Chapter 22

# 22

User Manual for the Reincarnated 022 Chapter

Design

"Kim Hyun-sung, I don't know if that guy is safe."

"He'll be fine."

After breaking through the monsters' encirclement to some extent, Park Deok-gu muttered.

He seemed a bit worried.

It seemed he felt a bit uneasy after hearing that Park Hye-young didn't return.

Kim Hyun-sung had taken all the other monsters with him, and Park Deok-gu was worried that he might not return like Park Hye-young.

However, even if Kim Hyun-sung was cornered, it was hard to imagine him being torn apart by monsters.

If he moved properly, it would be hard to even follow him with the eye, so evading several monsters would be no problem.

He was probably out of that area by now and worrying about the same thing.

One person died and returned from a hunting trip that we put a lot of effort into.

This will likely make the people in the shelter huddle even more.

This expedition had to end successfully.

Of course, Kim Hyun-sung doesn't know that Park Hye-young is dead, but just the fact that an accident happened is enough to give him a headache.

"It's a bit disappointing. I wasn't particularly close to Park Hye-young, but she seemed to be trying hard..."

"We almost all died, so this is a cheap price to pay."

"Well, that's true, but..."

"We should be grateful to have returned alive. It couldn't be helped. It was also her fault for not listening to us and drawing attention, and for shouting so loudly that all the monsters could hear. To be honest, if you or Hyeon had died instead of her, I wouldn't have forgiven her."

Not forgiving her is not the end of it.

I might have wanted to kill her myself.

Park Deok-gu and Jung Hyeon are precious pawns.

When I glanced over, both Jung Hyeon and Park Deok-gu were looking at me with strange expressions.

Jung Hyeon looked touched, and Park Deok-gu seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Ah..."

"Well, I would have felt the same way."

In fact, Park Hye-young was killed by Jung Hyeon, but I didn't really want to think about that right now.

Apart from Kim Hyun-sung, these two are the people I rely on the most.

Park Deok-gu, a meat shield with high durability and strength, and Jung Hyeon, a magician with potential that's hard to measure.

They both rely on me to some extent, which is a disadvantage but can also be seen as an advantage.

The problem is that one of them is a bomb I can't handle, but given her nature, she has the potential to be a powerful ally.

"By the way, how are we going to explain this to the people in the shelter?"

"There's nothing to explain. A mistake was made, and one person died. That's all. If they get scared by this..."

"Get scared?"

"Even if we want to help them, they will eventually die. We need to remember that this place is a tutorial. The main game is much more dangerous."

We often forget that this is a tutorial because of the tension of potentially dying.

We've just started.

In the main game, there might be people Kim Hyun-sung can't handle, and monsters that are incomparable to what we're facing now.

"We can't get complacent."

If we get complacent like the people in the shelter, we'll die.

Except for Lee Ji-hye, who seems to have some sense, most of them are idiots.

I was bewildered by how not a single one of them could be useful.

I couldn't understand why Kim Hyun-sung was so fixated on these people.

It might be related to his past life, but I didn't have the time to dig into his past right now.

"I'll stay here tonight."

"You're not going back to the shelter?"

"It's too far."

"I thought we were almost there... Hmm. I don't understand how you can remember the way so well, sir."

"This is normal. I also left some marks to help me recognize the way."

"You left marks already?"

'This guy...'

I didn't expect Park Deok-gu to use his brain, but this shows that his brain is completely filled with muscle.

Jung Hyeon quickly continued when she saw me looking surprised.

"Here."

A scratch that looked like it was made by scraping the window.

A small scratch on the wall was clearly visible.

"You knew about this too, sis."

"Pay more attention to your surroundings. If we get separated like we did earlier, what would you do...?"

"Hmm. I don't think that will happen..."

I was a bit taken aback by his tendency to trail off.

He seemed embarrassed as he fidgeted to find a spot to sit.

I didn't plan to nag him here, so I also slumped down, feeling tired.

Jung Hyeon stuck to me like a cicada on an old tree.

Park Deok-gu's expression looked somewhat sinister.

"Hmm... Sir, I'll go check the surroundings for a bit."

"Do you need to?"

I hoped he would leave his spot.

"Who knows if there are any monsters we haven't noticed around here."

That's not wrong.

"Sir, you used a lot of mana or something, and... I think it would be good if sis takes care of you a bit..."

"Ah! I'll take care of it, Deok-gu."

"Don't get lost."

"Just a quick check around."

I nodded roughly.

Seeing him leave made me worry that I was alone with Jung Hyeon.

I knew she wasn't crazy enough to cast a spell at me, but the scene I saw earlier kept replaying in my mind.

The grinning Jung Hyeon and the twitching, limbless Park Hye-young.

I couldn't help but feel scared.

"Status window."

I called out the status window, and my information naturally appeared in my field of vision.

[Checking Player Lee Gi-young's status window and talent values.]

[Name - Lee Gi-young]

[Title - None. You need to try harder.]

[Age - 25]

[Trait - Calculating Strategist]

[Class - Mage]

[Class Effect - Basic Magic Knowledge Acquisition]

[Attributes]

[Strength - 10 / Growth Limit - Below Average]

[Agility - 11 / Growth Limit - Below Average]

[Health - 14 / Growth Limit - Below Average]

[Intelligence - 25 / Growth Limit - Hero and Above]

[Stamina - 12 / Growth Limit - Below Average]

[Luck - 23 / Growth Limit - Hero and Above]

[Mana - 05 / Growth Limit - Below Average]

[Equipment - None]

[Special Trait - Eye of the Mind]

[Overall Evaluation - You've grown a bit, like an ant's tail. Your health, mana, and intelligence have shown significant growth. It seems you've had a lot to think about. Especially, your intelligence, which has grown significantly, stands out. Don't get too complacent. Your current abilities are still worse than a monster's secretions.]

I don't know whose opinion this overall evaluation is based on, but I don't like it.

Without this ability, I wouldn't have made it this far, but I want to take some action against this evaluation.

However, I couldn't help but feel a bit pleased with the growth of my attributes.

My mana had increased by 2, which was noticeable.

Clearly, I had a lot to think about, as my intelligence was significantly higher than my other attributes.

Since I couldn't determine the exact existence of intelligence stats, I couldn't tell what had improved, but my basic thinking ability must have improved somewhat.

'Luck.'

My luck, which was stacked in the unknown, had also increased by two levels.

This seemed to indicate that Jung Hyeon's condition hadn't negatively affected me, which was a relief.

'Not bad.'

For a piece of trash at the bottom of the talent scale, this was a pretty good growth.

At this level, I wasn't lagging behind other ordinary people.

"Your attributes... have increased, haven't they?"

"Yeah. Is there something different about you, Hyeon?"

"No, not yet... But my mana has increased a bit. My health and strength... too."

"That's good to hear."

[Checking Player Jung Hyeon's status window and potential abilities.]

[Name - Jung Hyeon]

[Title - None. You need to try harder.]

[Age - 21]

[Trait - Pure Advocate]

[Class - Mage - Common Rank]

[Attributes]

[Strength - 11 / Growth Limit - Rare and Below]

[Agility - 11 / Growth Limit - Rare and Below]

[Health - 15 / Growth Limit - Hero and Below]

[Intelligence - 23 / Growth Limit - Hero and Above]

[Stamina - 14 / Growth Limit - Rare and Below]

[Luck - 23 / Growth Limit - Hero and Above]

[Mana - 18 / Growth Limit - Legendary and Above]

[Equipment - None]

[Special Trait - How to Become a Mage - Hero Rank]

[Overall Evaluation - Be careful. Nice boat.]

I opened Jung Hyeon's status window, just in case, but I couldn't find any significant changes from before.

The noticeable change was that her mana had increased by 3. Her trait as a pure advocate remained the same. Her current state could still be described as pure, so I had no complaints, but I wished it was more clearly indicated.

'What's with the overall evaluation?'

It sounded ominously.

"It's all thanks to you, oppa."

"No, I didn't really help much."

I didn't contribute much to the growth of her attributes.

As I smiled quietly, Jung Hyeon also began to smile brightly.

It was a bit scary, but I couldn't show it.

When I gently stroked her head, she bowed her head. The image of her laughing maniacally while cutting off Park Hye-young's limbs was gone.

A situation where I couldn't help but notice that she had a crush on me.

Currently, Jung Hyeon is the person I'm most concerned about.

I needed to turn an uncontrollable bomb into a controllable one.

'Two options.'

First. Push her away very slowly.

Not pushing her away from me, but from a relationship beyond that of a lover to a relationship like an older brother and younger sister.

Lower the intensity from romantic love to sibling love.

She won't try to cut me with magic out of jealousy.

It's the safest and most reasonable method.

Second. Quickly pull her in.

The second option is romantic love.

Develop a relationship where she trusts, believes, and follows me, to the point where she would follow my words without question.

It sounds absurd, but given Jung Hyeon's current state, it doesn't seem impossible.

Actually, I'm thinking of the first option.

I know it won't be easy, but there's still room to improve the relationship.

As I thought about various things and stroked her head again, she grabbed my hand that was on her head.

I was a bit surprised.

"Hmm... Hmm..."

Park Deok-gu, who had gone on patrol, returned.

"The atmosphere seems good."

"What? What? No... It's not like that..."

Jung Hyeon was a bit too flustered.

Park Deok-gu, with a sinister smile like before, spoke to Jung Hyeon.

"I asked you to take care of sir, but do you have some naughty side, sis?"

"No, that's not it."

Feeling uncomfortable with Park Deok-gu's grin, Jung Hyeon got up and moved to a corner.

Seeing this, Park Deok-gu grinned and plopped down next to me.

"Did I come back too early?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you and sis have a good time?"

I couldn't understand what this guy was saying.

Thinking about it, he's 23, and Jung Hyeon is 21.

I couldn't understand why he called her 'sis' when she clearly looked younger than him.

"Jung Hyeon is younger than you, right?"

"Of course. But how can a younger brother treat the person who will be sir's woman as a younger sister?"

"What...?"

I almost blurted out, "What the hell?"

Come to think of it, something was off.

What I wanted from Jung Hyeon was a bond, not a romantic relationship.

Her environment might have led her in a strange direction, but there was still a puzzle piece that didn't fit.

It felt like the last piece had finally fit into place.

'Damn...'

A matchmaker.

"Remember this when things go well. Although I didn't say it, after sir asked me to take care of sis, I subtly pushed things along."

"What... How...?"

"Hmm... I hinted that you two look good together and that sir might have feelings for you. I subtly probed sis, but I did so much that I can't even remember... Hehe... You don't have to be too grateful..."

"..."

"I thought her taste was a bit unusual... Hmm! Since sir said so, it's right for me to