Chapter 8
As the opposing player emerged from the alleyway and I bolted onto the road, the oncoming cars slammed on their brakes.
*Screech—*
*Hoooonk—*
The guy’s eyes glowed a deep, vivid red.
【It’s coming.】
Instantly, a sharp whistling of wind pierced my ears.
*Whoosh, BOOM!*
As the opposing player wielding a sword rushed forward and unleashed a Constellation Ultimate Skill, the pressure was too much; every vehicle on the road was lifted into the air and shoved aside in unison.
A powerful, explosive area-of-effect skill.
The road was gouged deep, and expensive cars, common sights in the city, were tossed about like fallen leaves.
The screams of people echoing from all directions served as the background noise.
Because of this meaningless battle between beings who could hardly be called human, the city that people had bled and sweated to build was being smashed to pieces in an instant.
Destroying a city is fun.
It makes me feel dizzy and ecstatic, as if the world is in the palm of my hand.
“*Cough!*”
Of course, it wasn’t just the city that was smashed by that ultimate skill a moment ago.
Along with a feverish sensation as if my internal organs had been rattled by the recoil of my HP plummeting, a rough cough erupted, as if something were coming up.
But no blood was visible.
As I was sent flying by the pressure, I grabbed onto a nearby Mercedes.
Using the strength of my grip on the object to quickly dodge, the enemy’s blade, which had been lunging for me, embedded itself precisely into the car body.
*BOOM!*
The Mercedes was split in half.
【Opening.】
I hurled the car, which had been sliced and crumpled like paper, and unleashed a skill while swinging my leg with all my might.
*THUD!*
It landed squarely on his head.
“Nice.”
I didn’t miss the moment the opposing player went flying; I chased after him and unleashed a Constellation skill.
As the skill activated, Ggol-Ggap, who had possessed my body, muttered.
“【How dare you.】”
With that line, which reeked of middle-schooler-level angst, my body teleported and appeared in front of the enemy who had been sent flying.
*Swish, swish, swish, slash.*
In that brief moment of teleporting from there to here, my existence scattered like smoke, and the powerful, omnipotent force revealed seemed to tear the very space to shreds.
A barrage of red laser flashes filled the rear and exploded.
*BOOM—!*
[K.O!]
[You Win!]
Having exhausted his last remaining HP, the opposing player knelt and collapsed right there.
I won.
Ggol-Ggap spoke up in an excited voice.
【That last skill was good, wasn’t it? The connectivity has improved. It’s because your trust grew as you accepted my words.】
I let his words go in one ear and out the other as I opened my message box.
I had seen a notification that a message arrived earlier—or whenever it was—but I had been so immersed in the battle that I’d forgotten about it until now.
The content was as follows:
[Hello, Chicken-jwa. I’m not sure if you remember me, but it was a true honor to participate in a team raid with you on the Korean server a while ago. To be brief, I am currently running a broadcast, and I was wondering if you might be interested in appearing on it…….]
It was a message offering a fairly decent appearance fee along with a proposal to appear on their show.
There’s no reason to refuse.
Assuming I wasn’t a bespectacled, acne-ridden, overweight, crippled loser, that is.
‘They’re paying a lot. Doesn’t being ugly actually work out pretty well these days? With my face, I’d definitely draw aggro, so maybe I should just close my eyes and go for it.’
Money manipulates thoughts.
I was drawn in by the tempting amount, then hesitated.
[……If it’s not too much trouble, I’m also curious which guild you are a Hunter for. Your skills are so exceptional that I assume you must be a Hunter or an athlete…….]
My expression stiffened, and my heart turned cold before I could help it.
【Are you listening to me? I’m telling you, the more you trust me, the stronger you can become! Originally, between a Constellation and a human—】
“…….”
It ruined my mood.
I cleared the video of the tallied rewards and immediately logged out of the game.
* * *
Returning from virtual reality to the real world, the events in the game felt like a midsummer night’s dream.
However.
“Coin Market.”
A window appeared before me instantly.
*You have accessed the Coin Market.*
Surprisingly, it was exactly the same Coin Market I had seen at the convenience store today.
“Is this actually real?”
It didn’t feel real.
That buying and using something from within this system window would apply to reality…….
It was exactly what I had wanted, to a chilling degree.
Sometimes, I had fantasized that if the money or rankings I earned in the game could influence reality, I, a world-ranker in God of Fighters, would be an incredibly powerful Hunter or a wealthy man.
Of course, even if this were real, I was woefully short on Coins to buy anything I wanted.
‘I can collect Coins somehow. As long as this is real.’
I had wondered if I was being toyed with by the whims of data fragments, but looking at the Coin Market like this, even the skepticism I had was starting to fade.
I poked around the Coin Market, which looked like an in-game item shop, with my fingertip, then glanced at the top line.
Coins Held: 100C
“…….”
There is one way to be certain whether this Coin Market is real or not.
Buy something, anything.
I entered the list of popular items in the Coin Market.
The list I had seen at the very beginning appeared.
After excluding the unnecessarily expensive items like Hunter Awakening or passing-grade items, the reasonably affordable ones were filtered out.
Strength Enhancement Level 1 (300C)
Ideal Physique Level 1 (300C)
Beautiful Face Level 1 (300C)
Clear and Transparent Skin Level 1 (200C)
Height Growth 1cm (200C)
Weight Loss 1kg (100C)
Fatigue Relief (50C)
…….
Fatigue relief is the cheapest, but I didn’t like it because it was an ambiguous item.
The next cheapest was weight loss.
‘What a waste of Coins. Honestly, if I work out hard, I can lose weight whenever I want.’
Because I had done so much exercise since I was young, I had an unfounded confidence that I could lose it quickly through effort.
Though, if I actually tried, it might not be as easy as I thought.
The problem is that I have no intention of losing it.
I would need a life that would improve if I lost weight to have the motivation to exercise, but in truth, I had no goals I desperately wanted to achieve right now.
“…….”
I looked around the room once.
Clothes scattered on the floor, still damp.
In the dish rack, bowls with dried-up pizza cheese from a long time ago were stacked in layers, and a few cup noodle containers were rolling around next to the computer tower.
‘Anyone could tell this is the house of a game addict.’
I need the certainty that I can change this life, which rolled into the abyss in an instant, with my own power—with the Coin Market.
After a short deliberation, I made up my mind.
“Let’s buy it.”
What’s important to me right now isn’t losing weight, but confirming whether this suspicious Coin Market is real.
Losing 1kg of weight was especially good because, unlike fatigue relief, the numerical value was clear.
I hauled myself up, staggering.
I pressed the tip of my foot onto the scale, which was covered in a thick layer of dust from lack of use, to turn it on, then stepped up.
[122.1kg]
“I gained even more in the meantime. How on earth did I become such a pig?”
I suddenly remembered the fact that I had stopped weighing myself entirely because I kept breaking my own records every time I checked.
I stepped off the scale.
I purchased the weight loss item I had spotted in the Coin Market.
*Would you like to purchase ‘Weight Loss 1kg (100C)’? The amount of Coins indicated will be deducted.*
*Yes*
An item storage slot was created right next to the Coin Market window, and then another message appeared.
*100C has been deducted.*
*You have successfully purchased ‘Weight Loss 1kg (100C)’. Would you like to use it immediately?*
*Yes*
*Bzzzt.*
For a moment, an unidentified status window flickered faintly over the Coin Market and then vanished.
“……?”
What was that just now?
It was brief, but from what I saw, it seemed to be a different type of message window than the Coin Market’s message box.
I swiped my hand through the spot where it had flickered, but nothing appeared.
“What? Anyway, did it apply?”
I checked the Coin Market.
The Coins had definitely decreased, and since the item had disappeared from the inventory slot attached right next to the market window, it seemed it had been used.
*Thump, thump.*
“Ha. Why is my heart acting up like this? Just be quiet.”
I ignored my frantically pounding heart and the cold sweat beading on my palms as best I could and stepped onto the scale.
My weight, which had definitely been 122 when I measured it a moment ago.
[121.1kg]
It had decreased by exactly 1kg.
“!”
This is real.
* * *
I felt impatient.
‘When does that tournament the Constellations mentioned start?’
I want to collect Coins quickly.
Deciding to collect Coins is all well and good, but I had no way of knowing when that so-called tournament would be held.
Just as I was unconsciously shaking one of my legs.
“Aren’t you leaving, Noona?”
“Oh? I should get going now.”
The evening shift change at the convenience store.
Since I was sitting right there in the chair inside the counter and not going home even though they had arrived, the part-timer, tired of waiting, had spoken to me point-blank.
They seemed to be looking at something intently on their phone, and they clearly wanted me to get lost quickly so they could take my chair.
Perhaps because it was a day off for the surrounding schools, it was an unusually quiet day.
The part-timer who came for the shift change sat in the counter chair as soon as I got up and focused entirely on their phone.
“What are you looking at?”
I asked casually, and then.
“It’s nothing special, but there’s a game I personally like, and a tournament is being held soon.”
No way.
“That game isn’t God of Fighters, is it?”
At my question, the yellow-haired part-timer looked at me with wide eyes.
“……Huh? How did you know? It was just announced a moment ago, wasn’t it? As soon as that news hit, the God of Fighters users and fans went crazy.”
Holy crap.
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