Chapter 109
My status window included an incredible option called "Training Ground".
If I put people in this "Training Ground", they could acquire one trait that suited them per person. Yang Juhee's 《Fast Legs》 was like that, and so was Jung-seok's 《Fast Reading》.
These traits boasted effects that could change a person's life from the roots.
Even Yang Juhee's 《Fast Legs》 made her running speed 1.5 times faster for 10 seconds.
It was amazing enough that anyone could compete in the Olympics with just a little training.
Of course, these traits weren't easy to acquire, and you had to complete special missions assigned by the training ground, consuming 100P.
[Yang Juhee - Training List!]
[Push-ups 0/1000 times]
[Run 0/100Km at a speed of over 2Km/h]
[Reward: 《Fast Legs》]
[《Fast Legs》: You can run 1.5 times faster for 10 seconds.]
It's like this. And I, Ha Young-won, also had such a training list.
My training list was a bit special, and it looked like this.
[Ha Young-won - Training List!]
[Achieve Level 3 5/3 Lv - Achieved!]
[Achieve 5 Level 5 Players 5/5 - Achieved!]
[Reward: 《Trait Enhancement》]
[《Trait Enhancement》: You can enhance players' traits by consuming points. The enhancement probability and cost differ by trait grade.]
Enhancement!
I could acquire the trait 《Trait Enhancement》 as a reward for training! Now my status window looked like this.
"Status window."
[Name: Ha Young-won Lv.5
Traits: 《Broken Clock》 《Breath Holding》 《Strong Heart》 《Trait Enhancement》
Quirks:
Funds: 784 Points
Description: Once promising, you now spend your days in meaningless routine, just killing time. But even a broken clock is right twice a day.]
[Shop ◀ Click to open]
[Treatment Center ◀ Click to open]
[Training Ground ◀ Click to open]
[Mercenary Group ◀ Click to open]
"Trait enhancement..."
According to the description, I could clearly enhance the traits 《Broken Clock》, 《Breath Holding》, and 《Strong Heart》 that I had.
I touched the text that said 《Trait Enhancement》 on the status window with my finger.
Ding-
A strange sensation was felt at my fingertip, and unfamiliar text appeared.
[Please select a trait to refine from the list.]
Despite the situation, it was quite fun. I pressed 《Broken Clock》 with my finger.
Then, more text appeared.
[Do you want to enhance the unique grade trait 《Broken Clock》 by consuming 100 points?]
[Enhancement success probability 55%]
[If successful, trait changes to 《???》]
I could get a new trait with a 55% success rate. 55% means you succeed once if you enhance twice. Not knowing if this was a high or low figure, I decided to look at other traits just in case.
[Do you want to enhance the common grade trait 《Breath Holding》 by consuming 10 points?]
[Enhancement success probability 5%]
[If successful, trait changes to 《Diving Expert》]
"Huh, 10 points consumed for a 5% success rate?"
I read the description of the newly acquired 《Trait Enhancement》.
[《Trait Enhancement》: You can enhance players' traits by consuming points. The enhancement probability and cost differ by trait grade.]
The part about enhancement probability and cost differing by trait grade particularly caught my eye.
《Broken Clock》 is unique grade, and 《Breath Holding》 is common grade.
Simply calculating by probability, consuming 10 points for a 5% success rate means... if you enhance 20 times consuming 10 points each, you succeed once.
In other words, the expected value for enhancing 《Breath Holding》 was 200 points.
I'm not sure what effect 《Diving Expert》, which you'd acquire after enhancing, would have, but simply guessing, it probably means you can hold your breath longer.
"It's thrilling."
I was already starting to feel difficult obstacles in conquering the corridor. Such a direct and visible enhancement event felt as refreshing as rain in a dry desert for me.
[Do you want to enhance the hero grade trait 《Strong Heart》 by consuming 50 points?]
[Enhancement success probability 10%]
[If successful, trait changes to 《Apatheia》]
Hero grade. It seemed like a high grade at a glance.
Maybe that's why the point consumption value was quite high. As expected of 《Strong Heart》. Even when drawing it, the gacha effect was extraordinary.
"Apatheia..."
What was this again? I feel like I've heard it in moral education class.
Was it a word meaning unwavering composure in any change? Consuming 50 points for a 10% enhancement success rate...
It meant you'd succeed at least once when consuming 500 points.
"It's a dilemma."
I wanted to taste the effect of the newly acquired trait 《Trait Enhancement》 at least once.
Of course, I couldn't help but ponder which of the three traits I had would be most helpful to enhance. Simply looking at the enhancement success rate versus points, 《Broken Clock》 was clearly the best.
[Do you want to enhance the unique grade trait 《Broken Clock》 by consuming 100 points?]
[Enhancement success probability 55%]
[If successful, trait changes to 《???》]
Above all, Broken Clock was marked as 'unique grade'.
Although I couldn't be sure what this meant, given that its point consumption value was higher than 《Strong Heart》, which was hero grade, 'unique' was clearly a fairly high-grade trait.
"55% success rate means you succeed once out of two tries."
With good luck, enhancement could succeed with just one attempt. And the fact that the trait would be enhanced to 《???》 also bothered me a lot.
Maybe... it could be a trait that could break through my situation of being trapped in the corridor without a talisman. At times like this, I should make a manly decision.
"Let's go!"
[Consuming 100P.]
[Please tap the trait.]
Tap it? What am I supposed to do?
Just in case, I clenched my fist and tapped 《Broken Clock》 as if knocking. Then a clang-clang sound rang in my ears as if hammering metal.
"Oh, shit! Nice effect."
Sometimes I felt that the presentation of this status window, whether it was drawing traits, the training ground, or the treatment center, seemed quite elaborate and fun.
Clang-clang-!
The text heating up with each tap. Finally, as a dazzling light seemed to burst from the status window, majestic music played.
[Trait enhancement successful.]
[Unique trait 《Sloppy Clock》 acquired]
[《Sloppy Clock》: The clock that had stopped due to malfunction has started moving again. But due to imperfect repair, it seems to be working somewhat sloppily.]
"Oh, yes!"
This is it! Success on the first try! A man's all about guts and determination after all.
It was something amazing. But as I read the text, my emotions couldn't help but become a bit mixed.
"Sloppy clock...?"
If it's a clock, it's a clock, but what's with the 'sloppy'? Just in case, I put this 《Sloppy Clock》 into 《Trait Enhancement》.
[Do you want to enhance the unique grade trait 《Sloppy Clock》 by consuming 100 points?]
[Enhancement success probability 10%]
[If successful, trait changes to 《???》]
"This is a bit..."
Consuming 100P but only a 10% success rate. It was downright robbery.
After 'broken', it became 'sloppy', so the next might be something like 'fixed clock', but I only had 684 points left, and it was too wasteful to blow them all on enhancement gambling.
So what happens now? Wondering about the difference between 《Sloppy Clock》 and broken clock, I decided to use the advice function I had been saving.
"Advice!"
Ding-
[《Sloppy Clock》's advice: Capsule drawing is one of the useful functions of the shop. It is said that one out of every five capsules you can get from the shop contains a 'mysterious talisman'. The shop's capsules are characterized by quick and accurate delivery. You can receive items directly in the nightmare corridor.]
[Who on earth is running the shop? It is said that everyone who has encountered the shop owner ended up dancing a strange dance.]
"Oh?"
The advice changed from broken clock's advice to sloppy clock's advice. It felt a bit kinder and the sentences seemed longer.
But more important than that was the content!
Capsules with one mysterious talisman in every five! This mysterious talisman must mean the "escape talisman".
"One in five... that's a 20% chance. I've drawn capsules three times so far. 'Subtle Perfume', 'Eternal Glow-in-the-Dark Pen', and 'Suspicious Pink Lipstick'..."
There was no talisman among the three capsules.
The chance of drawing a talisman is 20%, so logically thinking... it means I might get a gacha talisman once after two more attempts.
"Maybe I can escape by using points!"
Oh yeah!
I was so happy I danced by myself, boom-chik boom-chik. And I opened the shop window and started drawing capsules!
***
The boy opened his eyes as dazzling sunlight seeped through his eyelids.
Reaching out for his phone, he saw it was already 7 AM. At this early hour, his mother was busy opening the window and cleaning the room.
The boy slightly frowned at his mother who had pulled back the curtains in the room, but his mother laughed like a silly girl.
"Son. Wake up. Today's the day you're going with your father to meet the Mapo representative. Seo-yeon is coming too, do you want to go with sleep in your eyes? Quickly go wash up and have breakfast."
The boy, Jung-seok, felt like he had an incredibly long dream. It seemed like a lot had happened in the dream, but much of it was hazy.
'I feel like I had an important dream but forgot it... Ah-'
As Jung-seok tried to recall the dream he had last night, he finally remembered that he had been through a nightmare.
Jung-seok opened his notebook and recorded everything that had happened before the dream's memory evaporated like alcohol exposed to sunlight.
'Gong Ye-rin and Im Hee-yeon... And the second floor map... Even about the third floor... I gained a lot. I remember everything accurately.'
Just as he was about to take a picture of the notes he had written and upload it to the group chat "Ha Young-won Pirate Crew", he could see that concerning messages were already written in the group chat.
「Yang Juhee: I escaped too everyone awake? So this is what escaping is lol」
"...Huh?"
Jung-seok was someone who rarely got flustered in daily life. But Yang Juhee's message was quite concerning.
'Wasn't Yang Juhee supposed to stay behind because we were one talisman short?'
What happened? Soon, Jung-seok was able to infer the most plausible story through quick thinking.
'Ha Young-won must have given his talisman to Yang Juhee. Amazing.'
Being prepared to die for others was praiseworthy in itself. Jung-seok sincerely admired Ha Young-won's decision as a leader.
"Ha Young-won must still be asleep."
He probably even forgot that he died.
So Jung-seok reviewed the materials he had written down once more and supplemented in detail the parts he felt were lacking.
After washing up and eating breakfast like that, it was already 8 o'clock.
Today was a day for his father, who was friends with a National Assembly member from Seoul's Mapo district, to have a private appointment for something that would happen later, he said.
"Seo-yeon is coming today too, so you two have a good chat."
Who was Seo-yeon again? Jung-seok was already starting to feel annoyed.