Paid Service (3)

The moment I called up my attribute window in my mind, it flickered open before me.

I swept my eyes across the display without moving my head, scanning every line — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and that was when she spoke.

"Disgusting bastard…."

"…Excuse me?"

Out of nowhere?

I was just reading my own status, and suddenly Yoo Joonghyuk was muttering that I was disgusting, her face twisted past contempt into outright revulsion.

Hold on… why?!

What exactly had I done to earn a free roasting as a disgusting bastard? This was the same woman who had just stomped me under a leg that felt like an elephant's foot, and the pressure had been so crushing I had been one breath away from asphyxiation.

What the hell?

What kind of nonsense was this? And more importantly — Constellations with masochistic tendencies? Were Constellations even allowed to be like that?

I shifted my gaze to where my attribute window was floating.

The section displaying my name sat right over Yoo Joonghyuk's collarbone.

And as I had scanned the window from top to bottom, flicking my eyes left and right… collarbone, chest, stomach, hips, and then — ahem. Yeah. That was an easy misunderstanding to make.

"Wait! This is a misunderstanding! My attribute window just happened to be open right there!"

"………."

"See? I was telling the truth. And could you get your foot off me already? I've got something to show you and something to say."

"………."

Yoo Joonghyuk hesitated for a few seconds, then finally lifted that elephant-weight leg off my body.

I thought I was going to die.

"I know you're far stronger than I am, and that you don't hesitate to kill people."

Clutching my still-throbbing stomach, I forced my sprawled body up off the floor.

"But the world is already ruined, and no matter how strong you are, there's a limit to what you can do alone. Which means even someone like you needs companions. Right?"

"So…? You're saying I should take you as a companion?"

She folded her arms and stared me down with a look that screamed, A nobody like you?

Damn, those are big….

The way her crossed arms pushed everything into sharp relief made it impossible not to look — pure male instinct. But if I stared openly right now, I was definitely going to die.

"Ahem! I know my place. I'm not strong, and I don't have particularly powerful abilities either."

I wrenched my gaze completely free of the symbols of her maternal abundance and pressed on.

When I had opened and scanned my attribute window, the usage methods for my abilities had automatically poured into my head.

In the early chapters of the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon, back on the subway, Kim Dokja had told Lee Hyunsung that skills activated just by thinking about using them. So why had the full operating manuals for my skills simply appeared in my mind?

I'll figure that out later. Focus on what's in front of you.

If I couldn't resolve this situation, I was either getting stomped into the floor again until I died, or that sword was going to take my head clean off.

"First, let me show you my ability."

I activated the skill Shop User in my mind.

The moment it triggered, a shop window opened — something very much like the Dokkaebi Bag, the only cash shop in the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon.

I could set the window so only I could see it, or make it visible to others. Right now I needed to prove my usefulness to Yoo Joonghyuk, so I set it to display for her — and for the Constellations as well.

Making it visible to the Constellations was deliberate: the more of them who heard about my ability and took an interest, the better. Bottom line, it was all about securing a coin supply.

"To put it simply, my ability is a cash shop."

Prices vary by item, but I can buy anything listed in the shop window by paying coins.

"……!?"

Yoo Joonghyuk's pupils trembled with shock the moment she heard what I could do, and the Constellations' messages of alarm flooded in right alongside her reaction.

"An ability similar to the Dokkaebi Bag…."

"Looking closer, this shop has two categories."

She muttered "Dokkaebi Bag" under her breath without realizing it. I ignored that and kept going.

"The first is the General Shop. Clothes, ingredients, furniture — everyday necessities for living."

"I understand the first one. What's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the second?"

"Someone's impatient. I was going to explain it anyway…."

I grumbled about being cut off mid-sentence and deliberately dragged things out.

Whoa…. So that's the look Kim Dokja always gets from Yoo Joonghyuk.

Her face crumpled into a glare identical to the webtoon. Anyone watching would have sworn lasers were about to shoot from her eyes.

"Alright, alright, I get it. The second one has a peculiar name. It's labeled Dokkaebi Bag."

"What…?"

"From what I can tell, this Dokkaebi Bag shop is a little special. It sells materials that look like monster parts, along with books, armor, weapons, and so on."

Ah, and both shops list a grade next to every item. Also, Dokkaebi Bag goods cost far more coins than the General Shop. That enough of an explanation? I still don't know everything about this ability myself.

"Hmm…."

Yoo Joonghyuk let out a low hum, fell silent for a few seconds of hard thought, then looked from the shop window I had opened back to me, staring intently.

When those black eyes of hers flared gold, I knew she had activated Sage's Eye.

"Useful enough, I suppose."

"So…?"

"Follow me."

She declared me useful and ordered me to follow, just like that. Look at the personality on this woman — minutes ago she had been crushing me underfoot until I nearly suffocated, and now she was casually telling me to tag along!

Truly the temperament of a regressor who had boiled her own humanity three times over.

But what was a weakling like me supposed to do about it? If I wanted to live, I had to follow.