The Novel's Extra - chapter-53

Evil Society was one of the most notorious Djinn associations in the
world, being officially recognized by the UN and the Hero Association as
the number 1 wanted group. Although there were groups that were more
vicious and wicked than Evil Society, the latter was just too widely
known throughout the world.
But that didn’t mean that someone purposely spread their name. Their
notoriety was the result of their evil doings. They caused countless
incidents in countries all over the world. From the Artifact Scramble
incident in China to the Suwon Battle in Korea, they participated in
human-Djinn wars of every scale.

“Say that again.”

Evil Society’s hideout was surprisingly not far away.
In an artificial cave under Russia’s Vladivostok waters was the hideout
Evil Society has kept secret for over 40 years. As the years went by, the
technological advances made the cave a state-of-the-art facility that
looked nothing like a cave.

“My apologies.”

“No, don’t apologize. I said to say that again, Silasen. You said…
a cheetah messed with our plan?”

“No, it was a panther. Um, a man wearing a panther mask.”

Artifact retrieval was Evil Society’s first and foremost task. In the
first place, they were an organization formed by devils to steal
artifacts.
Homer’s Ring was the artifact that Kim Hakpyo, Evil Society’s
artifact retrieval team leader, desperately wanted.
This ring of wisdom amplified all abilities related to magic power, such
as magic power control, adaptability, and materialization. It was an
incredibly useful artifact for Djinns who had abnormally high amounts of
magic power.

“You mean a panther that looks like this?”

Kim Hakpyo showed a sketch of the masked man depicted according to
Silasen’s description.

“…Yes. He wasn’t an ordinary individual.”

“I know. I heard you lost a subordinate.”

“Yes, we lost Sidius. From what we observed from his life clock, he
seems to have been killed in one blow.”

“…”

Sidius. Although he had a weak defense, because of his superb
swordsmanship, his attack power was something even Kim Hakpyo
acknowledged. He was supposed to be capable of handling up to
low-intermediate rank Heroes, making him one of the organization’s
rising stars.

“He wasn’t a Djinn?”

It was surprisingly common for Djinns to kill each other.

“No, but he didn’t seem to be a Hero either.”

“Then he must be a mercenary or a hunter. Look into it. Of course,
don’t think about confronting him alone even if you find him.”

Homer’s Ring was something Kim Hakpyo vowed to obtain when he heard
about it from the Collector. And when it came to his vows, he had no
intention of breaking them.

“His weapon?”

“Yes?”

“Sidius’ magic sword, it’s expensive. Did you retrieve it?”

“Ah… no.”

Magic swords were created by humanity but could display the same power as
an artifact depending on one’s magic power. Naturally, it was extremely
costly. Low-rank artifacts went for 500 million won, and naturally, so
did magic swords.

“I see. That makes sense. Someone who knew to take the ring wouldn’t
have missed something that expensive.”

Kim Hakpyo accepted the reality. Only a fool wouldn’t take 500 million
won lying on the ground.
His anger then turned to Silasen.

“By the way, why are you announcing to the world that you’re a
Djinn?”

“…Yes?”

“Your god damn appearance.”

Kim Hakpyo pointed at Silasen, who was still maintaining a Djinn’s
black skin and blood-red pupils.

“I’m asking WHY you’re revealing that you’re a GOD DAMN DJINN!”

Kim Hakpyo’s fury resounded, shaking the cave’s interior. Silasen
quickly turned back to normal.

“M-My apologies!”

In truth, he had just made an honest mistake of forgetting to put his
disguise back on. After Devil Transformation, Djinns looked completely
different from humans, so they had to put on a disguise to hide that they
were Djinns.
However, the Djinns’ society wasn’t so lenient when it came to
mistakes.
Silasen fell to his knees in a hurry.

**

“…What am I supposed to do with this?”

Sunday night.
I pondered as I examined the magic sword I picked up. It was a spoil of
war I obtained from defeating a Djinn, but it was completely useless to
me. Not only was I unable to wield magic power like normal people, I also
didn’t have plans to use a sword which required me to fight in close
range.
Of course, I would be able to sell it for a vast amount of money, but
even if Violet Banquet guaranteed my anonymity, I felt uneasy about a
Djinn buying it.
So for now, I put the magic sword away in my drawer.

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“And what do I do with this?”

This time, it was Homer’s Ring. Because it hasn’t been awakened yet,
it looked shabby as though it was forged with mud, but in reality, this
ring was quite a unique artifact.

===
[Homer’s Ring] [Artifact] [Unawakened]
A ring worn by Homer in the past.
Contains hidden abilities.
===

Awakening this artifact would be easy for a Djinn, but it was a bit
tricky for me. Thankfully, I didn’t need to use the normal method for
awakening this artifact.
Using my Setting Intervention, I just deleted the “un-” part of
“unawakened”.

[49 SP will be used.]

It didn’t require too much SP, likely because the method for awakening
the ring was rather simple. You just had to put in a certain amount of
magic power, probably about 1.5 times the amount Chae Nayun currently had.

Once I saved the setting, the surface of Homer’s Ring cracked and
split. A beautiful platinum colored ring appeared from beneath the dirt
husk.

===
[Homer’s Ring] [Artifact] [Awakened]
A ring worn by Homer in the past.
Resonates with nature and endows its wearer with clear energy.
「Intelligence Increase – increases the wearer’s intelligence by
0.001 points every 24 hours up to a maximum of 0.365 points.」
「High rank magic power amplification」
「Camouflage」
===

Homer’s Ring not only amplified its wearer’s magic power, it also
increased ‘intelligence’, an invariable stat. Since the intelligence
increase had a limit, one only needed to wear it for a year to receive
its maximum benefit. 0.365 points of intelligence was equivalent to about
7 IQ.

“I guess I need to hold onto it for at least a year.”

Homer’s Ring wasn’t a binding item. If I gave it away after
increasing my intelligence for 365 days, the intelligence I gained from
it wouldn’t disappear.

At the same time, it was inefficient for me to continue holding onto it.
The source of my magic power wasn’t Kim Hajin, but the Stigma drawn on
my upper arm. Obviously, there was no way to equip the Stigma with the
ring.
…But just in case, I tried rubbing the ring on my upper arm.

“…What am I doing.”

I put it back on my finger.
Homer’s Ring better suited Kim Suho and Chae Nayun. Purely in terms of
efficiency, Chae Nayun was the best candidate as she beat Kim Suho in
magic power.

“Now…”

For the first time in some time, I checked my stats.

===
[Strength 2.56]
[Stamina 2.575]
[Speed 3.250]
[Perception 4.215]
[Vitality 2.665]
[Magic power 1.925]
===

The stats other than speed and perception had stopped growing.
I had reached a wall. A wall referred to a bottleneck in growth. The
first wall was between 2 and 3, the next was between 4 and 5, the next
was between 6 and 7, and so on.
Most people faced these walls on every 2 stat points, and cadets usually
had their upper limit around the 12 to 13 area.

“My magic power isn’t going up at all.”

It was likely that my magic power would stay at that level forever, but
that didn’t discourage me in any way. After all, my magic power came
from my Stigma.
Next, I saw some encouraging alerts.

[You managed to throw a weapon that is difficult to wield!]
[Beginner’s Luck applies! Your wire throwing accuracy and power
increases.]
[Your Gift, Master Sharpshooter, becomes grade 6!]

===
▷「Master Sharpshooter」
[Intermediate rank] [Spirit attribute] [Evolving — Grade 6]
[Proficiency EXP 0%]
—Master Sharpshooter’s Training
*Can wield all long ranged weapons more skillfully.
—Thousand-Mile Eyes
*Can see far away and predict a target’s movement path well.
*Increases speed and perception by 1 point.
—Bullet Time
*In combat only and once every 24 hours, you can spend up to 80 seconds
in ‘Bullet Time’.
—Sharpshooter of Reversal
*Depending on Kim Hajin’s invariable stat, ‘luck’, you can deal
bonus damage against a stronger opponent.
===

Master Sharpshooter finally evolved from low-intermediate rank to
intermediate rank.
It was faster than I expected, but the Gift’s real growth was only now
beginning.
Most likely, the same amount of effort I put in to go from grade 10 to
grade 6 would be needed to go from grade 6 to grade 5.

“With this, I should be able to beat Chae Nayun.”

Murmuring, I was about to close the laptop when I suddenly remembered
something.

“…I almost forgot.”

My family, or to be more precise, Kim Chundong’s family.
It was unlikely that the co-author left Kim Chundong’s past in a blank
slate, especially when it was the easiest setting he could modify.
I immediately grew curious.

Kim Chundong was admitted to Cube. Although he was an extra in my novel,
in the real world, he would have been an elite. Furthermore, genes played
a huge role in determining one’s Gift. In other words, Kim Chundong’s
parents weren’t likely to be ordinary people.

I entered Violet Banquet.
Tak, tak. From the numerous available categories, I clicked on [detective
agency].

[100% trustworthy information agency, ‘Veteran’.]
[Information agency, ‘Echo’. Anything you want to know is at our
disposal.]

There were several sellers, but agencies displayed on banner ads
weren’t top tier agencies. After all, well-known and self-confident
agencies didn’t need to advertise their product.
The real deal was here.

[Private Broker Yoo Jinhyuk]

Yoo Jinhyuk. This man was the best of the best in this field.
When it came to individuals in particular, there was nothing he
couldn’t find out. Naturally, his service was extremely expensive. Just
his base price was 50 million won.

“…Oh right.”

I was about to put in a request when I remembered something.

“I don’t have money.”

I had already invested everything I had into stocks.

Wiing—!
At that moment, something sitting on my drawer began to vibrate.
Once again, it was Evandel’s Seed.
The tiny seed even stood up vertically and shook its body. It was
protesting that it was hungry.

“I know, I know.”

I took out a new gauze and gave it to the seed.

**

[Monday 1 P.M.]

The eventful weekend passed and a new Monday came by.
Rather than Monday’s usual class, the exam we couldn’t complete was
continued today. Thus, cadets met in the exam room from two weeks ago.
While groups 14 to 25 took the exam, other cadets were busy writing their
reports.

‘Family affair…’

However, only Yoo Yeonha was immersed in thoughts completely irrelevant
to the exam.
Family affair.
What Kim Hajin said the day before kept bothering her.

Kim Hajin had immediately recognized Belbet’s face, but it didn’t
make sense for him to know Belbet’s face out of numerous criminals.
From her research, she found out that Belbet was a conman who worked
exclusively in Europe. In other words, he couldn’t have had anything to
do with Kim Hajin. It made more sense to conclude that Kim Hajin
memorized the face of every international wanted criminal.

‘But why…’

After thinking about Kim Hajin’s strange obsession with wanted
criminals, Yoo Yeonha came up with a hypothesis.
A horrible thing had happened to him in the past, but he didn’t know
who the culprit was. So to find the culprit, he had the International
Wanted List memorized.
Of course, this was only a hypothesis.
But…

‘Orphan.’

Adding in another keyword, the hypothesis became more logical.
Kim Hajin didn’t have parents. That was something almost every cadet
knew because Shin Jonghak’s lackeys often harassed him as a parentless
bastard.

‘So that must mean…’

Kim Hajin’s parents were dead. No, they were killed. Because of this,
Kim Hajin had memorized the faces of criminals and was hiding his power
to find and kill the culprit.
It made sense.
Yoo Yeonha added another keyword to her notes.

‘Sad past’

“Yeonha, what are you writing?”

Chae Nayun suddenly asked at that moment. She peeked at Yoo Yeonha’s
notes with tired eyes as though she just woke up from a nap.

“Family affair? Orphan? Sad past? …Are you adopted?”

“…Are you crazy? I’m just curious about something.”

“Hm…. Well, I guess you’ve always been curious about random things.
You know, you always tenaciously dig up things you can just ignore
without gaining anything. You’re kind of a dunce. No, you are a
dunce.”

“If you’re going to sleep, just keep sleeping, Nayun.”

Yoo Yeonha spoke as she gritted her teeth. Chae Nayun let out a big yawn,
then leaned against the back of her chair.

“Huaam~ Yeah, I should.”

The heckler went away, and Yoo Yeonha fell back into the boundary of
delusion and thought.
If Kim Hajin really had a past like that, she felt she could use it as an
advantage when trying to recruit him in the future.
It was illegal to investigate a cadet’s background, but that just meant
she had to avoid being caught.
That was how much she wanted to bring Kim Hajin into her guild. With the
last incident, she became even more convinced. Kim Hajin was perhaps even
more valuable than Kim Suho. At least, that’s what Yoo Yeonha thought.

“Hmm…”

Someone that could investigate Kim Hajin’s family background.
She knew of one such person. If he wanted, he could even draw up the
family tree of a cockroach.
The only question was whether he would help her.

“…”

Yoo Yeonha turned her smartwatch on.
On the bottom of her contacts list, a number she had kept sealed for the
past 5 years was printed.

[Uncle Yoo Jinhyuk]

Yoo Yeonha closed her eyes tightly and sent him a message.