Chapter 20: If Only a Reward Is Given (2)
by AfuhfuihgsA blue wave emanates from the Spirit Stone.
The wave sweeps over my body.
“A barrier?”
The wave spread quickly and then stopped.
It formed a sphere centered on the Spirit Stone.
“Ooh! It really looks like a barrier!”
Jang Hoseop jumps to his feet.
He heads towards the edge of the wave.
Then he moves back and forth, in and out of the boundary.
“Huh? Hyungnim! I can just pass through it!”
The range of the wave is about the size of a small house.
If it were a 30-pyeong apartment, it would barely cover two floors.
(TL Note: 30 pyeong is approximately 99 square meters or 1067 square feet.)
Because the factory is spacious, its range is visible at a glance.
“Ah, d*mn… What is this?”
I turned my gaze back to the Spirit Stone.
A system message was displayed, just like when I saw the Gate.
【Level 1 Spirit Stone Saihyeon】
Soon, Mother’s voice is heard.
[Creates a safety wave that deters monster approach.]
[Mana Stones can be used to increase duration and range.]
[The safety wave will disappear in 2 hours.]
After the announcement ended.
The blue-tinged wave flickered and vanished.
“Huh? H-huh? Hyungnim! It disappeared.”
“Come and sit.”
“Yep.”
I explained the content of the message to the group.
This is something only I can see and hear.
“Ah, it didn’t disappear.”
“Yeah.”
It’s just not visible to the eye; the safety wave is still active.
“So, we’ll be safe if we stay within range? We can sleep soundly?”
Jang Hoseop asks after organizing his thoughts for a moment.
“That’s not it.”
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t physically block monsters.”
I have a hunch, like with skills.
“Think of it like mosquito repellent. Or a really bad poop smell.”
“What does that mean…”
“It makes monsters reluctant to approach.”
Humans also instinctively avoid dirty and smelly places.
The safety wave is like that for monsters.
“What if there was a gold bar inside a pile of poop?”
“You’d pick it up. Ah… Aww. That was a letdown.”
Jang Hoseop looked disappointed.
“But what if we increase the range? So much that the gold bar isn’t visible.”
“Huh? Then that would be great, wouldn’t it?”
“It’s like that. It seems to mask smells too.”
If we envelop the entire building with the safety wave, the effect will be much better.
Because monsters won’t bother trying to enter the building.
“So this was the use for Mana Stones… We’ll need a lot of Mana Stones.”
“It was a good thing we collected them. Thanks to your skill.”
“Hehe.”
After finishing our talk, I fed more Mana Stones to the Spirit Stone.
“Nol Mana Stones give more time than Goblin Mana Stones.”
(TL Note: “Nol” likely refers to a type of monster, perhaps a Gnoll, that drops these Mana Stones. This will be clarified if “놀” appears as a monster name later.)
“Ah, so there’s a difference depending on the Mana Stone.”
I increased the duration and range of the safety wave.
This should keep us relatively safe until sunrise tomorrow.
“Um…”
This time, Lee Yuna raises her hand.
“If we have enough Mana Stones, can we keep using the safety wave while moving?”
I imagined it for a moment.
Myself, carrying the Spirit Stone around.
‘No.’
“The Spirit Stone deactivates if moved.”
“Ah… Still, that’s good. We can relax when we rest.”
It doesn’t have an absolute invincibility effect, but it’s good enough.
Just the fact that we can let our guard down when resting.
“Still, we’ll stand guard. I’ll take a slightly longer watch…”
I can still hold out.
Jang Hoseop is also in better condition than the others.
It’s because of the level difference.
“Sir. I’ll stand guard too.”
“No. Mr. Lee Jangsu, just get a good night’s sleep.”
Mr. Lee Jangsu is in the worst condition.
So I excluded him from guard duty.
“Still… No, it’s okay. Thank you.”
He sees Jang Hoseop’s sign vigorously waving his hands and bows his head in gratitude.
“Then, everyone, get some rest.”
And so, the day ended.
Everyone fell asleep quickly.
But someone carefully gets up.
“Hyungnim.”
It’s Jang Hoseop.
After confirming that the others are asleep, he comes and sits in front of me.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I have something to ask you.”
Jang Hoseop is the next one on guard duty after me.
Lee Yuna and Aunt Sujeong will stand guard together for the last shift.
“What is it?”
“The Spirit Stone has a level, right? We still don’t know how to raise it, or what the usable level for the Spirit Stone is… right?”
He asks about things we didn’t discuss earlier.
“Yeah.”
“Since your name is engraved on it, it seems only you can use it…”
He even jots down notes in his notebook.
It looks like he’ll need a new notebook soon.
“Is that all? Hurry up and go to sleep.”
“There’s more.”
When I nod, Jang Hoseop lowers his voice even further.
“Tomorrow… you’re going back to the department store, right?”
At the unexpected question, I turn my head and look at Jang Hoseop.
“Why do you think so?”
“Mana Stones. Because of… your skill, Hyungnim.”
Others don’t know, but Jang Hoseop knows.
What I did at the department store today.
‘Ah, Mr. Lee Jangsu knows too.’
‘I examined the corpses of the Fundamental Skill Awakened.’
‘Just like I did with the monster corpses, I cut open their stomachs and looked inside.’
‘It’s because of Mana Stones.’
‘I searched two corpses quite thoroughly, but there were none.’
‘But if I use the ‘Mana Stone Extraction’ skill, Mana Stones appear.’
‘Jang Hoseop and I concluded that being able to obtain Mana Stones from humans is a special feature of my skill.’
“Since there are still Fundamental Skill Awakened at the department store, I thought you might kill them to get Mana Stones, or consider recruiting them.”
“No. I’m not going.”
He must have thought I’d go back to the department store now that I knew the use of Mana Stones.
Because I could easily secure additional Mana Stones there.
‘It’s not just Mana Stones; I can also gain experience points, but…’
Still, my thoughts haven’t changed.
I will move towards the Han River Railway Bridge as planned.
“It’s not a matter of going back, killing the remaining Awakened, and being done with it. We’d have to kill everyone close to them too.”
“It might sound a bit harsh… but it’s not a difficult task for you, Hyungnim.”
“It’s not a difficult task.”
It’s not a question of whether it’s difficult or easy.
“I believe your greatest strength, Hyungnim, is that mental fortitude. An unyielding mental strength.”
“Because I can act according to my needs?”
“Yes.”
Jang Hoseop is consistently trying to understand me.
I answer for his sake.
“If you have to fill a large container with both pebbles and sand, what should you put in first?”
“Uh… Pebbles, right?”
“Right. If you put in sand first, you can’t put in pebbles.”
Important tasks and less important tasks.
That’s the difference.
“Hmm… I understand. Well, we can probably get about three Mana Stones by catching monsters on the way.”
Jang Hoseop understands quickly.
He understood it as three Mana Stones, but it’s the same even if you add experience points.
It’s in the same vein as not swatting every bug you see just to raise your level.
Maggots, cockroaches, flies.
These things give almost no experience points.
“Perhaps the reason you helped Ms. Lee Yuna was because she was a pebble?”
“Killing Representative Kim was the pebble.”
“Ah, right.”
Among the Awakened at the department store, there’s someone who can change their scent.
She too can become stronger if she levels up.
The reason I left without even meeting that person is because, at this point, her skill was like sand to me.
Lee Yuna was somewhere between a pebble and sand.
“And just as you understand now, the people left there will also understand.”
“Huh?”
“Because I only killed Representative Kim’s group and finished it, people can accept it, even if forcibly.”
The survivors at the department store.
And Lee Yuna and Mr. Lee Jangsu, who joined us this time.
They’ll be able to accept the scene of slaughter I created, even if it’s difficult.
“Because there was a justification?”
“Yeah. Many people would have harbored resentment for any killing beyond that. Then I would have ended up killing everyone.”
Mr. Lee Jangsu fears me but still follows me.
But if I had just killed all those people, would he have followed me as he does now?
“Does that mean… you’re thinking about the future?”
“No. Standards. I’m setting standards.”
When I was young, my mother and the doctor set the standards for me.
I can’t do that anymore.
I have to create my own standards.
To survive.
And if I’m not going to live in this world alone.
“Even if you killed everyone at the department store, Hyungnim, I would still follow you.”
Jang Hoseop says with a firm expression.
“The reason I’m asking these questions is because I want to help you, Hyungnim.”
Don’t other people also have their own subjective lines?
Jang Hoseop says he will simply accept my subjective standards.
“To be honest, I still don’t really know. What you consider a pebble, Hyungnim, or what standards you’re setting…”
I’m not sure either.
Because I make judgments on a case-by-case basis.
“But if you make a decision, Hyungnim, I will follow it. I’m asking so I can follow efficiently.”
“Alright.”
“I was just worried you might be offended by my prying.”
The emotions I sense from him are always similar.
Awe and trust.
Favorable emotions led by these two.
I don’t quite understand why he follows me so blindly.
“As I said before, if I don’t think it’s right, I’ll tell you.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“And let me see that notebook.”
“Uh… Yes.”
Jang Hoseop hands over the notebook.
Among the densely written memos, a few catch my eye.
[Representative Kim]
– Controlled people using external threats.
– Exploited relationships between people.
– Utilized existing connections. Differentiated based on ability.
– Created fear by making examples.
Apply to Hyungnim? Need to know the standards… Not easy.
There are also notes written about me.
“That’s… I thought there were things to learn from Representative Kim too.”
Jang Hoseop answers, preemptively guessing from my gaze.
“Actually, it might be thanks to Representative Kim that more people survived, right?”
“Right.”
“I thought you didn’t like dealing with people, Hyungnim.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“So maybe I… Huh? Is that right?”
Suddenly, I felt like I understood a little why he follows me.
The next day.
After breakfast, I retrieved the Spirit Stone.
The actual sleeping time wasn’t long, but my condition is good.
The others also look much better than yesterday.
The Spirit Stone’s safety wave definitely helped.
“It’s good, but the Mana Stone consumption…”
Jang Hoseop shakes his head, looking at the significantly shrunken Mana Stone pouch.
He laments the monster corpses left on the bridge on the first day.
“Mr. Lee Hyeon. Shall we use buffs before we leave?”
(TL Note: This is the first time the protagonist’s name, Lee Hyeon, is mentioned by another character. The narrator (protagonist) still uses “I/Me”. Aunt Sujeong uses the more formal “씨” (Mr./Ms.) suffix.)
After finishing preparations to leave, Aunt Sujeong asks.
“Yes. Please use them on yourself and the others, not me.”
We experimented last night.
The effect of Aunt Sujeong’s skill weakens as the number of recipients increases.
“Mom. Courage buff. You remember what we talked about yesterday, right?”
“Yeah. Got it.”
And we decided to set specific phrases.
It was Jang Hoseop’s idea.
“Overcome your fear of the unfamiliar with composure.”
At first, Aunt Sujeong cast buffs by saying whatever came to mind.
From now on, we decided to try using skills with set keywords.
Like magic spells.
“How is it?”
Jang Hoseop, who received the skill, asks his mom who cast it.
“This seems more efficient… No, it is better.”
“Really? That’s a relief. Mom, you have to keep researching. What words to use depending on the purpose…”
After Aunt Sujeong finished using her skill, we left the factory.
Not long after we started walking, we encountered a group of monsters.
“Hyungnim. What should we do?”
“We have to catch them.”
Goblins again.
15 of them, no mutant individuals.
They were lying in a line, resting on a fallen guardrail.
It’s an absurd sight.
“Could I perhaps be a bit more aggressive in catching them?”
“Sure. I’ll just draw their attention.”
“Thank you.”
Jang Hoseop is currently Level 9.
On the other hand, even if I catch all of them, my experience points will hardly change.
“Use stealth to take down that awake one first. You can do it, right?”
“Of course.”
Jang Hoseop disappears.
Mr. Lee Jangsu and Lee Yuna are startled.
Stab
A moment later, Jang Hoseop ambushed a Goblin.
“Kihek!”
But the Goblin made a sound as it died.
The other Goblins raise their heads one by one.
Tatadak
I charged straight in.
I strike the Goblin’s knee area with the metal rod.
“Kiririk.”
All attention focuses on me.
The Goblins quickly get up and rush towards me.
Thwack Thwack
I skillfully avoided attacks while only breaking the legs of the other Goblins.
Jang Hoseop steadily reduces the number of Goblins.
Is it because he received a buff?
He fights calmly and well.
If he’s struggling, he even uses me to draw the aggro of Goblins rushing towards him.
“Hyungnim! I got it!”
Then, at some point.
“Level up?”
“Yes!”
Jang Hoseop hit Level 10.
“Did a general skill appear?”
“Yep!”
“Figure it out.”
Four Goblins remain.
The creatures crawl on the ground, snapping their jaws.
“These things…”
After breaking their arms in addition to their legs, I looked back at the group.
“M-me!”
Noticing my intention, Lee Yuna shoots her hand up.
Mr. Lee Jangsu and Aunt Sujeong stand still with awkward postures.
‘Is Lee Yuna first?’
When I gestured, the three of them approached.
“Then, Ms. Lee Yuna.”
Just as I was about to tell her to kill the Goblins.
“Hyungnim. Just a moment.”
Jang Hoseop, who had been lost in thought, stopped me.
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