Damned System

Chapter 20. K (4)

Player: Kang Hyunwoo (Beta Tester)

Mana: 1563.48 (Attribute Mana: 53)

Chaos Level: 0.00%

Affiliation: Earth

Race: Human (Player)

Rank: Alpha

Attribute: Lightning

Skills: Mana Manipulation (45.64%), Sensory Expansion (13.25%), Mana Detection (lv.1 – 6.61%)

Trait: ?????, adaptability, tenacity, Purification (lv.1 – 17.11%)

Compared to the beginning, there were significantly more letters and numbers.

Above all, the attribute field was now filled in.

‘Lightning…’

I alternated between looking at the word in the attribute slot and the spark flickering in my hand.

‘If it were a fire attribute, could I create fire?’

If that were the case, fire would indeed have been more convenient.

‘Easy to set forests ablaze.’

With a moment of regret, I clicked my tongue.

A thought quickly passed through my mind.

‘No, looking at it broadly, lightning is also fire…?’

Hurriedly, I grabbed a piece of paper and brought it to my hand.

As expected, the parts touched by the spark began to burn.

‘Oh.’

Good. I no longer needed to carry matches.

Now, I had to contemplate how to use this mana in battle.

Just as I was about to dive into thought, the spark on my hand suddenly disappeared.

“Oh.”

I had depleted my mana.

Although I wasn’t experiencing fatigue due to having plenty of normal mana left, I couldn’t help but grimace.

‘This depletes quickly too.’

Even the red normal mana vanished quickly once I drew it outside my body.

“Tch.”

Normal mana could be gathered by purifying corrupted mana.

But attribute mana?

‘Mission rewards…’

As I racked my brain, I could only recall attribute mana being obtained as mission rewards.

Even the rank rewards were essentially mission-based.

This realization left me feeling trapped.

I usually received them in the units of 10 or 20.

‘Unlike normal mana, gathering this quickly seems difficult.’

I had subconsciously imagined capturing monsters easily by shooting lightning.

Reaching that level would likely take a significant amount of time.

I stared at my empty hand, deep in thought.

How should I utilize this power?

How could I extract the maximum efficiency?

In simple terms, I considered using it by injecting attribute mana into a monster after stabbing a spear into it.

“That would likely burn their insides.”

Trying it once could not hurt.

However, I felt there were endless ways to make full use of it beyond just that.

This was a completely new power I had been unaware of until now.

Surely, there would be ways to utilize it that I hadn’t even imagined yet.

“Let’s take it step by step.”

Now that the reward inventory was sorted, it was time to organize the loot.

My heart raced as I stashed the glittering pieces into my bag.

My face felt flushed.

“Ah, damn.”

Unable to resist the gleaming golden hue dancing in my mind, I reopened my bag.

It was still so beautiful. I carefully caressed the loot with cautious hands.

I wondered if this was real gold. If it were, how should I dispose of it?

All sorts of thoughts flooded my mind, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

“Is this a diamond?”

I mumbled as I fiddled with the transparent gem hanging from a necklace.

The stone was as big as my thumbnail, and there were many of them. As many as eight.

If this were a genuine diamond, how much would it be worth?

My lips curled upwards uncontrollably, driving me mad.

I couldn’t manage my expressions at all.

After lingering over the loot for a while, I grabbed my phone.

I needed to figure out how to dispose of it from now on.

Since I couldn’t reveal the source, selling it through legitimate routes was impossible.

I would have to explore illegal territories.

Honestly, I felt a bit overwhelmed.

I had stayed away from dangerous activities to avoid any involvement in crime.

After all, I was the guardian of the twins.

I had no idea where to even begin searching.

Of course, being overwhelmed didn’t translate to major worry.

In the society built by humans, there wasn’t really a bottom.

Focusing intently on my phone search for a while.

Suddenly, I checked the clock and snapped back to reality.

It was almost time for Ethan to enter the mission.

“Will he do well?”

Since he had mastered the Mana Manipulation, he wouldn’t be defeated as easily as before.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but worry.

“There’s also a debt I owe him.”

I had received a lot of confidential information that I couldn’t have acquired by myself.

This allowed me to make decisions like faking medical records to stay hidden and persuading Jonghun.

I also received results from analyzing the monster’s black blood.

“They say it’s hard to consider it as blood.”

I hadn’t read the lab reports that documented the experiment results.

Even if I had, understanding them would have been challenging.

At least I learned that the composition of the black blood differed from human blood.

Hearing this allowed me to ponder whether the mission grounds were perhaps a different world.

I had many debts to Ethan, and at this point, Ethan was the only player I interacted with.

Above all, I trusted Ethan.

Because Ethan had never inquired about my personal details.

Never asking my name, age, nationality—all questions that could identify my identity.

In the unfortunate event he was tortured, it was better not to know.

Despite that, Ethan had shared all him information.

Such actions were enough to build trust between us.

“Though it’s not absolute trust,”

At the very least, I could rely on him.

Naturally, I didn’t wish for someone like that to die.

Losing an ally with the selection of 10,000 new players would be a loss.

– (Private Comment) Are you prepared?

While waiting for Ethan’s response, I racked my brains.

Without directly hunting with me, the ways I could help Ethan were limited.

⌎ (Private Comment) I’ve finished preparing. I’m a bit nervous.

Ethan’s comment came at just the right moment, and I grinned, activating the shop function.

⌎ (Private Comment) Open the auction window.

⌎ (Private Comment) What?

⌎ (Private Comment) Hurry.

⌎ (Private Comment) It’s open. Why?

Shortly after, a response came saying Ethan had opened the auction window.

I then put four of my remaining eight potions up on the auction tab.

Even though it’s called an auction, it felt more like an individual exchange market.

Items could be set for direct purchase or sale at specified prices.

I set the price of the potion to 1 mana.

Considering what I had received so far, this was the least I could do.

Having personally experienced the potion’s effects, possessing one would certainly make staying alive easier.

⌎ (Private Comment) It’s a gift, buy it right away.

If someone else snatched it, I planned to grab them by the collar and give them an earful.

⌎ (Private Comment) What do you mean?

⌎ (Private Comment) Check the auction now.

As I wrote the comment, I registered the auction item.

“An item has been listed.”

A few seconds later, the potion disappeared.

“Code name: Ethan Rembrandt has purchased Potion (×4).”

The comment section began to frenzy.

The messages were not phrases at all, but rather words clumsily typed in English.

It seemed they were unable to be translated, appearing in their original form.

To the flustered Ethan, who was at a loss, I added one more comment.

⌎ (Private Comment) Don’t die, so my effort to save you won’t go in vain.

⌎ (Private Comment) Yes, thank you so much!

The first coherent comment came up after passing the potion.

I imagined Ethan smiling and the corner of my own lips lifted as well.

After Ethan entered the mission ground, I scoured the community to observe player movements.

Yet, I continued to linger around the community.

“Ha?”

Thanks to it, I discovered an irritating post.

“Title: K is apparently Asian.”

Seized, I hurriedly clicked the post, but it was simple.

Someone had commented while others were discussing me in another post.

A quick search revealed a thread expressing amazement at my 2-level mission clear.

The problematic comment was there too.

– After all, just an Asian.

Ethan was out of the question. He wouldn’t leak my information.

There was no reason for Ethan to irritate me.

“As long as I’m ahead, he has much to gain from me. There’s no incentive for him to ruin our mutual relationship.”

Excluding Ethan, there was one suspect left.

My expression hardened, and I clenched my fists.

Though I felt like commenting immediately, I restrained myself.

“It’s better to stay quiet.”

Responding wrongly might end up admitting my race from my own mouth.

Feeling like my irritation would only fester if I continued looking, I shut my eyes altogether.

Then, I instinctively brushed my face with a sigh.

“Tch.”

In a non-single-player game, I couldn’t control all variables—I should’ve realized this sooner but was too complacent.

From between my clenched teeth, a grating sound seeped out.

“Hoo.”

Forcing himself to calm down, I began plotting my next move.

“It’s okay, it’s not at a dangerous level yet.”

The discussion was only about my race thus far.

No important details like nationality, age, or name were mentioned.

Though the incident heightened my caution before bigger troubles brewed, I saw it as a relief.

Taking deep breaths, I checked the community window again.

By the time I finished sorting my emotions, a substantial amount of new posts had come up.

「Title: Looking for party members.」

Among the posts, one vividly caught my eye, claiming final party recruitment had concluded.

With a tingling sense of foreboding, I swiftly opened the mission window.

“01-12 (09/10)”

Among the lists, a mission had changed to bold text.

From that moment, I couldn’t take my eyes off the mission window.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, then two hours.

As time elapsed, the number in the entry field continued to dwindle.

This signified that some players were dying.

Another mission shifted to bold text before the initial one was even cleared.

“01-11 (08/10)”

The players had begun their earnest operations.

As I continued to keep a calculating eye on the dwindling numbers, Ethan posted a new comment.

⌎ (Private Comment) The monsters are different. They look like bears, but they’ve got four eyes. About 3 meters tall… gives less mana than those we saw during the advancement trials.

Ultimately, Ethan successfully cleared the mission.

Though I found some reassurance in that, a side of my heart remained uneasy.

Approaching midnight, I lay with my eyes shut, but sleep eluded me.

“Hoo.”

Eventually peering at the ceiling blankly, thoughts tangled within me.

Mana, minimum points, recognition, utilization, monsters, death.

Among the tethered and tangled web of facts, an issue I wished to ignore continually resurfaced.

Heaving a deep sigh, I opened the community window.

What caught my eye was the number positioned at the top.

“10,085…”

The recent incidents had made 6 disappear from the community.

I was observing the mission window as those six met their demise.

One by one, the entry number in the mission showed an incremental downward shift.

Massacred by one or two monsters.

Had they been under siege by various monsters, the number would’ve plummeted more swiftly.

It conclusively evidenced a simple fact.

They underwent the mission ground without mastering Mana Manipulation.

If they had, they wouldn’t have been easily struck down.

“Idiots.”

A sigh of exasperation escaped me.

Of course, I didn’t feel pity for those six who perished.

Strictly speaking, the sentiment leaned heavily towards disdain.

Now, unless the newbie players’ tutorial concluded, only Beta testers could enter missions.

And those Beta testers had over three months of leeway.

They surely had ample time to master Mana Manipulation.

They ostensibly started on the same line as me.

Yet, their results were vastly different.

While I had survived the 2-level mission, they didn’t return from the 1-level mission.

These differences recalled the corpses I saw during the promotion test.

“Indeed, unsettling.”

I bore no responsibility to safeguard anonymous people.

Assisting Ethan had been for my comfort, not out of duty.

However, the thought of that corpse muddled my thoughts, recalling the time of my parents’ passing.

Those deceased during the promotion test, those who died three days ago, those who’ve recently perished—they, too, must be somebody’s family.

Over time, as the number of corpses in my memory inevitably grew, a lingering stain would nestle in my heart.

Yet, I couldn’t muster a reason to share the merits earned through my exertions.

“Disseminating information yields no benefit to me.”

I resolved that long into the night I simply watched the dwindling player numbers.

Even if some unease dwelled within, I planned not to intervene.

Since they weren’t responsible for my survival, likewise, their deaths were not my responsibility.

That was clear.

Damned System

TL’s Corner:
Selfish MC. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s a gray area. It’s similar to the Train Dilemma.