Chapter 5

Chapter 5 (5/245)

05

An even greater number of message windows suddenly appeared before Han Sung's eyes. As various things started to blur in front of him, Han Sung, with a face half filled with curiosity and half with annoyance, began to close the message windows one by one.

"What are you doing now?"

Hwa Yeon, seeing Han Sung flailing his hands in the air, tilted her head and asked. Han Sung, startled for a moment, then nonchalantly brushed it off.

"Ah, no. There are mosquitoes flying around..."

"Mosquitoes? It's early October, and you're saying there are mosquitoes?"

"Maybe it's because of global warming, hahaha..."

Hwa Yeon, convinced by Han Sung's quite plausible lie, slowly nodded and let it go.

"Anyway, I'll go in now, Hwa Yeon."

"Yes, go ahead, Han Sung. I still have to work for another 5 hours and 17 minutes."

"...."

Even though she was smiling, why did her farewell feel so heavy? Han Sung, with this thought, looked at Hwa Yeon, who had taken on the night shift, with a sympathetic gaze, and quietly left the convenience store with the baby.

"It's almost 11 o'clock."

As soon as he stepped out, Han Sung checked the time on his phone and, despite his fatigue, muttered to himself, resisting the urge to collapse into bed.

He had walked to save on transportation costs, but he didn't have the energy to walk back. Although Han Sung had never chosen to spend money on transportation for a few minutes of convenience, rest was more important to him now than money.

'Just this once...'

Breaking his principle of frugality and succumbing to the temptation of convenience, Han Sung quietly sat on the bench at the bus stop in front of the convenience store, put down the basket he was carrying, and began to wait for the bus.

According to the bus stop display, the bus would arrive in about 6 minutes. Thinking it was too long to wait idly, Han Sung decided to check the messages he hadn't properly seen earlier and opened the system window.

'The reward was definitely paid in gold, right?'

When he changed the diaper, it was paid in cash, so why was it paid in gold, which can only be used in the system shop this time?

With this sudden question, Han Sung opened the shop menu, thinking it might be related to the shop being unlocked.

"Nothing seems to have changed."

The items in the menu were still just a bottle, a rattle, and diapers. The only change was the amount of gold he had.

"Three diapers worth, huh."

While he didn't know the exchange rate between Korean won and gold, the amount clearly indicated a pittance, and Han Sung expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Besides this, there was something else, right?"

He remembered there was also a message about levels. Recalling this, Han Sung immediately closed the shop menu and began to check all the buttons in the system window one by one.

'If someone saw this, they'd think it was a game screen.'

Whoever created this childcare assistance system must have been a big RPG game enthusiast. Han Sung guessed this as he first tried the button labeled [Status].

"What are these stats like a random mob's?"

Even a slime, a mascot in RPG games, would have better stats than this. Stunned by his own pitiful stats, Han Sung began to examine the stat window more closely to see if there was anything else.

"Childcare Points?"

Unlike familiar stats like HP and MP, a somewhat unfamiliar stat caught Han Sung's eye.

'What are Childcare Points? Some kind of loyalty points?'

The name sounded like something you could only use at a children's goods store. Thinking this to himself, Han Sung touched the [Help] button in the system window to find out what Childcare Points were.

"Can unlock skills?"

Skills. A term that always appears in fantasy games. They are typically features that, when overused, drain MP like a stock and result in only basic attacks in team fights, leading to all sorts of abuse from teammates.

'Can unlock skills... Could it be something like a fireball or a water jet?'

Skills that everyone has tried to mimic from cartoons at some point flashed through Han Sung's mind. Out of curiosity, he quietly entered the [Skills] window. Although he knew that even if he could use such skills, they wouldn't be very useful in real life, he couldn't resist the curiosity that is a man's instinct.

"Let's see..."

If he could use skills, he wished for teleportation or telekinesis. With this thought, Han Sung sipped a cup of kimchi soup and began to examine the menu in the skills window.

"....What is this?"

With high expectations, Han Sung entered the [Skills] window, but what awaited him was neither teleportation nor telekinesis, but something that looked more like a disease than a skill.

"Seriously, what kind of explanation is this?"

The system's explanation made him feel as if it was talking about him, and Han Sung frowned in displeasure. However, he couldn't really argue with it since the explanation wasn't technically wrong.

'Anyway, the formula explanation must have been related to this.'

Recalling the system's harsh criticism of the formula he had made, Han Sung now understood a bit more about how the skills worked.

"The name is a bit off, but it seems useful."

A skill that could be useful when sorting out expired food while working part-time. Han Sung thought it would speed up his work the next time he worked and began to check the [Skills] window again to see if there was anything else.

"There doesn't seem to be any other skills... Blessing of Growth? What's this?"

Intrigued by the sophisticated name, Han Sung read the description with a curious look.

Increase growth rate? What does that mean? Does it mean aging faster?

The not-so-friendly explanation left Han Sung with a very ambiguous expression.

Scientifically, it is said that after adolescence, when one enters adulthood, aging begins.

Endless stamina gradually decreases, health deteriorates, unexpected minor illnesses appear, and hair that seemed eternal gradually leaves for happiness.

"Ugh... Just thinking about it gives me the chills."

Inadvertently imagining his scalp, reflecting sunlight like the moon, due to M-shaped baldness, Han Sung shuddered and muttered.

At that moment, a bus, which had arrived without him noticing, stopped at the bus stop with the sound of compressed air being released.

As the bus stopped, Han Sung closed the system window, picked up the basket, and got on the bus.

He swiped his card and found an empty seat. Fortunately, it was late at night, so there were many empty seats.

Han Sung quietly sat in the closest empty seat among the many available. While most people prefer the back seats when getting on a bus, he was a rational person who tried to avoid unnecessary actions.

"Ugh..."

As the bus started to rumble and move, the baby, who had been sleeping soundly in the basket, stirred and made a cooing sound. Worried that the baby might wake up, Han Sung checked the basket and sighed in relief when he saw the baby was still asleep.

"Please, don't wake up and just stay quiet."

If the baby woke up, it might cry and make a fuss. Although the bus was quite empty, it wasn't completely empty, so Han Sung cautiously told himself to be careful and quietly watched the baby, who was sleeping soundly.

'Anyway, what is this baby... It's definitely not an ordinary baby.'

Since the moment the childcare assistance system appeared, ordinary was out of the question. Ordinary babies are born in maternity wards, not suddenly in a one-room apartment.

'Maybe I can find out if I use the Suspicious Eye?'

The skill description clearly stated that it could provide a more detailed understanding of the target. Since the target wasn't clearly defined, it might be possible to identify the baby.

There was no harm in checking. Although one could argue that there was no need to know more about a baby he would send to an orphanage the next day, it's better to satisfy curiosity early to have peace of mind.

With this thought, Han Sung quietly looked at the baby and used the [Suspicious Eye].

"Half... Elf?"