Damned System

Chapter 22. Player (2)

‘Does it have mana?’

I carefully examined the ring. However, I felt nothing. I was not comfortable selling it off just because I couldn’t discern its use.

‘I don’t like the way it seems to order me around.’

For now, I decided to keep it. I thought I could sell it later if it became unnecessary or harmful to me.

“Let’s exclude this.”

“What, what?”

“Exclude this and this, and let’s recalculate.”

What I excluded were the ring and one gold coin. Given the possibility that it was once used as currency, I decided to hold onto one for now.

After freeing Choi Sungwoo’s wrist, which I had been holding, I nudged the bag full of cash towards me.

As I pretended to place the ring and the gold coin in my pocket, putting them into inventory instead, Choi Sungwoo nervously fiddled with the calculator on the desk, struggling due to the fracture in my shoulder.

He muttered about the gold and the ring’s weight and jewelry before deducting roughly 850,000 won, including a bundle of 50,000 won notes and a single sheet totaling 3.5 million won.

Even though it stung, I accepted the remaining cash without complaint, realizing it couldn’t be resold.

Then, I extended my hand and said, “Please give me your cell phone.”

“… Excuse me?”

Confused by the response, I frowned.

“I’ll contact you in advance next time.”

At the very least, they needed to be contactable for their next meeting. Yet, I couldn’t give out my number.

“You can’t just give out personal information in this day and age.”

By taking Sungwoo’s cell phone, I could easily resolve issues like contacting Ha Gwonchan that had appeared earlier.

But Sungwoo, once again, responded slowly.

I clicked my tongue briefly and grabbed Sungwoo’s uninjured shoulder.

“If you don’t like it, like today…”

“I-I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it to you!”

They always needed an extra urging.

Taking the phone that Sungwoo handed over, he unlocked it and showed me the screen, leaving only Ha Gwonchan’s contact.

“I’ll contact you through this next time.”

I made it clear by turning off the phone in front of Sungwoo.

He comprehended it when Sungwoo nodded his head vigorously.

“Yes, yes, feel free.”

“Let’s work well together from now on, President Choi. I trust you’ll keep up with the phone bills.”

With a hint that the next visit might be as sudden if not, the corners of Sungwoo’s lips stiffened.

Nevertheless, as I offered a handshake, Sungwoo awkwardly returned it, trying to smile despite the pain.

I couldn’t bring myself to feel sentimental about a face twisted in agony due to my actions.

‘I ma a despicable villain in someone’s view, but there’s no compassion here.’

I had already confirmed over several days of observation that Sungwoo was not a good person.

He was unequivocally an evildoer, unworthy of pity or empathy.

While I had no intention of personally dealing with Sungwoo, neither did I intend to form a deep relationship with him.

For now, their interests aligned, and I was only exploiting that fact.

I brought precious metals, and Sungwoo paid for them; their relationship was purely transactional.

Finally, to serve as a warning, I squeezed Sungwoo’s hand painfully hard before releasing it.

I made Sungwoo turn away from me and headed into the blind spot of the CCTV.

“See you next time.”

Leaving a final farewell, I used invisibility.

A minute, then two passed… Sungwoo, frozen while staring straight ahead, eventually turned around hesitantly.

I was still there, but invisible to Sungwoo’s eyes.

Sungwoo jumped from his seat, holding his shoulder, and manipulated the computer to quickly check the CCTV recordings.

His gaze darted between the monitor and my direction, visibly trembling.

The CCTV would show I moving to a blind spot.

What it wouldn’t show would be my actual presence there, leaving Sungwoo bewildered.

“Gu, Gwonchan! Ha Gwonchan!”

After a short silence, a mortified Sungwoo ran out of the office.

Only then did I leisurely slip out through the open door.

* * *

I had already walked quite a distance from Sungwoo’s office.

In a sparsely populated alley, I deactivated my invisibility.

I immediately retrieved the ring from my inventory.

“It supposedly has mana…”

I fiddled with and scrutinized the ring for a moment.

On a whim, I materialized my mana. The ring did nothing.

So, I tried utilizing elemental mana instead.

This time, the ring eagerly absorbed the mana before beginning to vibrate in my hand.

‘What, what’s this?’

Swallowing nervously, I grasped the ring, ready for any changes.

Suddenly, a chilling surge of mana, cold enough to feel icy, emanated from the ring.

A frost formed in the narrow alleyway.

The tension caused my muscles to tighten reflexively.

And then? Nothing happened.

“Heh.”

A chuckle escaped me in disbelief.

I could no longer feel the ring vibrating.

‘What is this?’

I could not comprehend what had just happened.

In case of another occurrence, I released more elemental mana.

The ring merely absorbed my mana again with no unusual reaction.

I spent some time alternating between closely examining the ring and infusing it with mana.

“Should I keep this in the inventory for now?”

The loop on the ring was too large for me to wear comfortably.

Figuring it might fit my thumb, I tested it.

“Oh.”

The ring that had felt loose snugly conformed to my finger.

Even when I placed it back on my little finger, it adjusted accordingly.

“Nice.”

At least I confirmed it wasn’t a typical piece of jewelry. That seemed enough for now.

Perhaps, in time, I would discover its purpose.

I continued infusing the ring with mana until I exhausted my supply.

I then retrieved my other untraded spoils.

「Lost Spear」

A sturdy spear that remained undamaged despite long separation from its owner.

Adequate for immediate combat usage.

I had examined four items, all of which had brief, two-line descriptions.

The last line irked me increasingly.

Including the items I had sold, now including this spear.

“Valuable even if sold, beneficial to hold onto, and useful in combat…”

It felt like it was instructing me to use it a certain way.

“It’s unsettling.”

I scrutinized the item description window for a while.

However, staring at it wasn’t going to unlock some hidden knowledge.

Resignedly, I sighed and stowed the spear back into my inventory.

I then made my way to a bus station, aiming for my next destination.

While waiting for the bus, my gaze drifted west.

Towards Gwanak District.

Recent news reports from the social section that had kept surfacing in my mind.

“Pigeon corpses discovered in Gwanak District, possibly murder rather than accidents?”

“Outrageous animal abuse, is it acceptable?”

“Soft hand slaps for animal abusers? The limitations of Korea’s legal boundaries.”

It began with the discovery of pigeon corpses near a villa village.

There were traces of stab wounds while trapped in adhesive used during summer to catch flies or mosquitoes, about four of them.

Next, were the stray dogs and rodents caught by traps.

“All stabbed to death, it seemed.”

News about animal corpses due to abuse or roadkill wasn’t uncommon.

But for the same type of incidents to occur consecutively in the same region was peculiar.

Moreover, the first article had been published three days ago.

“It was the day after the tutorial for new players had ended.”

Due to that, I had spent several days commuting to and from Gwanak District using invisibility.

If this case had any connection to players…

“It could be an opportunity.”

An opportunity to glimpse the Korean government’s response.

Although I had heard about the actions of the United Kingdom and the United States through Ethan, what was most crucial to me was Korea’s response.

“My nationality is South Korean, and as this game surfaces, escaping from governmental scrutiny will be challenging.”

I knew nothing about how the Korean government might react.

Whether the government was aware of this crazy game, or how they planned to manage it, not a single clue.

I had combed through news articles without finding anything peculiar.

Hence, this current surveillance.

If the government knows about this game and the suspect turned out to be a player, there’s a high chance they might quietly protect-monitor after an arrest.

“Maybe I can get a sense of the government’s position or attitude without exposing myself.”

This was an opportunity too good to miss.

Of course, without invisibility, I wouldn’t have ventured personally.

Exposure of my identity would be disastrous.

There’s no assurance that a lunatic like David wouldn’t be lurking in the Korean government.

But now that I had invisibility, taking a slight risk was worth it.

I boarded the soon-arriving bus while pulling my hat lower.

* * *

The animal corpses were all found in Gwanak District.

I arrived at the villa neighborhood where the dog’s body had been discovered.

The locations of the pigeon and the rodent were distant from each other but nearby, this villa neighborhood was connected to both.

“I can’t tell if it’s poor thinking or a diversion to dodge investigation.”

This neighborhood was the single intersection among three distinct locations.

So, I roamed the vicinity using my invisibility.

Eventually, the pending update patch was complete.

「Progress 100%」

「The patch has been completed.」

「The Player Interaction Program (Community and Party) will be updated.」

「Code names will be implemented in the community.」

「Friend feature added.」

「Chat feature added.」

「Gift feature added.」

「Aggregate comment count displayed.」

“Using code names now? Why this late?”

The question lingered briefly; I understood the reason soon enough.

Allowing anonymity among 10,000 players?

What could go wrong was evident.

After the tutorial for the first group of players ended, chaos ensued in the community with impostures, jeers, and personal attacks.

The anonymity that seemed to empower some players to instigate disorder.

There were constant altercations that developed into spirited arguments in the comment section.

‘Haphazard as always.’

Half measures and piecemeal updates characterized this game.

If it premiered online, the game would have flopped instantly.

Why bring such torment to reality?

I clicked my tongue and opened the community tab.

To gauge any significant changes or necessities due to the updates.

「The title: Finally we can weed out the morons (4) – Author: Adam」

The top post jumped out at me, uploaded moments ago.

All posts were now marked by the author’s code name.

‘Comments have changed too.’

I reflected on anything I needed to pay attention to.

‘If I remember, I deleted the post where Ethan discovered me, and the new one I created to communicate with me, well…’

Though the writer’s name showed, they couldn’t access it without the password.

Even if they did, it contained solely private comments ensuring anonymity.

!

‘Might as well clean it up.’

With the chat feature introduced, the post’s purpose had expired.

Erase the post and send Ethan a friend request through my code name, which I quickly accepted.

– Ethan Rembrandt: Chat feature is great. Comments were annoying.

– K: Right? Why not implement it earlier, what a joke.

– Ethan Rembrandt: Haha, it’s always been a careless system. My expectations are low.

– K: Haha, we think alike.

As I jeered alongside Ethan about the system, I found myself searching for a post I had previously seen.

I half-expected it to be deleted but it remained.

The one which had mocked my ethnicity.

The code name was John.

The moment I reminisced on the black man’s face from the promotion test.

「A friend request was received from code name Leo.」

「A friend request was received from code name Barista.」

「A friend request was received from code name Artificial Intelligence.」

「A friend request was received from code name Blueberry.」

‘What?’

Friend requests started pouring in.

Damned System.