Chapter 3
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Awakened Jeong Ji-ham
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He clutched his groin and collapsed to the floor.
The shock was so intense that his vision blurred and his stomach churned, radiating from his dick and spreading through his entire body.
"Ugh... I gotta move...!"
Breathing in short gasps, he forced his legs to move.
Baek Bora would be back soon.
He was the only person around her.
If she saw him, he'd be the first one she'd suspect.
He slipped out through the emergency exit on the first floor and locked the door behind him.
Then he opened his status window again.
"It's really grown... My dick actually got bigger!"
His dick had increased by 0.5 cm, now measuring 12.5 cm.
"Cl-clearing missions doesn't just strengthen the time stop ability... It enhances my dick too!"
The pain lingered, but he felt great.
Now he understood why the 'Specs' section was in his status window.
"As expected of S-Rank!"
With his heart pounding, he checked his skills.
Shouting the keyword 'Time Stop!' stops time.
Usage Limit:3 times per day (3/3)
Stop Duration:15 seconds
Ability linked to Time Stop (S) skill!
Activates randomly when Time Stop usage remains!
Affects numerical values shown in the status window!
Brings you closer to your ideal man!
Time Stop Usage Limit:3 times per day (3/3)
No more missions today.
He only had two skills, but they were incredibly powerful.
S-Rank was the highest existing rank.
He wasn't sure if it would work on other S-Rank Awakeners, but if it did, he'd be the strongest in the world.
"I can grow through Sudden Missions, so I don't even need to hunt monsters... This is totally OP..."
If he were a bit younger, he'd head straight to the Association.
He'd register as an Awakener and demand the treatment he deserved.
"But not now. No need to register."
With great power comes great responsibility.
The world would pile responsibilities on an S-Rank Awakener one way or another.
"I don't want to hunt monsters or kill people."
What he wanted was a cat-like life.
Spending half the day sleeping and rolling around the rest of the time.
Freely relieving his urges whenever they struck.
"The title of S-Rank Hunter would just be a hassle. I have plenty of money anyway."
It wasn't just the study room.
The cafe and animal hospital on the first floor.
The Hunter-exclusive massage shop on the second floor.
The Hunter exam prep academy on the third.
The gym on the fourth.
The study room on the fifth.
He owned the entire building housing all these businesses.
No need to reveal his abilities just to make money.
Bzzzzt!
His phone rang loudly right then.
"Ah, it's Ji-su..."
Jeong Ji-su.
His one and only little sister, an S-Rank Hunter thriving in the field.
And the angel who had placed him in the position of building owner.
"Yeah, Ji-su."
"What's up? Why's it sound so echoey? Where are you?"
"On the stairs here. The study room stairs."
"You're going to the study room like you should, right?"
"No 'how are you' first? Straight to the point?"
"Compared to inside a sinkhole, this is paradise itself. What's the point of asking how you are? You're obviously living well."
Sinkhole.
The black pits that appeared alongside Awakeners.
Holes leading to another world that sucked everything on the surface inside.
Compared to places teeming with monsters, Earth really was heaven.
"So you quit the study room? You're not doing that morning part-time gig anymore, right?"
"Of course not. I keep at least one promise."
"You better. If I catch you holing up in your room rolling around again, I'll smash that building to bits~."
"..."
That was exactly why he opened the study room every day and manned it until 1 p.m.
He had made a promise with Ji-su.
That he'd diligently run the study room weekday mornings.
"Once you get lazy, bro, there's no stopping you. Even I have to crack the whip."
"Harsh words..."
"As long as you're living right. I'm hanging up."
She was just checking if he was going to the study room faithfully and about to end the call.
"Wait, Ji-su. Got a minute?"
"Time? Nope."
"Hey, think before you speak."
"I really don't. Heading into an A-Rank sinkhole now. Won't be out for a week. Gotta sweep it before the monsters overflow."
"Oh... I see. Too bad. Had something to tell you face-to-face..."
He had no plans to tell the Association, but he wanted to brag to his little sister.
She had awakened at 20 with an S-Rank aptitude.
When he was 24... right when he was giving up on becoming an Awakener and consoling himself with reality. That's when his little sister Ham Ji-su—no, Ji-su—had awakened as S-Rank.
"Can't say it over the phone?"
"Nah, gotta be in person. Come by when you have time. Be careful out there."
"...Should I just come now?"
"What? You're going into the sinkhole."
"They're Association scrubs forced together. They don't need me specifically. They'll manage without."
"It's not that urgent. Don't push yourself."
"Got it. Don't sleep in without me. Hit that study room hard. Hanging up for real now."
Before he could say more, Ji-su hung up.
"She really works her ass off..."
He pocketed his smartphone and stood up.
The pain was mostly gone, so he figured he'd grab an Americano on the way home.
.
.
.
After finishing the call with her brother, she stared at her phone.
More precisely, at her brother smiling in the family photo set as her wallpaper.
A photo from when their parents were still alive.
On a sunny day like today.
Taken near a well-maintained walking path like this one.
"Why'd his voice sound so excited?"
What could make him that happy?
She couldn't easily guess.
Her brother's daily life was utterly routine.
He'd wake up, wash up, open the study room.
Kill time there until 1 p.m.
Reading novels, webtoons, or watching internet streams—that was it.
"No way he got a girlfriend... No. No, impossible. No chance."
At home, he dove into lewd stuff.
Still obsessed with time stop porn, just like always.
Lately, it seemed like VR something... but that was definitely not normal either.
A girlfriend for a brother like that?
No way.
Absolutely not.
"Ji-su! There you are! Been looking everywhere!"
A tall woman pushed through the bushes toward her.
A priestess clutching a book engraved with a large pocket watch.
A-Rank Hunter Ya Hye-jeong.
"Hye-jeong unnie. You got drafted too?"
"Ji-su. Did you feel it?"
"Huh?"
"Time stopped!"
She was an odd one usually, but sometimes Hye-jeong unnie was just incomprehensible.
Fourth-dimensional, maybe...
Or like she was missing a screw...
"You got time stop powers?"
"No. Three times today. Very brief, but the world stopped three times. Didn't you feel it?"
"Not at all."
"Weird... Am I imagining it? Time definitely stopped..."
"Wasn't it you, unnie? You're a priestess of Chronos."
Chronos.
The god of time.
A servant of such a god might actually stop time.
"No. I was frozen too. Everything around me stopped—not just me. All I could do was realize time had stopped!"
"Time stop ability... That could be abused badly."
"Exactly! If a villain awakened it, the world would plunge into chaos!"
"No one in Korea uses time-related powers except you, unnie. So probably a new Awakener..."
The scale was too huge.
Most Awakeners awakened on their 20th birthday, gaining mystical powers.
Irregulars were rare—one in a hundred million maybe.
So investigating everyone turning 20 worldwide today could reveal who awakened true time stop.
'But how many countries would launch a global census just because a Korean A-Rank says so...'
Even she, close to Hye-jeong unnie, doubted if it was real.
If a world-famous S-Rank Hunter said it, maybe.
Unnie's word carried no weight.
"Unnie, who'd you tell?"
"You're the first. I was praying non-stop, hoping Chronos would give an answer."
"Then don't tell anyone else. Just observe for now."
"Huh? Why? We have to tell the Association! This is a global threat!"
"They might not even believe you. And if they do, it'll just be a domestic census at best."
Hye-jeong unnie tilted her head, clearly not getting it.
'She's not a bad person...'
She'd have to explain it fully.
'Time stop ability...'
For some reason, her brother's face flashed in her mind.