[Insufficient COST]
‘…What is this?’
I was so startled by the rectangular, translucent window that I almost blurted out what I was thinking. I quickly realized the members might find it strange, so I clamped my mouth shut, but that didn’t make the feeling of bewilderment disappear.
I stared at the window with wide eyes and reached my hand forward, but there was nothing to touch. There was no change, nothing like the kind of change that happened when protagonists in games or works of fiction interact with status windows.
And it disappeared within a few seconds, before I had a chance to do anything else.
‘What the f*ck.’
It was almost like it was saying, “
This is not for you
“.
It felt similar to the last time I was kicked out of the game for not being an authorized user.
Yeah, damn it. I’m not Han Seungbeom.
But I didn’t steal Han Seungbeom’s body, and it seemed like I was here because of Han Seungbeom, so shouldn’t they at least told me what’s going on?
‘I’m going to have a headache again.’
Nothing would be different if I still couldn’t use the other abilities just as I had been, but I wanted to at least know what was happening to me. I had a feeling that once I get back to the dorm, I’d be thinking about it until my head feels like it’s going to explode.
“Hyung, they’re over there!”
Before I could get lost in such thoughts, Do Yuda grabbed my arm and whispered while pointing in a certain direction. He had spotted two members of the panel team together. The members were already looking at me, waiting for instructions.
I snapped back to reality and shouted to my members, “Guide them towards the room, and if you can catch them in front of the door, do so. But don’t catch them too quickly before all the other panelists come out.”
“Got it!”
The members nodded at my instructions, and as soon as Do Yuda answered, we started running.
“…….”
The panelists, perhaps sensing a chill on the back of their heads or simply hearing the sound of our footsteps, were startled and began running. It seemed a bit odd how they were running away in terror, as if being hunted by a predator, when it was just a filming. However, I quickly realized it was because my members, following my orders, were running at full speed without showing any signs of panic. Unlike the other guests, they didn’t shout things like “
Catch them!
” or “
Stop right there!
”—they were sprinting in silence.
“Ah, it’s just a game, why are they chasing us so scary!”
It was us who were going overboard, chasing them so frighteningly, when it was just a filming.
“Go, go, go!”
After chasing them fiercely for a while, I noticed, as expected, that the panelists were heading toward the room where the hostages were locked up. They were shouting into their walkie-talkies as they ran, probably calling for the rest of the group.
‘One person will rush towards us near the door to create a distraction, and meanwhile, one of the remaining members will try to touch the door, that must be the plan.’
I could guess their plan by the way they were acting.
“Leada, emergency. Emergency. Bambi is about to throw up.”
But I hadn’t guessed this.
Thanks to these troublemakers, my life is full of thrills.
“Isn’t Bambi supposed to be good at running? Deer can run really fast.”
“He’s not just a deer. He’s a newborn deer. He’s shaking while walking.”
“Both of you, stop talking and run. You’ll bite your tongue. Kiryang-hyung, stay a little behind.”
When I warned Do Yuda and Nagi Zen about their pointless conversation, Do Yuda shrugged his shoulders and started talking with a smug look on his face.
“I won’t bite my tongue! Don’t think you can predict everything! I’m always someone who exceeds expectations, I’m … ouch!”
…Idiot.
It seemed that I wasn’t the only one thinking that, as Zen looked at Do Yuda with a look of pity and said,
“Yu-chan is an idiot. If you listen to Leada, bread will grow out of your mouth when you sleep.”
“…Then isn’t it better not to listen?”
Baek Kiryang mumbled in response to Zen’s half-remembered proverb. Though his face was pale, he was running steadily and had the energy to reply like that, so it seemed he wasn’t on the verge of throwing up yet.
“Oh, I think I can catch him.”
As if to prove his claim that running was his specialty, Do Yuda ran effortlessly, seemingly unaffected by air resistance, and mumbled while looking straight ahead. Watching the panelist stumbling just 3 to 4 meters ahead, he must have found it incredibly frustrating.
“Don’t.”
If we approached too quickly, they might walkie-talkie in right before being caught and stop the other members from coming. That would waste time as we’d have to search for them again. So, I briefly told Do Yuda, who was pacing back and forth like a dog waiting for a command, “
Wait
“. Then, as soon as I spotted a fork in the path a bit farther away, I picked up my walkie-talkie.
“Lee Danbi, come in.”
Bzzz.
“Alright, hyung.”
Through the walkie-talkie, I heard Lee Danbi’s response, and shortly after, at the moment the fork in the path came into view, one of the panelists who had been lagging slightly behind began to glance sideways as if trying to veer off. Just as he started to turn his body slightly, he saw Lee Danbi and another panelist sprinting from the other side of the fork.
“Ah! This is driving me crazy!”
“That’s why I told you to just look ahead and run! Touching the door is the only way you’ll have time to escape!”
I’d had a hunch that one of the panelists might start to feel worn out at around this point in the course and might try to take a detour, so I had arranged for Lee Danbi to be stationed there beforehand. It seemed my hunch was right. On top of that, Lee Danbi had even brought along another panelist, so he had truly carried out his role perfectly.
In an instant, the escape route was blocked, and the panelists, now joined by a colleague, threw their heads back in frustration, screaming as they dashed toward the passage leading to the room where the hostages were held. A moment later, a room with the rough lettering “
HOSTAGE
” appeared at the end of the T-shaped corridor.
‘Seriously, no matter how sloppy the concept is, I didn’t expect them to just blatantly write HOSTAGE like that.’
The room where the hostages were locked up was at the intersection of the T-shaped corridor. We were currently running down the long vertical passage, and the horizontal passage was blocked at one end. If Lee Hwayoung could properly chase after the other panelists from the other side, the operation would be a success.
To check how far Lee Hwayoung had come, I picked up the walkie-talkie again and spoke.
“Hey, you’re coming the right way, right?”
“…….”
The walkie-talkie was connected, and there was a static noise, but I couldn’t hear any voice or breathing.
This meant that Lee Hwayoung wasn’t running and was ignoring my question.
‘Is this young master ignoring my words again?’
Indeed, that brat has hated doing any kind of cardio exercise since he was little. When I’d let him loose in the park to run and play, he would always grab my leg with such a sour face and wouldn’t move an inch. It seemed like he was just born with that kind of nature.
‘You’re not going to die just from showing that you’re out of breath in front of others, seriously.’
As I was having that thought, I heard the sound of two pairs of shoes from the passage I had left to Lee Hwayoung.
One was running, and the other seemed to be lazily walking along after him.
‘As expected, he’s walking.’
Given the distance, it seemed like the panelist on Lee Hwayoung’s side would reach the room first, but I actually thought this was fine. It was as if Lee Hwayoung had already set the order.
I immediately pressed the button on my walkie-talkie and instructed Woo Kangwon.
“Hyung, from your position, 1 on the right, 2, 3, 4 in front.”
“Okay.”
As the panelists desperately ran toward the room, I began to count down.
“Three.”
One of the three we were chasing turned around and stretched out his arms wide toward us.
“Two.”
Do Yuda quickly dodged the outstretched arm and moved forward, and as Zen cornered him against the wall, a panelist was seen jumping out from the passage where Lee Hwayoung was, hidden from view by the cement wall.
“One.”
The door to the hostages’ room opened and Woo Kangwon stepped out.
“Aaahhh!”
And the moment he stood in the doorway, the situation changed in an instant.
The panelist from Lee Hwayoung’s side was suddenly tumbling through the air and landed at at Woo Kangwon’s feet. Meanwhile, the panelist who had been running in front of us, the one we had missed, stretched out his arms to avoid Woo Kangwon, but was immediately grabbed by the collar and dropped to the ground in front of him.
The creepiest part of the entire sequence was that, despite subduing them so quickly, the panelists never made a single sound of pain.
Originally, it was harder to avoid injuring someone than to actually injure them.
It was only possible because he controlled his strength to avoid hurting them, lifting the opponent’s body and gently setting them down just before they hit the hard floor. Seeing him handle two adult men, each weighing over 70-80kg, with one hand like that, it was clear that he was a professional.
And just as I slowed down while looking at Woo Kangwon, Do Yuda, who had been chasing from behind, lunged and tackled the second panelist who had dashed forward. In the blink of an eye, the third one was caught in our grasp.
‘The last one is…….’
The last remaining person, the fourth one, ran toward the direction where our team’s biggest weakling was.
“Get out of the way!”
Me.
“…….”
He probably thought he could easily break through and escape if he came straight at me. Gven how skinny our Han Seungbeom was, I suppose it was inevitable. But being targeted like this was my first time in life, so it was a strange new experience to feel.
It would have been better to go to Baek Kiryang.
Or Woo Kangwon.
Unlike Woo Kangwon, I’m not a professional, so I don’t know how to catch someone without hurting them.
“Ouch!”
I dodged the charge from someone much bigger than Han Seungbeom, grabbed his arm, and twisted it slightly in the direction that would make the joint unable to rotate. The enemy cried out in pain and collapsed to the floor.
“I’m sorry. Are you hurt? You moved so quickly that it seems like the recoil caused your arm to twist in an odd direction.”
Ah, I don’t know. I don’t know.
I’m Seungbeom. I’m a 20-year-old weakling. I don’t know anything.
***
Having achieved a perfect victory in the second round as well, we placed a plaque with the name “
PANTHEION
” right below the one that had “
PRISM
” written on it, then finished the filming and headed straight back to the dorm.
While the others were busy preparing to grill the meat, I quietly slipped away and moved to the balcony.
I felt like I needed to review what had happened today.
We never know.
Maybe this time,
it
would work.
I gathered my resolve, quickly scanned my surroundings, and then spoke.
“Status window?”
Nothing changed.
“…Status window.”
Again,
nothing
.
“…….”
My body was trembling.
F**k, you put me through this humiliation twice.
“I really think it’s a talent in itself to make such a fierce expression with that angelic face. Why is that hyung making such a devil-like face again?”
“He’s like that every day.”
Do Yuda and Zen’s whispering, not even trying to quiet their voices, could be heard through the glass window. When I glared at them, the fools jumped up and quickly ran off to the kitchen.
“Haaa….”
I groaned at the sight, and then went back to my thoughts.I groaned at the sight, and then went back to my thoughts.
Then, as I calmly recalled the words “
Insufficient COST
” in the window, I suddenly realized something was bothering me.
“…That’s weird.”
There were certainly more than enough costs that I could have used the ability quite recklessly when I checked it on the laptop. And after confirming that I might not be able to use the ability without a price, I stopped using them carelessly.
‘Even the most plausible gift for the ability I used had a very low required cost.’
The conclusion drawn from that was that
I
couldn’t use all of those costs, even if I wanted to.
If that’s the case, then why and how did all those costs disappear in such a short period of time?
“…….”
I had a feeling that something was going on that I didn’t know about.
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Translator’s Corner
:
I’m not sure where Zen nonsense about bread will grow out of your mouth (입에서 빵이 생깁니다) came from since he definitely misremembered it, but I guess it’s a little similiar to the expression 입에서 꿀이 떨어집니다 (honey is dripping from your mouth/lips). But anyway … I’m not going to try understand the thinking of a fool …
This chapter is really funny that I kept stopping because I laughed asdfghjkl Pantheion is truly comedy king
Thank you One of the Anons for the Coffees!
I seriously giggled when I saw the name, why people are so funny asdfghjkl omg everyone is really sticking to anonymous … it’s like the ratio of anonymous and people with names is 5:1 … arent you guys get confused when you commented to another anonymous and anonymous replied back …