[Checking Player Lee Ji-Hye’s Status Window and Potential.]

[Name - Lee Ji-Hye]

[Title - None. Please work harder.]

[Age - 29]

[Nature - Selfish and ambitious person]

[Job - Unemployed]

[Stats]

[Strength - 05/Below average growth limit]

[Agility - 09/Below average growth limit]

[Stamina - 10/Below average growth limit]

[Intelligence - 20/Above rare growth limit]

[Endurance - 08/Below average growth limit]

[Luck - 15/Below average growth limit]

[Magic - 00/Below average growth limit]

[Overall Review - Congratulations, Lee Ki-Young, you’ve done it now. The perfect couple with low stats and poor potential has been born. Please make sure Lee Ji-Hye uses birth control because if she really gives birth to a baby, I’ll feel bad for it.]

‘We’re not a couple,’ I said to myself.

Lee Ji-Hye was smarter than I thought. No, if I were to be specific, she wasn’t exceptionally smart, but she was good at judging the situation, making appropriate decisions, and taking action. She was quick to catch on and knew exactly what people wanted.

She was unknowingly wary of Jung Ha-Yan, so seeing how she let me handle her, I had an idea of what she wanted.

I couldn’t understand why Kim Hyun-Sung had put her in charge of the group.

Butting heads was really unnecessary, but she probably did that to at least show that she had power. Of course, she may have other goals, but there was really no reason for me to know.

I gulped and then started looking at Lee Ji-Hye’s stats again.

Her stat’s rate of increase wasn’t bad and compared to last time, her strength increased by one point, her intelligence increased by two points, and her luck increased by three points.

‘How did they increase?’

For intelligence, I can assume that it was not simply based on one’s critical thinking or knowledge. For Jung Ha-Yan, despite possessing an abundance of intelligence points, she seemed to be somewhat lacking in these departments.

On the other hand, Lee Ji-Hye was different. Despite possessing fewer intelligence points than Jung Ha-Yan, she was quick to catch on to things. I thought maybe magic or having knowledge in a specific area was the basis of determining one’s intelligence.

I was a bit puzzled about the luck stat. When I recently checked Lee Ji-Hye’s stat, her luck was at 12 points, but it increased overnight and I couldn’t understand why. I thought maybe it had to do with me since my luck stat was high, but it was nothing more than an assumption.

I needed to think about the stats, and how they worked a bit more.

“You’re up early,” Lee Ji-Hye said.

“I had some things I needed to think about,” I said.

I saw Lee Ji-Hye staring at me from the side. It seemed that she had a great day yesterday since she looked significantly better than before.

“Take care of Yoo Seok-Woo however you want and keep an eye on Jung Ha-Yan. If you find out anything special about her, report it to me right away,” I told her.

“I don’t think that’s how you should be talking to the woman you kissed…” Lee Ji-Hye commented.

“Don’t say anything stupid…”

“Well, I’ll do my best. I think I know what you’re planning, but there’s something special about that woman, right? She asked.

‘She’s really quick to catch on.’

“There’s no need for you to know, noona,” I said.

“Hey!”

When I called her noona, Lee Ji-Hye became flustered. I was sure she was a bit stressed when it came to her age. I saw Lee JI-Hye lightly biting her lips.

It was impossible for us to become a couple, or comrades that protected each other’s backs overnight. We were in a contractual relationship. Even though there wasn’t any information about the involved parties, we agreed to use each other’s powers to some extent and proceeded with the contractual process. Even if the contract could be easily broken, we trusted each other, so we would probably make small contributions in the interest of each other.

The question was how long this relationship was going to last. It wouldn’t be a problem if we didn’t cross the line and continue to respect each other’s boundaries, but no one knew what was going to happen in the future after all.

After releasing a light sigh, I spoke. “But why did you choose me, Ms. Ji-Hye?”

“I told you, Ki-Young oppa. Ambitious men are my type,” she answered.

Lee Ji-Hye wasn’t the only one that had to live up to her expectations.

Just like how I can cut her off anytime, she could do the same to me.

What was important right now was my growth and Jung Ha-Yan.

Lee Ji-Hye probably wasn’t going to tell everyone what happened between us because that would be advantageous to her too. However, the atmosphere between us may imply that something had happened, and knowing how that was going to affect Jung Ha-Yan was important.

Having poor interpersonal relationships meant that she wasn’t good at expressing and accepting her emotions.

Her parents passed away and she lost contact with her sisters a long time ago. That meant that there was a good chance that she wasn’t good at making connections with people because of a lack of affection and attention.

Jung Ha-Yan had to depend and rely on me more. She had to be attached to me. Lee Ji-Hye was planning to help me with this conundrum.

* * *

Yoo Seok-Woo was handled faster than I thought that a trial didn’t even have to happen. He must’ve caught on to the fact that Lee Ji-Hye had sided with me because he immediately acknowledged his mistake and received a punishment that everyone agreed with.

Of course, Lee Ji-Hye used her influence during this process and the funny thing was that she wore the ‘there’s nothing I can do about it’ attitude.

Not only did she start turning everyone’s attention towards me, but she started working on turning the public’s opinion to Jung Ha-Yan, who was part of the reason.

‘I had to do it because of Lee Ki-Young.’

‘He cherishes Jung Ha-Yan.’

Were the types of nuances that spread like wildfire.

Of course, Jung Ha-Yan had no choice but to be hated by the people here, but through this process of influencing the public’s opinion, I felt that Lee Ji-Hye was more spiteful than I imagined.

‘Sure enough, she’s a woman that’s good at bullying people.’

If bullying had a stat, she would probably be at the above legendary rank.

Lee Ji-Hye never moved. However, she managed to use the people around her to create the best environment where Jung Ha-Yan would be completely isolated or harassed.

I had no idea what Jung Ha-Yan was going to do when she was placed in a situation where everyone disliked her. In the end, the only person she would be able to rely on would be me. Thanks to that, Jung Ha-Yan had been ranting to me for the past few days.

“S-So…hiccup…”

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“Yes, yes…thank you, o-o-oppa. I talked too much about myself…I’m sure you’re busy…” she said.

“No, I’m not busy at all. I’m actually thankful that you told me everything. If you work a bit harder, I’m sure the others will acknowledge you. Of course, I already know that you’re already working hard,” I said, comforting her.

Honestly, pretending to be a good person wasn’t easy.

“Still…”

“It’ll be fine since you’ll be going out to hunt with us from now on. I already told Mr. Hyun-Sung too…” I told her.

“I-Is it really okay for…someone like me?” she asked.

“Of course.”

When I lightly patted her head, a small smile appeared on her face. I guess this could be considered an achievement.

Jung Ha-Yan found it difficult and scary to make contact with other people, so seeing this kind of reaction made me think that all the time we spent together hadn’t been in vain.

I wanted to be certain of what she thought of me before we headed outside. But I already knew that I shouldn’t approach her rashly.

‘Slowly…’

I didn’t want a relationship that would easily crumble like a sand castle. Jung Ha-Yan and I had to have a stronger relationship.

“I-I’m glad I have you o-oppa. I-If I was by myself…”

“You have no idea how relieved I am that you’re by my side, Ha-Yan. More than that, have you been able to feel your mana moving? Any progress?” I asked.

“Yes, for now. I think I can feel what’s inside me and when I channel it to my arm, I feel a bit stronger…” she answered.

“And your magic?” I asked.

“I-I’m not sure yet,” she answered.

Tasks related to Jung Ha-Yan weren't the only thing I had been working on.

Just like Park Deok-Gu, who was struggling to familiarize himself with his new job as a shieldbearer. I had enough time to think a bit more about my job as a mage.

Recently, Kim Hyun-Sung has been going out alone more often. It was probably because he wanted to give us more time.

‘Image.’

Magic was the result of imagining the building process of mana. Spells were required in order to make the visualization process a bit easier. I struggled quite a bit in trying to materialize magic. I had the basic knowledge in my head, but I found it hard to show results when using it.

I built a solid tower with some of the mana that was inside me and at the same time, I drew an image of the magic that I wanted to materialize inside my head. I imagined fire rising out of my finger.

“Flame, answer, to my voice,” I said.

At the same time, a small flame appeared on my finger. I saw Jung Ha-Yan’s slightly surprised expression when she noticed it.

“Wow…” she said.

“I think visualizing it in your head is important. It will be more convenient if the spell is simple, but if the magic is complex, I don’t think it matters if the spell is long…the point is visualizing it in your head,” I explained to her. The downside was that the majority of the spells that were easy to visualize were unnecessarily long.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the spell was like an edgy teenager, thinking about this made me embarrassed about using them.

“I see.”

“For me, rather than trying to manifest the magic myself, I imagined the concept of borrowing the power…I’m sure you’ll be able to find your own way too. No, it may feel difficult right now, but once you obtain your job, it may become a bit easier,” I said, trying to comfort her.

“Oh…I see,” was all she said.

It was possible that she would not be able to use magic until she obtained a job. Despite possessing many points in the magic stat, Kim Hyun-Sung couldn’t use magic, so I think there existed a border between jobs that we couldn’t cross. Despite that, it was obvious as to why I purposely poured knowledge about magic to her.

‘It’s all for a good impression.’

Teaching and learning from each other was the easiest way to get close to each other. There was no harm in teaching her things in advance even though she was still going to learn them later.

“It’s possible that you’re not able to use magic until you obtain a job, but keep practicing on building your mana.”

“Okay, leave it to me o-oppa. I’ll do my best,” she said.

I automatically nodded.

[Magic has been increased by one point.]

[Intelligence has been increased by one point.]

‘Nice.’

“The more you use it, the more your magic will increase, so I personally am really looking forward to the day when you can use magic,” I told her.

“Oh, okay.”

“Then, should we stop here for today?” I asked her.

“T-T-There’s a part that I don’t quite understand…” Jung Ha-Yan said.

“Oh yeah?’

“Yes. S-So recently, my magic increased again…” she started.

While listening to her explanation, I couldn’t help but check her status window. I was curious as to how much progress she made up until now.

[Checking Player Jung Ha-Yan’s Status Window and Potential.]

[Name - Jung Ha-Yan]

[Title - None. Please work harder.]

[Age - 21]

[Nature - Innocent Supporter]

[Job - Mage - Average Rank]

[Stat]

[Strength - 11/Below rare growth limit]

[Agility - 11/Below rare growth limit]

[Stamina - 14/Below epic growth limit]

[Intelligence - 22/Above epic growth limit]

[Endurance - 14/Below rare growth limit]

[Luck - 23/Above epic growth limit]

[Magic - 15/Above legendary growth limit]

[Gear - None]

[Attribute - How to become a mage - Epic Rank]

‘What? Mage?’

Her mage job was what caught my attention.

“My mana doesn’t seem to be moving very well,” she said.

I saw Jung Ha-Yan’s bright smile again.

‘Who are you?’

I couldn’t help but notice that something was wrong.