30. My Buff is a Drug
30. My Buff is a Drug
"Huff. Huff..."
Choi Ah-young looked exhausted.
Hye-yong just had to focus and shoot, but Ah-young had to run around swinging her sword, so of course it was harder for her.
"Shall we call it a day here?"
"We could do more... but since tomorrow's the weekend anyway."
So they had weekends here, too.
Our party didn't meet on weekends either.
It was the perfect time to just roll around in my room.
"No, no. Even if I dozed off in class, I remember this clearly. If you're exhausted, you shouldn't enter the Otherworld. It's not like we're only going to raid today."
Choi Ah-young nodded.
"Yeah. We did E-rank three times today. We shouldn't push ourselves."
"Then, take this and relax."
[ Comfortable Feeling ]
Comfortable Feeling effect Level 2
"Hooo... This buff is nice. It feels like it calms me down every time I get it."
The buff got a good review.
'The better the review, the greater the regret. It's working.'
Blessings have something called range.
If the target moves out of range, the buff immediately dissipates.
When Hye-yong refined these buffs, he took range into account.
First, this Comfortable Feeling didn't need a long range, so he deliberately shortened it to save on cost.
Making it a self-buff reduced the cost, and the range dropping to zero contributed to that.
And with the cost saved, he maximized the range of the Regretful Feeling as much as possible.
The male and female dorms weren't that far apart, so even if they went to their own rooms, the Regretful Feeling buff should keep working on Ah-young.
"Right? I made it well, didn't I?"
"At least, that's how it looks to me."
"Should we settle up and then split up?"
"Let's."
Today's settlement came to 215 points each.
"It's less than yesterday, but it was worth the effort."
"Right. A few days ago, I never thought we'd be able to gather points this fast."
"See? I told you it was a good idea to come out when I first talked you into it. Nothing to lose by listening to me."
"Aha. I'll give you that for now."
We parted ways there for a bit, and at 8 o'clock...
I met up with Ah-young again at the Physical Training Room.
After the erection incident, Ah-young, perhaps out of consideration for me, had started working out in training clothes that showed as little skin as possible.
"Come to think of it, we really see each other a lot. How many hours a day are we together?"
"Yeah... now that I think about it, we are."
Even Ah-young thought it was a lot.
Today was about seven hours, maybe.
She suddenly realized that Choi Hye-yong was taking up a huge part of her daily life.
'Ah... guess I'm running my ass off again today.'
While Ah-young was thinking that, all Hye-yong could think about was the exercise.
'Can't I make exercise a bit more fun? Even if I can't hypnotize someone with a buff, if self-hypnosis is possible... Huh?'
He thought that far and a phrase popped into his head.
Should I try it?
'Let's do it. As a self-buff. The buff name should be something like "I Truly Enjoy Running".'
[ Impossible! ]
'Tsk, no good.'
But it was too early to give up here.
"Let's work hard today too. Day by day, it all adds up to stats."
"Yeah, I'll work hard."
Even while stepping onto the treadmill, he eagerly tried to create the buff.
'Since I myself don't think running is enjoyable, trying to make a self-buff with that content won't work.'
So this time, he relaxed it a bit.
To something like, "For some reason, running feels less hard today."
[ Today Running Feels a Little Less Hard ]
Feeling That Running Is Manageable Level 5
Can only be used on oneself
'Whoa... it works!?'
With this, he could make things easier without harming the exercise effect.
Hye-yong experienced firsthand that people really do need to use their heads to get through life more easily.
'Still, it's a bit of a waste not to use a growth buff, so let's find a good balance.'
[ Stamina Stat Growth Speed Increase ]
Stamina Stat Growth Speed Increase Level 2
Can only be used on oneself
[ Today Running Feels a Little Less Hard ]
Feeling That Running Is Manageable Level 3
Can only be used on oneself
He settled on this setup and decided to start running properly.
And 10 minutes later.
"Huff... Pant..."
His physical state wasn't much different.
Of course, since it only made him feel that way, his body was the same.
But mentally, something was different.
'It kinda feels more manageable today...?'
The problem was he couldn't tell if it was just his imagination or the actual buff effect.
'Whatever. If it's manageable, it's manageable. Let's just run right now.'
He reached his usual exercise goal of one hour.
"Hrrk... S-So tired...!"
Exercise really doesn't show any results after just a few days.
It felt like you'd have to do it for at least a month to feel your stamina had improved at all.
But today, he felt he could run a bit more.
'Is it the feeling that running is manageable...? It seems like it's definitely working.'
Just as he thought he'd use this often from now on.
A tremendous idea struck him.
"Good work today. See you tomorrow."
As Choi Ah-young said goodbye and was about to go do her individual workouts, Hye-yong grabbed her arm.
"Wait, Ah-young."
"Yeah?"
"Can I watch you work out for a bit before you go?"
"Sure, go ahead."
He went with Ah-young to the private training room and watched her work out.
But watching was just a pretext.
Hye-yong was plotting something naughty.
'If self-hypnosis is possible, it might mean hypnosis isn't completely impossible.'
Maybe he just lacked the cost.
The feeling that running is manageable...
If he could create this kind of feeling, it was obvious he could create the feeling of wanting to do it, too.
'I... just have to try it.'
Hye-yong immediately tried creating a buff.
[ Feeling of Wanting to Have Sex ]
Stamina Stat Level 1 Increase
The feeling of wanting to have sex Level 1
'Whoa, this actually worked.'
Somehow, every single word seemed to contain the lewd desires of a hormonally deranged adolescent male.
His heart started beating a little faster.
He had thought it might be possible, like the other buffs, drawing out the urge to do such acts from within—and it actually seemed to work.
It bothered him that he'd poured all his cost into it and it was only Level 1, but anyway, he had to test it.
'First, let's use it on myself.'
In his training clothes, Hye-yong cast the buff and watched Ah-young, who was working out hard.
Just because she wore non-revealing training clothes didn't mean he didn't get turned on.
'Ah, I fucking want it.'
He definitely felt the desire to do it.
But he couldn't tell if it was because of the buff or just his nature.
Hye-yong canceled the buff and waited about five minutes.
'Ah, I still wanna do it.'
His state didn't seem to have changed much.
Apparently, his original desire was so strong that the buff barely had any effect.
It was clear that Hye-yong's usual lust overshadowed the buff's effect.
But Ah-young might show a different reaction.
'Choi Ah-young! Sorry for always being so sneaky and underhanded! But I really want to try this!'
Once she felt the desire?
The target might not be Hye-yong.
But if a man was right next to her, couldn't she just end up wanting to grab Hye-yong and do it anyway?
Honestly, Hye-yong was okay with anyone in the party.
[ Feeling of Wanting to Have Sex ]
Stamina Stat Level 1 Increase
The feeling of wanting to have sex Level 1
Unaware of the buff being cast
Exclusive to Choi Ah-young
'Alright... let's cast it.'
[ Cannot cast! ]
[ The target's unconscious mind has canceled this blessing. ]
'...What the hell.'
The system message that suddenly popped up with a "pop" left him slightly dumbfounded.
Let's examine it slowly and carefully.
First of all, it was shocking that the buff couldn't be cast.
Because that had never happened before.
Could other buffs also fail to cast?
'The target's unconscious canceled the blessing... So she rejected it even without knowing a buff was being cast?'
He didn't know precisely, but he wondered if every human had a mental barrier.
'It's a bit disconcerting since it's the first time I've experienced this. Though it wouldn't be strange if there was a mental barrier...'
He felt he'd have to ask Bwitgwitgak to find out the details.
"Hye-yong?"
"Huh? Yeah?"
"Did something happen? Suddenly, there was a snapping sound in my head and the buff disappeared..."
Even though she didn't know what buff was cast, she must have felt something strange when her unconscious rejected it.
"Ah... looks like I ran out of Divine Power. My head's spinning a little."
"We're not in a fight right now, so you don't need to push yourself so hard to cast. You need to take care of your own body first."
"R-Right. I'll manage it myself from now on. Don't worry."
Hmm, it was a bit disappointing.
Originally, he planned to go back to the dorm and ask, but curiosity got the better of him, so he decided to message him on the way.
He told Bwitgwitgak what happened through chat as he walked, and a reply came back.
[ Bwitgwitgak : Yes, of course there's a separate mental barrier. That's why you can't easily cast hypnosis or similar things. Entering the Inner World is also about breaking through that mental barrier. It was possible because they were infected with the Virus. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : Aha, I see. So you can't be too blatant about it. ]
[ Bwitgwitgak : Exactly! Slowly, and subtly. Changing moods appropriately to make them fall for the Creator! What's important is sincerity! ]
Right.
It was more satisfying to have them fall after a slow taming than to have them just fall head over heels instantly.
Hye-yong shoved the terminal into his pocket and walked.
'Once it's around 10, everyone's back in their dorms.'
There were people like Ah-young who stayed until 10 to work out, but not many.
Just then, someone approached Hye-yong from the opposite direction.
A girl with orange hair.
At a glance, she was on the short side and looked a bit young, so she seemed to be in the Middle Division.
'Is the Middle Division dorm around here? And why is she staggering? Is she drunk or something? She's an adult, so it's not impossible, but...'
Her gait was odd, so he looked closely.
As she got closer, their eyes met for a moment.
"Hup."
The moment their eyes met, he instinctively held his breath.
Eyes that seemed to have lost all emotion.
From deep within, an intense aura seemed to rise up and pierce right through Hye-yong.
When Hye-yong, thoroughly scared, averted his gaze, she too looked away and passed him by.
Hye-yong couldn't even think of looking back and just kept walking straight ahead.
'Whoa... scared the shit out of me. Is this what they call bloodlust? Just how pissed off was she...'
The Middle Division is scary.
They say kids these days are scary. Guess it's true.
I didn't see her name tag, but was she maybe an S-rank?
If I'd run my mouth just because she was young, I'd have been fucked, just like Baek Yun-seo said.
After thinking that, Hye-yong resolved to treat his Middle Division seniors with more respect from now on.