Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: New Ability Stats (1)
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The obsessive thought entities, their eyes rolled back as they chased right after Yeonwoo, suddenly froze.
[You bastards! Today’s the day you get shoved into your coffins!]
A terrifying presence had appeared before the tantalizing prey that made their mouths water.
[Grrraaah……!]
[Grrrrk!]
They were starving. But getting any closer was too frightening.
[Why don’t you have a nice feast?]
Click! Adrian’s gun let out a loading sound.
That was the trigger.
The obsessive thought entities began to back away little by little.
Adrian’s skilled herding drove them exactly where he planned.
And finally.
[Graaak?!]
[Guwaaak!]
The ones retreating sensed something off and hesitated.
‘Too late to figure it out now.’
If they’d had any reason left, they wouldn’t have fallen for such bait.
But they were mere chimeric obsessive thought entities, their ranks long degraded.
[Kya aaak!]
The obsessive thought entities let out chilling shrieks as they charged.
Threats to survival meant nothing before an even greater threat of death.
Sensing the bigger danger, they ignored Adrian standing there with his gun raised.
However.
[Finally, I get my revenge!]
Adrian burst into mad laughter as he aimed at the flailing obsessive thought entities, blocked by something invisible.
Yeonwoo let out a sigh at the sight.
‘Whew…… I was tense just in case.’
What trapped the obsessive thought entities was none other than a barrier.
With his spiritual power depleted, Yeonwoo had few options.
‘Regular talismans can’t exorcise them.’
Even degraded, they were once entities revered as gods.
Exorcising them with a few talismans in his drained state was impossible.
He had to wear down their power somehow.
[See how they slip out of threats like eels. If only there was a way to trap them……]
Adrian’s mutter had been the hint.
A plan quickly formed in his mind, piece by piece.
Of course, there was one variable.
‘……It’ll work out, right?’
A long-buried memory flashed through his head.
-Kang Yeonwoo! You punk!
-I’m studying hard at other stuff!
-What’s the point of school? You need to know how to set a barrier to protect yourself!
Memories of his mother, Lady Kang, who wanted to teach him the family trade despite his reluctance.
And the time he’d been trapped in one of her barriers during his escape attempts, force-fed lessons.
He’d learned it half-heartedly back then, with his immature reluctance.
Bang!
[Gwahk!]
Bang!
[Kiriririk!]
[Take this, you bastards! Revenge for my team! How’s it taste?]
Watching Adrian wildly shoot at the trapped obsessive thought entities confirmed it.
The barrier had worked.
[Die, you scum! Die!]
Adrian had only one bullet.
Far too few for spraying them around.
But there was one reason he could now gleefully pummel them.
[You can really use it like this?]
“Yes. But it’s not infinite. Don’t waste it.”
[No worries. I was once called a sharpshooting master……]
True to his word.
The spiritual power bullets struck the obsessive thought entities true with every shot.
Boom!
Thud!
[Gwahk!]
Lost in confusion, they couldn’t even mount a proper resistance.
It was because the memories of being driven to the brink of death had fully returned.
The plan to stir their deepest fears and plunge them into chaos had succeeded.
Trapped and unable to dodge, their bodies crumbled rapidly under the assault.
But it still wasn’t enough.
[Bullets are running out!]
Adrian shouted.
“Okay. Here I go.”
Yeonwoo’s eyes gleamed coldly.
*
‘This is some monster movie shit.’
A kaiju battle in a 21st-century civilized society.
If anyone was curious, he’d skip the theater and recommend sprinkling spirit eye ritual powder in their eyes for a front-row seat.
How did a simple film shoot turn into hunting obsessive thought entities rivaling monsters?
“Whew…….”
A deep sigh escaped him naturally.
[Grrraaah…….]
[Kieeek…….]
Adrian’s attacks had shrunk the massive obsessive thought entities considerably.
But that was it.
The bullets would soon run out, and then they’d slowly recover their strength.
He needed one finishing blow to end them for good.
“I might pass out from anemia at this rate.”
He scraped the surface of his skin with his fingernail, and red blood welled up.
But instead of dripping, it was sucked into his palm like absorption into thin air.
[Getting that close? It’s dangerous. They might devour their benefactor!]
“That’s why your role is crucial, Adrian. You have to daze their minds.”
[Still too risky…….]
“Just time it right. And unless I get close, my power is limited—I can’t fully exorcise them.”
It wasn’t like when his power overflowed.
The farther the distance, the weaker the effect, so he had to approach directly.
In other words, the closer, the greater the destructive power.
[You finish them off amid the chaos…… Perfect.]
“If it goes smoothly, yes.”
That was the plan’s finale.
‘Who knew acting would help like this.’
Since joining Kwon Sung-hyun’s agency, he’d started proper meal plans and fitness training.
Lately, he’d even enrolled in an academy to learn physical moves.
Not your standard PT—basic martial arts before full action school.
Applying it was simple.
‘They’ve shrunk, but still not enough.’
Yeonwoo leaped with a running start, manifesting spiritual power under his soles and detonating it.
A single burst, but effective.
His body instantly kicked off the air lightly.
The sharpened aura sense, amplified by blood, stirred in his hand.
[Kieeek?!]
The obsessive thought entities noticed him and whipped around.
“Too late.”
A sly smile curved Yeonwoo’s lips.
He felt the massive condensed spirit mass split at his fingertips.
The obsessive thought entities, barely holding together, shattered into dozens of pieces and crumbled.
[Kiaaak!]
The last one thrashed in a final spasm before death.
Bang!
[Not on your benefactor!]
Adrian’s covering shot foiled it.
It spun to flee, but
“Where do you think you’re going?”
[Gweeek……!]
With talismans blocking every direction, escape was impossible.
Finally.
[At last……!]
Adrian dropped to his knees before the scattered debris crumbling on the ground.
Hot tears overflowed from his eyes.
“Whew…….”
Yeonwoo sighed deeply.
‘Never thought I’d do a physical exorcism.’
Short on spiritual power, he’d tried everything.
Barriers, launching his body to stab directly.
He’d pulled out all the stops, but the result was satisfying.
[The rain…… the rain’s stopping.]
Plop! Drip!
The downpour had eased into a lie, clearing bit by bit.
Sunbeams pierced through the thick clouds one by one like dawn light.
‘All this for one movie.’
Lifespan aside, he’d thrown himself in harder than expected.
Beyond that, the thought of those obsessive thought scum targeting the cast and crew grated on him.
Maybe that’s why he’d scraped every last drop of spiritual power.
‘Good thing Lady Kang doesn’t know.’
If she did, she might’ve tossed him into showbiz ages ago.
Proud of her boy smiting ghosts on his own.
‘Fatigue’s making me think weird shit.’
Next up: send a rescue signal, rally everyone, and regroup.
The biggest threat was gone, but they’d need time to recover.
As Yeonwoo wearily rose with that thought.
A clear chime halted him.
-Ding!
A system alert out of nowhere.
*
“Hmm?”
Again? Why now?
No sooner had he thought it.
[You have perfectly fulfilled the client’s request!]
[Congratulations! You acquire an additional acquirable ability stat as reward.]
[Reward: Remove Survival Obstacles][A+]
System messages scrolled before his eyes.
Familiar up to here.
After Adrian’s extra acquirable stat showed as a question mark.
He’d snag random ones here and there with every task.
‘Remove Survival Obstacles.’
Spot on.
The obsessive thought entities were direct barriers to his lifespan farming.
But.
-Ding!
It didn’t end there.
[Conditions met.]
[Conditions met: Fully harvest the individual’s ability stats!]
[Reward: Survival Expert][S]
“……Huh?”
A new kind of alert.
Survival Expert?
The thought crossed his mind, and the status window updated before him.
[Survival Expert][S]
-A title inheritable only by those who properly obtain all ability stats from a once-great survival expert.
Possessing this title equates to having the skills to survive any situation.
In disasters or shipwrecks, you shine brightest, leading others.
Specializes in using surroundings for survival, especially in extremes.
‘The question mark…… it’s gone?’
Checking Adrian’s status window reflexively upon seeing Survival Expert.
The extra acquirable slot, once just a lone question mark, now clearly read ‘Survival Expert’.
Yeonwoo thought.
‘This system’s gonna drive me nuts.’
Now it was assembling stat gains like modular furniture.
‘Well…… with stat combos, modular acquisition isn’t that weird?’
Strictly speaking, the ‘Survival Expert’ from Adrian was a stat combo itself.
Six sub-stats unlocked it, right?
But the alerts weren’t done.
-Ding!
[Successfully harvested lifespan.]
[Harvested Lifespan: 180 days]
“……?”
What?
Stats aside, lifespan harvest now?
[Aaah…… finally……!]
Turning reflexively, Yeonwoo saw Adrian fading away.
Like sand scattering in the wind, his particles dispersed, looking utterly at peace.
*
“Didn’t you ask me to take the island with you?”
The first request had been clear.
Yet……
[I’m more than satisfied. Thanks to you slaying those monsters, my comrades and I are free.]
What bound Adrian to the island: the obsessive thought entities.
He might not have known the exact details of their attacks on his team, but he’d sensed it instinctively.
‘Reasons earthbound spirits root themselves instead of crossing the river of souls are obvious.’
Intense grudges too strong to move on.