Chapter 12: Strange People

Jinwoo looked up video footages of what a competition looked like.

He saw figures flashing and disappearing and huge rocks cut cleanly in half. Two men collided against one another, their speed too quick for the camera to capture.

And then… the earth overturned. It seemed like a natural disaster. A single wave of a sword caused devastation to the surrounding area. It felt unreal, but no, it was reality.

Even Jinwoo was captivated and left awestruck from the fight.

‘…it makes sense now…’

He thought he’d been dreaming until now, but that was not the case. It was a world completely different than the one he knew. The people of this world… it was a world where monsters existed.

‘Aren’t we a lucky bunch that there are so few in numbers?’

The number of people with monster-like abilities were far too few in between. In South Korea, a population ranging in the millions, only 30,000 with abilities walk among the normal folks, and throughout the globe there are only 400,000 in total.

There was a theory circulating that those with abilities had been affected by the gates, because countries that did not own a gate had a significantly lower number of talents.

Jinwoo put down his cellphone and exhaled a long breath.

‘A man of talent, huh…’

No one but Jin-Woo knows he’ll become one of those monster-like talents. According to the novel, he would receive special treatment among the talents.

He did not know how to react.

‘S-Ranking, huh… anyways, the main character will also awakane a high-ranking skill.’

He questioned why he did not transmigrate as the main character but the villain of a novel instead. Was it because he held the same name as the villain?

Jinwoo shook his head. There was no time to think about such irrelevant matters. Even he isn’t sure what to do from now on.

In two years he’ll… he needs to do something.

No, right now.

Jinwoo stood up from his seat and walked around the huge room and into the living room, burying himself deep in the sofa.

‘Well…’

If only he had become an extra. He could live well while cheering from afar. But nope. He had to be the villain deeply involved in the intricacies of the plot. And now he’ll need to acquire an ability to protect his body. The last thing he wanted was to face death. He wanted to live well and enjoy the benefits offered to him.

‘Fine. Let’s focus on getting stronger and surviving.’

He could not remain weak and indecisive… otherwise…

Thankfully, he came to his senses faster.

The first chapter of the novel would begin two years from now. Remaining complacent was not good enough. Fortunately, he was in a much better place than the main character. He had money too. He could use that to his advantage. Even if Chairman Lee Heejin, his father, doesn’t provide him enough support, it should be enough for him.

In addition…

‘The novel…’

Yes, he knew the plot of the novel fairly well.

‘If I could take the talents of the other villains first…’

The main character had stolen the talents of the smaller villains. It was why his development could be described as… smooth without much troubles.

Jinwoo wasn’t sure if someone like him could do it, but it was better than sitting still.

‘Let’s do this.’

*

Jinwoo, called the modern day prince by the masses, woke up fairly early in the morning, ate a light meal, and headed to the gym. He had been hard at work since deciding to survive and avoid his death flag.

His first step was to boost his abilities, Mana of Information and Hypnosis. The former had a tremendous potential for development and was an indicator of a person’s strength and growth.

The potential was innate and external training would not increase its potential. But there was a way, a method of training the main character used.

“The natural power of hypnosis may be powerful in the beginning, but…”

Hypnosis was classified as a B-Class ability.

This was something to be proud of. Though it had its limits based on reasons, the effect was almost absolute. And fortunately, only so few high-grade abilities was known to the world.

Even so few knew of Mana of Information which was measured above A-Class. Though it was later classified with the highest grade, folks treated the ability as trash for it only gave basic information and value of items, but in truth, the ability was an S-Class ability.

That aside, Jinwoo worked out until he was exhausted and could no longer lift a finger. As the gym and the training center was so big that it was too much for him to use alone, he invited Yoona. Fortunately she was there to teach him how to exercise properly.

The two had been working out every day that Jinwoo, who found Yoona scary at first, slowly grew comfortable around her. She was sincere and a good person despite being somewhat cold. At least he wasn’t awkward around her when they spoke.

On the other hand, she was glad that Jinwoo felt comfortable speaking to her casually.

“I think you’re overdoing it…” Yoona said.

“I’ll work out a little bit more,” Jinwoo replied.

Jinwoo was hard at work and he did not want to quit. Why he put himself through this hardship… it was the only way he could think of right now to improve his physical condition. It was a priority so that he’d be able to use the main character’s methods to improve at a speedy rate.

“Ha… ha…”

A little while later, Jinwoo was covered in sweat. He laid on the cold floor gasping heavily while Yoona looked at him with confusion.

‘I probably look pathetic right now.’

Only

The way he fell to the floor and wriggled like snail would certainly look pathetic. But what could he do? He’s just trying to survive. After a little rest, he got back up and got on the treadmill, but he found his body wouldn’t listen.

‘I guess it’s time to stop. I should go shower.’

And shower he did.

Jinwoo had trouble turning on the handle. His body felt weak.

‘Aiish.’

But after a little work, water started pouring in.

After being hit by a baptism of water, he lingered in the shower room for a while before pushing open a glass door on one side of the shower room. In there was countless bottles of mana-enrichment placed on display.

[D] Mana Concentrate 1L

A liquid extracted from molten rock found in the Gate. It is known to enrich the person’s health when taken.

* Price: 120 million won.