READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 2 - The First Variable
While the novel sometimes featured other characters’ perspectives, it mainly unfurled from the viewpoint of protagonist, Han Suyeon.
Regardless of how many times Han Suyeon experienced regressions and acted, there were certain events that were inevitable.
And now, as Kim Baram ran, there was the ‘first incident’ that inevitably happened every time Han Suyeon returned. It was an elementary school student traffic accident.
The point at which Han Suyeon’s regressed was always the same.
‘Today’s the morning of the Academy’s entrance ceremony. The time is around 8:20 AM, which means it shouldn’t have happened yet.’
At exactly 8:30 AM, ten minutes after Han Suyeon’s regression, an elementary school girl saw her mother across the traffic light and ran towards her when the signal was red, only to be hit by a speeding car.
The girl died instantly.
The driver was a Class B player who was affiliated with a famous guild. He wasn’t found guilty despite the fact that he was overspeeding and the light was red.
Unable to bear the grief, the girl’s father eventually took his own life. The mother was overwhelmed by the loss of her child and husband. She sold her soul to a demon for the power to avenge them, causing widespread destruction.
In the story, Han Suyeon tried to prevent this incident numerous times. However, with only a ten-minute gap between her regression and the accident, the time was too short to stop it.
‘Was it from the 43rd episode?’
Han Suyeon even attempted to overexert her magic to rush to the scene but ended up getting swept in an accident herself.
Despite many attempts, the outcome remained the same. In her last try, she managed to save the girl and herself but ended up with irreversible leg injuries. Thus, she was unable to do anything and it led to her doom.
Han Suyeon realized that it was impossible to save the girl. As such, she decided to kill the girl’s mother before she could sell her soul to the demon.
Hundreds of times, she witnessed the girl’s death and was forced to kill the mother, who was grieving for her child and her husband, with her own hands.
From then on, Han Suyeon’s emotions began to dry up.
Though the current regression count of Han Suyeon was unknown, it appeared necessary to prevent the traffic accident for the sake of future events and Han Suyeon’s mental state.
He was running while checking the map app on his phone, but upon reaching the destination, he stopped to check the time.
“Phew… 8:29 AM. Just in time.”
“Mommy!”
While he was still catching his breath to calm his pounding heart, a little girl spotted her mother across the street and started running towards her.
“Wait kid!”
Damn… She was running right into danger.
Kim Baram forced his tired body to move, grabbed the girl’s arm, and pulled her into his embrace. Using the momentum, he immediately threw himself back and felt a blue sports car sped by.
She would have been hit at that speed…
Crazy.
The girl was shocked. She started tearing up.
“Ye-rin!”
The traffic light turned green, and her mother ran towards them.
“Mommy!”
The girl broke free from Kim Baram’s arms and ran into her mother’s embrace.
The mother held her child and thanked him repeatedly.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! My child. Because of you… Sob…”
[Ding! Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability
[You have changed the fate of the character ‘Jeong Ye-rin.’ 4000 VP obtained.]
[You have changed the fate of character ‘Seong Ye-sook.’ 2000 VP obtained.]
———
[Player Han Suyeon’s unique ability
“Ugh…”
Han Suyeon struggled to open her eyes as she felt her body breaking apart.
“Again…”
Sitting on her bed, she reflected on the previous regression with a weary voice.
There was no regret or sorrow for her comrades’ deaths in her voice. Instead, only the fatigue lingered brought about by an endlessly repeating life.
Han Suyeon was so exhausted that she had no emotions left to regret her past.
All that remained was the deep uncertainty about a dark, hopeless future.
“What on earth should I do…”
Han Suyeon bit her lips, feeling the emptiness invading her heart. She headed to the bathroom, shedded her pajamas at the door before stepping into the shower, and turned on the water.
The cold water from the showerhead traveled through her red hair, and slowly streamed down her body.
The chilling water refreshed her mind, allowing her to momentarily forget the complicated thoughts.
After finishing her shower, she glanced at the digital clock on the shelf.
[8:30]
The clock showed exactly 8:30 AM.
The brief comfort she felt from the shower faded, and her expression began to darken again.
‘By now… Ye-rin…’
The elementary school traffic accident.
It happened exactly ten minutes after Han Suyeon’s regression.
She had tried dozens of times to save the victim, Jeong Ye-rin, but eventually realized it was impossible and couldn’t bear to watch her get hit by the car, so she chose to ignore it.
Instead, she had to handle Ye-rin’s mother, Seong Ye-sook, who despaired after losing her child and husband, hundreds of times.
Bang!
Unable to bear her powerlessness, Han Suyeon banged her forehead against the wall.
“Get a grip, Han Suyeon. There’s too much that needs to be done. You can’t be saddened by every one of these things.”
She forced herself to ignore the suffocating guilt in her chest.
Han Suyeon knew she would witness countless deaths in the future, so she couldn’t afford to be affected by each one. And she closed her heart in the process.
Mechanically, she changed into her academy uniform and left the now-empty house.
———-
“Thank you sir. I don’t know how to repay this kindness…”
“No, it’s fine. As long as the child is safe, that’s enough. Haha…”
After preventing the accident, Kim Baram was at a loss as Seong Ye-sook kept bowing to him in gratitude.
Noticing his discomfort, she stopped and observed his outfit closely.
“Are you by any chance a student at the Player Academy?”
“What? Oh… Yes, I am. Though I’m just starting today…”
“A new student? That’s great! Do you have any ‘gear’ yet? My husband works at a company that makes gear. If you don’t have any, please let me repay you by providing some.”
The thought that she could repay him brought her immense excitement, and Seong Ye-sook grabbed his hands tightly as she spoke.
Gear?
Kim Baram didn’t know Ye-rin’s father had such a backstory. He was only mentioned briefly in the novel.
Gear.
Gear referred to weapons and armor obtained as dungeon rewards or made for players.
In the novel, important characters had their unique special gear.
While the gear mentioned by Seong Ye-sook might not be as extraordinary, getting the chance to acquire such expensive gear was an incredible stroke of luck.
“Thank you for the offer. I was just doing what needed to be done.”
“Oh my… How kind you are… Here, take my contact information.”
Perhaps touched by Kim Baram’s modesty, Seong Ye-sook gently took his phone from their clasped hands and entered her number before handing it back.
“Don’t hesitate to contact me. Please do! Ye-rin, say thank you too.”
“Thank you oppa.”
“I’m glad you’re safe. Be careful from now on, Ye-rin.”
Nod! Nod!
Hiding behind her mother’s leg, Jeong Ye-rin peeked out at Kim Baram with bright, inquisitive eyes.
When Seong Ye-sook told her to thank him, Ye-rin called him oppa and expressed her gratitude.
It wasn’t because he liked being called oppa, but he unconsciously stroked her head when he saw Ye-rin’s cute and adorable appearance. She was like a child actor you might see on TV.
Ding!
[Player ‘Kim Baram’s unique ability
[You have gained the favor of the character ‘Jeong Ye-rin.’ 100 VP obtained. Current, Jeong Ye-rin’s favorability level towards Kim Baram is ‘Interest.’]
[You have gained the favor of character ‘Seong Ye-sook.’ 50 VP obtained. Currently, Seong Ye-sook’s favorability level towards Kim Baram is ‘Interest.’]
‘Huh? Is this also a variable?’
***
After parting ways with Jeong Ye-rin and her mother, Kim Baram looked at his phone’s map to find the Player Academy’s location and started walking there.
‘Fortunately, I won’t be late. It’s a bit far from Kim Baram’s house. If I hurry, it’ll take about 45 minutes. I should check the VP I just earned on the way.’
“Status window.”
At his command, a semi-transparent hologram appeared before his eyes.
————
Name: Kim Baram
Age: 17
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Agility: 9
Stamina: 9
Magic: 1
Charm: 39
Luck: 44
Skills:
(New)
Unique Abilities:
(New)
– VP (Variable Points): 6150 VP
————
Kim Baram’s status window didn’t look much different from what he saw in the morning.
If anything, it was the VP earned by preventing Jeong Ye-rin’s accident.
He didn’t know if 6150 VP was a lot or a little.
‘Should I try using it?’
He looked at the skill
“Irregular Dice.”
Ding!
[You use the skill
As Kim looked at the system message, two small dice appeared in mid-air.
So he was supposed to roll those dice.
Realizing he was truly in the novel, his heart raced at the thought of using a skill he’d only read about.
Kim examined the dice.
One die had the six attributes written on it: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Magic, Charm, Luck, and the other had numbers from 1 to 6.
‘Could it be an ability that randomly increases one of the six attributes?’
Guessing the skill’s effect, Kim decided to roll the dice.
Clatter!
[The effect of the skill
————
Name: Kim Baram
Age: 17
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Agility: 9
Stamina: 9
Magic: 1
Charm: 39
Luck: 50
Skills:
(New)
Unique Abilities:
(New)
– VP (Variable Points): 5150 VP
———-
The dice roll resulted in Luck and 6, increasing his Luck by 6. In exchange, Kim Baram’s VP decreased from 6150 VP to 5150 VP.
The oddly low Luck stat now appeared more normal thanks to the skill, which made him feel more at ease.
As Kim Baram stared at the status window, he pondered over his skills and unique abilities.
‘Even though it increases stats randomly, being able to increase them permanently makes it an SS-level skill. Though it’s quite deceptive in the long run. To use it often, earning VP is crucial. Does that mean I have to work hard to earn VP?’
In the novel world, there were various ways to increase stats.
And each had its pros and cons.
The first method was training or gaining practical experience.
This method was more effective when the stats were low.
However, as the stats increased, raising even a single point became exponentially harder.
Efficiency also varied depending on the player’s talent.
Talented players could quickly reach the mid-30s with consistent training, while less talented players could take a lifetime to reach the early 20s. Thus, this method was highly influenced by the player’s inherent talent.
The second method was through gear or magical artifacts.
High-grade gear or artifacts could boost the user’s stats and even increase typically hard-to-raise stats like Luck and Charm.
However, these were rare and extremely expensive.
Additionally, if lost or taken, all stat bonuses were lost.
The third method was elixirs.
The protagonist of the novel, Han Suyeon, used this method extensively in the early days of her regression.
By leveraging future knowledge, she secured elixirs from dungeons and quickly advanced.
However, except for the highest-grade elixirs, their efficiency decreased as the stats increased.
In a way, it was similar to training.
Moreover, without future knowledge like Han Suyeon, those elixirs were hard to obtain and expensive.
Though there were other methods, those three were the main ways to increase stats.
‘Compared to these, my skill can permanently increase stats without any restrictions as long as I have enough VP.’
For a moment, Kim felt an impulse to use all remaining VP to boost his stats, but he suppressed it with great self-control.
‘If I use the skill to increase stats now, it might make things easier in the short term, but it would reduce the stats I could gain from training. It’s wiser to use the skill only after reaching the limit of what I can achieve through training.’
Although it was uncertain how far Kim Baram could grow through training, he decided to hold off on using
‘Ultimately, my goal is to help Han Suyeon, whose regression count is unknown, and prevent the destruction of this world. Or rather, that seems to be the intent of whoever sent me here. The abilities granted by the status window also seem to encourage high involvement in the story.’
Therefore, Kim’s immediate goal was to become stronger.
Currently, his stats indicated he was weaker than a healthy average person. In this state, he couldn’t accomplish anything.
Even Han Suyeon, who became incredibly powerful, failed to prevent the world’s destruction hundreds of times.
As Kim Baram organized his thoughts, he heard a commotion ahead and looked up to see the panoramic view before him.
The scene matched the picture he had drawn in his head after seeing the description in the novel.
‘So this is the Korean Player Academy…’