Grow With In-App Purchases

2. Money Spook (1)

‘Is this the end of these antics?’

Being called a ghost when I’m clearly alive and well had grown extremely annoying.

Having to constantly smell the monsters’ putrid stench was also now at its end.

‘So irritating when I have a perfectly normal name.’

To explain how I ended up with the nickname ‘Money Spook’, the story is quite convoluted.

This ability I gained at 16.

And the shocking truth that I reincarnated into a game world.

At first I struggled to accept the impossible facts, but eventually decided to make good use of this ability I now had and live in comfort.

After all, I had reincarnated into poverty as a commoner.

‘Back then I thought it would be easy.’

With my memories of my past life, and this new ability.

I thought I could live a special life.

Didn’t I know what events would happen in this world’s future?

But the ability I gained at 16 wasn’t as nice and convenient as I imagined.

And the ‘in-game shop’ also largely contributed to making me into the current Money Spook.

Because the in-game shop that stimulated human ‘greed’ often exploited me.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

＜Special Sale＞ (118:33:02)

[Recommended] [Package Shop]

[General Shop] [Limited Time]

[VIP Mileage]

The shop remains peaceful as usual today.

But staring at it, my heart grew increasingly impatient.

‘118 hours.’

This was the in-game purchase window from the mobile game I played until my death.

The summons I hadn’t even touched were locked, as if warning me not to access them.

I got sent into a game world yet I can’t do summons?

‘I thought I could live well by summoning NPCs!’

What’s even more irritating is that this world I reincarnated into has an extremely bleak lore.

‘If I knew I’d end up sent into a game world, I would’ve played one with a nicer setting.’

When playing games, the lore was just a passing interest, nothing to ponder deeply.

Even if the game world was bleak, wouldn’t the players’ raised characters save the world anyway?

Plus the overall atmosphere at the academy was cheerful, so I never considered how desolate life was for those living elsewhere.

‘The stage areas had half-assed backgrounds.’

A background covered in contamination is pretty hardcore.

But after living in this world myself, the horrors of the contaminated zones were nothing compared to where the poor lived.

‘Corpses left rotting after starving to death, the place reeking of filth…’

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The disparity was very pronounced in this world.

To be honest, life as a commoner in this world was extremely awful.

With 60% of the land lost to contamination, several billion people barely eked out a living on the remaining 40% of land.

There was a lot of crime, a lot of slums, and a minority of nobles monopolized the wealth and glory.

‘But the nobles here do their job, at least.’

Most nobles had a high chance of being Ascended through their lineage.

And Ascended nobles were obligated to graduate from the academy then serve drafted in the contaminated zones for 10 years, preventing the spread of contamination.

In the past it was 20 years of mandatory service, but as the contamination rate stabilized at 60:40, the term kept decreasing until it was fixed at 10 years.

’10 years of military service, they have to tolerate some tyranny.’

Thanks to them, commoners get to live well-fed lives in peace, don’t they?

Thanks to the nobles, commoners feared them so much that they shook with fear, while also holding them in reverence.

Oppressed commoners banding together and rebelling against the nobles?

‘That’s nonsense not even talked about in novels.’

In that sense, it’s quite unfortunate that I’ve reincarnated as a commoner boy.

It would have been better if I was a noble.

‘Still, I have this ability.’

However, I had the ability to use the ‘Shop.’

At first, I wondered if I had awakened, and was thrilled, but unfortunately I wasn’t an Awakened one after all.

Still, up until then I had been optimistic.

‘Even though character draws were locked!’

Isn’t there no better way to raise your stats in a dishonest, pay-to-win manner than through microtransactions?

I thought there was nothing to fear since I could use the shop.

I believed that even if I wasn’t an Awakened one, I could wield abilities comparable to them by utilizing the shop.

‘While it’s impossible for me to become a noble, I thought I could at least become a wealthy commoner who eats well and lives comfortably.’

Reality was brutal.

The shop only sells products tailored for ‘characters’ and their growth in the first place.

And I was a ‘user,’ not a ‘character.’

In other words, most of the items sold in the shop were things I couldn’t use.

Why not just sell them to people?

‘Why do commoners buy scrolls? And if I carelessly sold those kinds of things I’d get caught.’

The civil servants here are really strict about their jobs.

I tried selling some scrolls in back alleys a few times, and was really frightened.

I was lucky to get away, otherwise I might’ve been dragged away like the peddlers who got caught.

After getting severely punished once, I didn’t dare to recklessly distribute items I randomly drew anymore.

‘It’s too unfair.’

If I could directly use these items myself, I’d be able to extract several times their value.

But character-exclusive equipment didn’t grant me any power while in my hands.

In my frustration, I contemplated what I should do.

I had to find a way to make a living.

‘And I found it. A way to make a living using the microtransaction shop window.’

Think about it carefully.

The character-exclusive items sold in the shop.

I can’t use them, but characters can, right?

‘And they have lots of money.’

By settings, all characters were of noble lineage so they weren’t lacking in money.

What’s more, unique equipment didn’t have expiration dates, so they could stock up in advance.

I’d sell them later at reasonable prices to characters attending the academy.

Back then I planned to purchase a merchant license to sell items without getting caught.

‘My ability isn’t crappy. I just can’t use it properly.’

Just by thinking a bit differently, hadn’t a way to sit on a mountain of money appeared?

‘And when the characters grow, we might even be able to stop the destruction.’

Right now the contamination rate has stabilized at 60%, but once the main scenario starts, the situation will change.

The contamination zones will threaten humanity much more ominously than before.

‘That was the main scenario of this game, after all.’

I didn’t want to die because of the contamination zones after finally making money.

I had to create a mutually beneficial transaction, a win-win-win situation, not just a two-birds-with-one-stone deal.

However, the problem was…

‘Red crystals.’

The supply of red crystals necessary to purchase items from the shop wasn’t easy.

This was also why people called me a money demon.

‘Red crystals – the game currency that can be obtained through microtransactions.’

The issue was how I, living in this in-game world, could make microtransactions.

Of course the microtransaction shop window had some flexibility.

It allowed me to procure red crystals through tremendous hardship, so I have to say it was accommodating.

And the method to obtain red crystals was…

Swish-!

Kyaaahhh!!!

Screech!!

Monsters.

“Nice~!”

None other than killing monsters.

Their bodies themselves were as good as cash to me.

The byproducts obtained by killing them.

Those had value in the shop and could be exchanged for red crystals.

However, the price I got when exchanging monster byproducts for cash wasn’t very good.

‘Who knows how much they skim off as fees in the middle.’

If I could convert this to money here, I would’ve been living well-off already.

More than once or twice I felt annoyed that the dynamics seemed reversed.

“hahahahaha! This fatty’s got thick, juicy meat on him.”

“Let’s check the surroundings quickly! No way he got here alone.”

The mercenaries who luckily discovered and swiftly killed the Cobalt began looking for other monsters.

The youngest of the mercenaries hurriedly went to the dead monster to collect the byproducts.

I’d tried being the lowest ranked mercenary in the past as well.

It was a much more difficult life than being an army private, which I never want to return to.

‘Even now when I think about it, it was terrible.’

Unlike the military which at least provides food even in a sh*tty country, the lowest ranked mercenary had to find their own food.

Yet they get ordered to do so many things.

Carry luggage, run errands, collect monster byproducts themselves, light fires, prepare camps, cater to the moods of seniors, and even get s*xually harassed if they meet nasty guys.

‘Hmm?’

It felt a bit different from the military but…

I guess I can admit it’s tougher in the sense there’s no escape date like in the military.

“There’s nothing here! Can’t even see a trace of it anywhere it went!”

“Looks like it was one that got separated after losing its way?”

The mercenaries couldn’t hide their disappointment after checking the vicinity and finding no traces of other Cobalts.

Since they’d luckily discovered a monster quickly, they wished that fortune would last a bit longer.

“Tsk, I thought I’d get some decent pocket money. Hey, newbie! Why’s it taking so long to handle just one Cobalt?”

“I’m done! Blurgh-“

“Damn, that kid’s got such a weak stomach, how’s he gonna be a merc?”

“I just felt a bit unwell, that’s all! It’s not like I didn’t do the job, right? I only threw up a little!”

The newbie mercenary boy argued quite stubbornly.

If you show weakness after the mercenaries give you a hard time, they’ll bite into you even more.

Since the work is so dangerous, they make it easy to quit early if you don’t match well personality-wise.

They find it uncomfortable if someone struggles to adapt when they clearly don’t fit in.

So they actually prefer when the newbie fires back stubbornly like that at mistreatment.

“Do it faster next time!”

“Yeah yeah~ Geezers.”

Even when speaking harshly, there was affection in the mercenaries’ eyes as they looked at the newbie.

“Should we move right away?”

“Gotta move. One ain’t enough exercise.”

The mercenary party spread the blood from the Cobalt corpse here and there before moving.

It’s a good thing if the blood scent spreads and lures other monsters.

“But the ghost takes monster byproducts as payment instead of the bounty, right?”

“….”

Even if I take cash, I’d just have to buy monster byproducts again anyway so there’s no need to pay double fees.

So in cases where I could get pocket money like this, I took my share of byproducts as payment.

Since I don’t reply, as if wanting to look out for the newbie, a mercenary hits my shoulder and speaks for me.

“Why’re you so interested in him?”

“He’s scary but still cool. I wanna earn as much money as him and retire early and live comfortably when I’m older too.”

“A newbie who just started merc life is already thinking about retirement? Pfft!”

“Damn, that guy sure has some crazy goals.”

When you live as a mercenary, it becomes difficult to escape this bottom lifestyle.

Since it’s a job where your life hangs by a thread daily, you focus more on enjoying the present than planning for the future.

“Rather than that, any other monsters found? Any more info?”

“It’s not like I can always find monsters. I just got lucky. And it was one Cobalt.”

The mercenary captain bares his yellow teeth as he speaks to me.

I know he’ll annoyingly bother me if I don’t talk.

I’m not saying anything because I provided the cause in the first place, but this attitude didn’t seem good.

When I show my abilities using the minority of shop items I can use, the mercenaries try to glean my know-how.

So I was used to this subtle interest from the mercenary captain.

This is also why I don’t mingle well with the mercenaries.