This is the thought that just hit me.
I’m screwed.
No matter how I think about it—I’m screwed.
…Yeah, I’m definitely screwed.
First of all, this studio isn’t even mine.
I can only pin my hopes on that lottery ticket I bought Monday.
If it wins, I’ll just buy this whole studio.
My dream is to roll around in a tiny rental unit while holding income-producing real estate anyway.
But like hell that’s gonna happen.
Of course not.
“Ah, shit. Raising my Luck stat was pointless. What the hell was I thinking? Idiot.”
I’ve tried to forget the fact that I drooled over that “double stats” event. Still—something’s definitely off here.
How the hell does a shadow-boxing punch in the air blow a hole through a wall?
Was it just coincidence? Shoddy construction?
***
First thing I did was look up gypsum board and wallpaper.
Truth is, I’ve busted plasterboard and plywood before—back when I was renting during college.
I’d just leaned against the wall, exhausted, and crack.
Of course I had no money back then either, so I patched it with drywall and slapped wallpaper over it myself.
They say if you’ve got a kid, your house never survives—but I guess bachelors wreck houses too.
‘Hey, kid—why you hauling wallpaper in here?’
That’s what the old landlord might say if he checked CCTV, so I snuck everything inside as carefully as possible.
“But… how do I even get into the next-door unit?”
The hole in the wall is too small for anyone bigger than a child or petite woman to crawl through.
Still, if no one saw me, I could technically sneak in through the window using a bit of parkour.
It’s only the second floor—falling wouldn’t kill me.
I don’t know how to break my fall, but… maybe I’d figure it out.
So after breaking property, now I’m committing breaking-and-entering too.
Not that there’d be anything worth stealing in an empty studio, but still.
I waited for nightfall, climbed over the balcony window that doubled as a kitchen door, grabbed the railing, and with my boosted Strength and Speed managed to shimmy up the gas pipe and cling to the neighbor’s window.
“Shit.”
If the window was locked, I’d just have to jump down.
Maybe the door code was part of the landlord’s phone number?
Should’ve just pretended drunk and punched random numbers in the keypad at the front door.
“Haaa…”
Luckily, the window latch wasn’t fastened, so sneaking in wasn’t impossible.
I thought about going barefoot to avoid leaving footprints, but then realized—don’t feet have prints too? So I wore socks.
Then I opened the door, slipped into my own place, grabbed the drywall and wallpaper, and went back in to patch the damage.
***
I came and went, plugging the wall with gypsum board, reinforcing with plywood, then wallpapering and cleaning everything up.
Thankfully, the wallpaper was the cheapest kind—and the exact same design was still available.
“Damn, I bought too much.”
I had leftover materials—wallpaper, plaster, gypsum.
It was cheaper to buy in bulk, but now I had nowhere to store it.
I even thought about filling the hole with concrete, but I’ve never touched that territory before… so I just faked it.
‘I’m sorry, landlord.’
Finishing the job, I bowed my head in silent prayer.
Someday I’ll make money and pay him back—or buy this whole place.
Until then, I’ll atone by enduring noisy neighbors—a girl with a dog, a guy blasting porn at max volume.
Back in my room—just in time.
“Khuh!?”
From that tiny orb, light burst out again.
Pop-pop-pop!
Something began to summon itself from within the glow.
This time, it was a group.
Not as big as the Mutant King I’d fought earlier, but a swarm of smaller ones.
[Looks like that Mutant King lost.]
[Heh. He was the weakest among us anyway.]
[To think he lost to a mere human.]
They were mocking him, but honestly? These “mockers” were tiny.
So tiny I picked up a flyswatter.
[What strange clouds this world has.]
[Like patterns in the sky.]
[Beautiful, isn’t it?]
Uh, that’s a flyswatter, idiots.
<Experience +500>
<+500>
<Combo bonus +100>
My experience shot up.
“This is insane. Am I the only one losing my mind here?”
Meanwhile, the patched wallpaper in my room clung over the hardened plaster, proof that everything around me was still real.
Which meant… yeah.
Something really had opened—a gate to another world.
The otherworldly creatures seemed bound by their own RPG-like “level system.”
But maybe… our world is way too big for them to conquer?
<Level Up!>
<Strength +1. You have 1 point to allocate.>
“For fuck’s sake, stop giving me Strength!”
I swatted a bunch of bug-sized monsters, and yet I kept leveling up and gaining stats.
Strength so high I could barely control it.
This wasn’t a dream.
Stats clearly affected reality.
So this time, I invested in Luck.
Strength 137
Stamina 45
Mana 0
Intelligence 40
Speed 25
Dexterity 29
Luck 23
Charm 20
Yeah, way too much into Strength.
I dumped 100 points into it, no wonder.
The Intelligence stat just pisses me off. Feels like it’s showing my IQ.
And Mana? Locked. Can’t even raise it—my starting value was 0.
Charm—ugh, a pathetic 20.
No wonder I don’t have a girlfriend and kids don’t like me.
Weirdly, the Stamina stat is colored yellow.
Mana is gray. Everything else is green. <Your Flyswatter is eligible for Limit Break.>
“What the hell is this?”
A message popped up beside my flyswatter.
Limit Break… like, it can be upgraded?
I tapped it. <Your flyswatter glows brightly and disappears.>
…And just like that, my flyswatter vanished mid-Limit Break.
“…Now what do I kill bugs with?”
I’d bought it from one of those old men who sell random stuff for 500 won.
I bought two since he was short on change… but where the hell did I put the spare?
“Damn, I’m exhausted.”
Maybe the yellow Stamina stat meant fatigue.
What a ridiculous day.
Even with my Stamina raised, pulling an all-nighter wallpapering was brutal.
Should’ve leveled Stamina instead of Strength.
At least tomorrow was Sunday. I collapsed into bed.
The lottery results must already be out by now.
I think killing the Mutant King raised my Luck by +5, too.
***
Some time later—
Bzzzzzzzzzz.
An awful sound buzzed in my ear.
If I didn’t swat it now, I’d spend all day scratching bites.
It was so annoying I couldn’t ignore it.
“Fine, I’ll just kill it and sleep.”
I reached for it—then froze.
“Wh-what the fuck!?”
Flapping its wings before me, with proboscis and legs fully extended—a mosquito the size of a human head.
And its abdomen—bright red.
Striped like a forest mosquito.
Startled, I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture.
The photo showed something absurd. <LV33 Mosquito> A mosquito that leveled up in proportion to its Strength and Stamina. Special Skills: Blink, Bloodsuck, Flight, Stealth, Drug Resistance.
“…What the actual fuck?”
A mosquito leveled up?!
I shined a light toward the glowing corner of the room.
There lay the corpse of something ant-like—smaller than the mosquito.
Must’ve been what I squashed earlier.
<LV34 Monster Corpse — Blood drained>
So. I’d killed a Level 51 otherworldly creature and hit Level 50 myself.
But this mosquito… drank the blood of a Level 34 corpse and became Level 33.
Even if I was stronger, even if it was “just” a mosquito……it was too damn big.
“Guess I’ll just kill it first.”
With a target that huge, one good clap should crush it.
But then—
[Blink!]
“What the—?!”
The word popped above its head, and the mosquito slipped past my hands, appearing behind me, proboscis aimed at my neck.
I whipped around and smacked at it.
“Shit—almost gave me a Kim Il-Sung bump.”
If something that big bit me in the head, the swelling would look like a giant boil.
I swiped again—but again, it blinked away.
[Above Level 30, one bloodsuck drains about 1 liter.]
[Bloodsucking can also grant level-ups.]
“One liter!?”
That much blood would put me into anemia—or worse.
“Son of a bitch…”
I clapped at it several more times. Each time, it blinked away.
Shouldn’t a bigger body mean lower evasion? Not this bastard.
No choice—I reached for the sacred weapon.
[Drug Resistance!]
The damn thing had so many traits.
But even with resistance, the bug hesitated.
[Overcoming poison… HP decreasing.]
While it staggered, I smacked it hard across the face.
[MISS!]
…Why is that in English?!
The mosquito blurred and vanished again.
Still, with F-Killer spray in the air, it moved sluggishly, like drunk.
This time, I landed a clean hit.
“Yes! Huh—?”
[Restores consumed blood.]
“???”
Its belly glowed green, then the mosquito healed back to full.
“Okay, that’s it.”
I had no choice but to trust in my ridiculous Strength stat.
If I unleashed it fully, though, I might shatter the balcony window, smash my gaming laptop, or punch through my bed.
Still…
“Fuck it. You’re dead.”
With a roar, I focused my 137 Strength into one proper strike.
Splat!
Blood sprayed everywhere—thankfully, green.
“…Is that better? I guess?”
[You have slain a Level 33 Mosquito. Level Up!]
My level jumped to 52.
Stat point allocation—
Luck. Always Luck.
Lottery might already be drawn, but still—Luck.
[You may absorb one trait from the mosquito.]
<Flight LV10> If you have wings, sustained flight is possible. Without wings, temporary levitation is granted.
<Stealth LV10> Greatly reduces movement noise.
<Bloodsuck LV5> Absorb blood to increase stats and restore HP.
<Blink LV10> Teleport without obstruction.
Guess this mosquito had a vendetta about evasion.
Flight was tempting.
Blink looked amazing.
Stealth wasn’t bad either.
But then—
“……”
Another hole opened in the neighbor’s wall.
So… if I use Blink, I don’t even need to sneak over the balcony anymore?