Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Nayeo-ju Saves the World
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The very next day, I checked out of the hospital and headed straight home.
Even though I'd won the lottery and become rich, I had no reason to waste money on a VIP hospital room when my limbs and body were perfectly fine.
There were so many places money needed to go from now on.
"But this place looks more amazing the longer I stare at it."
I kicked off my shoes and glanced around the interior of my home.
"This really is my house."
Nothing had changed at all.
The bed even looked just as I'd left it, with the covers rumpled from where I'd been lying.
But there was no time to get lost in nostalgia.
I still had the most important thing to check.
"First, a shower."
Without overthinking it, I scrubbed myself from head to toe until I was squeaky clean.
Then I sat on the bed and opened my mouth with utmost reverence.
"Status window."
Nayeo-juA-Rank
"Ooh!"
It appeared! It really appeared!
Ever since the doctor confirmed my awakening, I'd been dying to check it, but I'd held off until I was completely alone in the safest place possible.
I'd mimicked exactly what Kang Han did in the novel, and sure enough, a translucent skill window floated right in front of my eyes.
Typically, awakeners couldn't view their own status windows.
That's why they needed the Awakener Association's awakening scanners.
Aspiring hunters hoping for signs of awakening or praying they'd awakened would wear down the doorsteps of registration centers with scanners.
But like the protagonist and a select few hunters, I could summon my status window.
That alone was incredibly encouraging.
I checked the status window bit by bit, like peeking at a hand of cards in poker.
"Let's see, let's see..."
Nayeo-juA-Rank
I was speechless for a moment.
"...This is good?"
My status window was ridiculously impressive.
"Okay, calm down a bit."
I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and started scrutinizing it from the top again, one by one.
"First off, A-rank."
My rank was boldly stamped there, like premium Korean beef grading.
It was a harsh reality, but 90% of all awakeners were D-rank or lower.
In other words, they were awakened but couldn't really stand out.
Tougher than non-awakeners, sure, but too weak for gate raids and monster battles.
They were even classified as non-combat and couldn't be called hunters.
So most lived like non-awakeners or worked as miners in safe, cleared dungeons.
"But I'm A-rank?"
Heh heh.
Even C-rank let you strut around with pride, and B-rank could land you as a core member or guild master in a mid-sized guild with some experience.
So A-rank was plenty to join a major guild's key raid team right away.
Of course, it varied a bit depending on the awakening ability...
But just being A-rank put me safely in the clear.
If I were F-rank when I had to stop the world's end, maybe it'd be better to blow the 25 billion on scratch-off tickets and go out happy.
Nayeo-juA-Rank
"The first skill is EX-grade?"
Ha ha, now I was laughing.
EX was above even S-grade.
Exceptional—outside the norm, basically.
It could even evade the Awakener Association scanners that detected up to S-grade.
The slight downside was that it didn't factor into personal ranking.
But then I noticed the "Deactivated" note next to the skill.
Hmm. In novels, this usually meant...
"Skill activate."
A short message appeared, and instantly, I understood exactly what this skill did.
"Whoa."
My vision shifted in a flash.
It seemed to be a skill that revealed information about objects.
"Not everything, though—just items from gates or things made by awakeners."
For example.
A tiny info window hovered over the pinky-finger-sized potion I'd received upon discharge.
"But wouldn't this be annoying all the time? Can't I choose what to see?"
As if it had heard me, the system responded.
The potion's info vanished at once.
And when I willed it to appear, the little window popped up again.
Now I got why this skill was EX-grade.
In this [Sejong Wall] world where most hunters couldn't even see their own status, being able to check item info at will was huge.
There were occasional appraisal skills, but they were limited by the user's rank—wrong reads or failures were common.
In short.
"A money-making skill!"
If an awakener could appraise perfectly every time, hunters and guilds would line up with bags of cash.
But that wasn't my plan.
"Maybe later, but right now, it's too dangerous."
I had to keep it secret until I could protect myself.
That didn't mean I had no way to make money, though.
"I could buy undervalued items and sell them high."
I could hear the money rolling in!
Grinning contentedly, I moved to the next skill.
"What kind of skill name is this?"
But I had a rough idea what it did.
Monsters dropped items on death.
This skill just made more drops.
Basically, squeezing every last bit.
Probably junk like hides or teeth, but even that could add up if sold.
I smacked my lips, tasting the salty crunch of dried squid, and moved on.
Then.
Strengthen Body and Mind (A)
▼ Expand
"...A healer?"
The name alone screamed healer.
"Phew."
I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Whew. Thank goodness."
I'm a coward by nature.
If I'd awakened as combat-type, I'd have to charge the front lines?
I'd be shaking, eyes shut, swinging wildly— a terrifying hunter in all the wrong ways.
And in Korea, with its high awakener-to-population ratio, an A-rank healer was a hot commodity everywhere.
"Ha ha ha! ...Ha ha, ha..."
I tried laughing it off casually, but I couldn't ignore it.
Drip. My eyes drifted below the skill name.
▼ Expand
Bad vibes. Don't wanna expand.
Can't you just let me be a happy healer?
The expand button on the status window flashed once.
"Ugh. No."
Now even the system was pressuring me with a popup.
Reluctantly, I jabbed the black triangle with my finger.
3. Strengthen Body and Mind (A) - Growth Type
▷ Body Healing: Consume your own stamina to heal the target.
Current Level - Beginner I
▷ Dark Addiction Healing (EX): Reduces the target's Dark Addiction level.
Healing efficiency proportional to the target's favorability toward 'Nayeo-ju'.
Healers usually burned mana with every heal—that was standard.
I should have raged at the outrageous "consume stamina" clause, but my eyes locked on "Growth Type."
"Not giving me anything easy, huh."
Growth type meant no freebies; I'd have to build it from scratch.
"Beginner" suggested it could only handle minor wounds now.
Unlike hunters who got rank-appropriate powers instantly, I'd start from the bottom and grind up.
"Guess I'll have to work for it..."
I paused my lament as my gaze hit "Dark Addiction Healing" below.
I froze.
"For real?!"
I shot to my feet.
"It can heal Dark Addiction?!"
I'd even ranted about it in the comments that karmic debt for transmigrating into this doomed world.
Dark Addiction was that horrific.
As the level rose, you'd rampage—differently for each person, but always with thick black blood tears of agony.
Tough hunters survived a few rampages, but there was a limit.
Eventually, the accumulating darkness collapsed the body, leading to death.
That's why high-rank hunters quit raids as they aged, avoiding gates as much as possible.
Until the end times forced everyone to fight.
By the novel's late stages, few high-rankers remained to battle the apocalypse.
"But this changes everything."
If I could stop the rampages killing hunters.
If S-ranks could fight beside Kang Han on the final day.
"Now this game is winnable."
The body healing had conditions, sure, but who cared?
It reduced Dark Addiction—hot or cold, I'd take it.
The next line was tiny, like fine print on insurance, squinting to read.
"Healing efficiency proportional to the target's favorability toward Nayeo-ju..."
No! Not this!
"Waaah!"
I flailed my limbs in protest, but the status didn't budge.
Exhausted, I flopped onto the bed.
Denying the cruel reality, groans escaped between my hands over my face.
"You crazy system..."
Favorability-based?
...Seriously?