Chapter 3: 3

Chapter 3

I slowly looked around after opening my eyes.

A half-basement where no sun came in. Yellow-colored wallpaper and sticky floorboards.

And even the sour smell of drugs that stimulated the tip of my nose.

It was a memorable scene.

Is this when I was still living in the slums?

Rather than feeling happy, an unpleasant feeling washed over me as I looked at the basement.

It seems that I have gone back 20 years to when I was about 12 years old, before I had run away from my father.

I observed the reflection in the mirror to be sure.

Skinny enough where my ribs showed, and about 130cm in height.

The messy hair that grew randomly and the face that looks so beautiful one can mistake it for a girl.

And…Even the purple eyes I inherited from my mother.

Perhaps because I don’t remember exactly what I looked like in the past, the sight reflected in the mirror felt quite unfamiliar.

I was smaller and younger than how I recalled, and above all, my expression was too gloomy.

It was an unpleasant look.

Clicking my tongue, I checked my status window out of habit.

Body: 0.59

Dexterity: 1.35

Mana: 0.18

Spirit: 1.12

*0 Fragment of Growth

All my levels and skills were reset as if I had created a new character in an RPG game.

It’s to be expected…

From the moment I used ‘One Coin,’ I had already guessed to some extent that this would happen.

However, I couldn’t help but feel dejected when I looked at the empty status window.

Where do I even begin to get it all back again?

I forced myself to swallow a sigh that was about to leak out and began to check the functions of the system one by one.

Just like when I first awakened my ability, most of the system’s functions were locked.

It seems to be so…Is it the same this time?

As soon as I was about to close the status window, an unfamiliar word caught my eye.

[Inherit]

It was a function I’ve never seen before. In addition, for some reason, this function wasn’t in a deactivated gray color but a selectable white color.

Maybe…?

One hypothesis crossed my mind. If the meaning of the word ‘inherit’ is the same as what I know, in general, there was only one such case found in games.

Ignoring my pounding chest, I selected the menu.

Then, unlike the usual blue window, a strange red window came to mind.

[On 2nd playthrough, you can inherit one of your skills from the 1st playthrough.]

[One of the following skills can be inherited.]

(1)

Classification: General

Grade: B

(2)

Classification: Mortal

Grade: C

(3)

Classification: Magic

Grade: B

(4)

Classification: Ability

Grade: D

The skills that I can choose unfolded before my eyes.

General, Mortal, Magic, and even an Ability. Except for special skills, all kinds of skills were displayed one by one.

Their grades weren’t very high, but they were some of the best skills I had until the very end.

“So it’s like this as well.”

Sometimes there were games like this. The types of games developed under the assumption of having infinite rounds right from the beginning.

And most of those games were designed to allow gamers to retain some of the abilities gained from the previous rounds.

As my ability ‘gamer’ reflected most games, perhaps this part also seemed to have a similar function.

This…Isn’t it going to be easier than I thought?

No matter how much experience and knowledge I have, I was only a child with humble stats.

However, it’s a different story if I can get a decent skill from the start.

I can’t help but think how to use this opportunity to its fullest.

Naturally, it wasn’t as good as the destructive skills I had used in the past, but the skills here were still good enough to be used.

Revenge will come a little quicker, I thought.

Looking over the list of skills, I agonized over which one to inherit. When I was deep in thought, I heard a familiar voice in my ears.

Bang–!

Bang–!

“Choi Noah! Come out right now!”

It’s my father’s voice. Like a dog that has been trained for a long time, my body reacted reflexively before anything else.

“I’ll be right there!”

As soon as I opened the door and was about to run out, I suddenly saw myself reflected in the mirror next to me.

In the mirror, the boy was smiling brightly as if he had met the person he was glad to see.

* * *

Guangcheng District. In other words, ‘the city of light.’

This street, which makes you think it would be a very sacred and beautiful place just by its name, was actually one of the world’s most notorious lawless areas.

The origin of the name was also because the lights from the slums that were built along the mountain looked like a large fortress when viewed from the city at night.

This place was filled with all kinds of villains who were hiding from the eyes of the heroes, in addition illegal migrants who came from the different worlds.

As such, my father who lived here was no ordinary person either.

He was working for the Turbak Brotherhood, a notorious drug cartel. And although his grade was low, he was a villain with the power of acceleration.

For this reason, even in Guangcheng where power is everything, my father has been able to survive for quite a long time.

The same father looked at me and spoke.

“Noah.”

Whenever my father asked me to do something unreasonable, he would call me by anything but my last name.

He used to actively utilize my identity as a child. For example, delivering drugs to avoid check-ups or leaking false information to the police who were looking for him.

“There’s something I want you to do.”

As expected, my father wants me to run an errand.

Now, such things seemed too insignificant, but I still wanted to hear what he wanted me to do.

“What should I do?”

Recalling the memories of the past, I tried to make a scared expression.

What was the expression of being scared? It’s been a while since I did it, so my facial muscles moved awkwardly.

However, my father only said what he had to say as if he wasn’t interested in such acting.

“Take this first.”

My father stuck out a brown paper bag. I thought it was a drug delivery, but it was heavier than I had thought when I received it.

I could feel the hard touch of metal over the thin bag.

“Go to Hairy’s house.”

As soon as I heard that, I immediately realized. Today was the day.

In that case, does it mean that he’s still alive?

In fact, old man Hairy was a police officer who was investigating the Turbak Brotherhood and had infiltrated their organization.

Naturally the organization had gotten wind of it and was going to eliminate him.

As a result, I, who couldn’t be subject to legal punishment, was mobilized to kill the old man.

Thinking about it now, I may have to thank my father.

Because of this, I was able to realize the truth that life was a game.

Hiding my innermost thoughts, I asked casually.

“What should I do there?”

“There’s a handgun in the bag. It’s a gun with a weak recoil, so you can handle it easily. So go now and kill Hairy with that gun.”

Instead of answering, I took the handgun out of the bag and looked at it. The sleek automatic handgun caught my eyes.

The tool I had used for my first murder. It was as if I was looking at a basic item provided to beginners. I even felt happy to see it.

When I was looking at the handgun without saying a word, perhaps because my father misunderstood me, he added in a tone that seemed as if to reassure me.

“If you kill Hairy, I’ll let you meet Helena.”

“…Mom?”

Ah, that’s right. He also said this back then.

“Yeah. The reason why Helena suddenly disappeared was because of Hairy’s harassment. Don’t you know his temper? So if you take care of this well, your mom will be able to come back without worry.”

“…”

In fact, I could roughly guess where my mother was. Probably rotting somewhere in an unknown hill by now.

I only found out later, but the day my mother disappeared, I heard that my father and the organization had easily found her.

In a way, it might have been obvious because she was playing games with me in a relaxed manner instead of running away.

And the result was that she had died after cruel torture.

Unfortunately, however, when I came back here after learning about it, my father and all other cartel members had already been wiped out.

Whether it was at the hands of a hero, or in a struggle with another organization, I wasn’t too clear on the matter.

I’ve always felt uneasy because of this…I can’t believe I got this opportunity.

I felt like I was going to lose control and laugh. Giving strength to my lips that crept up, I replied to my father.

“Okay. You can count on me.”

“Yes. I’m so proud of you! Your mother will be proud to see you like this. By the way…Do you know how to use a gun?”

My father looked at me with uncertainty, afraid that things might go wrong. So I reassured him with a confident smile.

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“Of course. Do you want me to show you?”

I grasped the handgun with both holds. As expected from the body of a child, this small gun felt quite heavy.

“Oh! You’re pretty good! When did you learn how to hold a gun?”

My father was quite pleased, perhaps because he felt my posture was passable.

Just like that, I turned the gun towards my father.

“W-wait a minute! You can’t carelessly point a gun at people like that!”

“Really? Hmm…But can I try shooting it once to practice?”

“What?”

“It might not hurt if you get hit lightly.”

“Y-you crazy punk!”

Bang–!

It simply happened in an instant.

My father accelerated his body to try and dodge the bullet.

“Keuk!”

But no matter how fast a person is, can it be faster than a bullet? My father fell to the floor bleeding.

“…Y-you punk! I’ll kill you!”

My father tried to force himself to stand up while holding the area where he had been shot. Seeing the tendons sticking out of his forehead, it seemed to be very difficult.

Bang–!

“Kueaak!”

I shot him once more–this time in the leg–so he could comfortably lay down. He rolled around on the floor with an unsightly look.

Looking at my father in such a state, I was reminded of the old days.

In the past, it had been me in his position.

I approached my father who was wailing like he was about to cry. And, with a different attitude than before, he begged me.

“Heuk! Noah! Why are you doing this…? How can a son shoot his father?”

His eyes shook pitifully. It was a familiar expression that people always made while looking at me.

As expected, a single bullet works better than a hundred words. Fast, economical. How great is it?

“Come to think of it, I remember what father used to say whenever you hit me.”

Click–

I checked the bullet chamber. Well, there are still enough bullets.

“I think…what father said at that time…The law of the world is you do what the strong tell you to do.”

“N-Noah…?”

His face was colored with fear. What little hope he had left gradually turned into despair.

I’ve always liked to watch the dramatic changes on people’s faces. As expected, the production of the game called life is too detailed.

“Hmm…No matter how I look at it, I think I’m stronger than father.”

“T-that’s…”

“Yeah, why did you abuse me when you were weaker than me?”

“H-hold on, Noah! I’ll explain everything…”

Bang–!

Bang–!

It sounded like he wanted to say something, but I was too lazy to listen, so I just put one more bullet into his head and chest.

I tend to skip event scenes that are clingy even when I play games.

My father breathed his last breath.

“Ha, refreshing.”

It felt like I had solved a quest that I had accidentally passed when I was a beginner.

I’ve always been serious about games, so if I missed something like this, I wouldn’t be able to sleep well because it would feel uncomfortable.

“Hmm…”

Thinking about the hardships I had faced in the past, I suddenly felt disgusted.

Bang–!

Bang–!

Bang–!

So, I put a few more bullets into the body until it became like a punctured teabag.

Then, a message that I have been waiting for came to my eyes.

[Level has risen.]

[Level has risen.]

[Gained a Fragment of Growth.]

“Oh, a considerable amount of experience came.”

Perhaps because he is a villain with superpowers, or because he is a person with some notoriety.

My level went up by as much as 2. As expected, the early quests are generous.

As soon as I thought that, one more window popped up in front of me.

[Gained achievement title ‘Immoral.’]

[Next selectable skill will vary depending on your achievements.]

“Hmm?”

This was an unexpected harvest.

In fact, in the first round, I killed like I was eating, but I had never killed a person who had blood relations to me.

So I didn’t even know about this achievement…

[Immoral]

Trait: Bad Karma

Description: To kill even the one who gave birth to you…What an irredeemable villain you are!

I had a good feeling about this round.

“Huu…I’ve solved my overdue homework, so shall I make plans for the future?”

Every game has its own goal.

In the case of ‘War of Stars,’ the goal was to knock down the other race, and in the case of ‘Raising a Princess,’ the goal was to raise your daughter into a princess.

So, what is my goal in this game?

Revenge? Well, no.

Rather, the word ‘punish’ may be better suited. Because I don’t really have a huge grudge against those bastards.

I just wanted to kill the bastards who had interrupted my game.

However, there was still a long time left before the demon invasion.

What should I do until then?

Honestly, for now, there was no specific plan except to grow stronger.

First of all, it’d be better to get a hero license, right?

In the past, I thought it would be nice not only to have a license, but also to have a high reputation as a hero.

Recalling the first round, it was much more difficult to deal with a revered hero than those who were simply strong.

This is because such heroes are the driving force behind gathering people in times of crisis.

“Okay. I’ll first find a way to become a hero, and if possible, I can come up with a strategy to build up my reputation as well.”

And ultimately, in order to punish the devils, I needed colleagues on my side.

Honestly, I didn’t dare to deal with so many troops alone.

Therefore, it was necessary to raise potential heroes and improve humanity’s power.

I’m going to be busy in the future.

After organizing my thoughts up to here, I suddenly became hungry.

Looking at my current physical condition, I seemed to have been starved for several days because I had done something wrong.

When I opened the refrigerator, there was a cold sandwich and coke left by someone.

After putting the sandwich in the microwave, I activated my status window.

The list of inheritance skills, which I didn’t have the chance to pick a while ago due to my father’s disruption, was displayed as it was.

[On 2nd playthrough, you can inherit one of your skills from the 1st playthrough.]

[One of the following skills can be inherited.]

(1)

Classification: General

Grade: B

(2)

Classification: Mortal

Grade: C

(3)

Classification: Magic

Grade: B

(4)

Classification: Ability

Grade: D

“Well, I should finish this matter.”

In fact, they were all abilities that were too good to throw away. In my skill window that was plastered with S-class skills, these skills had also occupied a spot.

But…If I have to choose only one of these, the answer is already set.

After a moment of contemplation, I inherited a skill.

[You’ve learned the skill Phase Change.]

Along with the feeling of something flowing into my body, the information and senses that make up the skill became engraved in me.

Above the list that was completely empty, a skill appeared.

“Good.”

Looking at the window, it somehow felt like I was reliving the spirit of a beginner.

If I was given the same chance in the past to pick a skill, I might have chosen another skill with a higher grade.

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But now I know better. That the competence of the person is more important than the absolute grade of a skill.

“This skill is only D-grade, but…”

For me in the second round, more than anything, it’ll be a powerful weapon.

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section

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