46. My Buff is a Drug
46. My Buff is a Drug
With that settled, Hye-yong slowly pulled his right hand away from her mouth.
Pang looked up at him with such a cringing, servile expression that she seemed ready to beg for forgiveness at any second.
He didn't know much about forgiveness and all that, but now that he had her subdued and up close, he decided to take a good look at her appearance.
'Her eyes are kinda reddish.'
Her black hair, long enough to cover her shoulders, was basically straight, but the lower ends had a slight wave and a hint of curl, giving it a wavy, semi-curly feel.
In short: black hair, red eyes, waves.
'That bruise on her face doesn't look like makeup, either. Looks like she actually got hit.'
There seemed to be a reason she'd felt she had to steal those capsules.
But that didn't excuse the underhanded act.
The first question he asked was......
"What's your name?"
"Pa, Pang."
"No. Your full name. That can't be your real name."
"Rian... Pang."
Calling her just Pang felt a little off phonetically.
Calling her Rian Pang felt a little awkward.
"Then I'll call you Lanfang."
"La, Lanfang? Why?"
"It sounds cute."
"......."
Lanfang's face said she'd just realized she'd gotten tangled up with a goddamn lunatic.
Next Hye-yong asked about her stats.
"What's your Strength stat?"
"Si, Six, level 6."
Hearing that, Hye-yong refined his buffs.
She could be lying, so he set the numbers a bit higher.
[ Superhuman Strength ]
Strength stat increased by 9 levels
Self-cast only
[ Intimidating Atmosphere ]
Exudes an intimidating atmosphere
Intimidating atmosphere level 3
Self-cast only
[ Charisma ]
Charisma stat increased by 5 levels
Self-cast only
[ Fear ]
Exudes a frightening atmosphere
Frightening atmosphere level 3
Self-cast only
He decided to stack all the buffs and then start the real interrogation.
"Lanfang."
"H-hi, hik...!"
The moment the buffs were applied, Lanfang's visible agitation spiked dramatically.
The reason was simple: the buffs Hye-yong had just cast on himself instantly magnified the fear she already felt toward him.
"Why did you do it?"
"......."
"I took pity on you, saying you just wanted to avoid elimination. I gave you food, gave you a meal, even stood your night watch for you. I went out of my way to look after you. So why did you try to steal our party's capsules? After all that kindness......"
Lanfang's face was overtaken by guilt.
"I'm sorry...."
"Does apologizing make what you did disappear?"
"Hhk...."
"Don't you have any sense of gratitude? Or did you just think we were easy marks? Oh, you figured these people are pushovers, I can just do whatever shitty thing I want to them, is that it?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...."
"If you knew that, how sad do you think Ha-yoon would be — the girl whose clothes you're wearing right now?"
"Hhhuuuk...."
He'd tried to do something extremely malicious, but Hye-yong could instinctively tell she wasn't a truly bad person.
So he spoke words that slowly, carefully prodded at her guilt.
Lanfang, who'd been quietly listening to the calm, measured speech, burst into tears.
"Hkk, sorry, sorry... I'm sorry... I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do something like that to you either. But... hhk, hhuk."
Lanfang trailed off.
"But what? Want me to yell and call the others over? Want your plan to fail and be branded a thief on top of it? Tell me everything here, and I'll keep it to myself."
At those words, her eyes filled with complete resignation, and she warily opened her mouth.
"I...."
Lanfang was a member of a Chinese party.
She'd formed a party with friends she'd gotten close to after entering the facility, but as time passed, she couldn't keep up with their growth rate and gradually came to be treated as useless — a nuisance.
The reason she'd clung to the party to the bitter end despite being ignored and scorned was because of a tendency among Chinese students to stick together.
She said she couldn't even imagine joining a party with people from other countries on her own — the very thought was so terrifying she had no choice.
The bullying, which she'd thought would stop at some point, grew worse by the day until it became nearly impossible for Lanfang to bear alone.
While she agonized over whether to muster the courage to try joining another party or just drop out entirely, the party leader made her a suggestion.
ㅡ Come on, you can't be completely useless in this exam too, right?
ㅡ If you do what you're told, you'll be helping the party.
ㅡ We might even get along like the old days again, you know?
The leader temporarily kicked Lanfang out and turned her into a solo party.
Becoming the sole member and leader, Lanfang took her capsules, rejoined the original party, roamed around with them, and then split off on the morning of the seventh day.
ㅡ Now, if you stay here, there might be some stupid party that'll help you.
The goal was to steal the capsules another party had painstakingly gathered over a week.
The bruises on her face were, she said, marks from her party members — inflicted for realism.
'Wow... these bastards are just unbelievably vile. They made her do all the labor and then kicked her out anyway.'
But the scheme itself did make some sense.
Capsules each party could submit were capped at 50.
Technically, there was no problem being a solo party if you could manage it.
Since a solo party got the same 50 capsules, if one person could split off and bring back another party's entire bag, the profit would be enormous.
In a way, you could say they'd cleverly exploited a loophole in the rules.
But something was a little off.
"Seems like you made a bad choice. Even if everything went the way your party leader said, you'd still end up buried in the end."
"......Why, why? He said there'd be no problem... that instructors wouldn't quibble over it, that students stealing from each other is part of the exam...."
"Sure, the instructors might not make a big deal out of it. But what about the other students?"
A party had its capsule bag stolen by one person.
If instructors heard that kind of news, they'd just laugh at the party and let it slide without much fuss.
But students were different.
If you pulled a stunt like that, word would inevitably get around.
"Did you think we'd just sit still after something like that happened to us? Of course we'd talk about it. So how do you think the other students would see you then?"
"......Still, with that, the party would acknowledge me...."
No, was this girl a little slow?
Hye-yong considered himself not all that bright, either.
But listening to Lanfang talk now, the words "dim" and "foolish" had never fit anyone so perfectly.
"Those guys were planning to throw you away from the start. Think it through. While everyone else was busting their ass on an assignment, someone in your party did nothing, and then on the final day just up and swiped the entire finished assignment. How do you think that makes the party look?"
"N, not good...?"
"And even if you go back with the stolen goods, what then? Do your skills suddenly get better? No, they don't. You're nothing but a liability to the party, so you think they'd keep some empty verbal promise? Think about the things they already did to you. They'd gobble up the capsules you brought and bolt. And you'd take all the blame."
Of course, a verbal promise is still a promise, and in its own way, it's important.
But a party leader vile enough to order something like this seemed extremely unlikely to keep one.
"But... but. I'm scared, I said. I'm scared of being left behind...."
"So you're scared of being left behind by your party, but you're not scared of being left behind by every single student? Or of us retaliating? You think those guys are going to protect you?"
Tears streamed down Lanfang's face without pause.
"Forgive me... I was wrong... I was short-sighted...."
If he tried to force himself to empathize and understand, it wasn't completely incomprehensible.
Growing distant from the friends you'd been with since enrollment, and now having to figure out how to make new friends — that could feel hopeless and terrifying.
Was it the feeling of being tamed by bullying, of growing dependent on orders?
She couldn't deeply consider the backlash that would come back to her from doing the deed; she simply did as she was told and went along with it.
That Chinese party's leader seemed to have a talent for sweet-talking and using people with weak hearts.
"All right. For now, I'll be the only one who knows about this."
"Y, you mean you'll forgive me?"
What the hell was she saying now?
"Are you kidding? Come to my room by midnight after the exam ends. You know the boys' dorm, right? Room 307."
"Why, why...? What, what are you going to do?"
"Are you in any position to ask that right now?"
Lanfang's eyes, still brimming with moisture, shook like an earthquake, then she reluctantly nodded.
"Good. Go back and sleep. But I'll be holding onto this. And don't even think about running away in the middle of the night. I won't be sleeping."
"Hhk, hhk. O-okay...."
Hye-yong got up off her, then extended a hand and pulled Lanfang to her feet.
"Go."
Then he pushed her back as she stood there hesitating.
'She probably hates my guts about now, right? Yeah, she probably does.'
Watching her stumble away, weak and powerless, stirred a sense of pity, but he hardened his heart.
The source of his power right now was the characters' emotions toward Hye-yong.
Resentment was definitely part of those emotions.
He'd never particularly incurred anyone's ill will before, so this time he intended to try being a "hated person."
Having someone loathe you was extremely uncomfortable and could invite danger.
He considered this a good opportunity to safely plant a negative emotion, with almost no risk.
More than anything, Hye-yong himself also disliked Lanfang.
Being pitiful, being weak-hearted — those were separate things....
Wasn't she the one who'd tried to steal the hard-won fruits of his party's labor, a dirty trick?
Solely for her own safety, at that.
'She'll hate me like crazy, and then I need to check how it feels when she develops good feelings toward me again.'
For now, he decided to torment her a bit, and later, when he softened up a bit, treat her well.
A poison-and-medicine routine.
Hye-yong rationalized to himself that he wasn't planning to just torment her mindlessly.
'It might feel a little harsh, but... so what. She brought it on herself.'
Whenever he started to feel sorry for her, he resolved to recall exactly what Lanfang had tried to do.
Still, having never deliberately tormented anyone in his life, he returned to the tent with a slightly unsettled heart.
-
"Good work, everyone. Party leaders, submit your capsules to the administration desk. You'll get two days of rest, so take it easy and we'll see each other again."
A young male instructor with a mild, amiable face guided the students with a smile.
"Pang, stay strong! See you next time!"
Seo Ha-yoon waved her arm vigorously, and Lanfang smiled faintly and waved back.
Though she immediately dropped her gaze when her eyes met Hye-yong's.
Even amidst her turmoil, at least Seo Ha-yoon seemed to be good.
That was because Seo Ha-yoon had treated Lanfang, whom she'd only met the day before, more kindly than anyone else.
'And that Lanfang tried to steal the fruits that Seo Ha-yoon had shed blood, sweat, and tears to get.'
The more he thought about it, the more infuriating it was.
Right, no matter how he thought about it, she needed to be punished.
Hye-yong thought to himself, nodded to himself, and left the exam grounds with his party.
"It's finally oveeerrr!!"
"A week of camping really does wear you out, huh. I wanna collapse into a soft bed."
"You worked hard. Since we all pulled together, we'll get a good grade."
"Fufu, it was a trial that was pretty enjoyable, in its own way."
The two days of rest granted after the exam.
They decided to pause raiding during that time as well.
The fatigue had definitely accumulated.
He needed proper rest to maintain his condition and keep up with classes and raids.
Hye-yong returned to the dorm, unpacked, started the laundry, and then for the first time in a while, soaked himself to his heart's content in the bathtub.
'Ah... this is nice. Feels like I'm melting into the hot water.'
The dorm was a studio-style room, but it was quite spacious — one person per room — and significantly well-built.
Most of all, the soundproofing was excellent, and he loved that.
Hye-yong had yet to hear any noise from another room.
This was a training facility for Awakened that received investment, after all.
A construction company stiffing them on money and doing shoddy work surely wouldn't be tolerated.
He did have to pay for meals with points, but seeing that even F-ranks weren't going around starving, the facility seemed to at least solidly provide food, clothing, and shelter.
After a pleasant bath, he draped on nothing but a pair of underwear and buried himself under the blanket.
Oh shit, this is fucking comfortable!
The sensation of the fluffy bed and soft blanket was movingly good.
Lying still, he felt like he could drift off just like this.
'Can't do that. Can't. Lanfang's going to come.'
The time was still 10:30.
He'd told her to come by midnight, so she'd definitely come.
How could he be so sure?
By seeing her in person and reading the atmosphere, you could tell.
The type that can't run away and just takes it when threatened.
That's exactly the feeling she gave off.
That's why she obediently followed orders that were clearly going to screw her over.
BWEE-REEK!
At that moment, his terminal rang.
Who could it be?
[ Mina : Creator-nim! ]
It was Mina.
[ Choi Hye-yong : What is it? ]
[ Mina : Today, for the first time, a clear Seed of Negation has been planted?! ]
It seemed a seed of recognition planted through negative emotion was called a Seed of Negation.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Ah, so you know. I did something bad yesterday. I got myself one person who really hates me now. ]
[ Mina : Yes, that seems to be the case. Enough that she's having nightmares from fear of the Creator. That's how I was able to know. ]
Shit, what? Nightmares?
So that was her whimpering and tossing in the tent yesterday.
He thought she was just having a rough night, but nightmares?
He didn't know she hated him that much.
Actually, thinking about it, she kind of had it coming, didn't she?
[ Mina : Dreams are closely connected to the inner world. ]
[ Mina : Did you know, if the target has nightmares where the Creator is the main subject, you can use the Inner World Intrusion skill I gave you to invade their inner world? ]
Wait. I didn't know that?
Seriously?
Invading the inner world — sounded like he could enter someone's dreams.
He decided to ask Mina for more details.