NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
009 – The Unfortunate Ones Find Joy in Each Other’s Faces # 3
“I am ‘Artist’ Choi Chang-sik. Just an ordinary rank one concept holder. To be upfront, you shouldn’t expect much help from me in practical situations.”
Swoosh—
The male student who called himself an artist, Choi Chang-sik, picked up a stone nearby, placed it on his palm, and then blew on it with a huff.
What’s going to happen?
As I waited with slight anticipation, the stone transformed into a round candy!
“My ability is ‘Change.’ To put it simply, it can change stones into candy, or a bit of junk into something slightly useful. But the drawback of the ability forces me to use this weird speech. If I don’t, I get a headache all day long.”
He scratched the back of his head as if it was no big deal, but I was truly in awe.
The ability to turn stones into candy?
That’s awesome! Damn!
“Hey, are you serious? Can you also change the flavor of the candy?”
“G-great? That’s a first for me. I can change the flavor based on what I remember. It doesn’t just have to be candy; if it’s food of a similar size that I’ve tasted, I can change it to some extent.”
Is this real?
If I had such an ability, I could happily eat candy every day even in the world doomed to perish in a year!
I definitely need to get closer to him.
“I’m Oh Deok-hee. My call sign is ‘Silence.’ My concept is ‘Silence.’ I can make my surroundings quiet. The drawback of my ability is… I have to dance…”
The female student with long bangs, Oh Deok-hee, introduced herself and mentioned her ability.
Her explanation was simple and concise, yet she seemed shy about it, busy fidgeting.
Now it was Geum Tae-seong’s turn.
“I’m ‘Reversal.’ My ability just heals wounds. The drawback is the ability itself could be considered a kind of backlash. It’s a risky concept, so I don’t use it much.”
Listening carefully, it sounded like the ‘drawback’ referred to the side effects that occurred when using the ability.
It could lead to changing speech patterns, or suddenly having to dance; it could even lead to more bizarre antics.
As someone who had already faced a harsh awakening from injuries, this felt very unfamiliar.
I have ‘Leap’ embedded in me.
If I used an ability of this concept, would something backfire on me?
Eventually, everyone’s attention turned to Baek-Yeoul.
She seemed to fidget for a while, then tightly grabbed the hem of her uniform and quietly introduced herself as if she was about to cry.
“I-I’m Baek-Yeoul and my concept is… rank one ability ‘Bad Luck.’ As for the drawback, I don’t know. I can’t control my concept yet…”
A small sigh rippled through the group.
Bad luck.
Everyone understood the implications of that well enough.
“It’s probably because I fell off a cliff at the starting point…”
So that’s how it was.
Being with Baek-Yeoul brought about misfortune!
No wonder the seat next to her was empty and no one wanted to team up with her!
Could it be that the drunk driving accident was also because of Baek-Yeoul’s bad luck?
Was my leg injured because of that?
Is global warming coming because of her?
Did dinosaurs go extinct because of her too!?
Thinking that way was indeed frightening.
While it was frightening, there was also a tinge of doubt.
Are we truly unfortunate right now?
Nope.
I didn’t think so.
“From what I’ve experienced, the most dangerous moments are actually the moments when the greatest opportunities arise. There’s no one here higher than us in this practice area. That means we can perceive our surroundings better than anyone.”
I slowly scanned the forest around us.
The scavenger in me was kicking in, sensing where useful items might be.
“By the way, I hold the concepts of leap and emotion.”
“What? Nam-jin, you’re a multi-concept holder!?”
“I thought you were just an exhibitionist pervert, but I didn’t know you were this awesome!”
I could feel the light of anticipation and hope shining in everyone’s expressions.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t explained myself to everyone.
Honestly, I preferred showing rather than explaining things verbally.
“Hey! Everyone just follow me! We’ve got shops to find!”
# # #
“This cliff is freaking hard!”
Descending the sheer rock face nearly thirty meters tall with my bare hands felt excruciating. If awakeners’ stamina wasn’t superior to normal humans, we all would have collapsed.
“Reached the bottom! Didn’t take long at all, about 30 minutes.”
Soft, soft—
Stepping on the grass-like weeds felt really nice.
The forest scent was thick around me, and I enjoyed the breeze after sweating profusely.
Seoga-eul must be feeling the same breeze now.
I wanted to meet her right away, but since I didn’t know her exact location, I couldn’t just wander around aimlessly.
So, focusing on gaining a shop point to get a special lesson pass would be a more rational choice than searching for Seoga-eul.
Ah, I knew I was smart!
“…So, what do we do now?”
Baek-Yeoul fidgeted and looked at me nervously.
Perhaps it felt unsettling that I, the new transfer student, was taking the lead in the group project. Blessed are those who believe without seeing.
“Just wait. I’ve got it all figured out.”
Swoosh, swoosh—
I scooped up a handful of dirt and put it in my mouth, mumbling.
Baek-Yeoul and Geum Tae-seong looked shocked and scrunched their faces in disgust.
“Hey! Why are you eating dirt?”
“What are you doing?”
“The dirt has a lot of moisture. If you look closely, there are many shaded spots. There’s likely a water source nearby.”
It was my first time in this place, and with no map, I had roughly figured out where to go. I had seen a spot back at the cliff.
“Let’s go!”
“Hey! Wait up!”
Pat pat pat—
I ran, and the members followed behind me.
We reached the riverbank.
Trickle trickle—
The flowing water looked really refreshing.
At that moment, Artist-Choi Chang-sik yelled out. He was looking at the sole of his shoe, struggling to hide his intense emotions while turning red as a beet.
“Isn’t this poop?! Ugh! The smell! It’s incredible how unlucky you can be!”
He stepped in poop?
It did have a strong stench.
It wasn’t typical animal waste.
“I-I think it’s my fault…”
Seeing Baek-Yeoul’s spirit dampen instantly made me think.
Baek-Yeoul’s concept is bad luck.
It meant unfortunate events befell those around her even if she just stood still.
I suddenly became curious. Why did Baek-Yeoul awaken her ability of ‘Bad Luck’? An awakeners’ power usually comes from intense desire.
That means she must have wished for either her own or others’ ‘bad luck’ terribly. Thinking like that, she seemed like someone whose character was completely broken.
But!
“Luck is like a seesaw. When one side goes up, the other goes down. When someone laughs, someone cries; when someone cries, someone laughs.”
Stepping in poop must have been huge bad luck for candy maker Chang-sik. But for the rest of us, it could be seen as great fortune.
“Chang-sik, make some candy for us.”
“Candy? What are you planning to do?”
“Just hurry up!”
“Got it. Then gather some stones. In the meantime, I need to wash my shoes in this river.”
I quickly gathered stones. Wada-dat!
Geum Tae-seong, Baek-Yeoul, and the quiet female student all picked up stones with odd expressions.
Everyone was probably thinking that it’s worth the risk to lose something.
When they see my grand plan, they’ll be surprised.
“Then I’ll change them into green grape-flavored candy! Whooo—.”
Receiving Choi Chang-sik’s breath, the stones transformed into candy of similar sizes. I swear, this was an ability I envied so much it almost made me cry.
Infinite refills of candy? Yes, please!
“What are you planning to do?”
Seeing the heap of candy, Geum Tae-seong looked slightly interested, so I gave him a simple answer.
“You have a lighter, right?”
Geum Tae-seong used to be a punk.
Even if he didn’t smoke now, he’d likely carry at least a lighter.
Indeed, Geum Tae-seong pulled a lighter from his pocket.
“Yeah, I’ve got one.”
I stacked the stones and gathered some dry firewood to create a makeshift stove. It wasn’t hard for someone who had lived in a junkyard like me.
Whoosh—
I placed one of the practical equipment, a pot, over the firewood, pouring in water and candy, which made the children’s expressions turn even more peculiar.
“Ah, let’s add that pudding we collected earlier.”
Bubble bubble bubble—
Pudding and candy began to boil over the campfire.
Everyone must have felt it now.
The sweet smell wafting gently!
“We need to let it boil more. Just a little longer.”
Just as we started making pudding candy porridge for about a minute, a rustling sound came from the bushes nearby.
Rustle—
Something jumped out.
━Grrraaaah!
It was a black-furred dog.
It was large enough to resemble a wolf, but the most distinctive feature was its unusually large nose.
Its ears and eyes looked almost degenerated, flat without any defining features.
Clearly, it was a specimen outside the realm of typical creatures.
Seeing it, Choi Chang-sik began foaming at the mouth.
“Eeek! It’s a monster! A monster! To encounter a monster in this vast forest! How unlucky! It’s always like this when you’re paired with Baek-Yeoul! Baek-Yeoul! What are you going to do about this?!”
“…I… I don’t know! Everyone run away!”
━Growl—
The big-nosed dog drooled as it approached.
While everyone stood frozen in tension, I felt a chill run down my spine.
I didn’t expect things to go this well.
“I knew there’d be monsters near the water since it’s a vast forest.”
For me, who couldn’t enter the ‘safe zone’ in this ruined world, every day was a survival challenge. Those days of watching out for thieves and monsters while drinking contaminated river water were coming in handy.
“Looking at the warmth of the poop Chang-sik stepped in, the one who left it isn’t far away! But I’m not sure of the exact location, so I boiled pudding and candy!”
Monsters tend to be attracted to sweet smells, much like flowers draw in bees.
My little friend, Ying-ing, also loved sugary water.
Ah, I suddenly really missed Ying-ing.
Anyway!
“Typically, monsters are quite cautious and hard to lure. In that sense, Baek-Yeoul’s ability has worked perfectly. I honestly wonder if this is okay!”
Encountering a monster in a forest like this seemed quite unfortunate.
Actually, everyone who faced a monster froze like mice in front of a snake.
But someone’s bad luck can turn into someone else’s good fortune.
“Finding something like Captain’s ‘Kickass Pen’ in a forest like this is honestly tough. So my target right from the start was a monster! Hey, Tae-seong, how many shop points do we get for taking one down?”
“Taking it down?!”
He seemed rather taken aback by my words.
In wary anticipation, he answered quietly while keeping his distance from the monster.
“Nam-jin, don’t you think it’s questionable when we have no combat-suited concepts? Maybe if we were in Class F with a lot of Supernovas, but even in our class, only the leader has defeated a monster in real battle!”
He was questioning if we, a rag-tag group, could even face a monster.
I was confused by that.
Why think we can’t do it?
With the abilities we have, we should be more than fine.
“Alright, everyone, listen closely from now on. The crucial person for hunting monsters from now on is… you, O Deok-soon!”
“……!”
The quiet girl I pointed at trembled.
She looked like she had just been struck by lightning.
It was quite amusing.
“My name isn’t O Deok-soon, it’s O Deok-hee… But me being the key person…? That’s ridiculous. I’m not good at moving, so I always get dropped from group projects…”