LRAB Chapter 1: Ability Awakening
Chapter 1: Ability Awakening
I lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, then checked the time on my phone.
11:00 AM.
As expected, I had woken up way too late.
'Today is... Professor Park's lecture, right? He's going to freak out again.'
I attend the Hunter Department at Gukcheon University. It's a department with a ridiculous name, but surprisingly, it's quite popular.
In modern society, Hunters—individuals with special abilities—are treated almost like heroes. The average income of a Hunter rivals that of a corporate employee at a major company. Moreover, if you're skilled, you can even become a celebrity-level star.
So, to the average person, the Hunter Department seems like a place filled with dreams and hope.
However, the Hunter Department isn't a place just anyone can apply to. There are two conditions.
First, you must possess an ability. In this world, only those who can use abilities can become Hunters. Hunters are, in other words, superhumans.
Second, you must have the potential to awaken your ability. That's me. I'm a Hunter aspirant attending the Hunter Department.
'Damn it. When the hell am I going to awaken?'
I have potential. The government has officially certified it. Just to be sure, I went to three different hospitals for physical examinations, and all of them confirmed the same thing.
But here I am, at 21 years old, the only non-awakened person in the entire department.
Naturally, I've lost all motivation to attend school. The seniors look at me with pity, my peers scorn me, and the juniors ignore me.
'Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!'
I squirmed around in bed.
I desperately wanted to awaken. Everyone else seems to awaken at some point, but why hasn't that moment come for me?
'Aaaaaah!'
I screamed internally.
I knew the soundproofing in this studio apartment wasn't great. I'd confirmed that every Friday night thanks to the moans of the guy next door's girlfriend.
'I want to awaken too! I want to be successful! I want to go to clubs! I want to have one-night stands!'
Hunters are popular. Just being a Hunter makes it easier to pick up girls. I've seen my peers, who are Hunters, easily seduce women. Even the F-rank ones manage to do it.
'Damn it!'
The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.
Just as I was squirming around on my bed, throwing a tantrum, my entire body began to glow white.
"Awakening!"
I shot up from my bed. The precursor to awakening. It was happening to me right now.
Gulp!
My body glowed for a while before the light gradually faded.
I immediately closed my eyes.
When someone awakens, they naturally become aware of their ability in that moment.
'My ability is...'
Something entered my mind. The feeling of it being forcibly injected was far from pleasant. But I endured it. I had to.
'Play Life! ...A life of playing and enjoying? What the hell is this?'
Information about the ability continued to flood my mind.
'For details, check the app... What? Damn it! What is this?'
I cursed in disbelief but quickly checked my phone.
There was an app that hadn't been there before, called [Play Life]. The app icon was a red heart. I couldn't believe this was happening.
'What is this? Is this how abilities usually awaken? Damn it! That can't be right. People usually awaken abilities like shooting fire, enhanced physical strength, or X-ray vision! Why am I the only one like this?!'
I grumbled, but my hands moved anyway.
I tapped on the Play Life app.
Honestly, even though it was my ability, I didn't really understand the details. 'Check the app for details,' my ass.
Maybe it was actually an incredible ability. I held onto that hope.
[Starting Play Life.]
On the screen, there was a character that looked exactly like me.
It was a 3D model of my body.
A moderately muscular build and a fairly average face. And it was naked. Even the genitalia between the thighs was identical to mine in real life.
For a moment, I felt a chill, but since it was an app created by my ability, I decided to let it slide. I knew the world was full of things that couldn't be explained.
=====
[Name: Seong Eugene]
[Level: 1]
[Stats]
[Strength: 4]
[Stamina: 2]
[Agility: 3]
[Intelligence: 1]
[Vitality: 2]
[Available Points: 10]
=====
"Intelligence 1? You bastard! I might be a bit slow, but I'm not a 1! And my vitality? I'm at least average... Oh! 2 is the average. Okay, that makes sense."
I comforted myself.
In truth, I knew my vitality was trash. I wasn't like this before, but lately, even when I masturbate, it's not as satisfying as it used to be.
I clicked on the chest of my character on the screen.
[You can invest points to add tattoos or change your physique.]
I clicked on the head.
[You can invest points to add tattoos or change your physique.]
It seemed I could use points for plastic surgery.
Feeling a bit perverted, I touched the genitalia.
[You can invest points to add tattoos or change your physique.]
When I clicked on the genitalia again, it zoomed in. If it were someone else's dick, I would've cursed immediately, but since it was mine, I felt a strange affection for it.
"Can I make it bigger?"
I dragged it, and it stretched.
[You can increase or decrease the length by 1cm per point.]
You could also increase the thickness in the same way.
I was torn.
'Honestly, mine is a bit small. Just slightly below average. Just slightly.'@@@@
Of course, that's only in terms of length. I was confident about the thickness.
After some thought, I invested 5 points into increasing the length of my genitalia.
The response was immediate. My crotch started to tingle.
The method was simple. I just had to think about using the skill.
"Complete Recovery!"
I looked at my body. There were no flashy effects like in games, but I could feel the changes in my body.
"The scars on my body are all gone..."
The small burn mark above my navel. The scar on my calf from a mosquito bite. Even the acne scars on my face were all gone.
"And my skin looks better too. Ah, so this is what it means to fully recover from status ailments."
I guessed that my internal organs had also improved. During a previous physical exam, they said my liver wasn't in great shape, but maybe it's been restored now.
Because of that, my face looked a bit more handsome. Before, I had a pretty average face, but now I looked more like a handsome guy.
The acne scars and clear skin made a huge difference.
"This is amazing. This is a recovery ability! Among Hunters, recovery abilities are the most valuable...! I could be a noble..."
I shut my mouth.
The Complete Recovery ability only worked on me. Moreover, it could only be used once every 24 hours. For Hunter's ability, it was quite humble.
I sighed in disappointment and moved on to the next menu.
[Character Summon]
There were no characters available to summon. I just skipped it.
[Start Game]
[You can currently proceed with one game.]
[The number of games you can proceed with increases every 20 levels.]
[You can enter the world of a chosen creation.]
[The creations you can choose are limited by your level.]
[List of available creations:]
- Seeking Shelter from the Storm (Novel)
- One Day in 1999 (Drama)
- Invisible to My Eyes (Novel)
- There Was a Devil (Movie)
- Super Vitality's Heungbu and Nolbu (Novel)
- Snow White (Fairy Tale)
- SV-7495 (Adult Video)
- Survival Zero (Manga)
- The Erotic Woman 5 (Movie)
- I Saw You (Drama)
- Girl's High School Horror (Movie)
- Kkolrit Kkolrit Episode 3 (Animation)
- Pale Chronicle (Novel)
- Frozen Kingdom (Movie)
...
There were dozens of creations to choose from.
But only one caught my eye.
It was a video I had watched a week ago. I had been so impressed by it.
"...This, this is it."
I had a sense of what my ability was. But I couldn't be sure. To confirm, I needed to experiment.
And the perfect experiment was right here.
I tapped on SV-7495.
[SV-7495 selected.]
[Avatar created.]
[Starting the game.]
My smartphone emitted a bright light, and I felt my consciousness being sucked into the phone.
***
In front of my eyes was a two-story house with white walls.
I stood behind a streetlight, staring blankly at the house with my mouth agape. Then, I shivered. I knew exactly what this house was.
SV-7495 is an AV.
Adult Video.
Simply put, it's a Japanese porn video.
I was now inside a porn video. The house in front of me was proof of that.
The title of SV-7495 is "Intruder Breaks into a Married Woman's House!" and it stars the AV actress Kutomori Rea.
'C-Calm down, Seong Eugene! You can't think of this as reality yet!'
I took a deep breath. If I didn't, my heart might explode.
Just then, the front door of the house opened, and a woman came out holding a trash bag.
'Gasp!'
I was shocked.
She was wearing tight jeans and a shirt with an apron. Her nose was sharp, her lips red, and her skin pale. Her dark brown hair was tied back. Her voluptuous hips and chest.
The AV actress I had only seen on screen was right in front of me.
'I-It's really Kutomori Rea...!'
I looked around. For a moment, I thought this might be an AV filming set.
Then, I spotted a man, and my heated head quickly cooled down.
There was an old man hiding behind the wall, peeking at the married woman.
'The old man who often appears in AVs!'
I gritted my teeth.
This plot.
I knew it all too well.
'In the video, that old man breaks into the house and... Damn it!'
The married woman, having thrown out the trash, started to head back inside.
The plot was obvious. She wouldn't lock the door, and the old man would break in.
'...I've decided.'
After a brief but deep contemplation, I made up my mind.
The old man started to move.
And I ran towards him.
'Old man. Thanks for everything until now!'
I delivered a dropkick.