Chapter 7
Chapter 7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Product Selection
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Woojin, who had rushed desperately into the bathroom, froze at the bizarre sight before him.
"Wh-what the hell!?"
Sangjin had ended up plastered to the wall like a frog, battered by the water gushing wildly from the showerhead.
Sangjin shouted urgently.
"Cough! Hack!! H-hyung!! What are you doing standing there like an idiot! Turn off the water!! The water!!"
Whoosh–!
The showerhead was spewing a massive stream of water like a fire hose.
Snap out of it, Woojin hurriedly turned off the shower at his brother's cry.
Splat–!
Only then did Sangjin's body peel off the wall and tumble to the floor.
"......"
An absurd situation.
Woojin cautiously approached his brother.
"H-hey... S-Sangjin-ah, you okay?"
Sangjin lay there naked, face smashed into the floor.
He knew he shouldn't, but Woojin couldn't help picturing a giant flesh-colored frog.
"F-fuck... Hyung, does this look okay to you right now...? Ugh... Cr-crazy... I... can't move... Help me...."
What to do? It was hilarious. But he couldn't laugh.
"Pfft, phh! Ahem!! Can't move? What now? Should we go to the hospital?"
Sangjin barely opened his mouth amid the shock that felt like his whole body had been pummeled.
"You bastard of a hyung... Are you laughing right now? Just... lay me down first... Damn it, who told them to build Victoria Falls in the bathroom.... What the hell even is that thing...."
Woojin held back his laughter with superhuman patience, carried Sangjin to the living room, laid him down, and wiped the water off his body.
Then he noticed Sangjin's chest and abdomen turning black and blue from the water cannon blast.
"Crazy! It's bruised! What do we do? Hey! Sangjin-ah, you okay!?"
Sangjin, still naked on the floor, spoke to Woojin.
"Ha... cold... Cover me up with something... Cover my lower half too... Even if we're brothers, this ain't right...."
"Oh? Uh? S-sorry! Hold on!"
Woojin fetched a blanket from the room for Sangjin, who looked too weak to even stand, and covered him up to his face.
"You... freaking... moron... I didn't die... What if I suffocate covering my face too, you psycho Jaya...."
"Ah, s-sorry."
Woojin left Sangjin there and rummaged through the medicine cabinet.
Fortunately, the house had basics like bandages and topical pain relief paste.
'Let's see.'
"This is it!"
Woojin quickly enhanced both ointments and began spreading them on Sangjin's wounds.
"Wh-what are you doing...!?"
"Hold still. This should make it better!"
About ten minutes later, Sangjin groaned and sat up.
"Ugh... Nng...."
Woojin rushed over to Sangjin as he tried to sit up, at a loss for what to do.
"You okay? D-do we still not need the hospital?"
Sangjin spoke without even looking at Woojin, irritation clear in his voice.
"No... My chest hurts a bit, but the ointment seems to be helping... And what would I even say at the hospital? That I got hit by a water cannon in the shower and stuck to the wall like a frog? I've been through every damn thing... This is ridiculous."
From what Woojin could see, aside from the bruise on his chest, Sangjin seemed fine.
Probably thanks to the quick application of the enhanced ointment.
"Anywhere else hurt besides your chest?"
Sangjin glared at Woojin.
"Humiliating...."
"What?"
Sangjin threw the blanket at Woojin and yelled.
"Today is the most humiliating day of my life, you dog of a hyung!! Fuck! What kind of shitty power is this that you try to assassinate your own brother with!? You call yourself a hyung after that!?"
"Hey, hey!! A-assassinate!? That's too harsh!!"
"You fuck!! Stand naked in front of that showerhead right now!! See if you still think it's not attempted murder when I turn it on!!"
"I get it, okay!? I said I get it! And I enhanced the ointment and fixed you up, didn't I!?"
"It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't messed with that showerhead in the first place!!"
Woojin and Sangjin bickered back and forth like that until they both tired out and fell silent, huffing.
Then suddenly, Sangjin's laughter rang out.
"K-kkh, heh heh heh. You're insane, seriously? Where'd you get such a dogshit power from."
Woojin couldn't help but grin watching him.
Honestly, it had been funny.
That's how brothers mess around.
A little hurt is fine as long as you don't die.
"Too bad I couldn't take a picture. That'd be a lifelong regret. Kek! Khahaha!"
"Puhahaha!"
"Kyahahaha!"
The brothers' laughter echoed through the small villa at the ridiculous situation.
A little later, once things had settled, the brothers sat facing each other in the living room.
Sangjin looked at Woojin and spoke.
"I get your power now, hyung. All it does is enhance stuff, right? So our 100-year-old grandpa showerhead suddenly turns into prime 20s steel pipe from your enhancement? Insane, what kind of power is this?"
Woojin corrected him slightly.
"Hey, that was a special case. It was a whopping +9 showerhead, after all."
Sangjin spoke with a slight shudder.
"Didn't you say that was +11?"
"......Yeah... Uh... Right?"
"If +9 does that much, I'd really be dead if +11 succeeded."
"......I'll be careful. Sorry."
With his hyung apologizing sincerely, Sangjin changed the subject.
"No, but does that even make sense? Physically impossible, right? Even if water pressure gets enhanced, there has to be water in the first place for that pressure. Am I wrong?"
"No, you're right."
Sangjin gestured excitedly toward the bathroom.
"Then what the hell was that!? Kkh... Ow, still hurts a bit, damn it. What was that physics-defying water pressure?"
"I don't know either."
Sangjin was at his wit's end. The user himself didn't know.
"If you don't know, who does? You burn victim?"
"Ah! It was like that in Unriworld too! Magic? Ma-gic!?"
Woojin had experienced countless phenomena in Unriworld that defied physics.
They were all just called magic or skills.
"Magic? You expect me to believe that crap right now?"
"What's so hard to believe? Awakened people are popping up now, aren't they? I looked it up a bit—teleportation, fire from hands, total chaos. Does that make sense?"
Sangjin pondered deeply. Awakened had appeared about a year ago, and just as hyung said, they possessed 'superpowers' that human knowledge couldn't explain.
"Fine, I'll buy it. So what's your plan, hyung? What are you gonna do with this insane power? Warning you—don't even think about selling +9 showerheads to people. You'd get sued in a heartbeat. Not rich, jail. Jail."
Woojin nodded.
"That's what I'm worried about too. What to sell? Trademarks, patents—it's a headache."
"Got any ideas?"
Woojin shrugged.
"Just enhance some chopsticks and sell 'em?"
It was a throwaway comment, but Sangjin's reaction wasn't bad.
"Hmm... Chopsticks... Normally I'd say hell no, but right now? Not a bad idea."
"Oh, yeah? As expected of my item selection skills...."
Sangjin cut him off.
"Nah, it's because Korean culture is blowing up these days. That's why."
"Really?"
"Yeah, a few months ago, this anime called 'K-Pop Demon Exorcist' hit it big."
Woojin eyed him suspiciously.
"What kinda confusing title is that...? K-Pop exorcist? How'd they mix that?"
"Just go with it. Point is, now's the time for Korean culture in items. Chopsticks are Korean, so potential there."
"Hoo... Yeah?"
"Perfect timing too—YouTube's flooded with Korean food mukbangs. Chopsticks are selling like hotcakes worldwide."
"Then let's do chopsticks. Easy start. If they don't sell, switch later. Low startup cost too."
And just like that, they decided to sell the chopsticks Woojin had first enhanced in the real world.
Sangjin opened his laptop, jotted some notes, and spoke.
"Picked some at random, but not bad? Easy sourcing, no patents, no brand issues... Wholesale sites have 'em cheap."
"Damn... You sound like a pro."
Sangjin followed up.
"What rank was the one I used?"
"That? +2."
"Only +2? Then what about +9? Do the chopsticks feed you on their own?"
"Idiot? You think? Use your brain a bit."
"......Magic, right?"
"Ha... Little bro, magic isn't omnipotent."
A vein bulged on Sangjin's forehead.
He was the one who'd just said it was magic and not to question it.
"No! Then what's the standard!? I'm just a normal student! First time seeing someone with powers like this!"
"Each item has skills. For it to do what you said, it'd need 'Auto Chopstick Skill,' not just 'Chopstick Skill.' Though, who knows. At +12, maybe it evolves."
"Enhancement changes skills too?"
Woojin nodded.
"Yeah, in that world it did."
"Example?"
"Hm... Ah, yeah. 'Wound Recovery' at Lv.10+ becomes 'Regeneration' or something higher."
Sangjin listened intently.
"Concepts matter? Needs a higher concept to evolve the skill, right?"
"Exactly."
"How much do skill performances improve per level?"
Woojin couldn't answer immediately.
"Not sure. Attack/defense go up 10% per enhancement, but skills vary. Some barely improve, others feel x-fold better."
Sangjin stroked his chin at the answer.
"Hmm...."
Sangjin offered his take based on the explanation.
"Need to check +3 chopstick performance? Can't sell without knowing the difference from +2. How can we without specs?"
Woojin agreed it made sense and pulled out chopsticks to enhance. Luckily, his mana had recovered a bit over time.
"Damn, that showerhead enhancement drained my mana. Can't make many sets."
"Mana?"
"Yeah, that's the enhancement cost I mentioned. Runs out, no more enhancing."
"Limited resource, huh? Efficiency's key then."
A short wait later, Woojin produced +3 and +2 chopsticks.
Sangjin examined them and spoke.
"This one's +3, that +2, right?"
"Huh? How'd you know?"
"Subtle feel difference. +3 feels like better quality...."
"Weird. I can't tell visually."
Woojin inspected his own creations but saw no difference with the naked eye.
Without status windows, he'd think they were identical.
Woojin set the table with food after making the chopsticks.
He figured actually eating with them was best to test.
He deliberately picked hard-to-pick-up side dishes.
Sesame leaves from the prior test, braised soybeans, acorn jelly, whole kimchi, spiny fish—only foods needing chopstick finesse.
Sangjin clicked his tongue at the spread.
"Tsk, eat all that and your finger muscles'll cramp hard."
"Heh heh, all for the money. Let's eat. You used +2 before, so I'll take +2 this time. You do +3."
"Okay, got it."
The two began eating with the enhanced chopsticks.
.
.
.
A bit after finishing the meal.
Sangjin, feeling full, spoke to Woojin.
"Hyung, how was it?"
"Hmm... Subtle? Feels like chopstick skills improved, but maybe just good condition? You?"
Sangjin took a sip of water before answering.
"Gulp. Over the top."
"Huh?"
"Chopstick skills too good. I'm not great with them usually? Worse than you even."
Woojin nodded at that.
"But using this, it hits you right away: these chopsticks are insane. Fits perfect in hand, food picks up easy? Addictive. Can't use normal ones after. Guaranteed."
Woojin cheered at the rave review.
"Kyahahaha, as expected! So sell at +3?"
Sangjin frowned negatively at the words.
"No. That won't work."
"Why? You said it was amazing."
Sangjin looked straight at his hyung, dead serious.
"Hyung, no good. Anyone'd think it's suspicious. Some gimmick. What gimmick in chopsticks? Naturally leads to 'someone with powers made this.'"
Woojin flinched.
"Th-that much?"
"Yeah, +2 is perfect. Just enough to think 'why are chopsticks so good?' That alone guarantees success."
Made sense, but felt low-impact.
"Hmm... Still think +3's better...."
"Sure, a few +3 as bait, but mainline +2. Mana efficiency too. Plus, you said no standing out."
Woojin saw the logic.
"And it's not repeat-buy material. Flash-in-pan from culture wave."
"Why?"
"Remember when we got our chopsticks?"
"...Feels like they've been home since I was born?"
"Exactly. Slap K-Pop premium, sell quick to foreigners, bail. We make bank, market stays. +3's too much."
Sangjin even tested +2 vs. normal chopsticks.
"Funny thing: seems skill doesn't trigger with just one. Feels totally different."
Having Sangjin around sparked way more ideas than solo brainstorming.
Decision made, Woojin shouted at Sangjin.
"Alright! +2 it is! Gotta listen to my college bro."
Sangjin grinned back.
"Yeah, listen to me. Long-term win for you too. Mana limit, right?"
"Yeah?"
"But with +2, you can charge +3 prices? Definitely."
The brothers hammered out plans with their heads, and it was damn fun.
Brotherly brainstorming never ended before dawn.
Finally, Sangjin spoke.
"Plans look solid now?"
Woojin nodded proudly.
"See? Worth sending you to college."
The brothers' eyes sparkled brighter than ever.