Chapter 36

Chapter 36.

“Of course, Brother! As long as my life lasts, I will do anything at all!”

Lee A-un looked ready to swear a blood oath on the spot.

I roughly patted his shoulder, told him to wait comfortably at home, then hurried back.

With my heart pounding, I sat down in front of the monitor.

“All right, quest resolved. Is that enough?”

[Sub Quest: Let’s Make a Friend]

[Quest Objective: Become friends with S-rank Hunter Lee A-un]

[Quest Reward]

[The Compendium for ‘Lee A-un’ has been unlocked]

‘Done.’

With that, the quest was complete.

Then another message continued beneath it.

[Hidden Quest: ‘I Won’t Be Satisfied With Just Friends’ has been completed]

[The quest reward will be changed]

‘As expected. I knew there would be a Hidden Quest.’

After checking Lee A-un’s condition, I had predicted two possible Hidden Quest objectives.

One was to heal Lee A-un.

The other was to build a relationship with Lee A-un that went beyond friendship.

‘So I achieved both.’

It was not a complete cure, but I had saved him from the brink of death.

I had even established a sworn older-brother-and-younger-brother relationship that went beyond friendship.

Perfect.

[Perfect Clear! Lee A-un’s emotions have reached the ‘Faith’ stage]

‘...Huh? Faith stage?’

Was it that serious?

‘So when he called me an angel and all that, he actually meant it?’

[The quest reward will be greatly increased]

[Quest Reward]

[Compendium: Lee A-un Unlocked]

[Whisper] (new!)

‘Whisper? What is this?’

Lost Honor was a single-player game.

There was no one I could send something like a whisper to.

On top of that, as far as I knew... I was the only person on this Earth who played Lost Honor.

‘Why would it give me a reward like this? It is useless.’

This was a little... unlike Lost Honor.

Rather than the disappointment of receiving a useless reward, the thought that came first was, ‘This is strange.’

Giving proper rewards for Hidden Quests was the Lost Honor way.

‘Ah.’

Perhaps.

This... just like how I had ‘Awakened’ in reality as a quest reward.

Could it be something I could use in reality?

Click.

I immediately refilled my Synchronization time.

Clack.

Then I pressed Enter.

A text box appeared at the bottom, and a cursor blinked as though telling me to type.

Lost Honor was a single-player game, but strangely, it had a chat window function.

And it also had most of the special chat functions supported by other games.

I simply had never had any use for them until now.

/n was for normal chat.

/p was for party chat.

If I used /w...

[/w “Target?”]

‘....’

At times like this, there was someone I could comfortably call.

[/w “Han Seol-ah”]

I tapped Enter.

Under normal circumstances... the window would have disappeared emptily along with a notification message saying, ‘Target not found.’

However.

[What would you like to say?]

[ ]

‘!’

It went through.

[What would you like to say?]

Beneath it, the cursor blinked as though telling me to enter the message I wanted to deliver.

“Is this real?”

I had played single-player games all my life, and even in reality, I had always been a solo player.

Now, at last, I had gained a function that allowed me to communicate with another person.

‘Wait. Is this not an insanely fraudulent function?’

It did not require a phone number or a communications network.

As long as I brought the target’s name to mind, the message would be sent directly through the system.

Wiretapping? Tracking? There was no way something like that could be possible.

[Hello, Hunter Han Seol-ah. Thank you for your tireless work day and night for the safety of the Republic of Korea. This is currently a Whisper]

[Character limit exceeded]

“What? It is really short.”

It seemed the limit was fifty characters.

[Hi]

“This is too insincere.”

[Worship me, mortals]

“....”

This was not it either.

“This is bad.”

How did people usually start a conversation with a Whisper?

“Whatever. I do not know.”

Thinking about it would only waste time.

“Next time.”

I would explore the Whisper function again later.

‘For now, I do not even have a way to check whether it sends properly.’

And the most important problem was this.

‘...Who appears as the sender? That is also a problem.’

If it was judged as being sent by my in-game character, would it show up as Nebula?

Or would it be Apostle, which had somehow become like my codename?

Or would it be my original name, Ha Seong-un?

Surely it would not be a name like Alchemist or Special One, the ones I used in the Black Market.

‘Looking at it this way, why do I have so many identities?’

Depending on what name the message was sent under, the way I used Whisper would have to change greatly.

‘I should call Lee A-un over later, sit him down, and test it.’

I opened the Compendium.

It was time to check Lee A-un’s Compendium, which had been unlocked as a reward.

[Lee A-un]

[Awakened Ability: Backflow(?)]

[Current Ability: C]

[Potential Ability: -]

“?”

What was this?

Why was Backflow’s grade a question mark?

And why was his Potential Ability marked with a ‘-’?

I scrolled the wheel with a faint rasp.

His stats... were all F.

They were such a miserable level that I skimmed over them and moved on.

[Traits]

“The reason must be here.”

The moment I checked the contents with anticipation.

[Unique Trait: —] (Sealed)

“Wow... This one is sealed too?”

I had no idea why it had been hidden so tightly.

“Hmm?”

However.

Unlike the other Hunters I had viewed through the Compendium, such as Han Seol-ah, Lee A-un had one more line of Unique Trait.

[Unique Trait: Child of an Outer God] (-)

“Hmm...”

This seemed to be the cause of this whole mess.

‘A child of an Outer God.’

Usually, when one spoke of Outer Gods, they meant hideous beings from beyond the universe.

‘I saw them often in Lost Honor... Do they really exist in reality too?’

That was meaningful.

In Lost Honor, Outer Gods were treated as event bosses that dropped materials used to make Genesis-rank items.

They were powerful beings who gave a thrilling sense of danger every time they appeared before I had completed a character’s build.

If such beings existed in reality too...

‘...I do not want to imagine that right now.’

I would set it aside.

My head was already complicated enough.

I checked the traits attached to the second Unique Trait, ‘Child of an Outer God.’

└[Heaven’s Curse: Outer God’s Brand] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Outer God’s Sacrifice] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Outer God’s Vessel] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Twisted Fate] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Misfortune] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Corruption] (-)

└[Heaven’s Curse: Short Life] (-)

“...Ugh.”

Why were there so many Heaven’s Curses?

Heaven’s Curse was a trait I had seen in the Compendium of Han Seol-ah, who possessed the Unique Trait, ‘Nine Yin Severed Meridians.’

In Han Seol-ah’s case, she had ‘Heaven’s Curse: Numbness’ and ‘Heaven’s Curse: Short Life.’

According to what I had found out about Nine Yin Severed Meridians through Snowy... a person with this constitution became extremely intelligent, but their senses were dull, and they were fated to die young.

It seemed that such a ‘serious debuff’ appeared as a trait called ‘Heaven’s Curse’...

This guy had as many as six Heaven’s Curses plastered all over him.

On top of that, Han Seol-ah at least had something like a bandage attached, with ‘Cured’ on ‘Numbness’ and ‘Overcome’ on ‘Short Life,’ but this guy did not even have that.

[General Traits]

[Loyalty] (S)

[Drive for Improvement] (A)

[Perseverance] (A)

[Avenger] (B)

He had four General Traits.

‘Min Ji-hee and Han Seol-ah also had four General Traits.’

At this point, it seemed the General Traits section showed exactly four special points possessed by the Compendium target.

‘This is actually excellent, is it not?’

He was overflowing with loyalty, had a strong drive for improvement, and possessed great perseverance.

As for Avenger, it probably meant he carried a terrible story of revenge toward someone in his heart.

My favorability toward Lee A-un rose by one.

‘But even after looking at the Compendium, I still cannot tell what his potential is. What if I use a Possession Ticket blindly and it turns out to be a dud?’

Ding!

[As a Hidden Quest reward, the Compendium for ‘Lee A-un’ will be enhanced.]

‘Compendium enhancement?’

[Lee A-un]

[Awakened Ability: Backflow(?)] → [Awakened Ability: None]

“...!”

The hidden part was revealed.

“Look at this.”

The first thing I focused on was his Awakened Ability.

Lee A-un had definitely Awakened ‘Backflow.’

However, due to ‘some reason,’ he no longer had an Awakened Ability right now.

That reason was probably something to do with the Outer God and all that.

Having no Awakened Ability meant...

‘For Hunters, it is practically a death sentence.’

Of course, there were cases where people lost their Awakened Ability due to an accident after the fact.

What if an Awakened could turn their arms into steel, but their arms were cut off in an accident?

Then that Awakened would lose their ability.

Ah, that did not mean they would become an Awakening Failure like me.

Mana would still remain in their body, so while they were no longer ‘special,’ they would still be superhuman.

That was how unique an Awakening Failure was.

[Unique Trait: —] (Sealed)

→

[Unique Trait: Pure Soul] (EX)

The Unique Trait, Pure Soul.

I still did not know what that meant.

I reread Lee A-un’s Compendium from beginning to end.

Now I understood why Lee A-un’s condition had turned out like this. Once I understood the current situation, a solution came to mind, and I could even predict the result waiting for me at the end.

[Current Ability: C]

[Potential Ability: -] → [Potential Ability: C~EX]

Lee A-un’s potential was a variable value ranging from C to EX.

However, when I calculated the curse he was under, the combination of his hidden traits, and the variables I could intervene with.

The completed version of this picture was already drawn in my head.

“EX is confirmed.”

A radiant future was waiting.

Now then, time for Possession.

***

“Snowy. ‘Call’ ‘Lee A-un.’”

[...You do not have to speak so stiffly.]

“When you ask an AI to do something, are you not supposed to speak that way? I heard they cannot understand you if you do not speak clearly.”

[Hmm. That was how people used them, yes. Though that was a story from early 2020.]

“It is not going to misunderstand my muttering and send a message to some strange person, is it?”

[...Agent, to begin with, there is not a single contact saved on your phone or watch.]

Ah. Right.

[Then I will ‘call’ ‘Lee A-un.’]

“You do not even have his number.”

[I can do it.]

Beep—

A call connection tone came from the watch.

-Hello?

“It is me.”

-Ah, uh. An, angel. No. Brother.

I could even feel the commotion through the receiver as he hurriedly corrected his posture.

“The number I just called from is mine, so save it.”

-...Um, it showed up as a restricted caller. I cannot see the number, Brother.

“Is that so?”

Snowy added awkwardly.

[Security is the default, after all.]

“Then write it down. My number is...”

-Yes.

“....”

-....

‘Uh... what was my number again?’

[Agent, your original number was suspended a long time ago.]

“Ah.”

[...Huh? That is strange. Why did you not get a new number issued?]

“....”

Back then, I had been an Awakening Failure, so I had not even been treated like a citizen.

-Brother?

“Wait a moment.”

[Your current number is 001-0001-0001.]

I read it out exactly as it was.

-...001? Brother, so you were someone from the Hunter Association... And such a royal number... As expected, you are incredible.

“....”

-Even the Association President probably could not use a number like this...

[Hmph. He does know greatness when he sees it. For a foolish organic being, he is rather impressive. That number is my dedicated line, specially issued. It is a line boasting perfect security that no one can wiretap, and no one can trace its records.]

If I just tossed that amazing line to Lee A-un, he would be as shocked as he was now, Snowy.

“AI does not understand the human heart...”

And where did you learn such bad words?

“I am going to send you a ‘Whisper’ now. Tell me how it sounds.”

-A Whisper?

“Something like that exists.”

I typed immediately.

[/w “Lee A-un” Mic test, one-two, one-two]

Clack.

When I pressed Enter.

[Sent]

[Remaining uses today (2/3)]

That log appeared in the chat window.

‘Looks like I can only use it three times a day.’

-Aaagh!

Lee A-un shrieked.

“How was it?”

-I heard a voice saying, “Mic test, one-two, one-two.”

A voice. So that was how it sounded.

“Why were you so surprised?”

-It felt like someone was whispering right next to my ear... I got goosebumps all over. I thought it was a ghost.

“Did it feel like someone specific said it?”

-No. It was just, um... a mechanical voice? It was an artificial voice, so I could not tell whether it was a woman or a man.

“Hmm.”

Okay.

Confirmation complete.

‘This is better than I thought... no, even better than I imagined.’

My original voice was not mixed into it.

It was an inorganic voice whose gender and age could not be identified.

That meant, if I wanted to, I could disguise a message as something like a system message and plant it directly in the other person’s head.

I had obtained a free speaker fit for a hidden mastermind, one that could not be tracked through radio signals.

‘What a windfall.’

Then.

“There is something else I need to explain.”

I spent some time explaining the operation in detail.