Chapter 33
Chapter 33. Monitor (1)
When I arrived at the apartment where the Seo father and son lived, while maintaining my state of Invisibility, Jaehyuk was already waiting at the entrance.
“I’m sorry for calling you out like this on a weekday morning.”
However, I couldn’t bring myself to enter my home after having killed someone and covered in their blood.
“I’m not in a state to visit a bathhouse either.”
With nowhere suitable to wash, I had no choice but to come here. I sighed inwardly as I approached Jaehyuk.
Just then, Jaehyuk fiddled with his phone and brought it to my ear. Seeing my phone vibrating in silent mode, it appeared he was calling me.
Instead of answering the phone, I tapped his shoulder. Jaehyuk was startled, his eyes widening almost to the point of tearing.
He seemed bewildered as he couldn’t see anything.
“Hmph, scaredy-cat.”
As my voice echoed from the empty space, he stiffened nervously. Even though it was late at night with hardly anyone around, talking outside for long was not ideal.
“Let’s go up first.”
Jaehyuk turned his body with a creaky motion. I followed his lead into the elevator.
‘It would’ve been amusing if I had pressed it alone.’
I tried to distract myself with silly thoughts to avoid recalling the events from hours ago. An elevator with buttons pressed despite nobody visibly there.
Lights turning on in the emergency staircase. The security camera capturing it and the management discovering the footage.
It might appear on YouTube with a title like “Paranormal Sightings”.
‘Then, I suppose the intelligence agency might have caught on.’
Several people already knew I had Invisibility skills. Both the Seo family and I might have gotten entangled.
Imagining the worst-case scenarios repeatedly left me feeling mentally exhausted.
“Whew.”
While I released a heavy sigh, the elevator stopped. Passing through the front door and entering the Seo family’s house, I disabled my Invisibility.
Jaehyuk flinched and trembled greatly.
“You…”
His gaze was fixed on the dried blood on my body.
“It’s not my blood.”
“Then…”
Before Jaehyuk could ask further, I spoke first.
“Can I borrow some clothes? The discomfort’s driving me crazy.”
With a stony face, Jaehyuk entered his room. A moment later, I took the clothes he brought and headed to the bathroom.
I shoved all the bloodstained clothes into the inventory.
“I’ll have to burn them later in the mission field.”
They were evidence of Han Changshik’s death, so they needed to be destroyed.
Standing beneath the stream of water, the dried blood diluted, running down the drain.
Watching it go, I pulled back my wet hair and caught my breath.
“First, let’s handle the rewards.”
I had yet to sort through the bounty mission rewards. Reputation and random boxes; I decided to start with the box.
Following the common trait of gacha games, I unconsciously squeezed my eyes shut before opening the box.
“Shop voucher, shop voucher, please…”
Thanks to killing Han Changshik, my mana exceeded 3,500. If a voucher appeared, I could buy a fireball immediately.
As I opened the random box, a white light burst forth as before. Soon, a piece of paper appeared.
「Skill Stone Exchange Voucher」
• Category: Consumable Item.
• Description: You can purchase one skill stone from the shop for free.
Viewed at a glance, it was a downgrade from a shop voucher.
While I had wished for a shop voucher, a downgraded item appeared instead. Was this a mere coincidence? Why did it feel like the system was toying with me?
Grinding my teeth as my hands trembled in frustration, I turned the faucet to cold.
As the cold water drenched me, my feverish head seemed to cool down.
If the system were in front of me, I would have grabbed it by the collar and beaten it tightly.
But unable to do so, the anger only piled up inside me.
The unresolved fury seemed to gnaw at me. I forced myself to swallow it down and placed the voucher in the inventory.
Using it straight away would be reckless.
“I’ll buy and use what I need when the situation calls for it.”
Then, to continue checking the rewards, I opened the status and message window.
Player Kang Hyunwoo (Beta Tester)
Mana: 3535.57 (Attribute Mana: 133)
Chaos Index: 0.00%
Affiliation: Earth
Race: Human (Player)
Rank: Alpha
Attribute: Lightning
Skills: Mana Manipulation (51.11%), Sense Expansion (18.59%), Mana Detection (lv.1 – 45.86%), Invisibility (20.27%), barrier (2.11%)
Traits: ????? (Inactive), adaptability, tenacity, Purification (lv.1 – 26.49%)
Title: Bounty Hunter (Inactive)
Reputation: 62
The proficiency of both Invisibility and Mana Detection had significantly improved. It likely improved because I used mana exhaustively for two days straight.
After briefly reviewing the skill proficiency, I checked the titles and reputation. I also swept through the records left in the message window.
「Success Reward: Reputation increased by 10.」
「Title ‘Bounty Hunter (Reserve)’ changed to ‘Bounty Hunter’.」
「Effect of title ‘Bounty Hunter’ activated.」
「Absorb Mana Manipulation skill.」
「Identical trait detected. Duplicate trait deleted.」
A “Reserve” label had been removed from my Bounty Hunter title, with sentences concerning skill absorption as well. It mentioned the deletion because I already possessed Mana Manipulation.
“… This is a title that becomes more valuable over time.”
As players grow, they inevitably end up acquiring more skills.
If the bounty mission continues to appear in the future, there may be ways to secure skills apart from the shop or self-learning.
Assuming other players didn’t receive bounty missions, this would be a unique ability possessed only by me in the current state.
Objectively, the bounty mission had more gains than losses this time.
Yet, I still didn’t feel entirely good about it.
Even when trying to forget, the sensation lingering on my fingertips was too vivid.
“Ugh.”
However, I couldn’t keep sulking forever. Wasting time while playing this insane game was a luxury.
I had mountains of things to do.
“Next, let’s look at the contributions list.”
First, I needed to start gathering reputation.
* * *
9,541 players—that was the current number of players.
Toma scanned the player count and the mission completion list with deep-set eyes.
It had been a week since new players had entered the community.
The mission completion list, once empty, had slowly started to fill up and was now quite substantial.
「02-07(1/5) – Closed Contributor: K」
「01-11(2/10) – Closed Contributor: Ethan Rembrandt, Lily」
「01-12(3/10) – Closed Contributor: Human, Peppermint, animal Lover」
「01-11(2/10) – Closed Contributor: John, Hunter」
「02-29(1/5) – Closed Contributor: K」
「01-12(2/10) – Closed Contributor: Ethan Rembrandt, Lily」
「02-31(1/5) – Closed Contributor: K」
「01-12(4/10) – Closed Contributor: Human, John, Hunter, Peppermint」
「02-13(1/5) – Closed Contributor: K」
「01-13(4/10) – Closed Contributor: Dragon, Hero, Angel, candy」
「01-11(3/10) – Closed Contributor: Human, John, Hunter,」
「01-17(2/10) – Closed Contributor: Ethan Rembrandt, Lily」
「02-34(1/5) – Closed Contributor: K」
「01-12(6/10) – Closed Contributor: Human, John, Hunter, Hero, Angel, Mirror」
…….
Indeed, many more people had died.
「Title: People seem to be dying too much – Author: Captain
Content: When counting the Beta and the first selections, shouldn’t there be 10,100? But it’s at 9,541 now. Over 500 people have died—why do these crazy folks keep doing missions?」
– Coconut: Exactly. They’re just begging to die.
– Secret: Coward. Keep hiding like that.
– AK85: Does clearing Level 2 seem manipulated? Hundreds are dying at Level 1, and only one person clears Level 2? Doesn’t add up.
– Gumiho: Manipulated? Is that even possible in this game? Can you hack it? Dumb idiot, sounds like jealousy to me.
– Black Pearl: Why don’t you go check and tell us then?
Toma felt nervous. Unlike him, who only observed, others continued to challenge the game.
“Should I be doing missions too?”
Just then, other players were forming parties in the community.
Toma repeatedly considered commenting on their posts.
But recalling the tutorial, he just couldn’t bring himself to act.
He didn’t want to die.
In the end, he fled, pressing the back button.
“It’s not just me.”
He self-justified his actions.
Players actively participating in the game were actually few.
A glance at the mission completion list revealed repeated code names, supporting this.
A majority of players were, like Toma, frozen in fear of death.
So backing out this way wasn’t wrong.
It was a natural choice to preserve his life.
At that moment, a title of a strange post caught Toma’s eye.
「Title: Damned System 1(23) – Author: K」
“K?”
This was a well-known code name but rarely seen in the community.
The only player currently tackling Level 2 missions.
They rarely posted or commented.
Feeling bewildered, Toma clicked on the post by K.
「Content: Sharing some crucial gameplay information to substitute the lack of proper guidance by this damned system.
…….」
He unconsciously held his breath, deeply focusing on the text.
* * *
“Within 10 minutes of its update, the post has already gathered 873… 875 comments. Here, I’ve extracted the full text from earlier.”
Lily pushed the printed material toward CIA Director Martin Eastner.
Reading it over as he leaned forward from the sofa, Martin asked, “The title is… Damned System 1? The author is K?”
“Yes, as you can see.”
Lily tapped the paper repeatedly, as if insisting he take a look.
“The K? The one who took down 32 targets in the Promotion Test mission? The one clearing Level 2 missions solo?”
“The author of the post is indeed K. Code names cannot be reused, so it’s certainly them.”
Only then did Martin begin to read through the content printed on the A4 sheet.
Once he went through it all, he exhaled a sigh of disbelief and muttered, “Can you control mana?”
“No, I thought it needed to be purchased, naturally.”
“What about Mr. Rembrandt?”
“He hasn’t responded, but it seems he can’t do it either.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s my intuition.”
“Are you sure? You’re not the only one unable to do it, right?”
“Yes, judging by the community’s reactions, K seems to be the only one presently proficient. It’s K who’s unusual. I am perfectly normal.”
Relieved, Martin let out a shallow sigh.
“Right, you wouldn’t fall behind anywhere.”
As Lily pointed out, it was K, who was running at a different pace from others.
In a situation where more than half the players haven’t even attempted the Level 1 mission, K doing Level 2 missions alone couldn’t be seen as ordinary.
However, contrary to his drowsy tone, Martin’s hands fiddling with the paper seemed quite anxious.
He murmured while re-checking the contents of the writing, almost like reading it again.
“There’s no search result… right?”
“Yes.”
The answer came from Brian, who was seated opposite Lily.
“Does it make sense there’s been no result for over 3 months?”
“Yes, it does. We don’t know the name, gender, or face. If no traces were left during the tutorial, it’s impossible to find. We have nothing but that they might be Asian… and the candidate pool is too broad.”
With Brian’s very realistic answer, Martin let out a deep sigh.
“Lily, would you repeat what the first tutorial announcement said?”
“Ah, the system announcement? It said to strive for the survival of humanity.”
“Humanity…”
With Martin’s murmur, both Lily and Brian stayed silent.
They were equally clueless about the game’s true purpose.
The silence between the two provided a backdrop as Martin fell into thought.
As the person in charge of national security, he couldn’t disregard this unrealistic game.
If the sentence Lily read was true.
If an insurmountable threat loomed over humanity.
If the system was granting humans a chance.
Caught in these incredibly unrealistic speculations, Martin rubbed his face dry and spoke.
“Try reaching out via the community.”
Lily promptly retorted to his directive.
“K is currently set to reject friend requests.”
“You can leave a Private Comment; use that for contact.”
“Do we really have to go that far…?”
Before Brian could finish his question, Martin raised his voice.
「Congratulations! HIDDEN MISSION – Bounty Hunt (South Korea-01) succeeded.」
Damned System
