Damned System

Chapter 117. Party Play (8)

“We know each other.”

“Huh?”

“I often see her because the kid’s family has deep ties with the owner of this mansion.”

After calmly explaining, he pushed away Yang Taeho’s hand, which was holding his shoulder.

“Oh my… So you have ties with the Beastfolk too?”

“Just acquaintances at best.”

“I didn’t think I’d be surprised anymore, but here we are.”

“Are you going to keep standing there? Have a seat.”

I gestured towards the sofa as I turned.

Yang Taeho kept glancing at Berta while sitting opposite me.

Berta, cautious of Yang Taeho, also went down from the sofa and peeked over the table.

Watching the human and Beastfolk face off for a while, I broke the silence to change the atmosphere.

“You got here quickly.”

“Huh? Oh, I just threw myself into the hospital and came right over.”

“Is your wife alright?”

“I just set up the surgery schedule. She didn’t want to go, so I practically dragged her to Seoul.”

Yang Taeho’s wife had been continuously receiving treatment due to liver issues.

A liver transplant would help, but his wife had been refusing surgery because of the cost.

She seemed reluctant to spend a lot of money since her condition could be maintained with medication to some extent.

“We have the same blood type, so I’m donating. I’ll have to go back for the transplant.”

“We can adjust the schedule.”

“Thank you so much for saying that.”

Yang Taeho finally took his eyes off Berta and thanked me with a smiling face.

“What about you? I heard on the community board there was a big fuss about Palao. Did you complete your mission?”

“Yes, somehow.”

“But why do you look so scruffy?”

“I haven’t had a chance to clean up since I came in.”

Yang Taeho seemed more relaxed now, as he was curiously scanning the room.

“Are you staying here?”

“For now, yes. You can stay in the adjacent room for a while too. I’ve already arranged it.”

“For now? Does that mean later?”

“I’m planning to set up a separate base for the party soon.”

It was something I had been considering for a while.

“There are a few things left to wrap up.”

Leaving the Bennett mansion was already a decided course of action.

“Well, since you’re the brains, we’ll do as you plan. Does it mean we must stay at the mansion?”

“Of course not. We’ll be going hunting from tomorrow.”

Getting Yang Taeho to Silver rank is a top priority.

That way, we can monopolize the three and four-star corrupted areas as a party unit.

‘The random box can be obtained in a 4-star area by just 10 people.’

That is the maximum number of people in a party. It means the system expects a clear with a group of that size.

Completing a raid that used to take 200 people with just 10 can’t be done with Bronze rank players.

“Take a rest for today.”

I needed a break myself since I hadn’t even washed after playing with Berta.

“How can I sleep in such a splendid place? My heart is racing… argh!”

Just like when I first entered this mansion, Yang Taeho let out an exclamation of admiration and suddenly jumped up.

Below the table, Berta, who had crawled over, poked his leg.

“What, what’s that! Eeeek! Don’t touch me!”

Yang Taeho leaped onto the sofa with lightning speed, shrieking in fear.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, followed by a familiar humming from outside.

Hence, I could vaguely guess the identity of the unexpected guest.

“Hello?”

But, as soon as I saw Kim Yul, poking her finger at her cheek and grinning beyond the open door, I reflexively slammed the door shut.

Bang-!

The silence after shutting the door hard was brief.

“Hehehehe.”

Kim Yul, opening the door with a laughing face, quickly popped in her head.

On the other hand, I frowned at Kim Yul.

“Try that again.”

“Our oppa doesn’t like cute things, huh?”

Kim Yul pursed her lips and mumbled, making my eyebrows twitch.

If my girlfriend did that, I might have let it slide just this once.

However, what use is a guy’s charm who is equipped with the same things as mine?

Moreover, Kim Yul had grown significantly taller over the past few months.

His shoulders were broad enough to be similar to mine.

Thanks to this, the cute image he had when we first met was almost gone.

“Just get to the point.”

As I coldly remarked, Kim Yul’s face brightened into a radiant smile.

“How rude, just coming to see you!”

Exuding sly charm, I shook my head no good-naturedly.

“Hmm? There’s a visitor? Hello!”

In the meantime, Kim Yul, who smoothly entered the room, greeted Yang Taeho.

“Oh, nice to meet you.”

Yang Taeho awkwardly returned the greeting with a smile, while I gave a light tap on Kim Yul’s head.

“Don’t act innocent, it’s sickening.”

“Haha, can’t fool you.”

He must have been playing somewhere in the mansion even before I arrived.

This was evident because the entire community was filled with buzz due to the exclusive mission of the Order of Palao.

That meant he had been waiting for me, who just finished the mission.

‘Since Rashar really likes him, she must have given him a room.’

I could easily imagine what might have happened while I was away from the mansion.

‘And yet, he’s pretending nothing happened.’

I inwardly clicked my tongue and took a seat.

Meanwhile, Kim Yul bent down under the table, giggling, and reached out a hand.

“Hello, Berta? Oppa is here.”

“Squeak!”

Berta, who seemed curious about Yang Taeho, was startled and fled.

I chuckled aloud as I watched Berta dart out of the room like an arrow.

Seeing how Berta avoided Kim Yul like the plague always amused me.

Kim Yul was a person beloved by nearly everyone at Bennett’s mansion.

On his first or second visit, he quickly became friends with the mansion staff.

Neither Chandler nor Rashar were exceptions.

Whenever he had spare time, he entertained with expert-level singing and dancing, casually telling light jokes—nobody could dislike him.

He was practically the mansion’s idol.

Because of this, he was now so accustomed to coming and going from the Bennett mansion as if it were his own home.

But Berta would be busy escaping whenever she saw Kim Yul.

‘Well, it’s obvious since she gets pestered all day if caught.’

To Berta, it was only natural to flee since Kim Yul would fawn over her like a doll whenever he saw her.

“By the way, who is this gentleman?”

With Berta gone, Kim Yul’s interest shifted to Yang Taeho.

“You’re not part of Palao’s faction, obviously.”

“Neither are you.”

The symbol above Yang Taeho’s head was of Patience’s Temoria.

Kim Yul had a symbol of Diligence’s Finelpenia above his head.

Among the two from different factions, it was Yang Taeho who first introduced himself.

He looked between me and Kim Yul, chuckling awkwardly as he offered his hand.

“Oh, sorry for the late introduction. I’m a new tanker in the team! Codename is Pudding, and my real name’s Yang Taeho.”

“… Joined the team?”

“But why isn’t this friend on the party list?”

Kim Yul cocked his head to the side with every word Yang Taeho spoke.

Then, at some point, he turned to me with shimmering eyes and exclaimed.

“Include me too!”

I looked at Yang Taeho’s hand awkwardly hanging in the air and turned to Kim Yul.

“You’re forming a party, right? I wanna join too!”

“Hey, you weren’t a party member?”

Ignoring a puzzled Yang Taeho behind, Kim Yul pushed his face closer towards me.

I pushed his face away, irritated.

Of course, I was still contemplating quietly.

‘This guy’s a melee damage dealer, right?’

From what I recalled, Kim Yul’s gear was indeed designed for close-range combat.

Two daggers were strapped around his waist, and two smaller backup daggers were on his thighs.

‘They might be too light to use as main weapons, though.’

While I intended to form a proper party, I wasn’t going to haphazardly turn him away.

From my hunting experience with Kim Yul, he wasn’t the most satisfactory candidate.

Although it was just one time, Kim Yul hadn’t shown anything particularly noteworthy to me then.

‘Nevertheless, it’s too early to conclude he’s amateurish now.’

Seeing how that guy has surely put in effort in his way, I decided to give him a chance.

“Preferred position?”

Upon showing a positive attitude, Kim Yul’s voice brimmed with energy.

“I’m capable of DPS and support!”

“Attributes.”

“Storm, rank 3.”

I scrutinized Kim Yul for a moment and appended one more question.

“Intermediate?”

“Ranked up from low.”

“Hmm.”

That was quite promising. It implied Kim Yul might attain a rank four attribute.

Judging from the information available thus far, attributes seemed to depend more on innate talent than effort.

‘Some people can’t manifest attribute mana even using attribute stones, so it’s pretty straightforward.’

Such individuals have no choice but to invest solely in regular mana instead of getting attribute mana as mission rewards.

Of course, reallocating to a higher-ranked attribute stone may not always yield an improvement either.

The potential disparity in initial skills causes a broad variance, even among those lucky enough to gain attributes.

The base for low-rank attribute stone provides 2-3 stars, intermediate-rank attribute stone provides 3-4 stars, and a high-rank attribute stone provides 4-5 stars attributes.

If a person gets only two stars from a low-rank attribute stone, they can’t manifest any further potential.

Some people even gain attributes like one of the four basic elements falling within two stars after using intermediate or high-rank attribute stones.

‘Such folks inherently possess two-star attributes.’

In contrast, individuals whose low-rank attribute stones yield three stars may consider trying intermediate-rank stones once more.

Reviews on the community suggest that there are testimonies of players who have upgraded their three-star attributes to four-star attributes by doing this.

‘Hyung said he got 3-star attributes with a intermediate attribute stone.’

Kim Yul got three stars with a low-rank attribute stone. The possibility of striving for four stars using a higher-rank attribute stone exists.

Just that potential alone made him worth considering a recruitment.

‘It might be the ceiling, though….’

Frankly, three stars is a decent grade.

Based on what has been revealed so far, over half of the players apparently don’t have attributes.

Over 70-80% of those remaining fall within the four basic elements at two stars.

Players possessing above three-star attributes are relatively rare.

‘The base for Storm must be Wind.’

Wind as a base attribute gives immense versatility.

Essentially, fire and wind are linked predominantly with offensive magical skills, whereas earth and water are typically associated with defense and support skills.

Among these, only fire is entirely offensive, whereas wind offers a beneficial balance between offense and support.

Achieving four stars would be ideal.

As I gently tapped my knees and sorted my thoughts, I raised the final question.

“Current skills?”

Kim Yul seemed to have been waiting eagerly for this inquiry and opened his status window.

Skipping over the private section, I examined the skill and magic list.

Skills: Mana Manipulation (66.14%), Brata Dagger Technique (lv.1 – 99.68%)

Magic: Invisibility (100%), Stealth (77.32%), Dagger Throw (lv.2 – 53.11%), Gale (44.91%), bind (67.24%)

‘Not bad….’

His collection of skills compensates for his foundational gaps neatly.

‘It’s perfect for serving as a substitute position.’

Even though he lacked a significant area-of-effect magic, that made him more appealing.

‘With this setup, he fits well in a supporting role.’

Lacking raw power, the magic types he excelled in were primarily support-oriented, suitable for a sub-drawing position.

Moreover, he had Stealth, something I didn’t possess.

Furthermore, Kim Yul belonged to Diligence’s Finelpenia, known for offering the title ‘Chaser’ through its Order blessing.

‘The effects of said title were distinctive.’

Reportedly, it allowed one to glean past events through traces like footprints or bloodstains.

It was leagues above mere Mana Detection, which only verified presence or absence.

‘Completely tracking traces, almost like when I inferred Rashar’s past, deriving from his Finelpenia’s authority.’

Overall, it indicated he was a fitting candidate for searching, sneaking, and serving as a sub-dealer role within the party.

The status window was almost designed for targeting the sub-dealer position.

“Huh.”

I never understood why Kim Yul generally hovered around me.

Nevertheless, witnessing it in such a definitive form stirred different emotions.

After watching Kim Yul beam cheerfully at me for a while, I spoke lightly,
“Tomorrow, we’re going hunting. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“I can exhibit my capability anytime! I’m a prepared trainee, no, a prepared talent!”

Despite being a former idol trainee, his self-promotional skills were top-notch.

But, I had no intention of stepping out today.

“Tomorrow. I just finished a mission this morning.”

“Then do I get to sleep here today?”

He even asking back slyly with that.

“You already have your room here.”

“Got caught, hehehe.”

He threw himself onto an empty couch and began chuckling.

His antics weren’t entirely annoying, and I couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking my head.

In the meantime, I decided to introduce Kim Yul to the bewildered-looking Yang Taeho, observing us.

“He’s a friend I’ve known since the early stages of the game.”

Since Kim Yul had yet to introduce himself properly.

“His codename is K Junior, as you may have overheard, his joining isn’t confirmed yet.”

Even though I’ve known him for a long time, if he doesn’t meet expectations, I won’t accommodate him.

“Huh, then he isn’t a senior but rather a junior, huh?”

“That’s right.”

As I calmly nodded in response, Kim Yul suddenly spoke to Yang Taeho.

Damned System