68. My Buff is a Drug
68. My Buff is a Drug
"As expected of the comrade who's fought alongside this body through countless holy wars! To achieve a two-step promotion together — truly, 'That Person' has marked you for greatness— GYAKK!!"
"Hwa-ra. Shouldn't you be used to that by now?"
"This is a matter of pride, I say!!"
"Ahahah! Hwa-ra's so funny."
Ever since the change in Choi Hye-yong, everything had been going smoothly.
The streak of misfortune had vanished, the party members' growth had steadied, and they'd received perfectly tailored physical enhancements in the form of exclusive buffs.
'Even being able to consider D-rank raids with this lineup is thanks to the exclusive buffs...'
At first, they'd seemed like just a nice bonus, but as the days passed, the exclusive buffs' performance kept climbing, and now the gap was too stark to ignore.
Not only that — without Choi Hye-yong's exclusive buffs, it was obvious that Seo Ha-yoon would be seeing blood and fainting all over again.
Na Hee-yeon had also said the difference in her accuracy and power with and without the buffs was enormous.
And the fact that Chae Hwa-ra's characteristically reckless charges against E+ rank monsters hadn't resulted in any disasters was entirely because Choi Hye-yong had shielded her at exactly the right moments.
'She said she went straight from F to D this time. Her growth is insanely fast — maybe because of the reawakening. At this rate... she might leave the party before long.'
When one person outpaces the rest, it's only natural for them to look for another party.
There was no reason for her to stay in this party while taking a loss.
At least, from her perspective, that was the case.
'Honestly, it wouldn't be strange if she joined a C-rank party right now.'
Watching Choi Hye-yong's rate of growth, Choi Ah-young felt a thread of anxiety tighten.
Right now, he was the pillar supporting this party.
If Choi Hye-yong dropped out, everything would clearly come crashing down, just like before.
'He'll probably join the stamina training too... Soon there won't even be a reason to exercise together anymore. And he hasn't suggested we duo raids, either.'
Choi Ah-young was a person whose calculating side outweighed her emotional side.
That was why she had no friends.
She'd often been told she had a cold personality.
She'd chosen to shut her ears to the assessments of people who didn't even know her, and instead isolated herself.
Still, there had always been people who stuck around her.
Because she was diligent in everything, sincere, and always above average.
People who wanted to coast on her efforts and take advantage of her for their own convenience.
Their motives were transparent, but she hadn't cared.
She'd thought that as long as she worked hard, that was enough.
But now, even those sorts of people were gone.
The only people at Choi Ah-young's side now were her current party members — just these people.
The thought that she might collapse along with them if Choi Hye-yong disappeared filled her with anxiety.
And Choi Ah-young had been considerably captivated by the word "friend," which Choi Hye-yong tossed around so casually.
— No, you lived your life working hard. You just had bad luck.
'Friend...'
— I know.
'A real friend who doesn't just judge by outward appearances for personal gain, but who knows how I really think, how hard I work...'
Her calculating side, which made up most of who she was, spoke up.
'If Choi Hye-yong leaves the party, things could go right back to how they were. My image is already so bad that there aren't even any parties willing to take me as a mercenary. And on top of that, an order-type leader has no value as a mercenary. Would I even be able to graduate properly?'
Then the sliver of emotional side she had spoke.
'I finally found a friend who understands me, and I don't want him to lose interest in me. I don't want to grow distant.'
She wanted Choi Hye-yong to stay in the party.
— We're going to keep being friends, right?
— We'll... keep being friends. So... right?
She wanted to become Choi Hye-yong's closest friend.
Choi Ah-young was a person whose calculating side was strong.
Just as she always had, she began to calculate.
How to make him think of her a little more, how to make him stay in the same party.
— ...Ah, hey. Sorry. I didn't think.
— No, I'm the one who's sorry...
'...'
The awkward situation from that day.
A memory she'd briefly taken a slight interest in as a woman in her prime, then promptly shoved into a corner of her mind.
Choi Ah-young's eyes narrowed as she watched Choi Hye-yong.
-
"Uuuugh...! Haaaah! It's over!"
Today, the party had cleared five raids.
Seo Ha-yoon stretched wide and let out a sigh of relief.
Crack! Pop!
"Ughhehh..."
She twisted her body to stretch her waist and shoulders at the same time, and the sounds were brutal.
Seo Ha-yoon always complained of shoulder and lower back stiffness after raids.
It was a chronic ailment for a tank who had to take monster attacks directly with her body.
Of course, since she was an Awakened — essentially a cheat code for the new humanity — there were no lasting aftereffects, and a single day of rest had her feeling brand new.
"Good work, guys. You're the best."
Today as well, Hye-yong doled out praise born of a sense of duty and encouraged the party.
"Good work, everyone!"
"We'll head out first."
They hadn't exactly set an order for leaving, but it was almost always the same.
Seo Ha-yoon and Na Hee-yeon walked out arm in arm, laughing, and Chae Hwa-ra went out alone.
Then the ones who stayed behind — Choi Ah-young and Hye-yong — lingered together before splitting off from each other.
Today again, only the two of them remained in the Otherworld waiting room.
"Good work today too, Hye-yong. Your buff control seems to be getting better by the day?"
"Ah, really? I have been putting in the effort lately."
Hye-yong felt a swell of pride at Choi Ah-young's praise.
It wasn't like he'd been practicing hard, but it felt like he'd gotten acknowledgment that the buff pages were having a real effect.
'Buff control seems pretty important for a Blessing Mage too.'
He'd learned this while diligently attending his Blessing Arts class.
Blessing Mages didn't all just casually cast and remove blessings the easy way Hye-yong did.
The theory of blessings accepted in this world went roughly like this:
Blessings had an intrinsic form, like a magic circle.
You gathered divine power, converted it into the form of that blessing, and granted it to the target.
The time to gather divine power, the time to convert its form, and so on combined to make what was called the blessing's casting time.
Only extremely practiced or overwhelmingly talented Blessing Mages could nearly ignore this casting time and fling blessings around freely.
'The buffs I make with Buff Custom are a bit of a cheat code, so they probably just pop out with a thought — no process needed. Let's just go with "moderately talented."'
Of course, in Choi Ah-young's eyes, Hye-yong wasn't at the level of "moderately talented."
'It hasn't even been long since he became able to use shields, and his growth is incredible.'
Choi Ah-young also studied hard, so she knew a fair bit about the ecology of Blessing Mages.
Blessings couldn't be stacked.
The mark of a skilled Blessing Mage was to retrieve buffs and quickly swap them out to match the situation.
Lately, Hye-yong had been executing that perfectly.
Today alone was proof.
The final raid opponent of the day had been a "Thought-Infused Semi-Wyvern Corpse."
Just as the name suggested, it was a monster formed by the corpse of a semi-wyvern infused with malevolent thoughts, which made it move.
Its durability was very weak, but it flew and spewed toxic flames, making it incredibly troublesome at E+ rank.
They'd considered skipping this one, but after hearing Choi Hye-yong boast confidently that it would be fine, they'd pushed through.
In the middle of the battle, the wyvern corpse was about to spew toxic flames.
Choi Ah-young, unluckily exposed, had been about to accept the minor loss and block it with her longsword.
[Divine Protection]
Divine power shield, level 6
But then her exclusive buff activated, and the shield completely blocked the flames.
[Sword's Enlightenment]
And the moment the attack was blocked, her other exclusive buff was cast on her.
The buff swap was absurdly fast — maybe because she'd never truly registered a situation as dangerous before, but the speed of it left her stunned.
She felt relieved that the enemy's attack was blocked, but at the same time, her anxiety deepened.
It was because she'd instinctively felt that the Choi Hye-yong of now, unlike before, wasn't someone who belonged in this party.
Choi Ah-young carefully broached the subject.
"Hye-yong... are you going to join the stamina training?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah. I've gotta. I can't keep inconveniencing you every single time."
Inconveniencing her a little would be fine, really.
Choi Ah-young held back the urge to pout.
"Then there's no need to come out for our daily exercise anymore, huh."
"Ah, I was actually about to bring that up. No matter what, doing hours at a time is brutal for me."
"That's a little disappointing. I still haven't gotten to teach you anything. I finally agreed to teach you, and all I've done is make you run the whole time."
"What can I do? I've got no talent."
No talent, his ass.
Honestly, she was jealous to death.
As Ah-young — just Ah-young — she was purely envious of Hye-yong's talent.
"Weren't you just running on the treadmill an hour every day because of me, when you wanted to do other exercises?"
"Huh? N-no, it's not like that. I always do an hour a day."
Choi Ah-young had just told a lie.
In the routine she had in mind, running once every few days was plenty.
She'd just thought that since Choi Hye-yong was running while huffing and puffing, she ought to run beside him.
"Really? That makes me feel a bit less apologetic. Anyway, thanks for everything up till now, Ah-young. You helped a lot."
"...Save the thanks for a few days from now. Training starts next week, after all."
"Ah, right. That was it."
"Then I'll see you this evening."
"Okay. See you in the training room."
The current time was 3:35 PM.
He'd arranged to meet Lanfang by 4.
'Hang out with Lanfang a bit... do a few raids together. Watch her train and come back, and the timing will be just right.'
Lately, Lanfang had been growing at a terrifying pace thanks to Hye-yong's growth buffs.
Her base stats were strength level 8, agility level 10, stamina level 7, mana level 6.
Her dagger proficiency had reached level 6.
Thinking back to when they'd first met, it was nothing short of explosive.
'If I don't hurry, Lanfang might end up waiting.'
Hye-yong walked briskly toward the shuttle bus stop.
-
July 1st (Tue), 4:01 PM
The stop beside the shopping street
Beside the stop, there was a figure that looked like Lanfang.
But someone was pressed right up against her.
He doubted it was her and moved closer — but no, it was definitely Lanfang.
'What the? Who the hell is that? Well, it's a girl.'
He used a buff to boost his vision and hearing, focused, and assessed the situation.
"P-please, don't do this... H-he'll be here soon, I said."
"Whyyy. Hang out with me today. One day's fine, right?"
The fuck?
Looking closer, he recognized her.
The girl with the delinquent face clinging to Lanfang was none other than Park Yuri.
Unlike at the Fight Club, she was properly dressed in her uniform.
"I always come out and spar with you the moment you say you want to meet. You won't even give me one day? Even when we ran into each other by chance like this?"
"Th-that was for sparring...! More importantly, I have someone to meet todayyy...!!"
"Even though it's a pain, I accepted without any reluctance whenever you asked me to be your sparring partner."
He'd wondered why they seemed so familiar — it looked like Lanfang had been the one asking to meet.
And pretty often, at that.
It was probably driven by her dedication to work hard and become stronger, but seeing how things had turned out, the results had gotten... strange.
"If it was a bother, you should've... refused..."
Slip!
Completely naturally, Park Yuri wedged her arm between Lanfang's arm and her side and latched on.
"Just one day. Hang out with me. Okay? I promise I won't make it boring."
Whoa, check out that line.
The reason she was being so aggressive was clear — the gaze Park Yuri was aiming at Lanfang carried a subtle clinginess.
Baek Yun-seo's words suddenly surfaced in his mind.
— I heard that when the male Awakened ratio drops again, they just start sucking and licking each other.
'Now that I think about it, this place... is basically a lesbian training camp.'
As Hye-yong quietly observed the facility's dynamics, he realized that with so few men, male-female couples were also extremely rare.
And just because men were scarce didn't mean they sold well, either.
Fundamentally, this was a facility that placed such overwhelming weight on grades that you couldn't even graduate without hitting a certain rank, and for smooth operations, it was simply more convenient to group up by gender — so men gathered with men and women with women, broadly speaking.
Of course, couples happened everywhere, but still.
"L-let go of me...!"
"So mean. Come on, just think of it as a trial run."
He'd been spacing out, lost in thought, but hearing Lanfang's troubled voice snapped him back to his senses.
'Ah, this is no time to be standing around.'
He had to rescue poor Lanfang from the clutches of that wicked lesbian.
Even if she was a girl, watching someone with shady intentions make a move on the cute little pet he'd tamed didn't sit well with him at all.