🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 08
As the opponent player who came out of the alley and I both jumped onto the road, the cars rushing toward us slammed on their brakes.
Screeeeeech—
Baaang—
The opponent’s eyes glowed bright red.
【It’s coming.】
At that moment, a sharp wind sliced through my ear.
Whoosh— BOOM!
As the opponent, holding a sword, rushed in and activated a Celestial ultimate skill, the pressure lifted every vehicle on the road into the air and pushed them away all at once.
A powerful area-of-effect explosion-type skill.
The road was deeply cratered, and expensive cars usually seen in the city were scattered like fallen leaves.
Screams from people echoed everywhere like background noise.
Because of meaningless battles between beings that could no longer be called human, the city built with human blood and sweat was being destroyed in an instant.
Destroying a city felt exhilarating.
It felt dizzying and euphoric, as if the world itself was in my grasp.
“Cough!”
Of course, what had been destroyed by that ultimate skill wasn’t just the city.
A surge of heat surged through my body as if my internal organs had been shaken by the sudden drop in HP, and a rough cough burst out.
But there was no blood.
As I was blown back by the pressure, I grabbed a nearby Mercedes.
Using the strength from gripping it, I quickly dodged, and the enemy’s blade aiming at me stabbed directly into the car body.
BOOM!
The Mercedes split in half.
【Opening.】
I threw the crumpled, paper-like car aside and activated a skill, swinging my leg with full force.
Crash!
It hit the head perfectly.
“Nice.”
I didn’t miss the moment the opponent was sent flying and immediately chased after him while activating a Celestial skill.
Along with the skill, the clown possessing my body muttered.
“【How dare you.】”
With that cringeworthy line, my body teleported, appearing in front of the enemy who had been blown away.
Swish, swish, swish.
In that brief instant of teleportation, my existence scattered like smoke, and an overwhelming, omnipotent force seemed to tear the space apart.
A barrage of red laser flashes filled the rear and exploded.
BOOM—!
[K.O!]
[You Win!]
The opponent, having exhausted all remaining HP, collapsed to his knees.
I won.
The clown shouted excitedly.
【That last skill was good! The synergy improved. It’s because you trusted me more!】
I ignored him with one ear and opened my message inbox.
I remembered I had gotten a notification earlier, but I had forgotten about it due to the fight.
The content was:
[Hello, Chicken God. I’m not sure if you remember me, but it was an honor to team up during the recent Korean server raid. I’m currently running a stream and was wondering if you’d like to appear on it…]
It was basically an offer to appear on a stream, with a fairly generous appearance fee promised.
There was no reason to refuse.
That is, unless I had glasses, acne, looked fat, was ugly, or had a leg disability.
‘That’s a lot of money. Ugly people are kind of trending these days too. With my face, I’d definitely get attention… should I just go for it?’
Money was controlling my thoughts.
Just as I was tempted by the amount, I hesitated.
[…If it’s not rude, may I ask which guild you belong to? With your skill level, you must be a hunter or an athlete…]
My expression froze without me realizing it, and my heart went cold.
【Are you listening to me? The more you trust me, the stronger you become—there’s a connection between Celestials and humans—】
“……”
My mood was ruined.
I closed the reward screen and immediately exited the game.
Returning from virtual reality to reality, everything that happened in the game felt like a midsummer night’s dream.
But—
“Coin Market.”
A window immediately appeared in front of me.
You have entered the Coin Market.
Surprisingly, it was exactly the same Coin Market I had seen at the convenience store today.
“…Is this really working?”
It didn’t feel real.
That something I bought and used inside this system window could affect reality…
It was eerily close to what I had always wished for.
Sometimes I had imagined that if money or rankings from games could affect reality, then a top-ranked GOD-OF-AP player like me would be incredibly strong or rich.
Of course, even if this was real, I didn’t have nearly enough coins to buy what I actually wanted.
‘But I can gather coins somehow. If this is real.’
I had considered the possibility that I might just be being played by fragments of data, but looking at the Coin Market like this made me start believing it.
I browsed the game-item-like shop interface and glanced at the top line.
Coins Owned: 100C
“……”
There was one way to confirm whether this Coin Market was real or not.
Buy something.
I entered the popular items list.
The first list appeared.
After removing overpriced items like hunter awakening or clearance items, I was left with more manageable options:
Strength Level 1 Upgrade (300C)
Ideal Body Level 1 (300C)
Beautiful Face Level 1 (300C)
Clear Skin Level 1 (200C)
Height +1cm (200C)
Weight -1kg (100C)
Fatigue Gone (50C)
……
Fatigue recovery was the cheapest, but it felt too vague, so I didn’t like it.
The next cheapest was weight loss.
‘What a waste of coins. I could lose weight if I just exercised seriously.’
I had trained a lot since childhood, so I had this baseless confidence that I could lose weight easily with effort.
Though maybe it wouldn’t be that easy in reality.
The real issue was—I didn’t even want to lose weight.
To be motivated, there had to be a reason for a better life after losing weight, but I didn’t really have any urgent goal right now.
“……”
I looked around my room.
Clothes scattered on the floor, damp and left everywhere.
In the sink, dishes stacked with dried pizza cheese from long ago, and instant noodle cups rolling beside the computer tower.
‘No matter how you look at it, this is a gamer’s nest.’
I needed proof that I could change this life that had fallen into ruin—through my own effort and this Coin Market.
After a brief hesitation, I decided.
“Buy it.”
What mattered now wasn’t losing weight, but confirming whether this Coin Market was real.
Weight loss was especially good because, unlike fatigue recovery, it had a clear numerical value.
I stood up shakily.
I stepped on the dusty scale, which hadn’t been used in a long time, turned it on, and stepped on it.
[122.1kg]
“…Gained weight again. How did I end up like this?”
I remembered that I had stopped weighing myself after constantly breaking my record.
I stepped off the scale.
I purchased the weight loss item I had selected from the Coin Market.
“Do you want to purchase ‘Weight -1kg (100C)’? The listed coins will be deducted.”
Yes
An item slot appeared next to the Coin Market window, and another message followed.
100C has been deducted.
“You have successfully purchased ‘Weight -1kg (100C)’. Do you want to use it immediately?”
Yes
Zzzzt.
For a moment, a strange status window flickered above the Coin Market and disappeared.
“…?”
What was that just now?
It was only for a moment, but it seemed like a different type of window from the Coin Market message system.
I waved my hand through the spot, but nothing appeared.
“What the hell? Anyway, did it apply?”
I checked the Coin Market.
The coins had definitely decreased, and the item had disappeared from the inventory panel next to the market window, so it seemed it had been used.
Thump. Thump.
“Damn it, why is my heart acting like this? Calm down.”
Ignoring my racing heartbeat and sweaty palms, I stepped back onto the scale.
The weight that had clearly been 122 just moments ago—
[121.1kg]
Exactly 1kg lighter.
“!”
This is real.
I felt increasingly impatient.
‘When does that tournament those Celestials mentioned start?’
I wanted to gather coins quickly.
It was good that I had decided to collect coins, but I had no idea when the tournament would begin.
While I was unconsciously tapping my leg—
“Are you off now?”
“Yeah, I should go.”
It was evening shift change at the convenience store.
The part-timer who had just arrived spoke to me after seeing I was still sitting inside the counter.
He seemed to be looking at his phone, clearly wanting me to leave so he could take the seat.
Since nearby schools were off, the store was unusually quiet.
As soon as I stood up, he immediately sat down and focused entirely on his phone.
“What are you looking at?”
I asked casually.
“It’s nothing special, just a game I like. There’s a tournament coming up.”
No way.
“…That game isn’t GOD-OF-AP, right?”
At my question, the blond part-timer widened his eyes and looked at me.
“…Huh? How did you know? It was just announced. The moment it dropped, GOD-OF-AP users and fans went crazy.”
Huh.
