65. My Buff is a Drug
65. My Buff is a Drug
He stepped briefly into Lanfang's inner world.
'Sound asleep.'
Lanfang might have been a disaster as an academy student, but when it came to daily routine, she was a model of discipline.
At midnight, she was always in bed. By seven, she was almost always awake.
Time it right, and he'd catch her sleeping peacefully like this.
He hadn't come tonight for any nasty tricks—just a few checks, then he'd leave.
Strooooke...
"Nnya... Master..."
A stroke under the chin, and the word "Master" slipped out like a spinal reflex.
'She's dreaming about me. That's honestly a little touching.'
Hye-yong made a buff on Page 1 and checked Lanfang's condition.
[ Resentment : 0 ]
[ Depression : 9 ]
'Well. I expected the resentment to be zero, but even the depression is barely there.'
A depression reading of 9 meant Lanfang's emotional state had to be edging on genuine happiness.
'So being a pet really does make you happy, huh, Lanfang?'
She'd always been a dependent personality.
The type who could barely function on her own—she needed someone to lean on just to get through the day.
That was why, even knowing it was wrong, she'd tried to steal the capsule bag: she couldn't stand the thought of being abandoned. And in the end, she'd tumbled right into Hye-yong's hands.
'She's happy now. Isn't that what matters?'
Time for the most important check.
[ Loyalty Check ]
Checks the target's loyalty toward you.
100: Would die on their master's command.
0: Betrayal is second nature.
'Yeah, this one actually makes me a little nervous.'
He applied the loyalty check buff to Lanfang.
[ Loyalty : 81 ]
'Oh? That's damn high.'
One hundred was the state where she'd end her own life if ordered.
At this level, if he told her to die, she probably wouldn't—but her first thought would still be, 'There's no way my master would say that! Someone has to be controlling him!'
'That's fucking incredible, considering how little time we've spent together.'
Loyalty was supposed to deepen over time.
He could safely assume Lanfang would almost never betray him.
'Still, I can't just skip checking the possibility.'
[ Betrayal Possibility Check ]
Checks the target's likelihood of betraying you.
100: Betrayal is second nature.
0: Will never betray their master, no matter the circumstances.
An exact probability display would've been more convenient, but even inside an inner world, calculating possibility as a precise percentage was impossible.
The inner world loosened the restrictions on what buffs he could make—it didn't give him the power to destroy and remake the world.
[ Betrayal Possibility : 7 ]
'Not zero, then.'
A seven was by no means a high number.
Under normal circumstances, betraying Hye-yong was something she'd never even dream of.
Under external pressure, though—that changed the equation.
What if someone kidnapped Lanfang to uncover Hye-yong's true identity and put her through extreme torture?
In that scenario, she might choose betrayal.
'If things ever get that bad, there's nothing you can do about betrayal. Actually... I'd rather she did betray me and suffered less. That'd be easier to live with.'
Hye-yong paused to mull it over.
He'd measured her loyalty and her possibility of betrayal. The conclusion was clear: short of a truly extreme situation, Lanfang would never betray him.
She was drawing immense relief and happiness from being Hye-yong's pet dog.
And from the way she'd voluntarily sworn submission, she had zero desire to escape it.
'So do I come clean and raise her openly, or keep it secret?'
Yeah. He'd made up his mind.
He'd let Lanfang know.
'Not everything... but at least I can tell her I have an incredible ability that can make her grow much faster.'
Lanfang was a pet.
People readily say things to animals they'd never dare say to another human being.
'Once she knows I can do that, her loyalty and everything will climb even higher.'
Now, straight to the prototype.
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 2
Rian Pang Exclusive
'Level 2 for now.'
The first time he'd gotten a growth buff, slapping an exclusive tag on it had pushed it to level 2.
But by now, his recognition power should've built up considerably.
Hye-yong decided to try bumping the performance one level at a time.
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 3
'Level 3.'
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 4
'Level 4.'
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 5
"Oh."
He'd figured it would cap around level 4. Hitting level 5 pulled a small, impressed sound out of him.
Could it reach level 6?
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 6
'Wait—this goes to level 6?'
At level 6, just how fast could she grow?
'Hang on. Could this be...'
Something felt off. Hye-yong cranked it straight to level 10.
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 10
Rian Pang Exclusive
'?'
Question marks popped into his head. He pushed it to level 15.
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 15
Rian Pang Exclusive
'??'
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 20
Rian Pang Exclusive
'It hit level 20?'
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 22
Rian Pang Exclusive
It had looked like it would climb forever, but it finally stopped at level 22.
Even so, the value was honestly absurd.
'How the hell did it go this high? Is it because we're in the inner world?'
No.
Inside the inner world, the cost itself didn't increase.
'Is this a special case, like with Geum Na-rin?'
But back then, Hye-yong had offered a sacrifice: all the deaths he'd repeated, over and over.
The space called the inner world.
Geum Na-rin's rage.
If he considered that he'd been able to offer those up as sacrifices, then it wasn't implausible.
But what was being sacrificed this time to drive the level this high?
'Let's go outside and check.'
Hye-yong swept Lanfang's hair from her forehead, tucked it back, and pressed a light kiss to her brow.
"Sleep well."
Then he woke on the bed in his own room.
'Let me try making the buff again.'
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 22
Rian Pang Exclusive
'...The fuck?'
This was definitely reality.
But the buff was being created at the exact same value as in the inner world.
'Mina. I'm guessing you don't sleep, right?'
Hye-yong contacted Mina at once.
[ Choi Hye-yong : Mina. ]
[ Mina : Yes! Mina here! ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : That girl—the one whose Seed of Negativity bloomed. ]
[ Choi Hye-yong : When I tried to put a growth buff on her, the values jumped like crazy. What's that about? ]
Mina paused for about twenty seconds, as if thinking, then replied.
[ Mina : I can't say for certain, but... it appears that growth buffs are influenced by Seeds of Recognition that have matured past a certain threshold. ]
[ Mina : In that character's case, her Seed has almost completely bloomed. ]
[ Mina : As a result, when you cast a growth buff on her, the required cost has drastically decreased. ]
'Because Lanfang's heart is completely conquered—she looks only at me, thinks only of me...?'
Hye-yong stripped the phrase 'Rian Pang Exclusive' from the growth buff he'd made.
[ Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Agility Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 4
'Whoa... it just cratered.'
With cost efficiency that absurdly good, going adaptive rather than single-stat looked like the better call.
[ Adaptive Stat Growth Efficiency Increase ]
Adaptive Stat Growth Efficiency Increase Level 15
Rian Pang Exclusive
'Even this hits level 15. This is seriously insane.'
Adaptive stats were governed by whatever stats Lanfang primarily used.
Strength, agility, stamina, magic power, weapon proficiency—the whole spread.
It weighted each stat according to her preference ratio and grew them proportionally.
'Yeah, that's how I designed it. The same logic as the stat points you get when your job level goes up.'
Apply an adaptive stat growth buff, and Lanfang could maximize her growth in the exact direction she wanted to go.
'Huh... now that I think about it, isn't this actually fucking cause for celebration?'
From Hye-yong's perspective, the stronger Lanfang got, the better.
The stronger she grew, the more means she'd have to protect herself from outside threats.
Originally, he'd planned to raise her slowly and incrementally—one stat at maybe level 4 or 5. But this way, she could get dramatically stronger in a short span.
Since it was her talent itself that was increasing, she wouldn't even hit a ceiling.
[ Choi Hye-yong : So blooming a Seed of Negativity is that good. ]
[ Mina : That's what I told you at the beginning. ]
[ Mina : If you could make them fall with kindness and affection, the results might be different—but that demands far too much effort and a very long time. ]
[ Mina : Breaking down their heart, collapsing everything around them until they've lost it all, then making them dependent—that's comparatively easy. ]
Exactly.
Lanfang's case was already halfway conquered.
She'd had a dependent personality from the start, and her surroundings had completely collapsed around her.
All Hye-yong had done was use persistent torment to hammer "you are alone" into her head, over and over.
Combine that with the anxiety buff, and she couldn't fight her own heart.
As a result, she demoted herself from a person to a cute little pet dog and chose to depend on Hye-yong.
And with that, conquest complete.
She became a slave who considered fawning over her master the highest virtue.
If he'd tried to make her dependent purely through kindness, without any of that stimulation—how much longer would it have taken?
'So there really is a reason it works better this way, huh...'
He might need to give this serious thought.
The methods of wounding, of belittling, of seizing control.
Of course, the whip and the carrot always had to stay balanced.
'But there's no way in hell I could do that to the party members I'm close with now.'
For anyone like Lanfang, though—where he could seize a weakness or keep the relationship resentful—it seemed fine to act without guilt.
'Ah, couldn't some piece of shit who already hates me just fall into my lap somewhere?'
If someone came at him with pure malice, he felt like he could return it with genuinely pure malice.
He figured he needed to get a handle on the state of the facility, meet different figures, and watch them carefully.
-
At the sparring ground entrance.
"Buffeeer-nim!!"
Lanfang shouted the instant she spotted Hye-yong standing at the entrance to the sparring ground.
"I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too."
Stroke, stroke.
"Eheh. Heheh. I love you...."
When he stroked her head and under her chin at the same time, Lanfang looked like she might die of happiness.
"Today, we're sparring instead of raiding."
"If I'm with Buffer-nim, anywhere is good!"
"I've got a special gift for you. Look forward to it."
At the words "look forward to it," Lanfang's face lit up with anticipation.
Whatever she was expecting today, she'd see something that blew past it.
Just like last time, they entered a 1v1 sparring room and picked up their blade tonfas together.
"Lanfang, what are your stats right now?"
"Strength Level 6, Agility Level 8, Stamina Level 6, Magic Power Level 5!"
"Weapon proficiency?"
"Dagger Proficiency Level 5!"
Hye-yong pulled up all his stats against Lanfang's and made a buff that set him one level higher than her across the board.
The reasoning: Lanfang was a much better fighter than he was, so he'd need at least that stat bump to fight her evenly.
'First, let's see how it plays out like this.'
He gripped his blade tonfa and set his stance.
"Let's spar. Don't hold back."
"S-Spar... but how can I, against Master..."
"You're not planning to disobey your master's order, are you? I'm doing this to train against a comparable opponent. Do not go easy."
"O-Okay! Lanfang always obeys Master...!!"
Lanfang set her stance as well.
Last time, Lanfang had come at him first. This time, Hye-yong decided to lead.
Clang, claclang!
It wasn't to the same degree as before, but his Blade Tonfa Mastery told him how to swing to do damage to an opponent.
Except his opponent also knew exactly how to block to prevent that damage.
Lanfang parried every strike aimed at his head, neck, and flanks, then swung her arm in counter.
Clang!
He blocked and stepped back slightly.
'Yeah. I definitely need to keep all my stats at least one level higher just to fight her evenly.'
Whether she was following his order to give it everything, or spotted an opening to press the attack, Lanfang rushed in.
Shwik!
Clang!
Clack-clack-clack!
More than ten exchanges took place in close quarters.
This was what they called a close fight.
Heat surged through his body. Sweat started streaming.
Lanfang's face—serious but anxious about possibly wounding Hye-yong—flushed with the heat of battle, and the two together made for quite an atmosphere.
They traded blows for about five minutes. No decisive outcome ever materialized.
'I think she pulled back a little because she was afraid of landing a hit... but I can still call this an even match.'
Now it was time to apply the growth efficiency buff.
Just how fast would Lanfang grow once she received this?