Chapter 9: To Become Stronger (1)
If there was one thing helpful in this world, it was the ‘System’.
‘Without the System, I might have died a long time ago.’
Did the writer have a conscience when he tossed me into this place? He granted me something called the System.
Did the System exist in the original work?
It did.
It was the protagonist’s ability.
In other words, the System’s function was given only to the protagonist. It was the protagonist’s ability - the protagonist’s privilege.
My character originally didn’t have it.
In a normal human state, I couldn’t see the System.
However…“Transform.”
The moment I put on the mask and transformed into the Goblin, the world I saw beyond the mask changed completely.
[System, on.]
It was made so I could use the System only in very limited situations.
[A window that only appears during transformation. It’s maddening.]
Currently.
I was transformed into the Goblin, observing my reflection in the mirror.
[Goblin]
[Job: Villain]
[Affiliation: Secret Society’ Yi Maemangnyang’]
[Rank: Villain S, ?? ??? EX]
[Skills: Physical Enhancement, Goblin Baseball Bat]
[Status]
[Strength: D (13 / 200)]
[Durability: E (34 / 100)]
[Agility: A (121 / 500)]
[Magic Power: C (23 / 300)]
[Luck: F (0 / 0)]
“How maddening.”
The stats were awful.
They were so terrible and grave in one aspect that you could see the author’s malice.
Other A-rank ability users all have stats like BBABC, but I was utterly pitiful compared to them.
‘At first, I was in tears, wondering if this was really a villain.’
These were the stats I had built up and built up through half a year of training.
I raised my strength from F to D through strength training.
My agility was high from the beginning at B, and after a hellish training, I raised it to A.
The reason why my agility was high might be to inject plausibility into me, shouting, ‘Kut, that’s it for today!’ before running away.
Thanks to that, I ran away very diligently and had never been caught yet.
My magic power naturally increased while staying in the land of South Korea.
If I had gone to another country, such as far away to Europe, I would still be at level E by now.
Durability?
‘I don’t even think about increasing my durability.’
Durability strengthened only when hit.
It was also expressed as grit, but unfortunately, I hate pain.
I may look like a melee character swinging a baseball bat. Still, in reality, I was more like an assassin damage dealer.
[Embrace the… Goblin….]
Was Goblin’s strength his selling point?
The one who was really strong was the protagonist.
If I just remembered his stats simply….
[Strength: S (892 / 1000)]
[Durability: EX (7496 / 9999)]
[Agility: A (18 / 500)[
[Magic Power: EX (9999 / 9999)]
[Luck: S (777 / 1000)]
It was something like that.
I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the stats were set to be maliciously symmetrical.
That was also probably the ‘Volume 1’ stats.
By the time he dropped the meteor, it must have been almost all EX, 9999-level stats.
‘There’s a limit to a Mary Sue munchkin. Isn’t this too much?’
And he said, ‘I’m so weak’ after all this, there was no way he could be attractive as a protagonist.
[You seem strong, why don’t you fight?]
[No. I’m weak. Isn’t my power normal?]
[Kut, don’t lie! Just by dodging my attack, you’re a strong one!]
He claimed his goal was to graduate quietly from the academy, but he always took action whenever villains appeared and naturally rose rapidly to become the hero of the academy.
Perhaps it was because the Goblin kept pestering him that he revealed his skills.
What if I didn’t pester him?
If the Goblin didn’t aggro, would he continue to live in a weak state?
[You guys made me like this! I wouldn’t have gone this far if you hadn’t bothered me!]
He dropped the meteor not because of the author’s sudden ending tendency, but because he wanted to live normally and quietly but went berserk because people kept bothering him.
‘He’s like a bloated fish.’
What if he just graduated normally without awakening as the Demon King and then left to find his own life?
‘Others will bother him.’
It was not just the assassins aiming for Sejong Academy.
Because the Yi Maemangnyang, which held the whole of South Korea, could easily exert influence on Sejong Academy, there were all sorts of villains, not just assassins.
Like the Illusion Illuminati.
Or the KKK.
Or the Triad.
The author made all kinds of seemingly plausible underworld organizations into villains.
Honestly, it felt like they could very well exist in this world. Still, here they added a dose of nationalistic favoritism.
[The Yi Maemangnyang is a villain organization stronger than any other villain organization, and all other evil organizations are wary of the Yi Maemangnyang.]
They said.
In other words, because the Yi Maemangnyang was the strongest in the underworld, no one could easily step into South Korea, where they had a firm grip.
At most, they deployed a very small number of agents.
“…Ha.”
If they killed the protagonist, anything could be solved easily, but the protagonist was too strong.
But they couldn’t back down either.
[If you can’t kill the protagonist because he’s strong, you just need to become strong enough to kill the protagonist.]
Luckily, I had power.
A very special ability.
There was one ability that made me, with my terrible stats, an S-rank villain - more due to my accumulated evil deeds rather than the level of mana - the [Goblin’s Bat].
This baseball bat I’m holding.
It had an original form, but I was using it in the form of a modern-day goblin-like baseball bat with lots of nails hammered into it.
Thanks to this bat, I have been able to survive until now.
[…Should I call it supernatural power?]
[Gold come out, poof. Silver come out, poof.]
I wasn’t sure if I should call it material creation or shape transformation.
If I had to give this power a name, I would call it ‘supernatural power’.
The driving force to create special objects through supernatural power was ‘mana’.
If only my mana was infinite, I could create anything I think of.
Being the reader.
I was about to write a review called ‘absolute delusion’ about this ability.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and the ability was replaced with the name ‘Goblin’s Bat’.
[…Mana into reality.]
I aimed the bat forward.
[…The Goblin’s imagination becomes reality.]
Pa-aang!
I created the object I had in my mind through a simple illusion.
[Whew.]
After confirming it was perfectly made, I released the transformation.
I became naked, but nobody knew that.
I closed the curtains tightly at home, and no one attacked me, even if I transformed in my boarding room and someone read my mana.
From the start.
“Ha, it’s so surreal.”
I was creating chicken and canned beer with the ability to turn thoughts into reality. Who would think I’m a Goblin?
“…I really feel like I’ve gone mad.”
Creating chicken and beer with mana?
It was a clear waste.
But still.
“One chicken is 38,000 won in this world. I will never order chicken even if I die.”
Cursing the author who set the chicken pricing near 40,000 won, I was surviving today by tearing into the food I created with my mana.
“… It’s disgustingly tasteless.”
It was not a matter of money.
“Ah, I want to enter the academy soon.”
It was a matter of pride.
“There are even comics that have been completed without disc problems for the author because that person has awakened as a power user.”
At that time.
In a hotel suite room in Busan, a white-haired woman was lying on the bed watching TV.
[…’ Snow White’ is reported to work as an academy instructor for a year, and inquiries about special admissions from various countries are non-stop. Congressman Guk Bi-hong. What should we make of this?]
[Hehe. Our nation’s power has indeed increased that much. Isn’t that so? Even during the IMF era, everyone was predicting that the country would fail. But through activities like the gold collection movement….]
[Ah, sorry. The data screen is on. This is the list of power users who have applied for special admission this time. A princess from the UK, the granddaughter of a German car company’s president, and even the heir to a prominent family from the United States. They say one of the princesses from the Arab world is coming?]
[Yes. It’s ironic, usually when a female hero like Snow White becomes an instructor, male power users from abroad show a lot of interest, right? But these people are also interested in Snow White. Well, no matter how much the world has changed, even if they are power users, same-sex….]
[Having the opportunity to meet the famous hero whom I admired as a role model is an honor. I see. Let’s talk with Congressman Jiokmin. You’re saying that ‘Yi Maemangnyang’ is behind Snow White becoming an instructor?]
[Well, of course. Because Yi Maemangnyang keeps targeting Sejong Academy, Snow White….]
[Please, use the formal name.]
As the noise started, the woman turned off the TV.
And then, she played with the small ice sculpture next to her.
“…Are you also targeting the academy?”
The ice sculpture was a baseball player holding a baseball bat.
However, his face was not visible because it was covered by a helmet.
Just.
His physique was strikingly similar to someone’s.
“Why on earth?”