had the sinking realization that he had fundamentally misunderstood something huge.
"1st-years, 2nd-years, 3rd-years! 'High Division,' 'Middle Division' — it's not like high school, middle school, elementary school. It's not upper, middle, lower in that sense. It's completely meaningless. After you've undergone the Procedure, the world feels alien to you, so it's just a way to group new recruits by their pre-Procedure age bracket so you can all get comfortable with each other faster."
"S-so, after Middle Division 3rd-year, don't you go up to High Division 1st-year?"
"Hey...... three years in this Facility and you graduate and get a civil servant position as a national Awakened, you know......."
"Ahem, ahem."
He'd read the manual twice, and it hadn't said a thing about that.
Evidently, it was the kind of thing they taught you in pre-enrollment orientation or something.
Baek Yun-seo now looked like she was outright enjoying this.
"I changed my mind. I think I will put you under surveillance after all."
"......'After all'? Does that mean you already dug into my background?"
"Ah...... clumsy slip of the tongue there. Your level of ignorance was just so staggeringly ridiculous, you know."
She'd only known him for a few days and she was already digging into his background?
What the hell kind of person was she!
Wasn't this woman a lot more dangerous than he thought?
Usually he only ever saw her in baggy pajamas, so seeing her in a crisp uniform with her hair neatly styled really drove the point home.
"Anyway. If you go around casually chatting up people from the Middle Division or bossing them around to fetch things for you just because you think they're juniors, you are going to be seriously, epically fucked."
Baek Yun-seo stepped closer and, with a face full of pointed warning, jabbed her index finger repeatedly against the cohort insignia on Hye-yong's chest.
"Look closely at the name tag attached to your clothes right here. 2nd-year, 3rd-year — Middle Division or not, they are unconditionally your seniors! The only ones you can treat casually are the 1st-years! Got it? Burn it into your brain!"
"Ah, y-yes, ma'am......."
"What, you pissed because you have to call kids younger than you 'senior' and treat them with deference? If you're pissed, maybe you should've Awakened earlier."
Honestly, it was a bit hard to wrap his head around, but "maybe you should've Awakened earlier" was an argument he couldn't really counter.
So that kind of setting existed, huh.
He'd had no idea, so it came as a shock.
'Guess I can't just coast along on my half-assed knowledge of the setting...... Even the lore I do know, I should only use it as a rough reference.'
He got the feeling that the process of solidifying into a real world had spun up a vast amount of new lore, far more detailed than what he'd put in the modpack or read in the original novel.
Even if he remembered a piece of lore, he couldn't be absolutely sure it was correct anymore.
In a pinch, he'd have no choice but to trust it, but blindly believing it could cost him dearly. He'd have to be careful, think things through, and leverage information wisely even when he had it.
This was, in a sense, Hye-yong's original sin.
If he was going to build a setting, he should have agonized over it and built a proper one. Instead, he'd half-assed it, figuring it was just a game and nobody would give a shit, and now that sin was coming back to collect.
"But don't take it too hard. What can you do? That's just the law of this community. Still, age isn't completely ignored. Those kids know you were born first. If you show respect first, they'll show it back. Unless they've got some catastrophically broken personality."
Having said her piece, Baek Yun-seo let out a sigh.
"Sheesh. Why do I even have to teach you this stuff."
"Thank you. Seriously, I almost stepped in some deep shit."
"Well, the fact that you listen and get it proves you're not intellectually disabled, I guess."
Skreek!
Right then, someone pushed open the door to the firearms training room.
In walked a girl of petite stature with a ribbon swaying in her tied-up hair.
It was the girl who wore a pistol strapped to her thigh.
'Nishimoto Kana.......'
As he was watching, Baek Yun-seo elbowed him in the arm.
"Hey, hey. Your Middle Division senior is here. Do what I just taught you."
So that's why she was a bit short—she was from the Middle Division?
Hye-yong even bowed his head as he greeted her.
"Hello, Senior."
Nishimoto Kana saw that and gave a light laugh, then bowed her head in return.
"Hello, Junior."
In that instant, he understood exactly what Baek Yun-seo meant about receiving courtesy if you offered it first.
A picture really was worth a thousand words.......
"You don't need to bow your head that deeply."
"Haha, thank you, Senior!"
"So, what brings our Kana here?"
"I came to see you, Instructor! Seeing you all dressed up so nicely, are you heading out on a dispatch?"
"Yeah. Gonna pop over to the Middle East for a bit. Faster than two weeks, if all goes well."
"Have a safe trip! Please don't get hurt."
"Sure, of course."
Baek Yun-seo smiled warmly and ruffled Kana's hair, and Kana leaned into her hand like a pleased cat.
'Isn't the way she treats me kinda worlds apart from that? This is so unfair it hurts.'
Of course, Hye-yong knew the score.
There was no way the treatment would be the same between an adorable A-rank girl and an F-rank nobody with zero firearms affinity.
So he decided to just complain once in his head and accept it.
"This works out great—I was just thinking I wanted to show Kana anyway. Hey, Hye-yong. Pick up your gun."
"Ah, yes, ma'am."
"We're doing the usual drill. You'll pull it off again this time, right?"
"Just leave it to me."
So that's what this was.
Looked like it was time to show off a little.
Click-clack!
Still, spending a few days with Baek Yun-seo had taught him a few things—he now at least knew how to find his own gun, locate the ammo, and load it himself.
The real stroke of luck was that the gun Hye-yong would be using fired Mana Bullets, so even if he fired nonstop, it apparently didn't need any particular firearm maintenance.
Something about how, upon firing, the residue from the combustion didn't linger in the gun but fully dispersed into the atmosphere.
'Let's just make a buff.'
[ Pistol Proficiency Increase ] Pistol proficiency +15 levels Pistol shooting accuracy +15 levels Self-cast only 'So now I can stack 15 and 15, huh.'
Which meant he'd grown yet again, one way or another.
Defeating the Virus and advancing his relationship with Na Hee-yeon seemed to have played a particularly big part.
With this, landing every shot in the usual drill wouldn't even be a question.
"Shall we begin?"
"Press it whenever."
Click!
The moment Hye-yong identified the targets, his eyes changed.
A perfect string of clean hits on every round.
At this level, he figured he could afford to show off a bit.
'I feel it every time I fire a real gun, but buffs really are amazing.'
This "proficiency" stat in particular was incredible.
The moment he held a gun, it felt like it boosted everything—reaction speed, dynamic vision—all of it.
On top of that, the shooting accuracy buff fed him intuitive information on things like bullet trajectory and shoot-to-hit positioning, letting him fire with complete peace of mind.
"Wow...... you really shoot well."
Nishimoto Kana was genuinely impressed.
Hye-yong gave a self-satisfied little shrug even as he feigned modesty.
"Still, I'm nowhere near your level, Senior."
"No, that's not true. I think you shoot better than me, Junior?"
Really?
It didn't sound like empty flattery.
So even at just this level, he apparently shot better than an A-rank with firearms-related traits.
'Well, it's probably because I zeroed out all damage boosts and dumped everything purely into proficiency and accuracy.'
With weapons like swords or spears, raising proficiency allows magical power to infuse more easily, which increases attack power as well.
But with firearms, without a relevant trait, the damage is determined purely by firepower. So what truly, drastically increases is just the "proficiency" itself.
Which was probably why he could raise so many levels at a low cost, letting him skyrocket his skill.
Enough to earn praise from a firearms instructor and an A-rank for his shooting.
"You'd be shocked if you heard this, Kana. This guy is an F-rank Blessing Mage. Not a single firearms-related trait."
Kana, literally shocked by Baek Yun-seo's words, covered her mouth in admiration.
"Really!? You really don't have any traits at all?"
"Yep. He's not shooting off trait talent, but pure raw talent. Amazing, right? And his skill just keeps getting better."
"Wooow, you're amazing, Junior......."
They were really puffing him up.
It felt nice, sure, but the guilt of having blatantly gamed the system crept in too, which was a bit uncomfortable.
"Well, I'd better get going soon."
Come to think of it, Kana had mentioned a dispatch when they were talking earlier.
He'd vaguely wondered if instructors even went on things like dispatches, but then again, since she didn't seem to do much day-to-day, he figured she probably did go on them.
'So do I get my gun after she gets back from the dispatch?'
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Baek Yun-seo spoke up.
"Hye-yong, grab me that backpack on top of the drawer there."
"Yes, ma'am."
He brought the backpack over, and she opened it right up and handed him what looked like a pair of wireless earbuds.
"A gift. For hearing protection. If your stats are a bit high, even a cannon going off right next to you doesn't really cause hearing loss, but looking at your stats alone, you're practically no different from a non-Awakened, so I figured you'd need these."
"Oh, thank you. I'll put them in right now."
He placed them in his ears, and something like mana flowed out, snugly affixing them inside.
They didn't feel uncomfortable or anything.
They were definitely active, but he couldn't really perceive any difference in his hearing.
But the point was, they'd reliably block hearing loss from gunfire noise.
Was this the technological prowess utilizing the new resources of this game world?
"It's amazing how they fit so snugly."
"And starting today, you can take the gun with you. I'll strap a holster to your thigh. Here."
Oh, she was letting him carry it before she left on dispatch.
Baek Yun-seo strapped the holster onto Hye-yong's right thigh.
Sliding the gun into place looked pretty damn cool in terms of outward appearance, so he was very satisfied.
"Whoa. That looks seriously, seriously badass."
"And this."
Baek Yun-seo pushed the entire backpack toward him.
He looked inside wondering what it was, and aside from a few spare magazines, it was entirely full of Mana Bullets.
No wonder it had felt so hefty, box and all.
"This one's out of my own pocket. A personal gift. 'Cause it's kinda pitiful you're still F-rank. Use it to earn some points and live like a proper human being. Yeah?"
Honestly, with her going this far, he was moved.
"Thank you. I'm not sure why you're being this good to me all of a sudden...... but I'm genuinely touched."
"This bastard, saying things that make me sound stingy. I've been good to you since the first time we met."
"Now that I think about it, I guess that's true."
"Anyway, I'm off now. Take care. You too, Kana."
"Safe travels!"
Baek Yun-seo slung a bag as tall as she was that she'd left by the entrance over her shoulder, turned around, and walked out with a wave of her arm.
Then, right before the door closed, she popped her face back in and said,
"Oh, I just remembered—Instructor Yoo Ji-ah was looking for you. Said she's curious how you've been."
"Me?"
Bang!
Baek Yun-seo slammed the door shut without even waiting for Hye-yong's reply.
'She might've been telling Kana that, but it definitely felt directed at me.......'
And who the hell was Yoo Ji-ah?
'Who would be curious about how I'm doing? I should ask Choi Ah-young or someone.'
The very moment that thought formed in Hye-yong's mind.
Nishimoto Kana, with a kind smile, told him.
"Instructor Yoo Ji-ah is the instructor in charge of the Blessing Mage class."
"Oh! Thank you. I was seriously wondering......."
Hye-yong, who had been about to express genuine thanks, suddenly felt a jarring sense of incongruity.
He was certain he'd only thought that in his head—so how had she known?