51. My Buff is a Drug
51. My Buff is a Drug
June 11, 1:30 PM
Shooting Range
For the first time in a while, Hye-yong made his way back to the firearms range where Instructor Baek Yun-seo could usually be found.
He figured she'd be back from her business trip by now.
CREAK!
'Ah, it's unlocked.'
The door was unlocked and actually opened — which meant someone was inside.
Hoping it wasn't Nishimoto Kana, he stepped inside.
There was Baek Yun-seo, asleep in her chair just like always.
Hair disheveled, pajamas on, same as ever.
"Instructor."
"Nnnn......."
"Instructor Baek Yun-seo!"
"Huh?"
Baek Yun-seo jerked awake, her eyes opening blearily.
"Eeeh, you came."
She got it out through a huge yawn.
Supposedly she was something like a cyborg, but apparently being sleepy worked the same either way.
"It's been a while. I figured you might be back from your trip, so I came by to see your face."
"Yeah, yeah. Did you stop by and say hi to Instructor Yoo Ji-ah first?"
"Yes. I could tell she's been worrying about me."
"That one worries way too much. That's her problem."
"By the way, Instructor Baek Yun-seo, what's your relationship with Instructor Yoo Ji-ah?"
At that, Baek Yun-seo made a gesture with her index and middle fingers, miming picking something up and bringing it to her lips.
"Smoking buddies."
"Ugh, cigarettes are so bad for your health."
"The harmful effects of tobacco don't mean a damn thing to an Awakened."
But you're not an Awakened, Instructor.
The words almost slipped out, but he caught himself in time.
'No need to go announcing that I know things she never actually told me.'
He stayed quiet, and Baek Yun-seo changed the subject.
"So, how'd it go? Using it while I was away."
"The performance is solid. I was able to pull my weight in raids with my party, almost like a ranged dealer."
"Still taking on E or E+ ranks, I'm guessing. From D-rank on up, you'll run into way more enemies where that won't work than where it will."
"Can't be helped. I don't have a trait."
"That figures. It's a damn shame. Go get some practice in before you leave."
With that, Baek Yun-seo produced practice rounds — identical in appearance to mana bullets but with no actual function.
"Yep."
Hye-yong pulled on his gloves and brought over his earplugs. Baek Yun-seo sluggishly hunted around for the remote.
BEEP!
'Alright, buffs on and...'
For the first time in a while, he spent a good stretch of time doing firearms training with Baek Yun-seo.
"Feels good to do this again after so long."
"Must've been shooting a fair bit on your own, huh? Your skills haven't gotten rusty."
"I have been shooting a lot, yeah."
"Alright, that's enough for today. Get going."
Baek Yun-seo waved him off with a shooing motion.
"Got it. I'll come by again sometime."
After Hye-yong left.
Alone now, Baek Yun-seo stared at the closed door and muttered to herself.
"Hmm...... Choi Hye-yong......."
-
June 11, 4:02 PM
On the way to the men's dormitory
[ Firearm Proficiency level has increased. ]
"Huh?"
A message that hadn't appeared during training popped up while he was just walking along.
Hye-yong opened his status window to check.
In a space that had been completely empty before, a new tab labeled Weapon Proficiency had appeared, and Firearm Proficiency was listed under it.
'So it finally leveled up. Firearm Proficiency.'
He'd fired enough rounds to earn it, that was for sure.
It felt a little like it had just materialized on its own, but there was nothing bad about it.
Guns were far easier to handle than other weapons, so as far as Hye-yong was concerned, this was the most useful proficiency stat he could have.
'Anyway, I've got some time to kill. What should I do?'
The exams must have worn everyone out pretty badly. Choi Ah-young had said that during these two days of proper rest, she wasn't going to train — she was going to make sure her body actually recovered.
Which meant: no working out either.
Genuinely free time.
'I could just mess around on my terminal and laze about.'
The terminal did have ordinary smartphone functions.
There were plenty of fun webtoons and novels on the internet — stuff that hadn't existed in his original world.
Same went for animations.
He wasn't sure if they'd struck some kind of partnership deal, but you could even pay with points. Perfect for killing time.
Unlike the Korea Hye-yong had originally lived in, this place didn't have censorship that felt like human rights violations.
Freedom of expression was real, and even adult content could be watched without issue — you just had to select "yes" when it asked if you were an adult.
Having lived it, the difference between having that kind of censorship online and not having it was staggering.
'But for some reason, I'm just not in the mood to roll around and kill time today.'
You know how it is. Some days you just get that feeling.
That urge to do something constructive instead of frittering away the hours pointlessly.
Today, Hye-yong was definitely having one of those days.
'Maybe I'll do a little item shopping? Buy something if I find anything decent.'
With that thought, he turned away from the path to his room.
"Choi...... Hye-yong."
"Hm?"
And right then.
Someone he'd never seen before called out to him from the roadside.
Not that tall, stocky build, male.
Who was this?
He felt like he'd seen him somewhere before, though.
"Who......."
"It's me...... Han Geon-hu."
Huh? Han Geon-hu?
Han Geon-hu?
"You — what happened to all the weight? I can actually see your face and neck now."
"I was lying in bed for two whole weeks and barely ate...... it just came off......."
His speech pattern was the same, but the distinctive huuuuff of breath he used to haul in was gone, making the conversation flow much more smoothly.
'I completely forgot about Han Geon-hu. How do I tell him there's no party slot for him?'
While Hye-yong was wrestling with that, Geon-hu spoke up first.
"Thank you...... Choi Hye-yong. The note you left...... I read it and did a lot of thinking. I figured...... I can't keep living like this. So I made up my mind...... I'm going to repeat the year."
Repeat the year?
So this facility even had that kind of thing.
"What happens if you repeat?"
"All grades forfeited...... start over from the beginning of year one...... you can only do it once while you're at the facility. And after that, the expulsion threshold gets higher......."
"You sure you'll be okay? You're throwing away all that time and effort, taking a risk."
"It's my decision...... not like I accomplished anything anyway. I'm gonna lose all this weight first and start from there."
"Hm, alright. Good call. Hang in there."
Han Geon-hu nodded.
"Thanks."
And with that, Han Geon-hu walked on past.
Looked like he was off to pack up his things.
'Yeah, Han Geon-hu. I'm rooting for you. You've got your own life to live.'
Hye-yong turned and went on his way, thinking that.
-
June 11, 4:32 PM
Item Exchange
He caught a shuttle bus that circled the facility and rode it all the way to the item exchange.
This was where goods from outside that the facility handled — along with items students had acquired and sold to the facility — were all gathered in one place.
Artifacts — items that reacted with one's wavelength to boost stats or skill performance.
From what he'd heard, artifacts also needed a matching wavelength to draw out their full potential.
'Wavelength really is a huge deal for Awakened, more than I realized.'
No wonder they called wavelength a talent in its own right.
The exchange's artifacts were arranged in display cases sorted by rank.
Hye-yong decided to check out the lower ranks first.
[ Deerskin Vest ]
Stamina stat +1 level
Protection stat +2 levels
500 Points
To Hye-yong's eyes, the stats were plainly visible, but normally you were supposed to use the terminal's wavelength search function to check options.
'Whoa. Five hundred thousand won for this? Gear is expensive. Hm. Then again, considering that backpack, maybe it's actually cheap.'
For a measly bump to stamina and protection, at this price, Hye-yong felt the cost-performance ratio was garbage.
'Well, gear can be resold right away, so that's probably why. There's always a reason prices end up where they do.'
He'd browsed before when he came here with Seo Ha-yoon and Na Hee-yeon, but back then they'd just been window-shopping in passing, and he hadn't checked the detailed options and prices.
He scanned the cases, but nothing worth buying caught his eye.
'Guess nobody uses F-rank stuff anymore, so there's hardly any stock either.'
It looked like you needed at least E-rank before any real gear started showing up.
'Oh, there's Choi Ah-young.'
Just as he was about to head over to the E-rank artifact section, he spotted Choi Ah-young.
He walked over, happy to see a familiar face, and greeted her.
"Hey."
"Ah. Hye-yong. You came to look at artifacts?"
"Something like that, yeah."
Choi Ah-young had been intently studying a single bracelet the whole time.
[ Kobold Swordsman's Bracelet ]
Swordsmanship Proficiency +2 levels
Strength stat +2 levels
1,600 Points
'Hm...... a proficiency boost would help, I guess.'
One-point-six million won.
If it were up to Hye-yong, this was the kind of item he wouldn't even glance at.
That level of stats could easily be covered with buffs.
But from another student's perspective, it would be different.
They trained and fought so damn hard just to raise a single stat.
"You agonizing over whether to buy that?"
"Yeah. The bracelet slot being empty feels really bare, so I've been meaning to pick one up. This artifact seems to match my wavelength too...... but I'm still torn."
He was pretty sure he'd just heard the phrase "bracelet slot is empty."
'What does that mean? She's talking like it's a video game.'
Since this world was built on game and novel content, there was bound to be a close connection.
But "slot," though.
She was talking exactly like equipping items in a game.
Did that mean there was actually a separate system for that, like in a game?
"What do you mean by 'slot'? Like, if you put a bracelet on your ankle it won't work, that kind of thing?"
"Huh......?"
The look on her face said: how do you not know that.
Choi Ah-young's eyes went wide as she stared at Hye-yong.
"Wait, do you have memory loss...... or something?"
He really had been asking around like a total outsider, hadn't he.
He should probably have some kind of excuse on hand.
'Memory loss. Memory loss, huh...... that could work.'
If it wasn't total amnesia, just partial gaps, that might actually serve as a passable cover story.
"Actually...... I wasn't planning to say anything, but I've got partial memory loss. I remember who I am, but the memories around school life are mostly hazy."
"Ah...... I, I see. That must have been tough."
"Can you keep it secret? No good would come from it getting around."
"Of course. I'm not the type to go blabbing stuff like that anyway."
Choi Ah-young gave him a sympathetic look and continued.
"Let me tell you about artifacts. Artifacts are basically Awakened-exclusive equipment that appeared when Awakened started emerging. The ways to get them are pretty limited — you either find them in the other world, or crafting-type Awakened gather materials and make them — so the prices tend to run high."
Come to think of it, he had definitely created classes like equipment crafters and alchemists.
'I actually implemented crafting skills and everything, but I'd forgotten about them.'
He suspected that equipment items that had originally appeared in the other world inside the modpack had simply been rebranded under the name "artifacts" — Awakened-only gear.
Anyway, he'd hear her out first.
"When it comes to skills, your wavelength has to match before you can learn them. But artifacts — you can equip them even if your wavelength doesn't match. They just won't perform at full capacity."
"Like you were saying earlier, each item has its own designated slot. If you wrap a necklace around your arm or something, the performance won't activate at all."
"The academic theory is that the wavelengths emitted from our hearts manifest differently depending on body part...... or something along those lines."
It was a plausible enough concept — the kind of setting you'd read in a novel and accept without question.
'If I use Buff Custom right, I could probably create equipment by applying something like an equipment-crafting buff.'
He had a feeling it was doable, but materials and facilities were the problem.
Hye-yong decided he'd test it out if an opportunity came along later, and thanked Ah-young.
"Thanks for the kind explanation. I've got a solid grasp now."
"Well, glad to hear it."
Choi Ah-young went back to staring at the bracelet, looking conflicted.
"You come here often?"
"Yeah. You never know when a cost-effective artifact might come into stock. I make a point of stopping by at least once a day."
Choi Ah-young was a hard worker in every way.
She was D-rank now, but she'd originally been C-rank, hadn't she.
From what he'd talked about with Seo Ha-yoon before, apparently even if her own combat ability was lower than others at her rank, she'd earned extra points on written tests and pattern orders.
'Yeah, if the person reading monster attack patterns and giving orders in battle is also a walking bad-luck charm, I can see why people would avoid her.......'
If the setting-imposed misfortune hadn't compounded on her, she might have climbed all the way to B-rank.
"You're agonizing pretty hard over this. Is it a money issue? Can't afford it?"
"There's a lot of factors. Like you said, money's part of it. But also — what if I psych myself up and buy it, and then something even more cost-effective comes into stock next time? That'd feel terrible."
"Hm, with that mindset you might never be able to buy any item at all."
"I know that, but I still can't help it. If you resell, the value always drops. And after buying this, I still have to maintain my rank, so living expenses and emergency funds would be stretched razor-thin......."
"But you still want to buy it, right?"
"Yeah. At my level, ignoring +2 swordsmanship proficiency and +2 strength isn't really an option."
Wait — wasn't this an opportunity to make Choi Ah-young feel indebted to him?
With that thought in mind, Hye-yong opened his mouth.