Chapter 46

‘What? How did this happen?’

An absurd situation where his identity was exposed while coming to receive items.

Without any plausible connection or prior signs, faced with this suddenly erupted major incident, Yuseong chose to flee without hesitation.

Yuseong leaped through the terrace he had memorized when entering onto the rooftop of the adjacent building, but he couldn’t take more than a few steps before having to stop.

A desolate city painted in black and white, without a single person in sight.

“This is…”

“The Shadow World. It’s hard to enter, but even harder to leave. There’s no better place for a conversation. Nice to meet you, RoomDweller. Oh, my nickname is SuperAnt. You wouldn’t say you don’t know me, would you?”

Turning around, he saw Kang Changseok with a sly expression.

Yuseong decided to play dumb for now.

“Mr. Kang Changseok, right? What exactly are you doing?”

“Going to pretend you don’t know? Sorry, but I’ve already caught your tail. That thing on your back. What is it? Besides Users, who else in Korea would be carrying around things like that? And seeing how you ran away without even looking back, you’re definitely RoomDweller, don’t try to deny it!”

“These are just things I got for hunting monsters, and I wasn’t running away – I just had urgent business to attend to. And Users? RoomDweller? You seem to be talking about some game, but I’m sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong person. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but please let me out of here.”

Kang Changseok frowned at Yuseong’s appearance, which showed an appropriate mix of confusion and anxiety, looking like someone caught up in an unfair situation.

In a world before monsters appeared, such an excuse wouldn’t even be worth considering, but in the current world, while one might be suspicious of someone carrying such items, they couldn’t arbitrarily assume they were a User.

There was a tiny, one-in-a-thousand chance that they really weren’t a User.

“…You really don’t know what RoomDweller is?”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Wait. If I really did mistake you for someone else, I’ll formally apologize and provide appropriate compensation.”

Kang Changseok stepped back and raised one hand as he spoke.

“Search area limited to Seoul, South Korea. Subject A unknown, Subject B Han Yuseong. Begin search with these conditions.”

After a moment, a monotonous voice was heard from the air.

-Search complete. No matching individuals found.

“……”

“……”

A moment of silence.

Among the two who were exchanging glances without a word like gunslingers in a Western, Kang Changseok moved first.

“Heavenly Net!”

An invisible net shot from Kang Changseok’s fingertips.

At its unimaginable speed, Yuseong couldn’t even attempt to dodge and was bound by the net.

Swoosh.

“…Huh?”

The net slid off like ill-fitting clothes and fell to the ground.

The moment he heard Kang Changseok’s dumbfounded voice, Yuseong moved reflexively.

‘This is my chance.’

Closing the distance with his opponent using Flash Step’s explosive speed, he executed Rock Piercing from Shadow Moon Style 16 with strength enhanced by Mana Enhancement, and at the moment of impact, synchronized the flow of magical power with Eye of Truth to unleash Energy Release.

His strongest possible attack right now.

Thud!

Though the strike landed perfectly on the abdomen and Kang Changseok’s body was knocked backward, Yuseong’s expression wasn’t good.

The rebound felt like hitting a balloon.

Realizing the attack had failed, he approached to deliver a follow-up strike, but a powerful barrier emerged from Kang Changseok’s body, pushing Yuseong back.

“Damn it.”

Vaguely aware that the previous strike had been his only chance, Yuseong grabbed the axe handle at his waist and prepared for the counterattack that would surely come.

However, Kang Changseok’s reaction was unexpected.

“…What’s your Wisdom stat?”

“Why should I tell my information to an enemy?”

“Ah, come on! You were like this when we first met too – do you have some kind of paranoia? Why are you so unnecessarily hostile to fellow Users?”

“You kidnap me to this Shadow World or whatever and attack me – how else am I supposed to react?”

“That’s because you kept pretending not to be a User and tried to run away… Ah, forget it.”

Snap!

The moment Kang Changseok snapped his fingers, the black and white world turned to full color, and the missing people began to appear.

“Now do you believe me? I’m not trying to harm you, I just want to talk. Whatever others might do, at least I have no intention of hurting you.”

“What kind of talk?”

“That’s…”

Kang Changseok suddenly closed his mouth after starting to say something and stared intently at Yuseong, who swallowed dryly.

Though there was no apparent hostility at the moment, he couldn’t help but be tense in front of someone powerful enough to take his life if they wished.

“Before that, let me ask one thing. What’s your Wisdom stat right now?”

“I don’t want to tell you.”

“What would make you tell me? Should I offer money?”

“I have plenty of money, you know?”

“Sigh.”

Kang Changseok let out a long sigh and muttered while shaking his head.

“Originally, I was planning to give you some advice and gifts when we met, but I’ve changed my mind. Like MartialGod said, you seem to be doing fine on your own, and I might end up having a negative influence if I try to help. Instead, let me ask just one thing. Those items, you’re going to use them for quest clearing, right?”

“……”

Though Yuseong didn’t answer, Kang Changseok nodded and continued speaking.

“Using items from Earth or other worlds might make quest clearing easier, but maintain proper limits. You know that if the usage rate of otherworld skills or artifacts gets too high, the clear rank drops, right? If that gets severe, various penalties follow.”

“I know that.”

“At most, you probably only know about karma collection. Besides that, there’s forced quest assignment, skill or artifact deletion, User qualification revocation, confiscation of karma you own that wasn’t obtained through quests, and various other things, so be careful.”

“……”

“And though it won’t be easy, try to achieve beyond the quest objectives when possible to get high-rank clears. If you get addicted to convenience and clear quests carelessly without paying attention to rank, you’ll suffer greatly later. Try not to use otherworld skills or artifacts if possible, and if you do use them, make sure to achieve results worth it. Got it?”

‘I’ve been getting high ranks consistently though?’

Barely holding back the words that reached his throat, Yuseong maintained a blank expression and said.

“Can I ask one thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“What’s Earth’s Civilization Grade?”

Kang Changseok’s eyes narrowed at Yuseong’s sudden question.

“You haven’t been a User for long, but you’ve already figured that out?”

“Is there anything to figure out? Anyone would know after doing a few quests.”

“…Right. You should know.”

Kang Changseok scratched his head with a bitter expression and said.

“Earth’s Civilization Grade is 0.76.”

“Lower than I thought.”

“Just because the Civilization Grade is high doesn’t mean you can carelessly use artifacts. Even if they’re made in the same world, a cold weapon and a missile aren’t equal. You get the idea now? Any other questions?”

“No.”

“Then take this.”

“…A business card?”

“If you need hard-to-get items or run into trouble, contact that number. I’ll handle it for you most of the time.”

“……”

After alternately looking at the business card and Kang Changseok, Yuseong instantly threw himself off the building and disappeared into the crowd.

“You’d know right away after doing a few quests, huh.”

Kang Changseok pulled out a liquor bottle from thin air and took a bitter swig.

He was the fool who hadn’t known that supposedly obvious fact for a long time.

The User’s ability to bring abilities and items from other worlds.

However, not many Users had seriously explored this grand ability and built up their power.

In a way, it was natural.

While quest rewards are certainly attractive, you have to enter the body of someone from a completely different world than Earth, navigate extreme situations, and experience terrible physical and mental pain or death.

Among ordinary people living in 21st century Earth, how many would endure such pain and experiences while endlessly seeking to become stronger?

Unless they had desperate reasons to become strong like the Three Strong, or special purposes like the Three Intermediates, they would naturally focus on abilities and items that could make money, and even then only complete quests occasionally.

“That’s not how it should have been.”

Users categorized as the Three Weak, including himself, were exactly that type.

Just as the clairvoyance he had seen through Yuseong’s case contents was a skill brought for gambling, his skills and equipment were specialized for various tricks rather than fighting.

In terms of current strength, the difference between himself and Yuseong could be expressed as that between the sun and a firefly.

However, looking at potential and growth possibility, and ability as a User to complete quests, Yuseong was the sun and he was the firefly.

To be able to momentarily compete equally with someone who became a User much earlier, despite only being a User for barely two months, even if not specialized in combat.

It was truly an unbelievable growth rate.

“…But even so, isn’t that growth rate a bit, no, very strange?”

Kang Changseok summoned the Heavenly Net he had thrown at Yuseong and checked its information.

He wanted to verify if he had misunderstood the equipment options.

However, no matter how many times he looked, the options matched what he knew.

“It’s supposed to bind targets with lower Wisdom than the user, right?”

After contemplating, Kang Changseok concluded that Yuseong must have had an item that nullified binding effects.

After all, it didn’t make sense that Yuseong’s Wisdom stat would exceed his own given the time he had been a User.

“What’s my Wisdom again.”

Kang Changseok’s Wisdom stat was 715.

* * *

After wandering through the city center for a long time being wary of pursuit, Yuseong finally returned home with a sheepish expression as the sun set.

‘He let me go too easily? Was my thinking wrong?’

He had dealt with other Users while considering how he would think and act if he were in their position, but it seemed he had been too cautious.

“If I were a pioneer and a latecomer with the ability to compete with me appeared, I would have tried to eliminate them or put shackles on them by any means necessary.”

After brief consideration, Yuseong concluded that Kang Changseok didn’t feel the need to check on someone so far behind him because he was in an overwhelmingly higher position.

“Strength, huh.”

Name: Han Yuseong

Class: User

Level: 45

Title: One Who Makes the Impossible Possible

Strength: 149

Agility: 149

Wisdom: 757

Spirit: 766

Constitution: 149

Mana: 103

Possessed Skills: Forbidden Knowledge(??), Eye of Truth(C+), Asura Perception Way(C), Moon Light 16 Forms(C), Snake Shadow Whip Technique(C), Flash Step(D), Pain Nullification(D)……

Strength, Agility, and Constitution had grown by 50 points from the original 99 after acquiring Jerome’s Enhancement Procedure skill, and Mana had increased by 4 points through practicing the Bermund cultivation method.

The issue was the newly added Spirit stat and the Wisdom that had jumped up overnight.

“…I hope this won’t be treated as some kind of bug usage and get me penalized?”

The information about universal mysteries and truths contained in the resonance of that massive being heard just before returning to Earth remained in the skill window boasting its presence under the name Forbidden Knowledge, despite not being purchased from the karma shop.

Forbidden Knowledge wasn’t a normal skill.

Its rank was displayed as question marks, and when the description was brought up, only endless broken text that couldn’t be interpreted even with Primal Language or Babel appeared.

Yuseong concluded this was a kind of bug-like play.

“Skills not obtained through proper karma payment should normally be erased by the Deus Ex Machina program, but… the impact of what was contained in that resonance was too powerful for even the program to completely offset.”

The terrible impact that felt like it was forcibly stuffing information while tearing through brain and soul.

The Deus Ex Machina program tried its best but couldn’t completely eliminate it, and the remaining incomplete information remained as a skill called Forbidden Knowledge.

It could be called a blessing in disguise.

If Forbidden Knowledge had remained in perfect form, he would have died or gone mad unable to withstand the malice and content contained within, just like when hearing the cry.

Because it wasn’t a skill obtained through proper processes, the content had gaps and twists here and there making it impossible to utilize properly, but even with that hole-filled incomplete skill, a new Spirit stat was created and the Wisdom stat increased tremendously.

Although he couldn’t directly feel what had changed like with Strength, Agility, or Mana, having higher stats was better than lower ones, right?

‘All preparations are complete.’

After finishing checking his status window, Yuseong swallowed dryly and put on his goggles.

While he couldn’t be certain of clearing it, he had at least prepared his best within possible limits.

“Shall we begin?”