Chapter 10
What It Was to Be a 4th-Rank Extra (3)
“…Ah!”
Yechan, who had been looking at Youngwoo, was so startled he nearly fell backward.
It was because a change had occurred in Youngwoo’s appearance after he swallowed the coin.
Yechan blinked rapidly and asked.
It was obvious. A semi-transparent dotted outline was now surrounding Youngwoo’s body. The line even seemed to flow in a consistent direction, almost like blood circulation.
At that moment, Youngwoo pulled the coin back out of his mouth and examined his body.
“Is this… some kind of custom mode?”
“Custom mode?”
“You know. Like a mod that changes a game character’s appearance.”
“W-what? Then maybe right now….”
Before Yechan could finish, a new interface appeared in Youngwoo’s vision.
「Character Settings Change」
| Stats
“Ah, so putting the coin in my mouth activates the function?”
At Youngwoo’s words, Yechan quickly grabbed his own coin and put it in his mouth as well.
| Appearance
Ping!
“It… it seems like you can just hold it in your mouth.”
“In your mouth?”
Youngwoo looked at the coin, now covered in saliva, with an awkward expression.
Well, at least now they knew how to use it.
‘It doesn’t seem like anyone else has figured this out yet.’
Youngwoo raised his head and checked the timer—already down to 11 minutes.
He shifted his gaze back to the interface.
| Appearance
| Stats
There were only two menus: Appearance and Stats.
‘I’m curious about appearance, but there’s no time.’
He skipped appearance and selected Stats.
A guided screen appeared.
“From now on, you can use karma to enhance your physical abilities. Read each description carefully before making your choice.”
[Strength]
Relates to physical power and speed.
[Endurance]
Relates to stamina and sustained performance.
[Durability]
Relates to the resilience of skin, bones, and muscles.
[Senses]
Relates to reflexes, balance, and overall bodily control.
The physical stats that could be enhanced with karma were only these four: strength, endurance, durability, and senses.
It didn’t take long to understand the system.
‘Durability is kind of special… so what next?’
As he thought this, the guide screen disappeared and the full settings page appeared.
『Character: Jeong Myeongwoo07』
[Strength] 19
[Endurance] 21
[Durability] 13
[Senses] 24
Each stat point costs 1,000 Karma.
Available Karma: 153,000
“1,000 karma per point? So I can raise stats by 153 points?”
If he invested everything into strength alone, his power would increase roughly eightfold.
“…Insane.”
He finally understood the true value of karma.
‘This is how you transcend your starting rank.’
If he could continuously obtain enough karma, even a 4th-grade being could become stronger than anyone.
And since there was an “appearance” option too, it was likely he could even modify looks or body type.
In short—this was a world where money could do anything.
Youngwoo swallowed hard and checked the timer again.
[00:06:22]
Six minutes left until monsters and mutants appeared.
‘If I can’t survive the fight, I die here anyway. I should invest everything into stats.’
But which stats?
He had no idea what kinds of monsters would appear or how many.
‘Then I should distribute it evenly…’
However, he decided to exclude durability and senses.
‘Even if I put 50 points into durability, I doubt it could block blades or claws.’
As for senses, he felt it wouldn’t help much early on. His current weakness was clearly strength and endurance.
‘Split between strength and endurance. If I get stronger, I can handle a shield more easily, so my survival rate increases.’
He immediately began allocating points.
77 points into strength, 76 into endurance.
He had no intention of leaving even tomorrow night’s tax payment untouched.
Then—
Bang!
Numbers began filling his previously shabby status window.
『Character: Jeong Myeongwoo07』
[Strength] 96 (19+77)
[Endurance] 97 (21+76)
[Durability] 13
[Senses] 24
And at the same time, changes occurred in Youngwoo’s body.
“…!”
His body didn’t suddenly bulk up, but even sitting still, he could clearly feel it.
His strength and stamina had increased tremendously.
‘…The weight of the “Early Bird” feels almost nonexistent.’
Even the shield in his left hand felt extremely light compared to before.
When he stood up, even his movements were different. He didn’t need to push off the ground with his hands anymore—his legs alone were enough.
‘What… is this? It’s completely different.’
Strength had increased from 19 to 96.
A fivefold increase on paper—so the sensation made perfect sense.
“Are you okay?”
Seeing his flushed face, Yechan asked worriedly.
Instead of answering, Youngwoo jumped in place.
Thud!
The impact from his shoes was so strong it felt like the soles might tear apart, and his body shot upward.
“Ah…!”
Yechan’s eyes widened as Youngwoo’s shadow passed over him.
Youngwoo himself found himself much higher than expected—at least 1.5 meters off the ground just from a jump.
And suddenly, he felt fear.
He had no experience with falling or landing from height.
Whoosh!
Gravity grabbed him harshly.
“Ah!”
His body tilted forward for a moment, but his feet touched the ground just in time.
However, the landing had no cushioning at all.
Pain shot up from his heels to his knees.
“Ugh!”
He instinctively grabbed his knee, realizing his mistake.
‘So that’s why durability and senses exist.’
For example, if he leapt five meters instead…
Going up wouldn’t be a problem—but how would he land?
With durability at just 13, could his legs even withstand it?
The same applied when blocking monster attacks or swinging a weapon.
‘I should invest in durability and senses later if I survive this.’
Just then, Yechan called out urgently.
“Sir…! What about me? What should I put my stats into?”
“Huh?”
He turned and saw Yechan also surrounded by a translucent dotted outline.
“How many points do you have?”
“I can use 73 points.”
“Then put 30 into strength and endurance, 10 into durability, and 3 into senses.”
Having just experienced trial and error, Youngwoo gave the best advice he could within his understanding.
Yechan immediately followed his instructions.
『Character: Kang Yechan306』
[Strength] 44 (14+30)
[Endurance] 52 (22+30)
[Durability] 27 (17+10)
[Senses] 22 (19+3)
Soon, Yechan also showed a similar expression of shock.
“…W-what is this…?”
“I don’t know how much karma we’ll be able to earn in the future, but at this rate, superhumans will start appearing soon.”
“Y-yeah, that seems likely.”
“So if possible….”
Youngwoo checked the timer again.
[00:00:49]
49 seconds left.
“…We should become those superhumans. There’s nothing to lose by being strong.”
In truth, it was more than “nothing to lose.”
They had to become strong.
Youngwoo still hadn’t forgotten.
The moment at the exchange station—when he was surrounded by strangers, slapped, and had his arms twisted.
Even now, just thinking about it made his teeth clench.
He never wanted to be under someone like that again. Never.
[00:00:21]
It began.
…3.
…1.
21 seconds left, Yechan stopped swinging his spear and stood still.
Youngwoo scanned the surroundings carefully, looking for any possible ambush.
[00:00:10]
And then—
BOOOOOOM!
A massive horn-like sound echoed, and from the top of the light pillar touching the sky, an abnormal rushing wind could be heard.
“Kyaaak!”
“Kyaaak!”
“Sir…! Something is coming down!”
“I see it. Stay back.”
Youngwoo saw faint glowing shapes emerging from within the upper part of the light pillar, gradually growing larger.
“Kyaaak!”
They rapidly descended along the pillar and landed right in front of them.
By the time the timer hit 10 seconds, both of them were staring at the blue light column.
Were they falling from above?
Or appearing at the point where the light touched the ground?
While thinking anxiously—
[00:00:03]
…they arrived.
Crash, crash!
Exactly 12 entities.
They crushed the ground upon landing. Youngwoo could easily imagine anyone standing there would have been shattered to pieces.
Still—
‘At least it’s not too many.’
Of course, if each light pillar produced 12 monsters, that meant hundreds across the entire city.
During their descent, the creatures had been wrapped in large oval white spheres.
But the problem was their size.
“…Sir?”
Yechan stepped back nervously.
Youngwoo was just as shocked.
Each sphere was about 2 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide.
‘What the hell is inside…?’
Before he could finish the thought, the spheres simultaneously split open.
And then—
CRASH!
Twelve heavily armed goblins stepped out, kicking through the inner walls of their pods with confidence.
When they fully emerged, both Youngwoo and Yechan could only look up in shock.
Because they were 2 meters tall.
Clatter!