When he went to the bathroom alone and opened the stats menu, the quest panel popped up.
QUEST COMPLETE!
You punished the bullies!
Reward: 1) 25 points
2) Second ability revealed
‘Ah, right. The quest panel popped up earlier, but things were so chaotic that I just ignored it.’
He had been writing apology letters in the staff room, so he hadn’t had the opportunity to press the confirmation b.u.t.ton. He was worried when the quest panel had disappeared; it was such a relief that the panel popped up again. It seemed like if he didn’t confirm the quest completion, the notification would pop up again later.
Although he was very happy about the 25 points he’d received, he was even more curious about the ident.i.ty of the second ability.
‘I’ll just hit confirm and see what happens.’
As he pressed the confirmation b.u.t.ton, the second icon in the bottom right corner of his eye lighted up.
‘Is this the second ability?’
The first icon was a system in which Seung-ho could raise his statistics. In all honesty, the first icon was amazing in itself, but he couldn’t figure out what the second ability was.
‘I’m nervous.’
His heart started thumping quickly. Filled with antic.i.p.ation, he pressed the second icon, and a transparent panel popped up.
ABILITY MODIFICATION PANEL
You can add or delete any abilities you want
[ + ]
‘By abilities, they must mean magic or skills like in novels or movies, right?’
His heart began pounding even harder. Even in his dreams, he’d never been this close to having something from his imagination become real.
Of course, the present also seemed like a dream, but wasn’t this something truly impossible?
With a trembling heart, he pressed the [ + ] b.u.t.ton.
[Enter the desired ability.]
‘What should I do? Magic? Swordsmanship? Superhuman abilities?’
“Hoo..”
He took a deep breath and calmed himself down for the moment. Thinking slowly would yield better results.
As he was dwelling on the situation, he saw a b.u.t.ton that he hadn’t noticed before. It was the [Information] b.u.t.ton.
‘I must have missed it because I was overexcited.’
With a light heart, he pressed the ‘Information’ b.u.t.ton.
INFORMATION PANEL
The second ability is ability modification.
You are now able to delete or add abilities that were in the original statistics menu. For example, if you add ‘Skin’ as an item and use your points, your skin will improve. Of course, if you take away points, your skin will get worse.
Any ability related to the body is possible.
‘This is good, but it feels underwhelming somehow.’
However, this was an ability with endless possibilities for use. For example, he could raise his decision power when he played soccer, or raise memory when he did his homework. Merely raising his intelligence was too broad of a scope.
‘The points are the problem, anyway.’
And one more thing. They said that anything physical was possible. It was possible to raise his height, so lengthening his arms was possible, as well as lengthening the man’s treasure…
He’d stop there.
‘In any case, using this when something goes wrong will be useful.
Ding dong
‘Eek, it’s already time for cla.s.s. Why does the break go by so quickly? ’
He mentally noted to slowly invest the points later at home and left the bathroom.
-----
“Hehehehe.”
STATS MENU
Name: Choi Seung-ho
Career: High School Student
Height: 186 cm (+ -)
Weight: 73 kg (+ -)
Strength: 35 (+ -)
Agility: 12 (+ -)
Stamina: 13 (+ -)
Intelligence: 9 (+ -)
Appearance: 41 (+ -)
Charm: 32 (+ -)
--
Available points: 30
Seung-ho rolled around on the bed as he looked at the statistics panel. It had been awhile since he’d had that many points stacked up.
‘What should I raise first? No, should I make a new statistic?’
Seung-ho had actually a dream when he was younger - to be a basketball player. As a kid, he would watch professional basketball on the TV with his father and yearn for the professional life.
A totally awesome three-pointer from far away!
If not that, then go through the enemy defenders with a fancy dribble and infiltrating their camp!
At the same time, fight past them and dunk shot!
Ten years had pa.s.sed so his memory might have been altered, but it was one of the few memories he had with his father.
He’d given up the dream due to his short height and round body, but now things were different. He obviously pa.s.sed the physical requirements, and he could make ‘shooting accuracy’ and ‘breakthrough’ statistics and increase them.
‘And it’s not like I want to be a basketball player right now, anyway. Hahaha.’
It was a dream from his past. However, he could still play basketball as a hobby. If basketball was going to be a hobby, it was worth seriously considering to increase the statistics.
The longer he pondered, the hard it was to decide. It wasn’t like the points had an expiration date, so he decided to think over things slowly and closed the panel.
‘Never mind the points; today was really gratifying.’
He had taken revenge on the bullies who had hara.s.sed him for two years. It felt like the indigestion that had been tied up inside him had finally vanished.
When he thought about Park Han-seung, who he’d met today, he could relax knowing that there would be no payback from the bullies.
‘Now I’m not scared of going to school.’
Ring ring
It was Mum. She should have been working at the restaurant right about now. Worried that something might have happened, Seung-ho hurriedly answered the call.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“Yes, my son. Are you home?”
“Yes. Shouldn’t you be working right now?”
“Ah, today was the owner’s anniversary, so he let us off early to go on a date. Did you have dinner?”
“Not yet.”
“I see, then let’s eat out today.”
“Yes! We’re eating out!”
“Hohoho. Wear warm clothing because it’s cold today.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
-----
“Here are the sweet and sour pork and the black bean sauce noodles that you ordered. Enjoy!”
“Thank you!”
It was the first sweet and sour pork that he’d had in months. Actually, it was his first time eating out in a long while. His mother was having a hard time paying off his father’s debts with only a restaurant job.
Despite that, Seung-ho was making ends meet with money from his part-time job, but it was always rapidly diminishing due to the fact that he only worked weekends apart from the vacations. Thus, eating out like this was a rare luxury.
“Eat a lot.”
“Yes, ma’am! You should eat a lot, too.”
He started inhaling the food; it was the most abundant he’d had in ages. Fried dumplings, which were on the house, were so delicious that even when he dipped them in soy sauce and covered them with sweet and sour pork sauce, he didn’t get tired of them no matter how much he ate.
‘I’m going to earn money and let Mum live in luxury someday.’
His mother merely watched Seung-ho diligently eat, and barely touched her black bean sauce noodles.
“Aren’t you going to eat, Mum?”
“Ah, I snacked a lot at the restaurant, so I’m not that hungry.”
His mother smiled as she took out her chopsticks from the dish, poured the noodles into the plate in front of her, and handed it to Seung-ho.
“You should eat too, mum…”
“I’m eating the sweet and sour pork instead.”
He didn’t know whether she really wasn’t hungry, or if she was conceding the dish to Seung-ho. Even with a guilty heart, the Chinese food looked so delicious that the noodles slid down his throat in an instant.
The mother and son left the Chinese restaurant after not even 30 minutes.
“Thank you for the food.”
“It’s alright. Should we go for a walk?”
“It’s cold; will you be alright?”
“We don’t have to if you’re tired.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m just worried about you, Mum.”
His mother laughed as she linked arms with Seung-ho. He could feel her warmth on his skin, even though they were both wearing outer garments.
“Let’s just walk for one round.”
As he told her about the students talking to him at school, about receiving biscuits from Seul-hwa, they walked around the park three times before they even knew it.
“Should we go now?”
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s hurry so I can go to bed.”
While they were leaving the park, however, someone blocked Seung-ho.
“A moment, please.”
Height of around 180 cm, refined clothes. No matter how many times Seung-ho looked, the man didn’t seem to fit into the neighborhood.
“What do you want?”
“Ah, I’ve been watching you for a while, and you seem very fit.”
“What?”
“I manage a small shopping mall, and I was wondering if you could be our model.”
The man took out his business card and handed it to Seung-ho.
“A model?”
-----
Seung-ho had become a star already over the past several days, as the handsome boy who’d subdued Kim Han-joo in one sitting.
He worried whether Kim Han-joo would report to the police, but thankfully things settled down quietly due to the bullies’ pride.
He hadn’t even received volunteer hours or been told to transfer to a different school. Because the teachers didn’t want the school to be talked about by the others, and because the bullies didn’t want things blowing up bigger, the whole matter settled as a simple dispute between students.
The bullies didn’t bother Seung-ho again afterward. Thanks to that, Seung-ho could now attend school safely.
The week before they all rose to third years pa.s.sed by quickly. The cla.s.s a.s.signments didn’t differ much from the one that had come out the other week.
“Hm hm hm~”
The reason that Seung-ho’s way to school was this enjoyable was also because of this cla.s.s a.s.signment. The four bullies, including Kim Han-joo, that had bothered Seung-ho last year had all been a.s.signed to a different cla.s.s.
‘It’s a little disconcerting to in the same cla.s.s as Park Han-seung, though.’
However, he wasn’t too worried because he remembered that they had shaken hands and agreed to get along.
With the thought of ‘A new grade, a new term’, he entered the cla.s.sroom doors with antic.i.p.ation that was half nervousness, half excitement.
-----
STATS MENU
Name: Choi Seung-ho
Career: High School Student
Height: 186 cm (+ -)
Weight: 73 kg (+ -)
Strength: 35 (+ -)
Agility: 12 (+ -)
Stamina: 13 (+ -)
Intelligence: 9 (+ -)
Appearance: 41 (+ -)
Charm: 32 (+ -)
--
Available points: 40
Over a week, Seung-ho had completed two quests and received 10 points as a reward. However, there wasn’t a statistic that urgently needed investing, so he’d decided to stock up on points.
‘I should raise my intelligence.’
However, he felt like the points would be wasted because intelligence didn’t affect his outer appearance. On the other hand, he enjoyed raising appearance or strength because he could see the effects then and there.
“You all know that there is a mock test next week, right?”
“Booo~”
“We just came back to school today!”
“Teach, don’t do that to us.”
The students’ booing poured forth. Even if they were third years, it wasn’t fun talking about mock tests on the first day of cla.s.s.
‘Right. I should slowly start studying, too.’
He’d focused so much on quests and his part-time job over the month that he hadn’t studied at all. There were only 250 days left until the college entrance examinations.
“Settle down. You’re only going to be tested on things you learned in the second year, so don’t be too nervous.”
“Boooo~”
“Be quiet, you rascals. Those who’re attending the evening study hall, go to the cafeteria and have dinner. The rest of you, have a safe journey home. End of cla.s.s.”
The teacher wrapped up and quickly left the cla.s.sroom. Teacher Ryu Han-shin. He was Seung-ho’s homeroom teacher from today. He’d been the homeroom teacher for them back in the first and second year, so the teacher was incredibly close with those in Seung-ho’s grade.
“Is your stomach okay, Seung-ho?”
“Yeah, it’s better now.”
“Really? Then let’s go get dinner.”
Five boys, including Sang-wook and Chang-min, flocked towards Seung-ho.
“Sounds good.”
There weren’t many people he knew in the new cla.s.s. However, people would come and initiate conversations with Seung-ho unlike before. Those who’d made his acquaintance were these friends.
He followed the other kids towards the cafeteria. Since eating lunch in the cla.s.sroom in elementary school, this was his first time eating a meal with friends.
‘I was so fl.u.s.tered earlier that I said my stomach didn’t feel good.’
He’d been so hungry that his energy had sapped out throughout the afternoon cla.s.ses. Determined to eat a lot at dinner to make up for lunch, he walked towards the canteen.
Seung-ho was obviously the most noticeable among those in line at the cafeteria. His towering height and crazy-good looks sparkled and shone from the queue.
“Wow, look at the oppa. He’s f.u.c.king tall.”
“Is he just tall? His face is no joke, either.”
“Awesome.”
“Is that oppa in a club? I want to join it, too.”
“He has a green nametag, stupid. What third year joins a club?”
“Do you know his name?”
The newcomers looked at Seung-ho while they started a heated conversation. Rumours had already spread to those starting cla.s.s for the first time at the school.
The attention was embarra.s.sing and burdensome at first, but Seung-ho was slowly getting used to it. He’d recently realized that others’ interest was a good thing, indeed.
Abruptly, someone called Seung-ho from behind.
“Oh, Seung-ho!”
Park Han-seung happily tapped Seung-ho’s shoulder and greeted him. Five students were following behind him. No matter who looked, they were kids coming to eat a meal.
“Ah, h.e.l.lo.”
“It’s easy to spot you from back there since you’re so tall. Lucky.”
“I’m not, haha…”
Park Han-seung pointed towards the front with his thumb and spoke.
“Why are you waiting? Let’s eat together.”
“N-no, thanks. I’m going to eat with the guys.”
“Yeah? See you later, then.”
Park Han-seung tapped Seung-ho’s shoulder once more and walked to the front. It wasn’t a rude motion, but more of a greeting.
‘Rejecting my kindness… As expected, his tenacity is no joke.’
In order to not give himself away, he smiled as he walked towards the front for a while and cut in line. To bullies, standing in line was a different country’s tradition.
Intimated by their aura, the students who’d been cut back by the bullies could only stamp down their indignation and back away.
“Are you close with them, Seung-ho?”
Sang-wook looked at Seung-ho as if he was fl.u.s.tered. Seung-ho was all-too familiar with that kind of look. ‘I’ve made a mistake,’ would be the thought pounding through Sang-wook’s brain.
‘I’ve had that look in my eyes before.’
Sang-wook’s att.i.tude was guarded, probably wondering if Seung-ho was also a bully, having been greeted by Park Han-seung.
“Not really. Maybe as close as a hi-bye friend? I’m not that close with them.”
“Ah, really? Those guys are really scary, you know.”
Seung-ho could sympathize greatly. At any rate, he could agree that the aura when they invited Seung-ho to the back of the gym was no joke.
“Bon Appet.i.t!”
Today’s dinner was stir-fried spicy pork, kimchi, dried seaweed powder, and soybean paste soup. It was the perfect combination and was in the top 5 of Seung-ho’s favourite school meals.
Concentrating on his food without a word, his spoon sc.r.a.ped the bottom of the tray before he realized it.
“You eat really fast, don’t you?”
“What?”
It was when he heard the question that he raised his head; the others had more than half of their food left on their trays.
‘Ah. I’ve eaten too quickly.’
Because he’d eaten alone all this time, he hadn’t even thought about matching other people’s eating paces. Seung-ho had been the one to sit in the corner of the canteen, down his food quickly, and return to the cla.s.sroom before others noticed.
“Ah, eat slowly. I think I ate so quickly because I was so hungry from missing lunch.”
“Yeah? You can go first, if you want.”
“It’s fine. I can wait.”
As if he abruptly remembered something, Sang-wook opened his mouth.
“Ah right. Did you know that Han Ye-hee transferred to a different school?”
Seung-ho’s ears c.o.c.ked at Sang-wook’s sudden words.
‘Why did she pop up all of a sudden?’
While Seung-ho flinched, Chang-min answered from beside Sang-wook.
“Who is that?”
“The girl from the leaked video.”
“Ah, her~ Did she really transfer?”
“Yup. I wondered where she was when she didn’t turn up to remedial studies during the break, but it turned out that she’d transferred to the countryside.”
“Wow.”
“They said that she cut off all contact with her friends.”
“I would do the same if I were her.”
Sudden guilt stormed through Seung-ho. He had definitely done wrong.
Doing the deed during school was the wrong action to do, but filming that and uploading the clip on the Internet was absolutely criminal.
‘I shouldn’t have done that, but I was too tempted by the quest.’
Truth be told, he’d felt a lot of disappointment and betrayal towards Han Ye-hee back then. It had felt as if the expectation that she’d remain his idol had been stamped into the dirt. Like hearing dating or marriage rumours about a favourite celebrity, the feeling had been groundless.
‘Still, I was the one who did wrong.’
He needed to meet her and apologize one day. Although he knew it was the wrong thing to do, the fact that he had purposefully ignored it because it had been for a quest made him feel pathetic about himself.
When he’d been ugly, his defeated sense and inferiority complex had joined together into a selfish world that he’d been stuck in. However, as he became handsome and received other people’s kind treatment, Seung-ho started having different thoughts and reflected on himself and learned many things.
“Let’s go.”
While he’d been thinking about Han Ye-hee, the other students had finished up their meal.
It was his first time realizing how nice it was to stand up as a group and stand in line to return the trays.