Ch.110110 – Enhancement 2

# 110 – Enhancement #2

Jeongseok’s house had been busy lately.

His father, who had successfully been re-elected as mayor, was now aiming for an even higher position.

“Hey, it’s Mayor Jeong. You’re looking great. You seem to get younger every time I see you. Is that hair loss medication you’re taking working well?”

“Look at you, you’re almost completely bald. Aren’t you taking anything? What kind of wealth and glory are you hoping to enjoy without taking medication?”

At a golf course near Gaeryong Metropolitan City.

The boring conversation between the older men had begun.

Jeongseok was already bored and wanted to check his phone.

He had a lot to discuss with the Pirates.

But this was an important meeting, and Jeongseok checking his phone wouldn’t be tolerated.

Whether aware of this feeling or not, Assemblyman Jin Jang patted a girl’s shoulder and pushed her forward to Jeongseok.

“Wow, Jeongseok. You’ve already grown into such a fine adult. I hear you’re doing well in school too? Say hello. This is my daughter Seoyeon. Jin Seoyeon. You two used to play together when you were little. Remember?”

She was a girl with her hair tied back.

Her face looked somewhat sharp because she didn’t have double eyelids.

She seemed slightly skinny, perhaps because she was as tall as Jeongseok.

Her skin, visible outside her dress, was tanned—either from the sun or naturally so. Perhaps because of that, though she gave a slightly skinny impression, she looked healthy.

“Our Seoyeon used to follow you around like a duckling. If you’re not interested in golf, why don’t you two go to a nearby café?”

Swish-

The uncles stuffed a handful of 50,000 won bills from their wallets into Jeongseok’s hand.

Jeongseok looked at the girl who seemed so unfamiliar after ten years.

Honestly, he couldn’t remember her well.

They said they had met once at a family gathering at the prosecutor’s office ten years ago, but it was from such an early age that he couldn’t recall anything.

‘She’s a plain girl. Doesn’t seem to wear makeup. Maybe she thinks she doesn’t need to, or maybe that’s just how she chose to present herself.’

The girl glanced up and down at Jeongseok and extended her hand.

“Long time no see. Remember me?”

“…No, honestly, I don’t.”

“Seriously? Wow, that’s shocking. Don’t you remember playing games at the arcade and soccer in the playground? You even hit my nose and made it bleed.”

Jeongseok tried to recall his childhood.

The idea that he had gone to an arcade with a girl in his childhood was news to him in many ways.

Then, like electricity running through him, something came to mind.

“The territory game?”

“Yeah. The one where dirty pictures would appear when you captured territory. We played it a lot at the arcade.”

Jeongseok suddenly felt dizzy.

The image of a snot-nosed kid with a buzz cut flashed before his eyes.

‘That was her? I thought it was a boy.’

The world was truly unpredictable.

While Jeongseok was feeling confused, Jin Seoyeon, who had returned as a woman after ten years, flashed her white teeth and slapped Jeongseok’s shoulder.

“Should we go to an arcade like old times? Are there still arcades these days? Or we could go to the Gaeryong bakery. You know, Jeongsim-dang. Let’s go.”

Whoosh-

As the tanned girl Jin Seoyeon grabbed his hand and pulled, Jeongseok was dragged along without resistance.

Watching this, the uncles laughed loudly.

“Seoyeon is quite spirited. They say girls these days have more leadership.”

“Different from our time.”

“Taxi!”

Jin Seoyeon, who had come out of the golf course, hailed a taxi.

Jeongseok kept wanting to look at his phone.

Soon, a noticeable message arrived.

「Ha Yeongwon: Shit I escaped too shit everything’s fucked」

Boing-

It felt like yellow stars were springing up in his head.

Ha Yeongwon, who had given his talisman to Yang Juhui, had escaped from the corridor?

He couldn’t understand how this was possible.

「No way, how did you do it?」

He was very curious.

But as he was typing on his phone, Jin Seoyeon, sitting in the front seat, removed the straw from her Americano and said indifferently:

“Are you bored with me? Why do you keep looking at your phone? Is it a girl?”

“No. It’s not like that. It’s a guy. There’s an urgent message.”

「Ha Yeongwon: Pirates assemble!」

“Seoyeon. I think I need to leave first.”

“Really? Can I come with you? Introduce me to your friends.”

“…That’s not possible.”

Whoosh-

Jeongseok got up from his seat.

Watching Jeongseok hail a taxi and leave, Jin Seoyeon frowned.

# # #

The items from the “Capsule Draw” were delivered to my front door at home.

But in the Nightmare Corridor, it was different.

Pop-

A round capsule appeared out of thin air right in front of me.

So this is direct receipt!

「Rabbit Money Box: A rabbit-shaped money box. Very popular with girls due to its cuteness. While carrying it, you can acquire random points at regular intervals.」

“……”

What kind of item is this?

It really was a rabbit-shaped money box.

Acquiring points at regular intervals?

Whatever it was, it seemed like a good item since I could get free points.

But it wasn’t the item I was hoping for.

“Talisman!”

Clatter, rattle-

I spent another 80 points to try the capsule gacha again.

The result this time was…

「Mysterious Talisman: A talisman made through mysterious methods. As the name suggests, it has mysterious effects. Looking at the characters written on the paper makes you feel slightly dizzy.」

“Aaaah!”

I was so happy that I screamed as if in agony.

How could this be possible!

To think there was a way to get a talisman like this!

One out of five capsules contained a talisman!

In other words, we could essentially get one talisman each by spending 400 points!

If I had known this, I would have spent points to draw lots of capsules earlier!

“Money not spent is like excrement, and a function not used is like something that doesn’t exist.”

Status Window and Shop.

I realized once again that these were my strengths and hopes as Ha Yeongwon.

I went down to the second floor with the talisman.

“You bastards! I’m leaving! I’m going!”

“I’ll suck your brain!”

“Fuck off!”

I danced and laughed loudly in front of the ghosts approaching to catch me.

It was to mock them as much as they had mocked me.

“Stupid bastards! You can’t beat me! Muhihihi! Hihihihihi!”

Boom chit boom chit-

After dancing for a while, wiggling my shoulders and hips, I tore the talisman.

With that, I was able to escape.

“That’s how I was able to escape.”

This was Hong Miri’s office.

The secret base of the Ha Yeongwon Pirates.

Hong Miri was greatly impressed by my story.

“To think you could get a talisman like that. It’s really amazing! Not just amazing, but it could completely change the strategy. And you went up to the third floor? I don’t know anything about the third floor.”

The third floor of the Nightmare Corridor.

She said it was a place unknown even to Hong Miri, who had been trained as a Watcher.

“You’ve reached a completely unknown territory? Teacher will praise you.”

Rub rub rub-

Hong Miri vigorously rubbed my head to boost the morale of her excellent student.

Being patted on the head by an adult woman.

I wasn’t a child, but it felt really good.

“And this is the ‘Rabbit Money Box.’ When I woke up, it was delivered to my house. Around 7 AM, 100P was deposited into it. This is also a really amazing item.”

Swish-

I took out the rabbit money box from my bag.

It was a rabbit money box that laid random points like golden eggs every day, and it was a completely overpowered item.

Even if just 10P came in daily, it would be like earning 100,000 won a day.

“Oh! That!”

Yang Juhui, who had been sulking all day as if something was bothering her, was startled.

“That’s my money box!”

“What? How is this yours? I drew it from a capsule.”

Is Yang Juhui coveting my golden egg?

She doesn’t even have anywhere to spend points!

As I became slightly wary, Yang Juhui hurriedly added an explanation.

“Look, there’s a scratch on the rabbit’s ear! And here’s a trace where a name was written on the belly and then erased! It’s my money box! The one where I diligently saved my New Year’s money! My sister stole it!”

“Really?”

The day Yang Dohui disappeared.

She said the rabbit money box where Yang Juhui had diligently saved money also disappeared.

Because she left with her sister’s money, Yang Dohui’s disappearance was considered a simple runaway.

“Why would my money box that my sister took appear from a capsule?”

Yang Juhui seemed puzzled.

I was puzzled too.

Perhaps… the capsules sell items that someone lost inside the old school building?

Anyway.

I wanted to tell everyone about “Trait Enhancement” too.

And I wanted to talk about deploying Yu Dahui and Hong Miri into the corridor to definitely get player sheets.

But at today’s meeting, some of the pirate members were absent.

“No Jeongseok and no Bong Jiyeon. Is everyone busy?”

Everyone has their own life.

While I was living with ‘conquering the corridor’ as my top life priority, others were just caught up in it.

As I felt that disappointment, Yang Juhui chuckled.

“Hey, Bong Jiyeon will be back soon. The guy she was seeing started dating another girl. It was a two-timing situation. Bong Jiyeon got dumped hard.”

“Really?”

Since Bong Jiyeon was dumped, it meant Jeongseok had another chance.

That would be good news for Jeongseok.

“It seems Jeongseok is on a date with a girl? He’s tagged here on Instagram.”

Swish-

Yu Dahui, who had been constantly checking her phone today, showed me something.

I saw a photo of Jeongseok sitting and eating bread with a tanned-looking woman.

Is this for real?

This bastard Jeongseok, is he ignoring my assembly call to date?

I had been thinking of Jeongseok as the vice-captain of our pirate crew. How dare he ignore my call and date a pretty girl.

I felt slightly indignant. And to think he was dating a girl who wasn’t even Bong Jiyeon! At this rate, might Jeongseok escape being single before me?

Where did this girl come from anyway?

The mention of dating reminded me of Kwon Sua.

“Speaking of which, I think we should add Kwon Sua to our pirate crew.”

“Because she’s a pretty idol?”

Slowly-

Yu Dahui opened her narrow eyes.

And Yang Juhui also looked at me with narrow eyes.

For some reason, I found myself making excuses.

“No, she’s learned too much about our secrets. Now that she knows there are organizations hostile to us like Gong Yerin’s party, it’s better to keep someone like Kwon Sua, who knows our secrets, under our surveillance. It’s even better if we can make her an ally.”

“I’ll pretend that’s the reason.”

Yu Dahui laughed with a “puhehe-“.

It was her usual cheerful laugh, but her eyes weren’t smiling, which was a bit scary.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed by the atmosphere, I spoke to change the subject.

“Then I want to monitor Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon. Among us, you’re the only one who has a connection with them, Juhui. Can you approach them and subtly probe?”

“Me?”

Yang Juhui showed obvious distaste.

“Hey, it has to be you. It would be weird if I approached them and tried to hang out with them. Dahui is in a different class, so she has no connection at all. Hong Miri is a teacher. If you don’t do it, I’ll have to.”

I imagined myself approaching Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon.

Just thinking about it made my spine tingle and my butt twitch.

“That’s… true.”

Yang Juhui seemed to think that me infiltrating would be foolish.

Alright, let’s set aside the Gong Yerin and Lim Huiyeon situation.

“Ms. Miri. Are there any other good places to earn points? Getting points at Royal Concubine Hui’s tomb last time was amazing. If we all meet ghosts together again, we might earn a ton of points.”

What I learned from this random matching was that having more points is advantageous for survival.

I really needed to accumulate a lot of points.

I wish I had about 10,000 points.

As I was thinking it would be good if we could hunt ghosts as a party to earn more points, Dahui spoke up.

“Me! I know!”

“You, Dahui?”

“My house! I told you not to wander around the first floor at night, right? I think I know why now. It seems ghosts appear in our mansion! My sisters told me!”

Come to think of it… I remembered the terrifying housekeeper warning, “Never wander around the first floor of the mansion after 10 PM.”

Soon, Hong Miri also nodded.

“The mansion’s ghost. I think I’ve heard the housekeepers talking about it too. Strange things have been happening frequently lately. It seems to have gotten worse especially after the earthquake.”

Good.

This was the moment when today’s task was decided.