Right now—
I was facing one of the most important decisions of my life.
“Hmmmm……!”
I had already been standing in the same spot for thirty minutes.
No matter how long I thought about it, I could not reach an answer.
“The first one? No, no. The second one too…….”
My finger trembled.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘Just pick one……!’
“Which one should I choose, eeny, meeny—!”
“Sir, could you please be a little considerate of the people waiting behind you?”
“……Huh?”
The unexpected rebuke came at the worst possible moment.
Scratching my head, I turned around.
“Urgh…….”
One middle-aged woman.
Two children.
One college student.
“Young man, are you done looking yet?”
“……I’m sorry.”
I bowed deeply—
then grabbed whatever happened to be closest.
‘Ugh, how embarrassing…….’
I was at a supermarket.
I had come to buy seeds for the new plants my sister wanted me to grow.
‘Why did I come all the way here myself?’
Because I had wondered whether my observation ability might work on the seeds.
If I could learn what kind of buff a plant would produce before growing it, I could save both Mana and time.
Well, that idea had been a complete failure.
‘Packaging is so thorough these days. What was I even thinking?’
Now I felt as though I had wasted my time walking all the way to the supermarket for nothing.
It was five kilometers away too.
Just thinking about the walk back made me feel exhausted.
“……So, what did I even grab?”
I trudged out of the supermarket and checked the bag.
Since I had simply taken whatever my hand landed on, I had not even looked at the names.
There were three kinds of seeds inside.
The first was—
“……Basil?”
The packet had a picture of fresh green leaves.
It did not look like a vegetable or fruit.
‘I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere…….’
I did not know the plant itself.
But the name sounded familiar.
After struggling to remember for a moment, I took out my phone.
I searched for it immediately.
“Ah, basil pesto.”
It was a pasta dish I had eaten at a restaurant my sister had taken me to before.
I distinctly remembered it being called basil pesto pasta.
“Hmm…… An herb…….”
Now I was curious about what kind of buff it would produce.
The first one was a winner.
‘The second one is…….’
“Ugh…….”
The moment I saw the picture on the packet, I frowned instinctively.
It looked somewhat similar to basil.
But far uglier.
“Perilla leaves…….”
I hated the wrinkled leaves.
I hated their distinctive sharp scent and grassy smell.
I simply did not want to eat them.
‘I’d rather just eat lettuce…….’
The second one was a failure.
No matter how delicious my ability made them, perilla leaves would still be perilla leaves, wouldn’t they?
I probably would not even want to put them in my mouth.
“Let’s hurry and check the next…… Ah.”
The third packet.
The moment I pulled it out, I could not hide my disappointment.
“A duplicate…….”
Fresh green leaves.
And the name written prominently across the packet.
Basil Seeds.
“Fine…… Two kinds are enough.”
I might not have enough Mana for three anyway.
My MP was only 300.
Excluding the cherry tomatoes, which continued producing fruit automatically without requiring another blessing—
if I used Blessing of the World Tree on each plant once per day—
Azure Breeze, basil, and perilla leaves.
That would be my limit.
‘Wait, Azure Breeze?’
“Oh, right. My Mana capacity increased……?”
I had forgotten.
Come to think of it, I had not even checked.
“Status Window.”
A blue screen unfolded before my eyes, displaying information about my body.
HP, MP, Stamina, and more.
My physical condition was represented almost like a game system.
“Oh……!”
I checked the most important value.
MP.
Originally, I had only possessed 300 points.
Now—
600 points.
It had doubled.
‘Sis went from 3,000 to 4,500…… Fifty percent.’
I had gone from 300 to 600.
Twice as much.
‘If you only compare the raw increase, Sis gained five times more than I did…….’
Maybe Azure Breeze normally provided a buff that increased MP by fifty percent.
And for some reason, it had been applied to me at twice that effect.
“Either way, with this much, I can experiment with a few more plants.”
Since I had already come all the way to the supermarket—
I might as well get everything I could out of the trip.
I abandoned the idea of heading home and turned back toward the store.
“Basil, perilla leaves…… I want something that actually bears fruit instead of more leafy stuff…… Huh?”
The moment I stepped through the supermarket entrance—
something caught my eye.
‘……What’s with that guy?’
One hundred ninety……
No, nearly two meters tall?
A massive man.
He looked as though he had pumped himself full of drugs.
His bulging muscles and protruding veins immediately drew the eye.
But if that were all, I would not have paid him much attention.
‘Why does he look like that?’
The weather was fairly cool.
Yet he was pouring sweat as though he were standing beneath a waterfall.
His lips trembled.
His eyes were unfocused.
“Is he sick……?”
I was wondering whether I should help when—
“Oh.”
The man suddenly grimaced in pain.
Then he dropped to his knees.
“Huff……! Huff……!”
His hand rummaged through his pocket.
Soon, he pulled out a red pill.
“Damn it…….”
I hesitated, my legs growing weak with uncertainty.
Should I say something?
Or just ignore him?
After a brief struggle, the answer was obvious.
‘Sigh…… Who am I to interfere?’
Too many good things had happened lately.
I had started forgetting my own position.
At the end of the day, I was still an unemployed shut-in and an ordinary nobody.
An Awakened who had merely discovered the usefulness of his ability late through sheer luck.
‘Just go…….’
I turned away and headed toward the supermarket’s gardening section.
It was probably nothing serious.
That was what I was about to tell myself.
―……Kill them.
“Huh?”
It sounded as though someone had whispered directly beside my ear.
I turned around.
The only person there was still the huge man.
And he was standing quite far away.
“What the……?”
I tried to ignore it and keep walking.
Then—
―Supermarket…… terrorist attack…… revenge…….
“……Fuck.”
I had not imagined it.
This time, I heard it clearly.
And in the next moment—
I noticed the man’s lips moving.
‘……Something’s wrong.’
There was too much distance between us.
I should not have been able to hear him.
In the first place, all I could see with the naked eye was a man leaning against the wall with his hood pulled low.
There was no way I should have been able to make out him muttering anything.
‘Have my senses become sharper?’
Was this an aftereffect of borrowing Enhanced Senses?
But I had not noticed any lingering effects until now.
I was confused.
And while I stood there frozen—
“I’ll kill them…… Everyone in here…… I’ll kill every last one……!”
“……!”
Crunch!
The massive man swallowed something.
‘……That.’
Sniff, sniff.
My nose reacted instinctively.
A faint minty fragrance mixed with something sweet.
I remembered this scent.
‘It’s similar to Azure Breeze…….’
I did not mean the smell of the fruit itself.
It was difficult to describe exactly.
If I had to put it into words—
“……The smell of Mana.”
The moment I realized that—
everything happened at once.
“ROOOOAAAR!!!”
CRRRRACK―!
The sound of muscles twisting and tearing struck my ears.
Something writhed beneath the man’s skin.
Blue veins.
The same symptoms I had seen in my sister.
“Huuup―!”
BOOM!!
The man shot forward in an instant and brushed past my shoulder.
Even though it had been nothing more than a leap, an explosion thundered behind him.
“No, that actually exploded!?”
FWOOSH!
The place where he had been standing was scorched, and flames were already rising.
It was beyond anything a normal human could do.
‘He’s an Awakened.’
When he passed beside me—
my heightened senses briefly allowed me to see his face.
Unfocused eyes.
His mouth was still muttering something.
‘Terrorism.’
He intended to hurt the ordinary people inside the supermarket.
That was why he had ignored the single person standing right in front of him.
“……I’m screwed.”
I hurriedly pulled out my phone and searched through my contacts.
If I did not report this quickly, there would definitely be people inside this enormous supermarket who could not escape in time.
‘At a time like this……!’
Beep―
Riiing……
Click.
“Guild Master!!”
―……You scared me. W-What’s wrong, Sohyeok?
Baek Yulheon.
The Guild Master of White Lotus.
If an incident was being caused by an Awakened—
another Awakened was needed to stop it.
‘Normally, I should call the emergency number for Awakened-related incidents……!’
But what was the point of having connections if I did not use them?
Besides, that emergency number operated nationwide, so response times were slower.
‘Sis ran eighty kilometers in about thirty minutes last time.’
No matter who else I called, they could not arrive faster than White Lotus.
“Guild Master! Listen carefully!”
―O-Okay?
I told him everything that had happened without leaving out a single detail.
My location.
The attacker’s appearance.
His distinguishing features.
―W-What!?
His reaction was explosive.
―S-Sohyeok, are you okay? Where are you right now!?
“……I’m hiding somewhere safe. I don’t think he’ll find me for now.”
―Get out of the supermarket immediately. You said he has an Explosion-Type ability, right? A fire could spread through the entire building in no time.
“The explosion blocked the entrance. He went deeper inside, so I’m going to circle around the outside and……”
BANG! BOOM!
Explosions rang out one after another.
I nearly dropped my phone.
―Those explosions……! Sohyeok, are you all right!?
“……I’m fine. I’m sorry to ask, but could you send any guild member you have available?”
―I’ll send someone immediately. Your sister is away on business right now, so she can’t go, but I’ll send someone capable. Don’t worry.
“Thank you.”
―No! Of course I’m sending someone. Sohyeok, stay hidden and keep away from that bastard. They should…… get there in about fifteen minutes.
“F-Fifteen minutes?”
―Is that too slow? I’ll send the fastest one available, so stay safe!
Click.
The call ended.
My thoughts became much calmer.
‘Calling White Lotus was the right choice.’
Fifteen minutes.
If help arrived that quickly, casualties could be minimized.
At that moment, an announcement echoed overhead.
―E-Emergency! There is currently an Awakened rampaging inside the supermarket!
“They’re quick with the announcement, at least.”
The employee making the announcement sounded so shaken that their voice trembled.
―The Awakened has moved from the area near the entrance toward the gardening section! Anyone currently in the gardening section, evacuate immediately!
“The gardening section……?”
The place where I had been only moments ago.
Where the seeds were sold.
Suddenly, I remembered the people who had been there.
‘I left the supermarket barely five minutes ago, and there were a lot of kids in the gardening section…….’
I did not like this.
In reality, I should have escaped the supermarket immediately or hidden somewhere like a restroom.
But I had a feeling that if I hid now—
I would regret it.
‘Could there be another Awakened inside besides me and that man……?’
There might be.
Maybe there happened to be a combat-capable Awakened nearby.
If I was lucky, someone might appear and stop the man before he killed anyone.
“…….”
TAP!
By the time I came to my senses, I was already running.
‘Idiot, idiot, idiot.’
My opponent was an Awakened with a dangerous ability that caused explosions.
And on top of that, he was mentally unstable.
One wrong move, and I could die.
“Huff, huff…….”
BANG! BOOM!
As I approached the gardening section—
I began hearing explosions.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Along with people screaming.
I ran blindly toward the source of the explosions.
A massive man two meters tall.
He was not exactly difficult to spot.
‘There.’
“AAAAAAAH!!!”
BANG!! BOOM!!
The man swung his fists wildly.
Everywhere his fists struck—
an explosion followed.
“Hot……!”
FWOOSH!
The gardening section was filled with living plants.
The fire had already begun spreading.
My desire to turn around and run grew stronger by the second.
“Waaaaah……!”
“!”
‘A child?’
“WHO’S THERE!!”
BOOM!
I was not the only one who heard the crying.
Both the giant man and I turned toward the sound at the same time.
And there—
‘They’re trapped.’
One child was pinned beneath collapsed debris.
Another child was clutching the trapped child’s hand.
“Those kids……!”
They were the same two children who had been waiting in line behind me while I chose the seeds.
‘Of all people, why did it have to be faces I recognized……?’
It was not as though I had even exchanged a single word with them.
But there was still a difference between a complete stranger—
and someone you had seen before.
“Two little brats…… Heh.”
The massive man laughed.
Then he slowly began walking toward them.
‘That bastard……!’
He could have launched himself forward and killed them instantly.
Instead, he approached slowly—
as though he wanted to toy with them.
The moment the children saw him—
even their crying stopped.
Something inside my head snapped.
“Hey! Big guy over there……!”
“……Huh?”
Had I lost my mind?
Did I want to play hero?
Maybe—
I had remembered the past for a moment.
The version of myself who had shone back in high school.
The massive man stared blankly at me for a moment.
Then—
“Ha!”
BOOM!
Unlike before, he used an explosion to close the distance instantly.
‘I don’t plan on dying.’
“Borrow.”
His fist flew toward me.
And the entire world seemed to slow to a crawl.
Was this my life flashing before my eyes?
I did not think it was anything like that.
“Wind-Thunder Fist Art.”