Damn System

Episode 5

Chapter 1 Beta Test (4)

‘This is also information.’

The content itself is long, but the information that can be read is barely a ton.

My teeth are grinding, but I can’t waste time venting my anger.

After a short swear word, I searched for an explanation of the other elements.

About 3 pages later, an explanation of the grades appeared.

The types are in order of alpha, beta, gamma, and delta.

Most of the letters were broken here too, but the only explanation about Delta remained.

‘It’s a candidate grade that can be promoted to the top three grades… … .’

However, there was no explanation about the promotion at all.

There is no information on how to upgrade or the benefits that can be obtained through the upgrade.

‘I don’t even think about wishing for anything anymore.’

I turned the page with a feeling of almost liberation.

Still, I started running again.

There was still time left until the afternoon part-time job, so I thought of measuring the limits of my physical strength while I was out.

I also shoved the contents of the manual into my head.

So that you can immediately recall the contents without opening the manual.

Then, all of a sudden, I saw weeds prying out from the side of the telephone pole.

“oh.”

lucky.

Since it was the end of winter, there were more withered ones than green ones.

Moreover, it was more difficult to find the area around the house after it had already been swept once.

The action of lowering one’s posture, pulling out weeds, and stepping on them was as natural as flowing water.

「Absorbs 0.02 mana.」

I called up the status window after I finished absorbing mana.

Player Hyunwoo Kang (Beta tester)

mana: 88.42 (attribute mana: 8)

Affiliation: Earth

Race: Human (player)

Rating: Delta

property : –

Attributes: ??????, assimilation, tenacity, mana management (0.01%)

With this, my mana is 88.42.

The mana that had risen to the 40s by absorbing the mana of plants is now over 80.

It was great to catch all three lions in the second mission.

‘I gave all 10 or more.’

It was terrifying to recall the moment when I was entangled with the lion.

But I couldn’t ignore what I was going through at the time.

Because there was a message related to magic that I couldn’t shake off.

There was a clear record of that moment in the status window.

‘Magic operation… … .’

I personally experienced the difference between just possessing magical power and using it.

No matter how much his strength improved, it was not enough to defy the lion’s jaw strength.

However, it was possible after the message about mana operation appeared.

‘Does it simply improve strength?’

From then on, I focused on mana management.

You should be able to handle this freely.

In the third step, you’ll definitely have to deal with something tougher than three lionesses.

‘How do I activate it?’

That moment when I calmly asked a question.

“Mister, what about your mother?”

There was a voice passing through me.

The thoughts that had been going on were interrupted.

I stopped running and looked back.

A man in his 40s and a child who looked to be about five or six years old passed me by.

What they felt was a sense of incongruity.

It’s such a small sense of incongruity that it doesn’t matter if you turn away.

Unable to shake it off, I fixed my eyes on the two.

The moment I focused, wondering if I could hear more of their conversation as they grew farther away.

Smooth.

Something bloomed in his body, sharpening his senses.

“Magic operation begins.”

“Suck!”

I thought that the senses of the body had already become sensitive.

But that was at the level of aegyo.

All sorts of information poured in from all sides.

I could vividly feel the sounds and smells tangled and mixed here and there.

Thanks to this, I overheard a conversation between a man and a child who had quickly become distant.

“Then is mom coming?”

“Okay, if you wait over there, Mom will… … .”

The man turned around for a moment and our eyes met.

He hurriedly averted his gaze and grabbed the child’s hand and dragged him away.

“If it’s late, Mom might be gone. Let’s hurry.”

“yes!”

Sseuseuk.

The senses that had been wide open were closed again.

“Magic operation will end.”

The shock was brief and the action was quick.

I was approaching a man and a child before I knew it.

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Shockingly, I looked at my trembling shoulders, but the man clearly heard me.

However, instead of stopping, he retook his steps.

The sense of incongruity intensifies.

“Wait a minute.”

I hurriedly overtook the man and blocked his way.

“What, what, you!”

The man immediately put his free hand into the pocket of his padding.

His suspicious movements made his muscles tense.

I lowered my gaze while being wary of the man.

Blindly, I looked up at me and our eyes met.

“Little boy, is this your father?”

“Isn’t it?”

“But why are you with me?”

“My uncle is taking me to my mother… … .”

“I-I know his parents!”

The man shouted and cut off the child’s words.

‘No, but why does this bastard keep talking in short language when he first met you?’

I shot with a frown.

“Prove it.”

“What, what?”

If what the man said is true, it is simply my misunderstanding.

But I couldn’t easily shake off the feeling of incongruity.

So I have to get out of gear.

“I might try calling. by video call. Since we know each other, he must have a number.”

If this is a misunderstanding caused by my own guess, it will end with an apology.

In the worst case, you only have to listen to the other person’s curse or put up with a few hand jjigeom.

But what if that man is lying?

What if I am right about this situation?

Worst case scenario, someone could get hurt.

‘The one who gets hurt will be that kid.’

I was thinking about the fatality rate of child abduction.

Then the man pulled his hand out of his padded pocket.

As soon as the concentration soared, again.

“Magic operation begins.”

It was as if the video was in slow motion.

Compared to the beasts that were charging at me, it was really, mind-bogglingly slow.

So I just caught on.

‘Look at this bastard?’

It rushed into my chest, but what I was holding in my hand was a kitchen knife.

Since the memory associated with the cutlery is not very good, the impression naturally wrinkled.

Suspicious conversations, kitchen knives, children.

Combining fragmentary information led to a conclusion.

‘Are you the real kidnapper?’

I was so upset that I laughed out loud.

“Sir, don’t you f*cking let go of this?!”

The man wiggled his arm to get out of my hand.

However, it is about to become so strong that it cannot be compared to the past.

The man couldn’t escape my grasp.

“Let go!”

“Leave yourself.”

A puck kicked him in the shin, throwing the man off balance.

At the same time, I saw that the hand holding the child’s hand loosened.

I immediately grabbed the child and kicked the man.

He fell apart without being able to resist even once.

After discovering the knife, the body that had been in a state of tension pushed away and cooled down.

“Magic operation will end.”

Messages responded accordingly.

Just in time, the shop owners who noticed the commotion came out one by one.

I pointed to one of them and said.

“Hey boss, let’s report it to the police. Like a kidnapper.”

The kidnapper jumped to his feet while I clicked my tongue.

“profit… … Why are you meddling in other people’s affairs!”

He straightened his knife as if he were going to stab me at any moment.

I pushed the child aside, and the owner of a store nearby rushed out and took care of the child.

At the same time, the man brandished a knife.

“Whoa.”

I leaned back to avoid it, and the stab followed immediately.

Pak.

I straightened my arm and slashed the man’s wrist.

A man who uses the recoil to run again even though the stab is blocked.

Whenever a man tries to stab me, I block it every time.

My body follows my will and moves perfectly without any error.

After three or four battles, the man seemed to have run out of patience, and the man narrowed the distance.

Thoughts and actions went hand in hand.

As before, I pushed his wrist with my arm and at the same time dug into the man’s arms.

anger.

While holding his right elbow with his left hand, he hit his chest with his right hand.

“Gagging!”

The man gasped and collapsed.

The situation was settled when he kicked the missing dagger away.

‘Is this going to be this easy… … ?’

I just copied the technique I saw in the dagger technique video I was frantically looking for after the first tutorial.

I didn’t even watch it until the end because it was a defense technique, not an offensive one.

My body easily followed the action I had seen with my eyes without any special training.

You will feel your body changing all over again.

The man’s movements were too slow for my standards.

Thanks to that, I was able to subdue it without getting hurt.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue briefly and sat down on top of the man who was still wriggling on the floor.

“What about the police?”

“Sir, I reported it!”

The boss who had the child I was carrying answered.

I thought about magic again, holding the man down until the police arrived.

After that, it took more than two hours to stop by the police station and make a statement, and I was late for my part-time job in the afternoon.

After listening to the boss’s nagging, I focused on mana throughout my work.

The phenomenon that the system explained as mana operation.

I tried very hard to reproduce the phenomenon again.

My body works, but my head wanders in search of magic somewhere in my body.

Thanks to that, I was able to see the message again when the part-time job was over.

“Magic operation begins.”

Right now, even a slight break in concentration would end the mana operation.

I felt like I was guarding a precarious candle.

So I repeated it dozens of times all the way back home.

Maybe this will save me in the next mission.

Was it a reward for that tenacity?

When you enter a familiar alleyway near your house.

“… … It’s amazing, really.”

I sighed deeply when I saw the red smoke swaying from my left hand.

After being able to maintain the use of mana freely to a certain extent, it was a car that was devising what to do with this.

Then, he gathered the mana spread throughout his body in one place and quickly rolled it.

After that, something was cramped, so I recklessly pushed it outside.

It felt as if magic power was pushing through something, and then this happened.

“What kind of phenomenon is this? … .”

I mumbled with a frown and immediately noticed something strange.

The magic power leaking out of his hands began to fade.

Then, at some point, it suddenly cut off.

‘I still have magic power… … .’

I concentrated my mana back into my hand and rolled it quickly.

And, like drilling a hole, he made a way for the magic to escape.

When I focused on the movement of magic, I was able to figure out what the problem was.

Every time the red mist came out through the hole, the rotational force of the magical power that was spinning rapidly inside was weakening.

As I clench my teeth to keep it at the same speed, red mist continued to flow out.

Instead, the mana in his body began to run out quickly.

Unlike when I simply turned it inside my body, I could feel the magic disappearing in real time.

‘No, it’s being consumed.’

Just like when a car runs, it consumes oil.

Right now, my mana isn’t just gathering, it’s doing something.

As a test, I punched the outer wall of the building right next to me with my fist clenched.

thud-! sh*t.

There was a deep, heavy sound and the walls cracked.

I was completely frozen in place.

Cement crumbs fell from the cracked wall starting at the point where the fist touched.

Of course, I had to put some power into it.

But the wall cracked in one blow.

I hurriedly withdrew my hand from the shocking sight.

The magic operation was over before I knew it, and the red haze that was clumping on my hand disappeared.

However, the cracks on the walls remained intact.

swish, swish.

I quickly checked the back and front of the alley. Let’s see if there are any eyewitnesses.

Fortunately, no one passed by.

As I hurriedly left the place, my mind was jumbled.

‘Sh, do I have to report it?’

If you leave it as it is and it collapses because of the weight of the building.

Then, if someone gets hurt.

The hesitation did not last long. Finally, I took out my cell phone and listened.

By the time the government office had already finished its operation.

I called the police and asked them to contact the government office that manages the facility tomorrow.

I couldn’t bear to say that I did it, so I had no choice but to say that I just found it.

‘Even if I told the truth, I don’t think anyone would believe it.’

I arrived home with a complicated and devastated feeling.

The moment I reached for the door lock, I got a call from Yeon-woo.

Instead of answering the phone, I just opened the door.

“Why did you call… … .”

“Aurabang!”

“brother!”

And I faced my younger siblings who rushed towards me.

“What, why are you guys doing this?”

I asked casually as I took off my shoes.

Then Yeonwoo pointed at the TV with a rather ferocious expression and said.

“That’s the aura room!”

“what?”

I followed Yeonwoo’s finger and moved my gaze to the TV.

I had to take off my shoes right after and freeze them.

On the TV screen, the CCTV recorded video and the mobile phone video were being played one after another.

Above that, the news anchor’s calm voice was overlaid.

『… … Let’s do it, Mr. Kim pulls out a knife. Despite the imminent situation, Kang Mo-kun, who protected the child, responded calmly… … .』

“uh… … .”

I was on the 9 o’clock news.

“Are you crazy?! If you get hurt, why don’t you run at the guy with the knife!”

Unlike me, who was at a loss for words, Yeon-woo exclaimed and screamed.