Fam's Gift (3)
The next station is Hyehwa. Hyehwa Station. The doors to alight from are...
The subway rattled and clacked along in its monotonous rhythm, carrying Junil toward his destination.
Junil, wearing his headset, leaned back in his seat and stared blankly at YouTube.
Or at least, that was how it looked.
In truth, he was strategizing.
'This isn't going to be easy.'
The hero's eighth mission.
A two-billion-won mission.
It was the biggest blockbuster mission he'd undertaken so far.
The difficulty matched the price tag.
'I need to command more Constellations than the protagonist here.'
Only then would Ram lose all her authority, the story's initiative would transfer to him, and the mission would be completed.
'It's still the early stage of the story, so it's impossible right now.'
No matter how popular Junil became, the interest in the protagonist of a story's opening?
He couldn't even begin to guess how much that would be.
From the numbers Junil had seen before, it was bound to be enormous.
'This... I guess I have to call Ham after all.'
Junil glanced cautiously at the Constellations.
There was no particular reaction.
They simply assumed he was watching YouTube during his commute and continued chatting among themselves.
Junil recited the spell in his mind.
'Zaruru, zaruru, chapaguri!'
No response.
'What? So it wasn't chapaguri? There's no way a fairy spell would be chapaguri...'
At that moment.
BANG!
The world froze, and Ham appeared.
“Correct incantation! Why did you summon me?”
“......”
It really was chapaguri.
“You never told me how many Constellations Kang Hae-il has. I need to surpass him, but I don't know the number.”
“Ah...?!”
Ham made a troubled face for a moment.
“W-well... why do you need to know that? You won't be able to see how many Constellations Sir Julian has anyway...”
Oh. Right.
These guys had no idea what Junil could see.
“I roughly sense it. So tell me. I need to set a target.”
“S-sense it? How can you sense something like that?”
“I have the experience, idiot.”
The vibe that comes from experience.
It was the basis that roughly explained a lot of things.
“I understand. Right now it's the early part of the story, so the Constellations' interest is at its peak and the number is enormous. If you hear it you might get discouraged—”
Ham is about to reveal the numbers.
—THUD!
Junil grabbed Ham and shook him violently.
“If I say just tell me, then tell me! You bastard!”
Whoosh! Whirl!
“Uwaaaaah~!”
A dizzy Ham finally confessed.
“F-fiffty thouuusaaand!”
“......Fifty thousand?”
Junil stopped shaking him.
“Huu... Yes. A-and since it's the influx period, the number is still growing...”
“That's brutal. How many do I have?”
“Th... three hundred.”
He had asked as a test.
'He's not lying.'
It was an honest answer.
“But you said you sensed it, so why are you asking me... uwaaaaah!?”
“Why do you talk back so much?”
Junil grabbed him again and spun him in circles.
“I-I get it! S-stoooop!”
Haah. Haah.
Panting, Ham tried to console him.
“D-don't get discouraged just because the difference is huge! It's always like this in the beginning! Once we enter the middle part, the gap will shrink quickly!”
“Don't worry. I know that better than anyone.”
“Ah, y-yes, of course you do.”
The early stages certainly had powerful momentum.
This was going to be a long fight.
“That's why you need to interfere. If both sides rise at the same rate, catching up will be difficult.”
That made sense.
Kang Hae-il's popularity needed to fall while Junil's rose.
He had to aim for the point where those two lines crossed.
If only one side climbed, the difference would be impossible to overcome.
“Got it. You can go now.”
“Yes!”
BANG!
After Ham disappeared, Junil closed his eyes until he reached his stop.
At the same time, he reflected.
'Level 10 comes first.'
Surpassing Kang Hae-il in viewer Constellations was a long-term plan.
First he needed to level up, survive as an Awakened, and only then could he think about the rest.
Meanwhile, at Fairy Corporation.
Ram stood up, her forehead swollen and bruised.
“Huaa... ha... damn...”
She had been headbutting Sam the entire time.
“Ughhh...”
Sam sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
“Hoo. Are you awake now?”
“Yes... I am... Though it feels like I'm about to pass out soon...”
Sam adjusted his glasses as he rose.
The glasses were half destroyed.
Ram didn't care and simply gave her order.
“That bastard has one level-up left, right? Make absolutely sure he can't do it.”
An order that seemed nearly impossible.
“H-how?”
They couldn't collect every scattered goblin, so what was he supposed to do?
Besides, Julian was receiving far too much attention now. Reckless intervention would cost a devastating amount of coins.
“Luck...”
“Luck?”
“Lower his luck value even further.”
“I-isn't it already at rock bottom?”
“No. He shook it off by getting an F rank.”
“......You want to remove even that?”
Sam looked at her as if she were a demon.
“Yes. Just shove it all the way down! I can't stand seeing him do well!!”
Luck.
It was the easiest route for intervention.
But pushing it to the extreme would consume coins at a severe rate.
The chance that the Constellations would feel displeased was high.
'But he's not the lead character.'
This only applied to those at the center of the story.
The luck of an extra.
Who would bother paying attention to that?
In hero movies, the ordinary citizens mowed down by enemy bullets.
Who would think they died because they were unlucky?
They simply died because they were extras.
Sam began feeding in the coins.
Extreme misfortune incoming.
Duration: Permanent until story revision
Ding!Ding!
Luck -10
Luck -10
Luck -10
Luck -10
Luck -10
.
.
.
Finally arriving at his destination station, Junil stretched as he followed the exit route indicated on the map.
“Ugh... mm... something feels stiff.”
It felt like something unpleasant had latched onto his shoulder.
They said if you earned someone's grudge a ghost would attach itself.
'Did one of those demon king bastards' spirits latch on? Which demon king was it again?'
He had done far too many grudge-earning things during his time as Julian for guessing to be meaningful.
He could only hope it wasn't linked to Julian's soul.
Thud—
Someone bumped into him from behind.
“The hell... Hey, watch where you're going!? Huh?”
The man who had bumped into him from behind was now raising his voice.
Junil's body did feel a bit stiff and he wanted to let it slide, but.
'Well... guess I have no choice.'
Thud.
Junil grabbed the man's shoulder and spoke.
“Hey.”
“What? Hey? Is this bastard crazy? Oi. I'm an Awakened. Can't you tell?”
Vrrrr!
A C+ potential rank floated above the man's head.
The thuggish men around him also displayed their ranks.
All of them were C or higher.
They were all special combat-class types.
Sigh.
Junil let out a breath and spoke.
“Normally I can just let something like this slide...”
“You can let it slide? What the hell is this bastard saying? Then just let it slide, dumbass. Or are you gonna beg me to let it go?”
Hahaha!
The men around them laughed heartily without knowing the situation.
“Mega Junil can't hold back. Right?”
Suddenly Junil lifted the man into the air.
“?!”
“Graaaah! Can't hold baaaaack!”
Whoosh!
The man flew into the sky.
Mega Junil.
In reality he was talking about the Constellations.
'What a tiring bunch.'
They absolutely hated letting conflicts caused by others slide without delivering punishment.
No matter how minor the incident was.
It was better to deliver some form of retribution.
It improved Junil's mood too.
“Graaaaah!”
Feigning madness, Junil hurled the rest of the men as well.
CRASH!
“Aaaah, aaaaaagh!?”
“F-fuuuuck...!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!!”
Several of the men flew in every direction like ragdolls.
“S-sorry! Boss!”
“We're sorry!”
The remaining men couldn't even meet Junil's eyes as they scattered in all directions.
“Whew.”
Junil dusted off his hands and checked the Constellations' reactions.
'Good enough.'
Satisfied with their reactions, he withdrew his attention.
In truth, this kind of showmanship had been trained into him since his days as Julian, so he was extremely used to it.
The reason he chose to throw them instead of simply beating them was for the visual satisfaction.
After all, when someone flies far away, it just feels refreshing, doesn't it?
“Was that too flashy?”
Junil muttered to himself as he headed for the restroom.
It was the restroom at the rest area before the hiking trail.
Having moved his body since early morning, his stomach was acting up.
Clack.
He opened a stall door and stepped inside.
“?”
Something far too eye-catching seized his vision.
The moment his sense of smell registered it as well.
He couldn't help but scrunch up his face.
“At least flush, damn it.”
Junil entered a different stall, but the situation there was even worse.
This wasn't a place that needed flushing. It needed to be hosed down.
“Uuuuuurgh!”
He dry-heaved, opened every stall one by one, and finally found one that was relatively clean, but.
'Damn it.'
The lid was closed.
‘......’
Thump. Thump.
His heart rate climbed.
Cold sweat broke out. His eyes trembled.
Did he really have to open this?
Junil used only his fingertips to carefully lift the toilet lid.
SLAM!
He quickly closed it again and headed back to the first stall he had entered.
“U-uuuurgh...!”
“Kiriririri~!”
Laughter finally erupted inside the monitoring room of Fairy Corporation for the first time in a while.
“Ah, that serves you right! You damned Julian bastard~!”
Ram clutched her belly, laughing with glee.
'Is... is it really that funny?'
Sam thought Ram's excitement over someone seeing poop in a toilet was a bit childish.
Still, he clapped along, figuring any comfort was better than none.
“Th... that's amazing! Or should I say... a huge dump? Hahaha!?”
“Kiriririri! Not amazing, a huge dump! This is too funny!”
Thump. Thump.
Ram slapped Sam's shoulder, dying of laughter.
It honestly wasn't that funny.
“The poop terror is only the beginning, Julian.”
Ram glared at the monitor with an excited expression.
She wasn't wrong.
With his luck value driven so low, he would experience all sorts of bizarre incidents.
Even so.
“Um... Lady Ram? Could you please pay some attention to Hae-il as well...”
The Constellations had complained about focusing on Julian, yet now that she was at work, Ram was only watching Julian.
When she left work it was Julian, when she arrived it was Julian.
Ram talked about Julian all day long.
“Ah, y-yes, of course. Our Hae-il~ He's obviously doing well~ Kiriri~”
Ram awkwardly switched the screen to Kang Hae-il.
Kang Hae-il was also hiking at around the same time.
However, the area he was climbing was completely different.
They would probably only meet at the destination.
The trail was now beginning in earnest.
A police officer blocked Junil's path.
“......Wait. You may not pass.”
This was the first time he had seen public authority intervene since the incident began.
“Why not?”
“Goblins are appearing in large numbers. Only Awakened are allowed through.”
“Yes. I am an Awakened.”
Junil nodded and tried to walk past.
But he was blocked again.
Thud.
“Show me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Show me your potential rank.”
“......”
“Why does my rank matter?”
“They said C and above get a free pass. This is all for the safety of the citizens. Anyone below that will just get hurt anyway. They'll get hurt. I'm D rank myself. I already gave up on going any further.”
The officer was D rank as well.
In truth, that level was low enough that Junil could simply push past him.
'But messing with public authority carelessly will cause problems.'
The other party represented the law.
Even Julian in his hero days had suffered greatly after accidentally(?) killing a village guard.
Conflict with public authority would cause his social reputation to plummet, and that was fatal. Humans were social creatures, after all.
Above all, reputation in this world would ultimately influence the Constellations' thoughts as well.
“Haa...”
While Junil was troubled.
“Excuse me. Please let him through. I know him.”
By some stroke of luck, someone was vouching for his identity.
When he turned his head.
“!”
It wasn't luck at all.
'It's Soo-yeon...?'
Of all people, Soo-yeon was here.
Vrrrr!
[B]
She confidently displayed the rank above her head and spoke to the officer.
“B rank gets a free pass and can bring one additional person, right?”
“......Ugh. Well, yes.”
The officer nodded reluctantly, clearly unhappy about it.
“Then let's go, Sagosul?”
Soo-yeon tapped Junil on the back as she spoke.
“......”
Junil couldn't answer.
'I completely ghosted her.'
He had been avoiding Soo-yeon's messages all this time.
Junil read the Constellations' chat for a moment and let out a sigh.
'What fling?'
If he had actually been in a fling, he wouldn't feel so wronged.
'Why is my luck so terrible today?'